Fred Olsen Komodo Island Jan 2020

[tallulahcruiser]

Is anyone on this cruise? I want to get some excursions organised but on FO website it says not available until 6 weeks before sailing 

I have been looking at some independent companies and have found what I believe is excellent value for Komodo island. If snyoun is interested I can give more details. The company provides a letter for the ship to allow didembarkation and had excellent reviews.

2 options 

Plan A  two and a half hours 65 us dollars per person

Plan B

4 to 5 hours including boat trip to pink beach snorkelling and lunch

I can give more we paid if anyone interested 

[Thecat123]

Just flicking through and saw your post

We did Komodo Island a couple of years ago with Seabourn

We decided to do Pink Beach as Seabourn ran zodiacs out to Pink beach. The way Seabourn handled the snorkeling for some is they had rubber tubes so one could just actually float snorkel with the tide. We thought we might see some dragons there but the dragons live in a different area so we went back to the ship and then went on a dragon tour. I believe one should do both if possible

Hope his is some help for you

[tallulahcruiser]

I'm pleased to hear no dragons in the sea! Thanks for the information. It is good one of the tours includes the dragons and the beach  That is the one we will be doing. I have 6 people interested already.

[Sue49]

Good Morning

 

We are on FO cruise Phuket to Bali on 28th November 2019.

We stop in Komodo Island, and through my research I understand that KI is closed from January 2020.

We are also trying to find guests who could join us on a tour. 

We have also found a good company to travel with so please contact us , but all info is on my post.

 

Susan

 

[berkshireboy]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:04 AM, tallulahcruiser said:

Is anyone on this cruise? I want to get some excursions organised but on FO website it says not available until 6 weeks before sailing 

I have been looking at some independent companies and have found what I believe is excellent value for Komodo island. If snyoun is interested I can give more details. The company provides a letter for the ship to allow didembarkation and had excellent reviews.

2 options 

Plan A  two and a half hours 65 us dollars per person

Plan B

4 to 5 hours including boat trip to pink beach snorkelling and lunch

I can give more we paid if anyone interested 

 

By now you've probably got the tour brochure for this cruise, if not the tours are also online.  For Komodo Island we've booked through Fred for the two and a half hour tour for £87 each [and opted for the slow walking option].  This gives us peace of mind should the venue be changed to another island. It's not a huge premium on prices you quote and given the way the £ is falling at the moment may not be any premium at all!

[Thecat123]

We did the short tour of the dragons which was fine as it was hot early December

From what we were told the longer tour only took you further inland The dragons live very close to the wharf

[tallulahcruiser]

The longer tour doesn't just go further inland. It goes to pink beach and includes lunch. In the Fred brochure it isms £155 per person, no lunch. The tour I have seen is 95 us dollars per person so quite a lot less.

[tallulahcruiser]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:04 AM, tallulahcruiser said:

Is anyone on this cruise? I want to get some excursions organised but on FO website it says not available until 6 weeks before sailing 

I have been looking at some independent companies and have found what I believe is excellent value for Komodo island. If snyoun is interested I can give more details. The company provides a letter for the ship to allow didembarkation and had excellent reviews.

2 options 

Plan A  two and a half hours 65 us dollars per person

Plan B

4 to 5 hours including boat trip to pink beach snorkelling and lunch

I can give more we paid if anyone interested 

I meant to say plan B is 95 US dollars. Predictive text!

[tallulahcruiser]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:59 AM, Thecat123 said:

Just flicking through and saw your post

We did Komodo Island a couple of years ago with Seabourn

We decided to do Pink Beach as Seabourn ran zodiacs out to Pink beach. The way Seabourn handled the snorkeling for some is they had rubber tubes so one could just actually float snorkel with the tide. We thought we might see some dragons there but the dragons live in a different area so we went back to the ship and then went on a dragon tour. I believe one should do both if possible

Hope his is some help for you

Than you yes that us helpful I really like the sound of the tour which does the dragons and the beach as it is probrably  somewhere we will only visit once. 

I tbinjmk 95 dollars per person is very reasonable including much when FO is £155 no lunch for similar trip.

[tallulahcruiser]

On 7/12/2019 at 12:19 PM, berkshireboy said:

 

By now you've probably got the tour brochure for this cruise, if not the tours are also online.  For Komodo Island we've booked through Fred for the two and a half hour tour for £87 each [and opted for the slow walking option].  This gives us peace of mind should the venue be changed to another island. It's not a huge premium on prices you quote and given the way the £ is falling at the moment may not be any premium at all!

