Advice on shore activities - China and Vietnam

[kvisf]

We are considering the Voyager cruise from Shanghai to Singapore in March, 2009, which stops in Hong Kong, Hue and Saigon, and would appreciate advice from anyone who has done this itinerary, or parts of it, on Voyager or Mariner about worthwhile shore excursions (through Regent or private). There will be four travelers who don't mind a lengthy walk. We are also wondering if Voyager can go upriver to Saigon itself, or does it have to dock at the ocean port, which seems to involve a 2.5 hour drive to get to Saigon. All advice and suggestions will be most appreciated!

[Grothj]

The Voyager can go up the river and dock in Saigon. However, the Dock is not passenger friendly so when we were on the Mariner they ran a shuttle into the city.

[Dreps]

Last Fall, we were on the Mariner from Osaka to Bangkok. In Shanghai a group of us went on the Regent excursion to see the Chinese acrobats, and it was great--always gets good reviews. Most of the time, we just did our own thing in Shanghai. We enjoyed taking the Maglev train on our own to the airport. No need for an excursion. If you have extra days at the Shanghai end you may want to go to Suchow or somewhere further out. (I don't know if it is offered for your cruise, but we did the overnight excursion in Xian for the Terracotta warrirors from Shanghai that included a second night in Guilin for a cruise on the Li River. Both were spectacular. We met back up with the ship in Hong Kong, and really had missed nothing except rough seas because of a nearby typhoon.) We think generally Regent does excellent excursions, and they tend to be priced reasonably. (Their pre- and post-cruise packages are something else.) For Hanoi, we did the helicopter flight all-day excursion through Regent, which was pricey, but it saves a lot of time on the bus one way. The rest of the excursion is similar to the one that uses buses in both directions. It was very good, and the lunch was enjoyable. In Hue, we did the Hue and Perfume River excursion. Unfortunately, it was very rainy, but on a nice day, it would have been spectacular. Even so, it was good. In Saigon, we just did the Highlights of Saigon tour. and then just did some shopping. Our cruise ended in Bangkok, and we went directly to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat for several days. It was amazing.

[dfb]

We were in that part of the world on Voyager in 2006. Here is a link to our blog of that trip starting with Hong Kong. You can page forward through Vietnam to Singapore with the blue right arrows at the top and bottom right of each page.

http://journals.aol.com/dfriia/WestwardWorldCircumnavigation200/entries/2006/02/23/day-57---wednesday-feb-23-hong-kong-day-1/262

Also, as Jan says here she was on Mariner in that area in 2006 too. I hope she won't be upset if I give you the link to her blog of her trip as well.

http://journals.aol.com/grothj/grand-asia-pacific-2006/archive/2006/10

[Grothj]

No problem, Debbie. I didn't even think about my journal. Thanks for thinking about it.

 

Jan

[kvisf]

Thanks for the advice and information, very helpful!