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

[mahdnc]

We spent most of our time walking thought the streets of Hoi-An.  The lanterns are sprinkled everywhere throughout this city.

 

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

We stopped at a temple and spent some time looking at its intricate interior:

 

 

 

 

 

Craftsman at work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

For lunch we stopped at a very popular Banh Mi street restaurant.  We figured it was popular because of the line.

 

Parked across the street was this "blast from the past":

[NMTraveller]

22 hours 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!

We saw both a couple of days ago.  We really enjoy the overnight ports.

[mahdnc]

More shops in Hoi-An:

 

 

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

Solstice is now sailing through Halong Bay to get to the pier on this New Year's Eve morning.  We have blue skies which are a welcome relief from the all day drizzle that we had at Danang and Hoi An yesterday. 

 

The view from the balcony is awesome and the weather perfect.  This is why we cruise!

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[NMTraveller]

We are chilling on the balcony on the open seas….  Here is a small fishing boat right next to us …

 

 

[mahdnc]

Just now, NMTraveller said:

We are chilling on the balcony on the open seas….  Here is a small fishing boat right next to us …

 

 

 

Very nice.  Where is your next port and when?

[NMTraveller]

15 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Very nice.  Where is your next port and when?

We just came from Port Klang.  We have 2 sea days and then we are in Celukan Bawang Indonesia.

[mahdnc]

Just now, NMTraveller said:

We just came from Port Klang.  We have 2 sea days and then we are in Celukan Bawang Indonesia.

 

Nice.  On another subject, I will have to check out your recipe contribution,....

[mahdnc]

Here is another photo from the bustling street market in Old Town Hoi-An:

 

[NMTraveller]

Several crew medevacs right now…

 

 

[mahdnc]

My favorite store in Hoi-An was a silk shop.  On the first floor there were several women who were doing stunning embroidery.  The finished pieces--some take up to 3 months done by a single craftsman--resembled photographs.  No photos were allowed.  Too bad.  However you could buy the embroidery at the store.

 

Up on the second floor where photos were permitted was a live demonstration that included exhibits of live silk worms (first photo), their cocoons, and a reeling machine that drew the silk from a cocoon in one single strand (second photo).  We were told that a single cocoon would yield 500 meters of silk!  Apparently the silk comes in two natural colors depending on the silk worm--white and yellow.

 

The second floor had silk clothing that could be purchased.   My wife purchased a few scarfs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Here was Solstice when we boarded last night.

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

We are going on an overnight Halong Bay cruise through Celebrity. Solstice’s arrival time today and departure time tomorrow did not allow me to book it independently. So Celebrity won. 
 

The big drawback with this excursion is that we will miss the NYE celebration back on the ship tonight. It is an event that Celebrity does very well. So we essentially paid lots of money to miss this.  But this is fabled Halong Bay!  And we’ve done NYE three times on a Celebrity ship including Solstice.  There are 38 Solstice passengers in total who made this decision and will be on this overnight tour. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Here is a detailed schedule of events for our Halong Bay overnight tour: link

For those interested in taking it, you will find it informative. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

We had a nice day cruising Halong Bay and visiting the fishing village.  Watching the limestone formations as evening fell was pretty magical.  We are anchored at Halong Bay for the night--along with several other ships.  I am looking forward to seeing it at dawn--the first day of 2024.

 

In the mean time we will be ringing in the year in an hour......

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

I would like to wish everyone on this board a very Happy New Year.  May your cruises be many and your cancellations few!

 

Things are winding down here at Halong Bay.  Most of the boats here are finally quiet.  Time for bed!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by mahdnc

[Torfamm]

Happy New Year to you @mahdnc Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[AZCruisergirl]

Happy New Year to All🎉

[CardowMD]

Gorgeous! Cannot wait to see in person😊Happy New Year and thank you for sharing!

[bjahil47]

Happy New Year All!

[mahdnc]

Here is a quick summary of the overnight tour that we took.

 

There were a 37 Solstice passengers on this excursion (overnight Halong Bay). 

 

There were about 20 other passengers not from Solstice.  Among them was an Indian family who was doing a land vacation in Vietnam.

 

The excursion is run by a large company called Paradise Vietnam.  They run seven boats out to Halong Bay. 

 

Our excursion was assigned to Paradise Grand.  Paradise Grand has 39 cabins--all located on Decks 1 and 2.  All 39 cabins are balcony cabins and appear to be built for double occupancy.  My wife and I were assigned Cabin 111.  It was pretty nice.  The size of the cabin and the balcony as well as the cabin furnishings were on par with a Celebrity ship. Nice king size bed, large closet with safe, and a bathroom with shower (no tub judging from their advertisements, some cabins may have had tubs). The balcony doors are hinged and are not the sliding glass doors. Every passenger I talked to was happy with their cabin.

 

 

There are four cabins at each corner of Deck 2 which appear to be the best as they had very nice balconies. 

 

 

Smoking is allowed on the balconies as there were all supplied by ash trays.  The people in the balcony forward of us smoked quite a bit out there.

 

Getting to the Paradise Grand involved a 20 minute drive by Celebrity bus to their Tuan Chau pier.  From their we boarded a 198 passenger speed boat ferry that took us to the Paradise Grand which was anchored deeper into Halong Bay amongst the limestone formations.  That ride was about 20 minutes as well.

[mahdnc]

Here is a video that I took from our port side balcony on Solstice as she sailed past the limestone formations on her way to docking at the Halong Bay pier yesterday morning: link

 

Here are two time lapse videos that I took from our cabin balcony on Paradise Grand during the evening as she was making her way through Halong Bay to her anchorage point for New Year's Eve evening: Video1 and Video2