What to do in Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam ??

[Kiwi_cruiser]

We have not been to Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam before.

 

Any suggestions on what to do their? Anything you would recommend doing?

 

Any information would be great! As this is our first time to Phu My.

[John Bull]

We have not been to Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam before.

 

Any suggestions on what to do their? Anything you would recommend doing?

 

Any information would be great! As this is our first time to Phu My.

 

Phu My is a fairly new cruise port, it replaces Vung Tau but it's still some way (1.5 to 2 hrs?) from Saigon. Can't advise re Phu My to Saigon, but I get the impression its a journey best organised in advance via ship's transfer or a personally-recommended private operator.

Once in Saigon (officially its now Ho Chi Minh City but only officialdom calls it that), all the main sights (Re-unification Hall, Ho Chi Minh museum, War Remnants museum, Notre Dame & the adjacent Post Office, Ben Thanh market) are easily walkable.

Consider an overnite hotel in the city, saves doubling up on the journey, spend an evening in the city, & hotels & eating out are cheap, huge choice.

Try to fit in a water puppet show, such as http://www.goldendragonwaterpuppet.com/

 

JB :)

[Kinkacruiser]

We have not been to Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam before.

 

Any suggestions on what to do their? Anything you would recommend doing?

 

Any information would be great! As this is our first time to Phu My.

 

Why not join one of the 2 groups on our roll call thread (Anna's or Yvonne's) for a city tour there?

[newfarmers]

Hi there

 

Phu My is a container port and there's nothing outside that you can walk to. We had originally been scheduled to dock at Vung Tau and had booked the hydrofoil up to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh. The night before we noticed we were actually going much further up the river to Phu My. We managed to score seats on a ship's excursion (we never take them) to Saigon and we actually had a good day. It's a long drive into the city but the city itself was very interesting.

 

Loved the sail back down the Mekong as the sun set. Quite beautiful.

Good suggestion to join a tour with fellow cruisers on your roll call.

 

Pete

[lanikeekee]

Phu My is as said a container porhttp://boards.cruisecritic.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=34925741Phu My port is very primative with the roads leading out still under construction....take the ship tour into Siagon as it is 1 and a half hours minimum to the city and you do not want to miss the ship.

We caught the ships bus and the walked around Siagon...we did the War Remnants Museum...very confronting and not for the faint hearted...we also walked pass the Reunification Palace...didn't go in as we didn't have much time...we also did the markets...this was great fun and bought some incredibly cheap pearls...we also went to the Rex Hotel roof top bar and had a drink there....the fun part about Siagon was just walking around...so much to see and unfortunately due to the distance from Phu My to the city we just didn't have a lot of time....hope you enjoy yourself like we did :)

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Consider an overnite hotel in the city, saves doubling up on the journey, spend an evening in the city, & hotels & eating out are cheap, huge choice.

 

We only have the day in Phu My, as we are on a cruise :)

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Why not join one of the 2 groups on our roll call thread (Anna's or Yvonne's) for a city tour there?

 

If they are not all booked out by the time we decide what we want to do!, then we may do that :)

 

I just want to research what else their is to do here since we have never been to Phu My before.

[barante]

but we'll be on the Costa Victoria visiting HCM in November. For the first time in more than 15 cruises, I took the ship's tour. This port is faraway and seems to be difficult. The prices the approved transporters charge seem to run from expensive to outrageous. Unless you plan ahead, you may be blackmailed if you want to get back to your ship in time.

[Earl Rosebery]

If they are not all booked out by the time we decide what we want to do!, then we may do that :)

 

I just want to research what else their is to do here since we have never been to Phu My before.

 

There is nothing to do in PhuMy. You need to get to Saigon. There you will visit the market, the presidential palace, the Rex hotel, a temple or 2, the cathedral and central post office and if you are interested in 'The american War' from the Vietnamese point of view, the war remnants museum. Try dungzoom@gmail.com for a great guide.

[lanikeekee]

There is nothing to do in PhuMy. You need to get to Saigon. There you will visit the market, the presidential palace, the Rex hotel, a temple or 2, the cathedral and central post office and if you are interested in 'The american War' from the Vietnamese point of view, the war remnants museum. Try dungzoom@gmail.com for a great guide.

I am with you...there is nothing in PhuMy...normally I don't mind staying in a port but this has no infrastructure...you will need to travel outside of PhuMy.....if you don't want to go to Siagon try Vung Tau :)

[estebofarr]

Do I need a guide in Saigon or can I use a map or other structured guide?

[Earl Rosebery]

Do I need a guide in Saigon or can I use a map or other structured guide?

A guide is well worth it. Traffic is difficult. You will see a lot more.

[John Bull]

We only have the day in Phu My, as we are on a cruise :)

 

Most cruises overnite in port to give folks two days in Saigon.;)

But Diamond Princess at the end of October is quoted as a single day in port, 7am to 6pm.

So time will be your enemy.:(

But you can still visit those main sights in a day, on a shared tour or by using the ship's transfer bus & doing your own thing on foot, it's all pretty compact.

 

JB :)

[movc]

Be careful with your timings if you want to see the War Remnants Museum or Reunification Hall since they close for about 2 hours during lunchtime.

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Thank You everyone for your replays and information, very useful! :)

[Kiwi Kruzer]

from the Diamond Princess bridge cam...arriving at the container dock at Phu My...

and that is all there is at Phu My....

 

 

 

 

[Dennis75]

We just booked a nice excursion for the port of Phu My (see below). We do a tour in the Mekong Delta with Best Cruises. If you want to join us (28 th of january 2013 with Ms Volendam) you can send the tourguide an email sales@toursmekong.com The name of the tourguide is Stephen.

