Independent travel Bangkokj

We are sailing on the Millenium, 14 nights from Singapore to Hongkong on December 8 2018 Ship docks overnight at the Bangkok port which I understand is at least 2 hours away from the city. We would like to wander around Bangkok as long as possible within one day.

One option we have is to sign up to Celebrity's "Transfer Only" option and be back later that day.

The other option I was thinking about is to use a non Celebrity arranged transfer hoping that I could return to the ship at a later time than the one arranged by Celebrity. Has anyone used such independent transfers? Are the buses on a schedule, both going and returning. Are there issues returning to the ship if I get back to port around 9pm?

Thank you.

Oppietraveler

(First post sorry if this does not come out right)

We did the same itinerary but in reverse a couple of Christmases ago and used BKK Tours. Fantastic guide and services over both days. We booked our hotel overnight in Bangkok independently and it was ideal as no travelling back to the ship and wasting more time ;).

Yes the port Laem Chabang is about two hours away from Bangkok. I lived in Thailand for several years so have use lots of different modes of transport. Your non cruise line main transportation choices are Taxi and bus. The taxi fare will run about 2000 baht, one way bus fare is cheap but by two seats (they are small and buses full.

Be very careful with your return while is about 2 hours I have seen it take 4 or 5 hours with bad traffic. If you take a bus confirm it is Express and not local, local will make many stops and take hours. You can overnight in Bangkok many hotel s in all price ranges. All hotels have car services you can use,. Lots to see and do in Bangkok, it is a 24 hour city, you can go out 2:00 am still open.

Keep in mind Thailand loved the pass King and the Royal family..... Do not say anything negative or disrespectful towards the King, the Prince (New King) or the royal family. If you go to the Grand Place (should do) or the temples respectful clothing.

The people here speak Thai but in the city and the port they speak and understand English. You should have a great trip.

Yes the port Laem Chabang is about two hours away from Bangkok. I lived in Thailand for several years so have use lots of different modes of transport. Your non cruise line main transportation choices are Taxi and bus. The taxi fare will run about 2000 baht, one way bus fare is cheap but by two seats (they are small and buses full.

 

Be very careful with your return while is about 2 hours I have seen it take 4 or 5 hours with bad traffic. If you take a bus confirm it is Express and not local, local will make many stops and take hours. You can overnight in Bangkok many hotel s in all price ranges. All hotels have car services you can use,. Lots to see and do in Bangkok, it is a 24 hour city, you can go out 2:00 am still open.

 

Keep in mind Thailand loved the pass King and the Royal family..... Do not say anything negative or disrespectful towards the King, the Prince (New King) or the royal family. If you go to the Grand Place (should do) or the temples respectful clothing.

 

 

The people here speak Thai but in the city and the port they speak and understand English. You should have a great trip.

Thanks for your quick reply. If I take the public buses (your suggestion to buy 2 seats :-) ) Will they be waiting at the port within walking distance of the ship? And where would the bus drop us off in the city of Bangkok? If you can give me the name of the bus line that would be very useful to look up on the web.

We did the same itinerary but in reverse a couple of Christmases ago and used BKK Tours. Fantastic guide and services over both days. We booked our hotel overnight in Bangkok independently and it was ideal as no travelling back to the ship and wasting more time ;).

Thank you.

The bus terminal is a couple of km away from the port it will take you to Ekkamai Station located on Sukhumvit Road. Sukhumvit Road is a main road through Bangkok. From Ekkamai can access BTS station (sky train) or taxis. Always transportation around the port when a ship comes in. You could even walk off the ship and get on a baht bus (local Thailand Transport) and go to the station.

Baht Buses or Songthaew are pick up trucks with covers over the back and two rows of bench seats. You may find the easy thing to do is to take a taxi to Bangkok or book your hotel and have the hotel send a car. It will cost you a little more but you can start a tour on the way to the hotel. If you you a hotel service car or one they contract and you like the driver you can hire him or her to do a city tour as needed.

Not sure how many people with you or ages, interest, etc. so cannot target better to your needs,

Not sure how many people with you or ages, interest, etc. so cannot target better to your needs,

We are a couple in our late 60's. Authentic Thai food including Street food would be our main interests. My wife would probably be interested in Thai clothing.

While then Sukhumvit Road. Would be a good place for you to stay. The BTS line is overhead, lots of great hotels from US Brands JW Marrott to local smaller local places. Your hotel in part is really how much you want to spend, good local hotel 1000 baht night JW 8000 baht . The Soi (side streets) off of Sukhumvit have lots of street food. You can take the BTS to major shipping centers or the large public market.

