Hi Lan
We had a fantastic trip with Vietnam Impressive and would highly recommend your services to others.
Rather than send back the Questionnaire that you gave me I have listed the questions below:
I/ Tour Progam
Name of Program: Vietnam & Cambodia
Dates: 12 March 2011 to 29 March 2011
1. Did you receive enough advance information about tour from North to South of Vietnam?
Yes – enough advance information
2. How did you rate your tour program?
Very interesting
3. During your tour, did you prefer the meals served in hotels or outside restaurants? |
We loved the breakfast at all hotels but preferred the freedom of choosing our own outside restaurants.
4. Was there anything you felt missing from the program?
Overall the program was excellent and we saw more than we expected to see. If we had realised how nice Hoi An was we definitely would have stayed an extra night there so it might be useful to tell people they may need two nights in this area.
II/ Transportation (car/coach)
All vehicles were in excellent condition and very comfortable, plenty of room and the drivers were very good and helpful.
Safety Very good
Cleanliness Very good
Driver/s Excellent
III/ Hotel/s:
Lavender Hotel Very good – great location and very convenient. Staff of hotel very helpful.
Breakfast was excellent, rooms were very clean, showers were good.
Medallion Hotel Breakfast was good variety and very nice. Rooms and staff at this hotel were excellent. Particularly, when I forgot to collect our passports from the room safe and they urgently sent a driver to the airport to deliver them to us. Alas, just a few minutes too late (not their fault of course) and we spent the night in Hanoi Airport. Only we can be blamed for this!!!
Emotion Cruise This was an absolute highlight of our trip. The boat was much better than we had expected, the food was top class and the rooms had fantastic views of Halong Bay. The trips to the caves and the fishing village were fantastic and the squid fishing at night was lots of fun. I would highly recommend this cruise.
Hue Holiday Hotel It did seem a bit strange that it was located down an alley but once we checked in the room was very comfortable and the staff were helpful. Although breakfast was fairly simple it was very tasty and freshly cooked.
Hoi An Historic Hotel This was the best hotel on the whole trip. Unbelievable value, would compare to at least a 4**** anywhere in the world. The location was good as it was only a few minutes walk to the centre of Hoi An. Staff were very friendly and there were great facilities at this hotel. We could have easily stayed here for another day or two.
Saigon Can Tho Hotel Great location, big balcony, rooms a bit older but very clean and tidy. Welcome fruit bowl was nice.
Chau Pho Hotel Although the hotel was clean and the staff were friendly it was a bit out of the way. In saying this, I do realise that accommodation was limited in Chau Doc.
Diamond Hotel Nice furniture and beds, good sized balcony, 24 hour shop within the hotel which was very handy and very good staff. Breakfast was good. The hotel was in a good location particularly for those who wanted to shop. Handy to restaurants and the bus station for our trip to Siem Reap.
Angkor Way Hotel The rooms were quite roomy, had a balcony and a great breakfast. On the first level there was a pool and bar which was a great place to wind down and relax. They also made good drinks!
Overall the standard of hotels was very good.
IV/ Tour Guides
Ho Chi Minh Vinh Good but was not as experienced and mature as other guides. He was keen to help.
Hanoi Can’t remember name Good but a bit hard to understand
Hue/Hoi An Can’t remember name Excellent
Phnom Penh Kip/Hip Very good
Siem Reap Can’t remember name Excellent – the best guide of the trip – the most interesting information and very considerate of all travellers.
V/ And, finally:
1. Please name some highlights of your visit?
Ho Chi Minh – The War Museum was excellent and the Ben Thanh Markets were good. All meals we had at stalls and restaurants were very fresh and tasty.
Hanoi – the old city was vibrant and lots of fun. The tours were good.
Hoi An – Very beautiful, lots of history, great shops and delicious food. Everything about Hoi An was beautiful, our guide, the hotel, the restaurant, the river, the shops – I could go on and on!
Mekong River Tour – We loved the floating market cruise. We then transferred to rowing boats and travelled along the canals. This was lots of fun and the scenery was great. We really enjoyed this part of the trip.
Bus Trip to Siem Reap – the bus was not very roomy and a bit old but once we got on the road and saw the quality of life of the people who live in the small villages we were amazed by the way they live, how difficult their lives must be and found the trip to be something we will always remember. Our tour guide in Siem Reap told us about his project as a volunteer to provide people in these areas with clean water wells and we intend to make donations via the website.
Angkor Wat – great place, great markets, very friendly people all round. The food was unbelievable, very fresh and very cheap. The quality of the items sold at the markets was excellent and the prices were very good – not too much bartering. We also enjoyed the fish spas and the massages at the markets. We had lots of fun on the Tuk Tuk’s as well. We also enjoyed the sites that our Tour Guide showed us. He definitely made this tour very interesting, provided relevant information and you could tell that he had lots of experience and knowledge. He also made the tour fun and was very considerate of my Mum who is 77 years old.
I must say that all drivers turned up on time and collected us from airports etc and transferred us to our next destination on time which was fantastic.
2. Please advise any negative aspects of your visit?
Forgetting our passports but we survived this and just felt quite silly really.
We were not prepared for the cold weather in Hanoi and all had to go out and buy winter clothes.
3. Would you recommend your friends to visit Vietnam?
Most definitely – we have already told everyone we know that they have to go to Vietnam and they should contact your tour company.
Any further comments:
You might like to mention that travellers should collect their tickets for the boat trip from the hotel desk before departing for the Express Boat as we did not realise we had to do this.
We turned up at the Bus Station not realising that we needed tickets. When they asked us for them this created a bit of confusion until they asked what hotel we stayed at. Somehow they seemed to know that this was part of our tour then. It did throw us into a bit of panic as we thought we should have asked at our hotel for the tickets and we may not be allowed on the bus.
I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed our trip and I thank everyone at Vietnam Impressive Tours who help us, particularly Lan and Chi. You were both fantastic to deal with, you understood our requirements and went to great lengths to ensure our trip was a success.
We will definitely return to Vietnam and Cambodia, we loved the whole trip! Next time I would add more time in Hoi An (maybe do a Vietnamese Cooking Class) and a trip to Sapa as everyone we spoke to said it was excellent. We would also like to visit Laos next time as well. We will definitely contact your company when we decide to make a return trip.
Kind Regards
Deslie and fellow travellers