Information required on making our own way from port to cities in Brunei, Vietnam,etc

Hi

We will be cruising on the Sapphire Princess from Singapore in early December this year (2015)

We avoid all excursions and like to do our own thing

Wanted to know how easy it is to get from the port of Muara in Brunei to Bandar Seri Begawan by public transport or taxi (including availability) and approx cost

Similarly from Port of Phu My in Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City

And from Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand to Bangkok

And finally Port Kelang in Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur

Suggest you go on cruise critic and look under Asia and the ports you

wish to visit. There are few taxis at the port in Thailand and they were

expensive, suggest you look on trip advisor for a guide or join your roll call.

as a group is much cheaper. As for Ho Chi Minh, you can take the ship shuttle to a near by town and bargain with local vendor with a van to take tour. Port Kelang very few taxis. These three ports are a long ways from

the ports, 2 to 3 hours from the cities. They are wonderful to visit,

and I am sure you will enjoy your time there. ALSO JOIN YOUR

ROLL CALL as they are a great source of information

Thanks for your helpful advice. I'Ve just joined the Roll Call for this cruise and waiting to see what develops.

I've been to Bangkok and KL before so not really bothered but it's more for the wife as she hasn't seen these places before.

Hi

 

We will be cruising on the Sapphire Princess from Singapore in early December this year (2015)

 

We avoid all excursions and like to do our own thing

 

Wanted to know how easy it is to get from the port of Muara in Brunei to Bandar Seri Begawan by public transport or taxi (including availability) and approx cost

 

Similarly from Port of Phu My in Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City

 

And from Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand to Bangkok

 

And finally Port Kelang in Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur

These last three ports are significantly far from the cities you are trying to visit. I would not expect transportation to be easily available at the port except for possible Port Kelang.

I do not know if doing your "own thing" means arranging an independent tour or just getting transportation each way and going out on your own when you reach the desired city.

If you want a guide as well as transportation I can recommend one from Bangkok, but I do not know if he is willing to meet you at the port.

For Port Kelang, I do suggest a ship's tour as traffic to/from Kuala Lumpur can be brutal and this is one case where the guarantee of waiting for your return is valuable.

I can only help with Phu My and Laem Chabang.

The infrastructure at Phu My is very limited but improving, it's about 90 minutes from Saigon - but allow longer for the return to the ship in case of delays.

There's no public transport to Saigon.

It may be that there are now taxis available on-spec at the port, but I'd want to fix transportation in advance - either "Saigon on your own" or similarly-named ship's transfers, or a car/shared van pre-booked with a well-recommended operator. Ships' transfers normally drop/collect near the Rex Hotel and that's a good central place for a private transfer.

You may prefer a guided tour in order to get the best insight, but there's no logistical need - the main sights are all very walkable and the city is on level ground and well laid-out.

Don't worry too much about scare stories of crossing the street against a constant flow of motorcycles. It's fun, and well over 90% of cruisers get across without being killed :D. Check YouTube for hints.

If your ship overnites in port, strongly consider a city hotel for the night - rates are low, avoids the double-dose of transfers & gives you an evening in the city.

Laem Chabang.

Fairly similar circumstances.

Again a minimum 90 minute transfer to Bangkok, and that presumes no traffic problems - a very unwise presumption ;)

Allow two hours or preferably 2.5 for the return.

There are taxis available on-spec at the port, but they are a cartel and charge around double the charges for a pre-booked car.

Again, there's no suitable public transport for the transfer.

So again pre-book your transfer, either ship's "on your own" transfer or a well-recommended operator. Most regular-size cars only carry three, do check the capacity before arranging to share.

Although the taxi cartel at the port has sole rights for on-spec, pre-booked cars & cars returning folk to the ship are unaffected.

Bangkok's sights are more spread-out than in Saigon. Using local transport in the city is fun - the mass-transit skytrains, the ferries, the tuk-tuks, but they will eat into your time. I've avoided using city taxis because they get clogged in the city traffic. And if you've not used a tuk-tuk before, you need a quick tutorial about bartering and avoiding unwanted stops on the way at the driver's cousin's jewellery workshop, brother-in-law's carpet shop, or the uncle's spices emporium. Ask Google about using Bangkok's tuk-tuks.

Some folk prefer to incorporate a city tour into their transfer, and it's probably good value - but I prefer the adventure of DIY.

Again, if your ship overnites consider a city hotel - for the same reasons as Saigon. If you do that, your hotel will arrange a taxi back to the ship cheaper than an internet-booked transfer.

Edited to add - In both places, I think you'll find that ships' transfers are out-and-back same-day. So if you overnite in a hotel, you'll need to fix your own transfers.

