Secluded Luxury Honeymoon in Vietnam

We recently took a trip to S.E. Asia using Zicasso Travel and their local agent. Zicasso had also asked another company to bid on our vacation and based on our interaction with that company, they would have done an excellent job. Our choice of our travel agency came down to personal preference of some of the tour details.

Planning

Both agency's proposed comprehensive itineraries and modified them twice as we zeroed in on what the vacation would entail. After choosing our travel agency, our representative sorted out details based of her experience and our evolving requirements. In the end, the itinerary expanded to 24 days and came to include Cambodia and Bangkok in addition to Vietnam. We were clearly told what preparations were needed on our part for border formalities and correct attire for temples and palaces. Part way through the process, our original representative left the company but our agent took up the file and the transition was seemless. The handoff was handled by the Sales Manager at at the company which was both appropriate and professional.

Execution

Our vacation involved eleven hotels, four planes, two busses and a speedboat (not counting 4 planes and 30 hours just to get to Vietnam!). Over 24 days there were no hiccups, no glitches, no missed appointments and no lost reservations. With noted exceptions, hotels exceeded our expectations, itineraries were comprehensive and appropriate and guides, with noted exception, were professional, knowledgeable and added their experience to the execution of the itinerary.

Over the years, we have mostly travelled on our own. This was our first fully managed vacation and while it did seem a little odd being carted around like minor royalty in our private van, we were very pleased with the trip. This travel agency is a good partner with Zicasso in Vietnam and we would book with them again given the opportunity.

Some Hotel Detail

Hanoi – Excellent!

Ha Long Bay Cruise– Very Good

Sapa – Excellent!

Hoi An – Excellent!

Hue – Excellent! A lovely historical hotel.

Ho Chi Minh City – Adequate. Poor Service

Chau Doc – Unacceptable, only technically a 4 star hotel. Poor breakfast, no assistance with luggage, poor location, dated interior. This hotel was a replacement for the beautiful Victoria Resort which was booked up. There are few alternatives in Can Tho.

Chau Doc – Excellent!

Phnom Penh – Excellent!

Siem Reap – Excellent! Top service of all!

Bangkok – Nearly Excellent. Probably the nicest hotel of the lot, let down by poor breakfast service and problems at check out.

Tour Guides

All of the guides were Adequate – Quite Good with the exception of our Sapa guide who was missing on the first day (a replacement was arranged). On the second day, we discovered part way through the day that he was not complying with our itinerary but rather executing a shorter program that would allow both of us the afternoon free. When confronted with this, an ad-hoc extension to the walk was enacted but rain the next day prevented any redress of the itinerary. In addition, the restaurant chosen for picnic lunch was very poor although there were better alternatives clearly available. This was a learning experience for us and we carefully reviewed our itinerary each morning of the following days before we departed the hotel but all of the subsequent guides lived up to their obligations.

Train

This is an excellent option to the sleeper train. You get to sleep in your hotel room then enjoy the passing countryside as you climb into the mountains in a very comfortable coach with WIFI, snacks and hostess, arriving in Sapa before lunch. The problem is the bus driver. He was pulled over by the police on the way to Sapa for reasons unknown to us. This should have been a warning. On the return voyage to Hanoi, the bus was not available and, since there were only two of us on the trip, a private car was used, complete with WIFI and refreshments. A member of management undertook to accompany us most of the way to Hanoi airport. When he departed the car, 45 minutes from our destination, the driver, the same bus driver as previously, began to drive recklessly, endangering our lives and likely making enemies of all the other drivers on the highway.  We would certainly stay with them again and would recommend the Bus service to Sapa but we would not get into a vehicle with this driver again. The hotel needs to deal with this problem and Zicasso / This travel agency need to encourage them to do so.

We booked a three-week trip to Vietnam with a side trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the Angkor temple complex. We are three 60-something women who had never been to Southeast Asia before. Before we left, our travel company patiently helped us customize our trip, down to the last details, providing great advice along the way. Our trip started in Hanoi, and our guide was there at the airport to pick us up and take us to our hotel, even though it took longer than we expected to get our visas. The hotel they booked for us on the south shore of Hoan Kiem Lake, was lovely and it turned out to be a terrific location. Throughout the trip, which included stops in Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City, we felt well taken care of, with great hotels throughout. And our guides were flexible enough to change our itineraries on the fly. For example, one of my companions fell and injured her leg in a market in Hoi An. We asked if we could rearrange the itinerary to accommodate a trip to a hospital clinic, and they happily obliged. And later they modified the schedule for my friend, so she could skip some of the more strenuous activities.

The trip itself was wonderful. We experienced the markets, the organic gardens, the temples and pagodas, the waterways and the food that makes Vietnam so unique and wonderful. All of our local guides were so helpful and willing to put up with our eccentricities.

The only glitch we had on the trip was when we arrived at the Siem Reap airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. It turned out we did not have tickets on the flight. We called our travel company and immediately got a call back -- we would be met at the airport by a guide with tickets for the next flight out, and in the meantime he would take us to a lovely nearby hotel and buy us lunch. He also offered to get us a room if we wanted to shower or change clothes, but we just stayed in the restaurant overlooking the lovely swimming pool and sipped our mojitos, courtesy of of the company.

Also I should mention the value. Zicasso connected us with three travel agents who submitted proposals. This company was the only one that really understood our budget parameters and what we wanted to do within the budget. We felt the price was quite reasonable and were very happy with our trip.

