Spectrum of the Seas Review: Day 12 – Nha Trang, Vietnamfeatured
((One day I will finish this series, I promise!))
Our day in Ho Chi Minh City was filled with all of the things we hope to discover when we travel – history, culture, food, amazing coffee. Little street corners that you take pictures of and create stories about. Things I love so much that create these wonderful memories that I tell anyone who will ask about.
I didn’t know what our day in Nha Trang would bring, but if it had even a little bit of the charm that Ho Chi Minh City did, I knew I’d be in for a really great day.
We were pulling into Nha Trang Bay when I woke up and Stephanie was already up and on the balcony, Facetiming with Mom. Our mornings were Mom’s evenings, so we tried to check in first thing in the morning because otherwise the time difference was too great to connect over mutual waking hours. The landscape outside was filled with green-covered hills peeking through the hazy morning sunshine. As the ship got into docking position, we got a view of Vinpearl, a resort and amusement park on an island across the bay, connected by cable car. It’s one of the island’s top attractions and if it weren’t our first visit to Nha Trang, it would have been a fun way to spend the day, but there was just so much else to see and explore as first-timers!
Nha Trang is most known for two things: Vinpearl and its beaches. Nha Trang is a beach town, so many people will take an excursion to the amusement and water parks at Vinpearl or they’ll head to a nearby beach for a day of sun. Beyond it’s gorgeous beaches, Nha Trang has a ton of temples and pagodas that were supposed to be quite lovely, as well some great markets and cafes, so we figured we’d just do a city tour and get in as many of the highlights as we could.
Our tour had a meeting time of 8:45 AM in the Royal Theater, which doesn’t seem so bad on the surface, but we were only one port in and I was exhausted (thanks, jetlag) so any wakeup before 9 and I was basically a zombie until I could get some coffee. We already knew the Windjammer would be pure chaos so we decided to have breakfast in Café Two70. The offerings weren’t quite as expansive, but the selections were tasty and perfectly satisfying, and we got to enjoy our breakfast in relative peace without having to hawk for a table.
We made our way to the theater, flashed our tickets and got our stickers before having a seat in the numbered section that correlated to our tour group. Nha Trang is a tender port, which meant we couldn’t just walk off the ship. Instead, we had to take a small boat to go from the ship to land. The Captain asked for patience (it was the first time they were tendering here!) but also said we shouldn’t worry about how much time it would take – the Spectrum carries its own tenders, and had something like sixteen tenders that fit more than 200 people each!
Our number was called and clear to board our tender around 9:00 AM. We were one of the first to board, which unfortunately meant we had quite a wait while they filled up the tender with every available seat. It was super rocky and bumpy and if either of us were prone to sea sickness, it would have been a miserable fifteen minutes or so. Thankfully, we aren’t, and once the tender was full, it was only about a five-minute ride to land.
Immediately after we disembarked the tender, we found our tour bus and met up with our guide, Siva. Our tour bus held about 30 people and had powerful air conditioning (a must have, we were coming to realize, when you’re touring through Southeast Asia!) and lightning fast Wi-Fi (equally as important because our phones didn’t work in Vietnam, even with an international plan). As we pulled out and began our drive into town, Siva pointed out some of the highlights as we rode through. As beautiful as the scenery was outside the window, I was just as taken by Siva’s wit – he was quite the jokester!
As we continued our drive along the bay, Siva mentioned that Nha Trang Bay is a top ten bay in the world and I believed it. I don’t know if it was the timing (May is the beginning of rainy season) or just because it’s a little less well-known than the picturesque scenery of nearby Thailand or Bali, but Nha Trang didn’t feel crowded. And driving through the town was like a ride through a lovely beach town. It wasn’t quite Cannes, but it wasn’t the Jersey Shore, either. It kind of reminded me of a mix of Fort Lauderdale and Laguna Beach. Nice. It was very nice.
