how to get to port in Bangkok (Laem Chabang)?

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get from the city of Bangkok to the port of Laem Chabang?

We're on the 27 June sailing of Pacific Princess and have booked 2 nights in downtown Bangkok. Just need to figure out a way to the ship! Thanks for your assistance in advance.

<font size="2" color="#0000FF">
Pacific Princess (6/27/04, 16 nt Bangkok - Beijing)
Celebrity Millenium (8/1/03, 13 nt Mediterranean)
Celebrity Galaxy (12/13/02, W. Carib)
Splendour of the Seas (9/8/02, W. Med)
Dawn Princess (1/26/02, So. Carib)
Voyager of the Seas (7/22/01, W. Carib)</font>

We are on the same cruise, but are using the Princess pre-cruise package. I think you should call a Princess rep and see if you can use their transfer. Its quite a distance from Bangkok to the port. I am kind of surprised that you are doing your own hotels. We had also planned on doing our own, but Princess insisted in booking what they called an "operational night" which was the night before the cruise. We were going to do 2 additional nights on our own (at the Shangra-La , one of our favorites in Bangkok) but than Princess agreed to give us a 3 night pre-cruise (2 nights + the operational night) at the Shangra_la for about the same price as on our own. We cancelled our reservation and went with the Princess package.

Hank

Check with your hotel about a limo service. In March, we used a minivan for 4 passengers and the cost was $140 total.

Thanks rckymtncruisers! How long was the ride from Bangkok to the port?

Derrick

First Anniversary on the Sun Princess in
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;11;12;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

One last cruise before the anklebiters come along. Bangkok to Beijing on the Sapphire Princess.
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2005;03;26;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

We got hitched at sea in November, 2003 Aboard the Golden Princess

Kept the sea-legs on an Alaska Sampler on the Diamond Princess May, 2004

While we haven't experienced the trip from Bangkok to Laem Chabang, we were able to arrange a van thru our hotel - [B]thanks for the tip[/B]!! They said the cost would be $100.

We leave one week from Thursday!

<font size="2" color="#0000FF">
Pacific Princess (6/27/04, 16 nt Bangkok - Beijing)
Celebrity Millenium (8/1/03, 13 nt Mediterranean)
Celebrity Galaxy (12/13/02, W. Carib)
Splendour of the Seas (9/8/02, W. Med)
Dawn Princess (1/26/02, So. Carib)
Voyager of the Seas (7/22/01, W. Carib)</font>

We did the drive from the port to Bangkok about nine years ago! As I recall, it was about 1:45 of driving time,, but they stopped along the way at some kind of tourist place that had various exhibits on the history of Thailand. Of course they had the typical shopping which was the real reason for the stop! Everyone on our bus was furious (this was Orient Line) because we all wanted to get into Bangkok by lunch, but the cruise line wanted to delay us so that the hotel rooms would be ready upon our arrival. This cost us the best part of a day in Bangkok.

Hank

I was wondering if anyone had an update on going from downtown Bangkok to the port of Laem Chabang? Will be sailing on the Royal Princess from Bangkok to Cape Town in November.

Thanks,

Vic

[quote name='swill']Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to get from the city of Bangkok to the port of Laem Chabang?

We're on the 27 June sailing of Pacific Princess and have booked 2 nights in downtown Bangkok. Just need to figure out a way to the ship! Thanks for your assistance in advance.

<font size="2" color="#0000FF">
Pacific Princess (6/27/04, 16 nt Bangkok - Beijing)
Celebrity Millenium (8/1/03, 13 nt Mediterranean)
Celebrity Galaxy (12/13/02, W. Carib)
Splendour of the Seas (9/8/02, W. Med)
Dawn Princess (1/26/02, So. Carib)
Voyager of the Seas (7/22/01, W. Carib)</font>[/QUOTE]

Hi VIc:
We will be traveling in the same cruise next november!!!
NPC

We are using a limo service from the docks total cost 2300 Bht or approx. 53.Us. All booked ready for are Nov. 17 pickup to Bangkok.

