Northern Vietnam Soft Adventure Private Tour 8 days

Dear Ms Hang,
Here are my comments on the tour just concluded.
Generally, the tour went well, and we enjoyed it.
Highlights:
1)Hoi’An basket boat ride was fun
2)Cruising Halong on Mon Cherie 2 – excellent!
3)My friends also enjoyed the Ethnology Museum
Some feedback:
Hotel in Hoi’an the Delicacy… More Dear Ms Hang,
Here are my comments on the tour just concluded.
Generally, the tour went well, and we enjoyed it.
Highlights:
1)Hoi’An basket boat ride was fun
2)Cruising Halong on Mon Cherie 2 – excellent!
3)My friends also enjoyed the Ethnology Museum
Some feedback:
Hotel in Hoi’an the Delicacy Hotel was very nice. The décor was very nice and staff extremely well-trained, polite and welcoming. I must commend the management of this hotel.
Also excellent was the Mon Cherie cruise. We must thank you for putting us on this boat. Staff on board gave excellent service, without being pushy. I commend Ms Tam (I think she was the cruise director) for good communication and quiet, effective service. We, as an elderly Asian group, much prefer the low key quiet service of Ms Tam. Rooms were excellent, food was excellent, service staff were excellent.
The guide in Hoi’an was OK.
The replacement for Tom on our NinhBinh day trip was OK. Our elderly group was tired and did not enter the temple of the Le and Dinh dynasty, but only took photos on the bridge. Instead Mr Tinh suggested a trip to a bamboo “factory” – nothing educational about it, but lots of things to buy in an air-conditioned building. Some people liked it and some did not.
The buffet lunch at Ninh Binh was quite bad – the food was cold and not tasty at all. May I suggest not to offer this “buffet” again. A better idea would have been hot, freshly-cooked dishes for lunch.
My group found the Ethnology Museum very interesting and educational.
We entered the Thang Long Imperial Citadel but had to leave after only about 20 minutes - only because my group was very tired. Again, something to remember with old people who tire easily.
Tom (Mr Tung) was again very much appreciated – he was very sensitive to the needs of the group, and again went out of his way to make our trip enjoyable. He is again much-commended. We were disappointed he could not take us on the Ninh Binh trip.
Lowlights
The driver who took us to Halong should be told to be more sensitive to the needs of his passengers. One person has medical problems and has to go to the toilet often. We asked the driver to stop 3 times for him to use the toilet, either at a service station or even along the road, but the driver completely ignored us. When we asked him to stop, it was on a normal road, not even on the highway where we fully understand vehicles cannot stop.
He only stopped once at the big shops selling lots of Vietnamese products throughout the 3-4 hour drive to Halong, and then only once on the way back to Hanoi. It was not as if he was in a rush, because at the shops, he was not waiting for us in the van; we had to wait for him to come back to the van.
I will not describe what my friend had to do 3 times to urinate in the van – you can imagine. It was not nice, especially with 3 ladies in the van, but the driver left him with no choice.
We tipped the driver for his safe driving to Halong and back, but were very angry with him for completely ignoring our urgent requests to stop the car at a service station or along the road.
The Light Hotel – generally quite nice, but the rooms with bath tubs should never be given to old people. They have to climb in and out of the very high bathtubs – very dangerous. Also location was not as good as the Tirant Hotel.
PL Less

Excellent support and service from Tom, our guide in Hanoi, NinhBinh and MaiChau. We had met him before on our first trip with BestPrice and were pleasantly surprised to meet him again. He took very good care of the weaker members of the group, and was very personal and responsive. Everyone had high… More Excellent support and service from Tom, our guide in Hanoi, NinhBinh and MaiChau. We had met him before on our first trip with BestPrice and were pleasantly surprised to meet him again. He took very good care of the weaker members of the group, and was very personal and responsive. Everyone had high praise for him. If we return to Vietnam with BestPrice, we would certainly want to have him with us again.

Guides make a very big difference o how much travellers enjoy the trip. Some do it quite well and professionally as a job. Some others do it with their heart.

CatCat Village we found too commercialised compared to my first visit to North Vietnam about 20 years ago. Some people may like this. We did not. In fact we found Sapa generally very commercialised.

Hanoi hotel much better than on our first trip. Good standard. Breakfast was also good.

Tam Coc Wonderland - Very good. Rooms were clean and spacious. Breakfast was generous. The foot bath was a nice touch. The owner/manager was very welcoming and friendly
Mai Chau disappointing. The rooms were OK. The manager seemed very friendly and chatty, but is obviously better at chatting with guests than running a hotel. Perhaps he is inexperienced. Food and drink ran out at breakfast. Less

My wife and I would like to express our gratitude to BestPrice Travel for the services given during our holiday in Northern Vietnam, particularly to one of their staff members, Rosie Nguyen, who handled all the arrangements quickly and swiftly. Despite the fact that our plan is an 8-day vacation package… More My wife and I would like to express our gratitude to BestPrice Travel for the services given during our holiday in Northern Vietnam, particularly to one of their staff members, Rosie Nguyen, who handled all the arrangements quickly and swiftly. Despite the fact that our plan is an 8-day vacation package (16-23 August'2022), we had to end our tour on the fifth day (20 August'2022) and return to Singapore owing to the unexpected death of my 98-year-old mother. Thank you to Rosie and her team for arranging transportation from Halong Bay to Hanoi Airport so that we could make the nighttime flight.
Thank you once again to the whole BestPrice Travel team. Less