Two Thumbs up to Exotic Voyages
New York City, New York
I've travelled to all seven continents both on a shoestring and on luxury trips and my recent vacation to Vietnam and Cambodia that was arranged by ( my now favorite) Travel Designer, Diep Nguyen, at Exotic Voyages by far exceeded my expectations. This was my first visit to Vietnam/Cambodia so the ...
I've travelled to all seven continents both on a shoestring and on luxury trips and my recent vacation to Vietnam and Cambodia that was arranged by ( my now favorite) Travel Designer, Diep Nguyen, at Exotic Voyages by far exceeded my expectations. This was my first visit to Vietnam/Cambodia so the must see places were, needless to say part of the tour.
Diep however went to bat for us to make certain we experienced the best of the tourist spots during the busy season when we were traveling. She managed to get us one of the best rooms in the colonial section of the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi. She arranged a trip on Halong Bay that was far away from what is now an almost Disney World touristy area.
Similarly unique arrangements were made for a cooking class we took in Hoi An, that included a river boat trip and a USA experienced chef. The Bassac cruise up the Mekong Delta was another highlight and a trip that I would gladly extend to a few days rather than the single night we spent on board.
What made this trip exceptional however was that it was totally hassle free. Tour guides were always on time. Drivers were always waiting at airports. The one thing that will always stick out in my mind as exceptional service however is when our flight from Hoi An to Siem Reap in Cambodia was delayed by several hours. Not only were we immediately informed and drivers on both ends rescheduled but the hotel manager of the Jaya House River Park where we were staying in Siem Reap was informed and greeted us as we stepped out of the taxi at midnight and graciously invited us for a light meal and wine in the event we had not eaten. You can't get more hassle free than that.
I sincerely thank Exotic Voyages and Diep Nguyen for organizing this memorable trip. I would recommend them to anyone.
Rieny
New York City
Visited Januaray 2019
This review was originally posted on TripAdvisor
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Vietnam north to south adventure and side trip to Angkor Wat
If you want a stress free and worry free luxury ( with capital L) but good value for your budget with authentic adventure to Vietnam and Cambodia then book with Exotic Voyages and ask for Diep !! Once you arrive all details will be taken care of for you! Diep has local expertise , is super ...
If you want a stress free and worry free luxury ( with capital L) but good value for your budget with authentic adventure to Vietnam and Cambodia then book with Exotic Voyages and ask for Diep !! Once you arrive all details will be taken care of for you! Diep has local expertise , is super professional, accommodating and make great suggestions that flows logically . Pre trip planning she was very prompt in her reply and quick and fair quote with detail itemization of itinerary. Her English is great and she talk to you over phone and follow up with you by email details. All the hotels booked were 4.5-5 stars spotlessly clean with excellent services. The tours booked were unique and guide was excellent . We arrive in Hanoi 3 days took day trip to Halong Bay, Ninh Binh and Trang An Skull Island where movie Kong was filmed , and did city tour. We then flew to Siem Reap , Cambodia 2 days and tour Angkor Wat, flew to Danang stayed 4 days and tour Hoi An ( got fantastic tailor suites , Ao Dai and custom made shoes in 24 hours) , tour Hue and recuperate on the beautiful beach then , flew to 3 nights Ho Chi Minh , took 1night cruise of Mekong delta and saw floating market. Scrumptious buffet Breakfast was included in all hotel bookings and all tours booked included lunch with exceptional quality and authenticity. We especially liked the pinic lunch in Cambodia , lunch on cruise to Halong Bay , Ninh Binh goat meat lunch, Hue perfume river home cooking ,Cu Chi tunnel fast boat lunch( a unique way n fun way to get to tunnel) and the delectable 4 courses meals on the Mekong delta cruise for lunch , dinner n breakfast ! Driver and guide met us at each airport arrival with our names and air conditioned clean bus to whisk us away to our hotel. Detail touches like cold water bottle and cold refreshing towel always available throughout during transport and tour for all trips . All guides were professional and speak English . Tour bus drop us off at One point and pick us up at another point allow us to see more without looping back to save time and energy. All guides were very accommodating when we change or diverged from schedule plan. Diep booked all our domestic flight tickets for 7 people from Hanoi to Siem Reap , Siem Reap to danang and danang to Ho Chi Minh city. She booked us for seaplane flight to Halong Bay (45 min each way with amazing aerial view no other halong tour can give ) which was a fabulous alternative to driving to halong for round trip 8 hours! I would highly recommend Exotic Voyages and especially Diep if you want to travel Vietnam in luxury and comfortably with value for your money but have an authentic and interesting experience . Our group are picky discernible traveler with Four Seasons hotel taste but Anthony Bourdain palate and zest. She managed to keep 4 active middle age adults and 3 teenager boys happy throughout our 2 weeks in Southeast Asia ! It was a memorable trip for all to reminisce and remember .
