Margaret Rees Posted February 21, 2020 #451 Share Posted February 21, 2020 News from friend on board the ship.Apparently they are skipping Cambodia tomorrow due to Coronavirus and going to Vietnam for 2 days instead . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 21, 2020 #452 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Oh, lucky them. It makes the long sail to Vietnam worth it to spend two days there. It was rough seas when we went. Keith is very quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickg8 Posted February 21, 2020 #453 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I'm on board now. The announcement was that Malaysia has banned all cruise ships that have visited Cambodia in the last 14 days. So obviously better to lose Sihanoukville than 5 Malaysian ports. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 21, 2020 #454 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Definitely, I would have done the whole cruise just with Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Just a side issue, we were horrified at the amount of plastic rubbish bobbing about in the sea around Malaysia and when we did the beach trip in Vietnam the strong tide there had washed mile upon mile of plastic, including bottles, cartons and straws, onto the beach as well as the usual fishing nets. On the beach at Koh Samui I had to drag a large tangled mess from the sea and a jagged broken bottle sticking up out of the sand on the water line. Sad to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian1 Posted February 21, 2020 #455 Share Posted February 21, 2020 2 hours ago, ekco said: Definitely, I would have done the whole cruise just with Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Just a side issue, we were horrified at the amount of plastic rubbish bobbing about in the sea around Malaysia and when we did the beach trip in Vietnam the strong tide there had washed mile upon mile of plastic, including bottles, cartons and straws, onto the beach as well as the usual fishing nets. On the beach at Koh Samui I had to drag a large tangled mess from the sea and a jagged broken bottle sticking up out of the sand on the water line. Sad to see. Malaysia has just refused the UK's plastic for processing.Hopefully they'll sort out their own back yard.I doubt it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 21, 2020 #456 Share Posted February 21, 2020 That Extinction Rebellion lot want to go over there and lecture them. I hung over the rail for an hour leaving ports in Malaysia and lost count of the plastic bottles bobbing by the ship, not to mention small pieces of plastic and even large crates. One of the guides in Langkawi told us that locals just dump their rubbish outside and when the monsoons comes it just washes away into the sea. There was an awful lot of rubbish around, especially next to roadside cafes, which surprised us as we thought Malaysia was very strict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian1 Posted February 22, 2020 #457 Share Posted February 22, 2020 8 hours ago, ekco said: That Extinction Rebellion lot want to go over there and lecture them. I hung over the rail for an hour leaving ports in Malaysia and lost count of the plastic bottles bobbing by the ship, not to mention small pieces of plastic and even large crates. One of the guides in Langkawi told us that locals just dump their rubbish outside and when the monsoons comes it just washes away into the sea. There was an awful lot of rubbish around, especially next to roadside cafes, which surprised us as we thought Malaysia was very strict. They probably are in the "posh" bits.India is building a high brick wall around the slums for Donalds visit.That will cure the problem ,lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 22, 2020 #458 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Walls do seem to be a recurring feature.😁 All quiet from the ship, all this fuss about the cruise ship in Japan when we were allowed to walk right through Manchester airport and disperse without any temperature checks. Unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southendweather Posted February 22, 2020 #459 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Okay, Cambodia we have had to miss. The Malaysian authorities stipulated that any ship that dock in Cambodia will be refused entry to Malaysia for 14 days. We believe one of the ships that was being denied access to many ports because it had been to some of the 'hot' virus locations, docked at Sihanoukville, Cambodia. We totally understand the Captains decision. £25 compensation each, plus we won't get charged the £23 visa fee. So from Thailand, a day at sea then arrive at Vietnam about 12 noon, stay over night and then a full day. Malacca is back on the itinerary, so things really we have got off lightly with everything else going on. Keith (Southend) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southendweather Posted February 22, 2020 #460 Share Posted February 22, 2020 20 hours ago, rickg8 said: I'm on board now. The announcement was that Malaysia has banned all cruise ships that have visited Cambodia in the last 14 days. So obviously better to lose Sihanoukville than 5 Malaysian ports. Ah ha, just spotted this... Lovely weather today on the ship isn't it Keith (Southend) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 22, 2020 #461 Share Posted February 22, 2020 It’s not lovely weather here that’s for sure. Howling wind AGAIN. We have kept away from people as much as we could do, we are fine having taken face masks and used First Defence nasal spray while near crowds but were sat in between two rows of people coughing the whole way home. An enormous jumbo jet sent to bring just over 30 people home last night, where are the other 40? