ChocolateLover919

6 hours ago, terry&mike said:

You will be very pleased with this decision. We used him back in January 2020, just before Covid, for our group of friends, in both Ho Chi Minh and in Hoi An. Xuan is one of the best guides I have ever had, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our days with him.

 

 We have kept in touch over the years, and hubby and I hope to be able to get together with him while we are in Vietnam this January. 

In 2019, we had an amazing tour with his colleague, Kate, in Ho Chi Minh City and Xuan gave us the memorable tour of Da Nang and Hoi An.  We highly recommend him and I'm sure you too will have a wonderful tour.  He's professional, knowledgeable and fun! Enjoy!

Thanks for your detailed cruise/tours/and general comments.  We'll be taking the NCL Jade 12 days Italy and Greek Isles cruise (although not all the same ports) in April 2020 and starting to research private small tours.  I made note of the tour groups you used.

Thanks for sharing.

Rita & Michael Lee

12 hours ago, Ashland said:

Our tendering off Vision was quick and easy.

The cable car back down at the end of our day was going to be a 1 1/2 hour wait according to those in line when we walked by and asked at approx 2:45pm. We started the walk down but I quickly realized it was going to be hard, heat & mule poop besides. I opted for the mule ride.....brutal....not sure I made the right choice...but do I now have a runaway mule train story to tell  

Yikes about the mule ride!  I will make sure to leave plenty of time for the cable car.

15 hours ago, prish said:

 

ChocolateLover, I agree with what you say. All these years I have shared and received so many tips from the RCs, but our Alaska sailing next month has barely 4 pages and the May 2020 is still on page 1! Understand now people have FB groups instead...🤔

 

I second PK Travel for Athens, they’re excellent. On Mykonos do visit Delos, easy to DIY, it’s just a short ferry ride away. 

 

On Santorini we rented a car and drove first to Oia before the tour buses got there. Spent a couple of hours, then came to Santo Winery, where you have probably some of the best views ever. Then back to Fira where we returned the vehicle and walked around, had a late lunch and then took the cable car down to the ship.

 

 

Thanks for your information.

Interesting about FB groups being the go to spot looking for information and private tours rather than Cruise Critic that has a roll call for your specific cruise.  After recently reading this, I did join the FB page for NCL Jade.  Until someone creates a specific page just for our cruise, it's a jumble of information from everyone on those ships that stop in ports around the world.  

We look forward to visiting the Greek Isles 😎

Rita & Michael Lee

2 hours ago, Ashland said:

You're so very welcome. From the list above you've given I can only comment/offer on the ones we personally did.

 

Athens.....PK Travel...they were just an amazing tour company...easy to work with and lot's of recommendations and I now completely agree. Full day tour in Athens was 65 Euros pp. Book directly with them on their website...easy to do.

 

Mykonos....we just opted for DIY as this was a port intensive itinerary but many on our cruise booked a trip to the ruins,

not sure which company but it was with a private provider.

 

Florence....Since we have been there before we opted to just use the ship offered roundtrip transportation only to just get

us there and back as it's quite a drive. 

 

Cannes.....ShoreExcursioneer.....Another amazing tour well recommended. $135.00 (USD) per couple...also booked

with them directly on their website.

 

You should have no trouble finding tours that are highly recommended for your other ports. I assume you're on your roll call.

I thought our roll call would pick up also...it never did RCI Vision May 18, 2019. Besides a couple of roll calls we had joined for Asia cruises this Med/Greece was the slowest we've ever been part of. But all worked out well in the end and we enjoyed the tours we booked for this most recent cruise...especially Valletta Malta !!

Thanks for sharing your tours/adventures.  In March 2019, we did a 12 day NCL from Singapore to Hong Kong.  And then Holland America 15 day from HK to Tokyo.  Both had over 85 people interested in the Meet & Mingle and many private tours posted on the google doc I created.  In previous years and prior to knowing about Cruise Critic, we always took the cruise tours.  Once you have the comfort level with private tours with small groups, going to places busloads can't go and lower cost, it's hard to take a cruise tour.

Enjoy your next adventure.

Rita & Michael Lee

On 6/4/2019 at 8:22 AM, TSUmom said:

We do the same....We take the euro with us and I have them in envelopes for the tours, transportation etc....then I use our credit card for whatever I can. 

We too do the same with envelopes labeled ahead of time which helps organize our money.  

For those using ATMs and all of us travelers who may not, please watch this video of situations you probably don't encounter in your home country.  Knowledge is power 😀

Prepare for pickpockets - they’re everywhere, at all public places, and in crowded areas including the churches in Rome.  “Rome, Naples, Barcelona, and Madrid are the Pickpocket Capitals of the World.” 

https://www.bella-toscana.com/pickpocketsinitaly.htm#.W1Xu_9JKhPY

9 hours ago, Ashland said:

I just posted about the tour on my roll call (which was so slow one of the most inactive I've been on) but a couple people from there did join after seeing my information about this tour and it seemed some had booked without even being on the roll call.

