Has anyone disembarked in Beijing? If so, how much was transfer to Beijing (city or airport) or did Regent provide it for free? If you went straight to airport, did you still need to get Chinese visa? As ship does not arrive until 0800, and flight on DL is at 0730, would we need to purchase transfer to city, transfer to airport, and Chinese visa?

If not Beijing, the visa question would be same if someone disembarked at Shanghai.

thanks,

Marc

Are you thinking of Kangaroo Marc? I think we are not, Frank isn't that excited about the itinerary for some reason.

There are some posts on CC about Bejiing and issues people had boarding you might want to check out. If I have the right port, Regent for whatever reason, seems to have just been totally unorganized - correct me if I'm wrong.

The problem was the special HOLIDAY that caused the absolute havoc in Beijing. The streets are jam packed so this is a situation that would not occur other than during that special holiday time. I was in Beijing during the same holiday and it was amazing we walked to the Forbidden City area and it was wall to wall people. I have been to Beijing with Regent multiple times and this was a unique and unusual occurence that would not happen in February.

Marc it takes about 3 hours to get to Beijing. When we went it was not debarkation but a special overnight complimentary package so not sure what they will charge for a transfer. There will be quite a few of us so I was going to arrange our own transportation to take those staying in Beijing overnight and we could also carry on to the airport.

There are a couple of okay hotels at the airport and with that early flight that is where i would stay. Ken and I are spending three nights - two in town probably at the Penninsula (Eugene found this great value for a great hotel) and then one night at the airport we also have an early flight.

You will need a chinese visa.

Ngaire, is Regent helping with visas? I think we would need one for Australia, too. With FUN just one month before Kangaroo, it gets a little tight on the visa without paying a fortune to a visa service.

As far as Beijing hotels go, we can recommend the Hilton and The Opposite House. Opposite House was fantastic!
You would have plenty of time to get the China Visa. A couple of weeks is all it took, as I recall. Be prepared to Visa sticker shock, though.

Doug

I read about The Opposite House in the NYT, and it is interesting as is the Hotel G, which also has very good rates and ratings. However, they are very modern and cutting edge, so I don't know that they are to everyone's taste. As Ngaire mentioned, I have done quite a lot of research, and at this point the arrangements with the Peninsula are hard to beat, and its location is excellent. If we are enough people, we may be able to negotiate further. Right now we are able to get a Deluxe room for $222 per night including breakfast and all fees (plus a value-added benefit, like airport transfer, or SPA credit, or afternoon tea). The other hotel we were considering is the St. Regis, using Starwood Points.

As far as the airport goes, I think the hotel that Ngaire told me about, the Langham Place is probably the best bet. I have looked at most of the alternatives, and I also agree that it is probably easier to stay near the airport on the last night. However, I think the best rate at the hotel is currently a nonrefundable rate, so we were going to wait a little longer until we booked. I don't think some of us will need any meals (even breakfast) there as we have early flights out.

I have lots more details, so if anyone is really interested, feel free to send me a message. I've also been working on a hotel for us in Sydney.

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Eugene

We have been really pleased staying at the Regent both times in Beijing. I know the Hilton is also good. However, it does make sense for us to stay at airport but only if we don't get into the city. If we are going to take a taxi back and forth to hotel, we might as well stay at Hilton and take a very early taxi to airport.

More research needed....

Thanks for all the info!

:lct:

Regent has started something new including the price for visas required on their invoice. We have yet to see how this is all going to work. It wont start until next years visas. You do not have to take the visas offered on Regents invoice we can delete those charges and do your own visas.

Australian visa you get on line in about 5 minutes an absolute piece of cake. About $20 last time I checked. Chinese visa is not difficult either. Getting the visas for this trip is not a problem like Russia or Brazil.

Marc,

Here is a link to the official Australian Govt. website to obtain an ETA (visa): http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/index.html . The ETA is good for a visit of up to three months. It costs $20.00 AUS and you can use a credit card to pay for it. As Ngaire mentioned, it only takes a couple of minutes to get the ETA.

I had noticed the "Regent Visa Package" on our invoice, but have not looked into it yet. It is $229 per person for Sydney-Beijing. We know that the cost of the Australian visa is less than $20 US pp. My understanding is that the only other visa we need is for China.

