Information please - sihanoukville

[tommui987]

If you have been on a cruise that stopped at Sihanoukville, Cambodia, I would like to know where the ship docked, whether cars or buses greeted you dockside or whether you had to walk to where the buses, taxis, were located, and if so, how much of a walk was it.

 

And if you had arranged for a private tour from the port to Phomh Penh, if you could give me the details of your trip.

 

You can contact me tommui(at)hawaii(dot)rr(dot)com, I would really appreciate it.

 

Thanks in advance

[rugbypopsie]

We just got off the Diamond which visited Sihanoukville. It was a tender port. Very poor, very destroyed, very depressing. Tuk tuks are available but you need to bargain. Not a lot to see around the port. There is a few shops and a market.

 

In addition 10 of our tour group became very ill the day after. We are experienced travellers and cant work out why, it was not the food which was part of our lunch.

 

The begging of the children at the beach and the temples and the extreme poverty was very depressing...the bright spot was a tour which 100 of us on our roll call arranged with the Don Bosco School. It was a full day tour to local temple plus beach plus lunch, and a display of cultural dancing at the school for $30USD. The school is a Christian school doing fantastic work training young people for work in a trade or in the hospitality industry. You can arrange a tour by contacting the school on the net.

 

They are very deserving of support. The local port authority wanted to charge the school $20USD pp just to let them bring the buses to the wharf. At the end we all chipped in and gave them a substantial donation to help with their work.

 

The country is in a very bad way and needs all the help it can get.

 

We left fairly early in the afternoon I would not have risked going as far as Phomn Penh

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

[Jade13]

 

We left fairly early in the afternoon I would not have risked going as far as Phomn Penh

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

We are going to PP to catch a flight to Siem Reap. Azamara is docked until 8:00pm and the highlight here is to go to PP. Many people are heading there and Azamara has a tour as well.

 

Personally, I would never go on a private tour with 100 people but it was good that you negotiated with the port authority regarding the fee to bring in a bus. It sounds like a good cause with the school. The fee I assume was for a permit and is also common in Vietnam.

[campingman]

Knowing that Sihanoukville is in its infancy of its tourist development i made contact with the Don Bosco Hotel School.Brother Roberto is the contact, Administrator.

 

We organized firstly as small personal group of CCers that grew into a group of 100+ of us from the Diamond Princess.

 

http://www.donboscokhmer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=16.

 

http://www.donboscohotelschool.com/

 

This was the Schools first venture into creating a local tour.They tried so hard to achieve a great day out for us.We were greeted proffessionaly at the wharf and escourted to our 4 awaiting buses then taken on a local tour of a Temple. Beaches,Headlands,Town,and then finally to the Hotel School.(beware of a extra charge to meet you shipside as opposed to a short walk outside the gate.The school was unaware of this charge untill a day prior)

The Hotel School has 3 training businesses set up for its training purposes.Beach front Cafe,a downtown Coffee Shop and the actual Hotel School.

We visited the Beachfront Cafe,and Hotel School where cleanliness can only be described as immaculate and a oassis in a very disadvantaged community.

The Hotel School became our final stop where we were served a very simple but well done buffet lunch in absolute immaculate clean surroundings accompanied by a local cultural dance group.

The meal was served by a small army of Students all eager to learn and please and in full view of the working kitchen.

I highly recomend contacting the Don Bosco Hotel School for any local Sihanoukville or surrounding tour of any kind that can be tailored for as few as 2 or a 100+ passenger tour. The School has its own 2 mini buses plus they can hire other vehicles