Halong Bay - difference in day trip junk boats

[Riverobsessed]

The Azamara Journey is docked in Halong Bay from mid day on day one to late afternoon on day two. I am in the process of receiving quotes from different cc recommended tour operators for a day 2, 6 hour junk cruise. On the other hand, I've read posts about booking a junk cruise with one of the dock salesmen when we first arrive on day one for day two. The difference in price between going to a tour operator via internet and the dock salesmen the day before is quite substantial. I read from $90 per boat (no lunch) for 10 people negotiated at the dock to my internet quotes of $45 - $90 (includes lunch) per person.

 

I don't mind paying the higher amount if it means more than just the comfort of knowing "our junk" is waiting for us at the dock. Does anyone know what are the differences between the "negotiated the day before junk tour" and "the internet purchased junk tour" aside from the lunch? Of course you get what you pay for but no one likes to get taken in if the tour operators hire the same junks as the salesmen do.

[greatam]

The Azamara Journey is docked in Halong Bay from mid day on day one to late afternoon on day two. I am in the process of receiving quotes from different cc recommended tour operators for a day 2, 6 hour junk cruise. On the other hand, I've read posts about booking a junk cruise with one of the dock salesmen when we first arrive on day one for day two. The difference in price between going to a tour operator via internet and the dock salesmen the day before is quite substantial. I read from $90 per boat (no lunch) for 10 people negotiated at the dock to my internet quotes of $45 - $90 (includes lunch) per person.

 

I don't mind paying the higher amount if it means more than just the comfort of knowing "our junk" is waiting for us at the dock. Does anyone know what are the differences between the "negotiated the day before junk tour" and "the internet purchased junk tour" aside from the lunch? Of course you get what you pay for but no one likes to get taken in if the tour operators hire the same junks as the salesmen do.

 

There is a HUGE difference in QUALITY of experience. A lot of those dock booked cruises are the older, crappier junks and the owners don't think much of putting WAY too many people on one boat. And again, do you want a "private" quiet experience or one where you are possibly onboard with 25 20 something backpackers who are more interested in the "party", the Vietnamese plum wine (really, really strong) and smoking dope rather than looking at the spectacular landscape?

 

Do you go to the caves on the dock booked cruises or do you just cruise around the water?

Do you stop at the floating village or spend all day just cruising around? What are you going to do if the "good" boats are full the day you want to go???

 

It truly is NOT just a matter of difference in price.

[Riverobsessed]

There is a HUGE difference in QUALITY of experience. A lot of those dock booked cruises are the older, crappier junks and the owners don't think much of putting WAY too many people on one boat. And again, do you want a "private" quiet experience or one where you are possibly onboard with 25 20 something backpackers who are more interested in the "party", the Vietnamese plum wine (really, really strong) and smoking dope rather than looking at the spectacular landscape?

 

Do you go to the caves on the dock booked cruises or do you just cruise around the water?

Do you stop at the floating village or spend all day just cruising around? What are you going to do if the "good" boats are full the day you want to go???

 

It truly is NOT just a matter of difference in price.

 

I agree that it's not about the cost. I'm looking for quality of the experience only. Having said that, I would still like a bit more specifics about the difference between a $900 cruise and a $90 cruise. I was assuming, probably incorrectly, that both the reputable tour operators and the dock salesmen were leasing from the same junk owners. I am only interested in a private group tour with a max of 10 people. I understood from at least one poster that this was possible by negotiating with the dock salesman. I am not interested in cruising with people outside our group, once this group is established.

 

Just for clarity, am I to assume that even if I negotiate and was promised by the dock salesperson, a private tour for 10 people, lunch, a nice junk, cave visits and a floating village, there is no guaranty that I will receive it? Or do these salesmen not even offer this experience?

 

Thank you for your input.

[sandancer]

I am also arranging a private junk cruise on Halong Bay. I have opted for a de-luxe tour and my group are all happy to pay for the better boat. The junk we have will take 48 people and we will have the whole junk to ourselves because we have chartered it. If we were purchasing a tour on the dock I am quite sure the salesmen would want to fill the boat to capacity to ensure that the cost of the charter was met. Plus the profit they would expect. So if you want to have sole use of the junk for a private group, booking in advance seems to be the way to go.

