04 May 2025
Kevin was very accommodating when we let him know we’d be a little late because of traffic. He was also able to juggle things so we could get back to our bus in time for transportation back to our ship.
That said, a couple of things were disappointing. One of the main items on the tour, the cathedral, was completely covered in scaffolding and closed for renovation. We wish another venue could have been substituted.
Kevin was very eager for us to see the War Remnants Museum. Although we booked the tour knowing this was included, we would have preferred to have a shorter time there with less emphasis on the horrors of war and less “lecturing” that felt to us like propaganda. We lived through the Vietnam War; Kevin did not. We know it was an awful time for his country and for ours. We would have preferred to experience the new, energized and engaged Vietnam, rather than its past.
We enjoyed the end of the tour on the Book Street with a stop at a coffee shop and would have loved to spend more time exploring that street and other interesting neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City.