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Asia advice


Blondiebet
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We have not yet been on an Asian cruise though we continue to watch for a last minute while we spent three winters in SE Asia-mostly Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

 

We find that we are not keen on some Asian cruises that have multiple Thailand and Vietnam stops. The reason is that they either dock miles away from the sights we are interested in or do not stop at all or for an all too limited timeframe.

 

So, one thing that you might look out for when considering cruises is take a long hard look at where they dock in relation to what you want to see AND how long they are in port for.

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We enjoyed the Singapore-Shanghai on RCI Mariner...lots of great ports on that itinerary. But so glad we did a land based trip to China first....Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai.

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You may consider cruising around Japan. The ports are easily DIY with many complimentary shuttles to town. People are friendly and its basically very safe. An added plus if you enjoy Japanese food. We had a great time on our B2B sailings on the Diamond Princess in 2015. Will go back in a heartbeat.

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I have been to East Asia four times.

 

My favorite countries to visit are China and Japan.

 

 

For China, I strongly recommend a land tour. We did a great three week trip with Vantage that included a four day river cruise. Wonderful trip. For Japan, we tried to do an Around Japan cruise, but they chartered the cruises, so we did a wonderful cruise from Japan to Hong Kong, called Japan and China. We did 8 days pre cruise visiting Tokyo and Kyoto/Nara, then the cruise that hit five Japanese ports including Okinawa, as well as Shanghai, Taiwan, ending in Hong Kong. Also, I visited Thailand and the Philippines on a land tour. Further, did a cruise from Singapore to Dubai.

A lot of people seem to prefer the cruise that goes from HK to Singapore, visiting Vietnam, Thailand, etc. I have not been to Vietnam, but have visited Singapore, which I liked and Malaysia. In my opinion, China is the best and Japan is a very close second.

 

 

Also, the cruises that visit Vietnam and Thailand have problems with the ports being a considerable distance from the cities and traffic is very bad. That is a big negative.

Japan and China

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=518503&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

 

 

 

China

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1718320

 

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For best advice you need to narrow down "Asia", which stretches from the Mediterranean to a few wet miles short of Alaska.

Folk on this thread have presumed somewhere between Singapore and Japan - what we Brits call "the Far East".

So I'll presume the same.

 

Most cruises sail south-east Asia (vaguely between Singapore and Hong Kong), or north-east Asia (around Japan, the Chinese mainland, etc.)

So your first choice is which of those areas to cruise - south or north.

 

Time of year is a big consideration.

Broadly, temperatures between Singapore and Hong Kong are OK any time of year.

But Japan, S Korea, around Beijing, etc are pretty damned cold in winter. Cold enough to put me off a cruise I'd planned in that part of the world in January.

So check climate websites for both temperatures & rainfall. And check out the prospects of typhoons (hurricanes) at your proposed times of the year.

 

Iancal and Papa make the point that some ports on the southern itineraries are a significant distance from the cities / sights.

Yes, other than on smaller ships like Azamara's, Bangkok is 90 minutes to 2 hours from the port, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), and Hue over an hour. Smaller ships mainly berth much more conveniently, including sailing right up the Saigon River to berth in the city. Hanoi is a tortuous journey of over 3 hours each-way inland from Halong Bay - but Halong Bay itself is spectacular, and I'd recommend anyone to take a junk cruise rather than the long trek to Hanoi.

 

Do check out how long the ship is in each port.

A half-day is enough for a very few ports, but a full day isn't enough for places like Bangkok, Saigon, Halong Bay & Hong Kong. So look for cruises which overnite in those ports - and if the port is distant, book a city hotel for the night to avoid repeating that journey and to spend an evening in the city.

 

Most cruises are one-way, which give you the opportunity to spend time in both your embarkation and disembarkation ports.

Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are great turnaround ports to spend a few days. Some folk say the same about Singapore. I can't help re Japan.

 

As to which hotels?

Of course that's gonna depend which cruise you book. But I'd suggest you come back here and ask before committing yourselves to a cruise-line hotel package - hotels chosen by cruise lines are always good, but often very poorly-located.

 

Happy hunting

 

JB :)

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I think that you made a wise choice. We are spending next winter in Thailand and Philippines. Although we are flying into Singapore we have no interest in an Asian cruise that starts/finishes there because of the Thailand and Vietnam port stops are not very attractive to us. Looking at picking up something like you booked.

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Thanks booking tomorrow

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Forums mobile app

 

Once that's done, check out the Salisbury Hotel in Hong Kong.

