Live from Singapore to HK on the Jewel-March 10th 2018

Day 7 - Phu My (Saigon/HCMC)

Last night on arrival to our room we find laying on the bed the landing cards for Vietnam. We must bring them with us as we leave at every stop in Vietnam and they will be collected after our last Vietnam port.

This is what it looks like(the pens strategically cover our passport info etc).

The red stamp is added by the Vietnamese Customs agents as we walk of the ship. The stop at the customs tent takes a second for the stamp.

The port is very industrial- view from the aft.

The disembarkation process starts around 730am - with our priority disembarkation we are escorted down and merge into the line of shore excursion cruisers walking off the ship. We join around #10 in line and are off the ship in about 2 minutes.

With booking a private excursion we have to walk to the gate. It’s a very long walk, we walk quickly and it took us 20 minutes. There was no shuttle available that we could see. If you are unable to walk a good distance book a cruise excursion or get a wheelchair.

We spent the day in Saigon (as the locals still call it). We booked with privatevietnamtourguide.com. The cost was $370 USD paid in cash at the end of the tour. Just the 2 of us again.

We started the day with a visit to an old temple

Then had a 30 minute rickshaw ride through China Town - the rickshaw drivers strictly work on tips. It was the highlight of the day. It’s crazy merging with all the scooters - I don’t have a picture that demonstrates the organized chaos of the traffic that you are smack dap in the middle of. Just a picture of the my husband in front of me.

We go through the fish pet market, the bird market, scooter accessories market, fabric market, cigarette market, chemical market, fishing equipment market, dry & fresh food market, and the fruit market. Throughout the tour our guide is on a scooter and gives us information about the areas.

Picture of the scooter accessories market

We then walk through some of the neighborhoods. We see how the locals live - we are the only tourists. No pictures because it’s people’s small homes and I just felt like it would be disrespectful to snap photos.

We walk up an apartment complex, the strip in the middle of the stair is for scooters.

This is the view from the apartment building.

We then drive around the city seeing different districts. This photo shows new buildings with the slum area just in front of it.

We end the day with a visit to the war museum. It’s interesting to see how the museum makes the American’s “the bad guys” - show the horror of the treatment the VC received when captured but nothing on the treatment the American’s received when captured. I’m not making a comment either way - do not want to start a political debate- just an observation. It’s a sobering visit.

In the middle of the day we had lunch.

Lunch was not included in the cost - for 1 appetizer, 3 plates (that we shared) a beer and a Diet Coke the cost was $20USD (paid by credit card).

Got back to the ship around 530p. A very good overview of the city.

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Day 7 - Dinner at LeBistro

For appetizers I had the cornets (again old menu item!), my husband had the scallops and we both had the mushroom soup. If you have not tried the soup - it’s a must.

Main course was Fruit de Mer, and the swordfish (my husband said it was very good). Forgot to take photos.

Shared the apple tarte for dessert.

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Freestyle daily - day 7

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Day 7 - Phu My (Saigon/HCMC)

 

Last night on arrival to our room we find laying on the bed the landing cards for Vietnam. We must bring them with us as we leave at every stop in Vietnam and they will be collected after our last Vietnam port.

 

This is what it looks like(the pens strategically cover our passport info etc).

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The red stamp is added by the Vietnamese Customs agents as we walk of the ship.

The port is very industrial- view from the aft.

[ATTACH]416722[/ATTACH]

 

The disembarkation process starts around 730am - with our priority disembarkation we are escorted down and merge into the line of shore excursion cruisers walking off the ship. We join around #10 in line and are off the ship in about 2 minutes.

 

With booking a private excursion we have to walk to the gate. It’s a very long walk, we walk quickly and it took us 20 minutes. There was no shuttle available that we could see. If you are unable to walk a good distance book a cruise excursion or get a wheelchair.

 

We spent the day in Saigon (as the locals still call it). We booked with privatevietnamtourguide.com. The cost was $370 USD paid in cash at the end of the tour. Just the 2 of us again.

 

We started the day with a visit to an old temple

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Then had a 30 minute rickshaw ride through China Town - the rickshaw drivers strictly work on tips. It was the highlight of the day. It’s crazy merging with all the scooters - I don’t have a picture that demonstrates the organized chaos of the traffic that you are smack dap in the middle of. Just a picture of the my husband in front of me.