I just went to the Chinese Embassy Web site, and I gather we need to get a Chinese Tourist Visa (an L visa). See Chinese Tourist Visa . It looks like the cost for a single- or double-entry visa is $130 pp. However, it looks like it has to be done by someone in person (not by mail), so whether or not you can do this may depend on whether that is feasible. I do know that when we used the agency that Regent recommended for PANDA, it was more expensive than this--probably in the ballpark of what Regent is charging. If anyone has secured a Chinese visa on their own recently, and my assessment is not correct, please chime in.

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Eugene

I had noticed the "Regent Visa Package" on our invoice, but have not looked into it yet. It is $229 per person for Sydney-Beijing. We know that the cost of the Australian visa is less than $20 US pp. My understanding is that the only other visa we need is for China.

I just went to the Chinese Embassy Web site, and I gather we need to get a Chinese Tourist Visa (an L visa). See Chinese Tourist Visa . It looks like the cost for a single- or double-entry visa is $130 pp. However, it looks like it has to be done by someone in person (not by mail), so whether or not you can do this may depend on whether that is feasible. I do know that when we used the agency that Regent recommended for PANDA, it was more expensive than this--probably in the ballpark of what Regent is charging. If anyone has secured a Chinese visa on their own recently, and my assessment is not correct, please chime in.

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Eugene

The Australia visa is a piece of cake, costs $20 AUD.

I managed to score a " free" night at the Park Hyatt in Sydney. Hyatt has come out with a Chase Visa card. For $75 annual fee you can get two free nights at any Hyatt in the world and you get instant Platinum status. So I got the card and am using my free nights at the Park Hyatt Sydney and the Hyatt Regency Auckland.

I am not certain that my information is ocrrect but I was told that in addition to the easily obtained Australian visa, for this cruise [SYD-Beijing] a pax also recquires a double entry China visa & an Indonesian visa. The frist appears to be a two step process when done in person anyway and the latter requires a lot of paper work. When I questionned those listed Regent visa fees I was told that Regent is not obtaining blanket visas or obtaining the visas for you but you would be going through their visa service, Zier. Seems a bit confusing so hope more information evolves here.

I don't know why we would need a double-entry visa for China since we are only ending there in Beijing. Regardless, getting the visas through the Embassy or a Consul is only $130 for either kind. I just looked up Bali, since it is the only Indonesian stop we make, and it seems to be $10 upon arrival for U.S. citizens. So I still think one can save more than $50 pp if you do it yourself unless one of the other ports requires a visa.

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Eugene

Eugene:

As I recall, the double entry visa for China was the same price as the single entry. One might as well get the double entry "just in case" it is needed. If never used, nothing lost.

Doug

Shanghai and Beijing - double entry visa. A private visa service can handle a Chinese visa and the need for the in person visit. Charge a little more but lots of visas services handle China. Mae from my office applied on Tuesday got it on Thursday night. A RUSH job as she decided to leave to join a cruise and had to fly out on Friday. She was sweating it but two days and she had it.

On my REGENT WEB under BOOKING DETAILS there is a page on Visas. I copied this from there. Indonesia is done onboard.

BLANKET VISAS

The following countries require visas, but are taken care of directly by RSSC through a ship's blanket visa:

Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Myanmar, Oman, Tanzania and Vietnam

Again, no action is required from our guests for these blanket visas unless they are changing the embark/disembark date or port.

Just want to add that on Ngaire's suggestion several years ago, we used ZVS for our visas to China on a land only trip. We've used them several times since and have always found them to be excellent.

For an Australian visa - if you are flying Business (or First) on most airlines (certainly United), the airline will process the visa for you via the telephone at no charge - its also instant.

Laurie - congrats on getting the free night at Park Hyatt Sydney (even better than the previous deal). The value of the use at Auckland can be debated though - it's relatively cheap there.

Hi, I am new to this site and I am reading some of the posts and saw yours.

I loved the Kempinski hotel in Beijing. It is also pretty close, maybe 15-20 minute to the famous market to shop. They leave cute little "masks" on your pillow at night instead of a mint. I think they are made out of paper mache.

Yes, you need a visa. You may want to use ZFS or one of the other Visa services.

Teri