Reviews

I would have rated the whole tour as 5 star but the bus which took us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was very tired, uncomfortable and old; is was too small to accommodate 12 clients, the driver, tour guide and ALL the luggage on the inside of the bus. The method of transport needs to be changed to reflect the price charged for the tour, it was not cheap but the bus was.

We totalled enjoyed the trip and all the knowledge the guides gave us.
However the coach we had in siem Reap was not up to standard as the other coaches we had in Hanoi , Hoi An, Hue and Saigon.

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This was my second Wendy Wu tour to Asia, I selected to travel with Wendy Wu based on the experience I had taking their Glories of China tour 3 years ago. I took the Vietnam Highlights tour with a free visit to Siem Reap thrown in and I have to say the level of enjoyment and the overall experience was first class. From the initial time of selecting the trip, to stepping off the plane on return you can relax and rest assured that you are being looked after. I have used the terms Book, Pay, Turn Up and Enjoy in other reviews and it is just so relevant to the way Wendy Wu and the staff conduct their business. It may sound like small things but the securing of visas to other touches like when we had early morning flights once we arrived the coach collected us and took us to our first event of the day, whilst we were at the event the coach took our baggage to the hotel and the staff checked us in and allocated our rooms, so we just arrived, took our keys and our luggage was already in our room. Classy!
Although all of the trip was memorable I have to say that when the national guide was reminding us of what we had done together throughout the trip the list appeared endless. In addition I would also say that the blend of people on the tour worked very well, there was a good rapport with no conflicts.
The national guide was very attentive to the group, stopping when we asked for apparent silly photo opportunities etc.
Would I use Wendy Wu another time? without doubt.

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I thought the selection of locations and historical sites used through this Vietnam Highlights trip was excellent and gave the group a great overall view into the history and culture of the country. There was an immense amount of experiences enjoyed by everyone within the group. From the classic large well known sites to more local but meaningful sites there was a wealth of opportunities.
Was there any opportunity for improvement, I would say yes for the quality of hotels used in Nha Trang and Can Tho, I am sure for the incremental difference in negotiated prices we could have had a more comfortable experience at those locations. However I am not going to let that detract from what was a memorable time.

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Excellent tour - very good local guide (Mr Tran Binh Nguyen) who was efficient caring and very knowledgeable especially on Vietnam's history. Group size of 19 worked really well. Hotels were of a high standard as were the coaches & drivers used. Good balance of experiences with reasonable free time built in.

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A pleasing add on again with an excellent guide (not sure why the 7 of us doing the add on were not put together as a group rather than the use of 4 guides). Lovely hotel. Flight times did however mean that although we had 2 nights in Siem Reap it was, in effect only one day. Angkor Wat was well worth seeing.

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Overall good service though out the holiday, whilst there was a misunderstanding regarding meals status in Siem Reap this was quickly remedied to the groups satisfaction.

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Excellent tour very enjoyable from start to finish a good insight to all three countries.
Would recommend Wendy Wu tours.

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All excellent apart from one minor hiccup in Siem Reap which was quickly resolved.

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Excellent and informative trip which rounded off our 3 Asian trips with Wendy Wu. We look forward to using the company in another part of the world.

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Everything went as clockwork, tour guide was particularly good. Hotels were well located and perfectly acceptable, even if the facilities were not to Western standards.

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Siem Reap was very interesting, and the local guide and driver were excellent.

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All ran smoothly. Our guides - Savoun in Siem Reap and Bora in Phnom Penh - were very pleasant and helpful, although their very strong Cambodian accents made them difficult to understand at times.

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A fascinating country. The weather was far hotter than we anticipated - certainly a lot hotter than in Vietnam. Probably better to visit during the cooler months which we understand are November/December.

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The service received was mixed. The visa process was an excellent service. The office staff were all very helpful with the exception on one lady who was abrupt and rude. I had telephoned, as requested, to leave details of our flights and she was very dismissive, told me she was busy and that I shouldn't have phoned and I should have just sent an email with the details. If I had not already paid for the holiday, I would have cancelled on the spot! I told her she had obviously 'got out of bed on the wrong side' and that I would telephone at another time. She offered no apology. Her attitude was shocking. It is such a shame as the other staff get tarred with the same brush and as a client, I remember only the rude episode.

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This again is mixed.
The time spent in Cambodia was excellent and our guide, Mr Ny if my memory serves me correctly, was extremely helpful, very welcoming, kind and a fountain of knowledge. He was a credit to his country and your company. The transport and hotel in Siem Reap was excellent.
Vietnam was an interesting country, totally fascinating at times. Our guide however, was a nightmare. Mr Ha, son of a Vietcon general, was full of his own importance, very bossy and would not stop talking. One time he talked on the bus microphone for over an hour. We would visit wonderful places and instead of letting us enjoy the beauty of the sites he would make us stand in one place whilst he would talk and repeat himself over and over again. At one sight, he talked for so long, 7 other tourist groups came where given the history of the site (including one Wendy Wu group) and moved on, whilst we were still being talked at, not to, at. How we all wished we were in the other group!
We have traveled extensively in third world countries and even led expeditions to wild and wonderful places. Never have we come across someone so full of self importance, full of often incorrect propaganda and totally insensitive to the needs of the group. An example being his use of language when using the phase, 'the stupid Americans and their puppet allies' - a phase he used often. There was an elderly Australian lady in our group whose dead husband had served in Vietnam on two tours of duty. He had her in tears more than once.
The other members of our group were lovely people and their company rescued this leg of the holiday from the nightmare it could so easily have been.
In conclusion, I would strongly advise anyone NOT to go on a Wendy Wu tour to Vietnam, unless they were given a guarantee Mr Ha was NOT to be their guide.