raringtogo

We were on Spectrum twice this year..loved the inaugural so much we wanted to try it as a cultural cruise. 

One of our stops was Chan May port..I am already very familiar with this beautiful location so without hesitation I contacted Tommy Dao Tours to pick up our group for a tour around the area and as usual we were so impressed with his driver Mr Phe and Tommy Dao himself who is so  dependable and so professional and so kind and clearly loves his job and his city.

He took us to a fabulous place for lunch as well as showing us all the main sights all in the comfort of a big van. Love Lady Buddha and Marble Mountains~the views are so amazing.

On 9/7/2018 at 1:58 AM, Scotswoman said:

 

 

 

You might like to look at the Wonders Travel and Tourism site. They have an excellent offer for Petra from your ship for 135$ per person. Yaseen has been extremely helpful ... our trip is on November 17th.

Morven

 

 

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Hi morven..did you take the tour to Petra with Wonders Travel and how was it

Thanks

when we were in Vietnam in August of this year, we once again used this great guy and he told me about some of the cruise tours he takes from both Danang Port and Tien Sa.

Hoi An is our most favourite place to visit - so colourful and interesting and beautiful.

here are his details:

http://www.dananghoianprivateshoreexcursions.com/

his name is Tommy and he speaks perfect English and is just an all-round lovely guy.

we LOVED Cuates y Cuetes - a great fun place, with simple but delicious food and cocktails. If this place doesn't take your fancy on sight, there are many beautiful restaurants all around it.

We used multiple ferry companies. There is lots of choice BUT the ferry companies tend to service one specific group of islands. So, you need to think about your itinerary and match it up against the most convenient ferry routes.

There is also a choice between fast ferry and slower ones. The ferry schedules are sometimes reduced in mid October.

 

We determine a general schedule but we only book ferries and lodging a day or two ahead. Last time our only constraint on leaving Piraeus was a flight from Crete three weeks later. We stayed longer than we expected on one island, less on another.

 

We got a good book from the library that had an up to date listing of the ferry companies, routes by island grouping, etc.

 

Last year after driving through Peloponnese and visiting Hydra we went from Piraeus-Sifnos-Paros-Naxos-Crete (stop in Santorini). In a prior year we went south form Marmarmis to Rhodes,etc. Lots of options.

i'm almost convinced we may fly to save time as we only have two weeks

I had a quote from Celestyal (which isn't a ferry anyway), the quote was expensive and they no longer allow hop-on and hop off.

also, as much as we'd love to wing it, there are five of us in our family, so, probably better to pre-book accommodation

We have been on several cruises through the Med that stopped in Greece. All very enjoyable.

 

But our most enjoyable experience of the Greek Islands was doing our own cruises as it were. Departing from Piraeus and using to the Greek ferry system to island hop down to Crete and also up to Turkey. Several days on each island with a week or so in Crete with only carry on bags.

 

It is a beautiful country with warm, friendly people. The food on the islands will beat cruise line food hands down any day! We hope to get back next spring or fall.

which ferry did you use? we are thinking about Celestyal Cruises and hopping off on a couple of islands- so, not exactly a ferry

would you be so kind as to update of the tour you took as we would be very interested for next year

i'd like to know this too

we were in Danang/Hoi An once again in July this year, and we were very happy to see Tommy Dao and as always, use his services for transfers and tours.

He has two new vehicles since we were last in Hoi An- and can now offer a 16 seater van for large groups from tour ships.

As always, he offers an extremely professional service- he is fun, kind and extremely professional and I can highly recommend him for anyone coming into Danang Port for a great day out. Much better than booking ship's tours as you get a much more personalized service.

If you can arrange a large group, the price is much better.

https://www.facebook.com/tommydaotravel/?fref=ts

for the Port of Danang or Chan May, I can highly recommend Tommy Dao Tours (Hoi An).

We have used him a number of times and always find him to be professional, courteous and lots of fun. He can take large numbers of people as he has a few different options of vehicles including a new large van.

You can contact him on tommyxuanha@gmail.com

or check out his facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/tommydaotravel/?fref=ts

You'll probably want to start making your way back to the ship at least an hour before the last tender if you are leaving from Medano Beach on a water taxi. Even though you arrive at 7:30, you most likely will not get to the tender pier until closer to 8:30, the ship has to clear customs and the ships excursions get off first. Most restaurants on Medano Beach will be open by then along with many restaurants on the marina.

 

If you take a land taxi back instead of a water taxi, it will be faster and you'll see downtown Cabo, which is small. There is a flea market close to the tender pier for shopping. It will not be open early so if you want to hit it, plan on time after you come back from the beach.

thanks CWcruisers- I figure we'll take the water taxi going out, and the land taxi coming back. and I guess they'll announce the time of the last tender on the day. is it usually around one hour prior to sailaway?

