Celebrity Solstice - 12/22/2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Live(ish) Report

[kabmab]

41 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

it‘s my pleasure… it was a fantastic journey. Last night we watched a TV show about Vietnam… and missed Vietnam immediately 😊

 

It brought back so many beautiful memories of our SE Asia cruise in 2019.  Hoping to return and experience more of the beauty, culture and food (!).

[Miaminice]

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Epilogue 

Those of you who followed along know that we had an amazing cruise. Especially Vietnam has left a lasting impression. It’s such a beautiful country and has so much to offer - nature, culture, history and incredibly friendly people. 

The tours we did in Vietnam to get a glimpse of its beauty were outstanding. We planned all of them with Rose, a young lady from Hanoi. All of the tours created unforgettable memories, were very well organized and Rose and her team of guides were absolutely fantastic. They were exemplary ambassadors of their country and played a vital role in deepening our affection for the destination.

 

So if you travel or cruise to Vietnam, contact Rose for tours. 
You will not regret it!
Number +84374372918 (also on whatsapp)
Email: Nhungnguyen.ulis@gmail.com


 

 

 

 

 

[HopefulCruiser123]

Very nice.

[benel204]

I was searching today on Celebrity boards to see if anyone had done Celebrity's Singapore to Hong Kong -- and wow, I hit the mother lode with this fantastic trip report!!

Thank you @Miaminice for answering so many of the questions I had, and several I never thought of.  I have saved your report for more detailed study.

 

We are looking at this same itinerary in December 2024 or January 2025.

 

I would appreciate your (and anyone's) thoughts on selecting the Singapore to Hong Kong route, vs the reverse.  I've always wanted to tour Singapore, so when we see (before or after the cruise) is still up in the air. 

 

[TroubleT]

Thank you so much for the detailed report! It's fantastic and very helpful!

I am on November-December 2024 cruise (Sing to HK) and found a lot of useful information!

Can't thank you enough for your effort and time!

 

[Miaminice]

10 hours ago, benel204 said:

I was searching today on Celebrity boards to see if anyone had done Celebrity's Singapore to Hong Kong -- and wow, I hit the mother lode with this fantastic trip report!!

Thank you @Miaminice for answering so many of the questions I had, and several I never thought of.  I have saved your report for more detailed study.

 

We are looking at this same itinerary in December 2024 or January 2025.

 

I would appreciate your (and anyone's) thoughts on selecting the Singapore to Hong Kong route, vs the reverse.  I've always wanted to tour Singapore, so when we see (before or after the cruise) is still up in the air. 

 

 

Thanks!
Basically it doesn´t really matter which way around you do the cruise itself. However, I always feel that it´s sort of "over" after disembarkation and my mind is already on the way home. So personally I´d put the highlight first. So if Singapore is what you want to see - and it sure is fabulous - I´d do it before the cruise. But that´s just a personal thing 🙂 

If you have any specific questions, please don´t hesitate to ask.

 

Oliver

[hcat]

On 1/22/2024 at 2:42 PM, Miaminice said:

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Thailand & Vietnam - Epilogue 

Those of you who followed along know that we had an amazing cruise. Especially Vietnam has left a lasting impression. It’s such a beautiful country and has so much to offer - nature, culture, history and incredibly friendly people. 

The tours we did in Vietnam to get a glimpse of its beauty were outstanding. We planned all of them with Rose, a young lady from Hanoi. All of the tours created unforgettable memories, were very well organized and Rose and her team of guides were absolutely fantastic. They were exemplary ambassadors of their country and played a vital role in deepening our affection for the destination.

 

So if you travel or cruise to Vietnam, contact Rose for tours. 
You will not regret it!
Number +84374372918 (also on whatsapp)
Email: Nhungnguyen.ulis@gmail.com


 

 

 

 

 

lovely  post!

[kebrown]

17 hours ago, benel204 said:

I would appreciate your (and anyone's) thoughts on selecting the Singapore to Hong Kong route, vs the reverse.  I've always wanted to tour Singapore, so when we see (before or after the cruise) is still up in the air. 