[ATTACH]416711[/ATTACH]

 

We go through the fish pet market, the bird market, scooter accessories market, fabric market, cigarette market, chemical market, fishing equipment market, dry & fresh food market, and the fruit market. Throughout the tour our guide is on a scooter and gives us information about the areas.

Picture of the scooter accessories market

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We then walk through some of the neighborhoods. We see how the locals live - we are the only tourists. No pictures because it’s people’s small homes and I just felt like it would be disrespectful to snap photos.

 

We walk up an apartment complex, the strip in the middle of the stair is for scooters.

[ATTACH]416713[/ATTACH]

 

This is the view from the apartment building.

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We then drive around the city seeing different districts. This photo shows new buildings with the slum area just in front of it.

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We end the day with a visit to the war museum. It’s interesting to see how the museum makes the American’s “the bad guys” - show the horror of the treatment the VC received when captured but nothing on the treatment the American’s received when captured. I’m not making a comment either way - do not want to start a political debate- just an observation. It’s a sobering visit.

 

In the middle of the day we had lunch.

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Lunch was not included in the cost - for 1 appetizer, 3 plates (that we shared) a beer and a Diet Coke the cost was $20USD (paid by credit card).

 

Got back to the ship around 530p. A very good overview of the city.

 

 

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Thanks so much for your awesome blog. It's going to make our planning easier. Do you get escorted off with a group. We are Platinum so are hoping we get escorted off.

Sue :)

Thanks so much for your awesome blog. It's going to make our planning easier. Do you get escorted off with a group. We are Platinum so are hoping we get escorted off.

 

Sue :)

We are platinum as well - but on this trip we are escorted off because we are in a suite.

I’m also confused about what exactly platinum gets you for disembarkation - I’ve read conflicting experinces by others on this board - next time I see Bruno I will try to remember and ask. Maybe someone else will have the answer.

What a wonderful review. There are ship and trip reviews; but your review is head and shoulders above. You have taken so much time to include everything; plus your pictures are awesome. People read your review and don't have to ask any questions; because you have anticipated any and all answers with your review. My hat is off to you and your review.

Have you met any exceptional staff members?

Excellent live reporting, been quietly following along. See those pictures of HCMC a/k/a Saigon City brought back memories of our trip just a few short years ago. Those brand new high-rise modern residential "flats" or apartment buildings are popular with returning expats ... are these further away from city centre (District 1) or near old Chinatown (District 5) although it wasn't always easy to tell, signage in Chinese were far & few in between.

Was the lunch in an upscale, French colonial style Vietnamese restaurant ? as $20 USD is, IMHO, on the expensive side of things ... just one piece of BBQ pork chop over rice & minced pork/egg. We would've ordered an iced French-Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk instead of a Coke.

Disembarking in HK soon, please add some pictures about the arrival hall area, after exiting immigration & custom to your reporting, if you could. Over at the Asia forum, there are frequent questions about money exchange, ATM machine, and the taxi/ground transportation area, where the free/complimentary shopping mall shuttles are ... also, how long those lines are & how organized they are.

A number of recent cruisers sailing from other lines have recently reported back everything was simple & easy, but, fine details will be welcoming, as some of them are on an overnight stop - not necessary disembarking & staying in town/flying home or, embarking out of this new terminal that opened just 3 or 4 years ago. TIA.

What a wonderful review. There are ship and trip reviews; but your review is head and shoulders above. You have taken so much time to include everything; plus your pictures are awesome. People read your review and don't have to ask any questions; because you have anticipated any and all answers with your review. My hat is off to you and your review.

Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m writing as if to myself 18 months ago when I felt overwhelmed (but excited). I desperately wanted a review from an NCL perspective - unfortunately last year the Star, the first ship to this region (which had a very similar, if not the same itinerary) had engine problems so missed many ports. Most of the threads spoke to their disappointment (I would have been disappointed too).

Have you met any exceptional staff members?

I have yet to encounter a staff member that is not exceptional. Always saying good morning/afternoon in the hallways. Always smiling. Helpful when ever we have questions. It’s hard to stand out when everyone is so great! I find this a very happy ship.

Excellent live reporting, been quietly following along. See those pictures of HCMC a/k/a Saigon City brought back memories of our trip just a few short years ago. Those brand new high-rise modern residential "flats" or apartment buildings are popular with returning expats ... are these further away from city centre (District 1) or near old Chinatown (District 5) although it wasn't always easy to tell, signage in Chinese were far & few in between.