There's a mercado within walking distance of the ship. Walk across the street, towards then behind Sam's Club. At the light, the mercado will be at the southwest corner. Lots of restaurants.

 

 

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thank you- we'll take a look

thank you both for your replies.

In every country we visit, I love to do a food walking tour - even places I visit fairly regularly so, we will definitely do one in PV

If a port is canceled that day generally becomes a sea day .The port charges are credited to your own board account.

don't even want to contemplate that :(

Ine- yes, I did know about their webcam from one of your posts long ago.

Mexico 8 - we will take a look at those too :D thanks

If you want more predictable weather, the better time to sail the Mexican Rivera would be February or March.

 

The problem with expecting another port to be substituted on relatively short notice is the distance between ports, and the area affected by the hurricane may include a number of the possible substitute ports.

yes, of course, we realized that, but unfortunately those alternative months were not a possibility for us.

so- I guess, fingers crossed.

Hurricanes arenot that frequent as in the caribean.

However September will be hot and humid. Expect afternoon/evening showers, maybe once during the day too.

oh, that would be ok- we're quite used to that sort of weather. we can cope with that- we'd be devastated to miss either of the two ports we're due to visit.

thank you for your great tips and information- I've been following your posts with great interest

Cabo is a tender port. You'd just have another sea day.

 

 

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that's what I'm scared of. we are coming a long long way especially to see this port and the sea days are really not the most interesting part for us.

how often does that happen in September?

In the morning you will find more shade on the Malecon, which makes walking a bit more pleasant.

You will find more restaurants etc. in and around Playa los Muertos.

That could be a reason to start your walk on the Malecon going to old town.

hi Ine

have you ever joined any of the walking food tours in PV?

I was thinking I'd love to join one on our second morning in PV - I would appreciate your advice on this.

Yes the cabdriver will know. Check the rate before boarding. Right on the beach are a.o. La Palapa and Si Senor, not the cheapest but very good food and service as is Blue Shrimp. Other more populair priced are Cuates y Cuetes, right next to the pier and Langostines.

I am not such a big fan of Cafe de Olla.

Ine - thank you for all your great information -

could you please tell me, if we decided to start out our evening at Cuates e Cuates, how long would it take by taxi to then go to somewhere in the old town?

thanks in advance

i'm very interested to know what would happen if they were to cancel that one port (for example Cabo) - would the ship then redirect to a different port?

can someone please tell me what sort of weather we can expect in early September- I understand it's considered hurricaine season but I'm not quite sure how bad we can expect it to be.

also, as we have only two ports, if the weather is too bad to visit either one of them, what would the probable alternative be?

for example, we are only due in Cabo for a few hours- if weather did not permit a stop at Cabo, what would happen? would they take us elsewhere?

Oh, yes, there are a lot of Cantinas along Medano that are within walking distance of each other. We like Tabascos because it seems to be a much quieter place (read that to mean far fewer partying college kids) than some of the others.

If you have never taken the water taxi trip out to Pelican rock, Lover's Beach, the Arch and divorce beach, I would have to recommend that, and then have the taxi drop you off at Medano. (It should cost you $8-12US pp.) The water taxi will have food (normally tortillas) that you can feed to the fish (which will swim right up into your hand.) After spending time at Medano, we always grab a land cab back ($12 total for up to 4 folks) to the Marina. It will be cheaper than the water taxi, and you will be afforded a view of Cabo San Lucas that you might miss otherwise.

as we are in port for such a relatively short time :( (we arrive at 7.30am and leave at 3.30pm) and we will definitely take your advice.

what time should we start to make our way back to the ship - obviously we don't want to leave it completely until the last minute hbowever, we would like leave Medano beach as late as we safely can.

also, what will be open at 7.30am. do we have time for a bit of a drive around Cabo? some shopping? or can you please make some suggestions for us.

thanks in advance

p.s. sorry about the double post- I left it a bit late to delete the first post

After 12 visits to Cabo, my personal favorite is Tabascos. It has shaded tables, is right on the beach (toes in the sand), the drinks (and the prices) are very reasonable, and we very much like the food there. That being said, there are a lot of places on Medano Beach. If you've never been there, and if it were me, I would just wander the beach until I find a Cantina that appeals to me. Have a drink, and maybe then just wander on to the next Cantina.

this sounds like a great idea for us- the only problem is our cuise departs at 3pm.

what time would we need to leave these cantinas to get back onto the ship in time for sailaway?

I'm on a cruise in September to this stop with Princess. Its a wait and see if its cancelled. At the moment its still in tact. I never been to this part of the world.

hi Sarah

how was the cruise and how was PV port?

we are hoping to cruise on Miracle next September

thanks

marilyn