Miaminice

20 minutes ago, kj_connections said:

Thanks for the report and beautiful pictures.  Could you tell me if the solarium pool allows kids? Was there any Japanese food on the ship outside of paid restaurants?

I am not sure about the solarium - but as much as I know there´s a certain time when kids are allowed.

The buffet had some Japanes dishes sometime and one Ramen day. Otherwise no. 
But the restaurants in Japan are great - go try local.

@Dr. Pam

See here: 

We have done three Japan cruises already - 2 on Millennium and 1 on HAL.
We just booked our fourth - on Millennium again (05/14/25). I was tempted to book the one on Princess to see something new. However, I compared the Japanese ports and quickly found out that the little known ports of Princess have much less to offer. 

So I don´t just say I´d book Millennium, but I actually did.

Plus, the refurbished Millennium is really nice. On our last cruise in October - Japan as well - we really enjoyed our time on her.

 

18 hours ago, travelfan20 said:

Miaminice ,

Thank you again for posting your wonderful "almost live" report of your recent cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong. It was very enjoyable and informative. We are going on a similar cruise at the end of February 

 

Do you happened to know or be willing to recommend, what is an appropriate level of gratuities for  Thailand and  Vietnam for your private guides you used ? Also is it better for to use local currency or USD?

 

Just trying to figure out what we need to bring in terms of local currencies in each country 

 

Cheers😀

 

In Vietnam we followed a general recommendation of  Rose and tipped 500,000 VND / USD 20 for both of us for a day. 

19 hours ago, AP269 said:

Thank you for your quick response, I have been in contact with Anntours & Rose and booked tours, I am unaware of rollcall that you mentioned in another post and how that works. Can you advise.

You can find it here on Cruisecritic

Look for the Roll Call of your cruise. There you´ll find fellow cruisers of your sailing. Some offering spots in private tours, some looking for spots. Or all kind of usefull (most of the time 🙂) info on your specific sailing.

19 minutes ago, holidayhelen said:

Is the floating market no longer??

 

We are leaving next Tues

 

Thanks H

A part of it burned down and is closed... I have no idea how much is still left and if it´s worth going there. The Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens are a possible and nice alternative. 

@holidayhelen

GRAB is the way to go in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore etc. - it´s comparable to Uber.
Download the Grab App and you are all set.

We used Grab for our rides to the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya, the trip to the floating market (before it burned down 🥲) and back to the port. All simple to do. You see the fare in advance and the availability of cars in the area.

To have data available on the trip, I recommend Airalo Asia eSim. Worked in all the ports.

Here´s what we did on the cruise.

We HIGHLY recommend Rose for your tours in Vietnam!!!
She´s exceptional in the true sense of the word.

Those of you who followed the live(ish) report of our recent cruise to Southeast Asia know that we had an amazing time.

For all others I posted the link below.
Especially Vietnam has left a lasting impression. We have already booked another trip to Vietnam - a Mekong River cruise this time.
Vietnam is such a beautiful country and has so much to offer - nature, culture, history and - maybe above all - incredibly friendly people. This cruise was our second cruise to Southeast Asia.

The tours we did in Vietnam to get a small glimpse of its beauty were outstanding. We planned all of them with Rose, a young lady from Hanoi. All of the tours created unforgettable memories, were very well organized and Rose and her passionate team of guides were absolutely fantastic. They were exemplary ambassadors of their country and played a vital role in deepening our affection for the destination. We can´t recommend Rose highly enough.

Since we did the trip mentioned above, some more people followed our recommendation and also booked with her.

ALL of them came back happy and full of praise.

So if you travel or cruise to Vietnam, contact Rose for tours. 
You will not regret it!
Number +84374372918 (also on whatsapp)
Email: Nhungnguyen.ulis@gmail.com

Rose with us in Hanoi

Here´s the report of our most recent cruise to Japan...
 

We are about to book a fourth cruise to Japan - it´s fabulous.

Maybe this helps... it was our third cruise to Japan. And we are already about to book a fourth 🙂

Maybe this helps...
 

8 hours ago, AP269 said:

Hello

Thank you for all the information in your posts. We are boarding this ship on 8 February for 12 nights & have booked with Anntours and just about to book with Rose for Vietnam. Some tours seem very long days and I am assuming that we can cut them short if we wanted.

Also, can you tell me what is an acceptable amount to tip the guide as I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.

regsrds

Hi, 

Well, the tours are long because in Bangkok, Saigon and Hanoi the distances between the port and the cities are far. See post #188. If you cut them short you won’t have the time to see much (anything). 
 

