Just back Millenium 2 week Aisa Imersion Tour

[OntarioCruiser38]

Last month we arrived in Bai Chay Tourist Wharf by tender for our pre booked Indochina Junk Cruuse there were 10 of us on the trip. We were informed to walk up to the Wyndham Hotel where a our mini bus would be waiting to avoid paying this tax (he did not have a sign or board on display), we all boarded the vehicle and then waited and waited, after 20 mins our driver kept coming and going from the vehicle and then returned with our tour operator on his phone wishing to speak to me along with a 'port agent' . They would not allow us to leave until we had paid 15USDpp. At this time we hadn't picked up our English Speaking tour guide and the driver did not speak much English so we paid up. It delayed our tour itinerary for the day. Further along the road the same thing was happening to other small group tours. I would use Indochina Junk again though, the day cruise was very good despite this.

 

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Santrah,

 

Thank you... this is good to know what we are going to be dealing with. We have arranged to have the operator outside the gate however I suspect we are going to have the same issue. I will request that Indochina have the English interpreter available. However, i don't think this is going to help as they know we will be trying to get to our excursions.

 

My question is why is the cruise line not dealing with this? At the very least they should be informing us of this issue.

 

Do you know if they charged individuals that were walking through the port terminal? Would it help if we do not walk together as a group of 10 couples?

 

Thank you again for this information.

 

J.

Edited January 10, 2017 by OntarioCruiser38

[santrah]

On the second day we rendered in we travelled as a couple and hailed a taxi from further down on the opposite side of the road with no fee or problem at all. Negotiate the fare though...we less than halved it in USD.

A travelling companion on the Halong Bay cruise has just reminded me that some of our group paid the 15USD port penalty in Dong and I have just remembered I was one of them....just looked at the receipt and it was considerable more in value! I didn't have any USD on me at the time just Dong. I have placed a review on Trip Advisor of Indochina Junk...may have to scroll down Indochina did respond to it.

[santrah]

The tender point does not have a terminal or building at Bai Chay Tourist Wharf.. it really is a jetty in the sea then a cordoned off area - low chain and posts Azamara used their own tender/life boats to transport guests, and they check guests on and off their boats. There was a desk with an official looking Vietnamese person on it, he must have had staff watching where people went. On the second day, Azamara had a Junk Boat for their own excursion dock alongside the jetty at the same time. I would advise using unfolded new USD notes in small denominations.

[kaceyisme]

Send me your e-mail and I'll share our itinerary with you. It has all web sites, costs, pickup time etc. I think you'll find it very useful.

Happy Planning,

Capt Ron

 

 

I would really appreciate the itinerary and information too! We will be doing this cruise next January. My email is kkbcantrell at gmail dot com

 

Thank you so much!

 

 

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[Bluewezzie]

Started cruise in Hong Kong, then Vietnam (Hanoi, Da Nang, Saigon) then Bangkok ending in Singapore, 2 weeks. Willing to answer questions now that we've returned today. Ask away if you have any questions while it's still fresh is my mind. Also spent 5 nights in Seam Reap touring the area and Angkor Wat temples.

Capt. Ron

Hi Capt Ron when you did the online check-in did you get Xpress passes for you and your wife /partner or did you only get one.?I have just checked in but it only prints One Xpress pass with my name on it

 

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[dsw39]

No, any bribe was paid by the tour operator, which we ended up paying but not directly in the other cities we visited in Vietman. When we landed on the tender there was a time that the operator had to work things out in Ha Long Bay, which didn't cost us any more, I feel bad as this import tax/bribe seems to be applied not on a regular basis. Welcome to Communism in Vietnam.

Capt. Ron

 

Hi: Not cruising this time but looking for a 13 day land tour of Thailand starting in Bangkok. As we are getting older, was interested in how strenuous your experience was. Petra and Luxor were both tiring excursions last year when we sailed through the Suez Canal. You can send your thoughts to d39watson@yahoo.com.

Thanks

Dave

[ronbetty2001]

Hi Capt Ron when you did the online check-in did you get Xpress passes for you and your wife /partner or did you only get one.?I have just checked in but it only prints One Xpress pass with my name on it

 

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We printed our passes on line at the Celebrity web site, one for each of us. You may want to call Celebrity to see why you can't print the other pass. They may have gone to just one pass for the both of you. I would call and inquire why both names aren't on the pass.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

[ronbetty2001]

Hi: Not cruising this time but looking for a 13 day land tour of Thailand starting in Bangkok. As we are getting older, was interested in how strenuous your experience was. Petra and Luxor were both tiring excursions last year when we sailed through the Suez Canal. You can send your thoughts to d39watson@yahoo.com.

Thanks

Dave

 

Dave,

We did an overnight tour to Bangkok from the port. There was walking involved, but not very difficult. We did a couple of long tail boat rides, toured the palace and grounds, then to the site of the former capital grounds.

