Can you recommend a guide book?

[sjf]

Are there any guide books which give details of the ports of call in Asia? We had a good Frommers guide for the Caribbean ports and a Rick Steve's book for the Mediterranean, but I haven't been able to find anything for Asia which is specifically aimed at cruisers.

[JoAnneV]

I couldn't find anything either. The Frommer's books were pretty good for the sights. I thought Lonely Planet had too much detail for the short time we had.

[sjf]

I couldn't find anything either. The Frommer's books were pretty good for the sights. I thought Lonely Planet had too much detail for the short time we had.

 

Thanks. Maybe that's a book I should be writing if it doesn't exist ;) (after plenty of research, of course!).

 

Frommers are usually good. Did you buy one for each country? I don't have a Kindle so I figure that will add to the weight of my luggage quite a bit.

[Keith1010]

You can get the Asia Frommers Book.

 

Personally, I would start with the Internet. I used to purchase lots of books but now I make good use of the internet for the vast majority of our research.

 

Keith

[General Max]

Since cruises to Asia are somewhat new within the last few years, there is little written to go by. Several new ports are being added each year but there are nowhere near the number of cruises as there are to Alaska or the Caribbean ports.

[banditoo]

You could buy mini books for the specific ports you will be visiting as much of the info in the larger Frommers, Lonely Planet, Fodors etc. will be irrelevant to cruising. For our upcoming ports I bought a small pocket size Lonely Planet Beijing Encounter book, Footprints Focus for Ho Chi Minh City/Mekong Delta (a little larger than pocket size but very lightweight) and the DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Singapore book. Those 3 books combined are smaller than just one of the other Asia guidebooks.

 

I do loads of internet research and also read every hard copy travel book that I can find in our local library. I also download some to my kindle and then I always buy at least one favourite hard copy to keep in my reference library. There is something I like about an actual book on the shelf as a momento. We buy minimal souvenirs anymore, so I sort of think of the guide books as souvenirs.

[General Max]

You could buy mini books for the specific ports you will be visiting as much of the info in the larger Frommers, Lonely Planet, Fodors etc. will be irrelevant to cruising. For our upcoming ports I bought a small pocket size Lonely Planet Beijing Encounter book, Footprints Focus for Ho Chi Minh City/Mekong Delta (a little larger than pocket size but very lightweight) and the DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Singapore book. Those 3 books combined are smaller than just one of the other Asia guidebooks.

 

I do loads of internet research and also read every hard copy travel book that I can find in our local library. I also download some to my kindle and then I always buy at least one favourite hard copy to keep in my reference library. There is something I like about an actual book on the shelf as a momento. We buy minimal souvenirs anymore, so I sort of think of the guide books as souvenirs.

 

What is your favorite cruise line that you have traveled on? We prefer HAL.

[maryann ns]

These may not cover all your ports but check these out:

http://cruiseportwiki.com/

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/portguides.html

 

With these and other research you should be OK. You can also download individual chapters of LP guides and then just take what you need.

[Ashland]

Just thought I would add..although not a guide book..I found a great little paperback (used on Amazon) called "China Survival Guide" by Larry & Qin Herzberg...it was a fun read on the flight and had lots of good tips .

[banditoo]

These may not cover all your ports but check these out:

http://cruiseportwiki.com/

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/portguides.html

 

With these and other research you should be OK. You can also download individual chapters of LP guides and then just take what you need.

Tom doesn't seem to have any Asia port guides as of yet. The Wiki site does have some info similar to the port guides found here on cruise critic.

[JoAnneV]

Thanks. Maybe that's a book I should be writing if it doesn't exist ;) (after plenty of research, of course!).

 

Frommers are usually good. Did you buy one for each country? I don't have a Kindle so I figure that will add to the weight of my luggage quite a bit.

I bought Frommer's Viet Nam book and their Hong Kong and Singapore Day by Day books. I was pleased with the information in them. I bought the DK Top Ten book for Bangkok. I didn't like it as much, although we didn't have any time there on our own, so it wasn't an issue. Good luck with writing the book! It would be a good excuse for a few more trips to Asia and much needed!

[sjf]

I bought Frommer's Viet Nam book and their Hong Kong and Singapore Day by Day books. I was pleased with the information in them. I bought the DK Top Ten book for Bangkok. I didn't like it as much, although we didn't have any time there on our own, so it wasn't an issue. Good luck with writing the book! It would be a good excuse for a few more trips to Asia and much needed!

 

As we have 3 stops in Vietnam including an overnight, I think that is the book I will invest in. We have friends to show us around HK and Singapore and I can probably just get a thin Bangkok book if we decide to do that on our own, though we may just do a tour.

 

At Halong Bay, we have one and a half days. Was originally thinking of doing a one-day trip to Hanoi and then a half-day junk sail in Halong Bay the next half-day. But as Hanoi is so far from the port, we are now thinking of avoiding it altogether and doing a full-day Halong Bay cruise. Does anyone have any suggestions of what we could do just for the morning the following daY???