sansterre Posted April 28, 2018 #1 Share Posted April 28, 2018 We are in port just one day and this is our first time in the Philippines. Can anyone recommend a guide that speaks English and can take us to a few highlights? Thanks for any and all suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sansterre Posted June 15, 2018 Author #2 Share Posted June 15, 2018 Moving this up in hopes of some suggestions. Although I much prefer small tours of 4-6 people, from what we have read it is probably best to take one of the ship's tours. Our cruise ship is in port for 10 hours on a Saturday in November. We are not sure if we want to spend this day going to Tagaytay, or seeing the sites in Manilla. Both ship tours take all day and both are about $200. Hmmmm. Which one is more worthwhile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted June 15, 2018 #3 Share Posted June 15, 2018 I don't know what your ship provides. Ours had a free shuttle bus to the cathedral. They also arranged for a private guide for 4 of us. In the morning, we took the shuttle bus and explored the cathedral and the area around it. The recruitment center for sailors and hotel staff is interesting to see. In the afternoon, we discovered that we could have done most of the guided tour ourselves. It included the historic area intra muros and a park. The tour was dedicated to Philippine hero Jose Rizal. Manila is no beauty and much of the historic area was destroyed in WW2 and torn down by the Americans instead of rebuilt. I found it fascinating to see the country where so many of the ship's crew hail from. When you see Manila, you will understand why they need to work abroad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcummin Posted June 16, 2018 #4 Share Posted June 16, 2018 We visited Manila in March. Our tour with TouristDriverManila was wonderful. We did have to pay some money to them before we arrived, but I do think you could trust these people to make you happy. We enjoyed visiting Tagaytay, Intramuros, etc, etc, in spite of the traffic. Not everyone appreciated the long drive to Tagaytay. https://www.touristdrivermanila.com/ Barbara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshrich Posted June 19, 2018 #5 Share Posted June 19, 2018 We visited last week, we did the tour through the ship which was good, but, it's the rainy season now and we got repeatedly soaked all day even though we had rainwear with us, I'm glad we did it and we saw the fort, the cathedral and the park as well as the mall of asia. Some other cruisers just left the port and negotiated with a taxi which they said was easy. If we went back I think I would negotiate with a taxi this time as english was widely spoken and everyone seemed very friendly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bne54 Posted August 15, 2018 #6 Share Posted August 15, 2018 We visited last week, we did the tour through the ship which was good, but, it's the rainy season now and we got repeatedly soaked all day even though we had rainwear with us, I'm glad we did it and we saw the fort, the cathedral and the park as well as the mall of asia. Some other cruisers just left the port and negotiated with a taxi which they said was easy. If we went back I think I would negotiate with a taxi this time as english was widely spoken and everyone seemed very friendly. Do you know what they paid for the taxi for the whole day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bne54 Posted August 15, 2018 #7 Share Posted August 15, 2018 Hi Sansterre Would you be able to share your experiences once you have done the trip. I will be going on Windstar in January and am finding it difficult to find tours apart a few the ship is offering. Please email me at gypsyjennifer (at) hotmail.com. Thanks Moving this up in hopes of some suggestions. Although I much prefer small tours of 4-6 people, from what we have read it is probably best to take one of the ship's tours. Our cruise ship is in port for 10 hours on a Saturday in November. We are not sure if we want to spend this day going to Tagaytay, or seeing the sites in Manilla. Both ship tours take all day and both are about $200. Hmmmm. Which one is more worthwhile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petechan Posted August 15, 2018 #8 Share Posted August 15, 2018 I haven't taken a cruise to Manila but I grew up there. Looking at the taxi tour mentioned, most of those sites are not far from each other and can be accomplished easily from the port. Tagaytay is quite a bit away and Manila traffic is horrible and rains just make it worse. If you decide to go to Tagaytay, make sure you can return in time to your ship. $200 is ridiculously high for a single person tour excursion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcummin Posted August 15, 2018 #9 Share Posted August 15, 2018 We visited Manila in March. Our tour with TouristDriverManila was wonderful. We did have to pay some money to them before we arrived, but I do think you could trust these people to make you happy. We enjoyed visiting Tagaytay, Intramuros, etc, etc, in spite of the traffic. Not everyone appreciated the long drive to Tagaytay. https://www.touristdrivermanila.com/ Barbara Our group paid $50 apiece for our day-long tour, including a nice lunch overlooking the lake at Tagaytay. It was a steamy hot day. Barbara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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