Ayutthaya?

[Bruin Steve]

Our cruise has two days in Bangkok...December 31/January 1...

When we originally looked at tours/shore excursions, we decided on a full day tour of Bangkok for day one...but choices for day two were more limited, I suppose since All Aboard by 5:00 pm limits those longer tours that have to make it back from Bangkok to the port...So, we opted for a shore excursion: "Sanctuary of Truth and Pattaya Floating Market"...Four hours, makes it back to the ship before 2:00 pm.  We figured this may be okay after a long day of touring the day before plus New Year's Eve celebrations...

 

Recently, in checking the Celebrity shore excursion pages, it seems they've added some more tours on that second day...including one to Ayutthaya.  It looks pretty interesting...but, OTOH, it's a TEN AND A HALF HOUR tour!  ...Which means it departs New Year's morning at an ungodly 6:30 am so that they might get us back to the ship by that 5:00 pm All Aboard...

 

What do you all think?  Worth it?  Or better to stick with what we have for an easier day?

 

[cruising cockroach]

I'd save it for another day (or better yet, go to Sukhothai and Sri Satchanalai for a few days).  It's at least 1 hr from the north end of Bangkok each way.  You'd be lucky to get 1 hr touring the immediate grounds, probably go on an elephant ride, and then a small boat tour around the city.  That's the usual tourist route.  We travelled there and back by death-trap maxi-van/mini-bus, walked to our B&B, and cycled around (and did the boat too too).

[Bruin Steve]

8 minutes ago, cruising cockroach said:

I'd save it for another day (or better yet, go to Sukhothai and Sri Satchanalai for a few days).  It's at least 1 hr from the north end of Bangkok each way.  You'd be lucky to get 1 hr touring the immediate grounds, probably go on an elephant ride, and then a small boat tour around the city.  That's the usual tourist route.  We travelled there and back by death-trap maxi-van/mini-bus, walked to our B&B, and cycled around (and did the boat too too).

Hmmmmm???

First of all, we don’t have “a few days”...and we don’t have “another day”...

From my research, it’s approximately 180 km and a two hour drive from the cruise port in Laem Chabang...each way...But, it’s a 10.5 hour excursion, so, taking four hours travel time off that...even accounting for some traffic and taking five off, it would still leave over five hours at the site.  And, heck, after waking up early to leave at 6:30 am, we won’t mind the long bus trip there...probably nap through that whole ride.  Not sure that a four hour excursion to the Pataya Floating Market is a better use of that time...

[hubofhockey]

I've done one excursion where the travel was a couple of hours each way and that was to Berlin.  I always looked at it as a one-time ever trip to Germany and did the trip (SPB Tours excursion).  I would have regretted not doing it and we were very happy we did the excursion.  You will regret it if you don't do the Historic Ayyuthaya excursion.  Our trip from Klong Toey is an hour each way on a 9 hour excursion, so it's really only an hour and half more time than yours and a short lunch can make up most of that.  

 

I don't think they will waste your time with an elephant ride.  Cruise lines are getting away from excursions involving exploitation of animals.  Mine with BKK certainly doesn't include that.

 

 

[jkgourmet]

I visited both on a land tour some years ago.  Unless you really are interested in UNESCO World Heritage areas, I'd absolutely NOT do it.   We are not UNESCO people, and out of a fourteen day trip, it was probably the least interesting stop we made.

 

The floating market was pretty cool, but very crowded with tourists.  And the poverty was quite obvious. 

 

I might suggest that you go on your own and take a boat ride on the Chao Phray River.   We enjoyed that very much.  (On second thought, doesn't the ship use a port several hours away from BKK?  I suppose getting into the city on your own might be difficult because of that.)

 

 

[hubofhockey]

1 hour ago, jkgourmet said:

I visited both on a land tour some years ago.  Unless you really are interested in UNESCO World Heritage areas, I'd absolutely NOT do it.   We are not UNESCO people, and out of a fourteen day trip, it was probably the least interesting stop we made.

 

The floating market was pretty cool, but very crowded with tourists.  And the poverty was quite obvious. 

 

I might suggest that you go on your own and take a boat ride on the Chao Phray River.   We enjoyed that very much.  (On second thought, doesn't the ship use a port several hours away from BKK?  I suppose getting into the city on your own might be difficult because of that.)

 

 

You have me rethinking my plans.  When I booked Ayyuthaya, I hadn't planned on going to Siam Reap.  We are at Klong Toey and we are doing the Bangkok City Highlights one day and we have 2.5 days in total.  Maybe we should spend our second day doing something else because it sounds as if this falls way short of Angkor Wat and those temples and this would disappoint in comparison.

