Princess Cruise-Bangkok-Beijing 2007

[realproperty]

Those of us who did the 2007 fall Sapphire Princess trip probably found no one place to find out about the cruise and maybe this will help those doing the trip on Diamond in 2008. We did the Bangkok-Beijing trip October 17. Some advice: Don't cheap out on touring by trying to do it yourself. You are in these ports for just a few hours and you do not do them justice if you fumble around getting to sites. Get a private guide or use the Princess tour but don't just get to a port and wander. You need 2 full days for Beijing since you must see the Forbidden City, the temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. private guides there are not that costly. Don't short change yourself after going so far. You can find them on line or your hotel will be able to arrange them for you. You also do not need Princess transfers at either end. Your hotel can arrange private car pick up and drop off for the about the same price as the bus and in far greater comfort. Just email your hotel and they can arrange it. We used the Shangri-la private limo for 145 and princess was charging $125. You probably have tons of time to make the arrangements and princess may not be the best or most comfortable deal. For probably not much more, you can stay first class in Beijing downtown than at their Sheraton. We had a great deal at the Peninsula--5 star. Sapphire Princess was a typical huge ship but its size is not ideal for these ports. Lots of shuttling that you have to depend on since the ship parks in container ports inaccessible to private tours in some cases. It limits flexibility. There are many more people using the organized tours than on most cruises and we found princess had trouble coordinating so many people going on tour. It was frustrating. Highlights for us: most ports had lots to see and too little time. That is why you need a good tour: Shanghai: see the new and the old; it has an amazing history so dig into it; if you are Jewish, take a Jewish tour of Shanghai (it was our best tour of the trip); Saigon: be prepared for 3 hours each way on the bus to Saigon which in our view had little to see, it's a city, 30 years behind; Hong Kong-awesome-Victoria peak, Stanley Market, Star Ferry, action everywhere; Taipei:what a surprise, one of the best museums in the world, see if you can spend more than 90 minutes there, the Martyr's shrine and Pao An temple were all we needed. Taipei 101 is just a tall office building, take a picture and run;Nagasaki is easy to do on your own and you will have a nice easy day, Singapore: don't miss Chinatown, the harbour; don't waste your day on Orchid Road-one North American style shopping centre after another; Bangkok-the Palace, the buddahs, fabulous; As for shopping, even if you are not a shopper, you will shop-best knock off markets were Shanghai and Beijing but you will find them virtually everywhere plus cloisonee in Beijing, lacquer in Saigon, silks Bangkok and junk everywhere. But don't go there just to shop--there is just too much history to soak up. Ship port lectures were excellent-unlike most cruises that tell you just where to shop, these were excellent intros to the cities. Buy some guide books to give you a hint about what you are going to see and so you can pick and choose what will work for you. This is a great cruise to see a lot that is new to Western travellers in a short period of time. Most of all, take guided tours, so much to see, so little time. Soak it up and enjoy.

[BettyNL]

real property........ Great Post; although we are on a similar cruise next month (Singapore / Thailand / Vietnam / Hong Kong) so won't be going to all the same ports, you gave some fabulous advice.

 

Thanks for taking the time,

 

BettyNL

[Lobbylin]

You also do not need Princess transfers at either end. Your hotel can arrange private car pick up and drop off for the about the same price as the bus and in far greater comfort. Just email your hotel and they can arrange it. We used the Shangri-la private limo for 145 and princess was charging $125.

 

Excellent review - I have been to some of the places you mention and agree wholeheartedly with what you have written.

 

The only area I would disagree is with Saigon - but we were on a much smaller ship and sailed up the Saigon river and docked in the center of Saigon. The sail up river was an absolute highlight for us. We also went out of Saigon to visit local towns etc with a private guide and loved it.

 

My question is regarding your Beijing hotel an transfers - are you quoting $145 for airport or Beijing - port transfers? Our future cruise lists departure port as: Xingang (Beijing/Tianjin)

 

Many thanks!

Linda

[realproperty]

The Sapphire and the Diamond are sister ships and huge. The Sapphire is too big for the river and anchors at Vung Tau and then you tender to shore and then do a 3 hour bus trip to the city. The tours started at 7 a.m and we were heading back to port by 3 or so and then waited another 30-45 minutes on the bus at the port to get a tender. The ship can only have so many life boats used to tender since they have to keep a good number on the ship. There was also a local hydrofoil in use but it was slow. Our tour stopped at the Vietnam history museum, (not a lot to see there), the Unification building, drove by the old US embassy (you cannot see anything) and the Rex hotel. It was one of the weaker stops, perhaps because it has not caught up to the rest of the area. It was interesting to see but it was a hard day of touring. Perhaps a countryside tour around Vung Tau might be worthwhile but for us, we were only going to be there one time so we may as well have seen Saigon. As for transport, in Beijing, we had a private guide plus driver for 2 full days of touring plus a pickup in a Mercedes from the port for $370 US. I suspect that anyone can do the reverse ie. tour and drop off. Certainly the hotels can arrange anything. We found our guide on line and it worked. Same for Bangkok. The Shangrila driver took us to the port for $145 and we know that Princess wanted $62 each and we had to meet the bus at another hotel. Traffic and construction was disgusting and while it took us abut 2 hours, the bus took closer to 4. Like I say, the hotels and tour companies can arrange anything and for a few bucks more, the convenience and comfort were worth it. I hope that helps.

[Lobbylin]

Thanks Realproperty for the transfer info - sound just like what I need to book.:)

 

From your description of the ships tour to Saigon, I too would have been disappointed with that for an experience, which is a real shame because as you say, you travel all that way and want to make the most of the experience.

 

I recall seeing quite a few of those hydrofoils overtaking our ship as we sailed into Saigon, boy did they look OLD and unreliable!:D

 

Thanks for all the info

[joll]

We were also on the 17 October cruise Bangkok to Beijing and had private transfers to/from the Port organised in a pre and post package by our Travel Agent, so don't know the exact cost of transfer. We had the driver and our own tour guide in case we needed something along the way. Just be prepared for the zigzagging through the traffic and the speed along the highway. We did Bangkok to Laem Chabang in 1hr 40 mins and at one stage were doing 135 kms per hour. The speed limit is 120 kms. The consolation was we were in a Volvo. Xingang to Beijing was much the same and took about 2hrs 30 mins. So if you're a bad or nervous passenger, the coach may be better even if it takes longer.