Round Trip Cruise from Shanghai

Drew, you are perfectly eligible for visa free transit in Shanghai twice and you don't need any kind of visa.

You will take a cruise "Best Of Japan Cruise" provided by Royal Caribbean International. This itinerary is really ideally constructed to allow you visa free transit during both of your stops in Shanghai.

You will print out your flight and cruise tickets and also your accommodation booking confirmation for your overnight in Shanghai. You will also bring those printouts with you. Also, you will declare at check-in in San Francisco that you will travel to Japan via Shanghai using 24 hour visa free transit. After a short check of your tickets, you will be allowed to board the plane.

Upon your landing in Shanghai, you will approach 24 hour visa free transit counter where you will apply for a temporary entry permit that will be granted to you and you will be allowed to exit the airport.

During both of your stops in Shanghai, you will be eligible for 24 hour visa free transit because in both of your cases your entire transit time will be less than 24 hours. The reason is simple, your cruise departs at 16:30 (4:30pm) and you will arrive by plane, whether you are flying China Eastern or United, in the later afternoon hours after 16:30 (4:30pm) the day before.

Thank you so much for the info! That’s what I thought as well. We are flying United on Feb 12th and it gets to Shanghai at 8pm. So with the boat leaving at 4:30 the next afternoon, it will be less than 12 hours. :)