First Cruise in Asia

My husband and I are thinking about doing a Cruise from Singapore in January 2017.

It will be our first Cruise in Asia and would like to hear from others that have done these Cruises.

We have only cruised with Royal Caribbean previously Radiance and Voyager of the Seas.

The Cruises we are looking at are with Princess and Celebrity but not sure how they compare to RC?

RC don't seem to Cruise much in Asia??

We are looking at the following Balcony cabins.

Celebrity

Constellation - $2539.00

10 Night - 26th January 2017

Singapore

At Sea

Ko Samui

Bangkok

Bangkok

At Sea

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Nha Trang (Vietnam)

At Sea

Singapore

Singapore

Princess

Diamond Princess - $2479.00

11 night - 6th January

Singapore

Kota Kinabalu Malaysia

Nha Trang Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Sihanoukvillle Cambodia

Bangkok Thailand

Ko Samui Thailand

Singapore

Would love to hear from anyone that has cruised Asia and been to any of these ports?

Interested in what there is to do and see at these ports also.

Thank you

My husband and I are thinking about doing a Cruise from Singapore in January 2017.

It will be our first Cruise in Asia and would like to hear from others that have done these Cruises.

We have only cruised with Royal Caribbean previously Radiance and Voyager of the Seas.

The Cruises we are looking at are with Princess and Celebrity but not sure how they compare to RC?

RC don't seem to Cruise much in Asia??

We are looking at the following Balcony cabins.

 

Celebrity

Constellation - $2539.00

10 Night - 26th January 2017

Singapore

At Sea

Ko Samui

Bangkok

Bangkok

At Sea

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Nha Trang (Vietnam)

At Sea

Singapore

Singapore

 

Princess

Diamond Princess - $2479.00

11 night - 6th January

Singapore

Kota Kinabalu Malaysia

Nha Trang Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Sihanoukvillle Cambodia

Bangkok Thailand

Ko Samui Thailand

Singapore

 

Would love to hear from anyone that has cruised Asia and been to any of these ports?

Interested in what there is to do and see at these ports also.

Thank you

We have done two Asian cruises on Celebrity, but not to Vietnam and Thailand.

Both were great. We loved all the ports and particularly loved Japan.

Here are my reviews:

Japan and a little bit of China

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=518503&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

*

Singapore to Dubai

*

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=501167

My husband and I are thinking about doing a Cruise from Singapore in January 2017.

It will be our first Cruise in Asia and would like to hear from others that have done these Cruises.

We have only cruised with Royal Caribbean previously Radiance and Voyager of the Seas.

The Cruises we are looking at are with Princess and Celebrity but not sure how they compare to RC?

RC don't seem to Cruise much in Asia??

We are looking at the following Balcony cabins.

 

Celebrity

Constellation - $2539.00

10 Night - 26th January 2017

Singapore

At Sea

Ko Samui

Bangkok

Bangkok

At Sea

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Nha Trang (Vietnam)

At Sea

Singapore

Singapore

 

Princess

Diamond Princess - $2479.00

11 night - 6th January

Singapore

Kota Kinabalu Malaysia

Nha Trang Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

Sihanoukvillle Cambodia

Bangkok Thailand

Ko Samui Thailand

Singapore

 

Would love to hear from anyone that has cruised Asia and been to any of these ports?

Interested in what there is to do and see at these ports also.

Thank you

We were looking at the same cruises and we choose Celebrity. If you are in the US the price you listed looks like it is for a Sky Suite. The suites include a lot of extras. The regular balconies are currently around $1700pp. We went with Celebrity because we wanted to overnight in Bangkok and thought it was a better deal. We also did not like that the Princess cruise is two cruises put together. We have never been on Princess, but have been on Royal and Celebrity.

We did a cruise on the Mariner of the Seas this year from Singapore to Shanghai. This cruise overnighted in Ho Chi Minh. We arranged a private tour and went to the city the first day and to Vung Tau the second day. We toured Singapore on our own.

