Does Celebrity provide Visa to Vietnam for it's passengers or do we have to apply ourselves?

[cruisestitch]

Going in March 2025.  Not interested in going ashore in Vietnam at all.  Am I required to get a visa regardless?

[wallyj]

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

Going in March 2025.  Not interested in going ashore in Vietnam at all.  Am I required to get a visa regardless?

Yes, even if not going ashore, you are required to obtain visa.

[mahasamatman]

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Not interested in going ashore in Vietnam at all. Am I required to get a visa regardless?

 

Only if you don't want to be denied boarding.

[shipmate13]

Make sure when you complete your application all information is correct the first time, if not, they will send you an email saying they cannot make any changes.  We went through Vietnam govt. website to complete ours because Celebrity told us they no longer do it for you on board. We leave in a couple of days on Solstice.  There are several websites you can go on for the evisa's but they charge almost 100.00 to do them because they are third party.  When you go through the Vietnam govt. site, it was only 25.00 each and it is for a single entry. 

We listed Ho Chi Minh cruise port as our port of entry because Phu My was not listed in drop down. Two weeks after we completed our application, Celebrity sends us an email informing all passengers to complete their evisa's and to list the port of entry as Vung Tau.  I don't know if we will be denied because we did not get this information in time. I would hope that since our itinerary shows Ho Chi Minh as our first port they will accept it.  

When we sent an email to the support department for the evisa with Vietnam govt. they said it could not be changed.  Our evisa's were accepted by their govt. and we have a copy so time will tell I guess. 

 

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, shipmate13 said:

 

We listed Ho Chi Minh cruise port as our port of entry because Phu My was not listed in drop down. Two weeks after we completed our application, Celebrity sends us an email informing all passengers to complete their evisa's and to list the port of entry as Vung Tau.  I don't know if we will be denied because we did not get this information in time. I would hope that since our itinerary shows Ho Chi Minh as our first port they will accept it.  

When we sent an email to the support department for the evisa with Vietnam govt. they said it could not be changed.  Our evisa's were accepted by their govt. and we have a copy so time will tell I guess. 

 

I wonder if you have the option to apply for a new single entry visa using the correct seaport complex names?

[cosmohunter]

3 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

I wonder if you have the option to apply for a new single entry visa using the correct seaport complex names?

 

I believe so, as long as you are willing to pay the fees.

[billc23]

7 hours ago, shipmate13 said:

 

We listed Ho Chi Minh cruise port as our port of entry because Phu My was not listed in drop down. Two weeks after we completed our application, Celebrity sends us an email informing all passengers to complete their evisa's and to list the port of entry as Vung Tau.  I don't know if we will be denied because we did not get this information in time. I would hope that since our itinerary shows Ho Chi Minh as our first port they will accept it.  

 

 

I think it would be prudent to redo your visa with the correct port information and pay the additional fee. According to the Vietnam rules you will be denied entry. It is worthwhile to contact Celebrity to ask if you will be denied boarding the ship, but that could be a long phone call and I would just pay the additional $25 per person and be done with it. It would be great if Celebrity provided the port information many months before the sailing but I guess ports can change so they do not. Additionally, it is worthwhile to have the start date of your visa several days before your expected entry in case the ship plans change for unknown reasons. Have a great trip and let us know what your resolution.

[lipres]

Please let us know whether or not Celebrity allows you to board. We are facing the same problem and, after hours on the phone with Celebrity, they advised that we will not be able to board with a visa that has an incorrect point of entry. 

 

We've also submitted a correction request to Vietnam's eVisa support and are waiting for a reply as we were told, also by Celebrity, that we cannot simply reapply for a new eVisa with corrected information if one has already been issued.

 

Thank you for any insight you are able to provide. 

[lipres]

On 11/20/2023 at 7:44 PM, shipmate13 said:

Make sure when you complete your application all information is correct the first time, if not, they will send you an email saying they cannot make any changes.  We went through Vietnam govt. website to complete ours because Celebrity told us they no longer do it for you on board. We leave in a couple of days on Solstice.  There are several websites you can go on for the evisa's but they charge almost 100.00 to do them because they are third party.  When you go through the Vietnam govt. site, it was only 25.00 each and it is for a single entry. 

