Ho Chi Minh with Zoom

[mjbc]

We had Zoom book our tours for two days when our ship was docked at Phu My. On the first day Zoom was our guide and we toured HCMC and came back to the ship in the evening. On day 2 we went to the Cuchi Tunnels as I didn't want to spend so much time in the van driving to the Mekong Delta. I'm glad we went to the tunnels; it was a very interesting experience. I'll save the Mekong Delta for next time :)

[cinfromsyr]

We had Zoom book our tours for two days when our ship was docked at Phu My. On the first day Zoom was our guide and we toured HCMC and came back to the ship in the evening. On day 2 we went to the Cuchi Tunnels as I didn't want to spend so much time in the van driving to the Mekong Delta. I'm glad we went to the tunnels; it was a very interesting experience. I'll save the Mekong Delta for next time :)

 

We will be in HCMC in December and planning to do the same schedule as you did. Couple of questions: Were you happy with your tour operator/guide?

Did you go to the tunnels by car or boat? I understand that it is much faster to go by boat.

Where did you stay?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Cindie

[mjbc]

We will be in HCMC in December and planning to do the same schedule as you did. Couple of questions: Were you happy with your tour operator/guide?

Did you go to the tunnels by car or boat? I understand that it is much faster to go by boat.

Where did you stay?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Cindie

 

Zoom was our guide on the first day and he was great. He speaks English very well and we covered a lot of HCMC. He had suggested that we stay overnight in HCMC to avoid the long rides but he had no problem with taking us back to the ship in the early evening the same day. We were picked up again early the next morning at the port and driven to the Cuchi Tunnels. Our guide was also very good. We spent several hours at the tunnels and had lunch by the river. The lunch was only mediocre as we had originally planned to do a take-away and eat on the bus (to save time) but at the last minute we asked our guide to take us to a restaurant and that particular restaurant was all that was available. We only had a choice of fried rice or noodles. I also made it a point that we return to the ship at least two hours prior to departure and it was done. A very enjoyable two days and very reasonably priced, compared to the tours that we did in northern Vietnam.

[koolgal100]

I am interested in using Zoom for stopover in Phu My. How do I contact him?

 

koolgal

[celyvabeach]

I am interested in using Zoom for stopover in Phu My. How do I contact him?

 

koolgal

 

 

His email = dungzoom at gmail dot com

[koolgal100]

Thanks Cely for the prompt response. I will contact him and get some quotes.

 

koolgal

[cinfromsyr]

Zoom was our guide on the first day and he was great. He speaks English very well and we covered a lot of HCMC. He had suggested that we stay overnight in HCMC to avoid the long rides but he had no problem with taking us back to the ship in the early evening the same day. We were picked up again early the next morning at the port and driven to the Cuchi Tunnels. Our guide was also very good. We spent several hours at the tunnels and had lunch by the river. The lunch was only mediocre as we had originally planned to do a take-away and eat on the bus (to save time) but at the last minute we asked our guide to take us to a restaurant and that particular restaurant was all that was available. We only had a choice of fried rice or noodles. I also made it a point that we return to the ship at least two hours prior to departure and it was done. A very enjoyable two days and very reasonably priced, compared to the tours that we did in northern Vietnam.

 

Thank you for the information and your quick response!

[cubella59]

We have the same itinerary with Zoom in HCMC in February but unfortunately Celebrity Millennium revised all itineraries for all southbound & northbound sailings. We will only be calling on HCMC for 1 day :(

 

Hi, we're booked on Celebrity Milli and don't see the itinerary change you mention in your post; can you clarify please. I checked my sailing and I checked Feb and they both still look like you call on HCMC for 2 days.:confused:

[celyvabeach]

Hi, we're booked on Celebrity Milli and don't see the itinerary change you mention in your post; can you clarify please. I checked my sailing and I checked Feb and they both still look like you call on HCMC for 2 days.:confused:

 

 

This is an old post before they made other changes. For all I know the only sailing calling on HCMC overnight is the Feb 16,2014....

[EmsMom]

Zoom is worth every penny you will pay him...His tour is really comprehensive and he is also very knowledgeable and speaks excellent English. The coffee at the top of the Rex Hotel was an incredible experience and the trip to the Mekong Delta was one of our all time favorite tours. Zoom warned us about the war museum and said we would probably find it offensive....We went anyways because they had one of the planes like the one my husband crewed for during the war. Zoom was right...it was offensive and after we looked at the planes we were ready to leave. That was the only part of the two day tour that we didn't like but Zoom had warned us about it. You can't go wrong with Zoom!!

[mpjt]

I don´t know if this is too late for you but we just did a tour with Zoom for a half day to the Mekong Delta on December 2nd. Everything was organized and on time and well priced.

[editor@cruisecritic]

My husband and I booked two days with Zoom and he was fabulous. I loved the way that we mixed in the key sights of Ho Chi Minh City with time for going off the track for things we were expressly interested in (local markets, etc. ). Highly recommend! And I don't say that lightly.

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

 

We had Zoom book our tours for two days when our ship was docked at Phu My. On the first day Zoom was our guide and we toured HCMC and came back to the ship in the evening. On day 2 we went to the Cuchi Tunnels as I didn't want to spend so much time in the van driving to the Mekong Delta. I'm glad we went to the tunnels; it was a very interesting experience. I'll save the Mekong Delta for next time :)

[travelingyogamom]

My Family of four recently booked a 2 day tour with Zoom. We were picked up at the port in a nice van, cold water available. We spent the first day in Saigon and saw everything we had planned. The tour was smooth and fun for our kids. Zoom was a pleasure to work with and really listened to what we had requested.

 

The 2nd day was a trip to Mekong Delta also with Zoom. He had another guide meet us named Kim who accompanied us for the day along with him. She was adorable - full of information on the Delta and my kids also loved her.

