Do I need to pre-book excursions in Singapore, Bangkok + Ho Chi Minh??

Hello! We are going on Celebrity Millennium, travelling to Asia for the first time, in Dec 2015. Ports are Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi + Hong Kong. We've done countless cruises in the Med + Caribbean and its always v easy to 'do your own thing' at each port and pick up a taxi / tour / trip at the destination rather than booking much in advance, but no idea if this is the case in Asia? We don't want to do things through the ship (too expensive!) but not sure if we need to be booking private companies before we go or will be able to easily organise something once off at the port? :confused: Any advice would be enormously appreciated - we want to see as much as we can in each place and get a real taster of places..and if we do need to book things beforehand, any tour company recommendations? Really hope someone can help!! :)

very easy to get taxis there. prepare a tour yourself and show the taxis.

Ho chi minh is more dificult. Need a taxidriver who speaks english. WHen you get out the ship so many drivers are waiting there, but be carefull because all they are on comision and charge more.

We pay norally 20-25$ per person

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic,

No, you don't need to book "excursions" at these places.

But if you don't, you need to research & plan your days & book some basic arrangements.

Bangkok

Your ship will berth at Laem Chabang, about 75 miles from the city.

There's no suitable public transport from the port, and taxis available at the port are in a cartel which seeks rip-off prices. Those mugs who've not made arrangements have very little choice but to pay those inflated prices - about double the cost of a car pre-booked over the internet.

So you need to book a private transfer (get 3 or 4 quotes from operators with independent recommendations) or ship's Bangkok on-your-own transfer. Ship's transfer is of course over-priced and inflexible, IMHO a pre-booked private transfer is better - and probably cheaper. Check your RollCall for offers to share.

Journey time probably little more than 90 minutes, but because of Bangkok's frequently gridlocked roads allow 2.5 hrs for the return to the ship - or better still, quote your back-on-board time to the operator & take their advice.

Can't give you a transfer recommendation. Those mugs who didn't fix transport in advance - one of them is typing this post :o

Once in the city you'll need local transport - the Skytrain mass-transit, the ferries, & tuk-tuks or taxis. Tuk-tuks are cheap & fun, but you need to know a few ground-rules ........ ask Google or come back & ask on here.

If your ship overnites, I strongly recommend that you book a hotel in the city as we did. Hotel prices are quite reasonable, though higher in the prime riverside spots.

Saigon.

Your ship will berth at Phu My. I think it's now about 90 minutes from Saigon, but there have been big road improvements. Apparently there are now taxis available at the port but my advice would be the same as for Bangkok - a private transfer or ship's Saigon on-your-own.

Can't give you a transfer recommendation - our little ship berthed right in the city. :)

Ships transfers drop at or near the Rex Hotel - get a private transfer to do the same, it's an ideal location walkable to Reunification Hall, War Remnants museum, Ho Chi Minh museum, Ben Thanh market, Notre Dame & the nearby Post Office - which is an attractive and historic building in its own right and houses an excellent tourist info desk & currency exchange.

Crossing the road in Saigon is an art - check out Youtube "crossing the road in Saigon". Not as dangerous as it looks - well over 90% of pedestrians survive :D

Same advice as for Bangkok if your ship overnites - book an overnite city hotel. Vaguely the same area as the Rex.

Hanoi.

If you want the 3.5 hour slog from Halong Bay, ship's overnite excursion is over-priced of course but probably the best way to do it.

Or skip Hanoi and give serious consideration to either an overnite or a 6-8 hour day cruise on a junk. Check out googleimages - the weird limestone karsts looming through the mist are surreal, and being alone deep amongst them is eerie - like being on another planet.

For an overnite junk you need to pre-book & you won't get a bargain. For a day junk you can pre-book or risk bartering on the day (or barter on the first afternoon for the next day if that's your full day). Passable value if you pre-book a shared junk for about 10 to 16 people, much cheaper if - like us - you barter on the pier but of course a risk that you won't get a junk or won't get sharers. Day junks can take 30 or more - and ship's junk tours will. But 10 to 16 is ideal. A two-hour junk cruise is pointless, 4 hours will at least get you amongst the karsts, 6 or 8 hours is better.

