Problem with Visa

Hi, I have a big problem with a VISA for Vietnam. I will cruise on Millennium next january and 2 of the ports of call are in Vietnam. First of all I am italian, living in italy and I have been cruising with celebrity for years. You have to know that the Celebrity help phone number in Italy it's something crazy, if you phone you never get the same answer twice and it happens not only to me, but also to my travel agent. First time I was told I had to arrange by myself for the Visa, which means sending my passport away to a Vietnam Ambassy. Second time with another operator I was told that Celebrity provides a collective Visa while onboard. Has anyone any idea about what I must do? Do you have any email address I can write to, or phone number? I tried to write through the website, but I got no answer.

Ty, Cinzia

I would not rely on the cruise line or an travel agents answer.

Contact the embassy / consulate directly

Sorry but contacting the embassy/consulate will not answer the question as to whether or not Celebrity will provide a visa on board the ship.

Hopefully, someone who has visited Vietnam on a Celebrity ship will comment.

When we have visited Vietnam on other cruise lines as long as our cruise did not start in Vietnam the cruise line obtained the visa for Vietnam for us and there was nothing we needed to do other than once on board if we needed something different from the normal visa (e.g., if there was an overnight and we were staying over at a hotel you needed a slightly different visa which they still obtained on board at a somewhat higher cost) we just needed to stop by the reception desk to advise them of this.

Keith

We visited vietnam on the Millenium. The visas were issued on board. There are actually two visas...one for those who will only be taking day trips from the ship...and another for those staying overnight in a Vietnam hotel (which is what we did in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City). The cost was somewhere around $35 for the day trip visa (covered all the stops) and $75 for the overnight stays visa (also covered all the stops).

We are US citizens....I can't tell you if the same procedure works for those that aren't US citizens.

FYI...Calling Celebrity in the US is no different...call twice get two answers. We had a great deal of difficulty finding out about visas for our cruise because celebrity kept giving different answers and telling us to contact different people. Very frustrating...and very poorly handled by Celebrity. I would have hoped they had changed by now and gave full information on Visas....sorry you are still going through this.

UPDATE: Apparently Visa fees are changing (down) in vietnam....and it's in flux. Read the following:

http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/25368/...vietnam-by-sea

http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/25051/vietnam-waives-visas-for-tourists-from-seven-countries

Hi, I have a big problem with a VISA for Vietnam. I will cruise on Millennium next january and 2 of the ports of call are in Vietnam. First of all I am italian, living in italy and I have been cruising with celebrity for years. You have to know that the Celebrity help phone number in Italy it's something crazy, if you phone you never get the same answer twice and it happens not only to me, but also to my travel agent. First time I was told I had to arrange by myself for the Visa, which means sending my passport away to a Vietnam Ambassy. Second time with another operator I was told that Celebrity provides a collective Visa while onboard. Has anyone any idea about what I must do? Do you have any email address I can write to, or phone number? I tried to write through the website, but I got no answer.

Ty, Cinzia

I would err on the side of safety, usually cruise lines do NOT provide visas for travel, in my experience.

Alas, here in the U.S. X's website tells us that we are responsible for travel documents such as passports and visa's (I would presume it is the same worldwide):

http://www.celebritycruises.com/frequently-asked-questions#faq460

bon voyage and whatever you decide to do about getting your visa, sooner is better than later for sure or within the time requirements for the countries you plan to visit.

i still would not rely on information given by Celebrity, or anyone else than the embassy.

I would and do contact the embassy since they really know what do to do and what kind of Visa I need to enter their country.

The following chart is for US and Canadian Citizens only...but may be helpful

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/Passport_and_Visa_Requirements.pdf

We had two stops in Vietnam on our Century cruise earlier this year. The ship obtained the visas for us, and we were charged $15 to our sea pass accounts. Some people had obtained their own visas and were quite upset that they had had gone to the trouble of doing it and paid more money as well. I think $75 was mentioned as their cost. We travelled on Canadian passports and our friends were British with EU passports.

Sheila

We had two stops in Vietnam on our Century cruise earlier this year. The ship obtained the visas for us, and we were charged $15 to our sea pass accounts. Some people had obtained their own visas and were quite upset that they had had gone to the trouble of doing it and paid more money as well. I think $75 was mentioned as their cost. We travelled on Canadian passports and our friends were British with EU passports.