 

Day 1: Saigon – Mekong River Cruise (Lunch)

09h00 - Our guide and driver will pick up you at Phu My port and we will drive to My Tho, the capital of Tien Giang Province 172 km from Phu My Port. You will take time to visit Vinh Trang pagoda, the most beautiful pagoda of the province with mixture structure of many styles.

Then take a boat trip round 4 beautiful islets: Dragon, Unicorn, Phoenix, and Tortoise. These evergreen islands among the Mekong River still remain unknown to many people. You will discover beautiful landscapes along the river and observe the typical Mekong delta rural life. Stops on the way can be made upon request for particular visits or photos making. Visit traditional house at Quoi An village (all make from coconut). See coconut collection set and how locals make handicrafts from trunk and shell, you can see that they waste nothing, coconut even useful from wedding to funeral.

Enjoy seasonal fruit and listening to traditional music. Take horse cart on village path and stop at Ben Truc orchard, taste honey with tea or Mekong whisky (they have a funny rule for you to get in). Take rowing-boat on water palm creek. Take boat to visit coconut candy mill (special product of Ben Tre province). We will back the ship at 20h00 – 20h30.

 

We offer: $125/pp

Group 4 – 6 Pax

 

Tour Included:

+ Private Car with aircon transfer

+ Private tour guide speak English.

+ Private Boat in Mekong

+ Mineral water as the trip.

+ Ticket for entrance fee

+ Permit dock

+ Lunch

 

Please let us now if you booked with Best Cruise

[barante]

We visited Saigon on the Costa Victoria in November. We have been on more than 17 cruises and have never taken a ship's tour. This time we did and I am so glad we did.

 

Vietnam was one of two high points of our month-long cruise; Shanghai was the other.

 

It turned out -- and this we did not know -- that in addition to the prebooked 59 euros pp. tour, Costa offered a 7 euro roundtrip shuttle from the port to central Saigon. There is no arguing economics but had we chosen that el cheapo option, which surely has its uses, our experience would not have been as memorable as it turned out to be.

 

Costa's tour was conducted by Saigontourist, the Vietnam government's huge tourism agency. As far as I am concerned it was exactly what we needed.

 

During the 40-minute drive from the port, the guide gave us a comprehensive and accurate rundown on Vietnam's history. He chose to mention one point which is not often mentioned -- that during the Japanese invasion, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today's CIA, aided Ho Chi Minh. The break came only after the French recclaimed Indochina.

 

In a short time we saw

 

-- the Temple of Sea Goddess in Cholon, the most picturesque Taoist temple we have ever seen. It was a photographer's dream.

 

-- the national museum where the the real attraction was a North Vietnamese water puppet show. Lots of people go to Hanoi for that; we saw that terrific piece of traditional folk art on our tour in Saigon.

 

-- a packed lacquerware factory, clearly a tourist trap, albeit a nice onee

 

When I booked the tour I had no idea it would include the next. We were taken to the Majestic Hotel, a restored art deco masterpiece on the Saigon River. There on the top floor, while folk artists performed, we had an incredible Vietnamese buffet lunch (soda or domestic beer included). We had time to linger on in the open air bar, watch the traffic on the river. This was the same vantage point that Graham Greene describes in The Quiet American, the best book written about Vietnam.

 

Afterward we headed for the monumental center of Saigon. I am not sure that many other participants got it but I sure did. Our young guide pointed landmarks. Rex Hotel, where the five-o'clock follies (Pentagon briefings) took place during the Vietnam war; Caravelle, where American correspondents stayed; Continental, another landmark of Graham Greene lore. Each was in superior condition. Rue Catinat has been renamed; he explained which street it was.

 

With his iPad loaded with war-time photos, the young guide showed what various squares and buildings looked some four decades ago. Suddenly, all the all television footage came to life. I saw where the Buddhist monks ooured gasoline over themselves and burned themselves; I saw the CIA station in the famous photo that shows one of the final evacuations during the war, an airlift from the rooftop. The building is now dwarfed by near-skyscraper buildings.

 

From there we headed to the French cathedral, which was built with bricks imported from Marseille; the remarkable fin du siecle Central Post Ofice designed by Eiffel, the Paris tower man. Our final destination was the Central Market, where there was enough time to do shopping or return to some of the central buildings we had seen.

 

A great day! The tour provided all bottled water one could drink and asked us to take some back to the ship too (where Costa scanners let it through). We also got Saigontourist baseball caps.

 

Here is my overall trip report http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1730507

[happyglobetrotter]

I recommend Thi at smiletours.com Her email thi_travel@yahoo.com

 

Excellent guide with perfect English and extremely pleasant. Ask for the cyclo tour in Chinatown, you will not believe your eyes ! We used her services twice and were delighted. It will cost you less that the ship transfer and you will have transportation once arrived in Ho Chi min city which is quite spread out and it will be hot and humid. She will also include lunch.:)

[has been]

Hi,

 

I was at Phu My in 2011 with Holland & Americas' Amsterdam & thought it looked a long way to Saigon so decide to take the ships tour to Vung Tau. On the coast not so far away & a pleasant surprise. A very nice Museum in an old palace on a hillside. A Budhist temple & a couple of other spots on the sea shore. Fist time I had ever seen ladies bathing wearing the conical hats.

 

If I was at that port again I would consider going back there on my own & just wander around. A taxi with a few others might be a reasonable option for that.

 

Will be on another cruise starting January ( Oceania Nautica ) that actually stops in downtown Saigon.

 

Steve

[banditoo]

Thanks for the feedback about options other than Saigon. Really not sure that I would want to travel all the distance to go into a big city. Seeing a bit more of the rural life seems more appealing.