72 b 144 hour free visa

Walter, do I understand correctly that you will arrive to Shanghai directly from Australia or some other country different than both mainland China and Hong Kong?

If I understand properly, and your itinerary looks like:

Australia (or some other country different than both mainland China and Hong Kong) - Shanghai - Hong Kong

Then you are definitely eligible for 144 hour visa free transit in Shanghai area and you don't need any kind of visa.

By the way, I assume that you will be on a cruise "22 Night Asia and Australia Cruise" by Princess cruises on board of Sapphire Princess in May/June of the next year and again, if I'm right, your itinerary, as far as Chinese immigration is concerned is:

Busan (South Korea) - Shanghai (mainland China) - Hong Kong

You will also visit Hong Kong before, but this is not a problem because you will have Busan as a port of call immediately before Shanghai. This is all that matters and this is all perfectly eligible for 144 hour visa free transit in Shanghai area.

You are advised to print out your flight ticket from Shanghai to Hong Kong and to have this printout with you. Also, you are advised to book your accommodation in Shanghai in advance and also print out a confirmation of your accommodation booking.

I will be traveling onboard P&Os Arcadia
Doing part of the world cruise
I will be flying from uk joining the ship in Sydney Australia,then into Brisbane Australia,Arlie beach Australia ,then on to Manila Philippines, then on to Shanghai for just under 2 days then onto Hong Kong for a day and a half. Then a flight from Hong Kong back to uk
Flights and seats have been bought for flights back to uk via British airways

Great, I have found the cruise :)

In reality, you will take, as you have initially mentioned, a part of Sydney to Southampton, 52 Nights (JMH) cruise, from Sydney to Hong Kong.

The best thing is that the portion that matters as far as 144 hour visa free transit is concerned is:

Manila - Shanghai - Hong Kong

This means that you are perfectly eligible for 144 hour visa free transit in Shanghai area and you don't need any kind of visa.

You will just get a temporary entry permit upon your arrival in Shanghai in form of a sticker in your passport, absolutely free of charge. After that you are free to explore quite a vast area comprising Shanghai City and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Enjoy your cruise :)