Hydrofoil to Bangkok from Laem Chabang??

[alibabacruisers]

Hi, I was hoping someone here could shed some light on this question. I read somewhere within cruise critic about the possibility of a hydrofoil (guess that is a boat of some kind...lol) from Laem Chabang where we will be docking, to Bangkok. Does anyone have experience with this? It would be great! It would be great since they say it takes about 2 hours each way on the tour bus, but the hydrofoil is about half that. I tried researching but cannot find anything definitive.

 

Barbara

[wscott52]

Hydrofoils are pretty cool:

 

 

 

Years ago I went on one that ran from West Palm Beach to Freeport with my future first wife. We were in college and didn't have much money so the ferry beat out flying. It was funny when they put the boat up on the hydrofoils, she grabbed my arm and screamed, "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS GOING TO DO THAT!". She was fine though once they uncovered the slot machines.

[nodandade]

hello alibabacruisers,

 

you don't say whether you are actually disembarking at leam chabang or are you just doing a day trip.if you are thinking of doing a day trip on the hydrofoil into town on your own 'DONT'.

 

yes they are quicker,and land right in the centre of towm, 'BUT', they break down on many ocassions.and sometimes can take hours and hours to get a replacement or get the problem fixed.

 

if you are disembarking and have plenty of time, go right ahead it is fun,but 'NOT' if you have a ship to get back to.

 

take the bus or coach or mini van..

 

cheers

[John Bull]

hello alibabacruisers,

 

you don't say whether you are actually disembarking at leam chabang or are you just doing a day trip.if you are thinking of doing a day trip on the hydrofoil into town on your own 'DONT'.

 

yes they are quicker,and land right in the centre of towm, 'BUT', they break down on many ocassions.and sometimes can take hours and hours to get a replacement or get the problem fixed.

 

if you are disembarking and have plenty of time, go right ahead it is fun,but 'NOT' if you have a ship to get back to.

 

take the bus or coach or mini van..

 

cheers

 

Hi Nonandade,

Although they can't operate in all weathers, hydrofoils per se are no more prone to breakdowns than regular ferries. And since there's currently no service on this route, they don't break down at all ;).

 

You may be thinking of the service from Vung Tau to Saigon. This doesn't have the best reputation, though that may be more to do with the age & quality of the Soviet-era vessels, and the standards of maintenance.

 

There are plenty of routes world-wide served by hydofoils. Yes, they're a good deal quicker than regular boats, because they're ski-ing on the water rather than ploughing through it.

 

But I don't think Laem Chabang is one of the proposed routes. Even if it were, for the return to the ship you'd want to allow extra time to switch to a Plan B, just like for any ferry crossing.

 

Alibaba - you do need to make transfer arrangements in advance. Either a private transfer or tour, or ship's offerings.

There's no train, & no useable bus service.

There will be taxis available at the pier, but these are operated by a taxi cartel, which creams tourists almost double the cost of a pre-arranged transfer. Expect to pay about 2500 baht one-way for a pre-booked car, about 4500 baht if you hire at the port.

 

JB :)

[alibabacruisers]

hello alibabacruisers,

 

you don't say whether you are actually disembarking at leam chabang or are you just doing a day trip.if you are thinking of doing a day trip on the hydrofoil into town on your own 'DONT'.

 

yes they are quicker,and land right in the centre of towm, 'BUT', they break down on many ocassions.and sometimes can take hours and hours to get a replacement or get the problem fixed.

 

if you are disembarking and have plenty of time, go right ahead it is fun,but 'NOT' if you have a ship to get back to.

 

take the bus or coach or mini van..

 

cheers

 

Thanks for your comments. We are going to Bangkok for a day and docking at Laem Chabang. I hadn't thought about if we had problems on the hydrofoil.

 

Barbara

[alibabacruisers]

Hi Nonandade,

Although they can't operate in all weathers, hydrofoils per se are no more prone to breakdowns than regular ferries. And since there's currently no service on this route, they don't break down at all ;).

 

You may be thinking of the service from Vung Tau to Saigon. This doesn't have the best reputation, though that may be more to do with the age & quality of the Soviet-era vessels, and the standards of maintenance.

 

There are plenty of routes world-wide served by hydofoils. Yes, they're a good deal quicker than regular boats, because they're ski-ing on the water rather than ploughing through it.

 

But I don't think Laem Chabang is one of the proposed routes. Even if it were, for the return to the ship you'd want to allow extra time to switch to a Plan B, just like for any ferry crossing.

 

Alibaba - you do need to make transfer arrangements in advance. Either a private transfer or tour, or ship's offerings.

There's no train, & no useable bus service.

There will be taxis available at the pier, but these are operated by a taxi cartel, which creams tourists almost double the cost of a pre-arranged transfer. Expect to pay about 2500 baht one-way for a pre-booked car, about 4500 baht if you hire at the port.

 

JB :)

 

Thanks John for your comments too! We were researching both the ships tours and private tours, so it looks like back to trying to choose between those choices. We had read about the taxi drivers at the port gouging the tourists so definitely won't be doing that.

 

Barbara

[Keith1010]

I would not go this route.

 

It's a 90 minute drive each way by vehicle and that is what I would do.

 

If you don't do a ships tour be sure to allow sufficient time to get back and allow time for traffic jams and issues with the vehicle.

 

For one day I would do a ships tour or use ships transportation.

 

If overnight then I would do a private tour or have a private vehicle and return you to the dock.

 

Keith

[nodandade]

hello john bull,

 

you are correct,it is the sevice from vung tao to siagon i thought alibaba were considering.

 

and although i am not in agreeance with you about hyrdrofoils are no more prone to breakdowns than ordinary ferries,on this particular route ''they are''.

 

the service levels on these particular ferries is ''not'' the most up to date,and given that hydrofoils are under a vast more extreme stresses and pressures than ordinary ferries,they ''do '' tend to have more troubles (breakdowns)than normal ferries

 

believe me 'i know'

 

cheers

[ottawa24]

Help! I have searched the boards high and low and I'm quite sure someone wrote about the great Rubies they bought. I think they said but Saigon but I'm not sure. I would appreciate the info.

lesley

[ottawa24]

We are considering taking a pass on Hanoi and taking a day long junk trip on the Bay. We are docked in Halong for 1day leaving at one the following day? Or do we do the obvious day in Hanoi ships tour the next morning???? Would appreciate any thoughts on what we are considering???? Thanks

lesley

[John Bull]

Help! I have searched the boards high and low and I'm quite sure someone wrote about the great Rubies they bought. I think they said but Saigon but I'm not sure. I would appreciate the info.

lesley

 

Hi Lesley,

 

You're way off-topic for this thread, you'll more likely get a better response if you start a fresh thread, headed "Saigon rubies" or somesuch.

 

We are considering taking a pass on Hanoi and taking a day long junk trip on the Bay. We are docked in Halong for 1day leaving at one the following day? Or do we do the obvious day in Hanoi ships tour the next morning???? Would appreciate any thoughts on what we are considering???? Thanks

lesley

 

Ditto a fresh thread.

But for a junk cruise you do really need a minimum four hours, & preferably six or eight hours. A two-hour cruise will get you to the limestone karsts (islets), but not properly amongst them.

So you're looking at that first full day.

That makes it more difficult to fix up on arrival, which is much cheaper than pre-booking.

 

JB :)