Luxury Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam & Thailand Vacation Review: Ninh Binh, Siem Reap, Phuket, Hue, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Luang Prabang

Review by traveler

Loren H.

4.8.2023

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Vietnam

Cambodia

Laos

Thailand

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Thankfully they got the most important things right: we were reliably met at airports by guides who could communicate with us in our language (English); we always had our lodgings with included breakfast arranged; we had guides, vehicles and drivers, and really interesting activities arranged. The trip itself, 33 days in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, was an outstanding life experience full of a wonderful and fascinating array of sights, people, food, culture.
There were some issues that came up which could have been avoided if the tour operator had been more attentive, and which caused us annoyance and occasional stress. It started with our first guide, in Hanoi; they never told us they were switching us to a different guide than the one listed in our itinerary; they never gave our guide a copy of our itinerary; the guide we got was sweet enough but very inexperienced, did not adequately understand her responsibility to keep us safe, did not manage our time well, lost her phone and led us to feel we needed to take care of her instead of vice versa, deviated from our itinerary although that was really the fault of the tour operator who never gave her a copy of it (which we did when we realized the problem), and - probably due to a language skills gap - lied about whether we would get a bathroom stop in a 3-hour car ride and then tried to fix it so she made a stupid fruitless detour through Hanoi in rush hour en route to the airport to unsuccessfully look for a restroom even though she was told not to, and fail to adequately adjust to accommodate a member of our tour group with balance issues.

Another issue was van transportation. We invariably got very comfortable vans for short trips between sites within a city, when it least mattered. But even though it was a luxury level vacation, several times we were provided with uncomfortable lower end older transit vans for longer road trips, and a couple of them didn’t have a full complement of seat belts - even after we complained and they told us it wouldn’t happen again. Also, none of the guides had microphones and my partner, who has hearing loss issues, often could not hear what they said on the vans.
Our daily activity schedule proved to be unrealistic at times. Several times it was simply impossible to get to all the itinerary destinations, and even more often it was impossible to get the scheduled rest breaks in the middle of the day, and/or the daily activities ended much later at night than the itinerary schedule showed. As a result, we were often frazzled and tired, which undermined our ability to fully enjoy the trip.
Some of the lodgings recommended by the tour operator, which we booked through them, were truly wonderful and memorable, but some were very disappointing and made us wonder if the tour operator had ever actually spent time checking them out in person. The resort in Ninh Binh in Vietnam was fabulous, with a terrific restaurant, but we didn’t get to enjoy it adequately because our guide didn’t get us there until almost 9 pm - when we were starving because we had again been unable to get through the itinerary schedule on time - and we had to leave right after breakfast the next morning. The hotel in Siem Reap is out of this world wonderful, with a good location, incredible decor, extraordinary service and excellent food; we were lucky to spend 4 nights there. We ended our trip at a resort on a cliff at Kata Noi beach in Phuket, where we got an upgrade to a huge comfortable suite with sunset views from its private porch. We also liked the hotel in Hue. But some of the other hotels were very disappointing, with mediocre (although always ample) breakfast food and spotty restaurant service (and due to our busy schedules we had to rely on eating in the hotels at times, as there was no time to venture further). The worst was the hotel in Chiang Mai in Thailand: location not near other restaurants and their dinner service very poor, room very dark and small; after one night, we checked ourselves out and moved to a more reliable luxury hotel at our own expense even though we had already paid for the other hotel and we understood we could not get a refund.

Most of our scheduled prepaid activities were fabulous bu there were a few glitches that could have been avoided by a more attentive tour operator. The first glitch was the water puppet show; we were promised that we could meet with puppeteers to learn more about it afterwards but this didn’t happen (nor could it because another show was scheduled to start right after ours), and the Hanoi guide didn’t know it was on the itinerary nor even that it could be arranged. This was a highlight experience much anticipated by my partner, a retired theater and TV designer/technician with experience in puppetry, and had been personally discussed beforehand on the phone with the tour operator, who had assured us it would be included. The tour guide said it was impossible and even laughed (nervously) at my partner when he insisted; he got angry at her, which was very awkward; she then called her contact with the tour operator company and they got us tickets to another water puppet show, with a backstage interview with puppeteers afterwards, the next night. In the end, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing two different water puppet companies and the backstage interview, but the whole snafu was extremely awkward with the tour guide caught in the middle - and also meant our scheduled Hanoi street food tour the second night had to be abbreviated to a stop in a crowded restaurant for a $3-4 bowl of pho after the second show.
We totally enjoyed the many performance opportunities we had in our schedule: two fantastic circuses (in Saigon and Siem Reap), a couple of traditional dance performances with dinners, etc. The Royal Lunch in Hue was really a sort of theatrical experience, with artistically presented food that was also top quality.

