Nha Trang

We are due to dock here in February next year on a small cruise ship. We plan to do this port independently and would like to visit the Cham Tower complex as well as spending some time just strolling round and getting a feel for the town/resort.

Can anyone tell me if the Cham Tower complex and the town are easy to walk to from the port? Also are there any other recommendations for other sights to see etc.?

We have some busy days planned during our 4 week cruise so want to take this day in a relaxed manner. We are in port from 7am to 10pm, so will not want to rush off the ship early morning, but may decide to have a meal ashore, which could be lunch or dinner. I assume it will be fine to stroll around in the late evening, since Nha Trang seems to be a tourist destination.

Any help will be appreciated.

We were in Nha Trang in February this year. It is a really easy city to get around. This site http://www.whatsinport.com/Nha-Trang.htm has basic info. On our cruise we were able to get the free shuttle mentioned which took us right into the main centre, can't remember the name of the hotel it dropped us at but it was near the markets and just a short walk across the river to the Cham Towers (which are well worth a visit).

Thank you very much for the useful reply. Sounds like an easy one.

I note that Nha Trang is referred to as an anchor port, not sure if we may be able to dock though as our ship, Voyager (VOD), is only 15,000 ton. What ship were you on and did it need to tender?

We recently spent four nights in Nha Trang. It was an independent land trip. The dock is away from the town so you will need transportation in.

The city is really divided into two sections-divided by the river. The first is the main area w/lots of hotels, beaches etc. Many, many Russian tourists. About 1 mile down is the fishing dock area (at mouth of the river). Markets, great seafood restaurants. CHam is close by there. We walked along the beach from downtown to Cham. It was about 2 miles. Further up the coast, another miles or so, is another tourist area. We spent 2 nights there and 2 nights in the main Nha Trang.

Thank you very much for the useful reply. Sounds like an easy one.

 

I note that Nha Trang is referred to as an anchor port, not sure if we may be able to dock though as our ship, Voyager (VOD), is only 15,000 ton. What ship were you on and did it need to tender?

We were on the Princess Sapphire and yes we had to tender but we were dropped off at the port and as I said there were free shuttle buses waiting to take us into the centre. We were dropped off near the Dam Markets and walked to the sea, along the shore and then across the large main bridge. We then turned left to the Towers themselves (they were easily seen) and walked back across the other bridge, although if I was doing it again I'd probably just come back across the main bridge.

I would echo this advice: "Do not use cyclos or trishaws in Vietnam unless they have been organised in advance and part of a organised tour. The last post about using them was 2009 and now well out of date.

Just go to Trip Advisor Vietnam and read the horror stories etc about using cyclos - particularly in Saigon but the same applies to other cities in Vietnam" from http://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=986764&highlight=nha+trang as we were caught taking a cyclo for a supposed short ride around the block for just a $1 which then turned into a much more involved trip for a supposed $20. We ended up getting away with about $5 but it was really annoying and a bit scarey.

Voyager is about the same size as VoD's Discovery, on which instead of having to use the big industrial port north of the city used by larger ships, we berthed in the town port at Nha Trang, directly under the cable car to the resort island of Vinpearl island - we have great photos of our ship, taken from high above it.

For time off from sight-seeing you might want to consider going across to Vinpearl. The cable car, only a short walk from that berth, is included in the current all-day admission charge of 16 USD. Grouped near the cable car on the island are the quite small amusement park (rides included), a small complex of shops, the aquarium, the large water park, and the attractive & laid-back beach. I believe other attractions have been added, and deeper into the island a golf course, tennis courts etc surround the accommodation.

This isn't "Vietnam", but neither is it "Disney" and for us, being templed-out on a port-intensive cruise, it was a welcome break even though we were only in port for the morning.

BTW in the aquarium's glass under-water tunnel, one of our party - a teacher - noticing a hammerhead shark lurking in the background, pointed to a sign in Vietnamese and said - that translates to "HAMMERHEAD SHARK".

