tour operators in Korea, China, Japan and Vietnam

[nain and taid]

In March we are cruising to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Incheon for Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai and Tianjin (for Beijing) China, and Kagoshima and Yokohama (Japan). Can any one recommend private tour operators for these ports who speak passable English and can be contacted by e-mail?

Many thanks in advance.

[Fredr]

In March we are cruising to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Incheon for Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai and Tianjin (for Beijing) China, and Kagoshima and Yokohama (Japan). Can any one recommend private tour operators for these ports who speak passable English and can be contacted by e-mail?

Many thanks in advance.

 

Hello,

 

Thanks for asking this question. We are going to Shanghai, Seoul, and Tiansin (Beijing) and I would like to hear from tour operators in these cities.

 

Fred

[mtlcruiser10]

in vietnam beware of viet value travel they will give you good price ask you to pay before once on the tour ask for more very dishonest company but in we use another one today vietnam travel very nice an honest good price we did enjoy them in hanoi but they can arrange any where in vietnam (m .TAN was the contact )

hope it help

[nain and taid]

Thanks. One to avoid!

[trillium]

We hope to be in China in March also Korea, I have so far failed to find any information on tour guides for Korea ,but have booked tours in Beijing and Shanghai with Beijingservices. They have provided me with a letter of intent to accompany our Visa application,and were most helpful. I am at the moment awaiting our Indian Visa, but have to wait until January before applying for the Chinese Visa:)

[mtlcruiser10]

hi are you on the quest we will be on the azamara quest march 14 2009 and also planning to use beijing service for a 5 day pre -cruise in beijing and day tour in shanghai also

 

do you have more info share please

 

thanks sylvain

[trillium]

We are on the Fred Olsen ship Balmoral leaving Dover on Feb14th.We have two days in Beijing and over nighting in Shanghai. I contacted Tansy in Beijingservices and she arranged a hotel in Beijing so we could make the most of our time there,as i believe its a 3hr journey from the port into Beijing.I do not know as yet were we are docked in Shanghi, but Tansy has arranged a full days tour to two villages within the vicinity.She has been very helpful and sent us a letter of intent to accompany our Visa application. No money changes hands until we take up our tours.

Hope this is of some help to you

 

regards Trillium

[nain and taid]

We are also on Balmoral. I have done some research for all the ports Singapore to Vancouver, and am slowly accumulating addresses. Vietnam tour operators have come back, but with the schedule of not arriving till 13.30, it is going to be very tight to visit sites that close by 4 or 5 pm. I have had 2 tours quoted by exotissimo and buffalo with huge variations in price! However with the time constraints, I'm wondering if it is even feasible to do a tour. Thought I'd wait till Fred comes out with his tour brochure which "is at the printers" currently!

We will probably do Shanghai on our own, but get a one day tour of Beijing central. Have you done much research on one dayers in Beijing and operators?

Korea is a mystery! I'll let you know if there's any movement on that one!

And I still have to research Japan. Again, tempted to wait till we have Fred's own programme.

Nice to talk to another cruiser who's doing the same itinerary!

[trillium]

We have just got our Visas back from the Indian Embassy,and now have to wait until January before applying for the Chinese ones

Tansy from Beijingservices.com has sent us a letter of intent to accompany the application. If you go onto this site there are one day tours from Xingang to Beijing with a selection of trips to chose from.

We will be four on our two day tour with an overnight at the Prime Hotel,two cruising friends will be joining us in Singapore to Vancouver.We have been quoted 290 USD pp for the two days including hotel, which was very good when we booked, but now the dollar rate has dropped ,

might not be such good value

We visited Shanghai on Aurora in 2003 so this time hope to visit Suzhou and Zhouzhuang in one day. When in Yokohama we took the tour to Kamakura with lots of ancient Temples etc it was very good,this time we might brave the traffic and visit mount Fugi. We did our own thing in Hiroshima and found it surprizigly easy.

I do tend to arrange our own tours over the internet but have been very lucky with taxis at the ports so far.I see that Fred does not do pre booking of tours and taking the price off your onboard credit. The one tour I think will be popular is The Rose City at Petra.I might have to prebook this as I should hate to miss it.