Two other couples followed our recommendation to tour with Rose and they are just doing Hanoi today. They are also having a blast. Rose is a gem!

Yes, tipping in these countries is acceptable. It’s in Japan where it is still frowned upon. 
 

we followed a recommendation and tipped 500,000 VND / USD 20 for both of us for a day. 

57 minutes ago, benel204 said:

Thanks for that information.  I'm curious from whom you were able to select your tours.  Was it through the ship?  Or private.  I would like to do some more research on the overall costs including the tours.  Your experience is really so helpful --- again, thank you for taking the time to chronicle everything.

We never do ship tours. We much prefer private tours in small groups and dislike the huge groups of the ship.

I organize tours with local guides and ask for people to join us on the roll call.

5 hours ago, Mickey22 said:

Hello,

  My husband and I will be in Yokohama following our Millennium cruise in March. We are staying near the port (New Grand Hotel).  I would like to visit Kamakura and was trying to find out  how far it is to the train station in Yokohama and how far is it to the Big Buddha from the Kamakura train station. I remember reading that you made this trip, also any other suggestions you might have for not to be missed places in Kamakura.  Thanks, your live blogs and photos are always wonderful and make us feel as though we are there with you.

                 Jane

Trains are the way to go in Japan. So unless you are walkers like us, just find the nearest subway station by your hotel - Motomachi-iriguchi - and take the subway to Yokohama station.

Once you are at Yokohama Station take the JR train to Kamakura.

We walked to the Buddha (roughly 30 min) but you can take the train which we took back both ways (Hase Station). There’s also a bus. Google or Applemaps will show you all connections once you are there.
The three places we saw in Kamakura were awesome and filled the day, so the Buddha, the nearby Hase-dera-Temple and Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (walk from Kamakura Station) are definitely what we‘d recommend. The day was one of the highlights of the entire trip - the icing on the cake so to speak.

16 hours ago, benel204 said:

Oh wow, very interesting.  Looks like we would want to factor that in.

In looking at the maps, we were wondering if we could somehow manage a flight to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  Did you consider that?  Perhaps out of Saigon/Ho-chi-min City?

 

There was even a tour offering Siem Reap. But we weren’t interested. It’s either one or the other for us.

We just booked a Mekong River cruise taking us from Saigon to Siam Reap in September 2024 - and canceled New Zealand on Edge in November. 😁 so we’ll get a more in depth look…

27 minutes ago, benel204 said:

Thanks for the input regarding heat.  That is great to hear it was pleasant.

 

Another question: I see that you had an overnight in a Hanoi hotel. And that some people did an overnight at another port as well.  Was that because of the distance to the sites you wanted to see with Hanoi as your base?  I'm curious about the distances to travel from the ports in order to see sites. It looks like your party covered a lot (with the help of the tour guides). 

actually both… we enjoyed staying in Hanoi overnight and in hindsight it was a perfect decision. And some ports are pretty far. Quite a few passengers stayed in Bangkok overnight as well.

Driving times: Hanoi up to 3 hours, Bangkok up to 2.5 hours, Saigon up to 1.5 hours. 

1 hour ago, benel204 said:

  Was heat and humidity a damper for you?

Not at all! Temperatures weren’t too hot but rather pleasant. 

10 hours ago, benel204 said:

I was searching today on Celebrity boards to see if anyone had done Celebrity's Singapore to Hong Kong -- and wow, I hit the mother lode with this fantastic trip report!!

Thank you @Miaminice for answering so many of the questions I had, and several I never thought of.  I have saved your report for more detailed study.

 

We are looking at this same itinerary in December 2024 or January 2025.

 

I would appreciate your (and anyone's) thoughts on selecting the Singapore to Hong Kong route, vs the reverse.  I've always wanted to tour Singapore, so when we see (before or after the cruise) is still up in the air. 

 

Thanks!
Basically it doesn´t really matter which way around you do the cruise itself. However, I always feel that it´s sort of "over" after disembarkation and my mind is already on the way home. So personally I´d put the highlight first. So if Singapore is what you want to see - and it sure is fabulous - I´d do it before the cruise. But that´s just a personal thing 🙂 

If you have any specific questions, please don´t hesitate to ask.

Oliver

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Epilogue 

Those of you who followed along know that we had an amazing cruise. Especially Vietnam has left a lasting impression. It’s such a beautiful country and has so much to offer - nature, culture, history and incredibly friendly people. 

