I am trying to fill out our applications for visa to China for PANDA. There is a line that asks:

What do we put on that line? No directions on either Chinese Embassy or Zierer sites. Do we just say "Regent Seven Seas Mariner?"

thanks,
marc

Marc...Yes that's what I put. In addition I added Regent's address & phone# in Miami. I hope that was the right information. I sent my Visa application & the request for renewal of the passports last Wednesday.

Amanda's putting down the name of one of her relatives in Shanghai for that part of the visa. I'd offer her name for all of you to use but I'd suspect that they'd charge if they found out about it. :D

Masaki

When we were in China for 3 weeks last October we put the tour company's name and Thats all that's needed I believe--no relatives name unless you are staying with them for the whole time.

Yes, it is the tour company name you use.

Ngaire, who is the tour company to use? Regent Seven Seas Cruises? If so, what address and phone number? If not, is there a tour company in China that they use? If so, I can't find name, address, and phone number.

thanks,

Regent Seven Seas
1000 Corporate Drive
Suite 500
Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33334
1-800-285-1835

They are used to Cruise lines, A&K all the American tour operators. You do not need a Chinese address just the primary tour company.

Thanks! The day after we get back from Guam we are going to head to the Chinese Embassy to get these done. Arlene will have just over two weeks before she leaves for the States so not much time.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on PANDA!!!!

Just got an e-mail from a different tour operator:

Effective August 1st, 2007, the Chinese Consulate will be increasing their China Visa Fees by $50 per visa for U.S. Passport Holders. Passegers traveling to China within a 90 day period (from date of visa application) who wish to avoid this increase may obtain their visas on or before July 31, 2007

Check with your visa service to find out what their policy and deadline dates are for this service.

Cheers, Anne

Anne, thanks!!!!!

We are now going to head to the Embassy this Thursday to get our visas. Even if we have to pay express charges it will be cheaper.

Oops....another after shock.

Marc! Strap yourself in.....my daughter in law is calling her mom in Tokyo today. She lives in a highrise. I told her to call when she was here yesterday for dinner, but she won't use our long distance! She is such a doll. Hang in there.

oops, sorry I posted in wrong thread!

My pleasure, Marc. Anything for you and Arlene. Our passports are held up in extra pages purgatory, so we will probably miss the August 1 deadline. I just didn't trust getting the passports back with the pages before we left on FJORDS. Nice problems to have, but missed opportunities nonetheless.

Hope the shocks pass over quickly. Give Tokyo Rose a hug for us!

Cheers, Anne

We need to get going on our visas, but so far we are undecided on whether to stay in HK until our flight home late Saturday night (13th) or take a 2-night side trip to Xian returning to HK. The Xian trip would require a double-entry visa, so, we need to make up our minds...

Thankfully, we did the extra passport pages routine in January, so we missed the recent crunch.

Dena

TWELVE loooong weeks after applying for a passport renewal, and my mom STILL doesn't have her passport!!! Yikes!!! Unfortunately, I sent her down to the post office with all the paperwork and instructions to EXPEDITE...she didn't understand the need to do so, and sent it regular service!! :(

So, I am biting nails here! :eek:

Dena - go to Xi'an if you haven't been there. It's fantastic. Highlight, right behind the Pearl Market, from our last trip.

Cheers, Anne

A little off topic but if you need "additional pages" - the advice from Flyertalkers is to go to the US Embassy when you are out of the country - they usually will do it "immediately".

Peter, in addition to getting new pages (which many people on business to Tokyo do over here), my colleague went down to the Embassy last month and got new passports for he and his wife including having the photos taken in 15 minutes. Definitely the way to go.

Ok - even more off-topic - Marc, we hope that the earthquake hasn't really affected you much.

Anne,

Our passports are in the same extra page purgatory . .just curious - when did you send yours in? Ours have been gone since mid May. I am never comfortable with them out of my sight - except on the ship of course.

Thanks . . Peggy

Peggy - I sent them in last week when we got home from the Norway cruise, paying for expedited service. The passport agency has them as I saw the checks have been cashed. I did check with the visa service I use; they thought the additional pages should take about 3 weeks.

We should have made time in London to get the extra pages added at the US Embassy. Live and learn ..

Cheers, Anne

Anne, when I get in trouble not taking care of things in a timely manner.....you ARE my go to person...I have to be on target for Roar2 air! Business must wait!

Cindy .. happy to help! Ninety days til the ROAR II air will open ...