Yes brochute has arrived. £155 As opposed to 95 dollars for Komodo trip and lunch included too.

Have you booked any of the others yet?

I have booked one for Burma. Don't really fancy any of the Papya New Guinia. Not sure what we will be doing there 

[Thecat123]

6 hours ago, tallulahcruiser said:

The longer tour doesn't just go further inland. It goes to pink beach and includes lunch. In the Fred brochure it isms £155 per person, no lunch. The tour I have seen is 95 us dollars per person so quite a lot less.

 

We had the option of two tours with the dragons with Seabourn

One was the short tour as I mentioned and the other was the longer tour which takes you further inland which others said was not worth it

The Pink Beach tour was a separate tour altogether

[Thecat123]

On 7/11/2019 at 3:54 AM, tallulahcruiser said:

I'm pleased to hear no dragons in the sea! Thanks for the information. It is good one of the tours includes the dragons and the beach  That is the one we will be doing. I have 6 people interested already.

 

tallulahcruiser there is this video that someone sent us  after we got back home

But as I said we didn't see any at Pink Beach

 

[tallulahcruiser]

That looks quite scary. Don't think I would like to be that close. We had a similar experience with Alligators on a trip in Florida.

[berkshireboy]

On 7/14/2019 at 4:35 PM, tallulahcruiser said:

Yes brochute has arrived. £155 As opposed to 95 dollars for Komodo trip and lunch included too.

Have you booked any of the others yet?

I have booked one for Burma. Don't really fancy any of the Papya New Guinia. Not sure what we will be doing there 

 

Have booked the cookery school in Thailand as this has very limited capacity. At the moment we will only book those tours that we fancy and which are showing restricted capacity.

In Myanmar the port is a good two hours from Yangon so a trip is essential if you want to see anything.  We will book something nearer the cruise - we've been a couple of times in the past so have seen many of the sights.

Papua New Guinea doesn't look very appealing at all.  Looking at comments on Viator and tripadvisor we probably won't do anything much either.  Never needed to look out for three year old pickpockets in the past!

One thing we won't be doing is getting into the water around Komodo Island!

 

[tallulahcruiser]

55 minutes ago, berkshireboy said:

 

Have booked the cookery school in Thailand as this has very limited capacity. At the moment we will only book those tours that we fancy and which are showing restricted capacity.

In Myanmar the port is a good two hours from Yangon so a trip is essential if you want to see anything.  We will book something nearer the cruise - we've been a couple of times in the past so have seen many of the sights.

Papua New Guinea doesn't look very appealing at all.  Looking at comments on Viator and tripadvisor we probably won't do anything much either.  Never needed to look out for three year old pickpockets in the past!

One thing we won't be doing is getting into the water around Komodo Island!

 

Do you think Fred will have a shuttle from the ship to Yangon. We ha e a tour for one day but thought we might just have a wander on our own on the other? 

[tallulahcruiser]

I wonder why we have so ma y ports on Papya New Guinia. Ad you I day it dosent look very appealing.

[tring]

23 minutes ago, tallulahcruiser said:

Do you think Fred will have a shuttle from the ship to Yangon. We ha e a tour for one day but thought we might just have a wander on our own on the other? 

 

I am not on your cruise but we spent about couple of weeks in Myanmar independently last January so have read a lot.  The port is a two hour journey by coach according to reviews etc. and even then they have outriders with the coaches to stop the traffic, so no chance of a standard shuttle bus.  Not sure if they offer a "Yangon on your own", but there could be quite a bit of walking if you get that chance to do that so maybe not the best with the heat and distances, even with a tuk tuk, though we did really enjoy our few days there independently.

 

Cruise companies usually offer an cruise excursion to an area part way to Yangon, when you get a ferry from a village/small town to a temple on an island, so that would not be going into the city, so will be a lot quicker.  I cannot remember the name of that temple/village and cannot find it from a simple search - I do not have access to your tours as we join Boudicca in Sri Lanka.

