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Just back Millenium 2 week Aisa Imersion Tour


ronbetty2001
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Cap Ron, at laem chabang did the ship provide any transfers to Pattaya for those not wanting to go to Bangkok?

 

 

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I cannot confirm nor deny, sorry we had a private tour over night set up. I'll look through some more of my information to see if I grabbed a shore excursion sheet from the ship. They will post shore excursions a few months before you sail.

 

Capt. Ron

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Another question to the one above, how smooth/rough was your journey?

How does this part of the world compare to the Med sailing wise?

 

 

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Was pretty smooth for the most part, one morning we noticed the pools were a little low, water splashed out, the night before. Didn't feel it ourselves in our cabin, I guess the included drink package worked pretty well. Only a day or two of white caps. Nothing to get us worried. Depends on time of the year I guess, we were there in late October to mid November. We did hit a couple of short rain squalls while at sea, lasted about 20 minutes each time.

 

Capt. Ron

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Hi, have read your review with interest. I wonder if you could help me with one question? We shall visit friends in Mae and they have to arrange a transport for us and I wonder if it's possible to be picked up right outside the cruise port terminal? Or do the driver need to pay extra to get there? The transport isn't coming from the nearby area.

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Hi, have read your review with interest. I wonder if you could help me with one question? We shall visit friends in Mae and they have to arrange a transport for us and I wonder if it's possible to be picked up right outside the cruise port terminal? Or do the driver need to pay extra to get there? The transport isn't coming from the nearby area.

 

In Vietnam there is a bribe or tax to enter the ports directly where the ship docks, as per our guide, about $20.00 per person or $100.00 five or more per car load. You didn't mention which port so hard to tell you what we experienced.

Capt. Ron

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In Vietnam there is a bribe or tax to enter the ports directly where the ship docks, as per our guide, about $20.00 per person or $100.00 five or more per car load. You didn't mention which port so hard to tell you what we experienced.

Capt. Ron

 

Sorry....:o it's Laem Chabang, Bangkok I wonder about... Sometimes I do think people are mind readers....:rolleyes:

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Sorry....:o it's Laem Chabang, Bangkok I wonder about... Sometimes I do think people are mind readers....:rolleyes:

I reviewed our pictures for Laem Chabang, there is a little cruise terminal for immigration there. I believe that there is no Bribe needed for Thailand, I think they should be able to pick you up directly at the terminal with no problem.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

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Captain Ron,

 

We are going on this cruise next year in December. Could you provide information related to your food tours. I like the idea of learning about a culture through their food. If you have any information or recommendations of tour operators and prices it would be very helpful. You could always send this information to my email address if that makes you more comfortable.

 

Could you as well talk about the overnight on the junk. What made it so memorable? Was the food good. I will look into the operator it sounds like a special time and perhaps I will try to set up a group through CC.

 

Thank you in advance.

Traverse64 at hotmail dot com

 

Jonathan

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Captain Ron,

 

We are going on this cruise next year in December. Could you provide information related to your food tours. I like the idea of learning about a culture through their food. If you have any information or recommendations of tour operators and prices it would be very helpful. You could always send this information to my email address if that makes you more comfortable.

 

Could you as well talk about the overnight on the junk. What made it so memorable? Was the food good. I will look into the operator it sounds like a special time and perhaps I will try to set up a group through CC.

 

Thank you in advance.

Traverse64 at hotmail dot com

 

Jonathan

All I can say is look at post #46 where I have provided a lot of information on tours including food tours at each port. Let me know if you need extra detail of each after your review of the web sites listed. In IMHO if you don't do Ha Long Bay on Indochina junk you have gone awry. There are the best as I can't think it could get better then them.

Read my review on Tripadvidsor for them. Review; https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293923-d2044615-Reviews-Indochina_Junk-Halong_Bay_Quang_Ninh_Province.html

Capt. Ron

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I will read what you have provided and then come back with my questions.

 

Have contacted company ... thank you so much!

 

Did not see your specific post for trip advisor.. can you tell me what day you posted it.

 

Thank you again!

