Dock locations in Thailand & Hong Kong

[Jade13]

Were is the Klong Toey port in "Bangkok" where Azamara is scheduled to dock? Someone posted that a HAL ship ws docking somewhere which would be a 2 hour ride to Bangkok.

Also, where does Azamara normally dock in Hong Kong, as we need to decide if we want to stay at a hotel near the port?

[paul929207]

We have not been on the Azamara, but we did an Asian cruise on the Pacific Princess, a sister of the Azamara. In Bangkok, we did have a long drive from the port to the city. I am not sure that it was two hours, but it was certainly over one hour.

In Hong Kong, we docked right next to the Star Ferry Terminal and the shopping mall at the end of Nathan Road in Kowloon.

[mtlcruiser10]

we will be on the march 14 cruise and the quest will be dock at china merchants wharf 18 sai ning street on Hong Kong side and not at cruise terminal kowloon

hope it help last years on the rapshody of the sea in Bangkok we dock at Chaem labang near 2 hres drive to Bangkok

hope it help sylvain

[Keith1010]

The Klong Toey port is located only 30 minutes from the city center of Bangkok. Most other cruise ships dock much further away in another port where the drive is approximately 90 minutes (precise time varies by traffic) each way to the city center.

Keith

[Jade13]

Originally Posted by Keith1010

The Klong Toey port is located only 30 minutes from the city center of Bangkok. Most other cruise ships dock much further away in another port where the drive is approximately 90 minutes (precise time varies by traffic) each way to the city center.

Keith

Keith, great. Well that is a plus for Azamara as I'm still upset that HAL has pulled a ship out of the area at the same time. The HAL itinerary included southern Thailand.

[greatam]

Originally Posted by Jade13

Keith, great. Well that is a plus for Azamara as I'm still upset that HAL has pulled a ship out of the area at the same time. The HAL itinerary included southern Thailand.

Good luck in Klong Toey. It is the container port surrounded by, IMHO, the slummiest part of Bangkok. I was down in the port a few weeks ago. Nasty, nasty, nasty going to and from the port and I have been in most of the ports in third world Asian countries. LOTS of beggars around, outside the gates of the port. I have no idea why Azamara is docking ships in there. Totally nuts in my opinion.

Here's some pictures that you can "look forward" to seeing on your way on/off the ship.
http://www.johnhulme.net/klong.htm

http://insearchofbangkok.blogsome.co...ong-toey-slum/

[Jade13]

Originally Posted by greatam

Good luck in Klong Toey. It is the container port surrounded by, IMHO, the slummiest part of Bangkok. I was down in the port a few weeks ago. Nasty, nasty, nasty going to and from the port and I have been in most of the ports in third world Asian countries. LOTS of beggars around, outside the gates of the port. I have no idea why Azamara is docking ships in there. Totally nuts in my opinion.

Here's some pictures that you can "look forward" to seeing on your way on/off the ship.
http://www.johnhulme.net/klong.htm

http://insearchofbangkok.blogsome.co...ong-toey-slum/

Isn't a port 30 minutes away better than one someone said was 2 hours?

[Jade13]

Originally Posted by greatam

Good luck in Klong Toey. It is the container port surrounded by, IMHO, the slummiest part of Bangkok. I was down in the port a few weeks ago. Nasty, nasty, nasty going to and from the port and I have been in most of the ports in third world Asian countries. LOTS of beggars around, outside the gates of the port. I have no idea why Azamara is docking ships in there. Totally nuts in my opinion.

Here's some pictures that you can "look forward" to seeing on your way on/off the ship.
http://www.johnhulme.net/klong.htm

http://insearchofbangkok.blogsome.co...ong-toey-slum/

Isn't a port 30 minutes away better than one someone said was 2 hours?

I just looked at these photos. This is the Shanty Town in Bangkok, correct? I lived in Bangkok at one time.

I think one of my final exams in graduate school by chance had to do with the shanty town in Bangkok.

[Keith1010]

Originally Posted by greatam

Good luck in Klong Toey. It is the container port surrounded by, IMHO, the slummiest part of Bangkok. I was down in the port a few weeks ago. Nasty, nasty, nasty going to and from the port and I have been in most of the ports in third world Asian countries. LOTS of beggars around, outside the gates of the port. I have no idea why Azamara is docking ships in there. Totally nuts in my opinion.

Here's some pictures that you can "look forward" to seeing on your way on/off the ship.
http://www.johnhulme.net/klong.htm

http://insearchofbangkok.blogsome.co...ong-toey-slum/

You are absolutely correct that it is located in a terrible area.

But, with that said, the advantage is that most people want to visit Bangkok so rather than having to travel 90 minutes plus in each direction from the place where the cruise ships dock one can just travel 30 minutes into the downtown area. And 90 minutes is with good traffic and the buses or cars driving at higher speeds than I would prefer.

On our cruise which included Bangkok last year the majority of the folks traveled and stayed in Bangkok for one evening as we had an overnight stay. We all would have been thrilled to have eliminated two hours of travel time.

Add to this the fact that the town that serves where most cruise ships mostly dock is not a place that most people on cruise ships would want to visit unless they want to pay someone for a service.

During our travels around we have docked in many ports that are quite safe but there have been that are not whether in Asia or Africa or South America, etc. We have past by shanty towns that look just as bad in many places. Or just take a drive around Mumbai and one will see 6 million people living in poverty.

Actually, this is part of the education in travel. It's not all about seeing the good.

Keith