Last year (Oct,2010) we visited Halong Bay via RCCL, on a short trip from Hong Kong: the cruiseship held our passports and got the Vietnam stamp per passenger and our on-board account was charged $30/visa. No extra picture was needed. just a ":chop- stamp" in the passport. --A few years earlier when we visited Vietnam on another cruiseline, we had to go to the consulate for our visas.

Do check with the cruiseline re their recommendations. Each year can bring changes.

Ahh the visa conga! Ordered Sat in SFO. Landed in TYO to an email saying they couldn't process my Amex and please use the Verified by Visa link to a different payment engine.

Completed from Friendly Limo bus on iPad late Monday PM. Immediate response to my follow-up email requesting payment confirmation.

I should have the invite email by this evening.

Do they make change for the stamp? I'm just carrying $20s

Thanks, Scho

Used to be US$25 for single entry, US$50 for multiple entry.

They will give you change for your US$.

Thanks jimbo99

Hotels in Vietman turned my letter in 24 hours after payment confirmation on Monday. (first business day after Sat application)
I did pay the extra $ for ther urgent service. Total $19.
Does the whole thing seem a bit fly-by-night? yes
Let's see if I can get on the plane and or in country with the fancy PDF attachment.
Cheers,

Scho

Oh... And I'm the only traveller listed on my letter in case that matters to you.

You'll have no trouble. I was the only traveler on my letter last time I used this service. Enjoy Vietnam.

Hope not, but I wasn't concerned per say.

I had read posts about these approvals being processed in Bulk from one agent and approvals were coming with multiple unrelated traveller info along with yours.

Just thought that someone put off by this may like to know that Hotels in Vietnam seemed a bit less "bulky".

As always YMMV^

-Scho

Kinda depends what's happening that day. Most places they just seem to get batched up.

When I arranged them for clients, the agent didn't batch them so they were always listed one at a time.

VN doesn't have the same privacy thing that westerners have. What might be an issue for visitors probably doesn't register at all for most Vietnamese.

Just filled out a VOA due to the seeming success of others on this thread. The "summary" page really f'd-up my info but, by clicking on the Back button, all the info was correct.

Hoping it goes through ok. I understand the comment about seeming like a fly-by-night operation.

i just did VOA app via myvietnamvisa but im having a bit of grief tracking down somewhere that'll do 4cm x 6cm photos....

epassportphotos does a 5cm x 4cm or 2" x 2" - wonder if i could get away with those???

any seasoned viet travellers able to comment please?

I've seen people use different sizes. Mine are usually 3.5cm x 4.5cm and I don't have a problem.

6cm x 4cm is crazy large and on one version of the form I have if you glued it where they asked you to it would obscure part of the writing.

I wouldn't worry.

Yup. I recall that summary info messed up some dates etc.
It was all good in the end.

Prompt service with that fly-by-night feel.
I printed my letter in color but i some some black and white, my 4x6 size didn't seem to be scrutinized. There were 100 peeps waiting. My wait was about 30 min.
Loved my stay.
-Scho

Just got my response back from them. Only the names I submitted were on the form. All in all, there was good communication and the experience was positive!

I'm even thinking of booking airport/hotel transfers through them. I don't have to worry about getting into the "wrong" taxi and it's still way cheaper than a hotel transfer.

My experience of traveling in Asia is nobody really cares what size the photo is so long as its visible who you are. The only embassy that's ever given me a hassle over photo size is my very own: The US Embassy.

US passport photos worked fine for me. Also they only took one of the photos and gave me back the second photo. This was in HCMC.