Marked one week ago by rongentile, titled "all I can say is WOW"

 

Capt. Ron

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Hi Capt Ron,

 

First thank you so very much for providing this resource. This is fantastic of you.

 

Could you tell me more about your food tour in Saigon?

I am having great difficulty accessing their site and email. By any chance could you send me the email address. My address is at bottom of post #57.

 

Is there anything you would do differently for this tour? Do they take you to a local market?

 

J

Edited by OntarioCruiser38
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Capt. Ron.

 

Were you on the Dragon Pearl?

On the junk would you have been able to take 10 couples comfortably?

 

J

 

Yes, the Dragon Pearl, 10 cabins on board. Seemed like plenty of room for the 8 couples that we had with us. There are 3 decks for sunning and lounging. Big cabins, I would say 10 couples would not have a problem for an over night trip.

 

Capt. Ron

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Hi Capt Ron,

 

First thank you so very much for providing this resource. This is fantastic of you.

 

Could you tell me more about your food tour in Saigon?

I am having great difficulty accessing their site and email. By any chance could you send me the email address. My address is at bottom of post #57.

 

Is there anything you would do differently for this tour? Do they take you to a local market?

 

J

I don't know if we'd have done something different, we saw the city, some local markets, temples etc. I left a review of our tour on TripAdvisor for our tour operator. Saigon is just another big city in our opinion, big, dirty and poor. I didn't want to see the anti-American museums etc. from the war. So the food tours were a better way to go for us. The food in Vietnam is excellent and fresh. I can see why it is a new, up and coming food treat. Loved the food and city tours, saw enough for us. Wife is now trying out Vietnamese recipes. For the transport into the city, Vietnam is a fairly new port without a lot of input/reviews from travelers available, which is why I started this post to help pay forward for others. I didn't feel comfortable using the transport services I found, which had very little reviews and is why we used the ship's tour bus into Saigon. As I am trying to pay forward, I would like to keep to open posts on this board. You can reach me directly at rongentile at aol dot com although.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

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Cpt. Ron,

 

Was finally able to get the address for street food in Ho Chi Minh.

Would you have done anything different for this tour in terms of transfer in or any other. Did you do a full day or just the morning?

 

Thank you again.

J

We did a full day tour which is a little different for the tour operator Barbara and Vu. They will take very good care of you. They don't do a lot of ship excursions, which I thought was a plus. Hoping that changes after my postings. Again as stated, for the transfer into the city, we used the ship's offered bus, DIY, not cheap, like $46.00USD per person. On my trip review on Cruise Critic they still managed to screw it up by taking us to a different location then stated. I would suggest a local SIM card for your phone in these countries to keep in contact with your tour providers, cheap and easy to get in each port/country.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

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Cpt Ron,

 

I have contacted Vu and Barbara and hope to arrange either a day or half day for Saigon. I get the impression you did a full day in Danang. I appreciate the open forum and will not need to email but thank you anyway. I was just having trouble in the last day getting their email address but got it this morning. I didn't think it proper to have you provide over the forum.

 

I appreciate you paying it forward. This has been invaluable.

 

I read your posts on Trip Advisor and again they provided excellent detail.

 

I am now planning Bangkok and am thinking of doing it on our own with a transfer in with the ship or if I can find reliable private transfer. We will stay overnight.

 

FInally I will then concentrate on Singapore and Hong Kong - with a week at either end somewhere else, perhaps Bali and Phuket.

 

Again thank you.

J

Edited by OntarioCruiser38
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I'll try and answer as best I can. First I would suggest going on Tripadvisor for each of the cities, tons of information on those forums. Things to do and see, trip reports from other people, itineraries etc.

Hong Kong:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294217-i1496-Hong_Kong.html

Ha Long Bay:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g293923-i9984-Halong_Bay_Quang_Ninh_Province.html

Da Nang:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g298085-i10088-Da_Nang_Quang_Nam_Province.html

Ho Chi Minh:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g293925-i8433-Ho_Chi_Minh_City.html

Bangkok:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g293916-i3687-Bangkok.html

Singapore:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294262-i1747-Singapore.html

All the tours we did involved some form of walking. We only do private tours and enjoy food tours.