It's an excellent-value 3/4 star hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) on the Kowloon side of the harbour, close to the cross-harbour star ferry terminal. Rooms in the upper floors have harbour views. Book soonest - it does book-out early.

The location can't be beaten. Next door is the swanky Peninsula Hotel, with its fleet of Rolls-Royces.

 

JB :)

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I think that you made a wise choice. We are spending next winter in Thailand and Philippines. Although we are flying into Singapore we have no interest in an Asian cruise that starts/finishes there because of the Thailand and Vietnam port stops are not very attractive to us. Looking at picking up something like you booked.

 

 

 

Then you'll be disappointed as most of those cruises stop in those Thailand and Vietnamese ports along the way between Singapore and China. There'd be quite a few sea days if there wasn't. There may be some that go to Japan and Taiwan as well but they still call into Vietnam/Thailand.

 

 

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Then you'll be disappointed as most of those cruises stop in those Thailand and Vietnamese ports along the way between Singapore and China. There'd be quite a few sea days if there wasn't. There may be some that go to Japan and Taiwan as well but they still call into Vietnam/Thailand.

 

 

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You seem to be saying that if you do East Asia that you must do Vietnam and Thailand. Wrong. We had a wonderful cruise from Yokohama that included five Japanese ports including Okinawa, also Shanghai, Taiwan, ending in Hong Kong. It was on Celebrity Millennium. Also, there are usually Around Japan cruises, if they aren't chartered.

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We understand that most cruises from Singapore do make stops in Thailand and Vietnam.

 

We are flying in to Singapore and home from Manilla. but we do not plan on taking a cruise from Singapore. We have two months and an open schedule. If we get a cruise from Japan or HK we have no issue in making changes to our return flight since. Absolutely no interest in cruise stops in Thailand or Vietnam. We traveled to both on land trips for the past several years and prefer land travel in those countries.

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We are booking the one you just quoted that you did on the Celebrity Millennium,

 

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This is a great cruise and I think you will not be disappointed.

In case your Millenium Yokohama to Hong Kong itinerary still has the following sequence: Nagasaki (Japan) - Shanghai (China) - Okinawa (Japan), make sure that you look into the China transit visa exemption situation so you have time to apply for a China visa, if needed for your case.

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I have no doubt that the cruise between Singapore and HK is good. Our challenge is that we have spent three winters, soon to be a fourth, in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia etc. doing independent travel.

 

So for us, the port stops in Malaysia, Thailand, or Vietnam are of no interest. The port stops in those countries are either too short for us, too far from what interests us, or stops in places that we no longer want to visit such as Phuket or Ko Samui.

 

It might be very different if we were not frequent travellers in those countries.

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We took the cruise from Hong-Kong to Shanghai with Celebrity Millennium last January.

It was great We had 2 days in Hong-Kong before the cruise , and 5 days in shanghai after the cruise.

Cruise Itinerary:

Day 1: Hong-Kong

Day 2: Hong-Kong

Day 3: At sea

Day 4: Hue (Hoi)/Danang, Vietnam

Day 5: At sea

Day 6: Manila, Philippines

Day 7: Manila, Philippines

Day 8: At sea

Day 9: Taipei, Taiwan

Day 10: At Sea

Day 11: Busan, South Korea

Day 12: At Sea

Day 13: Shanghai, China

Details about our cruise in our blog

Walking Destinations

https://walkingdestination.wixsite.c...ippines-Cruise

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  • 2 weeks later...
We have not yet been on an Asian cruise though we continue to watch for a last minute while we spent three winters in SE Asia-mostly Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

 

We find that we are not keen on some Asian cruises that have multiple Thailand and Vietnam stops. The reason is that they either dock miles away from the sights we are interested in or do not stop at all or for an all too limited timeframe.

 

So, one thing that you might look out for when considering cruises is take a long hard look at where they dock in relation to what you want to see AND how long they are in port for.

For a comparison, one could say almost the same thing about cruises that stop at the port cities outside Rome and Florence!

 

Let's face it; ocean cruising is all about enjoying your ship and your brief glimpses of history and culture at your various ports of call.

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That is exactly why our preference in Italy is also land trips vs a cruise.

 

There is however a substantial difference between these and Thai /Vietnam port stops. Infrastructure.

 

It is far easier and more predictable/dependable to get from Livirno or Civ to Florence or Rome. Ther roads are better, the traffic is better, and there is an efficient rail system. And more often than not a public bus system. This is simply not the case in many Thai and Vietnamese port stops. You need to budget far more time to travel and for a just in case buffer to return to the ship.

Edited by iancal
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