 

Was the lunch in an upscale, French colonial style Vietnamese restaurant ? as $20 USD is, IMHO, on the expensive side of things ... just one piece of BBQ pork chop over rice & minced pork/egg. We would've ordered an iced French-Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk instead of a Coke.

 

Disembarking in HK soon, please add some pictures about the arrival hall area, after exiting immigration & custom to your reporting, if you could. Over at the Asia forum, there are frequent questions about money exchange, ATM machine, and the taxi/ground transportation area, where the free/complimentary shopping mall shuttles are ... also, how long those lines are & how organized they are.

 

A number of recent cruisers sailing from other lines have recently reported back everything was simple & easy, but, fine details will be welcoming, as some of them are on an overnight stop - not necessary disembarking & staying in town/flying home or, embarking out of this new terminal that opened just 3 or 4 years ago. TIA.

If I remember correctly, it’s District 2 that has a lot of new apartment buildings under construction. The guide said this is the up and coming district.

As far as the lunch - it was a nice restaurant, but I don’t think upscale. We had other dishes, jumbo prawn skewers and 2 shrimp rolls with peanut sauce (can’t remember the names of these dishes) - again, I didn’t take pictures of them. I’m still challenged when it comes to remembering to take the picture before I eat! Thanks for the tip on the coffee. Have 2 more stops in Vietnam and will order it!

I will absolutely report back with photos of our disembarkation process in HK.

Day 8 - at Sea

We only occasionally catch a show while cruising. We did see the magician/comedian last night. It was enjoyable and a nice way to break up the evening. If you want to be involved in the act - sit in the front row.

Today was another relaxing, lazy sea day. Had a manicure, hung out in the spa & the casino. Unfortunately no big win to brag about! I’d be happy to snap a photo of the spa services and cost if anyone is interested.

Dinner was at chin chin’s. We wanted to indulge in the sushi so used one of our SDP and for a $8.40pp up charge (this includes the service fee) you can have unlimited rolls/sushi. We really enjoyed this meal.

Just a sampling of some of the rolls we had.

My personal favorite is the “rock and roll” - my bad, eaten before remembered to take a photo.

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Day 8 - HK arrival cards arrive today (March 17th)

We disembark in Hong Kong on day 11 but landing cards for HK are in our room waiting for us tonight. We need to sign them and hand them in to the room steward by 6pm tomorrow. Our cards are all filled out - we just need to sign.

Seems simple enough, here is the instruction/sample sheet that comes with our cards.

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...Thanks for the tip on the coffee. Have 2 more stops in Vietnam and will order it! I will absolutely report back with photos of our disembarkation process in HK.

It's rich coffee, strong and similar to Cappuccino ... using Expresso grounds, making the ones from Starbucks taste like coffee water. It can be served hot and another variant ... over cold ice cubes, black with sugar only (no creamer or milk)

The shrimp roll was the "Summer Rolls" with thin rice paper, chopped lettuce & vege ... yeah, good - the cripsy "Spring Rolls" are smaller & deep fried, these are much bigger. There are other variants.

How's the weather this time of the year in VN, 2 of our nieces are traveling with one of my BIL (and a 3rd niece) to visit VN in mid May, going south to north over land. Halong Bay is a must stop for them, the former resort palace for the emperor before the French came.

Love those pictures, thank you for taking the time to upload and sharing - enjoy and I'm sure you've done your homework & scouting, perfect for DIY tours & sightseeing. P.S. Some of the best & reasonable priced Vietnamese dining options are in ... guess where, in HK.

Freestyle daily - Day 8

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Thank you for this report!

We’re sailing in the Jewel to Alaska in July.

Two quick qs:

1) Based on your pics there IS a thalas(something) therapy pool in the spa, right? Is it hot like a hot tub or more like a bath? I’m thinking of getting a spa pass to warm up in AK.

2) is there a tea service in the afternoon?

3) are there any kids on board? We’ve got two elementary aged kids. But I would LOVE to see that part of Asia!

2) is there a tea service in the afternoon?

Nothing like on Princess ships if that is what you were hoping. But go to the Great Outdoors about 3pm and they will have scones and jam among the offerings

Thank you for this report!

We’re sailing in the Jewel to Alaska in July.

Two quick qs:

1) Based on your pics there IS a thalas(something) therapy pool in the spa, right? Is it hot like a hot tub or more like a bath? I’m thinking of getting a spa pass to warm up in AK.

