Az Quest in HCMC/Saigon Schedules & Excursions (Threads Merged)

We have booked a Vietnam cruise in December 2015 & I'm afraid I'm already planning. I have some questions about the ports & excursions especially Ho Chi Minh City. Is there anyone on here who has been there with Azamara recently & can help & say what excursions you did or point me to any relevant posts? - I have been looking!

We stop at Halong Bay, Danang & HCMC/Saigon.

Although we'll probably do private excursions I always like looking at the Land Discoveries to see what's on offer. However, looking at the list for HCMC even for Jan 2015 there are no day trips listed just the free evening event at Binh Quoi village leaving at 7pm. Isn't that odd? We arrive in port at 9am & leave the next day at 12:30 pm.

Surely there would be time for a day excursion first? I assume we'd need to get back to ship by about 5pm as supper is apparently served first. I wondered if we'd be able to visit anywhere on the 2nd morning but that would depend on where we are docked. I've found an old thread from last year stating that we dock at Nha Rong Port & I think there are shuttles. I was wondering if we could see the Mekong Delta on Day 1 & take a shuttle into the city on the morning of Day 2 & just have a quick look around.

So any feedback on recent Azamara cruises to Vietnam & the Azmazing evening would be very helpful, thanks!

I have been there but by hotel only.. i did the tunnels and hte intown which was part of my tour thru nam. .i have notice that my cruise-march 2015 -has tours.. ll thry offer is what i have done less than 2 years ago.

as of now i heard they have shuttles.. i am thinking finding a pool. i ddi enjoy the tunnels and the in city places.. loved the old post office with 2 great shops and other stores. .you can find higher end art there.

I visited Asia--two consecutive cruises of 14 nights each--aboard Journey earlier this year... The first segment sailed from Singapore to Hong Kong [which--assuming you're on the 2 December cruise, I just looked at Quest's deployment schedule--is in reverse order to the cruise you've booked [my trip included all of the ports you'll visit as well as two in Thailand with a call at Ko Samui and a double overnight in Bangkok]... Our scheduled port times in Vietnam are roughly equivalent at Ho Chi Minh City and Halong Bay but my trip did not feature an overnight at Danang...

Azamara did not post their Land Discovery offerings for either of my cruises until four or five months prior to departure...

At Ho Chi Minh City...

• I did a "Highlights' tour of the city through Azamara following our mid-day arrival [our "short" day] and the AzAmazing event that evening... Though not necessarily the best tour I've ever done, it more than filled the bill in terms of seeing much in a directed way over a short period of time [4 hours] with a knowledgeable guide providing meaningful commentary... I doubt I could have accomplished/learned nearly so much on my own... There was also a ship's tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels; based upon my reading and content preferences, I chose the more broad-based tour...
  
• I did the Mekong Delta--all by water with some minor walking along the way; it was a terrific/immersive experience--via private tour share [i didn't organize it but Shanghai River Express was exceptional; that said, it's by charter and you would need to pull together a group--we were nine or ten from our Roll Call--to make it economic] prior to 4:00 PM sail-away on our longer [second] day... To do so, we departed at 7:00 AM for a 7.5 hour tour... Azamara did offer excursions to the Delta--partially by bus, partially by boat--the same day of equal, and perhaps a bit longer [traffic/not as nimble], duration...
  
• Journey ported right in town--could not have been more convenient--and I do recall that there was a shuttle [don't know if it was complimentary or at nominal charge, didn't use it] that ran between the pier and The Rex Hotel...
  
• Our AzAmazing Evening was staged at Binh Quoi Village too and I thoroughly enjoyed it [seemingly, the vast majority did]... The event was extremely well orchestrated, the venue is lovely, and the staff is warm/welcoming... There are artisan booths along the way as you enter producing mementos/taking photos but the primary content is a nicely done cultural show [song and dance]... The show is performed on an outdoor stage surrounded by round tables for guest seating; light snacks and drinks are served... If I heard any complaints--they were few--it was that those who arrived on the later buses didn't get to spend ample time at the artisan kiosks/displays [some artists apparently exhausted their supplies of raw materials] and that those who were vertically challenged had trouble seeing the performers if seated toward the rear...
  

At Danang...

• I visited Hoi An--rather than Hue--via Azamara tour and thoroughly enjoyed it... That said, they offer very different experiences...
  
• Azamara offered tours to both but, with an overnight there, you will--I expect--have opportunity to visit both without facing the choice I did...
  

At Halong Bay...

• We arrived at 1:00 PM--our short day--and did a 3.5 hour Azamara tour ["Halong Bay By Boat"] that I found to be fun, picturesque, and--for me--sufficient... Some did a full-day private tour share on our second "longer" day by chartering a junk; they enjoyed lunch aboard and had a cooking demonstration but--in late February--it was too cool to swim or kayak...
  
• On our second "longer day", I did a 12 hour Azamara tour entitled "Hanoi Past & Present".... We departed at 6:30 AM in anticipation of a 7:00 PM sail-away [and, not that the ship wouldn't have waited for an Azamara tour to return, all buses barely made it]... Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang offer very different perspectives; I'm glad to have experienced them all...
  

And finally, I'll add this... I originally expected to visit Thailand/Vietnam aboard Celebrity Millennium rather than with Azamara and am glad I made the change; I'm an avid tour buff--I go to see/do/experience--and the logistics in terms of port proximity and port time were just so much better with Azamara at Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Halong Bay/Hanoi in terms of touring... I'd originally planned to do private tours at all three Vietnam ports with a single tour operator--there are several with good reputation who offer comparable content at similar pricing [though I did see variance in response time and proposal quality]--with anticipation that I'd do off-ship overnights at hotels at HCMC and Hanoi to maximize my time ... I initiated contact with several more than a year in advance [Millennium and Journey sailed from Singapore on the same day]... After I changed my plans, I revised my inquires and found some very interesting pricing...