Make good use of your RollCall.

Hong Kong.

The old cruise terminal is right by the Star Ferry terminal at Tsim Sha Tsui, the tip of the Kowloon peninsula on the mainland. Your ship might berth at the new cruise terminal at Kai Tak, formerly the city's airport set amongst the harbour's high-rise buildings (Check the landings on YouTube!). I think Kai Tak is just a bit too far to walk but easy enough on the mass-transit system.

HK's public transport is excellent, easy to use, signs & ticket machines in English. Frequent cross-harbour ferries (as one leaves folk join another one waiting) are a great way to cross, the Island's rickety old trams are heaps of fun, plenty of buses & an excellent mass-transit (metro) system.

Lots of sights too numerous for my typing finger, plenty of info on this forum & elsewhere on the web.

Plenty to research, but nothing to fix up in advance - other than to re-book your flight home for a week later than you've booked, HK is well worth it. :)

At all ports those who deal with tourists (& plenty who don't) speak passable-to-good English.

Here's a link to your RollCall for Millenium 6th December sailing

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2150470

JB :)

John, need your help if its posible.

Arriving in Komodo, leaving the ship in a tender. Do you know which place the ships stop.

Ours is HAL, ms Rotterdam 27.of december. Havent found any help yet

tk

Thank you so much John - all of that information is great and incredibly useful - really is ever so much appreciated! Afraid we're likely to have lots of questions but need to go through it all first, and for now just wanted to say a massive thank you! :D

Thank you so much John - all of that information is great and incredibly useful - really is ever so much appreciated! Afraid we're likely to have lots of questions but need to go through it all first, and for now just wanted to say a massive thank you! :D

No worries, glad to help :)

John, need your help if its posible.

 

Arriving in Komodo, leaving the ship in a tender. Do you know which place the ships stop.

Ours is HAL, ms Rotterdam 27.of december. Havent found any help yet

 

tk

I think the only place that cruise ships moor is off the National Park village, where there's a jetty for tenders & boats.

I called it a "village".

When we went, it was rangers' station and quarters, plus a café-shack (which dragons like to sleep under :cool:), all on stilts - away to the left of the little jetty. And a row of stalls along the beach between village and jetty.

Bear in mind that my info is from about 5 years ago, I don't remember the long jetty or the buildings closer to the jetties, I guess all constructed later. Who knows, there might even be toilets now :D.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/ATM+BNI+KLN+LABUAN+BAJO/@-8.5689175,119.4990236,1062m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x2db4543fb0c380e7:0xb6a6e6b350062f80

If that link doesn't work, put ATM BNI KLN LABUAN BAJO KOMODO into googlemaps.

JB :)

great John, we wont go to see the dragons, we will be off to the waterfalls. Nothing else to do there anyway

great John, we wont go to see the dragons, we will be off to the waterfalls. Nothing else to do there anyway

Don't get eaten on the way :D

JB :)

sparkledust, as usual JB has provided excellent information.

I would highly recommend taking a tour in Ho Chi Minh City. There are many tours available to book in advance and prices are quite good. By the way, if you want to make purchases of items for gifts for others, this is the place to do it. Prices are significantly cheaper in Ho Chi Minh City than in Singapore and Hong Kong. The same items can be two to three times the price in those other places. With road improvement and a tunnel installed a couple of years ago it now takes about an hour to get into the city. Again, I would do a tour there. If you need a recommendation, please let me know.

In Bangkok I too would stay at a hotel overnight. It gives you more time to experience Bangkok. If you prefer to do it in one day I can give you a recommendation.

For Hong Kong, this is one that if you do not have mobility issues you can easily do it on your own. You can walk to many areas and also we enjoy taking the Ferry to get over to Hong Kong Island. Very easy to get around.