[John Bull]

The Azamara Journey is docked in Halong Bay from mid day on day one to late afternoon on day two. I am in the process of receiving quotes from different cc recommended tour operators for a day 2, 6 hour junk cruise. On the other hand, I've read posts about booking a junk cruise with one of the dock salesmen when we first arrive on day one for day two. The difference in price between going to a tour operator via internet and the dock salesmen the day before is quite substantial. I read from $90 per boat (no lunch) for 10 people negotiated at the dock to my internet quotes of $45 - $90 (includes lunch) per person.

 

I don't mind paying the higher amount if it means more than just the comfort of knowing "our junk" is waiting for us at the dock. Does anyone know what are the differences between the "negotiated the day before junk tour" and "the internet purchased junk tour" aside from the lunch? Of course you get what you pay for but no one likes to get taken in if the tour operators hire the same junks as the salesmen do.

 

We had a great 6-hour cruise on a "standard" junk for 8 (?) of us at a cost of $90 total, plus unrequested tip. That was negotiated with a tout on the pier.

Junks booked ahead are likely to be the same boats as the "deluxe" ones negotiated at the pier, the "standard" boats are very similar but older & with comparatively poor fixtures & fittings (thinking mainly of chairs & sunbeds). At the pier there's not a huge gap in the two prices.

 

Safety isn't a high priority on any, but all carry lifejackets, the bay is nearly always flat-calm & you're never far from the islets & other boats.

 

Greatam is the Vietnam expert on this forum, but I'll take issue on both the itinerary & the numbers on the junk.

 

The itinerary is dictated only by the time available, not the booking method or the price paid . Some ships offer two-hour cruises - given the time it takes to cross the Bay, that's a waste of time. It needs 4 hours, preferably six, some go for 8.

 

When a group of you negotiate at the pier, you are hiring the junk - not seats on a junk. There was never any question of us, or any other group, sharing a junk with backpackers or anyone else.

(time of day precludes that anyway, the back-packers are bussed down from Hanoi & arrive late morning)

 

If you want to jam in 30 people, you doubtless can. That's what the cruise ships do. But we were in groups of 8 to 12, and for the silly-cheap cost of the junks it didn't make sense to combine groups.

 

Now perhaps I should tell you my whole story.

Ahead of our cruise, from research we decided that for us it wasn't worth the time to take the long trip into Hanoi, so we booked a half-day Halong City tour and a full-day junk cruise.

We booked over the internet with one of Vietnam's "wannabe" tour operators (Greatam will know the sort of guy). Cost was $25 each for the city tour & about £110 each for the junk (8 hours).

Info on the 'net is pretty scant, and the guy, like others we had dealings with over the 'net, was pretty difficult to understand because of poor english. So we weren't over-confident, but we didn't put any money up-front & had the comfort of knowing that we had things booked.

As arranged, we met the guy the first afternoon, a pleasant & friendly young guy. The City wasn't worth a tour, even for that money, but that wasn't his fault. He dropped us back at the pier & we paid him for the tour.

There we met others from our ship, they told us that they'd fixed up junks for the next morning at $90 & $60 for 6 & 4 hour cruises.

Join them on a six hour cruise at under $25 for two of us? Or stick with our junk at $220 for the two of us?

Sorry, but no contest. We phoned the guy early that evening & cancelled the junk cruise. He took it philosophically.

Do I feel guilty?

I've got a conscience & wouldn't have cancelled just because there was a price difference.

But the huge price difference meant the guy was screwing us - so my conscience is clear.

 

IMHO the only major differences with booking over the 'net are that you'll be paying a great deal more, and the comfort of knowing that it's ....errr, probably ...... all set up for you.

If you're planning the cruise for your first day, that's going to carry more weight than if you can negotiate on the first half-day for a cruise on the second full day. But I've got a horrible feeling from another thread that your cruise involves a full day followed by a half-day?

 

Although attitudes do cross the Pond, I think it fair to say that most Brits tend to wing-it, most Americans tend to book private tours.

 

Much much cheaper to fix it up on-the-fly -but with the nagging doubt that mebbe it won't happen & you'll be kicking your heels on the shore.

 

Your vacation, your money, your decision. :p

 

JB :)

[greatam]

I agree that it's not about the cost. I'm looking for quality of the experience only. Having said that, I would still like a bit more specifics about the difference between a $900 cruise and a $90 cruise. I was assuming, probably incorrectly, that both the reputable tour operators and the dock salesmen were leasing from the same junk owners. I am only interested in a private group tour with a max of 10 people. I understood from at least one poster that this was possible by negotiating with the dock salesman. I am not interested in cruising with people outside our group, once this group is established.

