Millennium Asian cruise info please

I would love to hear more about your experiences. We are in the planning stages for Mar 19 Hong Kong to Shanghai. The emphasis being on China as that will be our daughter's heritage tour. Are the visa rules crystal clear as I heard about the 144 hr rule but am fuzzy on it? Our experiences with Celebrity consist only with S class ships in the Caribbean.

 

It looks like we will be on the same cruise...

We did Southeast Asia on Constellation in March and Japan to China on Millennium in October. We loved both cruises and we are looking forward to visiting Asia again.

 

Yes, the rules are crystal clear.

The Shanghai 144 hour visa free rule would not apply since we are not sailing into Shanghai from another country but Beijing. Beijing also has a visa free transit rule. However we are leaving to Shanghai, not another country.

These visa free rules work only if you go from country A to China (country B) and leave directly to country C. Not from one city to the other.

 

We were able to make use of the 144 hour rule on our last cruise. Not this one though...

I would love to hear more about your experiences. We are in the planning stages for Mar 19 Hong Kong to Shanghai. The emphasis being on China as that will be our daughter's heritage tour. Are the visa rules crystal clear as I heard about the 144 hr rule but am fuzzy on it? Our experiences with Celebrity consist only with S class ships in the Caribbean.

 

What we did was 5 nights in Hong Kong before the cruise. We stayed in Kowloon at the Sheraton on Nathan road. We rode the hop on hop off bus in Hong Kong and Kowloon. We also did a day trip to Macau. In Shanghai we had a private tour booked through Shanghai Highlights of Shanghai with drop off at Shanghai Disney Hotel. We did 5 nights at Disney, but only had a 2 day pass. I think 2 days is plenty of time for Disney. We rode the metro in HK and Shanghai. The metro in Shanghai was real nice clean and in english. We did the hop on hop off bus in Shanghai it was very crowded, but we were in town on the Chinese New Year. It was part of the fun. Beijing we booked a private tour with overnight in Beijing.

Paid my final payment today. On the invoice it states that visas will be available on the ship for American citizens at $6pp.

 

We are booked on the Millie in February but also sailed to Vietnam on the Millie in 2015. They do collect your passports, you do present a photocopy of the ID page, and they do issue you (at least Americans) a form of visa called a "passenger landing card". The charge is in the $6 range, is mandatory even if you don't leave the ship, and is done automatically. That card is inspected as you exit and re-enter the ship at each Vietnam port of call. Interestingly, the card is collected by the government at your last port of call. I have attached a photo of the cards received. My travel agent tells me the procedure will remain the same in 2018.

 

Mike in Ohio

My very dear friends are curently on board Milli and report daily - very interessting. I did the same cruise 3 years ago. They report that they feel the ongoing cost cutting here and there. The ship is in great shape and exeptionell clean- almost 18 years old and that is vissible here and there. Nothing really serious though. What they found- as did I on the Silhouette two years ago- is that the food in the Buffet Restaurant is a disgrace and the worst they ever had on board a X ship. Food in the dinning room soso- not in the least comparable as to how it used to be. Staff and service impecable as usual.

A waiter told them that Milli is up for sale since a few years but nobody wants her. LOL!

I am confused about the passport or picture copies. Do I just need to take color photocopies of our passports? We leave for our SE cruise next week, so I better get on it!

 

 

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We sailed o the Millennium 11/12/17 sailing round trip out of Singapore, with port stops in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Phillipines and Malaysia. When we boarded, we were never asked for a cop of our passport, Celebrity just took them, and processed our visa's for Vietnam and also our entry card for the Phillipines. We needed to show them when we got on and off the ship at those ports.

 

I did a live review from our sailing, here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2563457

We also received the email from Celebrity regarding Vietnam visa. On previous cruises we had always entered Vietnam under ship obtained visa. Have contacted Celebrity Australia and also Miami to confirm that visa is available on Millenium.

What they found- as did I on the Silhouette two years ago- is that the food in the Buffet Restaurant is a disgrace and the worst they ever had on board a X ship.

 

A waiter told them that Milli is up for sale since a few years but nobody wants her. LOL!

 

Funny, we cruised on Millennium in October (and will again in March).

We are usually not buffet eaters. However, on that cruise we enjoyed the food at the buffet (made to order stirr fry, cooked to order steaks etc.) so much, we even had dinner at OCV a few times.

 

BTW: two Millennium class ships are for sale. That is hardly any news. You can find related posts here and even links to the sales website.

I am very happy you loved the buffet. Congrats Miaminice!

We sailed o the Millennium 11/12/17 sailing round trip out of Singapore, with port stops in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Phillipines and Malaysia. When we boarded, we were never asked for a cop of our passport, Celebrity just took them, and processed our visa's for Vietnam and also our entry card for the Phillipines. We needed to show them when we got on and off the ship at those ports.

 

I did a live review from our sailing, here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2563457

Thank you! Guess what? Because we are staying over night in Halong Bay, we have had to have a formal portrait session to get official visas and we did have to get those visas secured before we left Thailand. According to the ship personnel, those staying over night need to disclose this to guest services early in the cruise or yo the suite concierge to have this handled.:) whew!

 

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I might have missed an answer to this question, but here goes...we are on the B2B from Tokyo that ends in Hong Kong. This particular cruise stops first in Japan, then Shanghai, then Japan again, and then Hong Kong. Anyone know if we will need a VISA for China? Thank you

I might have missed an answer to this question, but here goes...we are on the B2B from Tokyo that ends in Hong Kong. This particular cruise stops first in Japan, then Shanghai, then Japan again, and then Hong Kong. Anyone know if we will need a VISA for China? Thank you

 

If the stop before and after Shanghai are both in Japan, yes. In order to use the 144 hour visa free rule, the next stop has to be in a third country.

If the stop before and after Shanghai are both in Japan, yes. In order to use the 144 hour visa free rule, the next stop has to be in a third country.

thank you. That's what I thought.