Keith

Welcome to my sunny little island! (Also very warm and humid)

Singapore is very easy to get around. You don't have to book any tours. This is the official tourism website - http://www.yoursingapore.com/en.html

I hope you get to spend some days in Singapore pre-cruise.

The Millenium sails from Marina Bay Cruise Terminal. Don't go to the wrong cruise terminal! This video shows you what the Marina Bay terminal looks like.

[YOUTUBE]-a5WI-KinVQ[/YOUTUBE]

The Celebrity Millennium docked.

[YOUTUBE]u9MG8IeV-xk[/YOUTUBE]

Many things to see and do in Singapore, but be sure to try out our local cuisine! For instance, we are famous for Hainanese Chicken Rice, which looks like this.

[YOUTUBE]gLtLQwnIqNM[/YOUTUBE]

Have a great cruise!

We travel to Hong Kong for holidays now and then. Fun place to go. If you are talking about the most touristy things to do there, then one is definitely the light show.

The HK Victoria Harbour at night is quite a spectacle.

[YOUTUBE]rM994wpqObU[/YOUTUBE]

Going up to Victoria Peak is another very touristy thing to do. The cheapest way to do it is via a public bus, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you like windy rides. We did get a bit bus sick.

[YOUTUBE]Jo7r7akXHW4[/YOUTUBE]

Part 2

[YOUTUBE]beVNWSWWFAE[/YOUTUBE]

Taking the Star Ferry across the harbour is, in itself, a touristy thing to do!

[YOUTUBE]WG3_r2EgBKw[/YOUTUBE]

We have visited Phu My port (for Ho Chi Minh) when we sailed on the Voyager of the Seas a few years back. We booked a private tour that picked us up once we got off the ship. The distance to Ho Chi Minh was quite far indeed and we were glad we were in a private vehicle (a Mercedes mini-van) because we could go faster. The War Remnants museum was memorable.

Here is my review of that trip, on a blog.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2013/10/ho-chi-minh-city-lets-pay-uncle-ho.html

sparkledust, as usual JB has provided excellent information.

 

I would highly recommend taking a tour in Ho Chi Minh City. There are many tours available to book in advance and prices are quite good. By the way, if you want to make purchases of items for gifts for others, this is the place to do it. Prices are significantly cheaper in Ho Chi Minh City than in Singapore and Hong Kong. The same items can be two to three times the price in those other places. With road improvement and a tunnel installed a couple of years ago it now takes about an hour to get into the city. Again, I would do a tour there. If you need a recommendation, please let me know.

 

In Bangkok I too would stay at a hotel overnight. It gives you more time to experience Bangkok. If you prefer to do it in one day I can give you a recommendation.

 

For Hong Kong, this is one that if you do not have mobility issues you can easily do it on your own. You can walk to many areas and also we enjoy taking the Ferry to get over to Hong Kong Island. Very easy to get around.

 

Keith

Keith,

Any recommendations would be greatly received :).

Villauk, we used Zoom Tours in Ho Chi Minh City. The name of the owner is Dung Zoom but you can just call him Zoom.

His e mail is: dungzoom@gmail.com

He also arranged for a tour for us with colleagues in another area of Vietnam.

I highly recommend him.

Keith

We have visited Phu My port (for Ho Chi Minh) when we sailed on the Voyager of the Seas a few years back. We booked a private tour that picked us up once we got off the ship. The distance to Ho Chi Minh was quite far indeed and we were glad we were in a private vehicle (a Mercedes mini-van) because we could go faster. The War Remnants museum was memorable.

 

Here is my review of that trip, on a blog.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2013/10/ho-chi-minh-city-lets-pay-uncle-ho.html

Iluvcruising2,

Me again :o. My questions are about the Panorama Hotel in HK. Hope you don't mind me asking, but is it within walking distance to the Star Ferry terminal? Additionally, can we use the airport express train to initially get to the hotel instead of the bus and which means of transport did you use to get from the hotel to the cruise terminal (I expect Millie will depart from Kai Tak :confused:).