Seemed to be pretty easy and well paced, I would say you'd be fine. Just let your tour operator know of any limitations you have and they'll arrange things for you around those limitations.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

[ronbetty2001]

Santrah,

 

Thank you... this is good to know what we are going to be dealing with. We have arranged to have the operator outside the gate however I suspect we are going to have the same issue. I will request that Indochina have the English interpreter available. However, i don't think this is going to help as they know we will be trying to get to our excursions.

 

My question is why is the cruise line not dealing with this? At the very least they should be informing us of this issue.

 

Do you know if they charged individuals that were walking through the port terminal? Would it help if we do not walk together as a group of 10 couples?

 

 

 

 

 

J.

When did our tour with Indochina Junk in October last year. The port had just started charging this fee of $15.00 per person, that day. It caught our tour operator off guard and took about 20 minutes to straighten out. We did not pay any fee directly and didn't exactly know what the holdup was until later regarding this new Fee being imposed.

I did ask the ship's officers about Vietnam and fees for VISAs etc. They said that Vietnam is strange that sometimes charges go up and then aren't charged, rules etc. are always changing, welcome to communism I guess. Vietnam is very unorganized in regards to immigration procedures and fees applied. They appear to be kind of new to this whole thing about cruise ships and passengers. All I can say is either go with the flow or don't go (LOL). Vietnam is very poor and backwards in a lot of ways. They look upon cruise passengers as being rich and a vehicle to extract money from. Good luck trying to figure these people out.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

 

Thank you again for this information.

[nztraveller]

Thanks for taking time to do this.

 

I have just one question: in Laem Chabang, how long and far is the walk from the ship to the port gate?

My tour guide is waiting for me at the gate so I want to plan accordingly.

 

Thanks

 

We did this cruise on Celebrity in Dec 2016. How long to gate depends where you dock. We were a long way from the gate ,but two weeks before we were there with Princess and it was nearer at a different berth.

[ThislteDhu31]

Send me your e-mail and I'll share our itinerary with you. It has all web sites, costs, pickup time etc. I think you'll find it very useful.

Happy Planning,

Capt Ron

I have read this thread with great Interest. Thank you for providing such great information and guidance. We are sailing in Dec 2017 an itinerary with sone same ports. Do you know when the last tender for the 1st day of the overnight in Halong Bay is back to ship. We are planning a long day to see Hanoi.

Thank you in advance.

[ronbetty2001]

I have read this thread with great Interest. Thank you for providing such great information and guidance. We are sailing in Dec 2017 an itinerary with sone same ports. Do you know when the last tender for the 1st day of the overnight in Halong Bay is back to ship. We are planning a long day to see Hanoi.

Thank you in advance.

 

I'm sorry I do not as we stayed over night the first day on a Junk cruise. The ship did leave port at 1:00pm on the second day. You could call Celebrity and ask.

 

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

[busby]

We are doing this cruise in October2017, interested in private tours can you recommend any we want to do Bangkok on 1 day and pattya on the 2nd also do we need visas for Vietnam thanks for great info Olwen

[ThislteDhu31]

I'm sorry I do not as we stayed over night the first day on a Junk cruise. The ship did leave port at 1:00pm on the second day. You could call Celebrity and ask.

 

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

Thank you. Will do

[Gordo]

We are doing this cruise in October2017, interested in private tours can you recommend any we want to do Bangkok on 1 day and pattya on the 2nd also do we need visas for Vietnam thanks for great info Olwen

 

 

We were on a different sailing (Ovation of the Seas) but thought I would chime in. We had to get Visas for Vietnam. This was arranged for us by the cruise line, so it was a pretty painless process. I believe we were charged $7 US each for them.

[ronbetty2001]

We are doing this cruise in October2017, interested in private tours can you recommend any we want to do Bangkok on 1 day and pattya on the 2nd also do we need visas for Vietnam thanks for great info Olwen

We did an overnight in Bangkok tour and stayed in Bangkok for one night. We used: http://www.thaitourguide.com

 

They did a very good tour for us. I'm sure they could arrange the type of tour you're looking for.

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

[avcruz]

We are doing this cruise in October2017, interested in private tours can you recommend any we want to do Bangkok on 1 day and pattya on the 2nd also do we need visas for Vietnam thanks for great info Olwen

 

 

We did this itinerary in December 2016 and used Oriental Escape http://www.orientalescape.com for our overnight tour. We were very happy with the service.

 

As far as a visa, that will depend upon your passport. As a Canadian, Celebrity issued the visas for us and charged our onboard account USD $6. You will probably do best to consult your govt travel website.

 

 

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[villauk]

We are doing this cruise in October2017, interested in private tours can you recommend any we want to do Bangkok on 1 day and pattya on the 2nd also do we need visas for Vietnam thanks for great info Olwen

 

 

Being from the UK, we didn't need to sort any visa for Vietnam last Christmas because we fell under the visa waiver programme. It was extended until June 2017, but you'll need to check after this date to see if it's been extended again (what happened in our case) ;). Celebrity also sorted all the visas onboard for those that needed them, for a small fee. I'd check again after June:

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/vietnam/entry-requirements

[OntarioCruiser38]

We did this itinerary in December 2016 and used Oriental Escape www.orientalescape.com for our overnight tour. We were very happy with the service.

