Vietnam

We were in those same ports of call via the Celebrity Millennium in January 2017. Although I wasn't keen on the guide we had for Danang (Chan May) - we loved the port of call and the area. We visited Hoi An and thoroughly enjoyed it! Will provide link to my blog review of Vietnam below, if interested in photos of Hoi An, etc.

Vietnam Blog Review - via Celebrity Millennium Asian Immersion Cruise

Heather

Just contacted Celebrity and was advised that Celebrity will arrange Visa for Vietnam ports when we board ship and cost will be $6.00 US. Charlie advised only one visa needed for 3 separate ports. We are cruising on Celebrity Constellation (Jan 29, 2018 departure out of Singapore) to Thailand and Vietnam. (Cost is same for US and Canadian citizens).

 

Laurie

We did the Asian Immersion cruise in January 2017 via the Celebrity Millennium. As many people have asked me about the immigration information - I did a blog post (from the perspective of a Canadian) - for Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong (China).

Asian Immersion Cruise - Immigration Info

Heather

Usually, the fare difference of a few thousand $ is enough to change minds. Some people don't like small ships and find them boring. Go figure.

 

We were on Azamara in Nov/Dec and loved being able to go up the rivers in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City. My husband was out on our balcony the entire time (in and out....) obsessed with the river traffic ;-)

 

In Ho Chi Minh city, we rambled on our own one day, had our included Azamazing evening at a cultural center that evening (truly was AzAMAZING! but hot ;-) and did a pho food tour the following day....

This post makes me feel better about booking this itinerary on Azamara. The price difference now is not that much and the Quest will dock right in Ho Chi Minh City. It looks like in Thailand that they dock right in Bangkok as well. We are two years away but very excited. If you are reading this, I am interested in knowing whether you booked Azamara excursions. We usually don't book ship excursions, but the TA added $1,700 on board credit as an incentive to book. This also significantly closed the gap on the difference in price with the Celebrity M Class ship. Azamara also has one less day at sea and more time and days in ports.

We took Excursion when we were in Vietnam. We were in Danang, arrived with the Celebrity Millennium and the cruise ship docks far from Danang. We enjoined the excursion very much. The guide was very informative. My recommendation is to take the excursion from the ship because to my impression, you need a good guide in Vietnam, and because you come to limited time this way you can maximize your stay. You can see the details of our trip in our website:

https://walkingdestination.wixsite.com/walking-destinations/single-post/2017/06/19/12-Night-China-Philippines-Cruise

My husband and I will be taking a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium December 10, 2017. I started checking the costs for a Vietnam Visa months ago. I checked with Celebrity and the Vietnam Embassy and 3 consulates in the United States and received many conflicting answers.

I called a customer service agent at Celebrity today to see what price she would quote for a visa and the following is what she told me:

1. $6.00 pp for a visa as long as you are back on the ship before midnight after visiting a port.

2. Additional $28.00 pp if you are on land and board after midnight such as overnight stay on land.

3. The cost for a visa if you choose to travel on land for several days is $155.00 pp. I think this would be if you left Vietnam and then came back to Vietnam. But not positive because I wasn't interested in this visa.

We are planning on two day trips and an overnight in Halong Bay, Vietnam. Hopefully, according to the information from Celebrity today a visa should cost us $34.00 pp which would be great.

If you do not want to do a land tour and really want more VietNam I would highly recommend a River Cruise. Many companies including Vantage, Viking, Ama maybe Scenic and more all offer them. It is a fantastic way to experience VietNam and Cambodia.

Off Topic but the River Cruise on the Irrawaddy is even better!!!! Both cruises were exceptional experiences!!!

Vietnam does change their visa costs from time to time. Our visa cost was considerably less than anticipated because the rates and terms had been adjusted between the three month period when we looked up the cost and when we actually bought them. Also, it was my understanding that if you get them at an embassy there are two charges. One charge for the visa, another charge for the service. The latter is, or was, not consistent and varied by embassy location.

This post makes me feel better about booking this itinerary on Azamara. The price difference now is not that much and the Quest will dock right in Ho Chi Minh City. It looks like in Thailand that they dock right in Bangkok as well. We are two years away but very excited. If you are reading this, I am interested in knowing whether you booked Azamara excursions. We usually don't book ship excursions, but the TA added $1,700 on board credit as an incentive to book.

The only excursion we booked was the free/included Azamazing evening in HCMH. It was fantastic, but really hot and humid. But the entire trip was, so... ;-) We did our own thing in Ko Samui, shared a full day tour in Bangkok with 4 others on the ship, did our own thing on BKK day 2 ( ship shuttle into town) In HCMC we booked a private food tour. SIN we did the HOHO bus (free Tix from our hotel) and otherwise toured on our own. Same in HKG.