Sunday 8 September 2013

Explorer Tours Vietnam

By Unknown

It’s been a while since my last entry in this blog. I would share to you my bad experience when it comes to travel agency in Vietnam. If you see "Explorer Tours Vietnam", Do not book there. They have so many bad reviews already.

It was my first time in Vietnam and we really want to go to Ha Long Bay. We booked for a private tour w/ private cruise so we can have control with our time. We have to pay a fortune for this one [$150 per person] Yes, It’s quite expensive but we have no choice. It was a bad decision to choose this Travel Agency.
Sadly, there was a storm so we have to cancel our trip there. The night before we arrived Hanoi, the travel agent informed us that our trip was cancelled. They suggested that we try this other tour [ Tam Coc – Ha Long Bay on Land]. So we did, because we really don’t have any choice. Our Hanoi experience was destroyed by this travel agency.


What annoyed me during that time are the ff:
  1. They informed us late about the cancellation of our trip [7pm], we’re already in the airport. I sent an email for suggestions, they replied late. We just change the tour to tam coc, even if it’s so expensive and seems not worth it ( so we won’t waste our stay in Hanoi)
  2. Original time of Pick-up from our Hotel : 6am; They said, since we confirmed late, 8am.  But they arrived in our hotel: 11AM!!
  3.  Based from our tour guide, there’s no such thing as the driver of a particular car didn’t agree to anything ( the travel agency told us that, the car that was supposed to be our car for the tour decline, so they have to look for another car with a higher fee.)
  4. The travel agency guy is so arrogant. Keeps on saying, he’s already there, but we have to wait for so long.
If you Google them, here are some of the posts you can see.

DO NOT BOOK YOUR TOURS WITH EXPLORERS TOURS VIETNAM. Do not be fooled, they have so many websites with different names. 

If you try to goggle Explorer Tours Vietnam Tripadvisor in Google, you'll read a lot of stories from other tourists. I hope you’ll not experience the same misfortune that we encountered during our stay.

Here's their contact detail:

Merchant Name: Explorer Tours Vietnam

Address: 85 Hang Bo Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: (844)39.230.713 
Fax: (844)39.230.835
Email: explorertours@yahoo.com


My suggestion:
1.       Book a tour through your hotel.
2.       Book a tour when you arrive in Vietnam.
3.       Always have a back-up plan of traveling by yourself. You can try hiring local tour guides [triip.me]

Would I still go back to Hanoi, Vietnam?
My answer is: Of course! I haven’t been to Ha Long Bay L I would really love to explore other places in Vietnam. In my next post, I’ll share to you our itinerary for this expensive trip J


P.S the cost of our Tam Coc Tour = $110 per person and we didn’t see the beauty of the place because we arrived late and the rain is already heavy.

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