Vietnam for US Citizens

If you are traveling to Vietnam via cruise and you plan to visit on a shore excursion, does the cruise line obtain the visa for you? We did that in Russia and because we were taking a shore excursion they took care of the visa. I would like to know if this is how it also works for Vietnam.

Thank you for your help.

Vietnam - like most other countries - requires that you get a visa if your ship visits their country. It doesn't matter if you go ashore or not. You are already in their country and you need a visa.

Most cruise lines can arrange a visa for you on arrival at a Vietnamese port, but you will usually need to pay more for that service.

You can get your own visa before you cruise, costing less -but requiring more work on your part.

If you are traveling to Vietnam via cruise and you plan to visit on a shore excursion, does the cruise line obtain the visa for you? We did that in Russia and because we were taking a shore excursion they took care of the visa. I would like to know if this is how it also works for Vietnam.

 

Thank you for your help.

Check with your cruise line first - sometimes it is cheaper and certainly more convenient if you get your visa via the ship. I believe Celebrity were only charging $6 per visa recently. Princess considerable more.

Cruise lines generally arrange Vietnam port-of-call visas for all passengers. They do this on the ship & charge the cost to your on-board account. One visa covers all Vietnam ports in the itinerary.

To repeat, that's for all passengers - not just for those on ship's excursions.

It's my understanding that's the case with all cruise lines.

Can't be "100%" certain, but certain enough to say that if a member of your cruise line's staff tells you to the contrary you should tell them that you've been reassured on this website that the ship will arrange your Vietnam visa, and ask to speak to their supervisor. And the supervisor's supervisor.

Head office staff (all cruise lines) are notorious for giving incorrect info about visas, inoculations, etc. They err on the cautious side, which can cause unnecessary expense to passengers.

Nowadays the cost is trivial - around $10 to $15, which is charged to your on-board account.

(you may come across posts 2 or more years ago, when the cost was higher.)

But it's not a standard "tourist visa" - it's only good for arrival & departure on the ship.

If, for instance, you wanted to break off the cruise for a flying visit between Vietnam & Angkor Wat the ship-issued visa isn't valid. And it might not be valid if you want to overnite ashore (eg in a Hanoi hotel while your ship overnites in Halong Bay)

Russia is a little different.

Your ship's tour was visa-free, because you were accompanied by an accredited tour operator.

Same applied to your fellow-passengers who arranged independent tours through local operators such as Alla, SPB Tours, TJ Travel, & a raft of other accredited operators.

Only those who chose to go ashore and explore on their own needed a Russian tourist visa - only a handful will have chosen that route.

JB :)

On our RCI Mariner all passengers needed a Vietnam visa...the ship did these for $6.00pp and charged to your Seapass account....a few onboard had been advised (wrongly) by their TA to get these pre-cruise and those that did certainly paid a lot more for them.

Thank you for the information. We will be sailing on RCI Ovation of the Seas. It's good to know that we don't have to get Vietnam on our own. So we only have to worry about getting the Visa for China.

Cruise lines generally arrange Vietnam port-of-call visas for all passengers. They do this on the ship & charge the cost to your on-board account. One visa covers all Vietnam ports in the itinerary.

To repeat, that's for all passengers - not just for those on ship's excursions.

 

It's my understanding that's the case with all cruise lines.

Can't be "100%" certain, but certain enough to say that if a member of your cruise line's staff tells you to the contrary you should tell them that you've been reassured on this website that the ship will arrange your Vietnam visa, and ask to speak to their supervisor. And the supervisor's supervisor.

Head office staff (all cruise lines) are notorious for giving incorrect info about visas, inoculations, etc. They err on the cautious side, which can cause unnecessary expense to passengers.

 

Nowadays the cost is trivial - around $10 to $15, which is charged to your on-board account.

(you may come across posts 2 or more years ago, when the cost was higher.)

But it's not a standard "tourist visa" - it's only good for arrival & departure on the ship.

If, for instance, you wanted to break off the cruise for a flying visit between Vietnam & Angkor Wat the ship-issued visa isn't valid. And it might not be valid if you want to overnite ashore (eg in a Hanoi hotel while your ship overnites in Halong Bay)

 

Russia is a little different.

Your ship's tour was visa-free, because you were accompanied by an accredited tour operator.

Same applied to your fellow-passengers who arranged independent tours through local operators such as Alla, SPB Tours, TJ Travel, & a raft of other accredited operators.

Only those who chose to go ashore and explore on their own needed a Russian tourist visa - only a handful will have chosen that route.

 

JB :)

Not necessarily so - Princess have been receiving a bagging for charging a unfair amount for the Vietnam Visa when compared with other cruise line - they have found a way of extracting some more dollars from their passengers

Not necessarily so - Princess have been receiving a bagging for charging a unfair amount for the Vietnam Visa when compared with other cruise line - they have found a way of extracting some more dollars from their passengers

Hi Bpos,

Yes, I saw your post - but wondered whether that was a few years ago, when sums of $25 to $45 were being bandied about by all cruise lines.

And yes, Princess do have a reputation for gouging folk on such matters.:rolleyes:

For instance their assertion that in St Petersburg the only way to go ashore without buying a Russian tourist visa was to take a ship's tour. That's totally untrue - the same visa-free facility applies to tours provided by local tour operators, as per my post.

Yes, travelovers, you have to fix your own China visas - that's something cruise lines can't do for you.

But certainly RCI provide Vietnamese visas for all passengers, there's plenty of posts on Cruise Critic to confirm that. :)

JB :)

Yes, travelovers, you have to fix your own China visas - that's something cruise lines can't do for you.

But certainly RCI provide Vietnamese visas for all passengers, there's plenty of posts on Cruise Critic to confirm that. :)

 

JB :)

Thank you for letting me know. Does RCI send an email with that information? I have not seen anything on the website that says that.