The other thing to know is the ports in Vietnam are industrial ports and pretty far from the cities stated. For Hong Kong you dock at Kai Tak cruise terminal, which has nothing around it to do or see, except the harbor of course. They did provide buses to Diamond Hill Mall where you can excess the MTR (trains) for public transport and buses. We did a Free Walking Tour our first day, which involved a lot of walking. The next day we went up to Victoria Park (The Peak), which was easy and great to do, over looks the city and skyline. Our last day we went to Landau Island to see the Big Buddha. The free walking tour we used: http://hkfreewalk.com/partnership/#

Hanoi/Ha Long Bay:

Ship tenders in Ha Long bay, Hanoi is like 3 hours one way. We stayed over night on a private junk with 7 other couples in Ha Long Bay. This was one of the high lights of our trip. We used indochinajunk: http://www.indochina-junk.com/

Da Nang:

You'll dock in a very industrial port, no way to walk out in our opinion as there is nothing around it to walk to. Da Nang is about 1 hour drive from the port. We did a food and walking tour with an expat, Shaun: http://danangfoodtour.com/

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh:

Again you dock at a very industrial port. We used the ship's tour to get into the city. The drive is about 90 minutes one way. They dropped us off and picked us up at end of the day. Here we did another food and walking tour with Vu: http://saigonstreeteats.com/

Bangkok:

You'll dock again in a very industrial port with nothing around it. The city is about 90 minutes to 2 hours one way. We stayed over night and a dinner cruise at night. Our tour company was: http://www.thaitourguide.com.

Our dinner cruise was provided by: http://www.loynava.com/

Singapore:

You'll dock at the Marina Bay Cruise Center. Not a place to walk from, it can be done, but it's quite a ways to get to anything. There is a MTR station which is about a 15 minute walk to excess the public transport and they did I think have some buses at the Cruise Terminal. We did a free walking tour which was pretty long, like 5 hours. We used: http://www.sneakpeeksingapore.com/register

All our tours and guides were great and I would highly recommend any of them. I am in the process of leaving them reviews on Tripadvisor. As I said before we only do private tours and not ship tours. The private tours are much more personal (smaller groups) and don't cost near as much as ship tours. Look up your ship's sailing on the Celebrity Connections Roll Call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=206

Here you can talk with others that will be on board your ship. You will find others that will post tours they are organizing be able to join them.

Hong Kong and Singapore have government tourist sites that are very helpful also.

Hong Kong: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/us/index.jsp

Singapore: http://www.yoursingapore.com/en.html

Our cabin was 9024, a 2B with balcony. Cabins are of a decent size with enough storage for a 2 week cruise.

 

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

 

Hi Ron Sorry only just replying to your reply I have had my father in hospital.

 

Thanks for your great response and brief of the ports etc. We will be in a group of six so maybe worthwhile us doing some private tours ourselves. I think I need to do some more research into the regions offerings forus to explore.

 

I will take a look at Trip Adviser and the links you also provided; very informative too.

 

Thanks for your time and reply once again and happy sailing and of course merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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We start in Singapore and end up in hongkok. Is Ankor Wat a must see and how did you get there. Second question I was quoted 980 for trip down bay and then private tour to Hanoi. Is that something we should do or is there more to see locally. The Halong bay port is 3 hours away. We would spend night then night then tour on way back to port b

 

How hot was it. Is it humid?nni understand they are walking cities. How much walking I have some concerns

 

For those looking for guides they are still available. A guide, driver and private tour is around 360 for two for most of activities between major cities. The cities have lots of guides left. Tours by local or aviator. I look at travel adviser and see ratings. Then I srrage call with guide to make sure we can understand each other. Steffenytreman@icloud.com

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We start in Singapore and end up in hongkok. Is Ankor Wat a must see and how did you get there. Second question I was quoted 980 for trip down bay and then private tour to Hanoi. Is that something we should do or is there more to see locally. The Halong bay port is 3 hours away. We would spend night then night then tour on way back to port b Angkor Wat is the name of the largest religious temple built with stone. Siem Reap is the name of the city where Angkor Wat is located in the country of Cambodia. Is it worth seeing? I would say without a doubt it is, there are over 400 temples in and around the Siem Reap area. Some of the temples were used as sets for the Tomb Raider movies. Get a guide book of Siem Reap/Angkor Wat or look up on Google Earth to see if it's worth while for you to see. We flew from Singapore to Siem Reap on Silk Air, they offer direct flights.