Our first stop on the tour was at the Long Son Pagoda, a Buddhist temple originally built in the late-1800s. Our time there wasn’t long – 45 minutes, I think, so Siva took us for a quick tour of the grounds, showing us the monks praying and setting up for their lunch, and then showing us where we could begin the climb if we wanted to go up to see the Buddha.
Above the pagoda is this giant white Buddha resting at the top of a hill. I think it’s around 99 steps up, and it offers sweeping views of the town below. I think Stephanie and I were a little bullish about it because we had just climbed the steps at the Batu Caves the week before and that was, like, three times higher. We didn’t account for the fact that Vietnam is infinitely more humid than Kuala Lumpur, and it felt much hotter. And we were wearing more clothes because in order to go inside any of the temples we’d be visiting, we needed to cover our shoulders and knees (spoiler alert: we didn’t go into anything but that was of our choice, not for lack of opportunity). So the climb up was kind of killer. It felt more strenuous than our climb at the Batu Caves, but the views from the top made it all worth it.
Before we left, I was taking pictures and Stephanie pointed out that there were numerous swastikas on the pagoda and in some of the decorative works around it. We’d seen them here and there in Ho Chi Minh City (mostly on craft woodwork), but they were much more prevalent in Nha Trang and as Jews, it was kind of jarring. Wanting to understand it better, I Google’d it as we were waiting for people to get back on the bus and interestingly, the origins of the swastika are rooted in Eastern religion (Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism) and are symbols of good luck. The Nazi party appropriated it during WWII and turned it into a symbol of hate and discrimination. It was jarring to see as a Westerner, but part of what I love about travel is that it turns you into a student of the world, and I got to learn something new. That’s always a good thing.
Our next stop on the tour was Po Nagar, a Hindu temple that dates all the way back to the 7th century! Built in honor of the Goddess Po Nagar (or the mother of the country), four of the original eight towers remain, as well as a number of pillars.
Siva began a walking tour up to the temple, where we could go inside as long as we were covered. It was only, like, 30 or 40 steps, I think he said, but we were already dehydrated (even after drinking the bottle of water they gave us on the bus!) so we stayed down towards the bottom of the grounds and just explored a little bit before grabbing a coconut from a nearby vendor. Coconut water is great for replenishing electrolytes and it tasted super refreshing on such a hot morning!
The nice part about this tour was that the bus was always waiting for us so we didn’t need to wait for the rest of the group to go back into the AC – we just went back to the bus and it was waiting for us! Stephanie got us some fans from a local vendor (2 for $5 USD — and they were really nice lacquered wood ones!) and I stopped down at the beach to take pictures of the fishing boats on our walk back. The little fishing boats were so colorful and against the blue water and sky, they were just so pretty!
Our tour kept rolling and we were soon on our way to the next stop. I really enjoyed the pacing of the tour – half hour, 45 minutes in each spot and we were on to the next one. We got to see a ton and we didn’t feel like we had too much or not enough time anywhere.
Hòn Chông, or Overlapping Rock, was our next stop and much like it’s name, it was a beachside viewpoint of a series of rocks. We had another 45 minutes here to take pictures or climb the rocks if we wanted to. Climbing a pile of rocks up on a beach for an Instagram picture is totally my kind of thing, but Siva had mentioned they’re slippery and I was already having leg cramps from the heat, so we decided to just admire them from a distance and they were truly beautiful. I felt like I was looking at a postcard! We also got to see a performance from two local musicians and grab another fresh coconut to rehydrate with. We sat under these trees sprawling with mystically long strands of moss and I know I say this a lot, but I just had to take a second to just take it all in. These tiny moments (like drinking out of a coconut in this beachside forest in Vietnam) are the ones that play over and over in my head when I count my blessings.
Another bus roll call and we started the to the Dam Market, a nearby market that sells just about everything under the sun. Shoes, clothes, handbags, luggage, candy and spices, robes, traditional souvenirs – I’m not sure there was much they didn’t sell! Our visit was short – just 20 minutes – so it was almost like our version of Supermarket Sweep. It was our last day in Vietnam. We had a bunch of Dong to spend. How much could we spend in 20 minutes?
