Vietnam - Cai Lan Port

[JulieDI]

Hi, we'll be visiting Vietnam in January and will be docked overnight in Cai Lan Port.  Our first day we have a full day boat trip booked in Halong Bay.  Some of our group are doing the sea plane the next morning.  Our ship will depart 2pm the second day.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the remaining of us can do on our second day  bearing in mind the early departure?  Thank you.

[mom says]

Welcome to Cruise  Critic.  I would suggest looking for the Roll Call for your cruiseline and your specific sailing in the Roll Call section of the forum. Or have a look, and perhaps ask your question in the Asia Ports of Call board. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/43-asia/

[Host Kat]

5 hours ago, JulieDI said:

Hi, we'll be visiting Vietnam in January and will be docked overnight in Cai Lan Port.  Our first day we have a full day boat trip booked in Halong Bay.  Some of our group are doing the sea plane the next morning.  Our ship will depart 2pm the second day.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the remaining of us can do on our second day  bearing in mind the early departure?  Thank you.

 

Hello @JulieDI and welcome to the Cruise Critic message boards!

 

Thank you for your new thread on the Ask a Cruise Question forum! However, it is the forum for general questions regarding cruising. Your inquiry concerns a specific port of call and is off topic there.

 

To help you out your new thread has been moved to the Ports of Call - Asia forum where it will be on topic. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have been there frequent this forum and provide feedback here. Browse through the thread titles on this forum looking for threads of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you.

 

The Cruise Critic website and the message boards are both great resources for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are glad you have posted! Please feel free to browse the message board categories list for our various forums. Click here Cruise Critic Community. Please read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka Stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in most forums. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

And @mom says is correct about the Roll Call for your cruise. To find your fellow Cruise Critic members sailing with you on your cruise, you need to post on the specific Cruise Critic Roll Call thread for your line, ship and sail date. Since you did not mention your line, ship or sail date, I cannot refer you to the Roll Call thread for your cruise if one has already been created.

 

Please read What is a Roll Call? Everything you Need to Know and How To: Create A New Roll Call. For more information about our famous Roll Calls, please read the Roll Calls and Our Policy Regarding Facebook and Roll Calls sections in the Guidelines. We also have the following Cruise Critic article from last year you might enjoy: 8 Reasons to Join a Cruise Critic Roll Call

 

The specific Roll Call thread for your cruise is the ONLY place on the Cruise Critic message boards where you and your fellow Roll Call thread members are allowed to post personal ads about sharing private tours, excursions or transportation with each other to save money. There is a "captive audience" there since you are all sailing together! Your fellow Roll Call thread members may have important information posted in your Roll Call thread. Especially those that may have sailed your line, ship or itinerary before. Also, they may have already posted share requests that may interest you. Roll Calls are for people to get to know one another before their cruise. Therefore, there will be all kinds of discussion!

 

Once you locate the Roll Call thread for your specific line, ship and sail date if one is already created, first read through the whole thread to get to know the other Cruise Critic members sailing with you. Then use the dark blue Reply to this topic button to post an introductory post about yourself on the Roll Call thread. When done with your message, click the dark blue Submit Reply button. 

 

If you want to address a particular post already in the thread, be sure to use the Quote feature on that post as I did yours so all will be aware of what your post concerns. You type your message UNDER the light blue quote box then click the dark blue Submit Reply button. If the member has used the Follow feature on the thread, they will get a notification that you have quoted their post.

 

If a Roll Call thread for your specific line, ship & sail date has NOT been created, please feel free to create it! Just follow the directions in How To: Create A New Roll Call. Then sit back and wait for your fellow Cruise Critic members sailing with you to join in with posts. They will appreciate you starting the Roll Call! And don't worry about any responsibilities in starting a Roll Call thread. Roll Calls belong to everyone; there is no designated leader or owner. It does not matter who started the thread.

 

If you ever need technical help in regard to using the Cruise Critic message board software, go to the Need Help Using the Forums? Check Here! forum. You will see a large amount of "How to..." pinned threads toward the top of the forum's first page. Also, browse through the threads in the forum looking for threads of interest. Again, you will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you.

 

I sincerely hope this will be helpful to someone new to posting on our message boards. We are glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

 

 

[John Bull]

Good move to book a full-day (6 or 8 hour) junk cruise, but that spare half-day is awkward - I think it's there to make a long haul to Hanoi (& overnite hotel in Hanoi) more worthwhile.

 

The town of Ha Long is a waste of time - a grubby fish market  & a neon-lit temple and that's about it.

I've seen Cruise Critic reports praising trips into the surrounding countryside - use the "search" facility on this forum to dig back thro posts about them.

 

BTW, the weather for your junk cruise will probably be misty, it usually is.

But whereas elsewhere in the world that would (literally) take the shine off the day, it adds to the mystery and experience of the watery moonscape amongst the limestone karsts (islets).

 

JB 🙂

[edinburgher]

On 11/21/2023 at 9:49 PM, JulieDI said:

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the remaining of us can do on our second day  bearing in mind the early departure?

We took a taxi to the ultra modern Quang Ninh Museum , (try googling it, also on Tripadvisor) then from there, another taxi part of the way back where we left it on the waterfront before strolling the central area with markets, temple etc before taking another taxi back to the ship area.

 

To show the taxi driver, we had actually printed off a picture of the museum exterior which is quite striking and has the name written on the facade  and had the tender location written in local language to show the taxi driver for the return to ship

Edited November 26, 2023 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

I should have added that when we went, it was still a tender operation, but my understanding is that a new cruise terminal has been built since then so there may be someone there who can write for you the name in local language.

 

Much easier for you I think.  Where we tendered into was very basic and there was nobody there to ask although there were a small number of local shops, one of which was a a travel agency which is where we asked.  I think it was actually the name and address of the travel agency which we given to show a taxi driver, or we were given one of their business cards, but whatever, it was all we needed.