Many thank in advance :).

Iluvcruising2,

 

Me again :o. My questions are about the Panorama Hotel in HK. Hope you don't mind me asking, but is it within walking distance to the Star Ferry terminal? Additionally, can we use the airport express train to initially get to the hotel instead of the bus and which means of transport did you use to get from the hotel to the cruise terminal (I expect Millie will depart from Kai Tak :confused:).

 

Many thank in advance :).

Hotel Panorama by Rhombus (Hart Avenue) to the TST Star Ferry terminal is a little over 1/2 mile, a pleasant 15 mins on foot.

And it's only a 5 minute walk from Nathan Road (main shopping street)

From the airport take the train to Kowloon station, and unless anyone else can suggest public transport from there it's a 2-mile taxi ride to the hotel. Best to have the hotel on a map or it's name/address in Chinese characters to show the taxi driver - might make life easier if he's not English-speaking.

I've never been to the Kai Tak cruise terminal, but from that hotel its about 5 miles / 20 minutes by taxi. The hotel can give an idea of the fare or suggest public transport options.

JB :)

We used smile tours in Vietnam. Not cheap, but was very good.

From Ho chi mihn city we went to delta del mekong.

This was one of the best tours and the Halong Bay tour aswell.

I loved Hoian aswell. Really liked the whole Vietnam tours, would like to go back to see rest of the country.

Thanks to all for providing advice ;). Another couple of questions :o. Would you say that the Holiday Inn is better positioned than the Panorama by Rhombus in Hong Kong? We want a family room and so are limited to the offerings of hotels as many only allow a maximum of 3 to a room, and we have 2 teens :(. The Holiday Inn appears to be close to Nathan Road for shopping and the Star Ferry. Does anyone know if it's in a nice area (suitable for families), or would the Panorama be better?

Thanks to all for providing advice ;). Another couple of questions :o. Would you say that the Holiday Inn is better positioned than the Panorama by Rhombus in Hong Kong? We want a family room and so are limited to the offerings of hotels as many only allow a maximum of 3 to a room, and we have 2 teens :(. The Holiday Inn appears to be close to Nathan Road for shopping and the Star Ferry. Does anyone know if it's in a nice area (suitable for families), or would the Panorama be better?

Holiday Inn Golden Mile is in Nathan Road, in the heart of the shopping. About 10 mins from TST ferry terminal, that's five minutes closer than Rhombus on foot. And across the street from a MTR station.

There are a number of other hotels which offer family rooms or suites for four.

We use the Salisbury, on Salisbury Road & just two or three minutes from the ferry terminal. It has rooms for four at about the same money as H.I.Golden Mile - on a random date next November it's a little more for a harbour-view family room, a little less for a standard family room.

http://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?src=district&nflt=&ss_raw=&district=1450&error_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fdistrict%2Fhk%2Fhong-kong%2Ftsim-sha-tsui.en-gb.html%3Faid%3D356983%3Blabel%3Dgog235jc-hotel-XX-hk-holidayNinnNexpressNhongNkongNkowloonNeast-unspec-gb-com-L%253Aen-V%253A0CEEQFjADahUKEwjnb6JrZjJAhXMvhQKHQ1ZCls-O%253Aunk-B%253Aunk-N%253Ayes-S%253Abo-U%253Asalo%3Bsid%3D8e2a8fcba33028c235b27ecb33d7ef90%3Bdcid%3D1%3Binac%3D0%26%3B&aid=356983&dcid=1&label=gog235jc-hotel-XX-hk-holidayNinnNexpressNhongNkongNkowloonNeast-unspec-gb-com-L%3Aen-V%3A0CEEQFjADahUKEwjnb6JrZjJAhXMvhQKHQ1ZCls-O%3Aunk-B%3Aunk-N%3Ayes-S%3Abo-U%3Asalo&sid=8e2a8fcba33028c235b27ecb33d7ef90&checkin_monthday=18&checkin_year_month=2015-11&checkout_monthday=19&checkout_year_month=2015-11&room1=A%2CA&=2&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&group_children=0&lp_bdp=1&ac_pageview_id=353ca2355a8f02fc

JB :)

We used Thai tours this past Feb for two days and they were outstanding. Guide plus driver

Holiday Inn Golden Mile is in Nathan Road, in the heart of the shopping. About 10 mins from TST ferry terminal, that's five minutes closer than Rhombus on foot. And across the street from a MTR station.

