Live from the Viking Neptune World Cruise 2022-23

[SJD117]

35 minutes ago, friendlyfifer said:

Taj is an international chain of hotels with its most renowned property in Mumbai. There is only one Taj Mahal.

You know what I meant. When people refer to the Taj, they don’t mean a hotel chain.

[Margaretwelker]

18 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

How often does it run?

 

So we could take the included tour and notify the guide we aren't going back to the ship and take the shuttle back the next day?

I want to do the same thing.  Overnight in a hotel. 

[mstadleraz]

4 minutes ago, Margaretwelker said:

I want to do the same thing.  Overnight in a hotel. 

I believe the shuttle in HCMC was only the last day. As stated before, there were about 100 people who stayed in Saigon. So Viking arranged 4-5 shuttles that picked us about 1500 back to the ship. Maybe it was a little earlier. We actual walked around and dodged cars as we crossed the streets. That is another story for another post.

[SJD117]

25 minutes ago, mstadleraz said:

I believe the shuttle in HCMC was only the last day. As stated before, there were about 100 people who stayed in Saigon. So Viking arranged 4-5 shuttles that picked us about 1500 back to the ship. Maybe it was a little earlier. We actual walked around and dodged cars as we crossed the streets. That is another story for another post.

 

The Viking shuttle in HCMC ran all three days during our stop in November 2019. It wasn’t limited to overnighters; day trippers like us could and did use the shuttle to get into town. (We used it the second day.)

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by SJD117

[mariners]

Clay, if you are still considering the tour that includes Bloody Mary's, I have just read this on the Windstar board:  

 

Also, when we were in HCMC on a different cruise line in 2017, we booked an overnight at the Rex Hotel which, at that time, was very reasonably priced.  The room was fantastic!  However, when we took a taxi back to the ship, we ended up joining a convoy of taxis that were trying to find the port as none of the drivers knew where the port was located (probably the one that Heidi13 described as we were in the taxi for over 2 hours).  All of the taxis in our convoy were stopped by military police as they entered a restricted area.  Nobody spoke English, including the taxi drivers, and none of the passengers spoke Vietnamese.  It was quite the adventure, but all turned out well, and we have great memories of the, hopefully, once in a lifetime experience.  I now ensure that I have directions to the port in the language of the country that we visit if we are on a do-it-yourself tour.  We'd definitely go on our own again.

 

If you to choose to go to the Taj, and have time, I loved the Agra (Red) Fort, and was very glad that we had a chance to visit it during our port stop in Mumbai and the ship excursion to the Taj. Because of your interest in architecture, as well as your eye for taking photographs, it could be right up your alley.   

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

3 minutes ago, mariners said:

Clay, if you are still considering the tour that includes Bloody Mary's, I have just read this on the Windstar board:  

 

Also, when we were in HCMC on a different cruise line in 2017, we booked an overnight at the Rex Hotel which, at that time, was very reasonably priced.  The room was fantastic!  However, when we took a taxi back to the ship, we ended up joining a convoy of taxis that were trying to find the port as none of the drivers knew where the port was located (probably the one that Heidi13 described as we were in the taxi for over 2 hours).  All of the taxis in our convoy were stopped by military police as they entered a restricted area.  Nobody spoke English, including the taxi drivers, and none of the passengers spoke Vietnamese.  It was quite the adventure, but all turned out well, and we have great memories of the, hopefully, once in a lifetime experience.  I now ensure that I have directions to the port in the language of the country that we visit if we are on a do-it-yourself tour.  We'd definitely go on our own again.

 

If you to choose to go to the Taj, and have time, I loved the Agra (Red) Fort, and was very glad that we had a chance to visit it during our port stop in Mumbai and the ship excursion to the Taj. Because of your interest in architecture, as well as your eye for taking photographs, it could be right up your alley.   

 

 

Thanks! I became aware this morning of Bloody Mary's closure and hope it will be open by the time we get there🤞

 

The fort is included in both proposals I've gotten for an overnight to Agra to see the Taj Mahal but thanks for the recommendation, had thought about suggesting they cut it out just to make for a less strenuous trip but....

 

Thanks too for the hotel recommendation in HCM. Looked at Trip Advisor reviews for VikingMs hotel and they were mostly meh. I misunderstood Mike and being able to use Hyatt Points. We can but it's a Park Hyatt which if we are going to blow that many points we want to stay in-not be out sightseeing 😂

[mstadleraz]

36 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

 

The Viking shuttle in HCMC ran all three days during our stop in November 2019. It wasn’t limited to overnighters; day trippers like us could and did use the shuttle to get into town. (We used it the second day.)