We have done two cruises to South East Asia, one on Celebrity and one on HAL, the prices are similar. Take a look at HAL, they have a cruise that starts in Singapore and ends in Hong Kong with many of the same port but include Ha Long Bay which was very interesting.

Note that many of the ports are far from the main tourist areas. In Bangkok it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the city from the port so you will spend a minimum of 3 hours on the bus traveling. Same things to get to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

There are many interesting things to see in Singapore, we used the Hop On / Hop Off bus. Be aware that if you go to the Long Bar to have a Singapore sling (the bar that created the drink) it will cost over $30. If you want to see the bar, I would just order a soft drink or beer, the Singapore sling is not worth it. If you go to Hong Kong, plan to spend a couple of days to see the sights.

The cruise line will typically get the Visa for Cambodia and Viet Nam for passengers and charge your on board account. The ship will keep your passport so make copies (we had several) to carry with you when you get off the ship.

Have a great cruise

Dear Mary

Have done a few Asian cruises... Both those itineraries look great. Havent done Cambodia would love to, but equally two stops in Vietnam is a bonus. Enjoyed all those the other stops.

I dont think you can go wrong with either of these itineraries as a first Asian cruise. Definitely recommend a few more days in Singapore before or after - as others have said - it's a fabulous place.

Diamond is a favourite ship been on it twice and october trip is also on it - cannot comment on constellation however did enjoy our celebrity cruise. Have cruised RCI and enjoyed it as we do princess and celebrity... there are definitely more similarities between the lines than differences...

Preference might come down to ship size and layout and obviously the pricing you can get. I know Princess have a sale on at the moment ...

To confuse things even further you might want to look at this one includes the straits of malacca - another great itinerary for a first Asian cruise

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=M704A

tough choice, but good luck with it...

Dear Mary

Your other question about what to see and do in these ports

Recently been to Bangkok and HoChiMinh ... did the best of ships tour for each.

Bangkok did a river boat ride, Grand Palace, national history museum, temple ... the floating market is long gone, but the river boat ride gives you another perspective on Bangkok, we fed cat fish... Grand Palace, while hot and crowded was spectacular

Ko Samui - we're not beach people so did a Thai cooking class at one of the resorts - got to cook and eat lunch and then use of the resort facilities. Also got to see some countryside on the way. Something a little different

HoChiMinh - definitely visit the reunification palace, checkout the post office /notre dame cathedral... didnt do the tunnels but others said that was a real experience

Singapore - Singapore Zoo, breakfast with the orangutangs, Botanics gardens, Jurong Bird Park, Gardens by the Bay, the Aquarium, walk the river at night, china town for great food

Hope that helps ...

Im a little confused. The Princess Diamond isnt in Singapore on the 6th January 2017 but on the 8th. I am on her from 27 Dec.

Ko Samui - we're not beach people so did a Thai cooking class at one of the resorts - got to cook and eat lunch and then use of the resort facilities.

OOh - where did you do this? We've been struggling to figure out what to do in Ko Samui as well (would probably just do a taxi tour type thing, or day pass to a resort - BUT cooking class is totally my thing and we would love that!!

[to the OP, we're doing our first Asia cruise on Azamara in November - 10 nights Singapore to Hong Kong. HAL has similar but longer itineraries I'd been looking at for ages (16 nights) but husband says that's too long to be away from his business at the moment (with all the added travel days, etc:p) So this will be a nice intro to the region for us (we've both traveled in China, but all the ports on our AZ cruise are new to us!) And we will be doing food tours or cooking classes every place we can :D

Im a little confused. The Princess Diamond isnt in Singapore on the 6th January 2017 but on the 8th. I am on her from 27 Dec.

You are right. I was comparing the Celebrity cruise to the Princess cruise on 1/27. There is one in February that looks similar.