We were impressed.:cool:

Then a Vietnamese visitor behind us said - No, that sign translates to "KEEP OFF THE GLASS" :D :D

Teacher has never been allowed to forget that :)

Our experience was some 4 to 5 years ago, the place was quiet but that might not still be the case.

JB :)

Thank you all for those replies and warnings.

Interesting we may be docked in town, John. I am hopeful we may make the centre of Yangon as well, since the normal cruise dock is quite a way out. I have been told we are scheduled to go into the convenient port locations in HK and Singapore and are where we docked previously, (both are turnaround ports in our back to back cruise). The other ports had not been finalised, when I rang VOD.

I have also asked questions on TA and Nha Trang has been referred to as "a nightmare", although that was in comparison to Quy Nhon, which will be a maiden port call. The "What's in Port" site only has our port call mentioned for Quy Nhon from now until spring 2018, and it has been described as quiet on TA. I get the impression things have changed a lot in Vietnam over the last few years, but we will find out in February. I will be reporting back after that. TA reports lots of Russian and also Chinese tourists appearing.

From the centre of town the market area taxis, are plentiful and cheap. There is always a starter from hotel, that will give direction to taxi. We also pick up a card from the hotel with address of hotel and asking us to be taking back.

Off times the starter will write on the card how much we should be charged.

Most are good.

One of the reasons we passed on a cruise in this area is because of ports like Nha Trang, Phuket, and even Bangkok. After three years of travel in the area we now understand that the most enjoyable places (for us) on the coast are not places where cruise ships stop. Or, like in the case of Bangkok, Hanoi, etc. they stop well out from where the sights are. We have the same issue with some of the European cruises that advertise stops in Florence, Berlin, Paris, etc.

Nha Trang was on our way from Dalat to Hoi An and points north. Otherwise we would never have bothered with it. The Cham architecture is there but in our view not worth a day long stop. There are so many other very interesting and enjoyable places in Vietnam. More Russians than anything else, followed by mainland Chinese tour groups. Both, in general, extremely rude, extremely pushy, and not at all liked by the locals. Reasonable beach though.

I will be on the Sea Princess stopping in Vietnam 28 sept of all the ports I am at a loss of what to do in Vietnam. The Ship excursions are just too expensive, does anyone know if they will also offer the free shuttle? Thank You

I will be on the Sea Princess stopping in Vietnam 28 sept of all the ports I am at a loss of what to do in Vietnam. The Ship excursions are just too expensive, does anyone know if they will also offer the free shuttle? Thank You

I have located the cable car mentioned in #6 and it goes over the pier to the south of the town, so will be a shuttle bus or taxi ride to the centre if that is where our small ship docks. Most cruise ships will need to tender though. I assume all ships will probably have shuttles, though some may charge a small fee.

Nha Trang looks easily to do independently as it is a tourist town. I suggest you look at the Trip Advisor pages about Vietnam and the Vietnam forums there though, if you are new to Vietnam, especially if you are not that well travelled in undeveloped countries. The traveller articles and tips about the country will be very useful.

I will be on the Sea Princess stopping in Vietnam 28 sept of all the ports I am at a loss of what to do in Vietnam. The Ship excursions are just too expensive, does anyone know if they will also offer the free shuttle? Thank You

Your post did sound strange as it seemed to imply this was your only port in Vietnam. Having searched it looks like Sea Princess is going to Ho Chi Minh City rather than Nha Trang. If that is the case you need to start searching that on this site.

You will find a lot about HCMC and the bigger ships like Sea Princess dock well out of the city, so it will be a totally different port and you will likely need to arrange something, (privately or through the ship), or be stuck in an industrial port for the day. Again TA worth a look as well as you finalise your thoughts.

I agree with Tring. It looks like you are going to, supposedly, Ho Chi Minh City but actually the ship docks in Phu My. Phu My is a horrible port, it is hours away from HCMC and has absolutely nothing there. There is a free shuttle to a town nearby but there's not a real lot there.