 

Zoom provided us with a disk of pictures from the tour - he was super and I highly recommend him!

[josephone]

Silver sea 3405. February 2014

We would like to go to Mekong delta. Was it lots of driving.

 

Thanks for your thoughts

[cubella59]

If you dock in Phu My it takes about 3 hrs to go to Mekong Delta, but it is so worthwhile and such an intersting ride, that you will arrive before you know it.

 

Enjoy and Safe Travels

[vycital]

Celebrity chartered the cruise we were on from Singapore to Hong Kong Mar 29, 2015 and kicked us off. I am really PO'D. Talk about loyalty!!!?? I had already made tour arrangements with Zoom for all the stops in Vietnam and paid $160 deposit and he refunded the entire amount immediately--this cost him the Pay Pal charge. Thank you Zoom.

 

Mark Vycital

[mcgorr]

Thanks for your interest. There are two of us and the port is Phu My.

 

I had a terrible experience with him! assigned a girl who told us nothing much about the city and rushed us everywhere and whom we had to beg to stop at interesting venues. Lunch was in a terrible roadside cafe. Don't do it!

[queen of cruising]

We also had a bad experience with Zoom's company. We were in Saigon less than a week ago for 2 days on our cruise on Celebrity Millennium. We did not have Zoom as our guide so maybe that makes a difference. We were suppose to stop at a lacquerware workshop and a khai silk place and we did not get to either one of them. When I questioned Zoom about this in an email he responded that our guide told him that he had asked us if we wanted to go to either of them and he claims that we said no, which was a complete lie. When we checked our itinerary from Zoom we were suppose to have photo stops at the opera house, Westmoreland and Cabot Lodge and we simply had drive bys so that you had to take pictures from the van. A photo stop at Notre Dame De Saigon was the guide pointing across the street from the Post Office telling us that was what that building was, no chance to cross the street to see it. The guide dropped us off at the big market and left us there for an hour....we did not request this at all. Then we were dropped off at our hotel at 2 o'clock.

Our second day of the Mekong Delta was an excellent tour except that on the way back to the ship our guide, a different one from the day before, fell asleep and we had to wake him up to ask him questions about what we were seeing....I think if you book with Zoom you should confirm exactly what your itinerary entails and have a copy of that itinerary with you in case you have to point out some facts to your guide.

[chinaplus]

A group of us will tour with Zoom on April 4 in Saigon. He is currently working with us to offer the best possible arrangement. Past reviews have been excellent. We are hoping that our experiences in Saigon and Danang will also be positive. We know that our time is limited and we must rely on him to make judgments regarding our tours. I will review our tour when we return from Asia in mid April.

[Calisense]

A group of us will tour with Zoom on April 4 in Saigon. He is currently working with us to offer the best possible arrangement. Past reviews have been excellent. We are hoping that our experiences in Saigon and Danang will also be positive. We know that our time is limited and we must rely on him to make judgments regarding our tours. I will review our tour when we return from Asia in mid April.

My partner and his family have been visited Vietnam many times. We used Zoom and found that HIS qualification as guide is superb. He guides you thru Saigon, Mekong Delta or else with his vast knowledge given with a humour sense. He could answer all questions about VN as well as see if you are enjoying tour for a change of topic.

The matter is he could not tour with all groups. And the other guides are some, excellent, some, just average but he is clearly cut in telling you before hand whether he could go with you or not and in case you are not happy with a part of the tour he would discuss to the best way that makes you happy.

I never see a better guide than Zoom but, to avoid the problems, I suggest you all as clients in booking him, to make clear if he would be your guide and you should be happy to join some other people if he suggests in case he has more than one group that tour date.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Calisense

[Joshienana]

Thanks everyone for your info. Will try and get another couple of people to reduce the price.

 

When are you going to be there. We are looking into private tours.

 

You can rmail me at joshienana@hotmail.com

[BarbaraM]

I am in the process of booking private tours for a 2015 cruise. I contacted Zoom through a recommendation of another CC member. So far, he responds quickly and his rates are very good. I plan on booking him with a small group from our roll call for Hanoi and Saigon.. I'll report back after the trip!

[gvre]

I am in the process of booking private tours for a 2015 cruise. I contacted Zoom through a recommendation of another CC member. So far, he responds quickly and his rates are very good. I plan on booking him with a small group from our roll call for Hanoi and Saigon.. I'll report back after the trip!

 

We just returned from Vietnam and we booked 3 tours with Zoom in Saigon, Da Nang, and Nha Trang. He did and excellent job. We had a slight issue in Nha Trang which he rectified right of way. His tour in Saigon was first class.

I would not hesitate to recommend him and use him again.

[Joshienana]

We are going on the Dec. 7th sailing of the Millenium. Many have said "Zoom" is excellent, BUT, they have booked with him and he sent someone else and they weren't so good. Please respond with the tours he offered and rates to me at: joshienana@cox.net.

 

thanks

[Calisense]

We are going on the Dec. 7th sailing of the Millenium. Many have said "Zoom" is excellent, BUT, they have booked with him and he sent someone else and they weren't so good. Please respond with the tours he offered and rates to me at: joshienana@cox.net.

 

thanks

I have an experience and the eventual solution is Zoom and I agreed that if there would be some more people requesting same tour we would let them join. And, if there are none Zoom would also tour with us. Good point of this solution is to keep Zoom as our guide.

Me think, Zoom is second to none in showing you Saigon in its culture, history especially times of Vietnam war and after-war social changes but, his guides cannot replace him fully. As you mail Zoom you want him to tour with you and you don't want his affiliate. Otherwise, you ought have contacted other guides/ companies. So, if you share same ways of thinking mention the matter of keeping him as your guide at the very first mail.