Vietnam Visa

[sabrefan]

Booked on the cruise Hong Kong to Singapore in March 2025 via the Solstice. There are three port stops in Vietnam. Just wondering for those who have done this cruise before if Celebrity has a blanket visa for Vietnam?

[Texas41]

YES

[patty1955]

No. We were just in Vietnam in March and we had to get our own visa.

On our cruise, someone posted:

The e-visa application is fairly straightforward as long as you enter the correct information. Most common mistakes are the checkpoints, address in Vietnam and city/province. Also keep upload self portrait photo and passport photo (jpeg format) about 2 MB in file size. 

 

"Information About the trip"
Entry through checkpoint - Vung Tau Seaport 
Exit through checkpoint - Nha Trang Seaport
Intended temporary resident address in Vietnam - Celebrity Millennium, Phu My Port, Phú Mỹ, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Vietnam
City/Province - BA RIA - VUNG TAU

[Miaminice]

No! Definitely not. We just did the cruise over the holidays. Celebrity advised everyone that - contrary to some years ago - you had to arrange your own visa.

 

We didn’t need one because we have German passports, but our friends from the US did. Easy to apply for E-visas online.

 

BTW: here’s our review:

 

[mahdnc]

6 hours ago, sabrefan said:

Booked on the cruise Hong Kong to Singapore in March 2025 via the Solstice. There are three port stops in Vietnam. Just wondering for those who have done this cruise before if Celebrity has a blanket visa for Vietnam?

 

 

My understand is that there was time before COVID that Celebrity would take care of the required visas for Vietnam.  Since Celebrity has resumed their Asia sailings in 2023, it is the passenger's responsibility to get them.

 

We (USA citizens) cruised from Singapore to Hong Kong on the Dec 22 2023 Solstice sailing.  Here is the email that we received from Celebrity before the cruise regarding visas (a portion of which is in the screenshot below).  The letter had links that took us to these other web pages: Vietnam Visa Requirements and Vietnam E-Visa Information.

 

When we boarded Solstice, we handed over our passports to the ship (link to Celebrity documents).  We also received this "Immigration and General Information" letter when we boarded.

 

There were quite a few passengers on our sailing that boarded Solstice without having taken care of their Vietnam visa ahead of time.  When I visited Guest Relations early in the cruise, you could hear passengers inquiring with the GR officer about the status of their visa.  When we got off at our first Vietnamese port, there was a woman who was pulled aside by a security officer explaining to her that her visa has not been approved yet (must have applied when she got on the ship).  

 

The embarkation process at the Singapore cruise terminal included a check to see if you had your Vietnam visa.  If you didn't have it, you were permitted to board, you just couldn't get off at a Vietnamese port until that situation was resolved (the "Immigration and General Information" letter detailed what the ship could and couldn't do for you in regards to applying for a visa while onboard).

 

So, yes, you need to apply for your Vietnam visa yourself (assuming that you are required to have one).  You definitely do not want to miss those ports!  Applying for the visa online is not entirely straight forward because it is unclear what information to put down in all fields.  The first time I applied, it was rejected because of an error on how I entered my name.  The email that we received from Celebrity and the information from the links gave detailed instructions on how to fill out the visa application fields.

 

Edited June 15 by mahdnc

[mahasamatman]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We (USA citizens) cruised from Singapore to Hong Kong on the Dec 22 2023 Solstice sailing. Here is the email that we received from Celebrity before the cruise regarding visas (a portion of which is in the screenshot below). The letter had links that took us to these other web pages: Vietnam Visa Requirements and Vietnam E-Visa Information.

 

How long before the cruise did you get this email? Was there sufficient time to get all your visas or did you start before receiving the email?

[billc23]

14 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

How long before the cruise did you get this email? Was there sufficient time to get all your visas or did you start before receiving the email?

About 4 weeks. Too short of a time frame for me. I would suggest doing it earlier as long as you have the correct entry and exit ports. Also, a single entry Visa is fine as long as you do not go to another country and then return to Vietnam. FWIW, Celebrity sent out the wrong information, as far as ports are concerned, on their initial email for my sailing and corrected it a day later! I was there in February 2024 on Silversea and they did the Visa for all passengers and then in March 2024 on the Solstice for which I obtained my own Visa. 

[mahdnc]

50 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

 

How long before the cruise did you get this email? Was there sufficient time to get all your visas or did you start before receiving the email?

 

 

The date stamp of the email is visible in the link.  The letter was sent on Nov 23 for our Dec 22 sailing.  In my opinion it was sent out early enough for people to get their visas in time before the cruise--for those of us that didn't have a ton of vacation before the cruise.  The Vietnam visa took about 2-3 business days to turnaround but I had to submit it twice because I did not enter my name exactly as it appeared in my passport during the first attempt (where my first name and middle name are run together on my passport and appear as one single first name).  I got it on the second try.  

 

However I like to get the visa stuff done a little early and so I completed it in late October.  And then 3 weeks later I get the email from Celebrity which includes suggestions/instructions on how to fill out each field in the Vietnam visa online application form which would have been nice to have to begin with.  I didn't know whether a multiple entry or single entry visa was needed for our multiple port cruise.  So I played it safe and made a multiple entry visa application which is more expensive but the letter I got later said that a single entry visa was sufficient.  So in that sense, the email was sent to me too late.  

 

In some ways, it's a no-win situation for Celebrity.  Send it too early and there are some recipients that will set it aside to take care of later and then they forget.  Send it too late is another understandable problem.

 

In the end, I was astounded by the apparent number of passengers that did not have their Vietnam visa when they boarded Solstice.  Then again, if you assume that 1 out of 29 passengers don't have their visa on a ship that can carry 2900 passengers (this was a Christmas cruise), that's still a lot of people.  I don't know the actual count, but when I went to Guest Relations, it was crowded and you could hear the GR officer say something like, "Sorry, sir, nothing yet, these things can take a couple of business days and we have not control over that.  Check back tomorrow".  As we were key carding out as we got off the ship, I could hear the security officer say to a woman who was standing by herself and not allowed to get off the ship, "no, your visa is not ready yet, that is all I know, you'll need to talk to Guest Relations... blah blah blah"

Edited June 15 by mahdnc