Bangkok as a excursion from Cruise ship.
We visited Bangkok on a over night excursion as part of a cruise we did from Singapore to Hong Kong on the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium.
Laem Chabang
Bangkok is 2 hours inland from the sea, well 2 hours in normal circumstances but this being Thailand and its famous traffic congestion that 2 hour drive can quickly become 3+. So factor that into your planning.
The ship docks at the port of Laem Chabang and to be blunt this is a commercial port with nothing nearby for cruise toursist's. So your looking at excursion to leave the ship and the vast majority of passengers on our ship choose to go to Bangkok, you can do the city highlights all in a day, but its a full day most of it spent in thick traffic in hot conditions, so we decided to do a overnight trip as our ship the Celebrity Millennium was in port overnight.
Now you could do it yourself but with the traffic issues and distance involved we decided on this trip to pick a ships excursion. It was a good choice because we were delayed on the way back but had the guarantee that being on a cruise ship tour the Captain and ship would wait on us.
As a alternative to Bangkok you can visit the toursist resort of Pattaya from this port its only a 30 minute drive from the port.
Journey to Bangkok
In short its not picturesque, as you leave what is a large commercial port you join a modern motorway and the first 60 or 70 minutes is OK, with the traffic all moving as normal however the closer you get to Bangkok you quickly notice the increase in traffic and the subsequent slowing of progress until you simple slow to a stop start routine. Its basically like that all the way into and around the city.
Bangkok traffic.
Reaching our destination and What's to see in Bangkok
Eventually we made into the city and the first stop of the excursion was the Grand Palace. Now this cruise was in February so not the most humid month in Bangkok but as we stepped off the bus, you were very quickly aware of the heat and more importantly the humidity, so as a Tip, make sure you take water with you as you leave your transport. To be fair on this excursion our guide provided a fresh bottle at each stop. As well as the heat and humidity you quickly see your in a vibrant exciting and at the Grand Palace in particular a very very busy location.
Grand Palace
The Grand Palace Complex was established in 1782 and not only consists of the Royal and throne halls but a number of goverment offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. ( Its worth saying on this trip your going to see a lot of different Buddha's)
This vast complex is surrounded by a high wall and has tight security but it also attracts a large number of visitors. To enter what is a respected area for the Thai people you need to cover up, so no shorts or bare shoulders etc, but don't worry directly outside the entrance there are stalls who rent you garments, some very colourful, so you comply and are therefore able to enter.
Our guide gave us a very knowledgeable tour of the various areas and sights within the Palace we spent a couple of hours in the Palace. It was here that advice to keep yourself hydrated was driven home to us, as one of the more elderly members of our party fainted with the heat in the Palace. The tour guide and Thai staff were excellent in dealing with the situation, to cut a long story short he was eventually fine, and the guide arranged for him to be taken by taxi back to the hotel we would use that night so he could recover fully, he was with us later at night for that part of the tour, so happy ending. But remember that water !!
Grand Palace Complex
Logistics Manager modeling her rented cover up
Grand Palace
Grand Palace
Grand Palace
Logistics Manager within the Palace
Grand Palace
After the tour of the Palace complex it was back on the bus for a short trip to a local Thai restaurant where we were able to enjoy a light Thai lunch with a nice cold beer ( other refreshments were available). Then we made our way to the nearby Temple of Wat Pho.
Now you may have heard of one of its famous occupants the Reclining Buddha ?
This is a huge icon 45 meters long and 15 meters high, the Buddha is so big its difficult to get a full picture of it and the soles of it's feet and ears are inlaid with precious stones. Another incredible sight.
The actual temple has long been considered a place of healing in fact if you have time you can get a traditional Thai foot massage on the premises but the price is much higher than what you would pay elsewhere, suppose its all about location !!
Photo does not do this huge golden Buddha justice and has to be seen to be believed.
Another Buddha within Wat Pho temple.
Wat Arun
Next stop on the trip was at this famous temple and again the design and amount of gold on show is stunning. Its worth mentioning that all these locations are very busy but you do get a chance to see the items of interest. There is also tight but unintrusive security at most locations.
Within Wat Arun temple.
Wat Traimit, Temple of the Golden Buddha
The Golden Buddha Temple was the next stop on our itinerary, another busy stop, but this Buddha which is made of solid gold, has a interesting story. In the 1950's a commercial company bought the land around this temple part of the sale was they had to remove a plaster statue of Buddha, when they tried to move it the statue was so heavy it fell from the crane lifting it, as a result the statue was left lying on the ground overnight, this was during the rainy season, and it was drenched in the morning some of the temple monks noticed a glint coming from one of the cracks in the statue, the plaster coating was removed revealing a 3,5 meter high sold gold Buddha. It's impressive.
Golden Buddha
The hotel is situated in the city center on the banks of the river Chao Phraya which rumbles through the city and is as busy a thoroughfare for transport as the local roads as it is home to the noisy and very fast Dragon Boats, which act as river taxis as well as commercial barges sightseeing cruisers and a array of other small vessels
Royal Orchard Sheraton Hotel & Towers
Our check in here was quick professional and friendly and we were within our allocated room in a few minutes.