 

Just for clarity, am I to assume that even if I negotiate and was promised by the dock salesperson, a private tour for 10 people, lunch, a nice junk, cave visits and a floating village, there is no guaranty that I will receive it? Or do these salesmen not even offer this experience?

 

Thank you for your input.

 

 

Just a couple of things:

 

1. If you are just looking on the internet for "halong bay day cruise" you are most likely getting a trip from Hanoi. So 7+ hours of transport to and from your hotel in HANOI is included in the price.

 

Here is one for $40pp for 4 or more people. It doesn't say what boat (which is critical IMHO). Don't know anything about the company, they leave from Hanoi, but even at $40 including lunch, if the boat is a decent boat, the tour looks decent and gets you to most everything in the Bay. http://www.halongbay-vietnam.com/halong_bay_private_cruise_1.htm

 

Make contact and find out if you can get a discount for NOT taking the included transport. And find out what junk they are using.

 

2. Contact DIRECTLY some of the owner/operators. Probably the one with the most boats in Halong is Huong Hai (I think they have at least 8, maybe more). http://www.huonghaijunks.com/

 

I have been on two of the Huong Hai junks (one brand new-we were the first passengers), Dragon Pearl and fairly recently on one of the Jasmine junks (Ginger). I booked the Jasmine cruise DIRECTLY with the owners, not through a tour agency. I don't think they do day cruises with their luxury boats, but they may if you have enough people. http://www.cruisehalong.com/

 

 

These are the junks that are generally booked through the tour agencies in Hanoi for day trips and are some where you may find a lot of backpackers. These are also ones that will be sold at the docks. The owner of the boat wants to FILL the boat so you never can tell whether you will have a large tour group or whether there will even be a boat available, especially if you are on a cruise ship where there are 1000+ other passengers who may have the same idea. I don't recommend any of the boats below. They are generally the older, crappier boats.

 

Opera Cruise

Glory Cruise

Amber Gold Cruise

Calypso Cruise

Paloma Cruise

White Dolphin Cruise

Annam Junk

 

 

Good luck!!!!

[Riverobsessed]

Thank you so much, Yikes! Differences! I hate to beat this to death but I would really like to hear back from those who know.

 

The Journey arrives mid-day, followed by a full day on day 2 so we could negotiate the first day for a 6 hour tour on day 2. Many will go to Hanoi on day 2, but some of us don't want the long bus ride, hence the cruise on day 2 instead.

 

I really need to get this straight. Can we get the tour made to order dockside with lets say with lunch, cave visits, floating village 6 hours exclusive to our group, as in private, for around 10 people on a nice junk?

[sandancer]

Greatam - any opinion or experience of Bhaya Day Cruises.?

[greatam]

Thank you so much, Yikes! Differences! I hate to beat this to death but I would really like to hear back from those who know.

 

The Journey arrives mid-day, followed by a full day on day 2 so we could negotiate the first day for a 6 hour tour on day 2. Many will go to Hanoi on day 2, but some of us don't want the long bus ride, hence the cruise on day 2 instead.

 

I really need to get this straight. Can we get the tour made to order dockside with lets say with lunch, cave visits, floating village 6 hours exclusive to our group, as in private, for around 10 people on a nice junk?

 

1. What are you going to do with all your time??? Seems like a real waste to have a day and 1/2 and not see much. Since you don't want the long ride into Hanoi, how about an overnight on one of the junks. I know, kind of redundant but for the price of the overnights, you at least have something to do with your 1.5 days and you will get a lot further into the Bay. There is NOTHING to do in Halong City.

 

2. I disagree with John Bull. The owners of most of the day cruise junks have very close relationships/communication with massive amounts of travel agencies in Hanoi (most of them named Sinh or Smile, so be careful who you do business with). They are going to fill their boats however they can. MAYBE you can negotiate-there literally MAY not be any boats available. They may be 1/2 filled already, so there goes your private trip.

 

John Bull was on a small ship IIRC. I have watched the touts just shuffle people off to whichever boat has room. You are essentially asking for a CHARTER. Whether you can get what you want at the dock is a chance you must be willing to take. What happens if you don't get a boat???