Here is a bus link to help you.

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Laem-Chabang/Bangkok

Yes the port Laem Chabang is about two hours away from Bangkok. I lived in Thailand for several years so have use lots of different modes of transport. Your non cruise line main transportation choices are Taxi and bus. The taxi fare will run about 2000 baht, one way bus fare is cheap but by two seats (they are small and buses full.

 

Be very careful with your return while is about 2 hours I have seen it take 4 or 5 hours with bad traffic. If you take a bus confirm it is Express and not local, local will make many stops and take hours. You can overnight in Bangkok many hotel s in all price ranges. All hotels have car services you can use,. Lots to see and do in Bangkok, it is a 24 hour city, you can go out 2:00 am still open.

 

Keep in mind Thailand loved the pass King and the Royal family..... Do not say anything negative or disrespectful towards the King, the Prince (New King) or the royal family. If you go to the Grand Place (should do) or the temples respectful clothing.

 

 

The people here speak Thai but in the city and the port they speak and understand English. You should have a great trip.

I agree with the real concern about much more than a two-hour return. While I usually do independent tours, this is one port to city transfer that you should really consider doing with Celebrity to make sure you do not miss the ship. I would recommend the overnight "DIY" shore excursion where Celebrity only provides the transportation to and from downtown Bangkok - while you book your own hotel and guide services (or plan your own touring via taxi and the river "bus" boats.)

Best of Luck - Enjoy!

I agree with the real concern about much more than a two-hour return. While I usually do independent tours, this is one port to city transfer that you should really consider doing with Celebrity to make sure you do not miss the ship. I would recommend the overnight "DIY" shore excursion where Celebrity only provides the transportation to and from downtown Bangkok - while you book your own hotel and guide services (or plan your own touring via taxi and the river "bus" boats.)

 

Best of Luck - Enjoy!

Hi Larry, can you tell me approximately what time the DIY bus departs Bangkok to return to port? For both the overnight DIY or the same day DIY if you can. Thanks.

Hi Larry, can you tell me approximately what time the DIY bus departs Bangkok to return to port? For both the overnight DIY or the same day DIY if you can. Thanks.

Many buses each day 30 minutes at peak times 1 hour at other times. But several buses leaving for other points with a stop at your point so that makes even more buses. On Port Days they transportation companies at extra service.

Hi Larry, can you tell me approximately what time the DIY bus departs Bangkok to return to port? For both the overnight DIY or the same day DIY if you can. Thanks.

Both the one-day and two-day DIY leave at about 10am on day one.

The nominal schedule for the one-day DIY is a 10 hour trip with 2.5 hours each way and 5 hours on your own in Bangkok - thus leaving Bangkok at about 5:30pm and returning back to the ship at around 8pm.

The nominal schedule for the two-day DIY is a 30 hour trip - arriving in Bangkok at 12:30pm on day one, departing Bangkok on day two at 1:30pm and returning back to the ship at around 4:00pm - thus giving you about 25 hours on your own in Bangkok.

I would just throw in one bit of caution regarding taxi travel in Bangkok. Compared with Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, I find taxis a bit of a pain and often prefer to use a hotel car or a local tour guide (can be arranged through hotel) with their own transport.

Taxi regulation seems very poor, with a proliferation of unlicensed hawkers outside hotels, once in a licensed taxi getting them to turn the meter on can be a challenge, and wherever you want to go to is often supposedly "closed for the day" and "I can take you to a gem factory instead". I recall one taxi driver many years ago who wore glasses thicker than my grandmothers (who was registered blind) and at every set of traffic lights was using eye drops. We were convinced he was virtually blind.

All that aside Bangkok remains one of our favourite cities - jam packed with great things to see and some of the best food in the world. Might not be practical for a one night stay, but we would recommend a hotel by the river - absolutely stunning and still easy access to the city and sights . The Mandarin Oriental, The Peninsula and the Shangri La (Krungthep Wing) are probably 3 of the best in Bangkok and renowned as some of the best in the world. The Siam is also supposedly very good, we haven't stayed there, but it is a bit further up the river. Hotel prices are generally so cheap and service so unbelievably good it's one of those places we think it's worth a splurge.

I agree with the real concern about much more than a two-hour return. While I usually do independent tours, this is one port to city transfer that you should really consider doing with Celebrity to make sure you do not miss the ship. I would recommend the overnight "DIY" shore excursion where Celebrity only provides the transportation to and from downtown Bangkok - while you book your own hotel and guide services (or plan your own touring via taxi and the river "bus" boats.)

 

Best of Luck - Enjoy!