On entering a modern standard double room that was both a decent size and comfortable we found on opening the curtains we had ceiling to floor glass windows that gave us a fantastic view over the river. If we were to return to Bangkok for a longer stay I would have no hesintation in returning to this hotel, in short it has a great location, clean comfortable modern rooms, a number of eating options/ restaurants a really nice lobby bar that does a good cocktail recommend by my Logistics Manager and a really impressive hotel pool leisure complex right on the rivers edge, it definitely got the thumbs up from us.
So our day was not finished tonight we were going for a evening meal on a river boat which was all part of the excursion.
Cocktail in the Lobby Bar
Local musician in the hotel
Riverboat trip and meal
Refreshed and changed we made our way down to the hotel's lobby bar, where we enjoyed a pre dinner drink as we were entertained by a young girl playing local music.
Then it was a short walk to the hotels own Pier on the river to join our boat for dinner.
This consisted of a selection of local Thai dishes, some in buffet form, there was a option of a western dish, but since we do like to try and sample the local food we both tried a few of the Thai options, they were very good. No complaints.
As we enjoyed the meal we were transported along the fast flowing and busy river, as it was now dark, the city and river took on another dimension with its neon lights making it very colourful.
We eventually were returned to the hotel just after 9 pm, and that was the end of our first day of the organised excursion, ok it had been a busy, full day which started at 7.30 am so some of our fellow excursion friends retired to bed, BUT we were on holiday and as the night was still young, myself and Logistics Manager decided to sample some of nightime Bangkok so out into the night we went.
Chao Phraya river in Bangkok
View of river from hotel room
Nightime on the river
Nightime river trip
Night view of river and Bangkok from Hotel room
As we left the hotel we decided to head to one of the cities more well known areas for nightlife and its night market, Patpong.
We got a taxi at the hotel and with the roads a bit quieter than during the day a 20/25 minutes journey later we were there.
This area is very busy with tourists and as well as the night market has loads of bars and clubs. It would be misleading not to mention that some of the "entertainment establishments" offer let's say " Adult " entertainment options. Think that covers it... ?
Anyway with my Logistics Manager there to keep me safe, we had a wander round the vibrant and bright night market, it had many different stalls but as expected it's all aimed at the tourists.
It was another experiance of Bangkok, we then did find a suitable bar for a couple of night caps and to do a bit of people watching in this very busy spot.
So with the clock hitting midnight we went to get a taxi back to the hotel, but instead of a normal taxi we went " local " and got a Tuk Tuk back, our driver spoke some English and was determined to give us a guided tour on route it really was good fun and a great memory of that day. So I would say do a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok. It had been a busy day but as we retired to bed we knew we still had a full morning to enjoy in Bangkok before we returned to the ship.
Patpong area Bangkok
Logistics Manager in the night market
Tuc Tuc journey through nightime Bangkok
Logistics Manager with our Tuk Tuk driver he really was a character, good fun.
Day Two
Breakfast in the hotel was a buffet style, with both , local dishes and westerner options available it was really good and just reinforced our high opinion of the hotel.
Our guide had told us to meet in the hotel lobby at 10 am, so with breakfast finished and some 90 minutes to kill we decided to go for a walk outside near the hotel, here we saw the locals going about there daily life, we also came across some of the street food stalls that are to be found all over the city and are very popular. To be honest the food looked good, mind you there were some items I still am not sure what they were.
Local Bangkok street's
Street food stalls in Bangkok
More street food stalls
After checking out the hotel we actually left again on a riverboat, this time for a daytime trip along the river for some 20 minutes to the visitor center that house's the Thai Royal families river barge collection, these extremely and ornately decorated craft are used for many important Royal occasions and ceremonies in Bangkok including funerals of Royalty and particular in the Crowing celebrations of a new Monarch.
Some of the decorations on the various Royal barges
Eventful return journey to the ship
Once the visit was completed we were taken a little further along the river before we again boarded our bus. We were then taken on a tour past some other very impressive and highly decorated Temples. Before stopping at a large local food market where we got a chance to walk around. Then it was time to leave Bangkok for the journey back to the ship the Celebrity Millennium.
Now this is where my advice about taking a ships tour if your travelling far from the ship or like us staying off over night, was well founded. You see we quickly ran into extreme traffic, and that slowed our progress even more than was expected, halfway back we stopped we thought for a short refresh break, but one of our party wandered off, and what was a 10 minute stop became a 30 minute one, not great. !! However our guide had contacted the ship so they knew we were behind schedule so things were ok. As it was we were ment to be back for 5 pm we in fact made that time by 10 minutes. However we were not the last Cruise ship excursion to get back that day there were 3 others behind us all later than the original board time of 5 pm. The last some 30 minutes late, but the moral of the story is because they were on ships excursion the captain waited on them, if they had been on independent trips they would have missed the ship.
Conclusion
So is Bangkok overnight a good ships excursion ?
Well if you like me had not been to Bangkok then I would say yes, its a way to get a flavour of the city and see some iconic sights. This Celebrity Cruises excursion was really well done and organised, the bus was modern and comfortable, the overnight hotel excellent. The sights we got shown were the must see ones in the city so overall I do recommend this excursion if you find yourself on this itinerary.