JB :)

Hi

 

We will be cruising on the Sapphire Princess from Singapore in early December this year (2015)

 

We avoid all excursions and like to do our own thing

 

Wanted to know how easy it is to get from the port of Muara in Brunei to Bandar Seri Begawan by public transport or taxi (including availability) and approx cost

 

Similarly from Port of Phu My in Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City

 

And from Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand to Bangkok

 

And finally Port Kelang in Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur

Another poster on this page (Asia) posted a few weeks back that she had found a train service from Port Klang to KL. Its apparently about a 10 minute taxi ride from the port to the station (beware the taxi mafia, the law says they must use their meter, but they often refuse) and takes about 1 hr & 15 mins. here is the Wikipedia page about the Port Klang line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Klang_Line

Here's the map.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTM_Komuter#/media/File:Klktm.gif

You might want to google it to get timetable details.

We visited Bandar Seri Begawan about five years ago. I cannot remember the docking location, but we were on a small ship of less then 30,000 ton, so, unless there is a new cruise terminal, we were probably in the port were you are due to dock. We were told on the ship that, as Brunei is an oil rich state, everyone travels with their own vehicles and there are very few taxis in the country. The port was quite some distance from Bandar Seri Begawan, (about 30 mins), so we were left with the option of a, 'Bandar Seri Begawan on your own', ship's transfer costing something like £30 or a tour.

Given that option, decided to book a ship's tour of the city for about £39 for a long half day. The tour was very good and the tour guide gave a good insight of the country. We visited a number of places, including a boat trip of the water houses and a visit to one of those houses, a museum, mosque etc. I would definitely recomend a tour in that location. Our tour guide was telling us how everyone has a number of cars and that he had about ten or twelve of them!! So it would seem likely that taxis really are in short supply in Brunei and could well be expensive even if you could find one.

Hope this helps,

Barbara

We used a local bus in from the port to Bandar SB. Walk out of the port, take a left and walk for 5 or 10 mins until you come to a junction. Across the road you should see a bus stop. Local people were very helpful and spoke pretty good English.

Hi

 

We will be cruising on the Sapphire Princess from Singapore in early December this year (2015)

 

We avoid all excursions and like to do our own thing

 

Wanted to know how easy it is to get from the port of Muara in Brunei to Bandar Seri Begawan by public transport or taxi (including availability) and approx cost

 

Similarly from Port of Phu My in Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City

 

And from Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand to Bangkok

 

And finally Port Kelang in Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur

Hi Bad,

I am doing the same cruise in February and after doing lots of research on the ports I am regretting booking this cruise. So many of the ports appear really difficult.

be that as it may, my research so far is:

Muara for BSB: There is a local bus (actually 2 or 3 with different routes) that go to BSB and fares are minimal. Unfortunately they are not super big so not sure if they will be crowded. They run about every 30 minutes. This link has a good description http://asocialnomad.com/tag/muara-bus-to-bsb/

Phu My appears to be the "port from hell" and I am really questioning whether going to HCMC is worth the effort. This thread shows some of the issues http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g293925-i8433-k8952899-Taxi_from_Phu_My_to_Ho_Chi_Minh_City-Ho_Chi_Minh_City.html Apparently Princess provides a shuttle to Ba Ria (not sure if it costs) where taxis could be organised to Vung Tau. There isn't much in Ba Ria.

Laem Chabang: I have pretty well decided to go to Pattaya. This thread http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g293919-i9439-k8339193-Laem_chabang_port_to_pattaya-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html details that taxis can be hired for the day at a fixed price for Pattaya (and also for Bangkok at a little more)

Port Klang: The major problem is that the ship docks several kilometres from the town of Port Klang itself. From Port Klang it is possible to use the MRT (public train) to KL or even Batu Caves which is where I plan to go. Getting to Port Klang is the problem. There are fixed price taxis available at the cruise terminal either to Port Klang or KL itself, see this link: http://cruisecrocodile.com/cruise-port-information/port-klang-malaysia/

Hope this info is of some help. As I said, I am regretting this trip so much. I am starting to get annoyed with Princess. So many ports in the middle of nowhere.

Please let us know how you get on, hopefully the ports will end up worth the worry and effort.

Ian

"Phu My appears to be the "port from hell" and I am really questioning whether going to HCMC is worth the effort. This thread shows some of the issues http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g293925-i8433-k8952899-Taxi_from_Phu_My_to_Ho_Chi_Minh_City-Ho_Chi_Minh_City.html Apparently Princess provides a shuttle to Ba Ria (not sure if it costs) where taxis could be organised to Vung Tau. There isn't much in Ba Ria."

Usually the city of Ba Ria will provide a free shuttle service to and from the ship side to the city. However once you get there you will have to run the gauntlet of taxi mafia who charge accordingly. If you want to get a taxi to Vung Tau, which is worth a days visit, move away from the drop off area and try to get a taxi $80 for the day seems reasonable. But do not pay the taxi until you get back to Ba Ria as it will take off at the first opportunity if paid in advance.

Another alternative is to google the following and organise a tour of Vung Tau with them. They will tailor make the tour, you will have an Aussie Viet Veteran in the van, and you will get to see the area and eat a fantastic meal at a seafood restaurant in Vung Tau.

Have used this group in 2014 for 8 people ($50 per head) and all agreed it was the best tour of the cruise.

The site to google is

longtannuidattours.com

All profits for the tours is used for children's charities that are supported by the Australian Vietnam Veteran's group