China visa for 1 day port in Shanghai on Princess or Celebrity

"You would not qualify for this 144 hr waiver unless you were leaving the ship in Shanghai and flying to a third country. If you are sailing in and out and using a ship tour Or staying on board) then the 15 day visa waiver is the one that will be applied. This one started in Oct."

Where in the official rules do you see that you cannot arrive and leave by ships if you are going to a 3rd country?

http://www.sh-immigration.gov.cn/listPageEn.aspx?lx=40&id=4421

and

http://www.sh-immigration.gov.cn/listPageEn.aspx?lx=40&id=4421

Official rules mean nothing if the cruise companies are interpreting differently, they are the ones who decide if you can board without a visa. I agree the rules to me mean cruise ship passengers in port for the day should have free passage. BUT...

The cruise lines are not allowing this 144 hr waiver to be used for spending a day and leaving by same ship.( the cruise lines are saying we are not in transit.),so that to me makes it unusable. The 15 day one is allowed to be used and if you are staying on board, doing a ship tour or you have a tour operator that can do the paperwork for you.

My personal tour operator in Shanghai,spoke to the officials and tells me "Every cruise company has contract with a domestic travel agency and all passengers in any trip are thus guaranteed by that travel agency which is a necessary condition required by law. So in practice, you, like other cruise passengers though many may take group/bus tours, shall be also beneficiaries of the new 15-day visa free policy." and then went on to say "If you understand that, it would be clear that the cruise company holds the final interpretation and their contracted travel agency is the tour operator."

So still the cruise companies holding us to ransom, by insisting on using their tours. I had no time left to persue this with cruise company so I now have purchased my visa for my April visit as I want to use my private guide.

Travelmore do you know of any passengers on any lines that has gone by ship to Shanghai for the day and has been able to use the 144 hr visa waiver. I only know of ones that where boarding ship in Shanghai or leaving the ship to fly out. I would be interested in that as I have been asking about this for 144 months now to no avail, but the 15 day waiver especially for cruise that can into play in Oct is being used.

Ok, what you are now saying is different. So one is allowed, under the rules, to do a ship-ship transit and enjoy the 144-hour visa waiver. There will be no problem with the Chinese immigration guys.

What you are saying is that some cruise companies will not let you board unless you have a visa or you join one of their overpriced tours. I agree with this statement. But rules say that you are ok.

Read this forum and other travel forums and you'll see reports of some cruise companies advising their clients that no visa is required for a transit.

This is absolutely crazy. Why do I have a feeling HAL will not honor an 'advanced entry visa-free permit'? THey keep saying we need to either go on THEIR (expensive) shore excursion or have an "L" visa - - expensive as well. HELP?? We are on 4/11/2018 cruise with two-day stop in Shanghai - - 144 hour visa-free permit?

Clearly going on THEIR excursion or not is not an issue for the Chinese government and does not have anything to do with the visa exemption. They are trying to force you into their excursion.

Where are you before & after Shanghai? TWOV rules are pretty specific about A-B-C routing (arrive from Country A - B is Shanghai - and depart to Country C). You don't just get 144 hours in China without a visa. There are other parts to the rules.....

Where are you before & after Shanghai? TWOV rules are pretty specific about A-B-C routing (arrive from Country A - B is Shanghai - and depart to Country C). You don't just get 144 hours in China without a visa. There are other parts to the rules.....

The cruise is clearly compliant if the cruise company tells the poster that no visa if required if they go on THEIR excursions. Just a money grabbing thing.

Thank you. We begin in Yokohama, are in Okinawa prior to Shanghai, continuing in Japanese ports after Shanghai. Cruise final destination is Vancouver, B.C. (Third country?). Yes, it does seem like a ploy by HAL to recruit shore excursion participants.

Well that is a problem. Japan-Shanghai-Japan is not a transit. You need a visa for this.

Thanks, but since ship'sfinal destination is Canada, does that count as third country for 144-hrtransit permit?

Thanks, but since ship'sfinal destination is Canada, does that count as third country for 144-hrtransit permit?

No, the ONLY thing that counts is A-B-C where A & C are the stops immediately before and after China. Original start and ultimate destination don't matter at all where TWOV is concerned. Which is why you can go in & out of China repeatedly and re-use the 144hr TWOV as long as A & C are different from each other (and fit other parameters - only a handful of Chinese cities participate, usually only air travel but Shanghai does have a cruise exception now). You could travel JFK-NRT-PVG-HKG-PEK-ICN-JFK if you wanted to and use TWOV in PVG and PEK......

