PRINCESS: Buy Vietnam visa in advance or onboard?

:confused:I'm booked on the Sept. 19 "Circle North Pacific" cruise aboard the Coral Princess. They give a choice between buying the Vietnam visa in advance, or, buying it onboard. I'd rather do it onboard to avoid the hassle now. Does anyone have experience with this?

yes, just was added to OBA around $55 +1 USD June 2017, but I have heard some have paid less on other sailings. MHO...why bother to put effort & treasure into a visa you may never use, meaning if "life" comes up and u cancel the cruise....... and as u say simply less hassle.

We also just purchased onboard. Much simpler.

I live in Vietnam. Visa rules are constantly in a state of flux depending on whose palm is being crossed.

Visiting Vietnam on a cruise ship, I would always let the line do the visa in the hope the price will go down... or disappear altogether.

The exception would be if I had an overnight excursion planned that was not booked through the cruise line. In this case, it's unlikely the line would be able to have you included in a 'bulk' visa on arrival. You should have the appropriate visa before leaving home to embark the ship.

I live in Vietnam. Visa rules are constantly in a state of flux depending on whose palm is being crossed.

Visiting Vietnam on a cruise ship, I would always let the line do the visa in the hope the price will go down... or disappear altogether. .

And that is exactly why I chose to let Princess take care of it for us. After researching the issue, I didn't want to show up with the wrong visa or an invalid one.

Let Princess take care of it.

We also just purchased onboard. Much simpler.

Was there a form in your stateroom for the Visa application & where did you go to apply?

When did you travel & what was the charge for the visa?

Did you have to leave your passport & how long did it take to get the visa?

Thanks!

Tom😎

yes, just was added to OBA around $55 +1 USD June 2017, but I have heard some have paid less on other sailings. MHO...why bother to put effort & treasure into a visa you may never use, meaning if "life" comes up and u cancel the cruise....... and as u say simply less hassle.

I’m not sure what OBA means. Can you explain?

I don’t see anything on my March 2019 cruise.

Tom😎

I’m not sure what OBA means. Can you explain?

I don’t see anything on my March 2019 cruise.

Tom��

On Board Account

I think the info on the visa was in my travel summary, we did have a pre-cruise price.

Going on a cruise in South East Asia paper work is delivered to your stateroom almost daily(often with passport etc info already in place ) you sign it and it is picked up by your attendant. Usually the ship takes your passport when you board and returns it at times you will need it and then collects it again. This has happened on so many cruises, I don't pay attention anymore...to who, what, where and especially why...as it is just they way it is, when traveling on a river or ocean cruise ship in "exotic" places or even hotels in some countries.

My wife and I traveled to Vietnam on a cruise with RCL this past May. As a US cititizen there was no need to purchase a Visa, we just need to purchase a landing card....I think it was $5 each person. We had to surrender the card when we rebounded the ship at the last port in Vietnam. I’m sure Princess must do something similar.

Vietnam is a beautiful country! Definitely book tours thru the ship! You will regret it if you don’t. Please feel free to ask any questions! We had a great experience and want others to have the same.

On Board Account

 

I think the info on the visa was in my travel summary, we did have a pre-cruise price.

 

Going on a cruise in South East Asia paper work is delivered to your stateroom almost daily(often with passport etc info already in place ) you sign it and it is picked up by your attendant. Usually the ship takes your passport when you board and returns it at times you will need it and then collects it again. This has happened on so many cruises, I don't pay attention anymore...to who, what, where and especially why...as it is just they way it is, when traveling on a river or ocean cruise ship in "exotic" places or even hotels in some countries.

Thanks for your explanation of OBA. From the posts of this thread I understood that you could sign up for the Vietnam visa through the Cruise Personalizer but I didn’t see a way to do that.

Tom😎

My wife and I traveled to Vietnam on a cruise with RCL this past May. As a US cititizen there was no need to purchase a Visa, we just need to purchase a landing card....I think it was $5 each person. We had to surrender the card when we rebounded the ship at the last port in Vietnam. I’m sure Princess must do something similar.

 

Vietnam is a beautiful country! Definitely book tours thru the ship! You will regret it if you don’t. Please feel free to ask any questions! We had a great experience and want others to have the same.

You are probably correct calling it a landing card.....but I just looked at my Princess OBA statement from our visit June 24.2017. This is what it stated.......Visa port fee 55.00 Visa port Fee $1.00. this was per person. I had read posts that said it had been reduced...lucky you traveled last May with RCI and you were able to get a reduction.

Like the poster who lives in Vietnam stated...always in Flux.

The only reason not to let the ship do it is if you plan to visit Vietnam on your own either before or after the cruise. If you are just going there on the cruise easiest and cheapest to just let the Cruise line handle it.

Someone on our upcoming cruise next Feb decided to do it on their own (misread the information from Princess). It cost him more going direct the the embassy.

According to the text below from the Travel Summary for our upcoming cruise, it can be taken care of on board and you should see the same thing on your Travel Summary:

VI E T N A M V I S A / PA S S P O R T R E Q U I R E M E N T

A Vietnam visa is required for most guests on this voyage, including Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and U.S. passport

holders. You may either obtain the visa on your own before your cruise, or a visa will be issued upon arrival in Vietnam. If you

choose to have the visa issued on board, a passport-size photo or copy of your passport photo page is required, and a visa

fee of USD $56.00 per person (USD $76.00 per person for those participating on an overland package) will be charged to

your stateroom account.