OOh - where did you do this? We've been struggling to figure out what to do in Ko Samui as well (would probably just do a taxi tour type thing, or day pass to a resort - BUT cooking class is totally my thing and we would love that!!

 

[to the OP, we're doing our first Asia cruise on Azamara in November - 10 nights Singapore to Hong Kong. HAL has similar but longer itineraries I'd been looking at for ages (16 nights) but husban d says that's too long to be away from his business at the moment (with all the added travel days, etc:p) So this will be a nice intro to the region for us (we've both traveled in China, but all the ports on our AZ cruise are new to us!) And we will be doing food tours or cooking classes every place we can :D

It was a ships tour... Nora Beach Resort... cooking outside on the deck overlooking the beach. Executive chef demo and then we cooked our own soft shell crab... soup we didnt cook but was 2nd course .... 3rd course we cooked in pairs... prawn pad thai... ate on the deck then a couple of hours to use resort facilities beach/pool.... about 30mins each way from port.

We'd never done anything like that before... great fun

We did Millennium last year from Singapore to Thailand, Komodo, Bali, Penang. We loved our first trip into Asia. We have booked for 5th March next year on Constellation to Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong. Really looking forward to it.

Nora Beach Resort... cooking outside on the deck overlooking the beach. Executive chef demo and then we cooked our own soft shell crab... soup we didnt cook but was 2nd course .... 3rd course we cooked in pairs... prawn pad thai... ate on the deck then a couple of hours to use resort facilities beach/pool.... about 30mins each way from port.

We'd never done anything like that before... great fun

Thanks - I'll look it up and see if they do anything independent!!

I've cruised to some of these ports and also lived in Singapore and Malaysia and worked in Hong Kong and Vietnam. So if you have any specific questions please fire away - a general comment would be way too general. One thing I'm not sure if anyone has said (don't have time to read through) is the size of the ship greatly impacts convenience in Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok. In both the port for large ships is a VERY long way from town, whereas smaller ships (e.g., Oceania Nautica in my personal experience) can get right into town.

We have just booked RCI Mariner for the 10th of March 2017 and are very excited to be spending a few days in Singapore and then visiting Bangkok and Vietnam on the cruise.:)

Sorry to hijack your thread, but hope you might find it relevant?

Do we need visas for those destinations?

I am in the UK.

Just to reiterate what one or two other posters have mentioned - do be sure that you are happy with where your proposed ship will dock: the smaller ships (eg Azamara) take you right into Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh city while bigger ones can't and a long journey by coach could be very tiring on top of a day of sightseeing in the heat - especially with the prospect of doing the same trip again the next day.

We found Singapore to be a very easy city to navigate independently; it felt very safe and the locals were extremely helpful and friendly to tourists.

In Koh Samui we went on a ship's tour which included riding an elephant. We wished we hadn't done that when we later learnt more about how the elephants were kept and trained (Also, not long afterwards, a British tourist was killed whilst doing this on Koh Samui),

The Reunification Palace in HCM was very interesting, as was the War Remnants Museum (easy to do independently)- which was a contrast to the Tunnels trip which we also went on (ship tour).

In Bangkok, we went on a ship tour which included the Grand Palace. It was extremely busy (and hot) in November. Others on board apparently visited independently and were able to get a tour in English when they arrived (think it was free too!). We wished we had done that and had been able to visit later in the day when it may have been less crowded.

We had three days in Bangkok and explored independently for two of them which was fine if you knew to avoid 'helpful' locals who tried to tell you that they knew a better/cheaper way to get to where you were going - which just happened to go via their cousin's shop etc!!

Hope you find a cruise that suits you - have a wonderful trip!

I've cruised to some of these ports and also lived in Singapore and Malaysia and worked in Hong Kong and Vietnam. So if you have any specific questions please fire away - a general comment would be way too general. One thing I'm not sure if anyone has said (don't have time to read through) is the size of the ship greatly impacts convenience in Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok. In both the port for large ships is a VERY long way from town, whereas smaller ships (e.g., Oceania Nautica in my personal experience) can get right into town.

