Visa Issues Get in the Way of Having Fun, AGAIN!!! – Shanghai, China

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Tour Day 118, Cruise Day 16 – Day at Sea

Tour Day 119, Cruise Day 17 – Day at Sea

Tour Day 120 & 121, Cruise Day 18 & 19 –Shanghai, China – Just a note for my irregular readers and a refresher for my regular readers. I began the application process for a Chinese visa long before my departure from the United States last October, but, part way through the application, I was asked if my arrival would be by land or air. A small drop-down box (the ones with the question mark) informed me that arrivals by sea would have to complete their application in person at a Chinese Embassy. The closest embassy to Mesa, Arizona is Los Angeles, California (a one-day drive each way) but I learned that there was, fortunately, an embassy in Auckland, New Zealand, where I would be visiting friends for a week. Sooo, Uncle Larry decides to wait to visit the embassy in Auckland. After I arrived in Auckland, I went online to schedule an appointment but was told my application number was not valid. I knew this was not true because I had copied and pasted the screen containing the application number into an MS Word document. My friend took me to the embassy, and, as a walk-in, I spoke to a woman who did her best to help me (going so far as to enlist the aid of her supervisor). I was told they could not locate my incomplete application (that had been started in America) because they only have access to applications that were initiated in New Zealand. My application is somewhere in the Chino-American Cloud, I guess!

No visa, no cruise? I was preparing myself mentally for abandoning the six-week cruise (actually a trio of two-weekers) after the first leg of the three – Singapore to Hong Kong. I rationalized the possible misfortune by telling myself that I had accomplished my ultimate goal of returning to Vietnam. I called Holland America and was connected to the Documentation Department where I was told that I could participate in any Holland America-sponsored shore excursion while ported in China. I would not, however, be able to exit the ship to “free-lance” in China without a visa. Being in a group on a structured tour was my plan anyway. Then, I received an email from Holland America stating that China had changed its policy and now required a visa for shore excursions. I contacted my personal travel consultant at the Holland America home office in Seattle, Washington to cancel the shore excursions I had already booked. THEN, about three days before our arrival in Shanghai, I receive a hard copy that said immigration authorities would be setting up “… a dedicated channel for the 144-hour visa-free transit within the ship’s terminal.” Where in the hell did “the 144-hour visa-free transit” come from? By now, the shore excursions I wanted (and had “in the bg” a few weeks earlier) were sold out, so I decided to buycott China completely and stayed on the ship.

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