China visa for the shadow

has anyone recently traveled w stop in China on silverseas that did not require a China visa although the silverseas booking document stated visa required or boarding would be denied? I contacted Silverseas and they said a visa was required, they gave me the name of their visa service, pinnacle, I called them gave them the cruise #, and they said that cruise did not require a visa because it was within the 144 hour visa free period . I had researched myself and found did Not need one, but will we be denied boarding? Has anyone used pinnacle service that silverseas refers you to? Thanks for any feedback

I believe the same info was given to the World Cruisers on the Whisper in 2017 and the Chinese authorities did not require an individual visa. Extra expense was incurred without need.

This is just a guess, but I live in China and visa regulations are complicated and can change with NO notice. The only way to know your (current) visa situation is to know your nationality and the exact itinerary of the cruise.

Silversea is probably erring on the side of caution - they don't want to have ship full of pax with no visas and find out the day before arrival in China those pax now require visas.

I know other lines deny boarding to people who show up at embarkation without a visa... or the wrong visa.

Bill B. excellent thoughts on this which make sense to me having visited China several times by cruise ship and also once on land.

Keith

I believe the same info was given to the World Cruisers on the Whisper in 2017 and the Chinese authorities did not require an individual visa. Extra expense was incurred without need.

This turned our to be correct, however even if SS had allowed embarkation without a visa (not sure that we met anyone without a visa), who would have wanted to take the chance of not being allowed off the ship in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

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Thanks everyone for your responses which all make sense. FYI I am a us citizen , we fly into and board ship in HKG then make a 2 day stop in Shanghai and then head to Japan for remainder of the cruise. I’ll call Pinnacle again to reconfirm what services they will provide if I want a visa regardless of the itinerary.

Understanding Chinese visas and permits is a little like studying Quantum Mechanics... the phenomena are probabilistic, counter-intuitive, work differently when not directly observed, in a constant state of change, complex, and confusing to a lot of people. What makes the situation worse is that even the Chinese embassies, consulates, police, and Entry/Exit Bureau officials - the people who administer these documents - often don't seem to know the rules any better than we do.

What this all boils down to is that there really aren't many hard and fast general rules when it comes to getting visas and permits. The rules can change from consulate to consulate, from province to province, from city to city, from time to time, from person to person...making it pretty difficult to know what's true in any particular time and place.

Thanks everyone for your responses which all make sense. FYI I am a us citizen , we fly into and board ship in HKG then make a 2 day stop in Shanghai and then head to Japan for remainder of the cruise. I’ll call Pinnacle again to reconfirm what services they will provide if I want a visa regardless of the itinerary.

I also do not know the current rules. But in 2014 we flew from Chicago to Hong Kong for two days, boarded the Shadow, sailed to Shanghai for a two day visit, then on to Japan, similar to what you will do. At that time we needed a China visa.