YWGcruisers

This just in from the Visa dept at OC... "I hope this email finds you well and thank you for your patience with us while you await a concrete response regarding the China visa. I began working on obtaining specific details regarding the exception prior to receiving your original email and have been providing Luigi and our managers with any information received during that time. Hopefully, it has all reached you. That said, I now have detailed information to provide you and all our valued guests with regarding the China visa exemption. Most, if not all of our itineraries do qualify for the 15-day China visa exemption as I believe all begin in Shanghai; one of the visa exempt requirements. Your cruise certainly qualifies for it. All guests must enter mainland China via Shanghai and sail all the way through to the ship’s departure from China in order to complete final clearance at the last Chinese port. Another requirement in order to be visa exempt is that guests must take part in an organized shore excursion as the tour operator will be responsible for submitting necessary documents to immigration for formalities. You may book a shore excursion offered through Oceania Cruises or an independent third-party tour operator. If the latter, kindly ensure your travel advisor selects a well-established one in China able to do the same. Any guests wishing to go ashore on their own MUST secure a Chinese tourist visa on their own in advance of the cruise. I will be working on removing the China visa requirement information from the applicable itineraries in addition to removing the visa from any reservations who opted into the China visa through us."

I'm sure you are because it is my understanding that you would have to travel up to DC for your interview/fingerprinting and give up your passports for 1-4 business days depending on current processing times and how much extra you are willing to pay before you can return to pick them up. In Canada, we can give them a "prepaid Xpresspost envelope" to send everything back as their processing time is usually 3-10 business days.

Just rec'd this today from OC... "Thanks for your email. Yes, our Visa, dept. confirmed no third parties can secure a Chinese visa for any nationality requiring one. The individual must apply on their own." Still no word on whether we can take advantage of the visa exemption policy for Shanghai if we have shorex booked with OC. One small step at a time I guess!

Yep. No one is going to Russia any time soon. The same goes for Myanmar. Oceania has already adjusted those cruises for the rest of the year and told us they will likely be amending the yearend sailing on the Riviera through Asia before this fall if conditions remain the same.

Just rec'd a response from O's visa dept. via our TA..."we are currently reviewing post-Covid requirements as there is a possibility a visa for mainland China is not required." Please keep the pressure on them to adjust their policy.

Folks are probably not thinking about visas yet until closer to final payment. By the way there is no office in Florida and they closed the office in Houston so guests in the south including Texas have to go to Washington DC for the in person interview according to the official USA PRC appointment website.

email guestrelations@oceaniacruises.com. The more people that put pressure on them, the faster we will get a resolution. There is no excuse not to offer the visa exemption.

Thanks for sharing your story. I connected with another couple that had to travel from Phoenix to LA for their interview at the Chinese consulate for their cruise pre-covid. I think it might be our last opportunity to get to mainland China. So grateful that we got to visit St. Petersburg with Silversea a few years back. They also had an exemption if you participated in excursions in and around this port city. You only needed a visa if you did the trip to Moscow.

We thought of that but worst case scenario we will fly to Toronto for a couple of days and get it done. Just seems so unnecessary when the Chinese government has an exemption for cruise ship passengers in transit. Other guests on Silversea, Seabourn and HAL have been able to take advantage of the exemption in the past. Not sure why NCL has never offered it to their guests.

Please re-visit my original post. If you are not booked on a cruise with a stop in Shanghai then I'm not sure why people on here are commenting unless they have done their due diligence. I have been in touch with CIBT (as directed in our guest statement) and the Chinese consulate in Toronto and if we need a Chinese tourist visa we must show up in person. Same applies in the USA. Simple as that! We are trying to get others to complain to Oceania to change their policy and honor the exemption.

I just visited the American site and it is not saying anything different from the Canadian site. You and @AMHuntFerry are wasting our time on this post! Perhaps you should do some research and contact the Chinese consulate nearest you.

Worst case scenario, we book our excursions with a third party to provide us with the exemption papers we need to board. We would just have to get enough folks to do that, so they don't deny us boarding without Chinese visas. We are hopeful though that OC will see the possible loss of revenue and offer the exemption with their excursions.