 

The Singapore to Hong Kong route includes one additional port stop in Vietnam, Nha Trang.  For some reason, the Hong Kong to Singapore route does not stop in Nha Trang, Vietnam.  In my opinion, gaining an additional port in Vietnam makes the Singapore to Hong Kong route more desirable.

[benel204]

7 hours ago, Miaminice said:

So personally I´d put the highlight first. So if Singapore is what you want to see - and it sure is fabulous - I´d do it before the cruise

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. 

 

Another question I had about doing this cruise was:  heat.  I am not a fan of hot and humid and was concerned I would wilt doing any tours.  I was inspired to see your photos and everyone not wilting.  I've researched the average temps and humidity and thought Dec or January would be tolerable. 

If I can handle Hawaii temps/humidity, so how much worse is it in these port stops?  Was heat and humidity a damper for you?

[benel204]

41 minutes ago, kebrown said:

The Singapore to Hong Kong route includes one additional port stop in Vietnam, Nha Trang.  For some reason, the Hong Kong to Singapore route does not stop in Nha Trang, Vietnam.  In my opinion, gaining an additional port in Vietnam makes the Singapore to Hong Kong route more desirable.

Thanks kebrown, I don't think I noticed that.

 

[Miaminice]

1 hour ago, benel204 said:

  Was heat and humidity a damper for you?

Not at all! Temperatures weren’t too hot but rather pleasant. 

[benel204]

10 hours ago, Miaminice said:

If you have any specific questions, please don´t hesitate to ask.

Thanks for the input regarding heat.  That is great to hear it was pleasant.

 

Another question: I see that you had an overnight in a Hanoi hotel. And that some people did an overnight at another port as well.  Was that because of the distance to the sites you wanted to see with Hanoi as your base?  I'm curious about the distances to travel from the ports in order to see sites. It looks like your party covered a lot (with the help of the tour guides). 

[Miaminice]

27 minutes ago, benel204 said:

Thanks for the input regarding heat.  That is great to hear it was pleasant.

 

Another question: I see that you had an overnight in a Hanoi hotel. And that some people did an overnight at another port as well.  Was that because of the distance to the sites you wanted to see with Hanoi as your base?  I'm curious about the distances to travel from the ports in order to see sites. It looks like your party covered a lot (with the help of the tour guides). 

actually both… we enjoyed staying in Hanoi overnight and in hindsight it was a perfect decision. And some ports are pretty far. Quite a few passengers stayed in Bangkok overnight as well.

Driving times: Hanoi up to 3 hours, Bangkok up to 2.5 hours, Saigon up to 1.5 hours. 

Edited January 26 by Miaminice

[benel204]

5 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

actually both… we enjoyed staying in Hanoi overnight and in hindsight it was a perfect decision. And some ports are pretty far. Quite a few passengers stayed in Bangkok overnight as well.

Driving times: Hanoi up to 3 hours, Bangkok up to 2.5 hours, Saigon up to 1.5 hours. 

Oh wow, very interesting.  Looks like we would want to factor that in.

In looking at the maps, we were wondering if we could somehow manage a flight to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  Did you consider that?  Perhaps out of Saigon/Ho-chi-min City?

 

[Miaminice]

16 hours ago, benel204 said:

Oh wow, very interesting.  Looks like we would want to factor that in.

In looking at the maps, we were wondering if we could somehow manage a flight to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  Did you consider that?  Perhaps out of Saigon/Ho-chi-min City?

 

There was even a tour offering Siem Reap. But we weren’t interested. It’s either one or the other for us.

 

We just booked a Mekong River cruise taking us from Saigon to Siam Reap in September 2024 - and canceled New Zealand on Edge in November. 😁 so we’ll get a more in depth look…

[benel204]

On 1/27/2024 at 5:29 AM, Miaminice said:

There was even a tour offering Siem Reap. But we weren’t interested. It’s either one or the other for us.

Thanks for that information.  I'm curious from whom you were able to select your tours.  Was it through the ship?  Or private.  I would like to do some more research on the overall costs including the tours.  Your experience is really so helpful --- again, thank you for taking the time to chronicle everything.

