Shore Excursions in Asian ports

[choux choux]

We will be traveling on an Oceania Orient cruise with port stops in Danang ( Hue); Ho Chi Minh city, Bangkok, etc. How easy and safe is it to sign up for shore excursions right at the port when you disembark at the port in lieu of taking a ship-sponsored shore excursion?

[Ashland]

You have a 3rd option....Join your roll call and book with your fellow cruiser's on some private tours that they may have organized.

[Philob]

Or I would vet out a few tour operators online either here or on some place like TripAdvisor and book ahead.  You don't want to end up on the tour version of "Singapore Taxi Scam" a few threads down.

[Hoyaheel]

I'd either explore on my own or book something in advance (private, either solo or with others on Roll Call). I didn't actually get off at any port and grab a tour at the port. (for instance, in HCMC, we had 2 partial days in port. Day one we took the ship shuttle into town and explored on our own, had a ship's event that evening that they bussed us to, and the 2nd day we did a food tour we booked in advance.) In Bangkok, on day 1 we did a long private tour with 6 others from our roll call, and on Day 2 we took the ship's shuttle and explored on our own for a few hours (and got a foot massage!) before we had to be back on board and leaving port. Not sure how many ports have tour guides available - many are quite industrial.....

[dani negreanu]

16 hours ago, choux choux said:

We will be traveling on an Oceania Orient cruise with port stops in Danang ( Hue); Ho Chi Minh city, Bangkok, etc. How easy and safe is it to sign up for shore excursions right at the port when you disembark at the port in lieu of taking a ship-sponsored shore excursion?

 

You'll have to plan ahead. All are industrial ports, beside Halong Bay.

[Wanderingsascent]

We took the ship tranfer to Ho Chi Min and then toured on our own. In Bangkok we too a ship tour, it is a huge place.

[PetB]

Stating the obvious, but Asia isn't Europe.  Not only is the food different but

 

• often you won't be able to read basic information eg most people find the Thai script very hard going,
• most locals won't understand you,
• roads are rougher, narrower, crowded etc, meaning travel times are unpredictable,
• you can't travel from one country to another if you miss your ship and your passport is on it.

Having said that independent travel can be exciting, rewarding and a lot cheaper than anything offered by your cruise line.

 

A lot depends on where your ship actually berths and how long it's there for.

 

Our experience early last year:

 

Hue / Da Nang: Ship berthed at an industrial port about 60 km north of Da Nang.  Nothing to do there.  We organised a group of about 8 pax on the wharf and travelled on a minibus to Hoi An.  Paid in cash (Dong not $).  Got back to the ship in time.  Fantastic day.

 

Bangkok:  Ship berthed at Laem Chabang about 150 km or 2 hours from Bangkok.  Ship was there 2 nights.  We booked a hotel in Bangkok for two nights.  Took a ship excursion bus in and a hotel arranged transfer back.  Got to see a lot of things we wouldn't have had time to otherwise including River Kwai site.

 

Saigon: Took a shore excursion booked on the ship here as Saigon traffic is horrendous and we didn't want to swim to Singapore if we missed the ship.

 

Whatever you do:

• Carry a copy of your passport.
• Carry LOCAL cash in denominations no bigger than about $20.
• DO NOT leave the wharf without a piece of paper written in the local language that you can show a taxi driver to get you back to the ship.