Have you done a ship excursion in Asia?

[sjf]

I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone who has done the Halong Countryside tour in Vietnam and the Elephant Village in Thailand with a ship's excursion.

 

We'll be going with Millennium next March.

 

Any great excursion recommendations, or things to see independently in Vietnam (Halong Bay, Danang, Saigon) and Thailand (Laem Chabang) also welcomed. Thanks.

[We're The Groupnors]

I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone who has done the Halong Countryside tour in Vietnam and the Elephant Village in Thailand with a ship's excursion.

 

We'll be going with Millennium next March.

 

Any great excursion recommendations, or things to see independently in Vietnam (Halong Bay, Danang, Saigon) and Thailand (Laem Chabang) also welcomed. Thanks.

 

Yes, we did the Halong Countryside and Shopping Tour on the second day of our Halong Bay stop, and the Junk tour the first, both through the ship. The Countryside and Shopping Tour took us a fairly long distance to a Buddhist Meditation Centre, which was lovely, then we visited a working farm, a small vendor's market back in Halong City, then stopped for a drink at a Halong City hotel before being dropped back at the ship tender. We quite enjoyed the tour, but if you choose to do it take snacks with you. The timing of the tour was odd, and because of this you essentially miss lunch.

 

In HCMC we did a private tour through Tiger Tours, and in Bangkok we did a private tour through BKK Tours, both of which we would recommend highly. In Bangkok we chose to stay overnight rather than go back and forth to the ship, and booked the hotel and spent the evening on our own.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[ent704]

We have been to Bangkok twice...the first time we went to the elephant village through the ship. It was slot of fun but expensive. The second time we rode elephants in party's on our own and it was even better and much cheaper. There is also a wonderful garden place/elephants/cultural show in pattaya that i strongly recommend....look up pattaya places of interest and I'm sure you will find it.