Edited July 17, 2019 by tring

[tallulahcruiser]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

I am not on your cruise but we spent about couple of weeks in Myanmar independently last January so have read a lot.  The port is a two hour journey by coach according to reviews etc. and even then they have outriders with the coaches to stop the traffic, so no chance of a standard shuttle bus.  Not sure if they offer a "Yangon on your own", but there could be quite a bit of walking if you get that chance to do that so maybe not the best with the heat and distances, even with a tuk tuk, though we did really enjoy our few days there independently.

 

Cruise companies usually offer an cruise excursion to an area part way to Yangon, when you get a ferry from a village/small town to a temple on an island, so that would not be going into the city, so will be a lot quicker.  I cannot remember the name of that temple/village and cannot find it from a simple search - I do not have access to your tours as we join Boudicca in Sri Lanka.

Thanks for the information. There is no Yangon on your own in the tour brochure. There is the tour you mention. I didn't realise we would be so far away. I dont fancy sitting on a coach all that time. We will have to have a rethink.

[tring]

26 minutes ago, tallulahcruiser said:

Thanks for the information. There is no Yangon on your own in the tour brochure. There is the tour you mention. I didn't realise we would be so far away. I dont fancy sitting on a coach all that time. We will have to have a rethink.

 

Alan (berkshireboy) has been by cruise ship previously, so can give much better advice than me re times/etc.  I did not think there would have been an "on your own" option and as I said would not have advised it anyway.  It is a great place though so you must see something of the city while there.  Looking on the bright side at least sitting on a coach is restful.  Perhaps a full day tour the first day, then the tour I mentioned the second day for a more restful time.

 

We spent four days in a Yangon hotel and loved it but, like you, we like to take things fairly easily and just absorb the atmosphere etc.  We spent our first day just strolling round a park near our hotel, then went into China Town for a meal that night.  It was great to be somewhere that was not totally touristy, but it does mean it is not so easy to find western toilets (which I am always looking for) if going around on your own.  I suspect Fred will take you to decent rest places though (probably hotels).  There are toilets in temples though - just not the easiest, especially for women.

Edited July 17, 2019 by tring

[berkshireboy]

Actually I didn't find sitting on a coach in Myanmar all that restful - have you seen the roads, and the traffic [and no air conditioning, although this may have changed now]!!  The journeys seemed to go on and on, especially after sunset as, outside of town, there was complete darkness.

 

Fred seems to be allowing about 2 and a half hours for the return coach journey on their tours which seems optimistic to me but may be possible at certain times of the day.  Certainly our coaches always had police outriders to get us into town as smoothly and quickly as possible.

 

Neither Azamara nor Celebrity offered shuttle buses, and I can't remember a Yangon on your own option either but, like Tring, would not recommend it anyway.

 

Because it is a commercial port you cannot walk off the ship but there is usually a shuttle which will take you to the port gates where there are some taxis waiting [nothing else there to see].  Can't give you any advice about the taxis because we never used them.

 

[tallulahcruiser]

3 hours ago, tring said:

 

I am not on your cruise but we spent about couple of weeks in Myanmar independently last January so have read a lot.  The port is a two hour journey by coach according to reviews etc. and even then they have outriders with the coaches to stop the traffic, so no chance of a standard shuttle bus.  Not sure if they offer a "Yangon on your own", but there could be quite a bit of walking if you get that chance to do that so maybe not the best with the heat and distances, even with a tuk tuk, though we did really enjoy our few days there independently.

 

Cruise companies usually offer an cruise excursion to an area part way to Yangon, when you get a ferry from a village/small town to a temple on an island, so that would not be going into the city, so will be a lot quicker.  I cannot remember the name of that temple/village and cannot find it from a simple search - I do not have access to your tours as we join Boudicca in Sri Lanka.

I have just had a look at the distance from Thilawa where we dock, to Yangon. 16 miles. The traffic or the state of the roads must be really bad if it takes 2 hours.

[tring]

45 minutes ago, tallulahcruiser said:

I have just had a look at the distance from Thilawa where we dock, to Yangon. 16 miles. The traffic or the state of the roads must be really bad if it takes 2 hours.

