BlackJack2

We used BKK Tours andthey were fantastic. Did a two day,overnight tour from the port of Laem Chabang. First day we went to Ayutthaya and the second day we saw all thehighlights of Bangkok. We stayed in the Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn Hotel.

We were a group of 17 cruisers off Holland America’sVolendam that took a tour with Zoom in February 2017. IT WAS FANTASTIC. Zoom picked us up at the port in a verycomfortable bus for the drive into Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We made a coffee stop at the Rex Hotel andsaw the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee Building (Ho Chi Minh City Hall). We then drove around the city, (what anexperience with all the motorbikes and scooters), and then toured Thien HauTemple and Ben Thanh Market. We had avery tasty lunch at Pho 2000 and then toured the War Remnants Museum. We had stops at the Reunification Palace,Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, and a lacquer ware workshop. We also saw Saigon Square, Opera House, LeLoi Avenue, and the Bitexco Financial Tower.

Our tour was very organized and made the most of our time inSaigon. Zoom was extremely knowledgeable about the history and culture of Saigon and Zoomwas very responsive to all of my emails and very easy to work with whilebooking his tour. We highly recommend Zoom and we will use him again whenwe visit Ho Chi Minh City in the future. There were 17 in our party and we paid $40 each for this fantastictour. Zoom picked us up outside the portgates, so the price of the tour was considerably less than if he had picked usup at the pier.

Royal Caribbean 10 Night Hong Kong To Singapore Cruise

Sailing On Voyager Of The Seas

From 08 Oct 2017 - 18 Oct 2017

 

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Day 6

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Day 7

Hue/Danang (Chan May Port), Vietnam

Day 9

Ho Chi Minh (Phu My), Vietnam

Has anyone done the above cruise, these are the ports. Can you do these on your own? or is it best to book their excursions. Also can you walk from the port to the above places, if so is it far and will visa's be needed to go ashore. any help appreciated.

From the port of Phu My to Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon), we used Saigon Touring -Private Day Tours (Zoom) for a private tour.

For Da Nang, we used Tommy Tours &Transfers / Tommy Dao Tours

Both were excellent tours and tour guides. We had a big group from our roll call touringtogether.

Nah Trang - we toured around on our own.

What is Carnival's policy regarding bringing wine, beer, and soda onboard in your carry on luggage?

Thanks for all the answers. So, the next time we book a Collectors' Voyage, we will know that activities will be repeats. One of my favorite activities is the guest lecturer and all the lectures were repeats, even though we were sailing in different areas of Asia.

We recently cruised on a 28-Day Collectors' Voyage on the Volendam. This Collectors' Voyage was sold as one cruise, but we were onboard with others that had bought the first 14 days as one cruise and others that had bought the second 14 days as another cruise. The activities the first 14 days were good. But, on the last 14 days, almost every event was repeated, with the exception of the “On Location Guide” talks. On one day, they took the Daily Navigator from the previous week and just changed the date - same activities, including the show room act. Is this normal for a Collector’s Voyage tohave all the on board activities repeated?

Thank You Everyone!!

Friday, February 3, 2017 - Day 30 At Sea en route to Guam

BTW, if you ever see or hear an entertainer or speaker you thing is interesting, just drop him/her/them a note via the front desk and issue an invitation for dinner. Most of the time they’re happy to join you. We’ve had some of our most interesting visitors at dinner over the years by doing this.

We would love to invite some of the speakers or entertainers to dinner, but we always have Early Dining. Will entertainers, speakers, or ship’s officers attend dinner at Early Dining or will they only attend dinner at Main Dining? Love reading your posts!!

Hey Everyone – Thanks for all your responses and advice. Yes, we prefer the R class ships. I also liked the idea of overnighting in Copenhagen. Both ships have basically the same itinerary. The difference is the Koningsdam is doing one more day of scenic cruising and the ports of Flam & Eidfjord, Norway and the Prinsendam is doing the overnight in Copenhagen and the ports of Helsingor & Skagen, Denmark.

We sail, next week, on the Volendam, and would prefer to book this cruise while onboard – so, we will see what cabins are still available on both ships. We are leaning towards the Prinsendam, but she is much smaller and may not have the cabin selection.

