Live: Dec 22 2023 Solstice 12 Night Thailand & Vietnam Holiday Cruise!

[mahdnc]

We took a private tour today to Nha Trang.  Our time ashore was limited because we got a one hour late start and because, as a group, we wanted to the tender station at 2 pm to ensure we got back to the ship on time.  The tour was very good although not as spectacular as our time yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

One thing to note is that our guide, Xuan, needs a minimum group size of 8 for him to personally do the Nha Trang (today) and Danang (tomorrow) tours in order for him to recover his travel expenses since he lives in HCMC.  If the group size is smaller than that, Xuan has a good network of local guides that he has built that he subcontracts out the work to.  Our group today was 7 so our guide in Nha Trang was Hoi.  Hoi was pretty good, but in my opinion not as good as Xuan himself.

 

The tour van/bus and driver was of the same quality as yesterday.  The tour van/bus was air conditioned and nicely furnished.  It sat approximately 12 passengers. The seats were arranged as 2 seats on one side of the aisle and one seat on the other side of the aisle.  There were three rows of seats with the last row being able to seat 4 since there was no aisle to split the seats up.  There was an extra row of seats for two behind the driver.  For our group of 7, this was ample space.

 

Here is a quick rundown of what we did today: 

 

It was about an hour ride before we made our first stop to see a family make rice paper.  It was interesting to see the process by which the rice paper was manually produced by the one woman who was working in a small room.  We got to sample some of the product.  There was one other private tour that showed up while we were there.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

The next stop was to watch a local family produce conical hats.  My wife found watching the production process to be fascinating.  You could buy a conical hat for $3 USD.

 

 

[mahdnc]

We visited an "ancient" house to see the architecture.  We had a chance to sit down and enjoy some sliced fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

We took a refreshing 30 minute private cruise on the Cai River.

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

Our last major stop was at Po Nargar, an ancient temple built many centuries ago.  The architecture was pretty amazing.

 

Going inside the temple required you to remove your shoes.  @Torfamm, if your knees or shoulders were uncovered, over clothing of many different sizes was provided (they reminded me of lab coats).

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Some other views on and off the ship today:

 

 

 

[mchell810]

I am sorry you had such an ordeal getting off the ship, but glad you were still able to enjoy the day.  Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

Edited December 29, 2023 by mchell810

[mahdnc]

Here are a couple of short videos that I have taken:

Bangkok Railway Market

Bangkok Sail Away Time Lapse

[billc23]

Amazing review - the prose and photos are enriching and educational!

[mahdnc]

Just now, mchell810 said:

I am sorry you had such an ordeal getting off the ship, but glad you were still able to enjoy the day. 

 

Thank you.  I wanted to publish what we went through for other members to learn in case they have an aggressive tour schedule set up at a tender port.

 

To be honest with you, if the tour was just set for my wife and I, we probably would have just relaxed at Guest Relations and waited for our tender number to be called and we would have just blocked out the chaos while we waited.  It might have compromised the amount of time we could spend on the tour, but as long as our guide was in communication with us, I would have been ok.

 

However being the organizer for a group of people that I didn't know changed the dynamics as my lazy attitude might not have been shared by the other parties.  So I felt responsible for getting the tour started as soon as practical.  I am not complaining about it nor do I want the other members in our group to feel guilty about it--it's just my reaction to the situation.

Edited December 29, 2023 by mahdnc

[mchell810]

I would have reacted the same way -- I have reacted the same way!   If it's just me then I can sit back, but when responsible for others the formula changes and I feel like I "have to do something."   I am impressed by your willingness (and skill) in creating tours with strangers.  I have only do so with friends; I don't know that I would take it on with strangers.

[mahdnc]

On 12/23/2023 at 5:05 AM, alyssamma said:

First, let me say thank you to @mahdnc and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. I'm taking this cruise next year, so love the details. That being said, I have 2 specific questions I was hoping someone could answer...

