Visas & Shore Excursions?? (ASIA)

[BettyNL]

How is this handled by Celebrity when we book theirs?? Will they have a "blanket" coverage for all the participants??

 

Also, what are the requirements when booked independently but still leaving from the ship??

[cruisead]

You will be told which countries require an individual visa and which one will have blanket visas. I know from experience, you'll need an individual visa for China and Australia. You can apply for the Australian visa online, and it's very easy. If you're going to do things independently, you will need individual visas in many countries. AND, even if you're not getting off the ship, and the country requires a visa, you will still need one, regardless. Hong Kong doesn't require a visa for US citizens and neither does Singapore. Usually a blanket visa is what's required for Vietnam.

[ocngypz]

And depending upon your actual itinerary, you may require multiple entry visas (especially China).

[BettyNL]

Thanks for the quick response!

 

No China or Australia; just Vietnam & Cambodia.

 

My initial inquiry regarding "a blanket visa" referred to the cruise line getting coverage for all those on board.

 

Don't know if it would be less of a hassle to just purchase the ship's shore excursions and have them handle this and for us to avoid the whole visa thing..........

[kitty9]

Betty, I've been to both those places a couple of times and believe me, you really don't want to go off on your own in either place. We needed our own visa for Cambodia regardless of whether we did a ship's tour or a private one, but the ship covered us for our four day stops in Vietnam. If you dock the same place we did in Vietnam--Ho Chi Minh City, there's nothing in the area---it's very industrial and not the safest place. I always tell people to try to go it alone in many places, but for Vietnam and Cambodia, I always tell them, if they've never been there before, to stick with the ship's tours. Don't miss the trip to the CuChi Tunnels in Ho Chi Minh. It's fascinating. Hopefully, you'll have more than one day there as you really need a lot of time, especially if you do a side trip to Hanoi