 

 

22-23 WC was the first after the pandemic going from East to West for Viking. Some excursion resources were still scarce...we couldn't dock in Kauai because there was not enough bus drivers to handle the number required. (Think the weather also played a part). NZ just opened up and Australia was still difficult is some ports with qualified guides. 

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, mariners said:

However, when we took a taxi back to the ship, we ended up joining a convoy of taxis that were trying to find the port as none of the drivers knew where the port was located (probably the one that Heidi13 described as we were in the taxi for over 2 hours).  All of the taxis in our convoy were stopped by military police as they entered a restricted area.  Nobody spoke English, including the taxi drivers, and none of the passengers spoke Vietnamese.  It was quite the adventure, but all turned out well, and we have great memories of the, hopefully, once in a lifetime experience.  I now ensure that I have directions to the port in the language of the country that we visit if we are on a do-it-yourself tour.

We had a similar experience trying to get back to the ship on our first day in HCMC. We did Xuan’s excellent tour and then a few of us stayed on for a different food street tour. I had the Daily with the ship’s address but it was %*#@& poor. We left the city at maybe 9:30 pm in a taxi with a young Vietnamese driver who spoke no English, and wandered the vast port area for an hour (after an hour to reach it). I even called the ship at one point and asked if they could get someone who spoke Vietnamese to direct our driver. But GS said no—even though I later learned there were local guards/port people at the base of the gangway who could have helped (!)

 

The Daily just gave generic info on the name of the port but no specifics on pier/berth.

[Clay Clayton]

We just finished watching several

YouTube videos of various folks Mekong Delta tours. While none appeared to be with Xuan (he is already booked for two of our days in HCM😢) the description of his tour seems to correspond with all three of the videos we watched.  Bus to boat, boat to island, have some fruit while listening to some Viet music, ride a canoe (along with what appeared to be hundreds of others) through coconut palms, have some honey tea, ride the boat to a different island and have lunch, ride a bike (Xian's is on a tuk tuk) around the island. It seem very touristy and seemed like there were folks hawking something everywhere. 
 

Generally the vloggers said they were glad they had done it but most mentioned the traffic jams and how touristy it seemed but for the $20-$30 they paid, they thought it was worth it. 
 

All that is background for asking what does Xuan's company (since it won't be him) do that makes his Delta tour worth $90 per person IF I find 8 to join us?  (Up to $160pp if I don't)

 

I have similar reservations about his other tours-I don't mind paying a little more for a smaller or better tour but all of his prices seem to be about four times what I find from other highly rated by Trip Advisor companies. 

[mstadleraz]

14 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We just finished watching several

YouTube videos of various folks Mekong Delta tours. While none appeared to be with Xuan (he is already booked for two of our days in HCM😢) the description of his tour seems to correspond with all three of the videos we watched.  Bus to boat, boat to island, have some fruit while listening to some Viet music, ride a canoe (along with what appeared to be hundreds of others) through coconut palms, have some honey tea, ride the boat to a different island and have lunch, ride a bike (Xian's is on a tuk tuk) around the island. It seem very touristy and seemed like there were folks hawking something everywhere. 
 

Generally the vloggers said they were glad they had done it but most mentioned the traffic jams and how touristy it seemed but for the $20-$30 they paid, they thought it was worth it. 
 

All that is background for asking what does Xuan's company (since it won't be him) do that makes his Delta tour worth $90 per person IF I find 8 to join us?  (Up to $160pp if I don't)

 

I have similar reservations about his other tours-I don't mind paying a little more for a smaller or better tour but all of his prices seem to be about four times what I find from other highly rated by Trip Advisor companies. 

Xuan did not go where the other tours went. We never experienced a crowd or traffic jam. We were only 4 individuals so he showed us some aspects of the Delta others did not. Never had an issue with pick up or return to the ship either. He knew exactly where the ship was located as we had a two day experience using him as a guide. He also provided information on what to do when we spent the last night in Saigon.

[friendlyfifer]

9 hours ago, SJD117 said:

You know what I meant. When people refer to the Taj, they don’t mean a hotel chain.

When people are in Mumbai and talk about the Taj they are referring to the hotel. You know what I mean? The Taj Mahal is 650 miles away.

[LindaS272]

36 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We just finished watching several

YouTube videos of various folks Mekong Delta tours. While none appeared to be with Xuan (he is already booked for two of our days in HCM😢) the description of his tour seems to correspond with all three of the videos we watched.  Bus to boat, boat to island, have some fruit while listening to some Viet music, ride a canoe (along with what appeared to be hundreds of others) through coconut palms, have some honey tea, ride the boat to a different island and have lunch, ride a bike (Xian's is on a tuk tuk) around the island. It seem very touristy and seemed like there were folks hawking something everywhere. 
 

Generally the vloggers said they were glad they had done it but most mentioned the traffic jams and how touristy it seemed but for the $20-$30 they paid, they thought it was worth it. 
 