We have been to Singapore and Hong Kong and love those cities. Also, we visited Malaysia on a land tour.

We loved our Celebrity Japan and China cruise that included several ports in Japan, Shanghai, Okinawa, Taiwan and HK.

What put us off the cruises that include Vietnam and Thailand is the long bus rides from the port to the cities. Also, Bangkok is one of the most polluted cities in the World.

Consider a cruise out of Japan. Japan is fantastic.

Did a cruise similar itinerary to the princess cruise earlier this year but did 4 days pre cruise to Penang. Been to all these ports took private tours in all these ports had a great cruise. Actually have booked another Princess cruise out of Singapore for 2018. Loved the cruise. If you have any questions just ask.

Rae

Thank you for the great responses, I have been reading all of them and making notes.

Just wondering how the Celebrity ships (Millenium & Constellation) & Sapphire Princess compare to Royal Caribbean (Radiance & Voyager)?

We have just booked RCI Mariner for the 10th of March 2017 and are very excited to be spending a few days in Singapore and then visiting Bangkok and Vietnam on the cruise.:)

 

Sorry to hijack your thread, but hope you might find it relevant?

Do we need visas for those destinations?

I am in the UK.

We did the Mariner Singapore-Shanghai in March 2015 and our Vietnam visa's were taken care of on the ship $6.00pp automatically for everyone onboard and charged to their Seapass... We arranged of course for our own China visa pre-cruise..Sorry no idea about Bangkok as that wasn't on our itinerary.

I forgot to mention, that Chinese New Years is on January 28, 2017. Therefore, you might want to take the cruise starting on January 26, 2017 so that you can see how they celebrate New Years. However, some of the sites may be closed due to the holiday.

Look at RCI Ovation of the Seas on April 14, 2017 Singapore-Tianjin. Brand new ship :D

Did a cruise similar itinerary to the princess cruise earlier this year but did 4 days pre cruise to Penang. Been to all these ports took private tours in all these ports had a great cruise. Actually have booked another Princess cruise out of Singapore for 2018. Loved the cruise. If you have any questions just ask.

 

Rae

Rae, We are cruising on sea princess in September and Penang is one of the ports. Do you have any recommendation of a private tour operator to contact?

Rae, We are cruising on sea princess in September and Penang is one of the ports. Do you have any recommendation of a private tour operator to contact?

Lived here, and here (in Penang) right now. What sort of things do you want to see/do?

Lived here, and here (in Penang) right now. What sort of things do you want to see/do?

I am also interested in Penang, we arrive late afternoon on our cruise, and was thinking of a night market as I don't we will have much time for the usual sight seeing. Where do you suggest and the best way to get there from the port. Anything else you think we may be able to do after 3.30pm I would be interested in also. Many thanks.

Wendy

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Hi Wendy

The port is right in town, getting around is too easy. You can walk or they'll be stack of taxis there. There are two types of taxi's in Penang, the red ones in which you have to negotiate the cost and the blue ones which is a meter. It says on the door of the red ones that they use a meter but I don't so don't even bother trying. Any taxi fare around Georgetown should not cost you more than 15 ringgit. If you want to go further out of town it shouldn't cost you more than 30 ringgit.

What time do you get there in what time do you leave? Don't think that Georgetown is like a normal western city, Everything is still open at night. What sort of food do you like to eat? If you did go to a night market what sort of things would you be interested in, And would it be your first time at an Asian night market. The reason I ask is Asian night markets bore me to tears and sell rubbish, but I realise if you never been to one before it could be okay. I can recommend places for shopping, Or I could recommend areas to wander around and look at all buildings and eat at hawker stalls. There is also a superb old colonial hotel there that is well worth a visit from cocktail. Tell me a bit more about what you're interested in and I'll give you some more suggestions. Please excuse typing, doing it by voice I have a sore hand.