2) is there a tea service in the afternoon?

3) are there any kids on board? We’ve got two elementary aged kids. But I would LOVE to see that part of Asia!

1. Yes, there is a thalasso therapy pool - in the coed section, it fits four comfortably. To me it’s more like a hot tub - you lay on the silver bedding that you can see in this photo.

Then you turn the jets on (which makes it more like a hot tub than a bath) - except the water is different - it is supposed to have minerals in it that helps with healing/detoxification etc.

Today after our shore excursion we had the whole spa area to ourselves for at least 30 minutes. Have never seen it full and we have used it almost every day.

2. Have not seen any tea “service” - but a variety of teas are available in the thermal spa area while you lounge on your heated stone chair.

3. I think we’ve seen a total of 8 children that I would guess are in the elementary school age group. You actually notice them because they are so few.

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Day 9- Chan May Port (we go to Hoi An)

The ship is supposed to be cleared around 8am today - something holds us up and we are not cleared until around 830am. We have priority disembarkation - meet in Moderno’s and are again escorted to the front of the line and disembark quickly.

We see 2 customs agents this time inside the ship at a table - they don’t give a hoot about us. We have our landing cards out - no one takes them, no ones card gets stamped - we just walk on by. Having said that, still bring them with you - your experience may be different!

We book a Hoi An local experience and city tour with

Cost is $245USD paid at the end of the tour - just 2 of us. There are 2 gates. We are picked up at the first gate - very close to the ship. Here’s a a photo of the gate with the ship in the back

The second gate (which some private tours started from) is about another 200 meter walk.

We get in a normal, very clean, SUV and head towards Hoi An - we go through a tunnel that is 6.2km long - goes under the mountain - takes 20 mins. Over the mountain takes 90 mins.

We take a boat to our first stop CamKin island where only 7000 people live. Here is where we bike ride for just about 80 mins to get a feel for the local culture (the time flew by, felt like we were only on the bikes for 30-40mins).

...this is our guide, the cycle is very easy - really no hills - all flat. We were sweating but more so from the heat - cannot say that we had a workout. I asked Man (name of our guide) what if people had mobility issues - he said they would do this tour on the back of a scooter.

....it smells so clean and fresh, I wish I could post the scent that is given off by rice fields

...we stop at a local home business (literally in the home) and learn how rice paper and rice noodles are made in the traditional way

...boats are still hand made on this island, here’s how they bend the wood

The boat we travel to & from the island was hand made here. Bike tour is over and we are heading back to Hoi An.

We then walk around the old town of Hoi An and learn about it’s history

The absolute best iced green tea I have ever had was purchased at one of the vendors

And this is why it was the best .... the ingredients could not be fresher

Lunch at an AMAZING local restaurant (cost not included) we had one beer, one iced coffee and this for food:

one sandwich each

shared these two plates

Cost was 190,000 dong (about $8USD)

We end the day with a round boat ride in a lagoon - this type of boat is still used by local fisherman to catch squid. Man takes us to an area where there are no other tourists. We are alone with the water coconut trees.....

We are in 2 boats, this is Man in the other boat

We do not paddle the boats, they have “paddlers” assigned - we stop and our “paddler” (I don’t know the proper name for this position) pulls off a leaf and starts to fold it

......the before

......the after (she made about 6 different ones)

We decided to take a few of them home, we are hoping they dry out nicely and will use them as decorations on our Xmas tree.

Day is over - head back to the ship. It’s about a 80 min drive. We have really enjoyed this day - Man (the guide) was perfect. I would highly recommend him as your tour guide if you are in this area. His english is excellent - and even though he has never been to Australia he has a bit of an Australian accent! (He used to work for an Australian company)

***Do not forget your tissue paper if you use a bathroom!***

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Freestyle Daily - Day 9

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Day 10 - Halong Bay

Today is a tender port. NCL is using their life boats as tenders, no large tender boats today, with our priority disembarkation again we are on one of the first tenders.

The Vietnam customs officers are sitting at a table texting on their phones, completely ignoring us again. Fine by me!

The tender is short - around 10 minutes.

We have booked a junk for the day. We used a company called Indochina junk. Very easy to work with, dealt with Ms Thuy on email quick responses. Would highly recommend this company if considering a full day junk.

We chartered the junk for the day - cost $750, the name of our junk is Dragon Bay. The only thing that I would do differently with this company is not book car service through them.