Do I detect a Welsh influence from your name

[BCHappyGal]

Do not know if I can help you folks - however we did China, Korea & Japan this spring and we prefer private tours to whatevert he ship offers. I did my research and came up with the following:

 

Japan - I used Goodwill Hosts these are locals who love their cities and act as your guide for free...a private guide service in Japan was just way too expensive for us... I have used Goodwill Guides in Melborne Australia and in Japan. You get a private tour guide you shows you their city thru a locals eyes.

 

Korea - here I did find some tour companies that would have provided a private tour but the cost was too high so I went with the ships tours.

 

In Shanghai we used a guide named Rebecca who was fabulous. While in Shanghai make sure you ride the MagLev train the worlds fastest train - we went 432 km per hour on it; the Bund Tourist tunnel was another must do in my opinion. Of the skip varity was the Urban Planning Hall, Shanghai Museum & French Quarter.

 

In Beijing we used a guide named Leylee who was wonderful. I can highly recommend both of these ladies.

 

If you want their contact info and information on what we did and enjoyed feel free to ask I am ann at century 21 vancouver dot com minus the spaces of course.

[nain and taid]

Yes! the Welsh influence is there and all because our daughter in Oz gave us carte blanche to choose our names for the grandchildren. So this keeps us identifiably different from the local grandma and grandpa! (she vetoed Diva and Grumpy!!)

We have done Petra. fantastic! don't miss the toilets halfway along the city and the view from there!

We join in Singapore, and I shall certainly have a look at your contact in China. How are you going to get your Chinese visas? Through an agency or via the Embassy itself? Thought they wouldn't allow postal lodgements?

Do you have any contacts for the Alaska part of the trip?

Xmas now so will continue with the research in the New Year. All the best for 2009

[boeckli]

Do not know if I can help you folks - however we did China, Korea & Japan this spring and we prefer private tours to whatevert he ship offers. I did my research and came up with the following:

 

Japan - I used Goodwill Hosts these are locals who love their cities and act as your guide for free...a private guide service in Japan was just way too expensive for us... I have used Goodwill Guides in Melborne Australia and in Japan. You get a private tour guide you shows you their city thru a locals eyes.

 

Korea - here I did find some tour companies that would have provided a private tour but the cost was too high so I went with the ships tours.

 

In Shanghai we used a guide named Rebecca who was fabulous. While in Shanghai make sure you ride the MagLev train the worlds fastest train - we went 432 km per hour on it; the Bund Tourist tunnel was another must do in my opinion. Of the skip varity was the Urban Planning Hall, Shanghai Museum & French Quarter.

 

In Beijing we used a guide named Leylee who was wonderful. I can highly recommend both of these ladies.

 

If you want their contact info and information on what we did and enjoyed feel free to ask I am ann at century 21 vancouver dot com minus the spaces of course.

Have just sent you an email - would welcome feedback on your experience with the Goodwill Guides in Japan. - Thanks in advance :)

[trillium]

Hi Both

You will be joining the cruise with our friends Peter and Jean,who are doing the Singapore Vancouver section.

Chinese visas, I will do through the Embassy,they have an online service for booking which entails paying and then printing off the forms for sending in the mail. This worked very well for our Indian visas.

Alaska I haven't done a lot with at the moment ,we will do our own thing mainly. This is our main reason for taking this cruise as I wont fly and its the first ship visiting Alaska out of the UK. Are we going to miss out on Whale watching? as its April by the time we arrive in this area.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

[nain and taid]

Dear Trillium

Not sure about the whales! My book doesn't give any indication exactly when they are around.Have a look at Ann's post (no.10) on this thread. I have been in contact and she has come up with lots of info, including the fact that she lives in Vancouver. She is away till the end of Feb up the Amazon! But I can always get back to her and ask on your behalf when she returns and before we leave for Singapore.

Cheers Natalie

[trillium]

I will try to e-mail ann today and hope it is not to late.

