16d Vietnam,Cambodia
16d Vietnam,Cambodia, Laos tour-overall excellent experience! 4 stars given vs 5 stars bc I expected a consistent level of luxury based on how much we paid-Hotels, car service, timely airport pickup, guides etc. What was amazing was the personalization of the tours. Overall satisfied, just thought they could’ve gone the extra mile given how much was spent on the trip. Addendum(more details): Quick review of the overall trip. I’m overall pleased and had an above average experience And thought the itinerary was great. The customization and Steven’s responsiveness, and accommodation was greatly appreciated. I had issues with the consistency of the level of services provided. Five star hotels varied significantly in quality. Guides varied in quality. For $10,000 in low season arranged by a professional tour operator, I expected more. Ho Chi Minh City Sofitel was old-we had to wait several hours before being able to check into our rooms after a 30 hour journey. I feel like this is something that should’ve been looked into. The guide(Canh) and driver and vehicle were excellent and probably the best of the trip. Siem reap-best hotel(jaya river hotel) of the trip. Knowledgeable and friendly guide. Disappointed with the vehicle. Laos-most enjoyed city. Elephant and alms giving was an amazing experience. Hotel without a separate/closed off bathroom was not convenient when traveling with your mother, but location was good. Disappointed in the smaller car and lack of cold water and late airport pick up. Hanoi-great guide, friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic(rated #2) and good vehicle. Nice hotel( intercontinental west lake)Took us to some non touristy places to buy local goods and try local foods. Ha Long bay Cruise-(scarlet pearl), great looking yacht, nicely appointed rooms. Nice quick experience(1 night). Disappointed that drinks even non alcoholic were not included with meals. The dining experience seemed a bit unorganized around the buffet but decent food. Actual cruise time on yacht was minimal and mostly anchored or used tender boat for transportation. I was most disappointed with the trip to Hoi An/Da Nang. The guide seemed unenthusiastic, walking ahead of us most of the time. At the airport again we had to wait, 1st because she was sitting down in a crowd barely holding a sign up, then had to wait again for the car to come around. Although she tried to make it up with paying for a meal in Hoi An, it was still overall disappointing. It seemed as if she was doing us a favor. The hotel was extremely loud, while the view was nice, there was blaring music and kareoke from outside until 10p. Not what I expect from a luxury hotel(sel de mer). It would’ve been nice to know of the different weight limits for the different routes as overall the weights of our bags did not change(about 25kg which is standard for most intl travel) and had to pay for overage fees. For those reasons I could not give 5 stars.