Some guests, including UK passport holders, do not require a visa; however, they will be charged $1 per person for a landing

card and a $1 per person processing fee.

All guests' passports must be valid for at least six months after departing Vietnam and must contain at least one unused page

for entry/exit endorsements.

According to the text below from the Travel Summary for our upcoming cruise, it can be taken care of on board and you should see the same thing on your Travel Summary:

 

VI E T N A M V I S A / PA S S P O R T R E Q U I R E M E N T

 

A Vietnam visa is required for most guests on this voyage, including Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and U.S. passport

holders. You may either obtain the visa on your own before your cruise, or a visa will be issued upon arrival in Vietnam. If you

choose to have the visa issued on board, a passport-size photo or copy of your passport photo page is required, and a visa

fee of USD $56.00 per person (USD $76.00 per person for those participating on an overland package) will be charged to

your stateroom account.

 

Some guests, including UK passport holders, do not require a visa; however, they will be charged $1 per person for a landing

card and a $1 per person processing fee.

 

All guests' passports must be valid for at least six months after departing Vietnam and must contain at least one unused page

for entry/exit endorsements.

Thanks for the reminder to make a copy of our Passport Photo Page. A good reminder to make sure we’ve done that if we’re getting the Vietnam Visa.

Tom😎

My wife and I traveled to Vietnam on a cruise with RCL this past May. As a US cititizen there was no need to purchase a Visa, we just need to purchase a landing card....I think it was $5 each person. We had to surrender the card when we rebounded the ship at the last port in Vietnam. I’m sure Princess must do something similar.

 

Vietnam is a beautiful country! Definitely book tours thru the ship! You will regret it if you don’t. Please feel free to ask any questions! We had a great experience and want others to have the same.

Curious if you needed to surrender you passport when you boarded? We had to do that on a South American Cruise last year.

I’ve booked the tour where they will take us into town in the area of the Ben Than market, which I have seen before, & want to show to someone. We’re on our own for a few hours. I understand that the cruise terminal is a distance from the town of Saigon.

Tom😀

Yes, we did have to surrender our passport upon checkin in Hong Kong and did not receive them back until the last day of the cruise. I just checked google again and it is still showing the cruise passengers do not need a visa.. very interesting. We did not go to Saigon. We went to Da Nang, Hue and Nha Trang. They all had very different cultures and beauties. Definitely carry plenty of USD. I did not see one business that would accept a credit card. Very few people speak English. We were glad to have our tour guide communicate for us.

Thanks for the reminder to make a copy of our Passport Photo Page. A good reminder to make sure we’ve done that if we’re getting the Vietnam Visa.

Tom��

Since you have traveled extensively, I am sure you always take a copy...I wonder if Princess requests it just incase they have a printer break down. ..I have yet to be asked for a copy I have brought at their request, they make all the copies needed on the ship.

On our June 2017 on Majestic....whether or not you got off the ship, everyone that did not have a "visa" were charged on their OBA. We did an excursion with the ship...Best of Ho Chi Minh, from the port it was a distance to the city.

You can do it through Princess here: https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=princess.

You can do it through Princess here: https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=princess.

How cool is that thanks for posting the link.....smart business move by that passport/visa vendor.

I have cruises on the Sea princess in Sept. ...saw that my cruises are listed and correct info showed.

Just found this on the Vietnamese embassy web page:

Vietnam Visa fee for cruise passengers back to US$5 per pax. International cruisepassengers will pay a US$5 visa fee each, instead of a staggering US$45, when they go ashore for a local tour, according to new measures approved last week by the Prime Minister.

Hope this can help someone.

You can do it through Princess here: https://visacentral.com/tourkits?bookmark=1&login=princess.

I’m on a 2019 cruise on the Majestic with a stop in Vietnam. It’s not on there list so I’ll contact them to see the price.

Tom🤔

Just found this on the Vietnamese embassy web page:

 

Vietnam Visa fee for cruise passengers back to US$5 per pax. International cruisepassengers will pay a US$5 visa fee each, instead of a staggering US$45, when they go ashore for a local tour, according to new measures approved last week by the Prime Minister.

Hope this can help someone.

Where did you find this on their web site?

Found it on VietnamVisaEmbassy.org, but not on VietnamEmbassy-USA.Org

Where did you find this on their web site?

 

Found it on VietnamVisaEmbassy.org, but not on VietnamEmbassy-USA.Org

I’ve been to the address you provided but I did a searchnot see anything about a $5 fee for cruise passengers.

If an link could be provided that goes directly to the page that shows that information would be helpful. If necessary I would like to be able to forward that information directly to Princess.

Tom😎

I just got off the phone with Princess asking what they knew about the Vietnam Visa & after the agent checked with other staff they could not find any new information. As I mentioned in my previous post I want to forward to Princess this information so that they can look at this so a link to this information page would be extremely helpful.

Tom😎