 

As far as a visa, that will depend upon your passport. As a Canadian, Celebrity issued the visas for us and charged our onboard account USD $6. You will probably do best to consult your govt travel website.

 

 

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Hi Avecruz,

 

I was surprised and delighted to hear that the visa for Vietnam was only $6 USD. Did you have to take visa pictures with you?

 

Thank you for posting your experience. This is helpful.

 

Jonathan

[OntarioCruiser38]

We are on the December 10th, 2017 Celebrity Millennium Cruise that is similar to this itinerary discussed only in the reverse direction.

We have decided to extend our vacation.

We will stay more than a week after the cruise and are thinking about Siem Reap for 4 days and then Hong Kong. I would like to be in Hong Kong for the calendar New Year eve fireworks.

 

I am learning about visas. As a Canadian it is easier and cheaper to get the Cambodia visa at the Siem Reap airport as the only other way is to send our passports and application to Washington.

 

I am now trying to figure out if we will need a visa for Shenzhen as we want to go shopping from Hong Kong. There is a mixture of information on-line saying you do or do not have to pay for a visa to visit Shenzhen. One site indicates that you can get a 5 day Shenzhen only visa for free or for a small administration fee. We have decided that we will get the visa at the boarder. It also seems that this information may differ depending on your nationality.

 

We went today to get visa pictures for Viet Nam, for Cambodia and for China so we are covered for the photo at least.

 

As well we are thinking about a week prior to our cruise in Bali.

 

We are now looking at flights from North America to region and flights within the region. I am hoping that United will open up a few more of their fares to economy class so that I can book a flight that will not take 36 hours to come home.

 

If anyone has some information about visas, about hotels in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong or even if you have been to Bali, I would be greatly interested to hear your experiences.

 

Thank you

Jonathan

[villauk]

 

If anyone has some information about visas, about hotels in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong or even if you have been to Bali, I would be greatly interested to hear your experiences.

 

Thank you

Jonathan

 

 

 

We cruised over Christmas last year on Celebrity Millennium. We travelled with teenagers so our needs may be different to yours, however, we stayed in some great hotels. In HK, we stayed in the Holiday Inn Golden Mile which was very central, with a metro stop just outside. They accommodated us all in one room, which was a priority for us and not offered widely through HK. We paid extra for the executive rooms which included the lounge access, well worth it. As we used our Octopus cards for the whole time we were there, the central location was perfect for our needs. We easily walked to the nightly laser show in Victoria Harbour.

 

In Bangkok, we had a private guide for our 2 day tour and stayed at the Eastin Grand overnight - lovely infinite pool at the top and again, great location for our tours. Food was good and reasonable in the hotel.

 

In Singapore, you will have to decide if you want to stay near Orchard Road and all the shops, or more towards the Marina Bay Sands. We've done both over the years.

 

The last time we were in Bali, we stayed in the Sanur Beach area and travelled to the sights from there ;).

[avcruz]

Hi Avecruz,

 

I was surprised and delighted to hear that the visa for Vietnam was only $6 USD. Did you have to take visa pictures with you?

 

Thank you for posting your experience. This is helpful.

 

Jonathan

 

 

We took photos because we understood we'd need them, but they were never requested. They collected our passports before we arrived in Vietnam and used those photos to verify our visas. It was quite painless.

 

 

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[avcruz]

I was using Starwood points for all accommodation on this trip, so we stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton in Singapore, the Royal Orchid Sheraton in Bangkok and the Sheraton in Nathan Road in Hong Kong. All were excellent.

In Singapore, we were on the river a number of km from the more touristy areas. There were a number of restaurants and bars in the area and it was a pleasant 30 minute walk along the river to the better known areas. It was also on the HOHO bus route.

In Bangkok we were also right on the river, the hotel had its own ferry, but we didn't spend much time in the hotel, as we had a fairly busy agenda.

In Hong Kong we were in Kowloon, in the the middle of shopping, close to the Star Ferry and transportation. There were lots of dining venues in the area.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

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[OntarioCruiser38]

Captn Ron,Could you tell me where Celebrity dropped you off in Saigon?

Did you expect to be dropped off at another location?

 

I see that they pick you up either at Rex Hotel or Notre Dame. Do they pick you up at a different location than they drop off in the morning?

 

Thank you

Jonathan

[OntarioCruiser38]

Greetings Avcruz,

 

Thank you for the information regarding visas and pictures. This has been very helpful. We will hold off and do it on the ship for Vietnamese visa...

 

Was Bali worth the trip? Any ideas or insights you might have would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking of getting a car and driver for at least a day to see some of the island. Sanur Beach seems central. Would you have chosen another area to stay?

 

Thank you

Jonathan