As others have explained you do not qualify for the 144 transit visa. A ship's excursion when visiting Shanghai (using the 15 day visa waiver scheme which stipulates that you must be part of an organised tour) may be a little pricy but it is so worth it. We had a wonderful day visiting the Watertown followed by a fabulous lunch in a 5 star hotel, a visit to a silk factory (no pressure to buy) then a sightseeing tour of the city. It was actually less expensive than any of the tours we took in Japan and much, much cheaper than purchasing a visa. On our recent cruise all ship's tours sold out completely. The immigration process was simple as Celebrity handled everything in advance and all we had to submit was the copy of our passports which had a barcode sticker on the back. Recommend to anyone reading this that you book your tour before you sail to avoid disappointment.

Thank you again, Hoyaheel and Ann and TravelMoreNMore, I was confused about the 'C'country since in our case it A and C are both Japan:(. Just had to get that straight in my head.

As others have explained you do not qualify for the 144 transit visa. A ship's excursion when visiting Shanghai (using the 15 day visa waiver scheme which stipulates that you must be part of an organised tour) may be a little pricy but it is so worth it. We had a wonderful day visiting the Watertown followed by a fabulous lunch in a 5 star hotel, a visit to a silk factory (no pressure to buy) then a sightseeing tour of the city. It was actually less expensive than any of the tours we took in Japan and much, much cheaper than purchasing a visa. On our recent cruise all ship's tours sold out completely. The immigration process was simple as Celebrity handled everything in advance and all we had to submit was the copy of our passports which had a barcode sticker on the back. Recommend to anyone reading this that you book your tour before you sail to avoid disappointment.

Hi there, absolutely agree about this 144 transit which isn't valid if a ship goes for example Japan, Shanghai, back to Japan. So here comes a question which I have asked on another thread and as yet no answer.... See if you (or anyone else) can solve it:

Ship is Japan, Shanghai, Japan and two days in Shanghai. So book a group tour through the ship and off you go on day 1 with visa granted. Day 2 arrives (or even afternoon on day 1). Can you now leave the ship without the 'group tour' need and trot off on your own?

Happy solving..... John

My interpretation is on HAL cruise, Apr, 2018: Avoid the ?'S and worry. Doing HAL tours both days in Shanghai rather than purchasing visa as will not be returning to China.

As usual, held captive by cruise company for tours. I'll be doing different tours in rest of Japan, though.

Wyandotte

Hi there, absolutely agree about this 144 transit which isn't valid if a ship goes for example Japan, Shanghai, back to Japan. So here comes a question which I have asked on another thread and as yet no answer.... See if you (or anyone else) can solve it:

Ship is Japan, Shanghai, Japan and two days in Shanghai. So book a group tour through the ship and off you go on day 1 with visa granted. Day 2 arrives (or even afternoon on day 1). Can you now leave the ship without the 'group tour' need and trot off on your own?

Happy solving..... John

John...2 different visa waivers are in play. The 144 hr one relies on the ABC country transit (would not work for your senario), Princess will not even consider this for their cruises, even if ABC countries are right. The 15 day one is the one cruise passengers can use if they book a ship tour.

I will just add I got a visa so I could do a private tour and my guide said he felt we should be able to enter without visa but of course we have to follow the cruise line rules. The cuise companies will have to up- their tour list I think as more people will be avoiding teh visa fees.

John...2 different visa waivers are in play. The 144 hr one relies on the ABC country transit (would not work for your senario), Princess will not even consider this for their cruises, even if ABC countries are right. The 15 day one is the one cruise passengers can use if they book a ship tour.

I will just add I got a visa so I could do a private tour and my guide said he felt we should be able to enter without visa but of course we have to follow the cruise line rules. The cuise companies will have to up- their tour list I think as more people will be avoiding teh visa fees.

Hi Helen, take all the points, and yesterday I did what I should have done before: Checked on the actual cost of a visa from our country- Switzerland- as I was looking at a lot of posts from people from USA. So I found that China charges different for different countries. We are a lot less expensive that USA, so in the end I guess I say 'to heck with it' and get the visa. Of course I will have to go in person (twice) to Zurich, but I'll fix days when I have to go in that direction anyway, so OK. Live with it! But the cruise companies could do a lot better with this. Customer service etc. (By the way, if you are from Roumania, it costs more than from USA, but if you are from Albania, or Pakistan, or the Maldives (what did the Maldives do special to impress?) you can get a visa for China free. Funny old world isn't it?)

