RSSC Beijing to Bangkok March 2014

[Calicokat]

Would love some insight/ info. Regarding which shore excursions to take and perhaps which to avoid on this cruise. There are so many to choose from. I realize this might be a bit subjective, but I'm hoping someone has been on this cruise and can offer some advice. I have sailed with Regent before and notice that some excursions are identical except for a lunch here or there. I don't mind paying an extra fee for a better excursion.

[toseaornottosea]

My wife and I were on this cruise this past March. Most of our excursions we booked our own private guides. We did go on the RSSC Halong Bay excursion and the Mekong Delta 6 passenger excursion. Recommend both of those at the very least. Don't bother with Halong Bay Countryside.

[Calicokat]

My wife and I were on this cruise this past March. Most of our excursions we booked our own private guides. We did go on the RSSC Halong Bay excursion and the Mekong Delta 6 passenger excursion. Recommend both of those at the very least. Don't bother with Halong Bay Countryside.

Thank you for your helpful info! Halong Bay and Mekong look good.

[1982CruzStart]

We were also on the cruise this past March. I agree wholeheartedly with toseaornottosea. Ha Long Bay cruise at that stop and the Mekong Delta tour out of Saigon are not to be missed. Also agree with the one to miss.

 

I would add the tour to the Grand Palace & Emerald Buddha in Bangkok - one of the highlights for us. We also really enjoyed the Insight into the Heart of Hong Kong. The walking tour through the streets of Hong Kong was very interesting. One couple we met absolutely raved about the Lantau Island Monastery tour to the extent I was wishing we had done that one as well.

 

We enjoyed all our tours with Regent but the above are the ones I can really recommend.

 

Fantastic cruise so hope you enjoy it as much as we did. We added an extra day in Beijing and traveled to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors. I can't say enough about how glad we were that we did that. Unless you will be getting back to China I definitely advise you to take advantage of being in the area. I also hope that you don't have any propulsion issue like we did that caused us to miss a day in Xiamen and some tours in Shanghai.

[Calicokat]

Thank you for your reply. I've decided on the following:

Beijing: 3 day pre-cruise with RSSC.

Seoul S.K: Seoul Highlights

Shanghai: Watertown of Zhujiajiao, Shanghai Delight and Shanghai by Night.

Xiamen : ?

Hong Kong: Lantau island Monastery, Insight into the heart of Hong Kong and

Hong Kong by Night.

Hanoi: cruise the Monoliths

Ho Chi Minh City: Mekong Delta

Bangkok : Grand Palace and The Emerald Buddha.

We are staying and extra 3 days on our own and will certainly see as much as possible, including shows and shopping before returning home happily exhausted!

Can't wait!

[forevertravel]

We also were on this cruise this past March. All our tours were very good. We did the one day in Hanoi. It was a long day but worth it because that was probably the only time we would see Hanoi. We did the Saigon by night and in my opinion it was worth every penny we paid. It was a wonderful tour. We also did Shanghai by night and it was very good. We did inside Hong Kong and it was good also. We took the Hong Kong at night and Victoria'sPeak at night

was beautiful. We also did Cucchi Tunnels in Saigon. Again, all the tours were very good. We had between 20 and 30 people in our group and very good tour guides. This is a wonderful cruise.

[Calicokat]

This is wonderful info. So glad I posted! Looks like we are going to be pretty busy day AND night! Thank you for your insight.

[Nitrodog]

Thank you for your reply. I've decided on the following:

Beijing: 3 day pre-cruise with RSSC.

Seoul S.K: Seoul Highlights

Shanghai: Watertown of Zhujiajiao, Shanghai Delight and Shanghai by Night.

Xiamen : ?

Hong Kong: Lantau island Monastery, Insight into the heart of Hong Kong and

Hong Kong by Night.

Hanoi: cruise the Monoliths

Ho Chi Minh City: Mekong Delta

Bangkok : Grand Palace and The Emerald Buddha.

We are staying and extra 3 days on our own and will certainly see as much as possible, including shows and shopping before returning home happily exhausted!

Can't wait!

 

Calicokat,

We too are on this cruise with you. Check out the Roll Call that has been started. As far as Hong Kong is concerned, I don't think you can fit the three excursions in. Lantau Monistary is only available on March 30th at 8:30 am.

 

Insight into heart of Hong Kong is only available on March 29th @ 1:30pm but won't return to the ship until 5:30pm. The Hong Kong by night tour leaves the ship at 5pm.

 

We wanted to do the night tour as well but from what I can tell, the only way to do it means you don't take a tour the afternoon of March 29th. I had Regent email me a pdf of the tours so I could see what time the tours were scheduled.

[forevertravel]

During this cruise in March we arrived in Hong Kong around 1pm and left at 11pm the following day. We had to skip Xiamen due to propulsion problems with Voyager. On the day we arrived we went by ourselves into Hong Kong (using Regent' shuttle buses) and returned for dinner and Hong Kong at night tour. The tour was very nice and they served drinks and appetizers at restaurant on top of Victoria's peak. The following day we did a tour of Hong Kong in the morning and took the Star Ferry to Kowloon in the afternoon. You will probably dock at new terminal in Kowloon. We docked away from center of city in Hong Kong. There were two other ships at Kowloon terminal (not the new one...this one has berths for several ships) so we had to use shuttles to get into center of city (on our own). This was a memorable cruise and we loved all the ports. The tours were very good and the guides were good too.

[Travel2Learn]

Where is the new Kowloon terminal?

[PaulaJK]

At the old airport, I believe. I will miss the easy access of the mall location.

[jhp]

PaulaJK is correct, it's at the old airport http://www.discoverhongkong.com/cruise/eng/terminals_Kai_Tak.jsp

 

While on this cruise as well, I have no idea where we will embark.

[flossie009]

Hi Calicokat,

Looks like we will be on some of the same tours together. It will be good to meet up - as long as there is no shopping involved.:rolleyes:

See you in Beijing

flossie