Ho Chi Minh and Hoi An Excursion Advice Please

[cleobella]

Hello, I am looking for some advice about ship excursions (we will be on Celebrity).  We have reserved Hoi An "On Your Own".  Does anyone know where they drop off and what kind of attractions or experiences can be reached on foot there?  For Ho Chi Minh we've tentatively booked an excursion that includes Ben Thang Market, Dong Khoi Street and a Lacquerware Factory.  I'm getting a sense of mixed reviews, maybe this is a busy and chaotic excursion? I am also looking at a Colonial Saigon excursion, Ho Chi Minh Excursion (I guess a general overview) both are long tours that provide a downtown restaurant lunch.  I'm not entirely sure of the difference here except maybe just more focus on the old Saigon neighborhood and architecture with the first one?  Also there is a short 4 hour "Local Life Ba Rai" experience that might be a nice easy pace with visits to a rice making shop and a local house and temple.  Has anyone done this?  I feel it may be a good break as we have a few big busy cities on the itinerary, however many people say not to miss Ho Chi Minh.  I thought the shopping streets would be good but in reading up it seems that they are quite frenetic, confusing, full of pick pockets, and many of the merchants are not pleasant, also we would have to sort out our own lunch.  I prefer local guides but as the ports are quite a distance from the the sights it seems wiser to go with ship offerings, but the descriptions are vague and there are no reviews on the website.  If anyone has done any of these options or has any info here please pass along your wisdom.

[catweazlecat]

Hi There
we had been on a cruise to Vietnam in January and I booked a private tour for us and our friends with Xuan, a local guide that we can only highly recommend.
He flew in to meet us in HoiAn and two days later picked us up in HoChiMin City at the harbour.
If you want a great experience, book with him. He is extremely well prepared, has great knowledge and makes your day unforgetable.
Since he is booked a lot from cruisers, he is always on time and very punctual to avoid any trouble for getting back to the ship.
Say hi to him from Silke, if you book 🙂

http://www.tourwithxuan.com/
 

[terry&mike]

We second the advice of Tour with Xuan, he is awesome!!  We have traveled to Vietnam twice, once via cruise ship, and once independently on a land trip, we used Xuan both trips. He is a great guide and a wonderful guy. Btw, for those of you that know him, he was just awarded TripAdvisor’s highest award. 

[astrocat]

We are travelling in January 2025, also with Celebrity, definitely interested in Xuan. If anyone has done the tunnels tour with him, what are the options for someone who is able to walk well but perhaps not crawl, That is, is the ability to crawl essential?