We listed Ho Chi Minh cruise port as our port of entry because Phu My was not listed in drop down. Two weeks after we completed our application, Celebrity sends us an email informing all passengers to complete their evisa's and to list the port of entry as Vung Tau.  I don't know if we will be denied because we did not get this information in time. I would hope that since our itinerary shows Ho Chi Minh as our first port they will accept it.  

When we sent an email to the support department for the evisa with Vietnam govt. they said it could not be changed.  Our evisa's were accepted by their govt. and we have a copy so time will tell I guess. 

 

Apologies, my query above was in response to shipmate13's post, now correctly quoted above. I had forgotten to do so initially.

[SakFive]

On 11/20/2023 at 10:44 PM, shipmate13 said:

Make sure when you complete your application all information is correct the first time, if not, they will send you an email saying they cannot make any changes.  We went through Vietnam govt. website to complete ours because Celebrity told us they no longer do it for you on board. We leave in a couple of days on Solstice.  There are several websites you can go on for the evisa's but they charge almost 100.00 to do them because they are third party.  When you go through the Vietnam govt. site, it was only 25.00 each and it is for a single entry. 

We listed Ho Chi Minh cruise port as our port of entry because Phu My was not listed in drop down. Two weeks after we completed our application, Celebrity sends us an email informing all passengers to complete their evisa's and to list the port of entry as Vung Tau.  I don't know if we will be denied because we did not get this information in time. I would hope that since our itinerary shows Ho Chi Minh as our first port they will accept it.  

When we sent an email to the support department for the evisa with Vietnam govt. they said it could not be changed.  Our evisa's were accepted by their govt. and we have a copy so time will tell I guess. 

 

 

In the end, what happened? Were you able to board?

 

I'm in the same situation. We'll be on Solstice Feb.19.24, we submitted our eVisa for Vietnam and we chose Ho Chi Minh as a seaport. We haven't got any notification from Celebrity about the ports.

 

So, in case the sea ports selected are different vs. the actual ones, will you be denied boarding?

[shml]

3 minutes ago, SakFive said:

 

In the end, what happened? Were you able to board?

 

I'm in the same situation. We'll be on Solstice Feb.19.24, we submitted our eVisa for Vietnam and we chose Ho Chi Minh as a seaport. We haven't got any notification from Celebrity about the ports.

 

So, in case the sea ports selected are different vs. the actual ones, will you be denied boarding?

Hi SakFive,

I am on the Feb 8th sailing on the Solstice.  This seems like a messed up situation.  From what I have gathered if you have submitted the wrong ports you will be denied entry.  

On our roll call people are saying entry port to be listed as Vung Tau Seaport and exiting from Hanoi is Hon Gai Seaport.  Province is Vung Tau.  

I have also sent an email from Gov't site requesting confirmation.  Will see how long that takes to come in. I still havent submitted mine as nervous to send but others on our ship have received thiers with info as stated above.  

Hope this helps.

Susan

[Torfamm]

7 hours ago, shml said:

Hi SakFive,

I am on the Feb 8th sailing on the Solstice.  This seems like a messed up situation.  From what I have gathered if you have submitted the wrong ports you will be denied entry.  

On our roll call people are saying entry port to be listed as Vung Tau Seaport and exiting from Hanoi is Hon Gai Seaport.  Province is Vung Tau.  

I have also sent an email from Gov't site requesting confirmation.  Will see how long that takes to come in. I still havent submitted mine as nervous to send but others on our ship have received thiers with info as stated above.  

Hope this helps.

Susan

If you have applied for a visa for the wrong ports, my understanding is that you can just apply for a new visa. Here is a link to Celebrity’s sheet on applying 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dJKiercTMrbzO6CsEDA6dudfaYU8VIkG/view?usp=drivesdk

[shipmate13]

So, our visa's were absolutely perfect and had no problem at all.  They take your passports when you embark on the ship and will return them before you disembark.  you will be given a Landing Card that you will have to show when you get off in Vietnam.  They will stamp it the first time and then will look at it some of the times you get off at the ports in Vietnam.  You will then drop the Landing card off on the last port in Vietnam upon returning to the ship.  