 

Since there are a limited number of boats on any given day and you have 14 people to take care of, I sure wouldn't leave it to chance. If I was by myself or just with DH, I would if the boat was decent. But not for 14 people wanting a PRIVATE tour (and that is the key).

[greatam]

Greatam - any opinion or experience of Bhaya Day Cruises.?

 

JMHO, but the Bhaya boats are too big. But if you have a large group, you are kind of restricted to a very few boats. I personally like the much smaller junks-they can get into places the few large ones in Halong can't get into. Otherwise, Bhaya is one of the better operators in Halong.

[John Bull]

1. What are you going to do with all your time??? Seems like a real waste to have a day and 1/2 and not see much. Since you don't want the long ride into Hanoi, how about an overnight on one of the junks. I know, kind of redundant but for the price of the overnights, you at least have something to do with your 1.5 days and you will get a lot further into the Bay. There is NOTHING to do in Halong City.

 

2. I disagree with John Bull. The owners of most of the day cruise junks have very close relationships/communication with massive amounts of travel agencies in Hanoi (most of them named Sinh or Smile, so be careful who you do business with). They are going to fill their boats however they can. MAYBE you can negotiate-there literally MAY not be any boats available. They may be 1/2 filled already, so there goes your private trip.

 

John Bull was on a small ship IIRC. I have watched the touts just shuffle people off to whichever boat has room. You are essentially asking for a CHARTER. Whether you can get what you want at the dock is a chance you must be willing to take. What happens if you don't get a boat???

 

Since there are a limited number of boats on any given day and you have 14 people to take care of, I sure wouldn't leave it to chance. If I was by myself or just with DH, I would if the boat was decent. But not for 14 people wanting a PRIVATE tour (and that is the key).

 

I believe (but see my caveat) that you'd have no problem in chartering, on-the-fly, a good junk solely for your party. Especially as you can do this on the previous afternoon.

10 is an ideal number.

A major cave features on all junk cruises, it's on the first islet.

A fishing village features on any cruise 4hrs & upwards.

By selecting a "deluxe" junk, plus lunch, you'll be paying more than we did. But not a lot more.

IMHO pre-booking is worth a premium, but a premium of 500% and more is hard to swallow.

 

Pre-booked overnite junks certainly offer better value than pre-booked day junks.

But because the vast vast bulk of their business is bussed from Hanoi, all the overnite junks sail out around noon & return next morning around 10.30 - 11.00, ready for the next punters at noon. That timing doesn't work out for you. You could charter an overniter to depart as soon as you can, mebbe 2.30pm, but either it will be foreshortened in order to get back by usual time or you'll be paying two nights because you'll be back too late for the junk to be chartered for the next overniter.

The junks don't sail in the dark, an overnite junk doesn't travel any further than an 8-hour day boat, and of course will cover much less ground if sailing that foreshortened 2.30pm to 10.30am.

It's one reason we chose against an overnite cruise.

By the same token, a day junk taken that first afternoon would be back, moored-up, by 5pm at the latest.

 

I agree 100% with Greatam that Halong City has nothing to offer. It has one neon-lit temple, one indoor market, & one very grubby & very smelly fishmarket - you can probably manage without that. ;)

By the time you are off the ship it will be too late to get in a worthwhile junk cruise that afternoon, so if you don't head for Hanoi there's basically nothing you can do that first half-day other than negotiate a junk for the next day & find a bar.

BTW, that's soon enough to agree on any provision of food.

 

Greatham & I will agree to differ on privately chartering a junk on-the-fly. (even though Greatam has found an ally in Sandancer :p). Sharing a junk with others was never on our tout's agenda, he could have tried that amongst the various groups from our ship, who were all negotiating with him at the same time.

Since no money changes hands until after the cruise, you could vote with your feet if a tout tried to palm you off with a shared junk, and the tout would quickly backtrack. But the junks & their crew cost him peanuts, & I firmly believe he wouldn't even even try.

 

Greatam recalls correctly that we were on a small ship (600 pax), that's about the same size as Journey. There was also a Silversea and an asian cruise ship of about 800 pax.

 

I suggested that more Brits than Americans tend to wing-it. And Journey is more up-market than dear old mv Discovery. So I think many more of your fellow-pax will be taking ship's tours, and demand on-the-fly will be lower. But it might be worth researching whether any leviathons will be there at the same time.

 

But there is one factor.

My quote: .....but with the nagging doubt that mebbe it won't happen & you'll be kicking your heels on the shore.

