CHEAP VISA RUN -- cruise out of Keelung!

Legal Visa & Residency
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1

Hey all,

Just wanted to give everybody my experience on the newest and greatest way to do a visa run…take a cruise from Keelong!

Forget Hong Kong, take a NT$3900 cruise that lasts only 1 night (you board 6 pm Friday and return 12 pm the next day). You get your visa stamped, have a great time on the boat, and do something other than go to boring Hong Kong…

WHAT DO YOU GET FOR NT$3900?
a cruise and 2 free buffett meals…
a nice time on a small big-boat.

WHAT DO YOU DO ON THE BOAT YOU ASK?
Anything (but, be forewarned, just sneezing will cost you EXTRA). Everything on the boat that you want to do will cost extra. This includes drinking at their bar, watching Las Vegas style performances, singing in their KTV, playing video games in their arcade, eating at the nicer restaurants, using their workout room which includes sauna, hottubs, bikes, weights (around NT$200) and GAMBLING. Just don’t do anything that’s too costly, and you’ll be ok. I spent a total of NT$4500 or so.

Gambling was the highlight of the trip… Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat (mini), and Slot highlight the casino. I was up NT$20000 on black jack at one point, then got greedy and lost it all.

BUT YOU ARE ONLY GONE FROM 6:00 PM to 12:00 PM THE NEXT DAY…WHAT KIND OF CRUISE IS THIS? WHERE DO YOU GO? Look at it this way. It’s only NT$4000. So where do you expect to go? As long as I get my visa stamped AND I can have a reasonably good time, AND I can gamble, what more do you want?!? :wink:

AND it beats the hell out of Hong Kong.

TO SUMMARIZE, it’s a cheaper and much more fun way to get off the island and get your visa stamped.

Here is there web site… http://www.starcruises.com/
of click here for the direct link to Taiwan’s itinearies… http://www.starcruises.com/main.html

we did the cheapest one…one night only. there are other cruises 3 nights, 2 days, etc. Try it out and shoot me an email if you have any questions.

happy cruisin’
Mark
mark@choey.com
www.choey.com/travel/000728_StarCruise/

2

Have any other people had experience with this “visa run” option? I am sure that our Forum visitors would be interested in all related commentary and opinion.

3

I’ve been wondering about something like this since I was a little underwhelmed by Hong Kong, anyone done it recently? I’m noting that the OP is from 2000.

4

I seem to remember this ended about 7 years ago.

But looking at their website, you can go to some of the small Japanese Islands close to Taiwan for 2 days or 4 days.13-20K
Also available are cruises to Hong Kong. 16K
A Taiwan HK route existed about 20 years I remember reading.

5

The only way you can be “underwhelmed” by HK is if you’re an impoverished English teacher who even balks at the prices of restaurants in Taiwan that are not shitty hole in the walls.

6

I want to disagree, but… :cry:

Actually I went to HK twice when poor and balky, and I still enjoyed it.

7

I want to disagree, but… :cry:

Actually I went to HK twice when poor and balky, and I still enjoyed it.[/quote]

I agree, do a search for free stuff to do in HK and you will find tons.

8

Has anybody done this recently? Original post dates back to 2010.
…And if you never get off the boat, does that mean there are immigration officials ON THE BOAT?

9

My one penny says that you don’t need to have immigration officers on the ship, but the ship needs to sail to a destination port that is not under TW govt control.

Sailing to international waters and back doesn’t cut it. Otherwise, some enterprising Taiwanese fishing boat owners would be offering those visa runs. All they would have to do is sail you 13 miles (past the 12 mile territorial waters) and back and voila your visa run is done.

But I think someone in the TW govt thought of this and plugged the loophole.