Which visa do we need flying from UK to Shanghai to join cruise

My husband, myself and our daughter are flying out from Heathrow UK at the end of March 2018 to join a Celebrity cruise. We will spend 2 days in Shanghai pre cruise. We sail to Seoul then arrive in Tianjin. We have booked a 3 day shore excursion of Beijing with Celebrity from this port. What type of visa will we need for China? The single entry visa would not cover our second visit to Tianjin so we are a bit confused as to what visa to apply for. Also how far in advance do we apply for our visas as some say 90 days and others 6 months. Can anyone give us advice on this as it would be much appreciated.

You can check with Celebrity if this can apply to your 3-day tour with them.

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa/free-72hour/

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Since you are flying to the UK first to Shanghai, check with your airline about their requirement for having valid visa for China ... regardless of what the cruise line is telling you, besides - contact the PRC Embassy's Consular/Visa section in London (or, nearest to you)

In general, apply as early as you can - given now, being December is just about 4 months & they do close for the holidays, including Chinese New Year, which is next February for the lunar calendar ... sometimes, for more than 2 or 3 days. Turnaround time is routinely about 1 week or less here in the Americas, surcharged $$ for urgent or next/same day issuance in case of emergencies. Your passport should not be expiring in less than 6 months.

Fees are the same whether it is for a single entry or multiple entry visas (ask for this) & mention that the 2 cities that you are scheduled to visit and see. Visas are issued/valid for up to 10 years ... same fees, as you might decide later on to visit again, like a land tour.

Or, you can locate one of the well-established Chinatown T/A in London that specialize and/or do a lot of booking to mainland China as my understanding is that they offer "runner" services to obtain visas, for a nominal fee on your behalf ... and, can also advise about whether the 72 hours / 144 hours waiver are going to cover you or not. You don't want to show up at the airport and have the counter/gate agent deny boarding for not having valid visas as the airline are fined, especially if they are playing it safe & insist on seeing your visas.