SF

32 minutes ago, woldridge said:

I am on a private tour in of Halong Bay next October through Travel Authentic Asia.  I would be very uncomfortable sending them a copy of my passport, but luckily, they did not require it.  What they did require was:

Please advise your passport information: Names on passport, nationality, date of birth and expiry date (you can skip the passport number if you do not feel comfortable to send it).  

 

 

 

That is the same tour company we are using so I guess we'll get in touch with them again and clarify. 

Has anyone had the experience of having to send copies of their passports when booking private tours with companies in Vietnam?

1 minute ago, mking8288 said:

Take the free shuttle to Taipa ferry terminal, as you will on the island with most of the casinos and the airport, where you will find plenty of shuttles to continue/transfer to the casino-hotels.  

 

Thank you for all the help and information. 

We will be staying near HKIA after departing our cruise so I believe it's near the HZMB so we figured it would be easier to just take the bus shuttle over the new bridge. Once we get off on the other side we are not sure if we should take the free shuttle to the Macau ferry area or the Taipa ferry area to catch the free shuttles to the hotels.

11 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

@SF - flying into HKIA on arrival into HKG, there should be ATM just beyond border control, past customs inspections (for most visitors, follow arrows to the "nothing to declare" channel) toward the exit for ground transportation, good bilingual signage for taxis, hotel shuttles, etc. - look for ATM terminals near/opposite the MTR Service Centre (where Octopus Card & AE Passes are sold) ... more ATM's outside on the landside of the terminal if you miss them.  There is also an official, licensed Currency Exchange counter there ... for convenience, not very good rates given.  

 

As for Macau, I would probably take the ferry and/or go to the main Macau Ferry Terminal ... there are plenty of free shuttles to all the casino hotels on the "strip" at Taipa (also where the Macau Int'l airport is situated)   From the "mainland" - it's just a quick 10 minutes ride over the bridge to the most casino hotels ... see pix below (these are the turbojet/hydrofoil ferries - prefer the larger ones.)  

 

mking8288:  Quess we'll use the ATM at HKIA prior to leaving for the taxi.

When we exit from the shuttle bus at Macau should we take the free bus to the Macau or Taipa ferry in order to get one of the free hotel shuttles? Are we better off going to Macau or Taipa ferry terminal?

Do the taxis accept credit card?

2 minutes ago, RoadTripFanatic said:

Which hotels do you consider the "main" hotels.  The ones on the Macau side or the ones on the Cotai Strip?  I haven't been to Macau since the bridge opened.  I do know 18 months ago you could catch a free shuttle that ran between the MGM properties.

We were thinking of maybe The Venetian and some of the hotels nearby on the Cotai Strip.

Appreciate the information. Glad to know we won't have a problem getting back to our hotel since we plan to return from Macau late in the evening. 

Yes, I have watched the videos showing the bus crossing from Hong Kong to Macau. Very useful information. From where you are dropped off is it best to take one of the free shuttles to the ferry port and then hop on one of the free shuttles to the main hotels from there? If so which ferry port is best in regards to buses to the main hotels? I believe there are two ferry ports nearby.

We are thinking of taking the bus to Macau and are wondering upon our return to the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities if there are taxis at night that could take us to our hotel which is nearby.

Where is the best place to find up-to-date news on the protests? Would like to monitor the situation as our trip is getting closer. 

mking8288:

Once again so much great information. 😀  All your help is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for the good suggestion of staying on Lantau Island at one of the hotels you mentioned. We may consider doing this since we'll get one day in Hong Kong before our ship disembarks and hopefully being a weekday there won't be too many riots or disturbances so we'll get to see at least some attractions.

I believe the big Buddha should not be too hard to get too from one of those hotels. Also believe the bus terminal to take the new road to Macau is nearby. Any other suggestions to pass the time until our flight if we decide to stay at one of the hotels you mentioned? 

Thanks to all for some different suggestions.

We'll also be watching to see what transpires in the next few weeks and finalize our plans then.

The problem for us is we'll each have a regular sized suitcase and a carry on. We heard the ferry limits luggage. We'd like to visit Macau for two or three days but not sure if it's worth the hassle with luggage by bus. After searching online for a private driver we saw they do have a company but you have to change cars after customs/immigration and it is expensive. 

Does anyone have information for Private Car Service that's reasonable and reliable to go from Hong Kong to Macau?

mking8288:

Thanks for all the info you provided on Macau.  Since there are three of us we may look for a private driver. Probably a little more cost-wise but more convenient as they will take us right to the hotel. 

Will keep a lookout for your upcoming Hong Kong posts.

mking8288:

As mentioned above your posts and up to date information is greatly appreciated. 

We are going to look into going to Macau instead as an option. Any suggestions on what to see and do for 3 days if we do decide to switch and visit Macau? Do you know how long the drive is from the port where celebrity docks to Macau?

We are scheduled to be there the first week of January disembarking from a cruise and we had planned to stay 3 days in a hotel not far from Nathan's Road. With all the riots and unrest right now we are seriously thinking about changing our flight reservations and leaving the day the cruise disembarks. The riots seem to be more violent and not only contained to one area so we feel if we stay we won't get to see very much plus the unease of not knowing if something's suddenly is going to happen nearby concerns us . Anyone else considering changing their flight reservations to leave earlier after disembarking a cruise or canceling their trip to HK?At this point we are so unsure of what to do as it seems that things are only getting worse.

Does anyone has information on Navigator cabin 1151? I know these cabins were put in when Navigator was refurbished but that particular cabin looks smaller on diagrams than the other inside cabins on that deck. 

Thanks so much for posting the pictures and for all the great info.

We will be visiting Coco Cay again in a few days. Even though we've been there in the past this will be the first time for the extended evening hours. If anyone has been there in the evening it would be appreciated if you could please let us know what activities they had and the times. 

Glad to know they're free. Are they located in the water park as well as outside of it?

It still shows a charge for the lockers on the website. Guess we'll find out when we get there.

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Yes.

Is there a charge for the lockers or are they free? If there is a cost can it be put on your cruise card or do you need currency?