 

This link may be of interest   https://cruisecrocodile.com/cruise-port-information/thilawa-rangoon-myanmar/  you can zoom in and out of the map.  That site says 30 km, but probably depends on where you are going - if that is only to the outskirts then it could take a while to battle through traffic from there.  The main pagoda is on the far side of town, but not in the very central bit so transport may be able to route around a bit and I would think tours will be arranged to go to difficult to get to places when traffic is less.  The traffic does have a certain reputation in Yangon, though we avoided travelling in/out at peak times.  There are a lot of one way roads in Yangon though, so although we could get into the centre easily from our hotel (which was a bit to the north), getting out meant going a lot further on the one way system and the return taxi cost almost twice as much - I though we were being fleeced at first, then we realised the problem was the one way system.  Maybe I remember reading reviews from people who were transported in peak travel time or maybe the one way system is fairly new and has solved some of the problems.  I seem to remember one review was from when the water festival was on, so that could well have made a very big difference to travel times. 

 

I have no personal experience of travel from the port and I see Alan has said Fred allow 2.5 hours round trip (though he did feel that is a bit optimistic).  I defer entirely to Alan, or any other comments by people with personal experience.  I replied when you were asking about the possibility of a Fred shuttle, which I knew was not on the cards.  Hope I have not worried you too much, but sometimes it is worth a warning to alert you to the need to check other reports.  Some people call me a pessimist, but I always tell them I am never disappointed 🙂

 

Hope you enjoy your time there as well as the rest of your cruise,

 

Barbara

Edited July 17, 2019 by tring

[tallulahcruiser]

57 minutes ago, tring said:

 

This link may be of interest   https://cruisecrocodile.com/cruise-port-information/thilawa-rangoon-myanmar/  you can zoom in and out of the map.  That site says 30 km, but probably depends on where you are going - if that is only to the outskirts then it could take a while to battle through traffic from there.  The main pagoda is on the far side of town, but not in the very central bit so transport may be able to route around a bit and I would think tours will be arranged to go to difficult to get to places when traffic is less.  The traffic does have a certain reputation in Yangon, though we avoided travelling in/out at peak times.  There are a lot of one way roads in Yangon though, so although we could get into the centre easily from our hotel (which was a bit to the north), getting out meant going a lot further on the one way system and the return taxi cost almost twice as much - I though we were being fleeced at first, then we realised the problem was the one way system.  Maybe I remember reading reviews from people who were transported in peak travel time or maybe the one way system is fairly new and has solved some of the problems.  I seem to remember one review was from when the water festival was on, so that could well have made a very big difference to travel times. 

 

I have no personal experience of travel from the port and I see Alan has said Fred allow 2.5 hours round trip (though he did feel that is a bit optimistic).  I defer entirely to Alan, or any other comments by people with personal experience.  I replied when you were asking about the possibility of a Fred shuttle, which I knew was not on the cards.  Hope I have not worried you too much, but sometimes it is worth a warning to alert you to the need to check other reports.  Some people call me a pessimist, but I always tell them I am never disappointed 🙂

 

Hope you enjoy your time there as well as the rest of your cruise,

 

Barbara

No not worried. Grateful for the advice.We really prefer to do our own thing, I hate being herded about on tours, waiting for late people and being taken to see things you would really prefer to miss. But, having read the comments in here an organised tour seems to be our best option. Thanks again for the advice.

[tring]

9 minutes ago, tallulahcruiser said:

No not worried. Grateful for the advice.We really prefer to do our own thing, I hate being herded about on tours, waiting for late people and being taken to see things you would really prefer to miss. But, having read the comments in here an organised tour seems to be our best option. Thanks again for the advice.

 

I know the feeling and we are currently looking into a couple of lesser visited ports in India and thinking exactly the same 🙂

 

Fred are great for finding the less visited ports and we do like that, but as you say sometimes you just have to go with the flow and book with Fred.  I have read a couple of good reviews by people who have got together on a roll call to make a group of about a dozen people in Myanmar, but Fred does not have busy roll calls.  On the plus side Fred does not charge the sort of prices I have seen for tours with the US based cruise companies!

 

Happy searching,

 

Barbara 

Edited July 17, 2019 by tring

[tallulahcruiser]

37 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I know the feeling and we are currently looking into a couple of lesser visited ports in India and thinking exactly the same 🙂

 

Fred are great for finding the less visited ports and we do like that, but as you say sometimes you just have to go with the flow and book with Fred.  I have read a couple of good reviews by people who have got together on a roll call to make a group of about a dozen people in Myanmar, but Fred does not have busy roll calls.  On the plus side Fred does not charge the sort of prices I have seen for tours with the US based cruise companies!

 

Happy searching,

 

Barbara 

Where are you going in India. We have spent a fair amount of time there on land based holidays.