I received this delightful message from Tansy yesterday

Dear Mrs. Mair Wingfield,

As the New Year blossoms,

May the journey of your life

Be fragrant with new opportunities,

Your days be bright with new hopes

& your heart be happy with love

With the kisses of success in every walk of your life!

Merry Christmas

&

May you have a prosperous New Year 2009!

Regards,

Tansy

www.Beijingservice.com

[Aussie Gal]

Japan - I used Goodwill Hosts these are locals who love their cities and act as your guide for free...a private guide service in Japan was just way too expensive for us... I have used Goodwill Guides in Melborne Australia and in Japan. You get a private tour guide you shows you their city thru a locals eyes.

 

BCHappyGal,

 

I have just sent you an email requesting information on Goodwill Hosts.

 

Hope you receive it.

 

Jennie

[amusea]

hi are you on the quest we will be on the azamara quest march 14 2009 and also planning to use beijing service for a 5 day pre -cruise in beijing and day tour in shanghai also

 

do you have more info share please

 

thanks sylvain

 

 

I sailed on the Amsterdam to Xingang Port last October (two days in port) and used Tansy at Beijing Service. It was an excellent choice. A group of 13 signed up from the ship and we were picked up in a minibus which could have seated a couple of extra people but we wanted to make sure that we all had enough room to spread out. When you know how many people are signed up, get a list of their various cars and buses to make sure you have one with enough room since the drive from the port to Beijing takes about two hours. The same from Beijing to the Great Wall and then back to the ship.

Also, you can customize your itinerary. We stayed overnight in Beijing rather than going back to the ship the first night. Beijing Service wanted us to go to the hotel first but the group felt that rooms might not be ready so we went straight to the Forbidden City, then Tianemen Square and then the hotel. This worked out perfectly. Also we chose not to stay at the Prime Hotel which always seems to be their suggestion. We opted for the Regent which was spectacular but more expensive.

On the second day we asked the driver to take us to a less crowded part of the Wall which he did. It was not much farther and there were no crowds. Also we opted to skip the Ming Tombs that day since many reports said it was not worth it. So the second day consisted of the Summer Palace and then the Great Wall and then back to the ship. Everything was great except the driver got lost on the way back to the port but it worked out fine after a taxi driver helped with directions.

Our guide for the two days was a young girl who was wonderful and spoke good English (can't remember her name). Remember to add tips for the driver and guide. Our group decided how much to give and it was presented in one sum rather than separately from each person.

You are in for a wonderful experience. Good luck.

[BobTroll]

Yes! the Welsh influence is there and all because our daughter in Oz gave us carte blanche to choose our names for the grandchildren. So this keeps us identifiably different from the local grandma and grandpa! (she vetoed Diva and Grumpy!!)

We have done Petra. fantastic! don't miss the toilets halfway along the city and the view from there!

We join in Singapore, and I shall certainly have a look at your contact in China. How are you going to get your Chinese visas? Through an agency or via the Embassy itself? Thought they wouldn't allow postal lodgements?

Do you have any contacts for the Alaska part of the trip?

Xmas now so will continue with the research in the New Year. All the best for 2009

 

We are due to visit Shanghai in March 2009.

 

All applicants from the UK must apply for Chinese visas through the official agency in London (http://www.visaforchina.org.uk/visaen/visaView.html?method=index). The official agency DOES accept postal applications and they recomend that you input your details via their website. Then, you can download and print completed application forms, which merely require your signature.

 

For UK citizens, Chinese visas costs £30 (single entry) or £45 (double entry). The agency charges £34.50 for processing each application. Applicants must pay that fee, even they employ a commercial visa procurement agency.

 

If you apply to the official agency by post, you must also provide a pre-paid Special Delivery envelope for the return of your passport(s). The turnaround time for postal applications should be between two and three weeks.

 

Princess Cruises did recommend a commercial visa procurement agency, which would have charged £60 per visa (on top of the cost of the visa and the official processing charge). It would be rather difficult to justify the extra cost, so we submitted our postal applications several weeks ago.

 

Now for a few words of warning. I completed our applications on-line and used a Hewlett Packard printer to print bar-coded application forms. Each question on the form was printed in English and in Chinese.