Cheers, Anne

I'm guessing you put some sort of prompt in Outlook or something.... I must get on this. Even more ridiculous, I am trying to use AMEX plat miles, so I have quite a chore brewing. My guess is we will BUY tickets. Thanks Anne for the 90 day warning buzzer! So great to meet you both. Tell Gary that David has his surgery on Friday, and he is living by those instructions given.......much appreciated

Are you saying 90 days from today? July 16th?
My mind is in a tizzy,so what date do we have to start calling our various airlines? October 16th of this year? Sure hope some one keeps those dates coming at us as to when to start calling.Did I mention I'm a blonde?

Anne,

Thanks . . I just sent mine to the passport agency . . I guess I'll just have to wait . .

Thanks for the quick reply.

Peggy

Pat and Ray -

If you're looking for frequent flyer tickets, many (not all) of the airlines open their booking 331 days out. Since ROAR II arrivals are staggered over a few days in September, the "start dialing" date will be 331 days prior, or early to mid-October. There's the airline award section of the forum for the tricks re: how to get the outbound flight when the inbound flight won't open up for booking for a few weeks. Happy hunting!

Edited: thread referenced above is in Silversea forum, "Dubai to Athens April 20, 2008 Silver Whisper BK Group Cruise"

Cindy - give David our best. We're pulling for him! AMEX platinum is a great option if better fares aren't available. We are looking forward to another trip with you!

Cheers, Anne

Anne says,
This is the part I'm looking for, Anne. I searched the airline award section and cant' find it. Help, oh airline guru ! :nw:

Cindy, good luck to David.

Au contraire .. no airline guru here. Marc, Suzanne, Suzie, Olivia, Leslie, Ngaire and Peter have lots more experience than I do.

The thread I was thinking about is the Dubai to Athens April 20, 2008 Silver Whisper BK Group Cruise thread in the Silversea forum. Look at the posts on pages three & four

Cheers, Anne

Anne,
You're a guru to me :D . Thanks for the direction. I found the info. Not looking forward to the process but I'm understanding it better.

One more question about the visa application:

Form says to "attach" the picture. Do they mean, staple, glue, paper clip, or something else?

thanks,

Marc ~ When we did the China visas last year, we used a paper clip....and no one yelled at us!

Thanks Donna :hug: ! Good luck and don't wander into it without an hour to spare on the phone.

Cheers, Anne

I am sweating this. I get back from Africa mid August and leave again on August 31st for PUBS. It only gives me about 2 weeks to get it done. Sending my passport anywhere two weeks before I am due to leave does not make me a happy camper. Everyone cross your fingers for me.

TRIPLE crossed Ngaire!!!!!

Ngaire, that is scary. Too bad you can't have it done while in South Africa. It looks like their express service is "next day" but it doesn't say anything about Americans being able to get their visas in South Africa (while Chinese Embassy here specifically mentioned Americans). Here is the link to Chinese Embassy in Johannesburg.

Chinese Embassy Consular Services

I was sweating ours and we end up having ample time. We went down to embassy this morning and passports will be ready next Monday. Our only "issue" was that we don't have alien registration cards so we had to make pictures of our id cards and go back to end of line.

BTW, they had bottles of glue at embassy for gluing on pictures.

Fingers crossed here, Ngaire. Good luck!

No time in Johannesburg it is plane to plane. I am sure it will be okay, I have my "visa princess Jennifer" on the case!

Sheri,

We just went through a harrowing experience with my daughter's passport renewal. We submitted it almost 17 weeks ago and did not expedite ( we were told we didn't need to! Yeah, right!). A few weeks ago I started reading in various message boards the horror stories. You have no idea!
We were advised to contact our Congressman, which we did. His aide helped us and , finally, yesterday wew received her passport!

Please have your parents contact their congressperson! It seems all congresspersons have an aide dedicated to this task!

It's a MESS!!!

Good luck!

Hi Maria!

Yes, this is a real nail-biter!!

I actually did contact the Congressman's office. His aide proceeded to give me the phone number to call and check on the status of the application. I had already called and spent hours on the phone with them. I asked if they couldn't do something more, and he said that all they could do was call and get the status. :mad: :rolleyes:

Soooo...the last few times I called, I lowered myself to lying - I told them we were leaving on August 12th!! I hate lying, but if it means going on this cruise or sitting at home because of a delayed passport....

Anyway, the last peson I talked to moved our date up even more to July 31, which is in 2 weeks...apparently the "magical date range". They are now, or at least they SAY they are upgrading the application to expedited and overnighting the delivery of the passport. We shall see!!

ARGH!

Sheri

p.s. Ngaire, my fingers are also crossed for you!!