I need help with Shore Excursions

[Just Alice]

We hope to do some of the shore excursions on our own. We are concerned with Bangkok, Ho Chi Min City and Shanghai. Are taxis available and how far is the ship from the city ? Any tips ? We want to take a ride on the super fast train in Shanghai - where would we find the station from the ship ? Thanks for any information.

Just Alice from Edmonton :)

[janina]

All three cities are quite a distance from the port. In Shanghai Princess will offer a transfer to the city. You should take that, and from there you can venture off to ride the train, or sightsee etc. Remember that most of the cab drivers will not understand English so therefore you need to have your locations written down in Chinese for them. You will get a paper with the shuttle location written in Chinese to return there. Great city you will enjoy it! If you need any new luggage, go to the market, we got Samsonite luggage for unbelievable prices.

 

Ho Chi Mihn is also far. If you do a private tour, have them pick you up, or again take the Princess shuttle. The shuttle even stops for a short bathroom break, that should tell you how far.

 

Bangkok I think is at least 1 1/2 hours from the Port. We used Tong from Tong Tours she is fabulous, but has a lot of clients and gets booked up fast. She knows all the in and outs, and got us in backdoors to beat the lines at some sites.

[scampi]

We were just in Shanghai Feb. 24th when the Diamond Princess docked there. There was a complementary shuttle into the city that left people off at a silk store/factory. Many people complained that once there, they were stranded because there were no taxi's. Friends of ours tried walking and became lost and returned to the silk store and returned to the ship on the shuttle. Our Princess tour stopped there and we noticed a long line of passengers waiting for shuttles to return to the ship. It was an industrial area and there were no shops or stores in sight. IMO, it would be best if you lined up an independent tour beforehand that possibly could do the legwork to get you to the train ride you are seeking in Shanghai.

 

Santa

[lois1112]

We hope to do some of the shore excursions on our own. We are concerned with Bangkok, Ho Chi Min City and Shanghai. Are taxis available and how far is the ship from the city ? Any tips ? We want to take a ride on the super fast train in Shanghai - where would we find the station from the ship ? Thanks for any information.

Just Alice from Edmonton :)

 

If you are (the ship) leaving from Leam Chibang (I know I did spell that right) it is a 2-3 hour trip from Bangkok. What port do you use for Ho Chi Min City? Shanghai?

what cruise are you going on?

 

I did this in 2006 with princess and just recently returned from my 6th trip to Asia and was in Vietnam....would be willing to give some hints ...advise if you need it.

[powell]

We did a private tour in Ho Chi Minh with Zoom and he was very reasonable and knowledgeable. In Bangkok, we used Wandee Tours and were also very happy with her. We were picked up from the dock so didn't have to worry about taxis and shuttle buses. Be warned that most taxi drivers don't speak even basic English.

[Just Alice]

If you are (the ship) leaving from Leam Chibang (I know I did spell that right) it is a 2-3 hour trip from Bangkok. What port do you use for Ho Chi Min City? Shanghai?

what cruise are you going on?

 

I did this in 2006 with princess and just recently returned from my 6th trip to Asia and was in Vietnam....would be willing to give some hints ...advise if you need it.

 

We are on Diamond Princess. How do we go about getting the local currencies for each country ? We are in China one day, Japan the next, Thailand the next, etc. Do taxi's need the local currencies? Is there a currency exchange on the ship ??

Just Alice

[paul929207]

In Shanghai, it depends on the size of the ship. The big ships like the Diamond Princess dock in the container port which is quite a ways from downtown. Smaller ships, like the Ocean Princess, dock in town. From there it is an easy walk to many of the sites and to a metro station.

[lois1112]

We are on Diamond Princess. How do we go about getting the local currencies for each country ? We are in China one day, Japan the next, Thailand the next, etc. Do taxi's need the local currencies? Is there a currency exchange on the ship ??

Just Alice

everyone took american dollars. bring lots of singles

[skip1948]

Has anyone taken the hydrofoil from the ship into Saigon? I have read it is 1 hour to get there versus the 2 hours by bus. Is it easily assessable? How far is the ship docked from the hydrofoil? Are the tunnels worth the 3 hour bus trip, do you see much of the undergroung tunnels? We are torn on city sights and the tunnels, with only one day to explore.

 

thanks.

[alidor]

I'm just curious about something. There are a number of cruise lines who visit this area and who dock right in town in Saigon and Bangkok. With limited time in these areas and chances are what may be your only visit in this area in your entire life, why take a cruise where you spend hours literally going back and forth. By close in ports, you obviously maximimize your time in this great areas and get to see so much more. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Azamara and Seabourn but there are probably some others.

 

Just don't understand why anyone would bother going to these far out docks for what could be a trip of a lifetime for so many.

[Earl Rosebery]

I'm just curious about something. There are a number of cruise lines who visit this area and who dock right in town in Saigon and Bangkok. With limited time in these areas and chances are what may be your only visit in this area in your entire life, why take a cruise where you spend hours literally going back and forth. By close in ports, you obviously maximimize your time in this great areas and get to see so much more. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Azamara and Seabourn but there are probably some others.