Greatam's quotes : there literally MAY not be any boats available. ......Since there are a limited number of boats on any given day and you have 14 people to take care of, I sure wouldn't leave it to chance.

Your quote:I don't mind paying the higher amount if it means more than just the comfort of knowing "our junk" is waiting for us at the dock.

Especially since others are relying on you, you might consider biting the bullet & book at the inflated price - or at least give them the full picture & let them decide.

 

JB :)

 

A by-the-by:

We also booked for Saigon a speedboat to/from Cu Chi tunnels. That was equally hard work because of e-mail understandings, it really is difficult to nail down details, as I think you're probably finding out. Cost was around $400 instead of ship's tour at around $70 pp or local transport at around $20 upwards. We decided we could afford it if we didn't find sharers on the ship (no RollCall). As it turned out we were inundated, we made it very very clear that we were less than 100% confident, but it worked out superbly. We were 8, could've been more if the guy had been clearer about boats/numbers/prices, so less money than ship's dusty & overcrowded bus. And an exceptional way to travel.

[Riverobsessed]

I LOVE this board despite the different perspectives! Thank you, I'll put the info out and get feedback at roll call. I would still like more real life experience on these 2 approaches if more Halong Bay day cruisers have them.

 

There is so much to explore and so many views. I hadn't even considered the availability of a speed boat ride to Chu Chi Tunnels which is on our list of must see of course. We'll surely being doing the river instead of the road! Once there, did you do the Tunnels on your own? Are guides available on location? This was one location I had planned on going with a tour guide, primarily because of the distance. Things change every day thanks to all the knowledge here.

[John Bull]

 

There is so much to explore and so many views. I hadn't even considered the availability of a speed boat ride to Chu Chi Tunnels which is on our list of must see of course. We'll surely being doing the river instead of the road! Once there, did you do the Tunnels on your own? Are guides available on location? This was one location I had planned on going with a tour guide, primarily because of the distance. Things change every day thanks to all the knowledge here.

 

First thing to check is where you'll port for Saigon.

Good luck with that one, cos I remember threads with folk pulling their hair out trying to get different Azamara contacts to sing from the same song-sheet. Eventually confirmed the berth was in Saigon city.

 

Big ships can't navigate the Saigon River to Saigon, some may still port at Vung Tau, about 2.5 hrs from Saigon but generally they now port at a new facility at Phu My, about 1.5 hrs from Saigon.

 

I'm 90 % certain Journey will sail up the river to Saigon city. Your arrival time may give a clue, a daylight run ? Well worth being on deck.

 

There's a city berth at Ben Nha Rong, by the new tunnel under the river. That's where we berthed, & it's a 15 min walk from the Rex Hotel & city sights. But access is restricted by a bridge built about 3 years ago just down-river - we squeezed under it.

There's another city berth at Lotus Port, downstream from that bridge. From here it'll be a short taxi hop or over-priced ship's shuttle to the Rex Hotel area.

Metered taxis hailed in the street are silly-cheap, but you'll probably need Vietnamese dong & show the driver where you want to go on a map. Taxis in the port are over-priced though they do have to pay an access fee, they speak english & accept USD.

Tip - so that you can just hail a taxi to get back to your ship, ensure your port is marked on a map in your possession, or get someone at the port to write it down in Vietnamese. We didn't :rolleyes: :D

 

Cu Chi tunnels.

From central Saigon its about 1hr 20 by speedboat or by road.

Yes, there's an admission fee but it's pretty small. It includes a guide, you may have one to yourselves or share one with a few others. Better han taking your own, they know their stuff about their turf.

There's way more to it than tunnels - in fact the tunnels were the least interesting bit.

The tunnels are so small that westerners basically can't get in, that of course was deliberate. One tunnel has been bored out so that most folk can fit, but no great experience, its just a tunnel.

IIRC, the tour takes 60 to 90 mins then as long as you like to wander, souvenir-shop, fire rifles, chill over a beer.

 

By speedboat.

There seem to be several options now, on well-constructed websites, so you should find it a lot easier than we did. You also know your numbers, which simplifies things.

We contacted http://www.bluecruiser.com/about-bluecruiser because on the web they were offering seat-in-boat, but they had actually stopped that service. We ended up negotiating a charter of a bluecruiser boat with a tour operator - sorry, his web and e-mail address disappeared when my old computer crashed, but no great loss cos I wouldn't recommend him anyway, he was hard work.:rolleyes:

So you're better to start from scratch, by googling "speedboat Cu Chi".