[Miaminice]

57 minutes ago, benel204 said:

Thanks for that information.  I'm curious from whom you were able to select your tours.  Was it through the ship?  Or private.  I would like to do some more research on the overall costs including the tours.  Your experience is really so helpful --- again, thank you for taking the time to chronicle everything.

We never do ship tours. We much prefer private tours in small groups and dislike the huge groups of the ship.

 

I organize tours with local guides and ask for people to join us on the roll call.

 

[benel204]

4 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

We never do ship tours. We much prefer private tours in small groups and dislike the huge groups of the ship.

 

I organize tours with local guides and ask for people to join us on the roll call.

 

Thanks  -- I'll start looking into that.

[AP269]

On 1/3/2024 at 12:42 AM, Miaminice said:

 

We booked all of our tours in Vietnam with a young lady named Rose Nhung. She does the tours in Hanoi herself and picks guides of her team for the other ports. She is very passionate about her job and very well organised. We can’t recommend her highly enough! This is her Number +84374372918 (also on whatsapp)

Email: Nhungnguyen.ulis@gmail.com

 

She is a gem!!!!!

Hello

Thank you for all the information in your posts. We are boarding this ship on 8 February for 12 nights & have booked with Anntours and just about to book with Rose for Vietnam. Some tours seem very long days and I am assuming that we can cut them short if we wanted.

Also, can you tell me what is an acceptable amount to tip the guide as I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.

regsrds

[Miaminice]

8 hours ago, AP269 said:

Hello

Thank you for all the information in your posts. We are boarding this ship on 8 February for 12 nights & have booked with Anntours and just about to book with Rose for Vietnam. Some tours seem very long days and I am assuming that we can cut them short if we wanted.

Also, can you tell me what is an acceptable amount to tip the guide as I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.

regsrds

Hi, 

Well, the tours are long because in Bangkok, Saigon and Hanoi the distances between the port and the cities are far. See post #188. If you cut them short you won’t have the time to see much (anything). 
 

Two other couples followed our recommendation to tour with Rose and they are just doing Hanoi today. They are also having a blast. Rose is a gem!

 

Yes, tipping in these countries is acceptable. It’s in Japan where it is still frowned upon. 
 

we followed a recommendation and tipped 500,000 VND / USD 20 for both of us for a day. 

[AP269]

14 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Hi, 

Well, the tours are long because in Bangkok, Saigon and Hanoi the distances between the port and the cities are far. See post #188. If you cut them short you won’t have the time to see much (anything). 
 

Two other couples followed our recommendation to tour with Rose and they are just doing Hanoi today. They are also having a blast. Rose is a gem!

 

Yes, tipping in these countries is acceptable. It’s in Japan where it is still frowned upon. 
 

we followed a recommendation and tipped 500,000 VND / USD 20 for both of us for a day. 

Thank you for your quick response, I have been in contact with Anntours & Rose and booked tours, I am unaware of rollcall that you mentioned in another post and how that works. Can you advise.

[Miaminice]

19 hours ago, AP269 said:

Thank you for your quick response, I have been in contact with Anntours & Rose and booked tours, I am unaware of rollcall that you mentioned in another post and how that works. Can you advise.

You can find it here on Cruisecritic

 

Look for the Roll Call of your cruise. There you´ll find fellow cruisers of your sailing. Some offering spots in private tours, some looking for spots. Or all kind of usefull (most of the time 🙂) info on your specific sailing.

[AP269]

I will check this out, thanks again for your help.

[DevonianCruiser]

I’ve just found this thread - wow very informative and interesting. We’re doing this in December from HK to Singapore and thank you for this, it will make researching it so much easier 🙂

 

 

[JackE]

Oliver, your live reports are outstanding. I have already booked a tour with your recommended guide in Osaka/Kyoto for a March 2026 cruise! And I have bookmarked Rose's information. You are a wealth of incredible knowledge! 

 

Do you have any advice for Hong Kong guide? What about Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

 

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

Jack