Happy travelling! John

I'm so thoroughly confused. We have 4 B2B's booked on Celebrity Millennium on Mar 18, 2018 beginning in Hong Kong, and then Taipei (Taiwan), Nagasaki (Japan), Busan (South Korea), JeJu Island (South Korea), Seoul (South Korea), 3 days Beijing, Shanghai on first sailing. Second sailing 3 days Beijing, Seoul, JeJu Island, Kobe (Japan), Mt Fuji (Japan), Tokyo.

Third sailing circumnavigate Japan, Fourth sailing Tokyo to Vancouver.

I've called Celebrity several times and no one seems to know. If we have to get a visa, can we get it online or where. What's the process. We live in NC and I'm hoping we wouldn't have to fly somewhere to get it. We have several other sailings booked so we're going to need to have our passports. Please help someone. Thanks

When I checked on Visas for China for a 2 day stop in Shanghai HAL and even the Chinese Embassy was confusing. I was finally able to learn that for our tour China waived visa requirements IF you had a cruise excursion booked although my friend booked the cheapest one and after that you were allowed on your own. Because you are also visiting Beijing this may or may not apply. I live in HI so visiting a Chinese embassy to obtain a visa wouldn't have worked for me, plus a regular visa cost close to $200 which I wouldn't pay just to spend a day and a half visiting. I believe it was possible to obtain the chinese visa by mail so call your embassy to find out for sure. On our cruise even after I verified that a visa would not be necessary for a cruise excursion HAL still had us sign a waiver as we boarded saying we understood we might not be allowed off the ship. I sure wish all of the cruise lines would get their acts together and present accurate information!

Hi everyone.. I have been doing some research into this but I can't seem to find out a definitive answer so I thought I'd ask here. Can I use a China 144 hour Visa for my trip next year on Quantum? The details are:

Fly from UK to Germany, 2 hour layover and change plane. Fly on to Shanghai, spend 3 nights in a hotel, board Quantum for a week going to Japan then back to Shanghai and fly home to the UK the same day using a flight via Germany again. No other ports are used in China.

I think it should be possible - as far as I can tell when the ship re docks back in Shanghai the 144 hour period for the Visa starts again. It seems getting RCI to allow/understand the issue is half the battle! Has anyone had any experience with this or can anyone advise?

Many thanks!!

This is just a suggestion for any of you who do have to get a China visa. Earlier this year we sailed from Hong Kong to Shanghai with 3 days in Beijing. So a visa was certainly required. But my advice is to request a 10 year multiple entry visa. It was the same price as single entry and 90 day visas. It was not listed as a choice but you can write it in the "other" box. We now have a visa good for the next 10 years and can take advantage of any good last minute deals to China. The price is the same so why not get the 10 year visa. We are US citizens so other folks may have different rules that apply.

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Any post cruise comments on the visa requirements and wether you needed one or not

Any post cruise comments on the visa requirements and wether you needed one or not

You need one.

Check the web for the lastest information.

This is just a suggestion for any of you who do have to get a China visa. Earlier this year we sailed from Hong Kong to Shanghai with 3 days in Beijing. So a visa was certainly required. But my advice is to request a 10 year multiple entry visa. It was the same price as single entry and 90 day visas. It was not listed as a choice but you can write it in the "other" box. We now have a visa good for the next 10 years and can take advantage of any good last minute deals to China. The price is the same so why not get the 10 year visa. We are US citizens so other folks may have different rules that apply.

 

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We are US citizens booked on a cruise that has an overnight in Shanghai. We opted to get a visa to ensure that we don't have to deal with any hiccups and/or policy changes. For us, this required a 1.5 hour drive to DC and back to drop off paperwork and a return trip to pick up passports with visas. Our visas are good for ten years which give us some future last-minute travel options to China.

The Visa Section of the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC has been significantly updated since we obtained our previous visas in 2013 and 2007. The staff are pleasant and professional. Lines that appear daunting move very quickly.

It's my understanding that the October change for cruise ship visa wavers did not strictly require you to be on a ship's shore excursion, but rather on a shore excursion run by a government approved / authorized tour agency.

 

 

 

Larry

Yes this is what I believe and what our ship’s info is... now to find an approved tour provider.... any suggestions??? The one I had been in contact with is not....

Thanks for any suggestions.

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Does anyone know where to find a list of government approved tours for Shanghai that qualify for the visa exemption?

I am looking for same.... did you find it? Or a good tour company? We go in March...

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