Anyone done a Thailand/Asia cruise?

[Savage2017]

We are looking at a 12 night cruise in 2024. Starts Singapore or Hong Kong and ends in Singapore or Hong Kong. Stops include Bangkok/Laemchbang Thailand, Ko Samui Thailand, Ho Chi Minh (Phu My) Vietnam, NHA Trang Vietnam, HUE/Danang (Chan May) Vietnam, Hanoi (Halong Bay) Vietnam.

Day 6, Mon, Dec 2, 2024

For anyone who has done this cruise or something similar, would love to know what you thought.

Did you find there were things to do at the ports or did you end up doing excursions in order to see the sites? Only wondering as if it’s all excursions we have to do it can be exhausting and add to price.

 

Thanks ☺️

[dabear]

We did this cruise in late 2019 on Azamara. It was a great cruise but shore excursions are definitely a must since the ports as away from  the sites in most locations.. Only in Singapore and Hong Kong the ports are adjacent to shopping centers, but again you would want to take tours to see real highlights.

[jelayne]

If you do private excursions with small groups from the Roll Call you will save a lot of $ compared to the cost of ship excursions and see more.  We just did private tours in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Mumbai each was about 1/2 the price of ships excursions and we were a group of 5 for 2 and 4 for the other.

[tangogulf]

DW and I did a 14 night cruise on Millie (2nd after being revolutionized in Feb 2019). Was Hong Kong to Singapore. A few overnight ports, Hong Kong, Phu My and Singapore. Have to say the highlight was Halong Bay. As Dabear said most ports are quite a distance from the Cities and major attractions but still worth the long travel times. We enjoyed the cruise very much. I think Solstice now does that part of the world so larger ship with more amenities and specialty restaurants. 

 

[mahdnc]

We will be doing the 12 night Singapore to Hong Kong sailing next week (Christmas/NYE cruise).  It will be our first time there.  I will likely be posting a live thread during this cruise which you may find of interest.  If you have questions during the cruise, I will try to answer them.

 

[mom says]

We did a similar cruise in 2019 on Connie from Singapore to Shanghai. I really encourage you to spend a couple of days before and after the cruise, to explore both Singapore and Hong Kong. We did both of those cities DIY- transportation is easy. All of the other ports we dui as private tours with members of our Roll Call. Our guides were excellent, and with a small group, we had none of the inevitable  delays from large bus tours, and they were way cheaper than the ship excursions. 

 

If you have an overnight in Bangkok, do yourself a favor and arrange an overnight at a hotel in the city, and a private guide to tour the temples, canals,  and markets. Hopefully with a few of your Roll Call members to defray the tour costs.

[chrismakris]

Just got off the Solstice doing the itinerary. It was a great time and great itinerary. 
 

We did the Singapore to Hong Kong route and if I could go back I would do the reverse way. 
 

We found that the long day in Hanoi at the end  of the cruise was a little much even though there was a sea day after as the last day. 
 

As for excursions, you’re not in any actual cities and will have to travel to get somewhere.  
 

Also I found there’s more to do in HK and would be better for a pre cruise stay over Singapore.

[villauk]

5 hours ago, mom says said:

We did a similar cruise in 2019 on Connie from Singapore to Shanghai. I really encourage you to spend a couple of days before and after the cruise, to explore both Singapore and Hong Kong. We did both of those cities DIY- transportation is easy. All of the other ports we dui as private tours with members of our Roll Call. Our guides were excellent, and with a small group, we had none of the inevitable  delays from large bus tours, and they were way cheaper than the ship excursions. 

 

If you have an overnight in Bangkok, do yourself a favor and arrange an overnight at a hotel in the city, and a private guide to tour the temples, canals,  and markets. Hopefully with a few of your Roll Call members to defray the tour costs.

 

We did exactly the same as you did, staying overnight at a hotel in Bangkok too. Ours was on Millie over Christmas a few years ago now - Hong Kong to Singapore 2016. We also sailed in one of the FVs at the aft which was fabulous. All of our private tour guides were brilliant and most we sorted with others from our roll call.

Edited December 14, 2023 by villauk

[Savage2017]

Thanks so much everyone, some great info there we really appreciate it. We have haven’t done these stops before so it’s great to get the advise.

 

If we do the cruise we may not have the time off work to stay on longer at the end Would ye suggest starting the cruise at Singapore or Hong Kong. We are hoping to arrive couple days prior to the start of the cruise but unsure if we have the time to stay on at the end.

 

Looking forward to the mahdnc cruise review next week. 😉

Edited December 14, 2023 by Savage2017

[photabitha]

Hello 

We have done this cruise twice now around end January/February and both from Singapore on the Millennium and due to do it again in 2025. 

Most of the ports in Vietnam are a long way from any of the popular sites.  An excursion is a must, either with the ship or private/with a group.   Getting off the ship in Halong Bay (amazing sail in) is something you can do and this has developed a lot over the years.  Hong Kong and Singapore also are ports you can hop off and easily transverse.  However, these will be at the beginning or end of your cruise. 

As another person has mentioned, Bangkok is an overnight.  We have a ship tour of Bangkok on your own, book a hotel on the river and you can either book tours, or see quite a lot from the water taxis on your own as many of the sites are near to the river. 

On our next visit, we will be leaving from Hong Kong and ending in Singapore and a couple of days at the end. 

Be aware the weather in Hong Kong and Halong Bay can be chilly so be prepared clothes wise.  The rest of the ports were hot.  We did get one beautiful day in Halong Bay on our last trip, but on the first visit it was raining and freezing cold. 

 

[Traderboy]

Great to hear about this cruise schedule which we are doing in 2024.

 

look forward to seeing mahdnc live account in coming days.

ls the trip on Solstice?