The tours we did in Vietnam to get a glimpse of its beauty were outstanding. We planned all of them with Rose, a young lady from Hanoi. All of the tours created unforgettable memories, were very well organized and Rose and her team of guides were absolutely fantastic. They were exemplary ambassadors of their country and played a vital role in deepening our affection for the destination.

So if you travel or cruise to Vietnam, contact Rose for tours. 
You will not regret it!
Number +84374372918 (also on whatsapp)
Email: Nhungnguyen.ulis@gmail.com


 

@itingmeimei

Thank you, it’s really our pleasure. Traveling is a passion for us and who doesn’t like to share a passion?! 
 

To answer your questions…

What form of transportation besides taxi is available at the port of Kyoto?

There are trains/subways. Japan is the land of trains. Quick, clean and easy. 
We only chose the taxi to save the time and way to the the stations. Taxi isn’t really expensive either. In Kyoto the Uber App worked for taxis.

Did you exchage money in Jeju or the locals would accept US dollars (like some other coutries would)?

We did not exchange any money. Actually even the market stall where we bought the grilled pork lunch accepted credit card. I used Applepay/contactless. Restaurants and shops accept cards as well and we paid for the tickets to the gardens per credit card. So there was just no need to exchange money. We didn’t try but I‘d think USD are not accepted at these places.

Do most of the restaurants and shops accept credit cards in Japan? 
Standard restaurants and shops yes. Some places had the “ticket machines” for food. Not all machines accepted cards,

However, that’s not a problem at all. All of the omnipresent 7eleven, Lawsons, Familymarts etc. have ATMs. The fee is so marginal - 1 $ or so - that we always just get Yen as we go in Japan.

Did you have any issue using your Ubigi sim card?
No, not at all! The eSIM concept is easy and simple. Ubigi and Airalo are two reliable sources. I was told Ubigi has better connectivity in Japan. On our xmas cruise to Vietnam and Thailand I used Airalo and it also worked just great.

Oliver

15 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Diamond vs Millenium

 

Food, drink            Diamond

Culture                  Diamond

Entertainment        Millenium?

Respectful guests  Diamond

Newer ship            Diamond

 

Am I missing anything here?

You are missing that Milennium might be older but she´s been beautifully refurbished.
When we were on her this year we were positively surprised. Fresh, modern... top notch!

Plus, I wonder why you might say that guest on Princess are more respectful 🤔
Unless you take for granted that there are more Japanese guests on board.

We are huge fans of Japan - three cruises so far. 
We are also huge fans of Celebrity. We have been to Japan on Millennium this year and to Thailand and Vietnam on Solstice. Both cruises were great. No complaints at all.

However, that being said, with fabulous Japan the focus was always on the destination and the ship was merely our hotel. I would suggest to choose by itinerary. you can´t go wrong with either.

Maybe this helps: 

Latest Japan cruise on Millennium:
https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2970853-celebrity-millennium-japan-10242023-liveish-report/

Japan on HAL - Cherry Blossom time 2019

https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html

Japan on Millennium 2017
https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

14 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Thanks.  My question was more about which itinerary should I do first?  I think that I will go with Japan...

You can´t go wrong! 🙂 
Both are very enriching itineraries 👍

5 hours ago, villauk said:

 

I agree. I think these sort of itineraries offer so much more of an experience. We cruised your Vietnam sailing a few Christmases ago and are doing Japan this year, which we are very much looking forward to. It’s not like comparing one side of the Caribbean to the other. We’ve also booked India and Sri Lanka for next, expecting a totally different sort of experience in those places. All our sailings are on M class ships, it’s a base for us and not the destination like it would be if one was sailing the Caribbean for the nth time.

👍 Which is one of the reasons why we do not sail the Caribbean 🙂 
 
@NMTraveller I asked Birgit your question... and she could not answer it as well.
We both lost our heart to Japan. So it will always be special.

Vietnam was also fabulous. We both immediately mentioned and remembered the friendliness of the Vietnamese people right away. Although the people of Vietnam would have enough reasons not to like Americans and Europeans (esp French), they are most welcoming and genuinely friendly. Plus, I think our guide Rose and her team of young guides were outstanding ambassadors for this beautiful and interesting country.

We are seriously considering to cancel a cruise to New Zealand which we have booked for fall 2024 and repeat Asia again. Just haven´t found a good and affordable itinerary yet.