BearX

We are booked on the Sapphire Princess’ 4/25/16 Grand Asia sailing. On Thursday night, March 3rd, at just before 8:00 pm, we received an email from Princess informing us that we no longer needed to get Chinese visas for this trip.

 

Princess cited a “new” policy regarding transit travel through Shanghai as the reason. But the notification came long after most of the people on board had already spent approximately $500 per couple for these visas which Princess continually insisted that we have in order to embark the ship.

 

Also, this “new” policy is not as new as Princess portends to make it appear. It was actually publicly announced by Chinese officials in mid-December 2015, and went into effect on January 30, 2016.

 

Additionally, as early as the first week of February, people began posting threads on CC about it and trying to get Princess to revise their requirement. Princess continued to deny knowledge of the new policy and to insist that we get the visas, even after people sent written proof of the existence of the new policy. I personally called Customer Relations, and despite giving them very specific details about the change, was told we still needed to have the visas. I took them at their word that there was some reason why. We now know, of course, that there was no such reason.

 

Upon receiving the emails last Thursday, we, and the two other couples with whom we are traveling, each called Princess Customer Relations. We were all firmly and callously told that Princess management had decided to not compensate passengers in any way for the expenses we incurred in obtaining visas we did not need. Their stated reason was because” Princess did not know about it until just now”.

 

But Princess clearly bears responsibility here and owes something more than “too bad, so sad” to its passengers. Princess either knew, or should have known, about the new policy, especially once it was specifically brought to their attention, and should have acted accordingly in revising its requirements for passage. But it did not. Princess can not escape liability by denying knowledge when it was repeatedly put on notice by passengers who seemed to easily be able to ascertain that Princess could not or simply did not.

 

The facts here are as follows:

 

1) Our cruise disembarks in Shanghai.

2) Shanghai is the only port in mainland China which we will enter or exit.

3) Shanghai has long had a "72 hour visa-free transit policy”, but it applied only to travelers transiting through its two airports.

4) BUT, as of January 30, 2016, the visa exemption was extended to be for 144 hours, and would apply to ALL common carrier travel into and out of Shanghai, whether by air, cruise ship or train.

5) The formal, public announcement of the new extended policy had actually been made almost three months ago. Specifically, the formal announcement was made on December 21st, 2015, by Bai Shaokang, the deputy mayor of Shanghai, who publicly declared at a press conference that Shanghai was about to implement the 144-hour visa-free transit policy. It was further announced that the policy had been approved by the State Council and would be put into effect as of January 30th, 2016.

 

As alluded to above, for our situation, the most important change to Shanghai’s visa-free transit policy was the transit point being expanded to no longer be limited to only airports. It would now include all the major cruise ports and train stations in Shanghai, meaning that cruise ship passengers, like us, would also be able to travel visa-free through Shanghai, even on multiple methods of transport.

This was a very big change to the previous policy and it is one which completely negated the need for any of us to obtain Chinese visas for this trip, and to spend nearly $500 in doing so.

 

Moreover, it was something about which Princess, as a huge player in the travel industry, and ever- increasingly so as it continues to expand its China market, should have been fully-informed long before most of us applied for our visas.

 

Indeed, I suspect that with the new Majestic Princess being home-ported in China, someone within the Princess organization was actually actively advocating for this change, which would relax visa requirements and make cruises in China more affordable.

As a lay person without the expertise and resources that are available to a cruise line as prominent as Princess, I would not know about the changes which negated the need for the visas, but it was reasonable for me to rely on Princess to have full and current knowledge in this regard.

 

Other travel-related companies seemed to have been aware of the policy change, and acted accordingly in the best interests of their clients. For example, the website travelchinaguide.com, even published a newsletter about it on December 23, 2015. So did the website for “CNTO China Like Never Before”.

 

Why, then, did it take Princess almost three months to find out about it and change the boarding document requirements? They were actually told about it by many of us!

 

Those of us who have been adversely affected by Princess’ negligence and then total lack of concern, should join together to make our voices heard and to insist upon compensation.

 

Respectfully submitted…

Does anyone have a copy of the Princess guidance? I am on Celebrity Millenium disembarking Shanghai 9/29. Celebrity still insists we need a visa.

Jazzbeau, thanks for an informative and well-crafted review. We were on the May 17 sailing, and concur with all you describe. Celebrity does an outstanding cruise on the Xpedition. We had no problem with the A/C in room 305. We are also happy we did the Quito portion of the cruise. Best regards.