[sanger727]

As mentioned, many of the ports in Asia are quite a ways from a seaport. We ended up doing a river cruise in Asia and it was great - aside from an unrelated covid issue. Ho chi Minh - def do the cu chi tunnels. In Hanoi we did an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise. In Bangkok, you can hit the main temples in one day. We did a canal tour and floating market on the second day.

[hawkesbaynz]

Recently did the Singapore to HK on Solstice. Vietnam is pretty port intensive so if we were to again I would choose HK to Singapore as more sea days at the end.

 

We really enjoyed Hanoi but I think an overnight cruise would be a great option. The only tour we did with X was a very overpriced overnight tour. Reaffirmed our usual choice of small group tours.

 

I booked three of the Vietnam port stops with Xuan Le Tours. He is a fantastic tour guide. We had a group of eight filled through the Roll Call.

 

We had been to Bangkok previously so choose to visit Pattaya and stayed in a great Intercontinental Hotel overnight. However Pattaya City  is not an attractive place to visit (repulsive DW would say) so I would encourage you visit Bangkok.

[LIMPIT]

We are booked on the Solstice in March 2025, Singapore to Hong Kong and both the visits to Bangkok & Hanoi have overnights in port, we have booked private transfers & Hotels for both to enjoy the nightlife and eliminate the travel fatigue cramming into one day.

[jonzara]

21 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We will be doing the 12 night Singapore to Hong Kong sailing next week (Christmas/NYE cruise).  It will be our first time there.  I will likely be posting a live thread during this cruise which you may find of interest.  If you have questions during the cruise, I will try to answer them.

 

Very much looking forward to your "festive" live thread as we will be embarking  the Solstice in HK when you disembark.

[desibee]

Last Christmas we did a holiday cruise that was round trip Singapore, but we did Phuket and Penang and Kuala Lumpur instead of Vietnam so I can't help you with those ports.

 

I will say that you need at least three days to really explore Singapore pre-cruise and that our stay at the Pan Pacific was amazing and surprisingly our more budget choice of the Park Avenue Rochester was also quite nice.  Everything is very reachable by the metro system which is clean, cheap, and works with Apple pay. 🙂

[Traderboy]

Just a check about not needing to apply for VISAS on the Celebrity  cruise from Singapore through to Japan   (March 4 2024).

We are from UK.

As I understand it we do not need to apply ourselves for a visa in any of the places  - Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong  South Korea or Japan.

Is this what other Brits are thinking too?

[Savage2017]

A lot of you have mentioned it’s cheaper to do the excursions through the roll calls. I tried to google the ship excursions but finding them hard to find, wanted to see just how much they are or what is offered?

 

Also is it expensive to stay in bankgok for the overnight ?

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, Savage2017 said:

A lot of you have mentioned it’s cheaper to do the excursions through the roll calls. I tried to google the ship excursions but finding them hard to find, wanted to see just how much they are or what is offered?

 

Also is it expensive to stay in bankgok for the overnight ?

 

Thailand and Vietnam are incredibly cheap countries. You can easily book a hotel through any of the major booking sites at a fantastic price. The best price for shore excursions will be to rent a vehicle and guide for the day and split the cost with another group on your roll call. 

 

We did two days through "Your Thai Guide" when we were there. The guide was $100 per day. We used public transport since we were already in the city, but you can rent a car from them for $100 per day. Up to 4 people can take the tour so, you are talking about a full day private tour for $50 each. Our guide was wonderful. 

 

Your Thai Guide - see Thailand differently with a private tour guide

Edited December 18, 2023 by sanger727

[kwokpot]

We did this trip on the Millennium ten years ago and it was one of the best cruises we have ever taken. All private tours, which I arranged. 

 

03/6/2013-03/7/2013    Laem Chabang, Thailand    Bangkok/Ayutthaya Overnight Tour     

Bangkok Day Tours    7 people    $175/pp    Thai Baht Day Of Tour
                            
03/09/2013-03/10/2013    Phu My,Vietnam    Saigon Overnight Tour    
300/34/28 Nguyen Van Linh Street
Binh Thuan Ward, District 7,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

 7 people   $112/pp    Local currency Day of Tour
                            
3/12/2013    Chan May,Vietnam    HoiAn Day Tour      Tommy Dao Trung Xuan    

9 people    $50/pp    US$ Day of Tour
                            
03/13/2013-03/14/2013    Halong Bay,Vietnam    Halong Bay/Hanoi 2 Day Tours       

Smile Tours    21 people    $160/pp    US$ Day of Tour
Private Tour Cost Totals                        $497/pp    

[Bullswood]

8 hours ago, Traderboy said:

Just a check about not needing to apply for VISAS on the Celebrity  cruise from Singapore through to Japan   (March 4 2024).

We are from UK.

As I understand it we do not need to apply ourselves for a visa in any of the places  - Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong  South Korea or Japan.

Is this what other Brits are thinking too?

Correct. Just ensure passports valid for 6 months after your stay.

[Edinburghgirl1]

We’ve visited Vietnam and Thailand many times on land based holidays but have booked this cruise for 2025 as we couldn’t resist  the price. We booked a Sky suite for only £2700 ($3400) per person. A veranda cabin was only $120 less!! 
I agree with all previous comments book your own excursions and try and spend some time in Singapore and Hong Kong, both are fabulous cities  to visit. 

[LIMPIT]

10 hours ago, Traderboy said:

Just a check about not needing to apply for VISAS on the Celebrity  cruise from Singapore through to Japan   (March 4 2024).

We are from UK.

As I understand it we do not need to apply ourselves for a visa in any of the places  - Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong  South Korea or Japan.

Is this what other Brits are thinking too?

That’s also my understanding 👍