 

Each person booked directly on the Greek Traveling website with them...easy to do..I didn't do or have to any organizing at all, and the communication from the company via email was excellent...usually from Cristos.

 

I followed their easy instructions for payment it may have been on PayPal. 82 Euros pp. I had no concerns with pre-payment with this highly recommended company. So please don't have any worries. They will send you a confirmation and instructions for meeting the guide and they kept in touch during the booking process...and as we got closer to the tour and even since I've gotten home to make sure I was happy with using their company. I did of course print the conformation and took it with us...always something you should do, but the guide had our name on his list and there were no problems, he was expecting us and all the other's that had booked with them....There was a total of 16 of us on this tour...a very nice group size for this kind of tour and were all strangers to us but became friends by the end of the tour and we ended up being on a couple of other privately booked tours with some of them in other ports and of course then recognized them on the ship.

 

This was a great tour and I have no concerns recommending them. To be honest I have no idea what the ship would have charged (but I do know their prices are usually crazy overpriced and are way too many people) as I prefer to always book private group tours. Something we have been doing during our 25 + cruises to date.

 

I'm happy to share with you any and all info I can...Enjoy your cruise and keep in touch if I can help again !!

 

Ashland

Ashland,

Thanks for the details of the Santorini port tour.  I'll definitely look into it.  We will be traveling on the NCL Jade in April 2020.  Right now there are only 2 of us on the Roll Call I started, very disappointing.  I'm hoping it picks up like the other cruises we've been on.  I research and plan private tours, advertise on CC for others and even create a google doc to keep all the details in one place.  

I'm searching for tour companies that offer small group tours for Kotor, Montenegro; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Corfu/Athens/Mykonos, Greece; Naples/Pompeii/Florence/Pisa, Italy and Cannes, France.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

Rita & Michael Lee

West Chester, PA 

Cleobella,

Here's an example of Xuan's tour of Ho Chi Minh City.  We also did the one in Danang and Hoian with him. For our cruise in March 2019, I created a google doc and requested fellow cruisers sign up so we could decrease this amazing tour. I won't reiterate the glowing reviews that myself and others have written.

2 persons:  340 USD.
4 persons:  440 USD.
6 persons:  540 USD.
8 persons:  640 USD.
10 persons: 740 USD

Time    "Pick up at 08:00am at outside of port gate - 700 meters from a dock with a sign of your name. Return to the port before 6pm.
(We dock at 7am and depart 9pm)"
Details    "- Visit a local fresh market (fruits, vegetables, fish...) in small alleyways to see local life.
- Visit a Thien Hau temple in Chinatown.
- Trishaw ride 45 minutes through local markets
- Driving along a canal to see a huge contrast between poor stilts houses and high rise apartments. 
- In downtown: walking around Dong Khoi & Nguyen Hue streets to visit some historical sites like post office, notre dame cathedral, city hall and  CIA building where one of the last American helicopter landed on the top for evacuating in fall of Saigon 1975.
- Have lunch at a good local restaurant (pay by your own) 
- Visit war remnants museum ( or Independent palace). 
- Shopping at Ben Thanh market if you wish to see and buy local souvenir.

The tour includes a comfortable van Ford Transit (16 seaters), a tour guide, all entrance fees, 45 minutes trishaw ride in Saigon, bottles of water. Meals, tips and personal expenses are excluded. And i will recommend you some great local restaurants during the trip. 

Rita Lee

I started researching Vietnamese tour companies a year prior to our cruise.  Tours by Xuan was highly recommended by many cruisers.  I started corresponding with Xuan and others prior to making our decision.

Xuan has an International guide license since 2012 and he has been working for a big travel company in Ho Chi Minh city for many years.

Like many individuals starting out, the last couple of years he has been a local guide for Toursbylocals, mostly private tour & small group tours on his own.  Xuan still works for a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City as freelance guide. 

Since he is an independent freelance guide with a tour guide license and doesn’t own any travel company he doesn’t need any bonding.  He feels confident to conduct the tours with full legal documentations as behind him is another travel company where he has been working for many years.

There are many good guides & travel companies in Vietnam and I and others have given Xuan excellent reviews.  We are not saying anything negative about other guides and companies.  Everyone will make their own decisions by reading and exploring the many options available.

Happy Travels!

In March 2019, we too went on tours with Xuan to Danang and Hoian. Since he was busy with another tour, we had an associate of his for Ho Chi Minh City.  I concur with your assessment of Xuan and the tours and HIGHLY recommend him and his associates for tours. The highlights were the 45 minute Trishaw ride in Ho Chi Minh City and the restaurant off the beaten path where only locals knew about. 

It's wonderful to only have 8 people on a tour that is so reasonably priced. 