 

1) We are actually doing a S2S. It looks like (from Google Maps) that the cruise port handles 2 ships that are docked basically side by side. In other words, leaving one ship to check into the other should be easy and not require transportation or anything like that. We are leaving the Solstice and boarding the Millennium.

 

2) How early can we check in our bags? We are hoping to check them early and then do some exploring.

 

Again, thanks so much for the live blog.

 

The lines at Guest Relations disappeared during the past two days and I asked a GR officer your question about your S2S at Singapore baggage handling.  He was less than helpful.  He simply told me that bags cannot be checked any earlier than 11:30 am.  I kind of mumbled that he was wrong because we checked our bags at 11:00 am at the Singapore pier but that would only have argued a trivial point.

 

We will be sitting in GR tomorrow waiting for our private tour group to assemble.  If there aren't any lines at GR, I will try to ask the same question with a different officer or preferably a supervisor.

[abbydancer2003]

7 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Today's tendering was a bit of a fiasco for reasons that I cannot fully explain.  So I am targeting this post for other members who will be taking this itinerary (or the reverse one) this season.

 

A few days ago, I was trying to figure out what specific instructions to send out to our group of 7 that were sharing a private tour in Nha Trang which involved tendering.  I was told that tender tickets would be handed out starting at 7 am at the Martini Bar (Deck 4 above Guest Relations) on the day we arrived at Nha Trang.  We were scheduled to arrive Nha Trang at 8 am and Guest Relations told me to expect tendering to begin around 8:30 am.  Here were the written instructions for tendering that was issued to our stateroom: link.  Those written instructions as well as what was printed in the Celebrity Today made no mention of when the tender tickets would begin to be handed out.  So I thought I had some inside information.  I was wrong.

 

Our tour guide wrote instructions for us to meet him at the port gate at 8:30 am although he was well aware that it was a tender port and that we would make it to the gate as fast as we could.

 

My instructions to our group was that I would get the tender tickets for all 7 of us at 7 am and that we should meet at Guest Relations at 8 am to be ready to take the tender when it was out turn.

 

Out of our group of seven, four were not Elite members and I chose not to go the route of asking if we all could get off together using Elite privileges which gives us priority.

 

At 7:03 am I showed up to the Martini Bar to get tender tickets.  There was already a small line in front of me (photo below). 

 

 

 

By the time I got my 7 tender tickets, we were assigned Tender Group 6 which surprised me.  In retrospect, I wish I had gotten there at 6:30 am (easier said than done because you have to wake up a half hour earlier!).

 

 

 

When riding the elevator back to our cabin, I could see the fences already set up for crowd control and line management on Deck 3 that would lead out to the stairs to Deck 2 to get to the tenders.  I didn't realize it, but this was the calm before the storm.

 

 

 

When my wife and I arrived at Guest Relations at 8 am, everyone else in our group was there.  But so were a ton of other people.

 

At about 8:30 am, tender groups 1 & 2 were called.  We sit patiently at Guest Relations waiting for group 6 to be called. 

 

 

 

In hind sight, I wished I had gotten to get tender tickets earlier than 7 am.  And perhaps I should have taken the initiative to inquire if something could be done about our needs to be on shore early for our tour.  I actually hate doing that because this has to be a common situation but I decided to do it once I discovered that it was happening all around us.  

 

 

 

I welcome any constructive comments or questions.

Sorry this happened.  Here are my two relevant experiences.

In Falklands, I gathered my group in advance, and found out who was Elite.  A little over half were.  So I said that we'd go to elite and for tender purposes only, we were changing spouses, and paired up an elite with a non elite.  (We did have a lot of laughs about it).  That said, because we met outside of Michael's club and I was in a suite,  the suite concierges just took all of us.  We were about 14 people.  

Last year in Puerto Montt Chile, there was a group of people from online with about 45 people, as she had 2 24 passenger buses going.  She said that she'd arranged with someone to get us on the first tender.  We met at 6:45 near gust services.  They told us to wait in a conference room, then the elevator area. At 8:15 we were still there.  It was a hot mess, and our tour was shortened because of it.