 

Sheila

Yes we were on the President's cruise and the one prior. Viet Nam visas were obtained onboard.

thanks for all your answers, I am still confused and I think that at the end I will get the Visa here in Italy, just to be sure, but I will get upset as soon as i discover i could have get it while on the cruise. :)

thanks for all your answers, I am still confused and I think that at the end I will get the Visa here in Italy, just to be sure, but I will get upset as soon as i discover i could have get it while on the cruise. :)

Unfortunately, that's probably the only safe way unless you get some written confirmation from celebrity that they will be able to issue a visa to someone with an Italian passport on-board.

Yeah. Now I have emailed the adress I found on the website, the one for visas. Let's see if I get an answer that can solve my problem

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I have visited Viet Nam by cruise ship on several occasions over the past 10 years. (Not Celebrity). In each case the ship gets the visa for our shipboard stops and charges our shipboard account, so at least the cruise lines can do this. (I am a US citizen.)

I would certainly hope that Celebrity would in time let you know what Visas they can provide and which ones you need to get. Whenever we have traveled to ports requiring a Visa, about final payment time we get detailed instructions from the cruise line -again I hope Celebrity would do the same.

In our experience, the cruise line information will be for the US and any other countries (which they list) were the requirements are known to be the same. Then the information refers the future cruisers for OTHER countries where to get the appropriate information. It makes things easy, BUT the information is usually not sent until final payments are in. Again, I would hope Celebrity will be as helpful and suspect they will be. They do NOT want folks who must do their own Visa work to arrive at the ship without the proper paperwork. For many countries with Visa requirements, ALL on board must have a Visa whether of not you plan to get off the ship.

thanks for all your answers, I am still confused and I think that at the end I will get the Visa here in Italy, just to be sure, but I will get upset as soon as i discover i could have get it while on the cruise. :)

Hopefully you will hear back. Since Sunfloer noted that Celebrity obtained visas on board their voyage I am sure that will be the case for you too.

There are some countries where visas are normally obtained by the ship including places such as Vietnam and Cambodia.

That is not possible for countries such as getting visas for Brazil, mainland China and India to name a few.

I am sure you will be ok but yes if I wa you I would want written confirmation from the cruise line.

Keith

The OP is from Italy....and that may or may not cause country specific issues.

Yes I know OP is from Italy and no that won't be an issue.

Keith

I would err on the side of safety, usually cruise lines do NOT provide visas for travel, in my experience.

 

Not true. Many cruise lines, including Celebrity, do provide blanket visas for their passengers in many countries. We've had Celebrity provide visas for us in Russia and Vietnam. But remember, things might be different for an Italian National than it is for a US citizen.

thanks for all your answers, I am still confused and I think that at the end I will get the Visa here in Italy, just to be sure, but I will get upset as soon as i discover i could have get it while on the cruise. :)

I prefer you look at it this way 'you will not be as upset if you realized when pulling into port that you needed to have gotten your visa before hand and cannot get off the ship..'

:)

Foks, for those of you who have not sailed Vietnam, the cruise lines do get visas for the guests. Again OP needs to just confirm this but this really is common. Exception is if your cruise begins there.

Keith

Ty all I will wait for the replay to my email and will keep you posted. [emoji2]

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I had a similar dilemma - not knowing whether to go through the aggravation to get a visa or not.

We are on the Millennium in November.

So I sent them an e mail and below is the response I got - which I will of course take with me - but is very clear that the visa will be dealt with on board.

In my email to them I told them I was from the UK and that I was doing independent tours.

Thank you for your email.

The current situation with Vietnam visas is as follows.

Vietnam

Guests will be able to secure visa onboard the vessel for a one-time fee of less than $50/pp which will be charged to their onboard account.

So you do not need to organise anything prior to travel.

We look forward to welcoming you on board.

Kind Regards

David Molloy

Guest Support Unit

Celebrity Cruises

3 The Heights I Brooklands I Weybridge I Surrey I KT13 0NY

T: 0844 493 2092

CustomerServiceUK@CelebrityCruises.com I http://www.celebritycruises.co.uk

Celebrity Cruises, Best Premium Cruise Company - Travel Weekly Globe Awards

2014

I suggest you email them direct and then you have the comfort that you need.

Hope that helps

Thanks, I hope to receive a similar answer:)

Till now no answer from Celebrity, I am really upset:(

After emailing everywhere, I finally got an answer from Royal Caribbean Italy. i will be able to obtain the VISA onboard. :):)

I am cruising on the Millennium in December and am taking a private tour that goes to Angkor Wat and back to the boat. This is going to require a multiple-entry visa to Vietnam. Has anyone had experience with this on-board? It's interesting that all of the tour companies I am getting quotes from for this side trip have told me that the procedures they would use for a pre-arranged visa for Vietnam could not be used for cruise ships.