HOW TO FIND WHERE THE SHIP DOCKS?

[AliceandRalph]

We are travelling on the Feb 29 Hong Kong- Singapore and a few stops have more than one possible location to dock, is there a site that will list exact docking locations?  I am wondering about Halong Bay, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang which have access to closer docking areas for smaller ships possibly?

Also we are in Halong Bay for one day so we need to choose between Hanoi and a cruise on the bay, has anyone done both and can recommend one over the other?  Does the new highway really shorten the drive into Hanoi?

 

[adoctor]

Seabourn usually dock in the centre of Saigon(as the locals call it).About two blocks from the city centre.Bigger ships have to use the Container port.A shuttle bus is provided. Be sure to be up early for the sail in up the Saigon River. There is so much going on.In my view this is one of the top sail ins /out on any  Seabourn itinerary.

In Danang its the container port. Bus available but here you should do a trip to Hoi An.

In Halong Bay the views are spectacular and if the fog clears it should be stunning. We have never done the bus trip to Hanoi as its a very long way with more time on the bus than in the city.

Its a great trip overall  and you will enjoy.

Only down side is that the South China Sea can be a rough.

 

[rols]

+1 for adoctor's reply. The location the ship docks in Ho Chi Minh is *amazing* and one of the benefits of sailing Seabourn, you could walk off the ship and into the heart of the city. Da Nang is the container port, there's a shuttle into town but I can't recommend the centre of Da Nang it's nothing much, take a tour to Hoi An or similar. 

 

I will just preface this by saying we were on the Odyssey class ships and I believe this year the itinerary is with the Ovation/Encore class however they are within a few feet either way the same length and beam so I'm very sure you will be docking in the heart of Ho Chi Minh. Enjoy it, it was the highlight of the trip for us. 

[frantic36]

We did the Ovation this January and we still docked in the city in Ho Chi Minh.

 

In Bangkok it was in Klang Toey which is 1.5-2 hours out of the city so we visited the Sanctuary of Truth which was only ~30 minutes away. We have been to Bangkok before. 

 

Danang we were in Tien Sa port which is close for Hoi An and Marble Mountain which we enjoyed a lot.

 

We did the kayak and tour boat lunch. The lunch was fine for us but we are used to basic Asian food, though some in our group didn't enjoy it. The kayaking and the boat tour was great and we and our friends overall had a great day. 

 

I have never done the trip to Hanoi because my partner and I are not happy with doing such a long bus trip. We will get there one day but on a land trip.

 

Julie

[2SailingNomads]

We were on the cruise after frantic36 (wish we had done the prior one...) and in Da Nang we went to a beach, what was used by the US military during the Vietnam War for R&R.  One word of advice, we found the local rep who was in the Square the morning we arrived at Da Nang to be totally useless, in fact she sent us the wrong way to get to the beach (based on her "advice" we mistakenly took the shuttle in to town, across the river, when the beach was 1/2 way in to town).  So if going out on your own, I suggest not relying on the info from the "local rep", at least in Da Nang.  

 

In Halong Bay we did the ship's junk tour, it was OK, food was mediocre but the cruise around the bay, especially as the fog cleared was good.  Very scenic and the junk picked you up and dropped you off, even though we were docked from the tender platform, which was convenient.  I wish we had an overnight in Halong Bay.

[AnnieO2019]

10 hours ago, adoctor said:

 

Only down side is that the South China Sea can be a rough.

 

I am a bit concerned by this last comment - how rough are we talking? 🙁or 🤢?
 

we are also doing this cruise in January

[2SailingNomads]

Was pretty smooth last February.

[Isklaar]

5 hours ago, AnnieO2019 said:

I am a bit concerned by this last comment - how rough are we talking? 🙁or 🤢?
 

we are also doing this cruise in January

 

We had  4 days of quite rough seas and cool rainy weather in late December/early January this year. For many guests the first two days were 🤢. 

However, the wider area was being battered by a tropical storm, we got caught up outside of it. 

We did the same cruise in March 2014 and seas were calm generally, we just had a slightly rough sea one day after leaving Ho Chi Minh.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Isklaar

[Chairsin]

And we experienced force 10 gale winds from Hong Kong to Halong Bay as we passed through the Straits of Hainan in December a few years ago. Quite honestly the roughest weather we have ever encountered in 18 years of Seabourn cruising. Worse than our experiences in the Bay of Biscay, North Sea and Drake’s Passage.  

[Isklaar]

3 minutes ago, Chairsin said:

And we experienced force 10 gale winds from Hong Kong to Halong Bay as we passed through the Straits of Hainan in December a few years ago. Quite honestly the roughest weather we have ever encountered in 18 years of Seabourn cruising. Worse than our experiences in the Bay of Biscay, North Sea and Drake’s Passage.  

 

You just reminded me, on our 2014 cruise on that exact same leg as you we had unpleasant seas too. 

[Chairsin]

I don’t know about your cruise Isklaar ( I think ours was a few years before yours on one of the little ships, the Spirit) but when we went to dinner that evening the room was pretty empty. It was like sailing on a ghost ship. But by the next morning in Halong Bay the seas were calm. And as the day wore on more and more passengers started appearing on deck to take in the ethereal scenery. 

[Isklaar]

39 minutes ago, Chairsin said:

I don’t know about your cruise Isklaar ( I think ours was a few years before yours on one of the little ships, the Spirit) but when we went to dinner that evening the room was pretty empty. It was like sailing on a ghost ship. But by the next morning in Halong Bay the seas were calm. And as the day wore on more and more passengers started appearing on deck to take in the ethereal scenery. 

 

Indeed, we were on Sojourn. Not the worst seas I've experienced, but enough to cause me to feel rather queasy. Thankfully it only lasted for a few hours.

[AliceandRalph]

Thank you everyone for the feedback.   We have been on the Ovation and the smaller ships Odyssey and Legend ,the Ovation is much more stable.  ( not even going to think about gale force winds though!)