Hanoi is about 3 hours from where your ship will dock each way. Ha Long Bay is where you'll dock. So, your right there in Ha Long Bay, which is why we did an overnight cruise in Ha Long Bay. This was one of the high lights of our entire trip, besides Angkor Wat. There is nothing in the city of Ha Long to see, it is all about cruising Ha Long Bay which is magnificent and magical.

 

How hot was it. Is it humid?nni understand they are walking cities. How much walking I have some concerns There is a lot of walking involved, on broken sidewalks etc. Vietnam and Cambodia are very pour countries, so don't expect high standards such as it is here in the US. It is very different, which makes it a very cool place to visit. Most guides will adjust the tour for your walking needs, just tell them and I'm sure they can provide more taxi's etc. to accommodate you.

Is it Humid? Without a doubt it is. As, your from San Jose, you will find it very humid. Check the weather reports for the time of year your traveling for each country. It was the start of the cool dry season in November in Cambodia and we had up to 104 degrees temp and about 95% humidity. At night it is still hot and humid. The best temperatures were in Ha Long Bay while sailing, very comfortable.

 

For those looking for guides they are still available. A guide, driver and private tour is around 360 for two for most of activities between major cities. The cities have lots of guides left. Tours by local or aviator. I look at travel adviser and see ratings. Then I srrage call with guide to make sure we can understand each other. Steffenytreman@icloud.com

If you have booked your cruise, you should go onto the "Roll Call" boards for your exact sailing date and you can meet other people on your cruise to share guides, tours and information about your cruise.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

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Did you bother with the CDC recommended vaccines for SE Asia? And, did you bother with the Malarial meds for just a short stay in Siem Reap?

 

No we didn't. We felt only staying 5 nights didn't warren it. Use bug spray. We didn't even bother with that, as in November it's the dry season, please bring and use some, anyway. I had no bug bites and the wife only noted a few.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

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Cpt Ron,

 

I have contacted Vu and Barbara and hope to arrange either a day or half day for Saigon. I get the impression you did a full day in Danang. Yes, we did a full day tour and loved it. I appreciate the open forum and will not need to email but thank you anyway. I was just having trouble in the last day getting their email address but got it this morning. I didn't think it proper to have you provide over the forum. I'm sure you'll find them a good tour provider. Also Barbara provided good communication to my E-mails. It takes a day or two to get a response because of the time difference and their internet in Vietnam is not as good as ours is.

 

I appreciate you paying it forward. This has been invaluable.

 

I read your posts on Trip Advisor and again they provided excellent detail.

 

I am now planning Bangkok and am thinking of doing it on our own with a transfer in with the ship or if I can find reliable private transfer. We will stay overnight. I would not try to talk you out of DIY in Bangkok. Now that we've been there we would not do on our own. The city is very crowded and busy. Not easy to get around on your own, unless your very well prepared and studied up on sites and their locations. For us, we wouldn't do this city without a tour guide and driver. That's just us, of course. Just a little to foreign for us, not understanding the language etc.

 

FInally I will then concentrate on Singapore and Hong Kong - with a week at either end somewhere else, perhaps Bali and Phuket.

 

Again thank you.

J

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

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Thank you for the fabulous thread. We are on the Millennium next month traveling from Shanghai to Hong Kong, plan to spend additional time in Hong Kong, and fly on to Siem Reap. You have answered many questions, which are helpful for fine tuning.

 

One I did not see has to do with visas in Vietnam. I have seen dated information suggesting Celebrity makes visas available for a small fee. What was your experience spending a night off the ship? Did the ship make visas available? Do you need to provide passport sized photographs? Any information you can provide would be appreciated.

 

Thanks again.

Dianne

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