Just back Millenium 2 week Aisa Imersion Tour

Do you recall which cruise terminal Celebrity uses in Hong Kong? The older Ocean Terminal or the new Kai Tak?

We are also using points. I contacted the hotel and upgraded the rooms for a fee. I will let you know what we think.

Sad to say we didn't stay at the Le Meriden so have no comment on the hotel. It's a big chain and am I'm sure it nice. Again, no comment as we didn't stay there.

Capt. Ron

Do you recall which cruise terminal Celebrity uses in Hong Kong? The older Ocean Terminal or the new Kai Tak?

Kai Tak cruise terminal, very large and new. Built on the old airport runway of Kai Tak airport which has been moved to outside the city on Lantau island.
Web Site: http://www.kaitakcruiseterminal.com.hk/
They offered free bus/shuttles to diamond mall which has a MTR station so that was nice. Go early as the shuttles leave when full in the morning starting at about 7:30am.

Capt. Ron

Started cruise in Hong Kong, then Vietnam (Hanoi, Da Nang, Saigon) then Bangkok ending in Singapore, 2 weeks. Willing to answer questions now that we've returned today. Ask away if you have any questions while it's still fresh is my mind. Also spent 5 nights in Seam Reap touring the area and Angkor Wat temples.
Capt. Ron

Hi Ron we are doing this cruise in Feb 2017 and it is the first time to this region, we are looking to plan some shore excursions but are unsure where to start. We would appreciate any advice you could suggest places to go and things to see in each of the ports of call. Would you advise using the cruise line trips or have you used any private companies before who offer similar excursions but at a reduced cost than the cruise line? Any advice would be welcome. I would also add I do have reduced mobility (cant walk long distance without rest or stand for prolonged periods. Secondly what are the staterooms like for space? we have booked an accessible cabin with balcony.

Thanks in advance for any assistance

Bluewezzie

Do you recall which cruise terminal Celebrity uses in Hong Kong? The older Ocean Terminal or the new Kai Tak?

My travel docs say Kai tak


Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

Hi Ron we are doing this cruise in Feb 2017 and it is the first time to this region, we are looking to plan some shore excursions but are unsure where to start. We would appreciate any advice you could suggest places to go and things to see in each of the ports of call. Would you advise using the cruise line trips or have you used any private companies before who offer similar excursions but at a reduced cost than the cruise line? Any advice would be welcome. I would also add I do have reduced mobility (cant walk long distance without rest or stand for prolonged periods. Secondly what are the staterooms like for space? we have booked an accessible cabin with balcony.

Thanks in advance for any assistance

Bluewezzie

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/ShowForu...Hong_Kong.html
Ha Long Bay:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu..._Province.html
Da Nang:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu..._Province.html
Ho Chi Minh:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...Minh_City.html
Bangkok:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...7-Bangkok.html
Singapore:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...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

My travel docs say Kai tak


Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

Here is the web site for Kai Tak Cruise Terminal:
http://www.kaitakcruiseterminal.com.hk/

Happy Planning,
Capt. Ron

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


Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

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?


Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

Kai Tak cruise terminal, very large and new. Built on the old airport runway of Kai Tak airport which has been moved to outside the city on Lantau island.
Web Site: http://www.kaitakcruiseterminal.com.hk/
They offered free bus/shuttles to diamond mall which has a MTR station so that was nice. Go early as the shuttles leave when full in the morning starting at about 7:30am.

Capt. Ron

Thanks for the information. I was hoping they were still using the Ocean Terminal site.

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


Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

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

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?


Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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/Attracti..._Province.html
Capt. Ron

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!

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