Once again – thanks for all the advice!

We are trying to decide between two Northern Europe Cruises – The 14 Day Voyage of the Midnight Sun on the Koningsdam or The 14 Day North Cape Explorer on the Prinsendam. Both cruises are the same price and both have the same amount of tender ports and sea days. We have never been on either of these two ships and we have never been in this area for cruising. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated in helping us make our decision.

Thank you for the wonderful information. We are staying at the Royal Plaza on Scotts.

For now, there should be a way to get back the classic format.

1. Click on the Control Panel (In the new format it should be by your avitar at the upper right hand corner of the screen).

2. Click on "Edit Options".

3. Go to the bottom of the page to Skins

4. Click on Default skin. You may need to click a different skin and Then go back and click on Default skin again. A little bit of persistence may be needed.

5. It looks like you need to do this for each device where the new format pops up.

 

I suspect eventually the new format will be the default; then I hope there's an option for Classic Skin.

 

Roy

THANK YOU!!! Thank you so much for the directions to get the "old" view back.

I really do not like this new format – why did they ruin a good thing??

Thank you!!

Hi John – We are on the 14 Feb to 14 Mar, 2017 sailing on the Volendam. Any idea who is playing in the Piano Bar? Thanks in advance!!

Thanks for all of your wonderful responses. We will plan to check out grocery stores and check out the cruise ship terminal for wine.

Excellent Video!! Thanks for sharing.

After the cruise we left early at 6:00am, easy immigration in Singapore, open 24/7. Flew SilkAir, one of the only direct flights from Singapore to Siem Reap. We have a driver and a guide. Thank God for the car with A/C and ice cold towels upon our return. I highly recommend you do this as the heat and humidity get really take a toll on you. The sites are to far a part for Tuk Tuks I think and the A/C is a lifesaver. No way I would do this trip without a guide, regardless of what others say, I paid less for 3 days with driver/car and guide then I paid for just 8 hours of a guide in Europe.

Let me know I could send our guide companies info.

 

Happy Planning,

Capt. Ron

Hello Capt. Ron -

Could you post your guide companies info? THANKS!

In Singapore - Can anyone recommend a good place to purchase a couple bottles of wine? We are embarking in Singapore and would like to take our one bottle onboard for our cabin.

In Singapore - Can anyone recommend a good place to purchase a couple bottles of wine? We need a couple of bottles for our cabin.

Thanks for all the inside cabin info.

We are traveling on the Volendam in February in an inside cabin. We have never booked an inside before – Is there storage space where the “window” would be? I see that there is a curtain, so is there storage space behind that curtain?

Thanks for the info!

Do the fitness centers onboard HAL have foam rollers? Thanks!!

We got our Chinese Visas last week. It was extremely easy at the Houston, TX Chinese Consulate. We went on a Monday morning and were in line about 20 – 30 minutes to put the paperwork in. We returned the following Monday and it took about 5 minutes to pick up our passports, with visa inside.

Here are some tips for getting your Chinese Visa from the Houston, TX Chinese Consulate.

~ They only accept walk-ins, no appointments, from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM and from 1:30 PM to 3 PM, M – F.

~ The consulate does not have a parking lot. There is plenty of parking on the side streets. Do not park in the Starbucks parking lot – there are signs that you will be towed.

~ There is about a four-day turn around. We dropped our application off on Monday and returned the following Monday to pick up our passports with the visa inside. There is no express service.

~ You will need to bring: passport, copy of passport, visa application (typed in all CAPS), copy of driver's license, copy of cruise reservation, copy of airline reservation, and passport photo.

~ Do not staple anything!

~ There was no box for "10 year" visa. We checked "other" box for length of time for visa and type in "10 year visa”.

~ For hotel information - if you are in transit, then type in the name of your ship.

~ You must fill out every space on the visa form, so if it is not applicable to you, type in NA.

~ Your cell phones have to be turned off when inside the consulate, so bring “paper” books to read while in line.

~ You may pay by Visa credit card - $140 per visa.

Hope this information helps!