[John Bull]

Like jk we've visited Ayutthaya independently.

Or, not exactly "independently", we booked with  http://www.grandpearlcruise.com/en/route-program/ayutthaya-round-trip.html

but arranged our own transport from Laem Chabang to meet the tour bus at the Summer Palace at 9am, and we arranged a hotel in Bangkok for that evening .

It worked out beautifully, and was a brilliant day.

But Ayutthaya was only part of that day, and the river cruise down to Bangkok - a great way to enter Bangkok - was a big part of it. Whether a bus trip just for Ayutthaya (and the Summer Palace at nearby Bang-Pa In?)  is worthwhile is debatable.

 

If my understanding of posts on this thread is correct, there's no debate for Hubofhockey. 

We've not been to Siem Reap, but seeing it on googleimages and featured on a TV programme I get the impression that it's Ayuttaya's big brother. All very similar, but Siem Reap is the daddy. (apologies for the mixed metaphor )  

So Ayutthaya would be a waste if you're going to Siem Reap.

And Bangkok has so much more to offer - the Grand Palace, long-tail boat cruises round the klongs, fast ferries or a leisurely rice-boat cruise, the Chinese quarter, Patpong for the naughty side of nightlife, etc ad infinitum

We're stopping-over there again for a few days next month en-route to the land down-under.

 

JB 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2018 by John Bull

[hubofhockey]

13 hours ago, John Bull said:

Like jk we've visited Ayutthaya independently.

Or, not exactly "independently", we booked with  http://www.grandpearlcruise.com/en/route-program/ayutthaya-round-trip.html

but arranged our own transport from Laem Chabang to meet the tour bus at the Summer Palace at 9am, and we arranged a hotel in Bangkok for that evening .

It worked out beautifully, and was a brilliant day.

But Ayutthaya was only part of that day, and the river cruise down to Bangkok - a great way to enter Bangkok - was a big part of it. Whether a bus trip just for Ayutthaya (and the Summer Palace at nearby Bang-Pa In?)  is worthwhile is debatable.

 

If my understanding of posts on this thread is correct, there's no debate for Hubofhockey. 

We've not been to Siem Reap, but seeing it on googleimages and featured on a TV programme I get the impression that it's Ayuttaya's big brother. All very similar, but Siem Reap is the daddy. (apologies for the mixed metaphor )  

So Ayutthaya would be a waste if you're going to Siem Reap.

And Bangkok has so much more to offer - the Grand Palace, long-tail boat cruises round the klongs, fast ferries or a leisurely rice-boat cruise, the Chinese quarter, Patpong for the naughty side of nightlife, etc ad infinitum

We're stopping-over there again for a few days next month en-route to the land down-under.

 

JB 

 

 

 

 

Thanks JB.  We have two and a half days in Bangkok (docked at Khlong Toey) and reading JKGourmet's post hit home pretty hard. I booked very early for Bangkok, even before deciding to go to Siem Reap.  We have a 2.5 days in Bangkok and we'll do a city tour and a railway and floating markets tour and try to do the other time on our own. 

[John Bull]

1 minute ago, hubofhockey said:

 

Thanks JB.  We have two and a half days in Bangkok (docked at Khlong Toey) and reading JKGourmet's post hit home pretty hard. I booked very early for Bangkok, even before deciding to go to Siem Reap.  We have a 2.5 days in Bangkok and we'll do a city tour and a railway and floating markets tour and try to do the other time on our own. 

 

15 minute drive to the city centre instead of the 2 hours from Laem Chabang.

Dammit - I can't find an "envious" emoji 

Though I read somewhere that the port area there is pretty grim, not a place to just go wandering.

 

Check out the river offerings at River City Pier.

 

Have a good one

 

JB 

[Bruin Steve]

I guess I am getting the point that Ayutthaya may pale in comparison to Siem Reap/Angkor Wat...HOWEVER, we are confined by the structure of our cruise.  The cruise line offers an excursion to Angkor Wat--unfortunately, it costs an additional $2,139 per person and you completely miss two other ports on the cruise--Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)...It just seems that visit will have to wait for some other trip.

 

For THIS cruise, the limitation is that we have two days docked at Laem Chabang...May not be the most convenient port, but it is what it is...