 

I think, if this comes up again, I'd get the tickets and if they weren't for a very early group, I'd go to the Elite area and ask, especially since you were a small group.  Worst they say is no.

[hawkesbaynz]

Am living a Deja vu… we had Mr Hoi last month and the same tour thru Xuan LeTours.  Charming chap but his English not as good. Enjoyed the lunch the most in Nha Trang.

 

I am Elite too and asked if all our group could meet at Cellar Masters where they were prioritising higher Captain Club members. They agreed although not all were CC Elite. However one couple were in the Retreat and we met outside Michael’s Club and walked off with the Retreat person (feeling a bit bad).

 

Chan May is easy. I could see Xuan Le standing by the minibus from our balcony. Enjoy😀. 

 

 

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Sorry this happened.  Here are my two relevant experiences.

In Falklands, I gathered my group in advance, and found out who was Elite.  A little over half were.  So I said that we'd go to elite and for tender purposes only, we were changing spouses, and paired up an elite with a non elite.  (We did have a lot of laughs about it).  That said, because we met outside of Michael's club and I was in a suite,  the suite concierges just took all of us.  We were about 14 people.  

Last year in Puerto Montt Chile, there was a group of people from online with about 45 people, as she had 2 24 passenger buses going.  She said that she'd arranged with someone to get us on the first tender.  We met at 6:45 near gust services.  They told us to wait in a conference room, then the elevator area. At 8:15 we were still there.  It was a hot mess, and our tour was shortened because of it.

 

I think, if this comes up again, I'd get the tickets and if they weren't for a very early group, I'd go to the Elite area and ask, especially since you were a small group.  Worst they say is no.

Your re-pairing of couples plan is creative and funny. Unfortunately some of us would have to be polygamists for that idea to work yesterday. I’m sure I would have found willing volunteers but the crew might have disapproved. 
 

Thank you for sharing your Puerto Montt story. People plan, God laughs…..

[abbydancer2003]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

Your re-pairing of couples plan is creative and funny. Unfortunately some of us would have to be polygamists for that idea to work yesterday. I’m sure I would have found willing volunteers but the crew might have disapproved. 
 

Thank you for sharing your Puerto Montt story. People plan, God laughs…..

Glad you got some laughs, and sorry it was such a hassle.

[mahdnc]

8 hours ago, mchell810 said:

I would have reacted the same way -- I have reacted the same way!   If it's just me then I can sit back, but when responsible for others the formula changes and I feel like I "have to do something."   I am impressed by your willingness (and skill) in creating tours with strangers.  I have only do so with friends; I don't know that I would take it on with strangers.

Thank you for that and I understand what you’re saying.
 

We don’t have friends—I mean friends who like to cruise. And in the past, we’ve always traveled with our two kids, so many times I could justify doing it ourselves with no one else since there were four of us. 

 

I usually plan very early because I want to lock up a tour or guide that I perceive to be desirable before it gets booked. That leaves me as the defacto organizer if I need others to go to make it financially viable.  My biggest fear is people ghosting us on a fixed price tour that results in the remaining passengers to having to pay more than they expected. 

[mchell810]

Like you I am a planner.  Just a couple hours ago I was discussing a cruise for early 2026 with a friend I have recently gotten interest in cruising.  Her philosophy is: "Just tell me when to be ready;" thus, the details are all mine.  I often sail solo so I am leaning into Silversea more and more bc they are all inclusive, including tours, which keeps me from worrying about those who might ghost on group tours (even if I didn't actually arrange it).  In places were I feel comfortable I can just DIY and not deal with group dynamics.    It's  brave for you to build up groups. 

[abbydancer2003]

46 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

 

I usually plan very early because I want to lock up a tour or guide that I perceive to be desirable before it gets booked. That leaves me as the defacto organizer if I need others to go to make it financially viable.  My biggest fear is people ghosting us on a fixed price tour that results in the remaining passengers to having to pay more than they expected. 

