SE Asia December 16th, 2008 Cruise Review (Long)

Aussie Gal · January 12, 2009

Crzfanatic,

Thanks for giving us such a well written review of your time on the Quest. We will be on her next month and even though we are not doing your itinerary, I was thrilled to hear about the state of the ship, food etc.

We are looking forward to boarding her in Hong Kong.

Jennie

Jayayeff · January 12, 2009

sill question I know tobes but could you avoid seeing the snakes at the night zoo??

I went on the Night Safari several years ago and don't recall seeing snakes or any other reptiles. I was going to try and fit in a visit again on the Saturday we overnight in Singapore as it is a very different experience and well worth a visit. They have an excellent website with a very good map which shows you what animals are where within the park, etc..if you want to check it out - www.nightsafari.com.sg I'd also like to take the cable car ride over to Sentosa Island whilst we are in Singapore as I haven't done that - the last time I was there it rained non-stop for two days!!!

Anne

uktog · January 12, 2009

I think we might go up on the Friday night now I am more confident. You must think me a woos but my other fear is cable cars however for that I make myself do it and so long as there is no immature person jumping around in it or child saying its a long way down I am usually OK. I read the cars were for 4-6 people we are travelling with two other couples so that will be prefect

A

Shelly&Jack · January 12, 2009

I went on the Night Safari several years ago and don't recall seeing snakes or any other reptiles. I was going to try and fit in a visit again on the Saturday we overnight in Singapore as it is a very different experience and well worth a visit. They have an excellent website with a very good map which shows you what animals are where within the park, etc..if you want to check it out - www.nightsafari.com.sg I'd also like to take the cable car ride over to Sentosa Island whilst we are in Singapore as I haven't done that - the last time I was there it rained non-stop for two days!!!

Anne

Hi Anne: Thanks for the information on Night Safari, it sounds like it is the thing to do at night while in Singapore. If we have jet lag on Friday, we will do it Saturday night and go from Quest.

P.S. The "B" you requested is packed in our luggage.:)

Whale Shark · January 12, 2009

There are no snakes (at least none that will come close to you) in the night safari... take it from someone who has gone there a number of times (mostly due to accompanying friends from overseas)...

Few places that are interesting from a cultural perspective, are Chinatown and little India. Shopping districts include Raffles City and Orchard Road. Specialist areas for IT shopping would be Sim Lim Square or Funan Centre. Any queries on Singapore, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jayayeff · January 12, 2009

Hi Anne: Thanks for the information on Night Safari, it sounds like it is the thing to do at night while in Singapore. If we have jet lag on Friday, we will do it Saturday night and go from Quest.

P.S. The "B" you requested is packed in our luggage.:)

Thanks Jack, hopefully it won't be needed but reassuring to know it's there...

See you in Singapore...

Anne

makai 7 · January 12, 2009

We are booked on this same itinerary in February 2010-

Did you need a visa for Viet Nam if you are a US citizen? The web site is not clear.

Any required innoculations?

And, did (or will) any of you be staying at the hotel provided by Azamara in Singapore prior to the cruise? What hotel are they using? My TA got two names from Azamara but they were both Hong Kong hotels, not in Singapore.

Thanks for all the great information!

Shelly&Jack · January 12, 2009

We are booked on this same itinerary in February 2010-

Did you need a visa for Viet Nam if you are a US citizen? The web site is not clear.

Any required innoculations?

And, did (or will) any of you be staying at the hotel provided by Azamara in Singapore prior to the cruise? What hotel are they using? My TA got two names from Azamara but they were both Hong Kong hotels, not in Singapore.

Thanks for all the great information!

On the Celebrity/Azamara Web site there is a table indicating how Visa's will be handled. For Vietnam, the cruise line will obtain the Visa and will charge $30 per passenger to our shipboard accounts. See: http://media.celebritycruises.com/celebrity/content/pdf/travel_documents/Passport_and_visa_requirements.pdf

We saw an infectious diseases specialist and he gave us vaccinations for Hepatitis "A" and Typhoid as well as a Tetanus booster. Since we will be in the coastal regions there was no need for any malaria protection. It still pays to be very cautious in what and where you eat in both Vietnam and Cambodia.

We are staying at the hotel booked by Azamara in Singapore. It is the Conrad Centennial Hotel which is a member of the Hilton family of hotels. We had wanted to stay two additional nights pre-cruise but Azamara could not reserve rooms for us at the Conrad and since we did not want to change hotels while in Singapore we are only staying the one night pre-cruise.

