Do I need a visa to go ashore at Shanghai?

[BobTroll]

Next February, my wife and I will be sailing from Sydney to Hong Kong on the Royal Princess cruise ship.

 

We are British citizens and I have ascertained that the Australian visa rules have changed within the last few days. Although we shall require visas to enter Australia, we can apply on-line for the latest type of eVisitor visa (which is free of charge). We will not require visas for Papua New Guinea, Guam, Japan, South Korea, or Hong Kong.

 

The visa arrangements for Shanghai are not so clear. The Chinese Visa Application Service Centre in London (official agents appointed by the Chinese Embassy to process all visa applications) advised me by email that we must hold visas to enter mainland China, even though we are likely to remain ashore for less than 10 hours. Each visa will cost a massive £65.25 (including service charges) and unless we attend in person, Royal Mail Special Delivery will cost us an additional £4.60 each way.

 

On a previous cruise to St. Petersburg, passengers who wanted to go ashore independently required Russian visas, which were equally expensive. However, passengers on the ship’s shore excursions were covered by a group visa - at no extra charge. That proved to be a convenient and cost-effective option.

 

Does anyone know whether cruise lines arrange group visas for passengers who participate in organised shore excursions, when ships visit Shanghai and other Chinese ports.

 

:confused:

[Nylsor]

We are also from the UK and have just returned from the Beijing / Bangkok cruise on Diamond Princess. No group visas are arranged for entry to Chinese ports. We required a dual entry visa for China because we were entering Beijing and Shanghai. You will most certainly require a Chinese entry visa for Shanghai although only a single entry. They cannot be applied for more than six months in advance and the Chinese require documentation which will be sent to you by Princess (hopefully). They didn't send ours and we had to phone to get it. The Chinese are fanatical re visas / passports, etc.We were two hours late in leaving Xinang (Beijing) as the Chinese authorities checked every single passport. Princess also kept our passports after entering the ship and we didn't see them again until we arrived in Singapore when they were returned to us for the day. We then had to return them on re-entering the ship. You will not require a visa for Japan but I can tell you that the day before you'll be called to be fingerprinted by the Japanese authorities who are already on the ship and on the day we docked in Okinawa we had to undergo thermal imaging by the Japanese authorities before we left the ship. All this for a visit of a few hours. This applies to all nationalities. The only country where Princess organised visas was Vietnam and we were charged $11 each to our shipboard account. We had ship excursions throughout.

Ros

[TenerifeSharon]

Sorry to be a bit late with this -- we only just recently returned from our 32 day Diamond Princess cruise from Alaska to Bangkok.

 

YES, you will certainly need a visa for Shanghai entry. And, even if you should not want to get off the ship in Shanghai, Princess will most probably not allow you to board the ship in Sydney unless your Chinese visa is in order. Several days before our cruise, we even received a phone call from Princess to check that my DH had obtained his visa. (He is German). For some reason, they were not so concerned about mine (U.S. citizenship). Getting those visas were the most difficult part of our entire trip -- it took 3 trips to Hamburg (a total of 1500 kilometers) before we finally had them, and unlike those living in the U.S. who received multiple entry visas with 12 month validity, the Chinese authorities in Germany would only issue them with a validity of 3 months (beginning with the date of issue).

[BobTroll]

Sorry to be a bit late with this -- we only just recently returned from our 32 day Diamond Princess cruise from Alaska to Bangkok.

 

YES, you will certainly need a visa for Shanghai entry. And, even if you should not want to get off the ship in Shanghai, Princess will most probably not allow you to board the ship in Sydney unless your Chinese visa is in order. Several days before our cruise, we even received a phone call from Princess to check that my DH had obtained his visa. (He is German). For some reason, they were not so concerned about mine (U.S. citizenship). Getting those visas were the most difficult part of our entire trip -- it took 3 trips to Hamburg (a total of 1500 kilometers) before we finally had them, and unlike those living in the U.S. who received multiple entry visas with 12 month validity, the Chinese authorities in Germany would only issue them with a validity of 3 months (beginning with the date of issue).

 

Very many thanks.

 

Princess Cruises have sent me the necessary application forms. Princess recommended applying for visas through a commercial agency, which adds a service charge of 60 British Pounds to the normal cost of each visa.

 

However, I have discovered that the Chinese Embassy has created an official agency, with sole rights to handle applications for Chinese visas. All applications must be submitted via the designated agency.

 

The designated agency accepts postal applications and offers a 4-day turnaround. Single entry visas are valid for 3 months from the date of issue. Double entry visas, which cost 50% more, are valid for 6 months from the date of issue.

 

The official agency charges a handling fee, over and above the basic cost of the visa. However, all applications must be routed through that agency, so there is no cheaper alternative.

 

I see little point in paying 2 x GBP60 to a commercial agency (in addition to the official agency handling fee). Consequently, we intend to submit postal applications to the official agency, as soon as we are within 3 months of the ship's arrival date in Shanghai.