Rhapsody: Viet-Nam - Ship or Independent Tours?

[yogimax]

We will be sailing on Rhapsody.

 

What you you suggest... going with the ship tours or looking to book something independently in Viet-Nam?

 

Thanks

[bra1nchild]

We've booked several tours with Tony at Ann Tours [http://anntours.com/] for October. His name and company were suggested by other CC writers. Check the other threads on the Asia page for other suggestions.

[Alexat2]

Definately do it yourself. You'll have a better experience and save a lot of money. 7 years ago we found a great guide on the internet for Saigon/Ho chi Minh his nickname is Nic (real name Dun Hut Lee - I might not have that spelled right). We did an overnight to the Mekong including hotel, guide, driver, transportation, a boat trip on the Mekong we paid $125 total for 2 people - AND - best of all we had the Mekong all to ourselves. We left the ship as soon as it docked (after we bribed the officials $40 to let us stay off the ship overnight - if you stay off the ship be sure and tell the ship you're going to do that) and headed straight for the Mekong. We did our boat trip when we got there, toured a couple of the islands, and then had dinner at one of the resorts on one of the islands (we shared the dining area with one local family). Then went to our hotel, which was right on the Mekong - clean, comfortable, about like Motel 6, and then my mom wanted to walk around town and see what the locals did so Nic took us on a tour of the small town. The next morning, we drove back to Saigon and as we were on our way back saw 16 buses from the 2 ships in port on their way to the Mekong to do their tours... When we got back to Saigon we got a brief tour, did some shopping, and Nic returned us to the ship. I imagine that prices have gone up a bit - but it's still going to be cheaper and more personalized than the ship's mass tours. When we told everyone at dinner what we'd done, they were all jealous - the ship's Mekong Tours were a cattle drive. If I can find his email address I'll post it. Nic's English was excellent, and he's very nice and a real character. We also used a tour guide for the stop for Hue - they were a regular tour company, very efficient, but nothing special. But still a much better deal than the ship. We've never had a bad experience in any port we've ever done this in - but the private tour in Saigon is still our favorite.

[Alexat2]

Delete

[mtlcruiser10]

we did the rapshody jan 15 2008 we book our tour ourself in hanoi today travel m tan beware of viet value travel they screw us but m tan was very good and can organise for every city in vietnam in natrang we use natrang river tour was very different but very nice we enjoy vietnam a lot

bye

[welshlass]

Definately do it yourself. You'll have a better experience and save a lot of money. 7 years ago we found a great guide on the internet for Saigon/Ho chi Minh his nickname is Nic (real name Dun Hut Lee - I might not have that spelled right). We did an overnight to the Mekong including hotel, guide, driver, transportation, a boat trip on the Mekong we paid $125 total for 2 people - AND - best of all we had the Mekong all to ourselves. We left the ship as soon as it docked (after we bribed the officials $40 to let us stay off the ship overnight - if you stay off the ship be sure and tell the ship you're going to do that) and headed straight for the Mekong. We did our boat trip when we got there, toured a couple of the islands, and then had dinner at one of the resorts on one of the islands (we shared the dining area with one local family). Then went to our hotel, which was right on the Mekong - clean, comfortable, about like Motel 6, and then my mom wanted to walk around town and see what the locals did so Nic took us on a tour of the small town. The next morning, we drove back to Saigon and as we were on our way back saw 16 buses from the 2 ships in port on their way to the Mekong to do their tours... When we got back to Saigon we got a brief tour, did some shopping, and Nic returned us to the ship. I imagine that prices have gone up a bit - but it's still going to be cheaper and more personalized than the ship's mass tours. When we told everyone at dinner what we'd done, they were all jealous - the ship's Mekong Tours were a cattle drive. If I can find his email address I'll post it. Nic's English was excellent, and he's very nice and a real character. We also used a tour guide for the stop for Hue - they were a regular tour company, very efficient, but nothing special. But still a much better deal than the ship. We've never had a bad experience in any port we've ever done this in - but the private tour in Saigon is still our favorite.

 

 

Transocean Tours now has Marco Polo doing cruises out of London round Britain and norway. We were on your 2002 Tahiti to Sydney cruise, loved the Crown Odyssey.