To put things into perspective, OC has come up with the best itinerary I have ever seen on the Riviera from Dubai to Tokyo (82 days) late December to the end of March. Unfortunately, there is an overnight in Shanghai which mucks things up. Not happy about going there but it may be the last opportunity ever!

I cannot find what you are referring to. If you can't fill out an online form and submit it, I'm sure someone will take your $$$ to do it for you. Once the embassy/consulate receives your application, they will grant you an appointment where you must attend in person and hand over your passport. Once your visa has been approved, everything will be returned to you. See all the details here... https://visaguide.world/asia/china-visa/china-visa-from-usa/

You might consider checking your information sources before posting. This may have been the case years ago but not today!

I wish that were true but pre-covid lockdown of China, O required a Visa and they are telling us that the same applies now. They have never offered this to their guests. I have senior management reviewing their policy. No decision yet.

Unfortunately, expeditors like CIBT are no longer allowed to handle Chinese visas. They must be done in person by the individual requesting them.

For those of you booked on an Asian Oceania cruise this fall or winter with a stop in Shanghai your guest statement indicates that you must obtain a Chinese tourist visa even though Shanghai has an exemption for cruise ship passengers in transit on organized tours. To take advantage of this exemption all you need to do is book a shore excursion either with the cruise line or with a registered tour agency. If you are unaware of the process of getting a Chinese tourist visa, it is very complicated process as follows; Depending on your consular district, (for Americans) you will need to travel to either Washington DC, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco and (for Canadians) you will need to travel to Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal, to have an in person interview with your application, passports and provide your biometric fingerprints. A very onerous and expensive process indeed. It is my understanding that other cruise lines (RCL and Carnival Corp.) have provided this exemption to their guests since 2016 if the guest wasn't going ashore independently or participating in a land program outside of the Shanghai district. NCL needs to do the same for their guests. Perhaps, if more guests pressured Oceania either directly or via their travel advisor to change their policy, it would certainly make it easier for us all.

Just check the OC website for all the details regarding the Insignia and Nautica sailings next month. It has already been updated. They will likely do the same for the Riviera sailing in December in due time.

Hi Bob, Thank you for the update. It’s almost exactly what I had anticipated except for the Port Blair stop in the Andaman islands. We just have to be patient now and wait for them to adjust the itineraries for the remainder of the year so that we can plan alternate shorex. Take care and happy sailing!

This is very upsetting to read. Not how you would expect a premium cruise line to take care of their guests. FYI… marketing at Oceania put your sailing on sale this weekend at 45% off without adjusting the itinerary. Unbelievable!

Hi Bob, We really appreciate your efforts while you’re on board right now. I have been writing the Miami office over the last few weeks (copying all senior management) and I’ve escalated it all the way to the Vice President of the company. I finally received a response yesterday that we should hear something soon. We too, have a vested interest as we have a similar sailing from Dubai to Singapore that includes three days in Myanmar and four days at sea. We want to know what their plan is before we commit to this segment of the sailing. Looking forward to hearing from you again soon!

I don't understand why anyone on board the Insignia right now can't get any information about their week at sea that includes 3 days in Myanmar. They are supposed to be there in a couple of weeks. An alternate plan must already be in place. Whats the big secret?!

No one is going to Myanmar as I mentioned earlier as I’ve been tracking marine traffic. Viking, Seaborn, and Silversea to name a few have been avoiding it for months if not years. Oceania has been marketing the port, and hasn’t taken the time to adjust the itineraries yet. It is my opinion that they are waiting to see if conditions improve which we know they will not and this is going to cost them because it takes up one week of our itineraries. There are two sailings this spring, one on the Insignia (part of the ATW), one on the Nautica, then one in the winter on the Riviera. Most media outlets raised an eyebrow when Oceania marketed their grand voyages through Myanmar last year. Contrary to what some others have said, in my experience, because this is a significant portion of the itinerary, you will likely get offered at some point an onboard credit or a refund or the ability to change you sailing when they finally get around to changing this itinerary. Shame on them!

I wouldn’t worry as you’re likely not going there. I have been following marine traffic for a few months now, and everyone’s been avoiding it entirely and spending more time in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Not sure why Oceania always leaves port changes like this to the last minute. It’s unconscionable. This country has been under military rule for over two years now and no one else is planning to go there until 2024/ 2025.