• I am convinced that private tour operators in Vietnam set their prices--as they do most everywhere--based upon their intelligence as to what the cruise lines charge... Some will undercut to get the business with promise of a better experience; some will charge a modest premium with promise of a better experience...
  
• When I dropped my plans to do the two off-ship overnights [and related long-haul transfers between distant ports and Ho Chi Minh City/Hanoi] after switching ships, the costs of the private tour offerings sky-rocketed [same content] after losing the "commissions" the tour operators no doubt receive from hotels...
  
• At the time I traveled, Azamara was offering a 25% discount on Land Discoveries--a promotion now long gone--for tours booked online [by a specified date] in advance of sailing... The local tour operators apparently didn't know of Azamara's offering--or just couldn't compete--but the differentials became astronomical... I just couldn't justify the price difference [though one eventually offered to price match; by that time, I'd tired of the antics]... I had great experiences--admittedly at preferential pricing--doing most of my Vietnam tours through Azamara; by choosing carefully, content was virtually identical...
  

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Vietnam; hope you do too... You might want to consider looking at some old Roll Calls to get further inspiration... And I highly recommend that you search Cruise Critic for reviews from those who did similar port visits in the past [one particularly good review can also be found by googling the surname "Preisman" [sorry, I don't recall their Cruise Critic screen name but their review is posted here too]...

i have notice that my cruise-march 2015 -has tours.. ll thry offer is what i have done less than 2 years ago.

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Hi there do you have Azamara tours for HCMC? I downloaded the brochure for the cruise on 6 Mar 15 which I assume is yours & it only shows the AzaMazing Evening for HCMC which is what ours shows. Are you able to view any other Azamara Excursions for that port?

Xport,

Thank you so much for your report - so very helpful! Apologies for not responding earlier but I was away. I'm glad that the ship's excursions were fine as I am tempted to go for those this trip.

I thought Hanoi may be too much in a day but we may regret it if we don't go. At least we have 3 sea days on this cruise. Our last one Istanbul-Athens had none & I really could have done with some time by the pool!

The Mekong Delta trip sounds wonderful - was it Saigon River Express? If it's only 7 hours then we should get back in time for the Evening event & hopefully Azamara will run the short tour the next morning as we leave at mid-day. Otherwise we could just take the shuttle to the Rex hotel.

Yes we do have 2 days in Danang so will do both Hue & Hoi An trips. Did you dp "Full Day Danang and Hoi An" or "Hoi An" on your own. I think I prefer the first with more 'guiding'.

Xport,

 

Thank you so much for your report - so very helpful! Apologies for not responding earlier but I was away. I'm glad that the ship's excursions were fine as I am tempted to go for those this trip.

 

I thought Hanoi may be too much in a day but we may regret it if we don't go. At least we have 3 sea days on this cruise. Our last one Istanbul-Athens had none & I really could have done with some time by the pool!

 

The Mekong Delta trip sounds wonderful - was it Saigon River Express? If it's only 7 hours then we should get back in time for the Evening event & hopefully Azamara will run the short tour the next morning as we leave at mid-day. Otherwise we could just take the shuttle to the Rex hotel.

 

Yes we do have 2 days in Danang so will do both Hue & Hoi An trips. Did you dp "Full Day Danang and Hoi An" or "Hoi An" on your own. I think I prefer the first with more 'guiding'.

So glad that you are finding my thoughts/observations to be helpful... I was very pleased with my excursion selections during our port calls in Vietnam and, given the limited time available, thought I did justice to exploring the country's highlights while observing a whole lot more--I found the whole experience to be fascinating; the ports are very different--along my way...

I too toyed with whether or not I wanted to commit 12 hours to touring Hanoi but ultimately decided to do so given that I go "to see/to do" and recognized I might not have opportunity to return... I'm so glad that I chose to do so... I did an Azamara Tour entitled "Hanoi Past & Present" [#HJ07]--we departed at 6:30 AM--and found it to be both very interesting and very fulfilling...

While ported at Da Nang [as noted above, we were there for a single day], I did an Azamara Tour entitled "Full Day Da Nang & Hoi An" [#DE16]... Given a choice, I generally prefer a guided offering so as to stay on task/see the essentials; this one did not disappoint... In my opinion--and it is only that--there was not enough at either city to warrant a full day [we did have some free time in Hoi An to explore on our own] but the two in combination made for a very worthwhile day...

And finally, you do properly cite the name of the company we used for our private tour--all by water--to the Mekong Delta... You will readily find them if you "Google" them and recommend them highly; their's is not a boilerplate experience... Our time with them--we had a 7.5 hour tour but I suspect that it could be condensed a bit if necessary; I'd elect to start earlier or hasten stops along the way rather than to skip any of them [each was filled with new surprises]--was a clear highlight of my trip... I'll never forget it...

Though I didn't always love what I saw and/or heard in Vietnam, I'm truly pleased that I visited and am enriched for having done so... You have much to anticipate... Enjoy!!!

Anyone know why Azamara have not published their shore excursions for Saigon for January sailings??? :confused:

Anyone know why Azamara have not published their shore excursions for Saigon for January sailings???

I can tell you that Azamara did not post excursion offerings until four or five months prior to my February 2014 sailing on Journey to Thailand and Vietnam...

There is another active thread on this forum--I've contributed to it twice [and as recently as this morning]--relative to touring in Vietnam [including Ho Chi Minh City]... You might find it to be of interest...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=43549976#post43549976

Hi Everyone,

FYI, I've merged the 2 threads.