The ship excursions are horribly expensive but there are cheaper local alternatives and it is possible to go to Vung Tao. The best thing would be to find the Roll Call for your ship and get some info there. A lot of excursions are arranged there and they have lots of good advice. The link is: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157246

Another way to get info is to go to the Asia section of Ports of Call http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70 and do a search of that forum for Phu My and then check through the results there.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with iancal, the ports in Vietnam and Bangkok are terrible.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with iancal, the ports in Vietnam and Bangkok are terrible.

I accept some may think of it that way, but if you travel on smaller ships then they can dock in convenient places - like HCMC rather than Phu My. The schedules do tend to say Phu My though, rather than HCMC. My view is that it is the large ships that are a problem more so than the ports. We do not travel on the large ships and we visit some lovely places and can also dock at times when larger ships have to tender.

I also thought it strange that someone was complaining about a "ports" of Florence, Berlin and Paris, as they are inland cities! If someone does not have that knowledge of Geography perhaps they should consult a map before travelling. I have always seen schedules advertised as the port where the ship docks, although it is often also mentioned where can be visited from there, and it seems some people do like to take excursions to places that are something like two hours away from a port - not our style admittedly. Livorno for instance, (which would be where Florence can be visited from), is a lovely town in it's own right.

I accept some may think of it that way, but if you travel on smaller ships then they can dock in convenient places - like HCMC rather than Phu My. The schedules do tend to say Phu My though, rather than HCMC. My view is that it is the large ships that are a problem more so than the ports. We do not travel on the large ships and we visit some lovely places and can also dock at times when larger ships have to tender.

No promises - but yes, Voyager is small enough to sail up the Saigon River and berth in Saigon (HCMC), as did her predecessor Discovery. :)

Ditto Azamara's R-class ships, though I recall one thread on this forum where an Azamara cruiser was told by Azamara that they'd be berthing at Phu My. That turned out to be incorrect - as many Azamara clients mentioned on that thread - confirming my belief that cruise line head-office staff (not just Azamara's) are poorly-briefed about such things.

As well as the convenience of berthing within walking distance (or a short taxi ride) of the city sights, be up and about for the sail-in up the winding river.

Larger ships used to berth on the coast at Vung Tau, a tortuous 2.5 hr drive from Saigon. But now they berth at Phu My, and the road to that port has been massively improved. Net result, the former 2.5 hour drive is now only about an hour. :)

JB :)

No promises - but yes, Voyager is small enough to sail up the Saigon River and berth in Saigon (HCMC), as did her predecessor Discovery. :)

Ditto Azamara's R-class ships, though I recall one thread on this forum where an Azamara cruiser was told by Azamara that they'd be berthing at Phu My. That turned out to be incorrect - as many Azamara clients mentioned on that thread - confirming my belief that cruise line head-office staff (not just Azamara's) are poorly-briefed about such things.

 

As well as the convenience of berthing within walking distance (or a short taxi ride) of the city sights, be up and about for the sail-in up the winding river.

 

Larger ships used to berth on the coast at Vung Tau, a tortuous 2.5 hr drive from Saigon. But now they berth at Phu My, and the road to that port has been massively improved. Net result, the former 2.5 hour drive is now only about an hour. :)

 

JB :)

Yes we did the sail up river on the Allegra. I also remember reading a review of a Princess 'R' class ship which docked in Phu My as a last minute change - nothing can be guaranteed on a cruise of course - even the fact that you will dock. I also think some companies want to use the out of town port so they can sell more trips.

I agree about cruise companies not knowing about the docking locations and find the port authority websites worth searching for. I have noted three incidents with Fred Olsen recently when the brochure was clearly wrong and the head office staff were adamant it was not - I am beginning to think that may not be an accident of Fred's though! When I rang VOD some time back the lady did look up the ports and gave me the locations for HK and Singapore, but said it was too early to know about HCMC. I hope we do not need the extra drive to the Mekong for our overnight there, but we would go anyway.

The port I am really interested in is Yangon where we have two days, as we hope to do that independently. I cannot find a cruise schedule for there, but have found the port authority site and discovered Voyager is small enough to dock in town, whilst even ships like Black Watch are not. Our itinerary does say Yangon, whilst Fred and other cruise companies give the name of the out of town port which is down river and the CC port of call site does say that smaller ships dock in the city so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

I can assure you that I fully realize that Florence, Berlin, and Paris are not ports.