For our first day, we have booked a ten hour tour of Bangkok itself.  The second day has the issue that "all aboard" is at 5:00 pm.  Since we can't go all the way to Cambodia...and since we may be burned out on Bangkok proper after the full day the day before...the options really are Pataya and the Floating Market...OR...this trip to Ayutthaya.  The excursion is described as:

"Take a trip back in time as you explore the impressive city of Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Thailand’s ancient capital. Start off your journey with a scenic drive to the exquisite Bang PaIn Summer Palace of King Rama V, where European and Thai architecture come together to create dazzling structural masterpieces. Explore the two story Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun then continue to Ayutthaya, where you’ll see some of Bangkok’s most stunning ruins."

It seems that, considering our limitations, this may be our best option.  I am not expecting Angkor Wat.  All I want is an interesting visit to a site worth visiting.  Having majored in "Cultural and Historical Geography" way back in college, I am assuming this site might be of some interest to me.

 

[hubofhockey]

23 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

15 minute drive to the city centre instead of the 2 hours from Laem Chabang.

Dammit - I can't find an "envious" emoji 

Though I read somewhere that the port area there is pretty grim, not a place to just go wandering.

 

Check out the river offerings at River City Pier.

 

Have a good one

 

JB 

 

Thanks again.  I usually like bigger ships, but this is 25th anniversary and going with Azamara.  The price with all of the OBC actually worked out pretty good.  AZ has shuttles right from port to downtown.

 

Thanks for your help and advice.  I'll check out River City Pier, possibly on day one when we dock at 1 pm.

 

Steve, I would never pay the cruise line that kind of money for an excursion to Siem Reap.  You could do it on your own for 30% of that price and that's staying at really nice hotels for three nights.  We're flying to SR from Singapore after our cruise.  Everything is really inexpensive in Cambodia, including nice hotels, dining, and even tours.  If you can adjust your flights home, it's worth looking into.

Edited December 3, 2018 by hubofhockey

[jkgourmet]

18 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

 

 

Steve, I would never pay the cruise line that kind of money for an excursion to Siem Reap.  You could do it on your own for 30% of that price and that's staying at really nice hotels for three nights.  We're flying to SR from Singapore after our cruise.  Everything is really inexpensive in Cambodia, including nice hotels, dining, and even tours.  If you can adjust your flights home, it's worth looking into.

Truth be told, I've yet to see any cruise line excursion that is priced anyplace close to what we can do independently (albeit, sometimes using the roll call for tracking down a few people to join us.). We do cruise sponsored excursions ONLY when what we want to see is a good distance from the shop and/or involves multiple forms of transport (like a bus and a boat).  In those specific instances, the risk of missing the shop becomes much higher.  Wait -we've also used ship excursions for more dangerous ports:  Cartegena 15 years ago before they cleaned up the drug activity, Tunisia just a few years ago.I

 

JohnBull has the best idea - go to Bangkok and stay overnight.  From there, purchase independent tours.  Smaller group, more personal attention, no shopping stops unless you want them, cheaper prices.  Additionally, Bangkok is a safe, easy city to deal with, and English speaking residents are everywhere.  Super helpful and kind.

 

I gotta tell ya - the distances from ports to major sites/cities is EXACTLY why we've vetoed the SE Asia cruises.  With the exception if Japan, where most stops are close.  Yokohama is 45 minutes from Tokyo and Kobe is one hour from Kyoto, and both are overnight stops.  Both port cities are interesting in themselves.  We will be doing a few days in Tokyo before embarking, and taking the bullet train from Kobe to Kyoto and stay overnight.  We plan on only one ship excursion - Hiroshima.  6-7 hours to see all the major sites, bus and boat transport required, only 8 hours in port.  Spells too much risk of missing the ship.

[Bruin Steve]

1 hour ago, jkgourmet said:

Truth be told, I've yet to see any cruise line excursion that is priced anyplace close to what we can do independently (albeit, sometimes using the roll call for tracking down a few people to join us.). We do cruise sponsored excursions ONLY when what we want to see is a good distance from the shop and/or involves multiple forms of transport (like a bus and a boat).  In those specific instances, the risk of missing the shop becomes much higher.  Wait -we've also used ship excursions for more dangerous ports...

Please know that this entire concept is not something new to me...

I have done over 50 cruises and, generally, we book private, small group tours in most ports.  I am typically one who takes the lead in putting these together, finding others through our roll call to join... I, typically, rely on cruise line shore excursions in ports where I cannot find others on the roll call to join with whatever we want to do...or in those occasional ports where there are no reasonably priced, well-reviewed local options...or in ports where I deem the local small group options to come with some great risk...OR, MOST IMPORTANTLY, where MY WIFE thinks, realistically or not, that a small local tours come with great risk.