Laem Chabang/Bangkok: I contacted Mike, www.bangokasiatravel.com, for a private tour for 8 of us after reading many positive reviews.  He was responsive to my numerous questions and I thought gave us a very fair price for the tour.  We made a $50 deposit thru PayPal and paid the balance in USD the day of the tour.  It takes about 2-2.5 hours to drive from the cruise port to Bangkok, since there is a great deal of traffic closer to the very clean city. 

Mr. Chi, our tour guide, was informative and professional on our ride to the city and throughout the day.  Our visits to the Wat (temples) both men and women need their shoulders and knees covered with shoes off.  If you don’t like walking on hot walkways or with no socks, bring a pair to put on when you go into the temples. 

Walking thru the flower markets watching people making the beautiful decorations/arrangements along with the intoxicating smell of jasmine and other flowers was wonderful to experience.  Mr. Chi was thoughtful to purchase local fruit to share.  

The Grand Palace was an area that was extremely crowded with people and many beautiful buildings and other statues, etc.  My favorite was the beautiful mosaic building that shimmered in the sun. 

We had lunch at the Navy Club, included with our tour except for beer, served family style with many options and sat outside overlooking the busy river.  My favorite was chicken with cashews which had a delicious sauce and there were many options from soup to dessert.

There were many other fabulous stops, sights and smells of the day we all got to enjoy!

I highly recommend contacting this company for a tour of Bangkok.   

Hong Kong to Tokyo, depart April 17 2019 and arrival April 27 2019. Overnights in Tapei & Shanghai, stops in Kochi, Osaka and Shimizu.

Interesting but there's a month break between the Singapore to Hong Kong cruise we are on. Thank you.

The ship has a cruise ....Singapore Mar 4 to Hong Kong on Mar 16th.....and nothing else.....is it going in for a refit or upgrade???....wanting to cruise back to NA on it in Spring 2019 like this year.....Anyone know?????

 

Thanks

We were so disappointed when the Jewel did not announce the Hong Kong to Tokyo leg as they had this year for 2019. We are cruising Singapore to HK overnight and changing to Holland America for the HK to Tokyo portion that NCL is no longer offering.

We used Chinahighlights and were extremely happy with them. We were supposed to have a double overnight in Tianjin but only made it there a day late because we were stuck in Seoul due to fog for a day. Chinahighlights‘ reaction was exemplary! They adapted the itinerary, canceled one night of hotel as soon as they heard of our delay and refunded a day not even two days after.

 

The guide was excellent and the hotel in Beijing amazing and very luxurious.

Thanks so much for this information. I'll definitely look into it.

Rita

Thanks for your prompt response. This link did take me to where I found some private tour options previously and happy to know I'm in the right spot.

Greatly appreciated.

Rita

Thank you for responding. By chance I found some recommendations for some of the ports in Vietnam but not sure I was looking in the correct spot to view all the ports. Also, CC website seems to have drop down options on some pages but not others.

If there is a link to the ports, please let me know. We will be traveling March 2019 but I want to secure tours soon.

There are the The NCL cruise ports: Singapore, Ko Samui, Sihaoukville, Ho Chi Minh City, Chan May, Hanoi, Hong Kong.

We are following up the next day with Holland America cruise with ports: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin/Beijing, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Yokohama & then on our own a few days in Kyoto.

Thank you for your guidance.

Rita

In March 2019, there is an overnight cruise stop in Tianjin and we plan to visit the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu and other sites in Beijing. Sharing any private tour company/individual you have used would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Rita

If you are tendering it takes much longer and yes, you will be tendering at assigned times based on several things. If you are not tendering there are no special arrangements, you just get off at your leisure. The ship will usually be cleared for debarkation about an hour after arriving. You do not have to worry too much, vendors and tour operators know about when the sip will be cleared and work with you. You should be back on board about an hour prior to sailing. Make sure, if booking privates tours you allow for unplanned slow downs. We have always, after on scary experience only booked private tours if we have a few hours at the end to get back on the ship.

In the past, we've mostly booked land tours thru NCL but I'm interested in doing private tours for our cruises in March 2019. I would appreciate helpful hints on finding reputable private tours since I've looked at several sources. We have 3 overnights and our 2 previous overnights in the middle east we booked thru NCL and not sure what to do about these overnights and day trips.

Thanks so much.

Rita

Hi! We have sailed numerous times on NCL including Hong Kong to Sydney in 2017.

In 2019, we are considering the Singapore to Hong Kong on the Jewel so if anyone can give us an update, please do.

We are very disappointed though there is no Hong Kong-Beijing-Tokyo sail for 2019 since that's the one we truly want.

There is another cruise company that does have that option and we are thinking of sailing on that after the 12 day NCL Jewel ending in Hong Kong the day prior to this other cruise line leaving for Tokyo.

Thank you for information you can provide.

Rita

my understanding is that the flux capacitor cannot be installed until marty mcfly returns from 1885 with the doc. Marty does not have the necessary skills to install it himself.

 

Pay attention, people.

Too funny!!!:)