Hong Kong Review - Diamond Princess

[Denverite]

HK - April 22, 2009: Day One: Cool, but no rain. While it is true that you can probably do HK on your own, I wanted to see a lot on the first day with the least amount of figuring out how to get from where to where. I had arranged for a tour for 8 of us to take in all the standard tourist sites--tram up to Victoria Peak, Man Mo Temple, Stanley Market, Aberdeen fishing village and ride on sampan to see the boat people, obligatory stop at jewelry factory, a dim sum lunch at the Jumbo Floating restaurant, Star Ferry ride, and a visit to Avenue of the Starts. Our price included everything—tram tickets, lunch, Star Ferry ride, but the sampan ride was $55HK pp extra.

 

On the first day, the Diamond Princess docks at the container port. Our guide and driver picked us up right at the ship. There are usually two gangways used to disembark, so you might want to confirm with your guide where they will be. This tour did involve quite a bit of walking. Dim sum lunch was quite good--not sure what all we ate but they kept bringing food. The lunch was a set menu so we didn’t have to order. At the Jumbo you could dress up as Emperor and Empress and sit on the throne and take a picture. It was a really fun day and we saw a lot of HK. Unbelievable amount of shops--we drove or walked down Nathan Road, Hollywood Road, and Cat Street--all famous streets in HK. This was a very full day excursion.

 

You do need to be back on board by 6:00pm as the Diamond Princess moves from the container port, transiting through Victoria Harbor and anchors overnight. The transit occurs during the laser night show, so it was very easy to view from our balcony. If you are not back on board by 6:00pm, then you have to wait until 9:00pm to catch a tender back to the ship.

 

HK Day Two: The ship overnighted in HK and next day we decided to do HK on our own. We took the public MTR (subway) to Lantau Island, home of the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery and the village of Ngong Ping. It is very easy to find the MTR from the pier where the Diamond Princess tender leaves you off on Day Two. If you look up at the big shopping mall, you will see the MTR logo. You can either walk right or left and there will be a walkway over the street to take you to the shopping mall. Once in the mall, either follow the crowds, or ask—the MTR is in the basement of the shopping mall. You can then buy your ticket for the trip to Lantau Island. You can get senior tickets for the MTR, but for the cable car on Lantau Island, only HK seniors are eligible for that discount. You do need HK coins to buy the ticket, but we asked a noodle shop that was located by the machines for change.

 

Once you get to the island, you take a 25 minute cable car ride up the mountain. It was a bit windy, but warm, and the cable cars swayed a bit (okay, more than a bit) as we were ascending. It was a little foggy, but sure enough, as we got toward the top of the mountain, Big Buddha appeared. We walked around Ngong Ping, took pictures of Big Buddha, walked over to Po Lin Monastery (but did not have lunch there), found an ice cream shop, and then retraced our steps back to HK.

 

Highlights: Seeing a lot of Hong Kong in a short amount of time; Victoria Peak and dim sum lunch at Jumbo. This is really a fascinating city!

Lowlights: Not enough time to shop! I would love to go back to this city just to visit all the shops.

[ROCruiser]

Thank you for posting your review. May I ask how much did it cost for you to take the first day excursion? Was that an all-day tour? Thanks.

[Denverite]

We booked through Polly at Asia Travel that is recommended here on these boards. Our guide was Linda, and she was really good. We were picked up at 9am and dropped off around 5:00 or 5:30pm. We had a large van for the 8 of us. It definitely was a very good tour. Our cost per person was HK$680 ($87 US) per person that is payable I believe 14 days prior to the tour. We all paid by credit card prior to our departure for the cruise. I believe most tour companies have to pay extra to pick up passengers in a container port, and that cost is reflected in a higher tour cost. Not all tour companies have access to container ports, so that is something you want to discuss with your tour company.

[holidayhelen]

on our cruise we only have a day in Hong Kong. I believe last year they missed a stop in Japan and had and overnight in Hong Kong - was this what you did?

[Denverite]

We did have an overnight in Hong Kong and it was a great city to have that overnight. I hated to miss Nagasaki, but HK was great. Looks like Princess has put back Nagasaki for their 2010 cruises.

[macro duck]

on our cruise we only have a day in Hong Kong. I believe last year they missed a stop in Japan and had and overnight in Hong Kong - was this what you did?

 

Helen

 

I posted some info on your roll call re trips we did during our recent cruise but I must say the port reviews on here by Denverite are excellent.

 

Are you doing the pre and post stays through Princess or on your own. We did the post cruise stay in Beijing through Princess and thoroughly enjoyed it and involved a lot more than we expected.

 

Roger

[ROCruiser]

We booked through Polly at Asia Travel that is recommended here on these boards. Our guide was Linda, and she was really good. We were picked up at 9am and dropped off around 5:00 or 5:30pm. We had a large van for the 8 of us. It definitely was a very good tour. Our cost per person was HK$680 ($87 US) per person that is payable I believe 14 days prior to the tour. We all paid by credit card prior to our departure for the cruise. I believe most tour companies have to pay extra to pick up passengers in a container port, and that cost is reflected in a higher tour cost. Not all tour companies have access to container ports, so that is something you want to discuss with your tour company.

 

Sorry to ask again. Did you organize the group of 8 and shared the total cost or was that a fix price for per person? Thank you for the great information.

[Denverite]

The price is dependent upon the number of people on the tour. I tried to keep our tours to 8 people, which to me is a manageable number. Polly quoted $5440HK for the tour for 8 people. Each couple was able to pay their portion by providing to Polly their credit card information. For fewer people, the tour cost was more per person. I did organize the tour from CC members on our roll call.

[ROCruiser]

Thank you so much for the helpful information!

[Coastaljen]

I guess I will email Polly again. I assumed they were out of business because someone recommended her from a trip awhile back. I guess she didn't get the email.

 

How quickly did she reply to you?

[Denverite]

I guess I will email Polly again. I assumed they were out of business because someone recommended her from a trip awhile back. I guess she didn't get the email.

 

How quickly did she reply to you?

 

Sometimes it would be a couple of days before I received a reply, but then again that might have been on a weekend. Usually the reply was very prompt.

Email: polly@asiatravel.com

Website: http://asiatravel.com/hongkong.html

Office hours (HK time) : 09:00-18:00hrs(Mon to Fri); 09:00-13:00hrs(Sat)

Closed on Sundays and public holidays

 

You might also want to try China Highlights. Although they are not based in Hong Kong, they can give you a quote. Just make sure they can pick up at the container port (which I believe they can). You can contact Michael Hu at China Highlights at: michael@chinahighlights.net. This is the company we used for Beijing and we were very pleased with their service.