All that is background for asking what does Xuan's company (since it won't be him) do that makes his Delta tour worth $90 per person IF I find 8 to join us?  (Up to $160pp if I don't)

 

I have similar reservations about his other tours-I don't mind paying a little more for a smaller or better tour but all of his prices seem to be about four times what I find from other highly rated by Trip Advisor companies. 

Clay—So you didn’t watch Xuan’s videos on his website? I’m not sure what your “similar reservations” are except as to cost. We did not do his Mekong Delta tour but I doubt that it is “touristy”. Xuan & his well-regarded tour guides get only 5-star reviews on trip advisor. All of the people on our tour with Xuan in Hoi An & HCMC thought he was great. As did @mstadleraz here.

 

Xuan was friendly, personable, responsive, funny, trustworthy, kind. The reviews I’ve seen on TripAdvisor of his other guides rated them just as highly. Not much more I can say, except you’ve got personal reviews of other Viking cruisers. 

[friendlyfifer]

10 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

You’ll see this has been covered in several threads here. Several folks booked private tours and had no trouble making it back to the ship.

Apologies, I have not read all the pages in this thread. The Taj Mahal is magical but is 650 miles away. There is a lot to see and do in and around Mumbai. Travel is never easy in India and it would be simpler to visit the Taj Mahal from Delhi perhaps on another visit to the country.

[LindaS272]

4 minutes ago, friendlyfifer said:

it would be simpler to visit the Taj Mahal from Delhi perhaps on another visit to the country.

It might be, but I thought Clay was asking about going to the Taj Mahal since many folks on previous cruises have reported they flew there and back. Many people likely aren’t going to make another trip to India so it’s what I would do too. I’ve been to India and know some of the difficulties of travel there. If he just wanted to overnight at the hotel in Mumbai, that’s another story.

Edited August 27, 2023 by LindaS272

[SJD117]

21 minutes ago, friendlyfifer said:

When people are in Mumbai and talk about the Taj they are referring to the hotel. You know what I mean? The Taj Mahal is 650 miles away.

When cruise passengers (including Viking cruise passengers) are in Mumbai and talking about the Taj, they are referring to the homage to love that they hope to visit, not a hotel chain.

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by SJD117

[SJD117]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

We just finished watching several

YouTube videos of various folks Mekong Delta tours. While none appeared to be with Xuan (he is already booked for two of our days in HCM😢) the description of his tour seems to correspond with all three of the videos we watched.  Bus to boat, boat to island, have some fruit while listening to some Viet music, ride a canoe (along with what appeared to be hundreds of others) through coconut palms, have some honey tea, ride the boat to a different island and have lunch, ride a bike (Xian's is on a tuk tuk) around the island. It seem very touristy and seemed like there were folks hawking something everywhere. 
 

Generally the vloggers said they were glad they had done it but most mentioned the traffic jams and how touristy it seemed but for the $20-$30 they paid, they thought it was worth it. 
 

All that is background for asking what does Xuan's company (since it won't be him) do that makes his Delta tour worth $90 per person IF I find 8 to join us?  (Up to $160pp if I don't)

 

I have similar reservations about his other tours-I don't mind paying a little more for a smaller or better tour but all of his prices seem to be about four times what I find from other highly rated by Trip Advisor companies. 

 

Clay, you clearly have reservations about Xuan's services. That's your prerogative, of course. All I will say in response is that Linda and I and the others who toured with him -- twice -- had a great time. 

 

Good luck with your tour planning.

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by SJD117

[friendlyfifer]

3 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

It might be, but I thought Clay was asking about going to the Taj Mahal since many folks on previous cruises have reported they flew there and back. Many people likely aren’t going to make another trip to India so it’s what I would do too. I’ve been to India and know some of the difficulties of travel there. If he just wanted to overnight at the hotel in Mumbai, that’s another story.

Apologies when Clay said ‘the Taj’ I didn’t assume he was talking about the Taj Mahal.

[friendlyfifer]

3 hours ago, SJD117 said:

When cruise passengers (including Viking cruise passengers) are in Mumbai and talking about the Taj, they are referring to the homage to love that they hope to visit, not a hotel chain.

 

 

It’s good to know you speak for all Viking passengers when they visit Mumbai. Taj is a large chain of hotels in India and abroad so perhaps the magnificent Taj Mahal deserves its proper name.

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, friendlyfifer said:

Apologies, I have not read all the pages in this thread. The Taj Mahal is magical but is 650 miles away. There is a lot to see and do in and around Mumbai. Travel is never easy in India and it would be simpler to visit the Taj Mahal from Delhi perhaps on another visit to the country.

I agree with you but...I'm not sure I'll make it back to India so this may be my one shot.

