cinci4u

6 hours ago, dagcruiser said:

Bryan and Terri

Are you booking the overnight in Hanoi through Celebrity or a different tour operator? We want to stay overnight too but I want to do a tour that includes the longer cruise through the bay.  Please let me know  what you are booking.  We might be interested in joining.

 

Thank You

Hi Dagcruiser,

Please note my response above and I notice that you are on our cruise in November. 

Thanks,

Bryan and Terri

We have booked with Celebrity.  However, I have been checking around for independent tour operators.  If we do an independent tour operator, we are looking at $550 for 2 people which includes all the transfers from the cruise-port/hotel, a food tour during the evening by rickshaw and a tour of Hanoi by Jeep before leaving to the cruise-port.  The hotel cost is not included in the pricing of the tour.  If you are interesting in joining us let me know and I will check on pricing for 4 people.  You should figure the cost of the hotel in Hanoi will run between $100 - $200 per night and we are looking at staying in the Old Quarter of Hanoi.  For logistical reasons, I do you think it’s important that we all stay in the same hotel.

On 12/30/2023 at 10:02 AM, John Bull said:

Almost all cruise ships' overnite stops at Halong Bay are a day and a half (or half a day and a day) which precludes overnite junk cruises, because they're timed to suit folk travelling from Hanoi.

 

Hanoi is a journey of about 3 hours e/w.  Altho a full day trip is usually offered most of that day is spent on a bumpy bus ride, with limited time in Hanoi. So it's something I'd counsel against - if you choose a trip to Hanoi, make it one which includes an overnite hotel in Hanoi,

 

Most ships' junk cruises are two hours and I'd counsel against any junk cruise under four hours. Crossing the open bay takes up much of a two hour cruise, then a stop at a cave on the periphery of the limestone islets (called karsts), leaving little time - if any - to get amongst the karsts.

Amongst the karsts it's a surreal watery lunar landscape. And the bay is usually misty - something which can take the shine off most boat trips (deliberate awful pun 😏), but which simply adds to the atmosphere in Halong Bay. I recommend seeking out a six or eight hour cruise - the 8 hour cruise especially gets you into solitude, and follows the same route as many of the overnite cruises.

 

Those two-hour ships' junk cruises also tend to be packed to the limit with little opportunity to move around. Independently booked cruises give you much more space. If you book a complete junk to share (thro your cruise RollCall) with fellow-cruisers, aim to limit the numbers to a couple of dozen.

All junks have a John (of sorts 😏) at the stern, and sell drinks (sometimes food as well, mebbe by cooking a fish which you've bought at a floating fish-farm). 

 

It's possible to book a ship's day-trip to Hanoi on the full day, and a ship's two-hour junk cruise on the half-day. But IMHO that's the worst of both worlds.

 

JB 🙂

JB, Thank you, thank you for the information.  We have decided to stay overnight in Hanoi.

Bryan and Terri

6 hours ago, Milhouse said:

FWIW, this is kind of dated but we did a land trip to Hanoi (and other parts of Vietnam) in Oct 2014. 

We spent four days in Hanoi of which three were pretty full days of sightseeing.  So, I think an overnight stay would definitely have enough points of interest (landmarks, parks/lakes, markets, etc) to keep you engaged/entertained.  So many fantastic places to eat too.  However, it is a bustling, chaotic city so you kind of have to enjoy that type of vibe.  

 

We also did an overnight cruise (Emeraude cruises) in Halong Bay (with a coach transfer to/from Hanoi).  It is kind of a bucket list activity with the beautiful scenery.  Not sure if the cruiseline's day cruises have similar activities but to give you an idea of the possible experience:  as part of our overnight cruise, we stopped at & walked through a cave, visited a pearl farm, and did a short hike around a small island.  All kind of interesting but very touristy.  There was also a chance to kayak a bit.  The star is really the scenery though. 

Thank you for the information and suggestions.

Bryan and Terri

Hi, We are looking at doing tours on our upcoming cruise on December 2024.  Our ship docks at 1:30pm on 12/6 and leaves on 12/7 at 7:30pm.  Unfortunately, due to the timing of our ship arriving into port an overnight cruise in Halong Bay is out.  Is it worth staying overnight in Hanoi and not going to Halong Bay or just do a Halong Bay day cruise through the cruise line.  Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Bryan and Terri

You are right about the demographics of the commercial cruises.  However, even Viking has more activity on their rollcalls compared to Oceania and they have similar demographics as Oceania.  Plus, Viking offers tours at each port. 

