Asian capitals - Seabourn Pride Mar 27 - Apl 10

[JP1320]

Hi, anybody going on this cruise. My wife and I will spend a few days in Hong Kong before and a couple of days in Singapore on the back end. Hope fellow cruisers will contribuye to the thread as well as provide any and all input if been before. Looking forward to exchanging thoughts.

[crewser10]

Hi, My husband and I will be on the ship! I posted a thread earlier to get info that you might want to look at. Still a little confused myself. First time in the area and on Seabourn. Booked mostly ship excursions, but still looking into something for Saigon.

[John Bull]

Hi, My husband and I will be on the ship! I posted a thread earlier to get info that you might want to look at. Still a little confused myself. First time in the area and on Seabourn. Booked mostly ship excursions, but still looking into something for Saigon.

 

 

Hi,

 

Saigon - and that's what everyone except officialdom call it.

I think titchy Seabourn Pride docks at Ben Nha Rong, very close to the compact city centre, after an interesting sail up the Saigon River - make sure you're on deck for it. Bigger ships have to dock at Vung Tau or the new facility at Phu My - a long drive to the city. Best to check your port with Seabourn, it will have a significant effect on your options.

 

Although the sights are only a 15 min walk from Ben Nha Rong, you'll need transport because there's major road/bridge works just outside the port, & pedestrians have to mix it with trucks & 1,000's of motorbikes.

Taxis are cheaper & more flexible than ship's transfer bus, but for the trip into the city you'll need to either hail a taxi passing the port gate (you'll need local currency, equiv to just a couple of bucks for the cab) or pay an inflated price - about $5 each - for a taxi ranked at the berth. Carry a map which includes the port, to show taxi-driver for your return.

 

The sights - Ho Chi Minh Museum, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Post Office (good exchange rates here), Notre Dame, are all walkable from each other - well, at least until you need to cross a street :D

Use any un-spent time to wander/souvenir shop in Ben Thanh covered market.

 

Or if you want to be adventurous, hire a speedboat :cool: (ideal for 8 - 12 people) for about $300 to $400 for a memorable trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, including very worthwhile stops on the way back. 8 can do this exhilarating trip for less money than ship's excursion by slow, stuffy & boring bus.

Pre-book on the 'net, pay at the end of the day. We were only 2 - kept our fingers crossed but had no problem finding sharers on the ship.

 

If you're in Saigon for an evening, consider the exceptional water puppet show, with live band, at

http://www.goldendragonwaterpuppet.com/HowIs.asp

 

 

John Bull

[alidor]

About crossing those Saigon streets...we found the best way is to look first for any opening at all. You won't find a totally clear one, but you'll find a moment of least traffic. Look straight ahead and just walk - don't look left and don't look right and you'll be okay! Those motor bikes really do avoid you.

 

We walked all over downtown Saigon from the Rex Hotel to shopping to the Reunification Palace, the Post Office, etc. and we are still around to tell about it. After a while, it honestly became second nature and we didn't give it a second thought and we are still alive to tell about it!

 

Enjoy!

[John Bull]

About crossing those Saigon streets...we found the best way is to look first for any opening at all. You won't find a totally clear one, but you'll find a moment of least traffic. Look straight ahead and just walk - don't look left and don't look right and you'll be okay! Those motor bikes really do avoid you.

 

We walked all over downtown Saigon from the Rex Hotel to shopping to the Reunification Palace, the Post Office, etc. and we are still around to tell about it. After a while, it honestly became second nature and we didn't give it a second thought and we are still alive to tell about it!

 

Enjoy!

 

Yep, the danger of crossing the street is over-played. Nearly everyone gets back to the ship alive :D

The streets are packed with motorbikes. As Alidor says, look straight ahead & rely on the motorbikes to go either side of you. Walk at a slow steady pace, don't stop to give way to a motorbike cos that screws up the system.

Better to cross in a group :)

Even better to cross at the downstream end of the group :D

 

JB

[crewser10]

I really do want to see the tunnels and the speed boat sounds like a great plan. Does anyone out there going on this Cruise (Pride, lv Mar 27) want to join???

 

 

Saigon - and that's what everyone except officialdom call it.

I think titchy Seabourn Pride docks at Ben Nha Rong, very close to the compact city centre, after an interesting sail up the Saigon River - make sure you're on deck for it. Bigger ships have to dock at Vung Tau or the new facility at Phu My - a long drive to the city. Best to check your port with Seabourn, it will have a significant effect on your options.

 

Although the sights are only a 15 min walk from Ben Nha Rong, you'll need transport because there's major road/bridge works just outside the port, & pedestrians have to mix it with trucks & 1,000's of motorbikes.

Taxis are cheaper & more flexible than ship's transfer bus, but for the trip into the city you'll need to either hail a taxi passing the port gate (you'll need local currency, equiv to just a couple of bucks for the cab) or pay an inflated price - about $5 each - for a taxi ranked at the berth. Carry a map which includes the port, to show taxi-driver for your return.

 

The sights - Ho Chi Minh Museum, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Post Office (good exchange rates here), Notre Dame, are all walkable from each other - well, at least until you need to cross a street :D

Use any un-spent time to wander/souvenir shop in Ben Thanh covered market.

 

Or if you want to be adventurous, hire a speedboat :cool: (ideal for 8 - 12 people) for about $300 to $400 for a memorable trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, including very worthwhile stops on the way back. 8 can do this exhilarating trip for less money than ship's excursion by slow, stuffy & boring bus.

Pre-book on the 'net, pay at the end of the day. We were only 2 - kept our fingers crossed but had no problem finding sharers on the ship.

 

If you're in Saigon for an evening, consider the exceptional water puppet show, with live band, at

http://www.goldendragonwaterpuppet.com/HowIs.asp

 

 

John Bull

[Pride100327AM]

Hi everyone:

 

We're new to Seabourn (actually cruises in general), and we're looking forward to meeting everyone. It seems that we're asked to be mostly annonymous on the review board here - maybe to stop our houses being ransacked while we're away... not sure ?

 

We arrive in HK on the 26th, stay in the Harbor Grand Kowloon to recover from 16 hours on the plane from LA, and board on the 27th. Phew we'll need a cruise after that.

 

When we disembark, we're going to fly to Phnom Penh for 3 days, and head to Siem Reap for 2 more. Sounds Phnominal (sorry couldn't resist !).

 

Given that we've only got two days in Siem Reap we are thinking of taking the Ann Tours helicopter trip for a day around the various temples (Angkor we'll do on foot on day one). Does anyone have an experience of taking the chopper trip and can recommend for/against ?

 

After that we're heading back to Bangkok for a day (Bhuthorn hotel) on the way to Phuket (Grand Flora) before returning to LA on the 21st of April.

 

Any other thoughts welcome.

 

Thanks.

a.

[aboston]

Hi,

I wanted to introduce myself and my boyfriend to fellow travelers, so I just started a separate thread for this purpose. It's under the Roll Calls thread, and once you're there, click on "All other Cruise Lines," because there's no specific thread there for Seabourn for some reason. (At least, I couldn't find one.) Look for the thread titled "Seabourn Pride March 27th- April 10th."

 

I thought it would be nice to use that thread specifically to get to know a little about each other, not to get info about the ship or the destinations. I'm new to the message board but I think that I've followed protocol in posting that thread-- hope I didn't duplicate someone else's work.

 

Really looking forward to seeing you soon!! :)