The DIY overnite service run by Celebrity usually drops people off at the Asia Hotel and leaves from there the next day. For this reason we have regularly stayed at the Asia which is a good mid range hotel and has direct connection to a monorail transport station. The Asia is also within walking distance to MBK which is one of Bangkok's better shopping centres. The only risk involved is missing the return pick up back to the ship.

We did a land stay in Bangkok and other areas of Thaiand and loved it!

To add to the words of warning you have already been given we also took a taxi who tried to take us where we didn’t want to go to, another who didn’t understand the name of our hotel (fortunately we had a card with us) and another who drove down a pavement avoiding bins and pedestrians with equal lack of concern!

We saw two enterprising youths gathering empty water bottles near where you can take river trips, filling them from a standpipe and then selling them on to the next batch of tourists....

It is a hot and air quality can be poor....you do need to pace yourself. Whilst many Thai’s speak and read excellent English many do not....make sure you have key information like meeting points clearly written down.

We do love using local transport etc and often feel you get a better taste of a country when you do so but with the amount of time you have available you may do better booking a package of some type as Villauk suggested. You could visit your roll call and see what other guests are planning.

Enjoy!

We did a land stay in Bangkok and other areas of Thaiand and loved it!

 

To add to the words of warning you have already been given we also took a taxi who tried to take us where we didn’t want to go to, another who didn’t understand the name of our hotel (fortunately we had a card with us) and another who drove down a pavement avoiding bins and pedestrians with equal lack of concern!

 

We saw two enterprising youths gathering empty water bottles near where you can take river trips, filling them from a standpipe and then selling them on to the next batch of tourists....

 

It is a hot and air quality can be poor....you do need to pace yourself. Whilst many Thai’s speak and read excellent English many do not....make sure you have key information like meeting points clearly written down.

 

We do love using local transport etc and often feel you get a better taste of a country when you do so but with the amount of time you have available you may do better booking a package of some type as Villauk suggested. You could visit your roll call and see what other guests are planning.

 

Enjoy!

Yes, it always good to get a card from your hotel that has the name and address written in Thai.

We always negotiated a price with a taxi before leaving. Same with the tuttuts. Also had situations where they either wanted to take us to a gem shop or renegotiate the price - you just have to be firm.

If you get a hotel on the river, the river "buses" are a picturous, inexpensive. convenient way to get to many of the significant sites.

We are sailing on the Millenium, 14 nights from Singapore to Hongkong on December 8 2018 Ship docks overnight at the Bangkok port which I understand is at least 2 hours away from the city. We would like to wander around Bangkok as long as possible within one day.

 

One option we have is to sign up to Celebrity's "Transfer Only" option and be back later that day.

 

The other option I was thinking about is to use a non Celebrity arranged transfer hoping that I could return to the ship at a later time than the one arranged by Celebrity. Has anyone used such independent transfers? Are the buses on a schedule, both going and returning. Are there issues returning to the ship if I get back to port around 9pm?

 

Thank you.

 

Oppietraveler

(First post sorry if this does not come out right)

I am on this cruise and am booked on the 'Bangkok Overnight On Your Own' Celebrity return transfer with an overnight stay at Amara Bangkok. I believe several people from our roll call are also staying there too. Come along and join the roll call!

Sent from my G8142 using Forums mobile app

We did this itinerary in Feb, and based on lots of recommendations to stay overnight in Bangkok, we chose to do that. We booked a tour with Chob Thai Tours and LOVED it! There were 8 of us and we all stayed at the Mercure Sukumvitt 11 hotel which was fabulous. It was reasonably priced and in a good area. Disembarking takes longer than we expected due to immigration, so by the time we met our guide it was at least an hour from arriving at port. The drive to Bangkok was about 2-2 1/2 hours. So if you're going back that day, you won't have time to see much. Our day and 1/2 tour took us to The Grand Palace, flower market, 2 boat rides, the reclining buddha, the railroad market (which is a sight to watch) and much more. We were thrilled with our guide. He picked us up the next morning on time and made the most of the day before heading back to the ship.

Everyone on our tour was very happy with our guide, Mr. George and the sites we visited. He accomodated our requests for authentic thai food and it was amazing. Including a last minute request to stop for more on way to ship. It was a open air restaurant off the highway, without any english! He ordered for us and it was incredible!

I can't recommend Chob Tours highly enough, and you can choose your itinerary, and they are are on top of emails and communication. Have a wonderful trip. We did fabulous tours in Hanoi, Saigon and Hoi An as well. We like to book our own, so if you want tour names, please let me know. pdxtravel08@yahoo dot com