20 hours ago, clo said:

Not sure why you think that not signing up means lacking interest in the above. I signed up because we have a lot of experience in Rio in case anyone wanted any advice. I don't need formal venues to meet people...and actually find them off-putting.

Each person is different on how they plan a cruise and meet people.   To me rollcall is about building a rapport 

2 hours ago, clo said:

Not sure why you think that not signing up means lacking interest in the above. I signed up because we have a lot of experience in Rio in case anyone wanted any advice. I don't need formal venues to meet people...and actually find them off-putting.

Each person is different on how they plan a cruise and meet people.   To me a rollcall is about building a rapport with your fellow passengers, sharing ideas and planning small group activities.  We have sailed on all major cruiselines including Viking and Oceania seems to have the least active rollcalls.  I am just surprise by the lack of activity in Oceania’s rollcall sections.

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I are booked on an Oceania Cruise to Asia this coming October and we are booked on a Princess Cruise in October of 2021.  Both ships are the same size and I am active in both rollcalls.  Why is there more activity on the Princess rollcall which is almost 2 years out compared to Oceania’s rollcall.  What gives?  Yes, I know the OLife and tours.  However, people should still be excited about their up coming cruise and want to meet new people.   
Thanks,

Bryan and Terri

17 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

If you speak Japanese and / or are familiar with the Kansai area, what you are proposing to do would be easy. Since you probably do not speak the language, nor know the area, play it safe this time with a ship-sponsored tour. You can have a relaxed tour, knowing you are guaranteed to get back to the ship.

Yes, I would agree with you that is best to do a ship-sponsored tour since we are limited on time.  Thanks for everyone's help.

Bryan and Terri

Laurence,

Thank you so much for the information.

Bryan and Terri

Hi,

We will be docking in Kobe for about 10 hours and we are looking for suggestions for tours preferably in Kyoto with transportation to and from the ship.

Will we be able to spend enough time in Kyoto and make sure we make it back to our ship before it departs?  If Kyoto does not work, what other tours/locations would you suggest?  We prefer private group tours.  However, if needed we will take a cruise sponsored tour.

Thank you,

Bryan and Terri

1 hour ago, Luvaz said:

We used Khizar at Live Nippon http://www.livenippon.com/trip.html.     

Thank you for your suggestion.

Bryan and Terri

18 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

@cinci4u

TripleLights.com or ToursbyLocals.com are tour operators we used in Japan. 

More in our travelogues:

Japan on Celebrity Millennium

https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

 

Japan on HAL Westerdam

https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html

Thank you so much and great pictures.

9 hours ago, sportsmum said:

triple lights.com is who we used. We had Yuki and it was the best choice we ever could have made. He picked us up at the hotel and deposited us back there - we used public transportation. He was so helpful and nothing we asked was too much. 

Thanks for the suggestion..

Hi,

I have started looking for private tours in Tokyo and I am looking for suggestions.  We are only in Tokyo for one full day and we need transportation from our hotel to our ship.  Any suggestions would be great.  

Thanks,

Bryan and Terri

Hi All,

We were just wondering if Oceania has decided to stay away for Hong Kong with all of the recent violence.  Any incite would be great.

Thanks,

Bryan and Terri

I am bad for not getting things in writing from the representative that I was dealing with.

However, based on Viking’s so called reputation I should not need to and the manager should honor what there representative states especially if they record calls.  

I asked the manager I was dealing with if they record phone calls and she said yes.  I than asked her if she would be able to review the call and verify what I told her was correct.  She said nothing.  I guess people call what happen to me as the old “Bate and Switch” game.    

It comes down to what the representative told me before I booked the cruise.    He told me that I would not see a lower price in the future and if I did, I would get the lower price.  And yes, I  was dealing with Viking directly.    It is the fact that the representative lied to me to get my business.  I never expected the representative to lie to me because of Viking’s reputation.  And yes, $200 is peanuts when you looking at spending over $10,000 for cruise.

Cruise Critic Members,

Buyer beware!!! We are booked in a March for a 9/2020 cruise with Viking and are frequent cruisers on other cruise Lines and are cruise critic members. Thought we would try Viking and talk about great disappointment in the cruise line. We booked our trip; given a price and we specifically asked if we saw the price decrease would we get that price and was told they would rebook us to get the lower price.  

The price did decrease by $600.00 and we called Viking and was told there was nothing they could do about it.  Asked to speak to manager and got hung up on.  Called back asked if we cannot have price decrease can we be upgraded instead.  No upgrade no decrease in price.  We will never sail this cruise line, and are cancelling our cruise.

How easy is it to catch a taxi in Crown Bay during the month of January? We will be on the Allure of the Seas at the end of January.

Thank you,

Bryan