Has Princess allowed anyone to use the 144 Hour Free Transit Rule in Shanghai"

Steve, because your travel route is Korea-Shanghai-HK and you stay in Shanghai for one day, you are eligible for the free transit in Shanghai. So the only way is to consult with the cruise company and convince it to allow you board the ship without entry permit.

Thanks Daniel. My understanding is that an entry permit is not required as well. My problem is convincing my cruise company, Princess that the 144 Hour Free Transit Rule applies.

I just spent 30 minutes speaking to a lady in the Chinese consular Office in Los Angeles. She assures me that I do not need an entry permit to spend a day in Shangai for the same reason Daniel explained. We are arriving from another country, South Korea, arriving via Princess Cruise Line, and leaving the same day for another country, Hong Kong. She was very explicit that Hong Kong is considered another country for the 144 hour exemption. Looks like we may be on the same cruise as Daniel. We leave Tokyo (Yokohama) on October 9th, arrive in South Korea (Busan) on the 13th. Leave 5 PM that day and arrive in Hong Kong on October 18th at 8:00 AM and leave port at 7:00 PM for Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My) Vietnam. Arrive there on October 23rd at 7:00 AM and leave at 6:00 PM)

Steve,
Sorry I said Daniel was taking same cruise. I just spent an hour on the phone with Princess Cruise lines. I spoke to Ellen, on the 800-774-6237 number. I was on hold most of the time. They actually called the Princess Lines people in Shanghai and were told we are not eligible for the 144 hour free transit. It only applies to people who are entering the country via one mode of transportation and leaving via another mode. Since we arrive and leave via a cruise ship, we are not eligible. Sounds like something our Chinese friends would do, especially since we're from the USA! How many people fly in and leave via another mode of transportation - i.e., ship, rail, or car/bus! Bunch of BS. At any rate, I'm not spending $15K to get in Tokyo and be denied ship boarding so I'll hassle the folks in LA! Obtained entry permit for a 2007 trip and it was a nightmare! Traffic, long lines and language!

Hi Jim, Thanks for your reply. We are going on the same Princess Cruise as you are. We are looking forward to it in spite of the Visa fiasco. I too talked to Reggie at Princess for about an hour yesterday and was on hold for most of that time as well. He told me Princess is investigating whether the 144 hour rule applies to us. If they determine that it does, they will notify everyone on this cruise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I did look at several websites concerning the 144 hour rule and couldn't see where you had to enter Shanghai by one mode of transportation and leave by another. It seems like if the Chinese government is trying to encourage tourism with the implementation of the 144 hour rule, they would not want to exclude cruise people transiting through.