Skeezics · January 14, 2009

This is to crzfanatic (Andy) or anyone else who knows the answers.

1. Am I correct in assuming that Ha Long will be a tender port; approximately 3 miles from nearest town?

2. Port of Danang very close to Hue?

3. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - did you dock at Saigon Port approximately 1/2 mile from center of city? (Hopefully if you did not, the port wasn't too far away)

4. Was the overland/flight to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh offered on your cruise? If so, do you know of anyone who took it. Know it is long, but we did the trip to Moscow in the Baltic (Constellation) several years ago; so we know that it will be a grueling itinerary.

5. Did anyone take a Junk and Kayak trip in Ha Long? See by the excursions that the Kayak portion is not an option....be interested in any travel arrangements made before hand and with whom. Since Hanoi is so far away, will probably trade the Bay since it is a World Heritage Site - pray for no fog.

That's all I can think of at the present. We are booked on the February 20, 2010 cruise....certainly very reasonable; however, if all the ports are hours away will need to rethink our options.

Thanks in advance for any responses/advice. Barb

Project_gal · January 14, 2009

Having only recently seen Ha Long Bay on the TV for the first time, it is now my dream cruise location and on the list for the next one we book. I know that it is a tender port. Does the ship actually go into the bay?

Sue

Aussie Gal · January 14, 2009

Skeezics,

We stopped at Da Nang last year on Oceania's Nautica. It is miles from anywhere and is more like a Container Port. There were stalls set up near the wharf where you could buy knickknacks and souvenirs.

We did the excursion to Hue and it took us well over an hour to get there. It was a very hot, humid day and we were all wet through once we had visited the temples etc.

Jennie

Jayayeff · January 14, 2009

For all those looking for info on the S.E. Asia itineraries, I set up my new laptop last night, and as it is much lighter than my previous one I intend to take it with me when I leave to board the Quest in Singapore this weekend. I will endeaour to keep a travel diary and provided I can get it configured to work onboard the ship I will try and post along the way too.

If anyone has used a laptop onboard the ships could you please let me know what I need to do to set it up for use within my stateroom...

Anne

Aussie Gal · January 14, 2009

I took my laptop on Oceania's Nautica last April/May. It may be different on the Quest but on the Nautica you had to sign up with the ship's Internet package first of all. Once you have done that, you then can use your laptop whenever you wanted to.

We were in a verandah cabin so we weren't able to use wireless inside the cabin. There were certain hotspots around the ship eg. the Library, the Card room, downstairs at the Reception area on Deck 4 and other areas around the ship where you could get wireless.

If you were in one of the suites then you were able to use your laptop in the cabin.

On the Nautica, the internet was terribly slow and the packages were very expensive so it really was hardly worth the trouble of bringing the laptop along. It would have been just as easy and no more expensive to use one of their computers in the Computer room. There were quite a few of them and you could usually find one that wasn't being used. I know I went through 180 minutes in about three days due to how slow it was.

Jennie

uktog · January 14, 2009

I may also have a laptop with me - depends what is purchased en route :) as I am lookikng for a light weight one for travel

Jayayeff · January 14, 2009

I may also have a laptop with me - depends what is purchased en route :) as I am lookikng for a light weight one for travel

Pity you are not flying out via Dubai - the annual Shopping Festival starts this week and with the serious downturn in visitors this winter they are desperate to sell anything to anyone at the moment....

See you in Singapore...

Anne

Shelly&Jack · January 14, 2009

I may also have a laptop with me - depends what is purchased en route :) as I am lookikng for a light weight one for travel

I'll be bringing my Asus Eee900 netbook. This is the new family of inexpensive compact laptop PC's now being sold. It weighs about 1.5lbs, boots in seconds and has no mechanical hard drive to fail. If you want to see it, look for me on the Quest next week. I'm the old guy with my child bride.

uktog · January 14, 2009

Thanks Jack will do we are at CDG Paris now in the lounge and the MaC here is driving me to drink thank goodness for my trusty blackberry

ANN

Lobbylin · January 14, 2009

For all those looking for info on the S.E. Asia itineraries, I set up my new laptop last night, and as it is much lighter than my previous one I intend to take it with me when I leave to board the Quest in Singapore this weekend. I will endeaour to keep a travel diary and provided I can get it configured to work onboard the ship I will try and post along the way too.

If anyone has used a laptop onboard the ships could you please let me know what I need to do to set it up for use within my stateroom...