 

We will be celebrating our 38th anniversary while on our British Isles cruise in July...and dated for three years prior to getting married (I met her when she was just 19)...and one thing I have learned in over 40 years is that the most important thing is to ALWAYS keep her happy...even if doing so defies logic.

 

When I started planning out this cruise, I started researching private guides and tour companies in these ports and presented some options to my wife.  Despite whatever assurances I could give her, she vetoed ANY use of local tour companies in these ports...as well as the idea of staying in any of them overnight (last time she was that adamant on this issue is when we cruised to Alexandria and Port Said and many on our cruise did private tours with overnight stays in Cairo--we did a shore excursion in Alexandria and a small group six-passenger van through the cruise line out of Port Said to visit Cairo/Giza).  The guides in Southeast Asia may be well-reviewed, dependable and safe.  But she won't do it, so that discussion ends right there. 

 

AND, most of the ports are a good distance from the sites...and traffic has been known to be difficult in some of these cities, so there is some additional logic to the ship's excursions (though I have never had a problem with any private excursion ever missing the ship).

 

So, for the first time in a long time, we are doing all cruise line shore excursions on this one...despite the fact that I know I could see more and at a lower cost...and avoided touring with 40 people on a bus...and I will be okay seeing whatever it is that I can see on these excursions.  Not optimal, but I am okay with it.  It will keep my wife happy.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Bruin Steve

[jkgourmet]

You're obviously a very smart guy, Bruin.  AND a good husband!  🙂

 

Enjoy your travels. 

[hubofhockey]

The smaller ships make Southeast Asia cruises doable.  We port and do overnights right in Saigon and in Bangkok.  That was the difference maker for us.

 

As for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, we looked at it as a once in lifetime trip and opportunity to see something amazing and the flight from Singapore to Siem Reap on a Thursday and spending the weekend in Siem Reap.  It was too much of an opportunity to turn down. We had considered the Celebrity Millennium for this cruise because we love that size of ship.  I just cant get away from work when they do those cruises and the smaller ships have the advantages there anyway.  Tough decisions.

[ddpe]

We just returned from a cruise that included Bangkok.  We did private tours for both Ayutthaya and Bangkok temples and palace.  The third day we did the ships tour to the floating markets.  The cost of the private tours with private air conditioned transportation turned out to be the same for the two of us as the ship's tour.  But, we could go at our pace and got a lot done.

I loved Ayutthaya.  The ruins are stunning.  We were out of the crowds and smog of Bangkok and it was a great day.  We also loved the floating markets - very fun.  Of course the palace in Bangkok is truly exceptional, but the crowds and heat can be a little overwhelming.

[aquidneck1]

DDPE, if you have time I would love to hear more about your tours and guides.  If you could post the information here or email me at aquidneck70@gmail.com. 

 

We are planning a trip next year.  Thanks so much.  

[dabear]

We were in BKK  years ago and did a full day tour by boat through the Oriental hotel to the summer palace and Ayutthaya and were quite impressed with the ruins. We cannot compare it to Siem Reap as we didn't go there but we're planning to go there independently after our cruise this fall. We did the floating markets which were quite interesting. We also went to a shopping center by River city & it was terrific. We bought custom made clothes, dw and I had massages and had a great korean bbq meal. We hope to stop there again. Lots of sightseeing in BKK as well including the royal palace, etc. PS the food in BKK was outstanding & reasonable. Agree that BKK is quite hot & humid. We were taking 3 showers a day.  Enjoy.

Edited December 14, 2018 by dabear

[jkgourmet]

On 12/4/2018 at 5:09 PM, hubofhockey said:

The smaller ships make Southeast Asia cruises doable.  We port and do overnights right in Saigon and in Bangkok.  That was the difference maker for us.

 

As for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, we looked at it as a once in lifetime trip and opportunity to see something amazing and the flight from Singapore to Siem Reap on a Thursday and spending the weekend in Siem Reap.  It was too much of an opportunity to turn down. We had considered the Celebrity Millennium for this cruise because we love that size of ship.  I just cant get away from work when they do those cruises and the smaller ships have the advantages there anyway.  Tough decisions.

 

would you please share which cruise lines/ships you took that were smaller and able to dock so close to the sites?  TIA.

[hubofhockey]

12 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

 

would you please share which cruise lines/ships you took that were smaller and able to dock so close to the sites?  TIA.

 

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