We bought robes and bamboo handbags, magnets and beautiful handmade cards. We didn’t spend all of our Dong and our negotiation skills need some work, but shopping in the market was so much fun ( and very different from the Caribbean souvenir markets we’re used to)!
Our last stop on the tour was at the Louisiane Brewhouse, a local beachfront brewery, where we were served a cold beverage of our choice from a list of local beer, Vietnamese coffee, soda, water or coconut water. We went with the coconut water, and it was the perfect refreshing way to end our tour.
The bus dropped us off at the tender pier just before 2:30 PM and we said goodbye to Siva before dropping by the market at the pier to see if we could spend any last Dong. Stephanie picked up a few trinkets. I bought some Mother of Pearl spoons that I’m pretty sure are meant to be used with caviar – which I don’t eat – but they were so pretty and cheap enough that they qualified as an impulse buy.
We waited for the tender to fill up before getting in line so we could snag a window seat and shortly boarded, taking in our last views of the Vinpearl Resort and the town of Nha Trang. Our day went by quickly, but we were so glad that we opted for the tour over the beach. We really enjoyed all of the sites and the history we learned along the way.
As we boarded the ship, we made our way through security and then stopped at a desk where a Vietnamese immigration official was sitting with a box for us to drop off our landing cards. If you don’t return your landing card, you get in a bit of trouble so we made sure we had it with us and we returned it to the correct place!
We were starving for lunch, so we headed over to Café Two70 for some Kummelweck sandwiches and salads. As far as we were concerned, it was the best lunch food on the ship and we enjoyed our sandwiches with a view of the bay.
After lunch, we headed back to the room to toss our shopping bags into the closet and we sat out on the balcony for a bit. It’d been a few years since we’d sailed in a balcony cabin, and we were really glad we had one for this itinerary. We were certainly getting plenty of use from it!
After a couple hours of watching terrible in-cabin movies, we headed out to see if we could get onto the North Star on standby, but the line was long and the skies were starting to darken with an impending storm. We took a few pictures of the Bay and then headed inside to get ready for dinner.
Dinner tonight was eons better than the previous night. The food was much better and our servers were so incredibly kind and attentive. The Assistant Maître D came over for a chat – something we’ve found on Royal Caribbean but less so on Carnival, and was telling us about all of the differences in this ship they made to cater to the Chinese market because the Ovation was too American of a ship to succeed there. It was fascinating to us just how deep the cultural differences ran and how some of the changes we were a little unsure of were intentional decisions made to cater to the market this ship is serving.
As we were finishing our meal, we could see the twinkling lights of the city as we began our sailaway and we headed outside to the deck five promenade to watch the lights of Nha Trang fade into the background.
Without anything else to do, we headed over to the Two70 to run standby for The Silk Road, an aerial acrobatic production show. We had reservations for the following night, but we’d heard so many good things that we wanted to see it twice, and on Royal Caribbean, you need “tickets” for the big shows. I didn’t love the concept – I’d rather just show up and see a show – but they’re the ones making the rules here. What they do is, they set up two lines, one for people with tickets and one for people without. The tickets are on your Seapass card, so they scan you in. Ten minutes before the show starts, they’ll let in the people without a reservation to fill in any seats. We headed upstairs, where a large middle section was blocked off for Gold Suites and Pinnacle cruisers. Those seats were completely empty and they opened them up five minutes before show start.
The Silk Road was unlike any show I’d seen at sea before. There were vocals, but they were almost background to the percussion. There were dancers (a partial troupe this time), but the aerialists were the highlight. The show put a far east spin on some modern songs (like Roar by Katy Perry and Wake Up by Arcade Fire). It was really fantastic.
Our next day was a sea day — the perfect and most needed pause – because the next part of our itinerary was perhaps the most anticipated: two days in Hong Kong.