Anne

Hi Anne, I am looking forward to reading about your trip on the quest. Have fun!!

Thanks also to Crzfanatic for a great review.

Linda:)

JoKnecht · January 22, 2009

This is to crzfanatic (Andy) or anyone else who knows the answers.

1. Am I correct in assuming that Ha Long will be a tender port; approximately 3 miles from nearest town?

2. Port of Danang very close to Hue?

3. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - did you dock at Saigon Port approximately 1/2 mile from center of city? (Hopefully if you did not, the port wasn't too far away)

4. Was the overland/flight to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh offered on your cruise? If so, do you know of anyone who took it. Know it is long, but we did the trip to Moscow in the Baltic (Constellation) several years ago; so we know that it will be a grueling itinerary.

5. Did anyone take a Junk and Kayak trip in Ha Long? See by the excursions that the Kayak portion is not an option....be interested in any travel arrangements made before hand and with whom. Since Hanoi is so far away, will probably trade the Bay since it is a World Heritage Site - pray for no fog.

That's all I can think of at the present. We are booked on the February 20, 2010 cruise....certainly very reasonable; however, if all the ports are hours away will need to rethink our options.

Thanks in advance for any responses/advice. Barb

Dear Barb

I was on the Quest Dec 16th sailing that visited all of those ports. To answer your questions:

1) We docked at HaLong, and there was a free shuttle into town.

2) Hue is 2-3 hours north of Da Nang, we went to the town of Hoi An,a UNESCO heritage site, 30 minutes south of Da Nang.

3) We docked about 30 minutes outside of Ho Chi Minh City, but that is without traffic, it took over an hour each way in traffic.

4) I don't know if anyone took the one day helicopter trip (US$3000) to Ankgor Wat, but I do know some of the passengers flew there on their own from Bangkok, then to Phnom Penh and then by bus to meet the ship.

5) We negotiated in HaLong for a Junk tour on our own with an ad hoc group of fellow passengers and spent a truly glorious afternoon touring the bay and the islands. Not to be missed. The kayaking is available, but the weather in Dec/Jan was kind of raw, so we passed on it. We took a one day trip into Hanor, but it was quite a long way to go.

Enjoy the trip...it was fantastic

Alon

model lady · January 28, 2009

Well written review Andy. I was also on this sailing and enjoyed many things on the ship, i.e. the dining room, gym, the balcony, size of ship and the great people met. A few more activities for the single and solo travellers would not have gone astray. As Andy mentioned Christmas was not a big event.

The excursions.... this was a first for Azamara to be in this region and it showed by the choice of tours.

Some people may share different opionions to me, but being dragged through every temple around is not my idea of fun. Had not long been back from a Danube cruise where we had Cathederals shoved down our throats, ad nauseam!!

KL and Bangkok (Taste of Thai) were a waste of time and money.

The two tender ports, Malacca and Ko Samui I did not take ship's tours and met up with other folk on the tenders and just negotioted with trishaw, tuk-tuk or taxi on the end of the tender wharf and had some informative, leisureley tours - NO TEMPLES.

I did the day bus ride to Phnom Pehn and thoroughly enjoyed that, as all life takes place on the roadside and it is really interesting to see what can be strapped onto a bicycle or motor bike. 3-4 hours each way was lots of entertainment. The child beggars were a bit much near major tourist attractions, but this is a developing country. Great guide.

Mekong Delta and Cu Chi tunnels were both great excusions in HCM city.

Da Nang, w-e-l-l.. did the trishaw ride, which was ok, but the rest was tame. Took the shuttle bus downtown in the morning. Here we met the hawkers or vendors, who must have fallen into a pot of superglue. They did not know the meaning of NO, so that we came back on earlier than planned.

Halong Bay, did the junk ride but thought it rich that the bead sellers actually came onto the junk and would interrupt you to buy beads, while you are trying to photograph this world heritage site. Some beads nearly ended up in the bay, where they were purported to have come from!!!

Next day went on the long bus ride to Hanoi and enjoyed it as again it was fun in the traffic. Not much time to see a lot, but better than nothing. Saw some lovely French colonial buildings, the Hanoi Hilton and had an interesting trishaw ride. I took a movie of the whole ride and one of my car club friends who has navigated for some of Australia's top drivers could not watch after a few intersections where motor bikes, taxis and pedestrians just weaved around (so well done). He was surprised that I still have both lower limbs intact!!!! Only downer was the stops at expensive 'tourist trap' shops. Guide on our bus was the silent type...