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie Doe Posted February 22, 2020 #462 Share Posted February 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Southendweather said: Ah ha, just spotted this... Lovely weather today on the ship isn't it Keith (Southend) Ref Sihanoukville. We were on Discovery on 23/03/2019. I took just one photo of the harbour and stayed on board - nuff said 🙂 The next port Phu My for Ho Chi on 25th March, was a different kettle of fish. I did Vung Tau Views and Theresa did CU Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta trip - great fun, loadsa pics. Regards Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 22, 2020 #463 Share Posted February 22, 2020 We did the Vung Tau beach day and wish that we had cancelled as they cut out the temple and Christ the Redeemer stops due to “negative feedback” as they put it. After lunch, and tiring of the sunbeds due to being blasted by the wind and sand, we walked across the road bridge and spotted Christ the Redeemer in the distance. Our coach didn’t go back that way but we did get the opportunity to see it lit up in the dark as we sailed away past the resort outbound, it is the very last headland before the open sea. Binoculars are helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie Doe Posted February 22, 2020 #464 Share Posted February 22, 2020 3 hours ago, ekco said: We did the Vung Tau beach day and wish that we had cancelled as they cut out the temple and Christ the Redeemer stops due to “negative feedback” as they put it. After lunch, and tiring of the sunbeds due to being blasted by the wind and sand, we walked across the road bridge and spotted Christ the Redeemer in the distance. I visited 2 temples on the Vung Tau trip, one was Dinh Than Thang Tam dedicated to the whales. Can't remember the name of the other one. The coach stopped close to the statue, the guide said "it takes about 30 minutes to climb up to it." There were no takers LOL. We did 'the real thing' about 10 weeks ago, when the Costa Fascinosa stopped at Rio. No climbing involved, unless you count the cable cars up to the statue, via Sugarloaf :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolky1 Posted February 22, 2020 #465 Share Posted February 22, 2020 I have booked this! Is this the trip where you do the beach club in the afternoon? Is it not worth it? Can you change once you booked if u change your mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 22, 2020 #466 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Yes, you can change up to 24 hours before. Not sure if it’s the same one as we were there most of the day. It’s basically a patch of sand by the side of a restaurant with a pool just above the beach. Lunch was nice but I got bored after an hour as I can’t lie on a sunbed for long, we arrived about 10.30 and left about 2.30. I don’t know why but I thought it was attached to a hotel with extra facilities, it isn’t. After lunch a wind got up and blasted us with sand. On leaving that evening we could see the bright lights of the actual Vung Tau resort and that looked a better option for a trip as the beach we were at was on the other side of the hill that Christ the Redeemer was on. Depends if you like sunbeds really, we had them on our balcony and that was enough. We did regret not cancelling when we had the opportunity. My big tip would be to get small amounts of the local currency of countries you want to visit, we didn’t and found difficulties especially in Thailand where we had to find money change kiosks. Even changing 30 US dollars we needed our passport details, photocopy is ok. Talking of temple steps we did the Hindu temple one with hundreds of steps. Ouch! Actually coming down was more difficult as the locals think nothing of leaving banana skins on the steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolky1 Posted February 22, 2020 #467 Share Posted February 22, 2020 I have booked this! Is this the trip where you do the beach club in the afternoon? Is it not worth it? Can you change once you booked if u change your mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolky1 Posted February 22, 2020 #468 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Was it the imperial Hotel.?it certainly makes it sound like you have full run of the facilities? That's not good will def look at other options.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracy.d1964 Posted February 22, 2020 #469 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Does anyone have any updates for the colours of Far East sailing on the 12th March 2020? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 22, 2020 #470 Share Posted February 22, 2020 Here is a photo of the beach day at Vang Tau. Also the Batu Caves at Kuala Lumpur with the hundreds of steps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekco Posted February 22, 2020 #471 Share Posted February 22, 2020 No, the Imperial hotel was right across the busy main road. You can see the larger part of the hotel here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southendweather Posted February 23, 2020 #472 Share Posted February 23, 2020 In Vietnam now 🇻🇳 The sea is a little choppy, caused by the NE trade winds, blew a gale last night, but never cold. Sunny, clear and hot here at Phu My ☀️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southendweather Posted February 23, 2020 #473 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Took a while to get connected but using my Three data allowance here at Vietnam 👍🇻🇳🥃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolky1 Posted February 23, 2020 #474 Share Posted February 23, 2020 10 hours ago, ekco said: No, the Imperial hotel was right across the busy main road. You can see the larger part of the hotel here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolky1 Posted February 23, 2020 #475 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Any body advise of what to do in Vietnam? Don't like being part of large tours wandering round. Don't really what to be on a coach for hrs either.. Are advise appreciated thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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