They collect your printed evisa's that you will bring with you on embarkation day at the check in. If they find any issues with them, they will get that corrected for you prior to arrival at Vietnam. (at a cost)  Some passengers did have issues that they could not correct and they were only allowed off in Vietnam with a controlled group of other passengers with evisa issues.  This I found out by a passenger I spoke to at a bar who apparently she had a problem with hers which never did get corrected.  She told me that she could only get off ship in Vietnam and hang with a group so she decided to just stay on the ship.

 

[MLuu513109]

On 10/6/2023 at 11:23 AM, benatty said:

We are sailing on Solstice on December 22 so I just called Celebrity to inquire about this issue and they forwarded me to a third party to answer my question.  I intend to get the visas for my family on my own ($25 for single entry and $50 for multiple entry).  My question was whether I needed the single entry or multiple entry visa.  The woman I spoke with today told me that Celebrity would get the visa for us.  When I asked what they charge she didn't know.  I asked if I had to buy the visa from Celebrity and she said no.  I am guessing there is a healthy mark up on the charge for the visa.  She did tell me that we only need a single-entry visa as we are visiting the Vietnamese ports consecutively.  Not entirely sure I trust the information provided but I will keep looking.

Hi Benatty, 

My name is Monica. We are sailing on Solstice in March 2024. Since you just visited Vietnam by ship, you probably can give me some advice about Visa situation. Does Celebrity help us to apply Vietname travel visa on board? Or if not, should we apply it prior to our sailing or apply it on arrival?  What kind of Visa we should apply - EVisa/Loose Leaf Visa or paper Visa? Thanks for your time.

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, MLuu513109 said:

Hi Benatty, 

My name is Monica. We are sailing on Solstice in March 2024. Since you just visited Vietnam by ship, you probably can give me some advice about Visa situation. Does Celebrity help us to apply Vietname travel visa on board? Or if not, should we apply it prior to our sailing or apply it on arrival?  What kind of Visa we should apply - EVisa/Loose Leaf Visa or paper Visa? Thanks for your time.

 

 

 

 

 

We were also on the Dec 22 Solstice sailing (it was great, BTW).  You are expected to apply for the e-visa yourself before the cruise.  For those passengers that come onboard without an e-visa (and were required to have one), Celebrity will apply for a visa for you but it will cost you $25 and there is no guarantee that the visa will be approved or approved in time before your first Vietnamese port.  Guest Relations was flooded with passengers during the first few days of our cruise desperately trying to get their visas applied for and approved.  Approval is not instantaneous--it can take 3-4 business days.

 

Celebrity sends out an instructional email on this as your cruise draws closer.  Someone posted the email in this thread below (see post 184).  There are active links in that post that will take you to the correct website to apply for the e-visa.  Definitely apply early because our was rejected because of errors and so it took us some time to submit it correctly and then getting it approved.

 

Please note that only citizens from certain countries (like the USA) are required to apply for the e-visa.  Citizens from other countries are not.  

 

 

[mahasamatman]

For reference, this site has a list of countries whose citizens are exempt from the eVisa requirement: https://visaguide.world/asia/vietnam-visa/do-i-need-a-visa-for-vietnam/

[mahdnc]

On 11/17/2023 at 12:26 PM, cruisestitch said:

Going in March 2025.  Not interested in going ashore in Vietnam at all.  Am I required to get a visa regardless?

 

Based on the Singapore to Hong Kong sailing we took last month, the answer is "no", you don't need to apply for the visa if you don't intend to go ashore.  There were plenty of passengers on our sailing that boarded without an e-visa (that needed one).  They were scrambling to get a visa through the ship, but the point is that they got on board Solstice without one.  Celebrity had written instructions for those passengers that did not have a visa and needed one.

 

Edited January 19 by mahdnc