Again the hawkers/vendors here were like flies in summer. Spoke with several friends who have done independent tours and they did not experience this. Maybe they see ship's tour buses as mobile bank vaults.

Canton in China. Oh dear. Two tours, one @ US$129 and the other $149.00. Think the $8.00 shuttle bus was the better option. Factor in that folk from UK paid a fortune for a visa to land here for a few hours and US passengers are not far behind in visa charges. Even for an Australian who can get a full year multi entry visa for A$90.00, the tour was poor. The shore excursion manager onboard admitted to not having been on a 'recce' there and it showed. This is one of the reasons that they charge more, is that that they are all 'fully researched'. I wrote a letter about it and got a letter back frokm Shore Exc. thanking me for my feedback, when what I was really looking for was a refund.

Hong Kong was great as I have a second residence there and a friend flew up from Perth and we did heaps and our shopping cost lots less than the shops that the ship's excursions funnelled people through.

Maybe the tours will improve as the ship spends more time in Asia.

Model lady

model lady · January 28, 2009

Well written review Andy. I was also on this sailing and enjoyed many things on the ship, i.e. the dining room, gym, the balcony, size of ship and the great people met. A few more activities for the single and solo travellers would not have gone astray. As Andy mentioned Christmas was not a big event.

The excursions.... this was a first for Azamara to be in this region and it showed by the choice of tours.

Some people may share different opionions to me, but being dragged through every temple around is not my idea of fun. Had not long been back from a Danube cruise where we had Cathederals shoved down our throats, ad nauseam!!

KL and Bangkok (Taste of Thai) were a waste of time and money.

The two tender ports, Malacca and Ko Samui I did not take ship's tours and met up with other folk on the tenders and just negotioted with trishaw, tuk-tuk or taxi on the end of the tender wharf and had some informative, leisureley tours - NO TEMPLES.

I did the day bus ride to Phnom Pehn and thoroughly enjoyed that, as all life takes place on the roadside and it is really interesting to see what can be strapped onto a bicycle or motor bike. 3-4 hours each way was lots of entertainment. The child beggars were a bit much near major tourist attractions, but this is a developing country. Great guide.

Mekong Delta and Cu Chi tunnels were both great excusions in HCM city.

Da Nang, w-e-l-l.. did the trishaw ride in the afternoon, which was ok, but the rest was tame. Took the shuttle bus downtown in the morning. Here we met the hawkers or vendors, who must have fallen into a pot of superglue. They did not know the meaning of NO, so that we came back on earlier than planned. Have met them in other places and usually after a polite no, they are on their way, not this lot, either deaf or stupid.

Halong Bay, did the junk ride but thought it rich that the bead sellers actually came onto the junk and would interrupt you to buy beads, while you are trying to photograph this world heritage site. Some beads nearly ended up in the bay, where they were purported to have come from!!!

Next day went on the long bus ride to Hanoi and enjoyed it as again it was fun in the traffic. Not much time to see a lot, but better than nothing. Saw some lovely French colonial buildings, the Hanoi Hilton and had an interesting trishaw ride. I took a movie of the whole ride and one of my car club friends who has navigated for some of Australia's top drivers could not watch after a few intersections where motor bikes, taxis and pedestrians just weaved around (so well done). He was surprised that I still have both lower limbs intact!!!! Only downer was the stops at expensive 'tourist trap' shops. Guide on our bus was the silent type...

Again the hawkers/vendors here were like flies in summer. Spoke with several friends who have done independent land tours to Vietnam and they did not experience this. Maybe they see ship's tour buses as mobile bank vaults.

Canton in China. Oh dear. Two tours, one @ US$129 and the other $149.00. Think the $8.00 shuttle bus was the better option. Factor in that folk from UK paid a fortune for a visa to land here for a few hours and US passengers are not far behind in visa charges. Even for an Australian who can get a full year multi entry visa for A$90.00, the tour was poor. The shore excursion manager onboard admitted to not having been on a 'recce' there and it showed. This is one of the reasons that they charge more, is that that they are all 'fully researched'. I wrote a letter about it and got a letter back frokm Shore Exc. thanking me for my feedback, when what I was really looking for was a refund.

Hong Kong was great as I have a second residence there and a friend flew up from Perth and we did heaps for 12 days and our shopping cost lots less than the shops that the ship's excursions funnelled people through.

Maybe the tours will improve as the ship spends more time in Asia.

Model lady

model lady · January 28, 2009