 

A few things to bear in mind:

Our trip was from the small-boats jetty close to the city centre (Saigon River Express on googlemap) to the tunnels, then a three minute walk from river to tunnels entrance. One website mentions a trip by speedboat and bus :confused:, so give that one a miss.

We arranged to be back at the boat 2hrs 15 after arriving, which was ideal.

 

On the return journey we had stops at

- Thu Dau Mot 20 mins, grubby fish market but an eyeopener.

- A riverside terrace-bar, with alligators in cages. Drivers idea (I think he gets a commission ;)) but a pleasant 15 min break

- the tourist "village" (more like a park) of Binh Quoi. Interesting, attractive & immaculate gardens, much-used by weddings - there were half a dozen while we were there. We had about 30 mins, we'd have happily spent a couple of hours.

 

We paid about $400 for the boat, no drinks, food etc. Our boat had seating for about 14. We were 8, & there were 4 open-air seats at the front & four open-air seats at the stern, ideal. The price would've been a little lower for fewer & presumably a little higher for more than 8.

A few days before, after we e-mailed a reminder, we were persuaded to add return van transport from ship to jetty for an extra $50. Turns out we could've flagged down 2 or 3 taxis for about $10 total, but with flagging confidence it was a boost to see the van waiting for us in the port.

 

We paid nothing until we got back to the jetty, and paid in USD, with a decent tip to the very amenable driver.

 

Your arrangements are unlikely to be identical, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what can be done, and the sort of money involved (January 2010)

 

Brilliant experience, well worth the effort.

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=B%E1%BA%BFn+Nh%C3%A0+R%E1%BB%93ng,+Nguy%E1%BB%85n+T%E1%BA%A5t+Th%C3%A0nh,+H%E1%BB%93+Ch%C3%AD+Minh,+Vi%E1%BB%87t+Nam&daddr=Unknown+road+to:T%C3%B4n+%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c+Th%E1%BA%AFng+to:Rex+Hotel,+Nguy%E1%BB%85n+Hu%E1%BB%87,+Ho+Chi+Minh+City,+Vietnam+to:B%C3%ACnh+Qu%E1%BB%9Bi+to:B%E1%BA%A1ch+%C4%90%E1%BA%B1ng+to:Trung+An&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=10.862304,106.729431&spn=0.445739,0.735397&sll=10.833011,106.742177&sspn=0.027862,0.045962&geocode=FY9PpAAddDdcBiF1rKtfi7Ph2ynZzWIWQi91MTF1rKtfi7Ph2w%3BFf_aowAdn8BcBg%3BFdxqpAAd-DZcBg%3BFSxspAAdKSJcBiFItRm11SfhyinblU-eRy91MTFItRm11Sfhyg%3BFQ1OpQAd6MhcBg%3BFeKIpwAdxllbBg%3BFdw2qAAdgXVaBg&oq=C%E1%BB%A7+Chi,+Ho+Chi+Minh+City,+Vietnam&mra=dme&mrsp=4&sz=15&t=m&z=11

 

A Ben Nha Rong berth

 

B Lotus Port

 

C Speedboat jetty

 

D city centre

 

E Bihn Quoi

 

F Thu Dau Mot

 

G (vaguely) Cu Chi tunnels

 

ignore the blue line

 

 

 

JB

[Riverobsessed]

Can we take you with us? I sooo appreciate your thoughtful suggestions and explanations, John. After your first email on the topic, I did research speadboat Cuchi Tunnels and reviewed Saigon River Express: Our new 10 metre speed boats hold 30 but we don't book more than 15, usually only 10 - $69.00 per person, pick up at your choice of location in Saigon at 7:00 a.m. drop off at 1:30, includes guide, breakfast and lunch on board. Pay only when you do the tour. I think that's more than what you paid but it's a couple of years later. I will now check those you recommend above and compare.

 

And BTW, I don't have a group yet. I'm just speculating that we can get 8-10 people together. My roll call is a bit slow going but then again we don't sail until Feb/13 so cruisers might not be willing to commit yet, especially because Azamara doesn't put out their excursions until 4 months before sailing. In addition Azamara is offering a 50% discount on all shore excursions booked online so many will likely wait to see if that's better value. Thanks again.