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, SJD117 said:

 

Clay, you clearly have reservations about Xuan's services. That's your prerogative, of course. All I will say in response is that Linda and I and the others who toured with him -- twice -- had a great time. 

 

Good luck with your tour planning.

 

 

 

8 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Clay—So you didn’t watch Xuan’s videos on his website? I’m not sure what your “similar reservations” are except as to cost. We did not do his Mekong Delta tour but I doubt that it is “touristy”. Xuan & his well-regarded tour guides get only 5-star reviews on trip advisor. All of the people on our tour with Xuan in Hoi An & HCMC thought he was great. As did @mstadleraz here.

 

Xuan was friendly, personable, responsive, funny, trustworthy, kind. The reviews I’ve seen on TripAdvisor of his other guides rated them just as highly. Not much more I can say, except you’ve got personal reviews of other Viking cruisers. 

Thank you both. I had no reservations (we had him booked for our October 2022 cruise until it was canceled) until we watched the YouTube videos and realized that what we were seeing seemed to match the description.  I missed videos on his site. Will go look now.  
thanks!

[BeckySt]

I’ll add one more recommendation for those visiting Saigon/HCMC. We booked private tours both days with Tours by Locals, with a tour guide named Thien. She is fantastic. 
 

Thien’s tours take you to the non-touristy version of both the Mekong Delta and the CuChi Tunnels. And yes, there is a touristy place for both of these, which is where the ship excursions go. But Thien and Tours by Locals take you specifically to the non-touristy areas. 
 

You get the same activities on the MeKong Delta, but you won’t be accosted by hawkers, and you probably won’t see another tourist. 
 

at the CuChi Tunnels, you’ll see a whole different side of Vietnam, including a lot of propaganda. 
 

Thien has an incredible upbringing with a father that was a high ranking communist party official and former Vietcong, and a mother who sided with the south and loves the United States. This view of both sides of Vietnam is eye opening. 
 

I cannot recommend touring with Thien highly enough. She is friendly, enthusiastic, absolutely loved what she does, and will show you a side of Vietnam that you won’t get from most your guides. 

[cruising denise]

To the previous WCers:  We are considering the Great Ocean Road and Twelve Apostles when the Sky is docked in Geelong.  However, it is 10 hours, and I'm concerned that we will be on a bus for many hours.  Can anyone provide insight as to what to expect on this?  Is it mostly hours on a bus with a few stops here and there (the description mentions a "brief stop for photos at Loch Ard Gorge", for example).  Are the destinations worth it?  Thanks for any help!

[OneSixtyToOne]

25 minutes ago, cruising denise said:

To the previous WCers:  We are considering the Great Ocean Road and Twelve Apostles when the Sky is docked in Geelong.  However, it is 10 hours, and I'm concerned that we will be on a bus for many hours.  Can anyone provide insight as to what to expect on this?  Is it mostly hours on a bus with a few stops here and there (the description mentions a "brief stop for photos at Loch Ard Gorge", for example).  Are the destinations worth it?  Thanks for any help!

While traveling independently in Australia, we took a Great Ocean Road bus tour from Melbourne. Yes, it is a very long day but the views are spectacular. The inspiration for building the road was CA-1 and Big Sur. The scenery surpasses that. When we arrived, we were able to book a helicopter ride over the 12 Apostles. That was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives.

 

BTW I was reluctant to go because of the long ride but DW insisted and she was right, of course

Edited August 27, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[Paul73]

Cruising Denise:  if you like rocky coastlines similar to Maine and Big Sur, CA, it's an interesting trip.  Yes it's a long day.  You make 2 stops where you have about a half hour to walk around and photograph rock formations.  We did a lunch stop in a small town where we had the opportunity to walk around a bit and pick our own restaurant for lunch.  We stopped at a quick stop and saw some koalas high up in a tree.  The drive down was scenic and sit on the left side of the bus.  The ride back was on a highway and much faster than the ride along the coast.  Beautiful country, but a long day on the bus.

 

[mstadleraz]

32 minutes ago, cruising denise said:

To the previous WCers:  We are considering the Great Ocean Road and Twelve Apostles when the Sky is docked in Geelong.  However, it is 10 hours, and I'm concerned that we will be on a bus for many hours.  Can anyone provide insight as to what to expect on this?  Is it mostly hours on a bus with a few stops here and there (the description mentions a "brief stop for photos at Loch Ard Gorge", for example).  Are the destinations worth it?  Thanks for any help!

We went on this excursion and it was worth the ride. There were stops both there and back to stretch legs and, if wanted a snack to purchase. It was a spectacular excursion from a nature standpoint. Just don't go to the Apostles. There is a small grotto as well with spectacular wave action. Also, the Green Mountains are well worth the journey as well