Visited August 2018
This review was originally posted on TripAdvisor
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30 days in Indochina
OCEAN CITY, MD
Exotic Adventures did an excellent job in preparing this long adventure through 6 countries. They were always ready to answer our questions with immediate feedback which we find is very important! Our flights, hotels and tours were all done with a very personal touch and exceeded our expectations ...
Exotic Adventures did an excellent job in preparing this long adventure through 6 countries. They were always ready to answer our questions with immediate feedback which we find is very important! Our flights, hotels and tours were all done with a very personal touch and exceeded our expectations as to the quality of hotels they chose for us. The people of Southeast Asia are their most valuable asset, as Americans we were
humbled by the people we met in all the countries we visited. (Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore)
Having just returned 2 days ago it is hard to believe our amazing journey is over, but the memories will stay with us throughout our lives.
Thanks to Exotic Adventures and their wonderful employees (MP, Chi and Hai Yen) for making this all come together so beautifully.
Fondly,
Michelle Thompson
Visited Nov 2017
This review was originally posted on TripAdvisor
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first experience with a travel agency used for vacation in Vietnam and Cambodia
Washington DC, District of Columbia
I travel pretty often, and this was my first time and only time (so far) using a travel agent. With that said, I'm not sure what I should expect from using a travel agency. We used it to plan a trip for Vietnam and Cambodia.
Pros:
- Upfront logistics were handled really well. Hotels ...
I travel pretty often, and this was my first time and only time (so far) using a travel agent. With that said, I'm not sure what I should expect from using a travel agency. We used it to plan a trip for Vietnam and Cambodia.
Pros:
- Upfront logistics were handled really well. Hotels recommended were all great quality.
- Communication of the agents were great and speedy (even with the time difference).
- We waned to keep the price down, so we had quite a few do on your own/free days and didn't use a guide for many of our transfers (i.e. didn't have a guide to take us to the airport, etc).
- The transfers and guides were private to us, and very useful/nice to have during parts of the trip. This is the one thing I'm not sure we could have booked on our own. Our favorite guide was named x in Siem Reap. He took so many pictures for us throughout the day!
- I did the math on how much more we were paying additionally to book everything through an agent. It came to be somewhere between 15% and 30%. It was hard for me to value/price the guides and transfers in the calculation. This was much lower than I expected.
Cons:
- Didn't really provide informative recommendations or trade-offs between different activities. Definitely felt like they just suggested the one itinerary that is suggested to everyone.
- A cyclone hit Vietnam during our trip, and we had to cancel one of the cities/stops we had planned (phong nha caves). While they handled communication of the itinerary change well. They called our hotel and told us our flight had been cancelled and due to safety concerns, we should just stay in hanoi for a few extra days and then fly straight to Hue (the stop planned for after Phong Nha). While they handled all the rebookings, they only booked each additional night at the hotel in Hanoi the day off. They said they couldn't book in advance without getting cancellations from the other hotels, and there was also low availability at the hotel we were staying in currently. I'm not entirely sure why this is the case. But the situation made us basically have to pack and be prepared to check out of our room mid-day and into another room at the same hotel or a different hotel every additional day spent in Hanoi.
- More so than the above bullet, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't suggest what we should do with our additional unplanned days in Hanoi. We ended up visiting the phong nha caves later anyway as a day trip from Hue, but we had to ask if it was possible on our end instead of having them suggest it as an option after we saw viator day trips to the caves from Hue. They also didn't give us any recommendations on how to spend the additional time in Hanoi. We looked up a few ideas on our own, and asked if they could help arrange it.
- Before we arrived in Asia, I asked what was the best way to handle laundry needs. I got a very curt response about how all the hotels would have options to do laundry. I followed up asking for prices from the hotels since I couldn't find that information online, and received the pricing sheet from our first hotel. They failed to tell me which of the hotels during our stay had the cheapest laundry options (variation on prices was high), or that many of the hotels had laundry vendors across the street that were extremely cheaper and still good quality ($2 for 1 kg opposed to $2-5 per item).
Conclusion - with research and time on your end, it is possible to plan a trip of the same or pretty close caliber I think. If you have the money, its a good way to save some time and research.
Visited October 2017
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Very professional service
Epsom, United Kingdom
We have just completed our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia where all of the hotels, transfers and guided tours were organised by Exotic Voyages.
They worked to our budget and provided good advice in the planning stage. They were patient when we requested different hotels but were insistent when they ...
We have just completed our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia where all of the hotels, transfers and guided tours were organised by Exotic Voyages.
They worked to our budget and provided good advice in the planning stage. They were patient when we requested different hotels but were insistent when they believed our choices were bad ones.
On the tour itself they responded quickly and to our satisfaction when there were issues such as a typhoon.
The pick ups and transfers to the various airports all ran smoothly and I was most impressed that we only had to wait 5 minutes for a pick up when our boat up the Mekong arrived 2 hours early in Phnom Penh.
The guides they organised were knowledgeable, friendly and spoke good English.
I would recommend them.
Visited Nov 2017
This review was originally posted on TripAdvisor
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