I’m unsure why but it was very difficult for me to figure out what dock we were tendering to ahead of time. There are several different docks in the Bay Area. What if there were no taxi’s to get to our junk? My research just confused me more - so settled on the car service offered. $30 each way.

Lesson learned- we tendered to the Bai Chay Ferry Station - plenty of taxi’s - fare would have been about $6 each way.

The day starts misty with a light rain - forecasts show good chance of thunderstorms. I am worried the day will be cancelled. We easily find the car/driver with our name on a sign waiting for us across the street at the Wyndham Hotel.

We go to the dock where our junk is - I am skeptical, I think the weather is going to ruin this excursion, the company says they think it will be fine - so we start our day.

Here is our junk waiting in the overcast weather for us to join it.

And this is what the junk looks like

....indoor seating area & bar

....2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms

....the back of the upper deck has a nice covered lounging area

....directly in front of that is the uncovered lounging area

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....and at the very front of the upper deck is the dining area (for lunch)

When you charter the boat you have access to use one of the bedrooms if you need to (we stayed on the upper deck all day). If you book this boat just clarify if you want to use it - I saw a sign that said it’s $10/hr to use the rooms - the crew said that’s for public group tours. But if it’s important to you, clarify ahead of the trip.

Because we are on a full day cruise - we are able to go to an area of Bay that has less tourists, it’s called Bai Tu Long. For most of the trip we see no other tourist junks. I’m not sure if it’s because we get a bit of a head start with there only being the 2 of us & early disembarkation or if this area really has that much less tourists.

We cruise for a couple of hours. The captain was right, weather has cleared - sun breaks through intermittently and its not too hot!

Some beautiful scenery along the way

1st stop is a cave called Thien Canh Son. We are the only tourists on this island. To get to the cave there are 102 steps, a little uneven to boot. There is no other way to get there if stairs are a challenge.

Here’s the view of the junk from the top of the stairs (cave entrance).

Toured through the cave

There is also a beach area on this island that has canoes & lounge chairs- we had the option to go kayaking around the islands - it was still a little on the cool side so we passed. Had it been a little warmer we would have done it. We also passed at hanging out in the beach area.

Time for lunch - it’s made fresh on board

Sweet & sour soup

A forgot to take a picture of the salad (peanut dressing was amazing it but here is the rest of lunch

This is sea bass brought in by an eagle(made of pumpkin)

This is the veggies - the boat is made of watermelon & pumpkin (it’s a good replica of our junk)

After lunch we head towards the fishing village. We are paddled/tour around the village for about 30 minutes then go to a pearl farm where we are given a tour. We are shown different types of mussels that are able to make pearls, you can open a mussel to see if you can find the pearl & they demonstrate what they do to perfect the pearls. Left my iPad on the junk. No photos for this portion.

It is now around 230pm - it’s time to head back. Relax, reminisce and have a couple of drinks on the way back. Drink cost is not included, throughout the day we had a total of 4 coffee, 2 cocktails & 3 Diet Coke - I thought the total cost was around $280000 dong (which is only $12 USD) - I did not get a receipt - I’m thinking I am not remembering the cost correctly.

Sun is setting as we arrive around 515pm.

To run the boat there is the captain, engineer, bar tender, waiter, chef & our tour guide. It felt a little weird initially being outnumbered by crew but by the end we were completely comfortable with it.

Car brings us back to our tender - no line up to tender - we are there around 545pm - last tender is 7pm.

Dinner Day 10 - Cagney’sn (platinum perk)

Both of us had the wagu beef sliders and for the main course I had the shrimp linguini and my husband had the porterhouse steak with mushrooms and truffle fries as a side - no dessert - ate too much.

Passed on the wine that is offered with the platinum meal - we really don’t drink that much and with most cruisers having the UBP I doubt we could have given it away.

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Return of passport process

Last night on return to our room we had a notice instructing people that for those leaving the ship in HK they could pick up their passports between the 530-730am the day of disembarkation.

This was changed - today we get this notice as well as announcements made on the PA system.

This process makes way more sense than the whole ship going to one area and on the morning of disembarkation to boot.

For those in suites the concierge will have your passports the morning of disembarkation.

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Freestyle Daily - Day 10

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So nice reading your live post. The pictures of your boat and the places you saw are amazing. I noticed there were two cruise ships in port that day. Thanks for taking the time for your review.