Carol

Please check to see if your ship is actually docking in Laem Chabang! ours didn't and we didn't know til we got there... check out my post from the Pacific Princess 6/27 thread in this forum... here's part of what I wrote

[i]
Talk about a scare - we almost didn't join the ship in Bangkok! We were one of the unlucky people who didn't get the Princess notice and ended up going to Laem Chabang to join the ship. We left the Holiday Inn around 845AM and got to Laem Chabang around 1030AM only to see NO SHIP IN SIGHT! To make a long story short, we had a 6.5 hr ordeal that brought us back to where we started! Upon seeing no ship in the port, we tried everything - going to the Port Authority, looking in every berth, finding phone cards to call USA only to find out they didn't work in any phone, driver wouldn't use his own cell phone, calling the Holiday Inn... getting in touch with Princess seemed to be harder than walking on the moon! Add in traveling with anxious parents-in-law...[/i]

On my list of to do's, again thanks for the heads up. We end in Bangkok so for us it will just be a quick email to the Limo co. to change pickup. I am going to send him a email just to let him know of the possibility of a change.

Carol

Send me your emails and let me know how I can reach you. I can be reached by emails here.

System indicates that you can't be reached by email.

Carol

Sorry about the emails, try again.

Not able to access not an AOL member...What information do you want?

Carol

Calexand,
I think you have no risk as far as a disembarkation port pick-up. Worst case would be for Princess to change the port at the last minute (they seem to do this these days) but you would always be able to grab a taxi at any of the potential ports (I wonder if they can find some new ones). Keep in mind that not only did Princess change our embarkation port (we were on the same cruise as SWILL) but they also changed Phy My to Vung Tau with less than one days' notice (they blamed this on the Vietnam government). It would be interesting to know if any of the more experienced cruise lines in the Asian market (such as Orient, Seaborne, etc) have ever been forced to change ports. After cruising for more than 30 years (on 12 cruise lines) all over the world, this was a first for me. And it happened twice on a single cruise! We were fortunate to have been on a Princess pre-cruise package (its rare for us to use any cruise line package) or we would have been on our own and had the same problem as SWILL, We were never notified on the embarkation port change by Princess of anyone else. We were on a Princess transfer from the Shangra-La when we realized that we were going the wrong way for Laem Chabang. When we arrived at this "new port" we were greeted with embarkation in a tent and told this was a "first" for that ship. To this day,,we never were told the formal name of this port or why they made the change. Scott (SWILL) told us that even the port manager at Laem Chabang (the scheduled port) was not aware of which port was being used by the Pacific Princess. Princess did notify us about three weeks before the cruise (via our travel agent) of a change to our post-cruise itinerary (this was unimportant since it was part of their structured tour). We did talk to some passengers who said Princess had notified them about the embarkation port change about a month before the cruise. However, nobody among the other 3 couples at our table had any notifcation. Go figure.

Hank

Thanks again, I have made sure I have preplanned changes to the ports of call. In Vietnam if they use the other port we will just use the hydrofoil - the schedule of departures - will work from either end.

With any travel there are no guarantees.

We will use CTS as well in China for our tours because in most cases all tours end up going through them anyway. But the difference is that we have cut out the middleman and saved ourselves a lot of money.

carol

Carol,
I do like your logic (since its similar to mine :))). The ironly about tendering into Vung Tau (instead of Phu My) was that a savy passenger (like yourself) could have taken a hydrofoil to Saigon (I refuse to say Ho Chi Minh City) in a little over an hour for a fraction of the cost of the cruise-line sponsored bus tour. Not only is the hydrofoil much cheaper, its also about 1 1/2 hours faster (each way) and more comfortable. Of course they will never tell you about this option on the ship! We had no indication that the use of Vung Tau will be a normal event...but rather it was presented as an unusual occurance. Also keep in mind that CITS is not the same as CTS or CYTS (all government owned agencies). CITS is geared more for us Westerners,, CTS is targeted mostly to the Asian market and CYTS (China Youth Travel Service) defies understanding since they serve all age groups. We had some long discussions with our CITS tour guide...and he reinforced that CITS will run all kinds of tours from cheap tourist grade to 5 star! I suspect that on our next visit we will also book our own personal tour so that we can slow down the pace and spend a few days in each area of interest.