I have the same fear.  I've that 3 times.  First two were a city/winery tour with lunch in Montevideo.  Same tour, years apart.  Payment for all at the winery.  First time, couple called on day of tour to say they were sick.  No offer to pay.  Fortunately, the winery only charged for the tour, and the 12 of absorbed it.  It was only about 5-10 dollars a person.  Second time, same tour 3 people dropped out, but they said they were coming by to pay for it.  I only took the money for their city tour, since the winery wouldn't charge for their lunch.

 

Then last week, I'd arranged a private tour with a guide I know in Sint Maarten, and the other couple sent a message that husband was sick and they weren't coming.  An hour later the wife says she is, so the price ended up being a little less than what it would have been for just us.  (Turns out husband was hung over).

 

But I think it's something all of us who coordinate tours worry about.  

[mahdnc]

8 hours ago, mchell810 said:

I would have reacted the same way -- I have reacted the same way!   If it's just me then I can sit back, but when responsible for others the formula changes and I feel like I "have to do something."   I am impressed by your willingness (and skill) in creating tours with strangers.  I have only do so with friends; I don't know that I would take it on with strangers.

Thank you for that and I understand what you’re saying.
 

We don’t have friends—I mean friends who like to cruise. And in the past, we’ve always traveled with our two kids, so many times I could justify doing it ourselves with no one else since there were four of us. 

 

I usually plan very early because I want to lock up a tour or guide that I perceive to be desirable before it gets booked. That leaves me as the defacto organizer if I need others to go to make it financially viable.  My biggest fear is people ghosting us on a fixed price tour that results in the remaining passengers to having to pay more than they expected. 

[desibee]

14 hours ago, Suzi66 said:

I will need to scroll back to the start of your thread to see what your ports of call are.  The Jan 3 one is overnight Ha Long Bay, Chan May, Phu My, overnight Laem Chabang, Koh Samui, finishing at Singapore.  The following day we board the Millennium and have an overnight at Phuket, Langkawi, overnight Penang, Port Klang, Celukan Bewang, Lombok, and finishing in Benoa and flying home that night.  School in Australia is to start for teachers the next day but I am taking a day LSL as I won't get home to my town until lunchtime.  Hopefully the kids will be kind to me the next day.

 

An overnight in Penang would be amazing!  My brother and I both agree that Penang was the best port out of all the ones we went to on our Asian cruise.  Don’t miss the butterfly conservatory and the Peranakan mansion!

[Suzi66]

26 minutes ago, desibee said:

An overnight in Penang would be amazing!  My brother and I both agree that Penang was the best port out of all the ones we went to on our Asian cruise.  Don’t miss the butterfly conservatory and the Peranakan mansion!

I know we are definitely doing the former, and have a free day as the second so if we don't have the second as part of our travels we will look at that.  I think I will try and do a live for the time we are away as well.

[Bloss20]

We really appreciated your organisation for our tours @mahdncAlthough it was a bit frustrating waiting for the tender yesterday, the tour was great - a shame we missed lunch but glad we were back to the ship in good time for a tender back ( the return tender was fine, unlike our experience in Santorini last summer!!) 

We have to agree with you though about the guide. Although he was a lovely man, Xuan was a better guide for our tour of Ho Chi Minh the previous day. 
We were very lucky with the weather too which made a difference. The weather in Da Nang today is disappointing. (But it hasn’t spoilt our day!) 

 

Great photos of the tour too!

[vickykay]

I can’t imagine not paying for a private tour if one can’t go last minute.  A few years ago I became ill the day before out stop in Brugge (😥 one of my favorite cities) and we had arranged a taxi to take us from the port to town.  My husband went down to our meeting point with our share of the fare.  Sometimes I don’t understand people.  One spend thousands on a cruise and unwilling to contribute one’s share of the cost of the tour if can’t go!  I have often arrange private tours and fortunately this has never happened.  

[mahdnc]

Yesterday we took a tour at Danang and Hoi An.

 

Our first stop was walking through the streets of Hoi-An.  The shops and shopkeepers are very charming and a sight to behold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoi-An is famous for its lanterns.  Apparently they are lit and night and in the form, beautiful to see.