 

Just don't understand why anyone would bother going to these far out docks for what could be a trip of a lifetime for so many.

 

Oceania as well.

[weaselwatchr]

We are on Diamond Princess. How do we go about getting the local currencies for each country ? We are in China one day, Japan the next, Thailand the next, etc. Do taxi's need the local currencies? Is there a currency exchange on the ship ??

Just Alice

Our bank has a service where you can order foreign currency online to be picked up at a local branch. We were not going to do a whole lot of shopping so we had $100 in local currency for each port. Ports where we spent more than one day in, we added another $50 or $100 for each day there. Some ports did not take US Dollars, but Vietnam had no problem taking US currency. We took a ship excursion to Shimabara Castle, approximately two hours from the port of Nagasaki, and they also did not take US dollars. Our poor tour guide kept trying to exchange money for passengers that did not think to bring yen with them. They did have local currency on the ship but the line was very long and rate was not so good. To get the best exchange rate and peace of mind, I feel that a little bit of local currency is the best way to go.

 

As far as for taxi's, we used one in Singapore and Beijing, and we paid in cash, local currency. Our port lecturer, Hutch, went into great detail about which taxis were safe to take and which were not. Some cars may look like taxis, but are really private cars which will have inflated rates. (this was the case in Shanghai.) He also stated that some dishonest cabbies may try to gouge your fare if not negotiated before your ride or even charge whatever they want regardless of what the meter says. Not trying to freak you out, just be careful.

[John Bull]

I'm just curious about something. There are a number of cruise lines who visit this area and who dock right in town in Saigon and Bangkok. With limited time in these areas and chances are what may be your only visit in this area in your entire life, why take a cruise where you spend hours literally going back and forth. By close in ports, you obviously maximimize your time in this great areas and get to see so much more. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Azamara and Seabourn but there are probably some others.

 

Just don't understand why anyone would bother going to these far out docks for what could be a trip of a lifetime for so many.

 

Ditto many places in the world.

 

But cruise lines can be a bit vague about their ports.

And although I'm usually quite cynical about cruise lines, its not always simply because they don't want their pax to know. From one thread a while back its clear that many Azamara staff don't know that their ships berth in Saigon, Same applied to ms Discovery when it took me a whole lot of hassling them to get the info - yet that's something which you & I & many other cruisers regard as a major advantage of sailing on the tiddlers. :rolleyes:

 

And plenty of cruisers book big ships despite knowing about the distances from port to city, because they prefer sailing on the bigger & more comprehensively-equipped ships.

 

JB :)

[weaselwatchr]

I'm just curious about something. There are a number of cruise lines who visit this area and who dock right in town in Saigon and Bangkok. With limited time in these areas and chances are what may be your only visit in this area in your entire life, why take a cruise where you spend hours literally going back and forth. By close in ports, you obviously maximimize your time in this great areas and get to see so much more. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Azamara and Seabourn but there are probably some others.

 

Just don't understand why anyone would bother going to these far out docks for what could be a trip of a lifetime for so many.

 

Unfortunately the size of the ship will determine whether or not the port can accomodate it. We were on the Diamond Princess which is a large ship, and had to use the container ports for many of our stops. The Sea Princess, however, is a much smaller ship, so it was able to dock directly in the port of Hong Kong and Shanghai.

 

For the Orient itinerary, the smaller ships had a very long cruise duration, twenty eight days or more on the ship, which some travelers may not be able to vacation for that length of time. For those travelers, the bigger ships are their only option.

[alidor]

They aren't necessarily the longer cruises. I know Azamara cruises are about 2 weeks and I believe Oceania and Seabourne and others have these shorter ones as well.

[greatam]

They aren't necessarily the longer cruises. I know Azamara cruises are about 2 weeks and I believe Oceania and Seabourne and others have these shorter ones as well.

 

Price is one HUGE difference. For upcoming (this fall) Asia cruises with similar itineraries and cabins-about $1600 for Princess, $3500 for Azamara. No short Asia cruises on Oceania that I can find.

 

$6000 for Silver Shadow and Seabourn. Those are suites, with all booze included and some shore excursions. While I love Seabourn and try to take one of their TA's every other year, I can find a lot to do with the difference in price.

 

But if I was going on a SE Asia cruise, I would make sure I had an overnight in Halong Bay, Bangkok and Saigon if I had never been there before.

[alidor]

I know price is a factor most of the time. I guess one has to do research and see what they are comfortable with but these others include some things as well. Azamara drops you off in town (complimentary), free wine at lunch and dinner, free bottled water, gratuities, etc. All the others have some inclusions. For a once in a lifetime type trip, for probably most of the cruisers going here, it is definitely worth looking into. Don't understand why one would go to Bankgok, for example, for a few hours. Two hours to get there from Laem Chabang and 2 hours to get back with only the one day there is a shame; similar timing to other ports in a waste of time and money. If you are going to go on a cruise - go see the cities as much as possible, not just basically float by them.