After returning home from a month-long trip to Asia, I am still wowed by the service provided by the travel agency and our guides in Vietnam. Since this was our first visit to the country, I reached out to the agency for itinerary recommendations, and thankfully, I was connected with Albee. She was incredibly responsive before and during our trip, and she paired us with such knowledgeable and hospitable guides.

Our first guide during the trip hosted us in Hanoi and SaPa. We opted to stay a bit more off the beaten path at an ecolodge which we can highly recommend, which is about 30 minutes away from the SaPa village center. We let our guide know we were interested in learning more about the local culture and exploring the countryside, and wow, he delivered! 

We went on the most memorable hike through the rice terraces and stopped to chat with several villagers along the way. He knew everyone. On top of that, he taught us about local flora and customs while on the hike and then the bike ride. We are already looking forward to returning to the North and further exploring the Vietnam/China border, but only if we can do it with him! The mountains were truly the highlight of our trip, and it wouldn't have been possible without him as our guide. If you are lucky enough to add SaPa to your itinerary, do yourself a favor and request him.

Our guide in Saigon, which was the last leg of our Vietnam trip, was so accommodating to our changing needs. After a couple of weeks of travel, we arrived in Saigon wanting a more relaxing pace. She seamlessly made alternate arrangements for us that were a perfect end to the trip. The most hospitable moment from our entire trip to Asia came when we expressed an interest in visiting a local family. She immediately suggested that she and her family host us for lunch at their home in the Mekong Delta the next afternoon. This was such an unexpected yet memorable end to our time in Vietnam. Our guide’s and her family's hospitality were unmatched, and we were so fortunate to have her as our guide.

From the start to the finish, this travel agency did a marvelous job in helping us set up our 19 day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in Feb. - March 2018. The four of us, two couples, had lots of ideas and questions about the trip. Our representative was wonderful. I told her what we were thinking of, our budget, what we wanted to see and where our focus was and she devised an itinerary that hit all the objectives of our trip. We did a bunch of tweaking and sending questions and concerns over  time and she answered all very promptly and made sure that what we wanted in the trip was fulfilled.  When I told her we wanted to up-grade our hotels, she handled all the changes  without any problems.  She phoned several times to make sure all was going well with our planning and that we were happy with what she had set up for us.

Our guides were fabulous. They did everything and more to make sure we had the experiences we wanted. If they thought that what was supposed to happen that day wasn't what they would recommend, ie., eating at certain food markets, etc., they pointed us in another direction. They took into account some of the physical limitations of several of us and made adjustments accordingly. They were friendly, helpful, caring and fun. At several points in our journey we had some requests for things that weren't in the itinerary and they made sure that those requests were fulfilled. We couldn't have asked for better service. More that once we asked where we could buy a certain thing and they went out of their way to find the store where it could be procured, even after the tour for the day was done and they were off their time with us. Wonderful service. All of our drivers were excellent, friendly and helpful. They always had bottles of cold water for us when we returned to the vans, which was much appreciated. 

Our hotels were perfect. The hotel in Hanoi, our private boat in Ha Long Bay and the staff on board, the hotel in Hue, the boutique hotel in Hoi An, where we had a wonderful 2 day rest period to enjoy the beach and relax,  the resort in Saigon, which was luxury at it's best, and the hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia were the perfect places to relax, rest and explore after our days of seeing the sights. They all had wonderful breakfasts and the staff of all of them were friendly, helpful and informative when we needed some advice. 

They also made getting our visas easy and painless, and arranged our internal flights and the flight to Cambodia with no problems. 

I highly recommend this travel company for any trip you are planning to Vietnam. Their service was outstanding and we have no complaints about anything they booked, recommended or suggested. 

The trip went smoothly and the women who organized the trip, was extremely responsive by email and was able to make numerous changes to the proposed itinerary without issue. Overall the trip was moderately priced and there were no major snags. I have two main complaints. First was that we spent two nights sleeping on a train. I have spent many nights on a train and do not have issue with this in itself. However, when my brother and I arrived to the train, I was surprised to see that instead of having a private cabin, we were booked into a small cabin that slept 4 people and we had both an upper and lower bunk. This is a mode of travel usually reserved for back-packers and that constituted the other 98% of people on the train. Fortunately, the people who we shared the train with on both legs of the trip were nice but this does not constitute "luxury" travel which is what I expect when booking on this site and is what I specified to our agent when I set up the trip with her. Although my brother and I are in our early 40s and can easily hop up and down from the top bunk in the middle of the night, this may be a major issue with many people. In retrospect, this information was buried in the fine print, but I would have been more than happy to spend the extra $75-$100 each way for a private cabin if I was given that option. In addition, when were arriving to Lo Cai, we were told that we had an area to shower and refresh. To do so, we were directed to a room just above the restaurant in which we were having breakfast. The room that we were sent to was filthy and dingy. I have travelled to many parts of the world and have showered in many places but this was truly nasty. In addition, the towels that we were provided were little more than falling apart rags, but at least they were dry. My brother, who is relatively adventurous, refused to use the facilities. Again, this would have been fine when I was 20 and backpacking, but when I book a luxury vacation, this is not acceptable. The kicker is that Hanoi to Sapa is only 3.5 hours by car and I would have been much happier to sleep in a nice hotel and drive instead of taking the train. Other than that, the tour was fine. I was happy that I booked my own hotel rooms.