 

There are a number of other hotels which offer family rooms or suites for four.

We use the Salisbury, on Salisbury Road & just two or three minutes from the ferry terminal. It has rooms for four at about the same money as H.I.Golden Mile - on a random date next November it's a little more for a harbour-view family room, a little less for a standard family room.

 

http://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?src=district&nflt=&ss_raw=&district=1450&error_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fdistrict%2Fhk%2Fhong-kong%2Ftsim-sha-tsui.en-gb.html%3Faid%3D356983%3Blabel%3Dgog235jc-hotel-XX-hk-holidayNinnNexpressNhongNkongNkowloonNeast-unspec-gb-com-L%253Aen-V%253A0CEEQFjADahUKEwjnb6JrZjJAhXMvhQKHQ1ZCls-O%253Aunk-B%253Aunk-N%253Ayes-S%253Abo-U%253Asalo%3Bsid%3D8e2a8fcba33028c235b27ecb33d7ef90%3Bdcid%3D1%3Binac%3D0%26%3B&aid=356983&dcid=1&label=gog235jc-hotel-XX-hk-holidayNinnNexpressNhongNkongNkowloonNeast-unspec-gb-com-L%3Aen-V%3A0CEEQFjADahUKEwjnb6JrZjJAhXMvhQKHQ1ZCls-O%3Aunk-B%3Aunk-N%3Ayes-S%3Abo-U%3Asalo&sid=8e2a8fcba33028c235b27ecb33d7ef90&checkin_monthday=18&checkin_year_month=2015-11&checkout_monthday=19&checkout_year_month=2015-11&room1=A%2CA&=2&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&group_children=0&lp_bdp=1&ac_pageview_id=353ca2355a8f02fc

 

JB :)

Thanks, John. Yes, I did realise that the HI was on Nathan, but a few reviews mention it being the the junction of Mody Road and it being a little seedy :confused:?

It appears going through your link offers more choice as some of the hotel sites themselves only state rooms for a maximum of 3, however, they are available for 4 on the 3rd party listings :confused:? Thanks again.

Thanks, John. Yes, I did realise that the HI was on Nathan, but a few reviews mention it being the the junction of Mody Road and it being a little seedy :confused:?

 

It appears going through your link offers more choice as some of the hotel sites themselves only state rooms for a maximum of 3, however, they are available for 4 on the 3rd party listings :confused:? Thanks again.

Nathan Road's not seedy, as I recall. But I hardly know the road.

I ignore the occasional comment on reviews, but sit up & take notice if a particular problem is a common theme.

Yes, an excellent site, we use it a lot. All hotels on one website, makes life simple. Gives stax of detail, photos, genuine reviews, etc and the map not only pinpoints the hotel but shows nearby hotels too.

Use it to narrow-down where you want to stay, then check hotels' own websites - they're usually the same price direct, but sometimes more expensive & sometimes cheaper.

Yes, hotels often fail to include in their own website detail that's on booking.com

Note - Booking.com are often limited on the number of rooms that they can book in a hotel. If their website says "sold out" for your date it can be worth checking availability for a direct booking.

Don't worry about the YMCA tag on the Salisbury, it's a regular hotel. The only difference you might notice is perhaps sharing the lift with students going to university facilities that are on some floors. Harbour view rooms are from about the 11th floor upwards - on lower floors the view is obstructed by the space museum

JB :)