 

Having sent our forms and passports by Special Delivery post, I received a telephone call from the service centre, who advised me that our application forms were incorrect, because my printer had omitted some of the Chinese characters. Apparently, the Chinese Embassy will accept applications printed entirely in English - but will reject any application with incorrect or missing Chinese characters.

 

I needed to send replacement application forms. This time, I used the printed forms provided by Princess Cruises. The tracking page shows that our applications have been received and as far as I am aware, they have been accepted. I now await the return of our passports.

[mtlcruiser10]

thanks amusea for the info very helpfull and good to have a reference

 

have a nice day

[eabrams]

Hello, I am interested in guides in Shanghai, Seoul and Japan. Can you help?

 

Elaine A

[nain and taid]

We are due to visit Shanghai in March 2009.

 

All applicants from the UK must apply for Chinese visas through the official agency in London (http://www.visaforchina.org.uk/visaen/visaView.html?method=index). The official agency DOES accept postal applications and they recomend that you input your details via their website. Then, you can download and print completed application forms, which merely require your signature.

 

For UK citizens, Chinese visas costs £30 (single entry) or £45 (double entry). The agency charges £34.50 for processing each application. Applicants must pay that fee, even they employ a commercial visa procurement agency.

 

If you apply to the official agency by post, you must also provide a pre-paid Special Delivery envelope for the return of your passport(s). The turnaround time for postal applications should be between two and three weeks.

 

Princess Cruises did recommend a commercial visa procurement agency, which would have charged £60 per visa (on top of the cost of the visa and the official processing charge). It would be rather difficult to justify the extra cost, so we submitted our postal applications several weeks ago.

 

Now for a few words of warning. I completed our applications on-line and used a Hewlett Packard printer to print bar-coded application forms. Each question on the form was printed in English and in Chinese.

 

Having sent our forms and passports by Special Delivery post, I received a telephone call from the service centre, who advised me that our application forms were incorrect, because my printer had omitted some of the Chinese characters. Apparently, the Chinese Embassy will accept applications printed entirely in English - but will reject any application with incorrect or missing Chinese characters.

 

I needed to send replacement application forms. This time, I used the printed forms provided by Princess Cruises. The tracking page shows that our applications have been received and as far as I am aware, they have been accepted. I now await the return of our passports.

 

Thanks so much for all the detail. Will keep this in mind when we apply in January

[BobTroll]

Thanks so much for all the detail. Will keep this in mind when we apply in January

 

We posted Chinese visa application forms on December 17th. The official agency (the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre in London) obtained our visas from the Embassy and returned our passports on December 30th.

 

This all occurred over the Christmas holiday period, so we were most impressed by the speedy turnaround.

 

For travellers who live in the UK, there is certainly no need to pay additional fees to another visa procurement agency.

[trillium]

Like you Bob I had no end of trouble with applying on line, my computer kept telling me it would not accept Active X,so filled out the forms by hand, sent them off on Mon Jan 5th and they have been returned today, with debit card receipt for £129 covering two persons.

Just five weeks today, and hopefully we are off.Search this forum most days and gleaned some very good information on Beijing etc and also Ann has sent me information on Alaska and Vancouver.

regards Mair

[BobTroll]

Hello, I am interested in guides in Shanghai, Seoul and Japan. Can you help?

 

Elaine A

 

For Japan, you could consider applying for the services of a volunteer guide from the local "Systematized Goodwill Guide" (SGG) group. These offer free local tours, guided in English and other languages.

 

There is no charge for their service. You are only expected to pay for their travel expenses and admission charges to tourist facilities as well as yours, and to pay for their meals if you eat with them.

 

For further information, visit the JNTO website at http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html#volunteer and http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/list_volunteerGuides_a-n.html

 

Our cruise will visit Osaka and Hiroshima in March 2009. We have booked volunteer guides for both ports.

[TimH]

There is a company myexcursions dot com that offers a vast array of private tours throughout Asia and the world. They only offer private based upon group request, but this can be of any size group. They will customize programs to meet your interests and you can grow your group if others join in with good advance notice. They are based in the US and can be reached on info at myexcursions dot com.