A highlight for us was the 2-day boat cruise on the Mekong River from Luang Prabang to the Thai border. I enjoyed the beautiful hotel on the hill in Pak Beng, but the tour operators should have warned us that it was on a steep mountain with many stairs and could present accessibility issues - which it did for my travel companions, one of whom fell and was pretty badly bruised with a loosened tooth.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

See above for some of the many highlights of our action packed and varied itinerary. We also enjoyed the many temples, scenery, elephant rescue park (although that went on too long; we would have preferred to leave after the elephants and not go see the cats and dogs), swimming pools and beach, the memorable sea cave tour off Phuket, getting to know some of our guides and learn about their lives, the many very different boat rides throughout the trip, etc.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

Honestly I would use a different tour operator who has a more realistic informed ability to schedule what can be done in a day, a more consistent reliable idea of the quality of recommended lodgings, is better attuned to possible accessibility issues, and communicates better with the guides assigned to us. And because of these issues, I doubt I would trust Zicasso for a reliable reference to a tour operator so it’s unlikely I would use Zicasso again.

The tour operator did respond to my expression of mounting dissatisfaction by offering us complimentary 90-minute massages in Siem Reap, which were terrific and were certainly a compensation for some of our annoyances and disappointments. On the other hand, they had invited us to be their guests at a high tea at the high end hotel in Siem Reap and had to reschedule due to a change in availability of the dinner theater dance performance; they couldn’t get us into the hotel so switched us to a rather disappointing venue with poor service, and they sat at one end of a long table where they could only talk to two if the six people in our group, with the upshot that the whole activity seemed like a waste of precious time rather than a treat (and when we got back to the hotel, we saw they could have done the high tea there and it was a truly special experience there).
I would also want to schedule more down time to recover from hectic tourist activities, but it is not the fault of the tour operator that we wanted to pack in so many activities. That said, perhaps a more experienced tour operator could have strongly recommended a different pace and gently guided us to adopt a less hectic itinerary. Also, as noted above, our itinerary on paper indicated rest periods that we never got because the activities were really over scheduled for the allotted time frames.
Finally, our guides from Saigon to the end did a good job of adjusting our schedules to accommodate our needs best. But although we had made it clear we did not want to spend time at tour bus type shopping venues, both the Hanoi and Hue/Hoi An guides took us to those types of places. And we really wasted way too much time in Ninh Binh at a huge Buddhist complex built after 2000, a sort of Buddhist theme park, which is very popular with Vietnamese and other Asian tourists but probably not as interesting to us as the royal fortress complex we had to eliminate because we ran out of time (and it was also the reason we got to the resort too late to enjoy it).

Travel Company Comments:

Thank you for your feedback. We apologize for any inconvenience caused during your trip and would like to address some of the concerns you raised.
Regarding your guide in Hanoi, we had originally booked one of our regular guides in advance, but unfortunately he was injured right before your arrival and was unable to assist your group. Despite our office in Hanoi finding a new guide, we were not informed of the change, due to the last minute nature of the circumstances. Our regular guides were all booked, and so our office in Hanoi found a freelance guide to assist your group during your stay in that city.
We're happy to hear that you enjoyed the second water puppet show and backstage experience on the second night in Hanoi. Once we were informed of the issue, we quickly made sure you were able to experience the backstage visit as originally discussed.
Thank you for bringing to our attention the guide not having the itinerary. Although we provide all of our guides with a copy of the itinerary, it seems that this guide did not have one. However, you mentioned that she had lost her phone, which may have contributed to the issue.
On behalf of our company, we apologize for any inconvenience caused by this guide. We have copied and forwarded your feedback about her to the guide association in Hanoi and will not be using her services again.
From the onset, I had provided two hotel options: a mix of 4-Star hotels and 5-Star hotels; and the second option with all 5-Star accommodations throughout. My notes show that in our phone call last October, you reviewed both options and informed me which hotels you preferred in each city, a mix of 4 and 5 Star. The hotels you mentioned enjoying in your review were all 5-Star. While the hotels you mentioned not liking in your review and feedback to me were 4-Stars.
The vehicles used in Vietnam were 12 and 15 passenger vans, no older than 4 years. These are vehicles used for standard tour services, and an appropriate size for a group of 6. If clients request luxury vehicles, we can arrange D-Car Limousines and similar for an additional fee. This is something we typically offer for guests who request 5-Star accommodations throughout and indicate more flexibility in their budget.
After the tour was confirmed, we offered to meet you for Afternoon Tea in Siem Reap, paid by us. The hotel's cafe was not available and Khema, a classy deli along the riverside, is much closer to your hotel. We spent around two hours there and the curates were picked clean when your group was ready to head back. So I am surprised to hear that you found the venue disappointing. If the table being long was a point of dissatisfaction, please note that to seat 8 people together necessitates a long table, regardless of the venue. If you have any specific feedback regarding the service there, please email me the issue and I will pass that feedback along to them.
Lastly, regarding tourist shops, our itinerary does not include them. In Vietnam, local restrooms have squat toilets. If in transit between Ha Long Bay and Hanoi or Hue and Hoi An, the only places that have Western toilets are at tourist shop stops along the way. If guests request to use the restroom on these transits, the guides typically inform of this point.
Regarding Elephant Nature Park, please note that you had requested this venue and that they state on their website itinerary that you’ll visit rescued dogs, cats and other animals. However, I will pass along your feedback to them.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the activities and route selection overall and had memorable experiences to take home. Thank you for traveling with us and I wish you all the best.