Beijing to Bangkok then to Angkor Wat -Live

[forevertravel]

There were three ships at Ocean terminal and from what we were told Regent was told to dock at the other terminal. As far as I know it had nothing to do with paying. Regent has docked at Ocean terminal in the past. I believe they had no choice. There is a new cruise terminal that will open in June of this year. We were told it will have berths for several ships so this shouldn't be an issue in the future. Regent did provide buses into Central Hong Kong.

[xrvlcruiser]

Marc,

 

Have you ever docked in downtown Saigon on Regent?

 

My understanding is that the mast is too tall on their big ships to go under the bridge. I suppose the Navigator might be able to make it (Don't really know) but am pretty sure that both the Mariner and the Voyager are too tall.

 

The Princendam (former RVSun) had a collapsible mast and was able to make it to town.

 

Peggy

[mrlevin]

Peggy, I think we were a couple of miles away from the Rex. We were there on Mariner in 2005.

 

Marc

[mrlevin]

There were three ships at Ocean terminal and from what we were told Regent was told to dock at the other terminal. As far as I know it had nothing to do with paying. Regent has docked at Ocean terminal in the past. I believe they had no choice. There is a new cruise terminal that will open in June of this year. We were told it will have berths for several ships so this shouldn't be an issue in the future. Regent did provide buses into Central Hong Kong.

 

Even though you were there two evenings, did you even have a chance to see the light show from the ship? When you departed, it looked like you did a u turn and immediately went south.

 

Marc

[xrvlcruiser]

Marc,

 

>>A couple of miles from the Rex<< That makes more sense . . . .

 

Ocean Terminal: My guess is that the ships which come to HK more frequently than Regent get preference for the 3 docking spots.

 

I'll be interested in hearing about the new terminal when it opens.

 

Peggy

[1982CruzStart]

Even though you were there two evenings, did you even have a chance to see the light show from the ship? When you departed, it looked like you did a u turn and immediately went south.

 

Marc

 

No we didn't see the light show from the ship either night. Our dock was such that we were around the bend from where i understand the light show is put on. Both nights we could have taken the shuttle in to see it but in our case did not do so. We left at 11 pm the last night so it was long over before we left port.

[findacruise]

We are jet lagged and arrived home late Friday night from this great trip. I stopped posting becasue I didn't have time to fight with the internet! There were many wonderful lectures on board with the NPR folks and enrichment lectures. Coupled with cocktail recpetions, dinner with NPR presenters and shore excursions, we kept busy. Whenever there was free time, the internet was down, up and down or very, very slow. Life was too short to write about it instead of living it! We had far, far better internet on our first Regent cruise to the middle east.

 

While we enjoyed our time in Vietnam and being a "child of the 60's" I really wanted to visit, I do not have a desire to return. I did find the contrast between the north and south very intersting. The long coach ride to Hanoi was tiring, but I am glad we went. The guide was very much on the "party line" and it was always about the American War. The trip down the Mekong Delta was enjoyable. Quite a contrast to the visions I remember from the news broadcasts of years ago. Saigon is much more western, as one would expect.

 

We very much liked Bangkok and would love to go back. We had the best guide of our entire cruise and too little time. We chose to do the Grand Palace tour and were not dissapointed. The heat and humidity were a bit oppresive, but the crowds were "light" for what one normally encounters there.

 

The post tour to Angkor Wat for 3 days was well worth the heat and humidity. DH and I felt it was well organized and thought out. TGhere was some crumbling about early flights, etc., becasue with the group size it took multiple flights to get everyone there. The plane we flew on was a turbo prop, as most of the larger planes weren't flying after March 31. My guess is it is now low season.

 

The daily schedule was clearly layed out and even changes made to accomodate an unexpected celebration. This allowed us to not miss being able to climb to the 3rd level of the Angkor Wat Temple. It would have been closed on the original day we were to go, due to a religious celebration. We saw 4 temples while we were there, took a small boat to see the floating villages (low water due to dry season - what an adventure!) and stopped at a couple of places for wonderful short shopping opportunities.

 

Raffles Hotel was an enjoyable step back. The graciousness of the Cambodia people and the old time lobby bar was delightful and the buffet breakfasts and one lunch and dinner we had there were delicious.

 

All-in-all the post cruise more than lived up to our expectations. We were glad, as the pre cruise in Bejing had not.

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention that overall we felt the food and service we had in the dining venues had improved over what we experienced on our middle east cruise. We had only one slow service night in CR. We had previous problems both times in Primes 7 and this cruise both nights were excellent. Room service was perfect, too.

 

While we didn't book another cruise while we were on board, as we have 3 others already scheduled, we know we will be back when there is an itinerary we want. We are glad to be home, but while we were away, Voyager was a great place to be!

 

BTW if you ever need to spend a night in Bangkok before catching a flight we highly recommend the Novotel at the airport. You can check in at anytime (booking is for a 24 hour period) and they pick you up at the terminal and have 24/7 shuttle. Plenty of places to eat at the hotel and it was totally soundproof with very comfortable bed and nice bathroom with both shower and tub. They also have day room accomodations.

 

Happy travels!