We bought the tour 10-day North to South Vietnam from Groupon and upgraded to the 5-star option. Travelled from Sydney Australia. It was excellent! All the guides were lovely and knowledgeable and eager to please, and most of them spoke English very well. The itinerary was a really good mix of organised activities as well as free time, which we really liked. Everything ran smoothly; we were picked up for tours exactly on time in all instances. Nancy, our booking agent, is very good at her job! The hotels were great, very comfortable and with great amenities, especially for me a gym and pool. Food was plentiful and delicious. We loved everything about the trip, except for the airline losing my luggage which I thankfully finally got back when we got to Ho Chi Min. Better late than never I guess.
Just a note about tipping: in our opinion it is expected and deserved, and it would have been helpful to have more specific guidelines telling us how much would be considered to be a generous tip for a guide and a driver, as well as for the people at the various stops we made; for example, the disabled workshop on the way to Cu Chi Tunnels, the musical performers at the Mekong where we were served fruit, etc. We found the tipping protocol to be confusing, and some specific guidelines around how much and whom to tip would be appreciated, and importantly would ensure that the efforts of the people who made our trip so special are appropriately rewarded.
