Asia - Cruise or land?

Good morning,
My husband and I have booked our air JFK- BKK with Thai Air for June 18-30.
Originally we were plannning to stay in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket and tour around the country independently.
I recently saw this cruise posted on the Costa Allegra ship:
Sat, Jun 23 Singapore 7:00 P
2 Sun, Jun 24 At Sea
3 Mon, Jun 25 Ho Chi Minh City 8:00 A 4:00 P
4 Tue, Jun 26 At Sea
5 Wed, Jun 27 Da Nang 8:00 A 7:00 P
6 Thu, Jun 28 Sanya 8:00 A 3:00 P
7 Fri, Jun 29 Hong Kong 1:00 P
8 Sat, Jun 30 Hong Kong
Now we are considering taking the Costa cruise. We would fly into BKK as planned and spend 3 nights in Bkk then fly to Singapore Friday. We would board the Allegra and then see if we could fly back to JFK from HKG.
We thought it would give us a great sampling of different Asaian cultures.
It is our first trip to Asia and we would like to see as much as possible.
We would appreciate your opinions. Would this be a feasible itinerary or is it a bad season (monsoon) to be cruising South Asia?
We welcome any suggestions. We are both teachers in our fifties so this is the only time we could take this trip.
Thanks

In 2005, we did a similar trip in reverse. Three days in Hong Kong then Hanoi (actually Halong Bay), Da Nang, two days in Saigon, two days in Bangkok, and two days in Singapore. After the cruise we flew to Seem Reap to see Angkor Wat. I think a cruise is a great way to see this part of the world. However, I don't think your choice is getting you enough time in ports. There is no way to see Saigon and surrounding areas in eight hours. Most cruise lines do this trip in two weeks, Costa is trying to do it in one week.

Marc

PS This will probably be moved as you posted in the Japan forum

Since the question deals with Asia generally, and not specifically Japan, I'm going to move this to the Other Asia forum.

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
Senior moderator

I agree that this allows too little time to explore each port of call. My guess is that they will try to sell you some shore excursions that will cost extra and will spend a lot of time in souvenir shops and mediocre restaurants that they have contracts with.

If you want to see a lot of Asia on one trip, look for a Circle Pacific fare that lets you spend as much time as you want in each city and throw in Australia or New Zealand and Fiji or Tahiti.

Otherwise, in some years, Cathay Pacific and Malaysia have special tickets that let you hop around Asia for one price, although you have to designate your cities in advance.

Only my opinion, but as my travel philosophy is, "I don't want to be isolated from the experience by a cocoon of comfort," the cruise as described sounds like my worst case scenario.

Some links:
Travelfish - Thailand (http://www.travelfish.org/country/thailand)
Thorn Tree Thailand Forum (http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=51)
Bangkok Airways Discovery Airpass (http://www.bangkokair.com/discoveryairpass/)
Air Asia (http://www.airasia.com/site/en/home.jsp)

My wife and I are independent travelers in our fifties constrained by the school year, too.

Last year we flew United to Ho Chi Minh City (3 nights), took a boat through the Mekong Delta to Chau Doc (1 night), another boat to Phnom Penh (1 night), a bus to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat (4 nights), and a flight to Bangkok (3 nights) and then home.

This year we are flying Thai nonstop RT LAX-BKK, transiting to Chiang Mai (5 nights), flying again to Luang Prabang (5 nights), another flight to Hanoi (5 nights), transiting through BKK and then home.

UPDATE: This trip has firmed up as follows: Hanoi-Sapa-Halong Bay (9 nights), Luang Prabang (4 nights) and Chiang Mai (2 nights).


Aside from the airfare US-SEAsia, these are not expensive itineraries. Intra-region travel is very affordable, as of course are accomodations and other day-to-day expenses.

PM me if you like, and I will provide more details.