My point was that I often see cruise lines advertising them as stops. We see the same nonsense with S/E Asia cruise adverts.

Have no idea about cruise line excursion prices in the area but here are some examples of what we paid this past Feb/March..in USD. We have paid these types of prices for the past three years we have wintered in SE Asia

Saigon: small group tour to tunnels, etc. $20USD each. Dalat, Vietnam: Private Lexus SUV, driver, tour guide for 8 hours of countryside tour $45. for both or us Siem Reap: Lexus SUV, tour guide,, $40 per day for both of us for 8 hours. Phuket, Thailand: $45 for Lexus SUV, tour guide-all day tour plus drop off at hotel near the airport. Kampot, Cambodia: $15 each for six hour countryside tuk tuk trip w/tour guide.

Ok, perhaps I sounded a little harsh iancal. I just wanted to make the point about the differences between the large ships and the smaller ones - must admit the large ones do not appeal to us.

Thanks for the price guides of your experiences.

hello: I am busy planning a cruise to SE Asia in Nov/Dec 2017. Deciding between the Holland Volendam 14 nights or Saphire Princess 21 nights. I would appreciate any info from those who have been on these ships. One does Hanao Bay while the other does Bali as a port. Also, is Nov/Dec good time to go. We would be in balcony cabin. Waiting for a good sale. thanks for info,

Hi Tring

I have been to many ports throughout the world with Voyages of Discovery and can't ever recall there being a shuttle laid on by the ship. I am under the impression that they do not encourage independent travel.

However, we have sometimes used the shuttle laid on by the relative port authority.

Ive been to Vietnam on a cruise shop, but i personally didnt explore Nha Trang town, my friends went on a city tour ( booked a guide in advance) and they liked it so far, im not sure how far are the sites and not also sure if you can see them yourself, but i think you'd better have a guide.

Hi Tring

I have been to many ports throughout the world with Voyages of Discovery and can't ever recall there being a shuttle laid on by the ship. I am under the impression that they do not encourage independent travel.

However, we have sometimes used the shuttle laid on by the relative port authority.

Thank you for that info. Yes the cruise companies are keen to book their trips, but when it is an easy DIY you miss a lot by doing, a trip as well as spending ridiculous amounts of money, as you have appeared to have found out.

Happy Travels,

Barbara

vietzay

Nha Trang is a tourist resort as well as a town, with tourist hotels along the coast, so it will be one of the easiest ports in Vietnam. We really liked Vietnam on our previous visit and found independent travel easy there, which is why we have booked this cruise with 7 port days in Vietnam. You do need to be sensible how you present yourself though for independent travel - we always dress down, leave valuables behind and make sure we look as though we know what we are doing and where we are going. That way we have never had any problems in many undeveloped countries in Africa and the East. Each to their own though.

We are booked on a ship's overnight tour to the Mekong Delta from HCMC because it is three hours each way from HCMC (I have had confirmation that we will dock centrally) and we want to make sure we have a clean hotel and restaurants there. We will probably also do a ship's boat trip from Halong Bay as we are highly unlikely to be able to share with others, as roll calls do not get much (if any) response for cruises on our small ship. Otherwise we have done quite a bit of searching on various web sites, so will be very happy independently.

Enjoy your holidays, however you prefer to travel though,

Barbara

We are also trying to work out what to do in Nha Trang.

Been looking at a day tour with Emporer Cruises. Has anyone had any contact with them?

When we went to Nha Trang a couple years ago, there was a man at the port gate with a picture board of attractions. He spoke English and after you had told him where you wanted to go, he would call up a taxi and the taxi guy would stay with you all day or for however long you wanted him to. It was quite inexpensive. You need to tip the man with the board, of course. One thing-- our taxi driver bought our Cham Tower tickets because Vietnamese money was required. We then just added on the small charge to our tip for the taxi driver. We will be back in Nha Trang in a couple weeks, actually, on the Diamond again.