Hank

Hank

Based on what you said Hank, we booked the single day pre-cruise package. Still planning on using the Hyatt Hotel that we booked on for the two days prior to the hotel that Princess will put us on. I wouldn't think it would be a problem for the taxi to go from one hotel to the other.

Vic

Vic, That sounds like a plan. Princess really complicated all of our pre-cruise planning because they refused to tell us the pre-cruise "operational night" hotel until less than a month before our trip (it turned out to be the Siam Hotel). Over a period of years we have come to this conclusion: "cruise lines are for cruises...and anything else will probably be overpriced and chaotic." Years ago, cruise lines would get you good deals on airlines, reasonable land packages, and reasonable (or free) transfers. These days you are lucky if they don't fly you from Chicago to Anchorage on your way to Miami [smile]. Our saving grace has turned out to be the internet...where its relatively easy to do independent planning. I am still amazed at how many cruisers will pay extra,,for cruise line transfers in places like Miami and FTL when a taxi is faster, more comfortable, and a lot cheaper. The last time we were in Barcelona, RCL was charging for transfers between the pier and the Ramblas..and never mentioned that the port was providing free transfers if you were willing to walk about 25 feet to their bus stop. I think Princess now has a new secret weapon to convince us to buy their transfers... its called "lets all guess which port is being used today." Ok. Enough sarcasm for today....

Hank

Yeah, Princess is really cramping the style on us who like to do things ourselves. I feel bad for the people on our ship who paid for an expensive transfer then found out they were only transferred a few miles.

I emailed our travel agent about this last week. She said she'd get in touch with Princess and see what's up... she said [i]"I am very concerned about the problem with the Embarkation Port. I have contacted Princess today to enquire as to when they provided a notification to our agency. Princess Guest Relations confirms that a fax was sent on June 9th, however, they did not receive a confirmation that is was received by {us}. " [/i] but I haven't heard anything yet.


Maybe as an airline employee I should put a suggestion in to cruisers flying into Fort Lauderdale or Miami saying "look outside the window as we approach the airport... see how close the ships really are!". :) even in places like San Juan, you can be off the airplane, in a taxi and on the ship long before the scheduled transfer leaves the airport.

ok, enough sarcasm for me too!

Thanks for your help;

Since you were so encouraging about Princess' non ship activities, I was wondering about shore excursions in the Asian and African areas. I will be on the Royal Princess, Nov 17 cruise from Bangkok to Cape Town.

Swill, since I am a grad from Tech, I though you might be able to help, unless you are from the other school east of Hotlanta.

Vic

Vic-

Try another school wayyy north of Hotlanta, about 375 miles - Univ. of Cincinnati. I'm like the only one in our engineering office not from tech! (well except for an Auburn guy)

Bangkok-Cape Town sounds awesome. You can easily navigate Bangkok on your own - getting up and down the river via river taxi is cheap and fast. We also tried taxi and SkyTrain which were pretty easy. Fun city... a little dirty and congested but fun.

We arrive Sunday afternoon from Paris and I was wondering about the best way of changing money since perhaps nothing will be open then. Any thoughts?



[quote name='swill']Vic-

Try another school wayyy north of Hotlanta, about 375 miles - Univ. of Cincinnati. I'm like the only one in our engineering office not from tech! (well except for an Auburn guy)

Bangkok-Cape Town sounds awesome. You can easily navigate Bangkok on your own - getting up and down the river via river taxi is cheap and fast. We also tried taxi and SkyTrain which were pretty easy. Fun city... a little dirty and congested but fun.[/QUOTE]

[i][quote name='calexand']We are using a limo service from the docks total cost 2300 Bht or approx. 53.Us. All booked ready for are Nov. 17 pickup to Bangkok.[/i]



can you remember the name of the company you have booked with:cool: