03
Phu My excursions, from the cheap transfer to the long haul
Ordered by the only question that matters at this port. What does the drive buy you, and does it fit the call?
Every duration and price below comes from an operator's or marketplace's own listing, attributed where it sits. Royal Caribbean names eight tours here on its own port page — Vung Tau City Tour, Hands-on Cooking Class, Panoramic of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon On Your Own Experience, Ho Chi Minh City Highlights, Countryside Biking Experience, Deep in Mekong Delta and Ba Ria Local Life Experience — but publishes no price or duration we could read. We've named them and left the numbers blank rather than invent them.
If Phu My is one stop on a longer loop, our Asia cruise guide maps the rest, and the Phu My port guide covers the berth itself.
The default · 8–9 hours
A full-day Ho Chi Minh City tour
This is what most people come here for — and on a standard call it's the right answer.
Two operators publish shared versions. Shore Excursions Asia publishes two shared versions from Phu My — not one. The Real Ho Chi Minh City runs 9 hours at US$135, taking in Thien Hau Temple, Ben Thanh Market, a lacquerware workshop and the War Remnants Museum. Heritage & Hidden Corners of Saigon runs 9 hours at US$95 and leans colonial — the cathedral square, the post office, the market.
Venture Ashore's marketplace lists The Best of Ho Chi Minh City at 8 hours and US$153, and a private Highlights of Ho Chi Minh City at 8 hours and US$190.
Royal Caribbean's own equivalents are Ho Chi Minh City Highlights and Panoramic of Ho Chi Minh City. Neither carries a readable price on the line's site.
Budget the museum honestly — it's 40,000 VND, roughly US$1.55 at September 2026 rates, cash in dong at the gate, and it opens 07:30 to 17:30 daily.
- Time commitment
- 8 to 9 hours on every operator listing we could read, against a call that typically runs 11 to 12.
- Getting there
- Coach or private car only. About 1.5 to 2 hours each way on Royal Caribbean's own figure.
- Suits
- First-time visitors on a full-length call. Not a short call, and not anyone who hates a coach.
- Ship or independent
- Either works. The ship buys the all-aboard guarantee on a route where traffic genuinely misbehaves.
Why it's worth considering
The War Remnants Museum is the single most affecting stop in the city, and it's cheap to enter.
A guided version saves you negotiating Saigon traffic on foot in heat, on a clock that isn't yours.
The catch
Four of those hours are windscreen. That's not the operator's fault — it's the geography.
Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica has been under restoration since July 2017, now targeted for 2027. The interior is closed to general visitors and opens only for Mass, at 05:30 and 17:30 on weekdays.
Every tour still stops there. You're photographing the outside, which finally looks right now the scaffolding is coming down.
Verify before you book
- Your ship's actual all-aboard against a 9-hour tour, not an 8-hour one
- Whether the museum is on the itinerary or just driven past
- That the operator collects at the ship, not at the port gate, if walking a cargo road doesn't appeal
The cheapest legitimate way into the city — and the one most independent-minded cruisers want. It buys a seat, not a guide.
Venture Ashore lists Discover Ho Chi Minh Your Own Way at 9 hours from US$55. You're buying the drive and a drop-off, not a guide.
Royal Caribbean sells the same idea as Saigon On Your Own Experience. We couldn't read a price or duration for it on the line's own site, so we're not quoting one.
Worth being clear about what this is — once you're dropped in District 1, you're navigating a very large Vietnamese city solo, then getting back to a pickup point on time.
That's fine if you've travelled in Asia before. It's a lot on a first Asia cruise, honestly.
- Time commitment
- 9 hours listed, of which roughly four are the road.
- Getting there
- Coach both ways, with a fixed city meeting point and a fixed departure time.
- Suits
- Repeat Asia travellers, and anyone who'd rather spend their money in the city than on a guide.
- Ship or independent
- Ship, for this one specifically. The transfer's whole value is that the coach waits for the coach's passengers.
Why it's worth considering
At US$55 it's less than half a guided day, and you keep five-odd hours of your own choosing.
Ben Thanh Market, the War Remnants Museum and the cathedral square sit close enough together to walk between in District 1.
The catch
Miss the coach and you are two hours from your ship with no bus service and unreliable ride-hailing on the return leg.
Set an alarm for the departure time. Set a second one an hour earlier.
Verify before you book
- The exact city drop-off and pickup point, in writing, before you board the coach
- Whether the fare includes the return leg or only the outbound
- That your e-visa is sorted — an independent day gives you no group-visa cover to fall back on
The other headline day here — and the one people most often try to bolt onto a city tour.
It doesn't fit. The operators' own numbers say so — not ours.
Shore Excursions Asia publishes its Cu Chi Tunnels and Ho Chi Minh City day at 12 hours from Phu My, against 10 hours from a downtown river berth. A typical Phu My call runs 11 to 12 hours end to end.
Cu Chi on its own is the workable version. Venture Ashore lists Historical Cu Chi Tunnels at 10 hours from US$99, and a Private Cu Chi Tunnels from Phu My Port at 7.5 hours and US$232.
The site sits about 45 kilometres northwest of central Saigon — the opposite direction from your ship. That's exactly why the combination breaks.
Ben Dinh, the closer and more visited of the two tunnel sites, charges 110,000 VND — roughly US$4.25. Ben Duoc is 90,000 VND, and about 12 kilometres further out.
- Time commitment
- 7.5 hours private, 10 hours shared, on Venture Ashore's own listings.
- Getting there
- Vehicle the whole way, and it's the long way round from Phu My.
- Suits
- Anyone for whom the war is the reason they booked this itinerary. It's a crawl in tight spaces — skip it if that's a problem.
- Ship or independent
- Private, if the budget stretches. The 7.5-hour private run buys back real margin against your all-aboard.
Why it's worth considering
It's the one sight on this itinerary that no amount of reading substitutes for.
The private version is meaningfully shorter than the shared one, which matters more here than at most ports.
The catch
You are choosing between Cu Chi and the city. Not both, whatever a booking page implies.
The tunnels involve crouching and crawling in enlarged but still tight passages. There's an above-ground route for anyone who'd rather not.
Verify before you book
- Whether the tour goes to Ben Dinh or Ben Duoc — they're different sites at different distances
- The stated return time against your all-aboard, with an hour of slack, not ten minutes
- That entry fees are included; they're small, but they're cash in dong if they aren't
The quietly sensible option — and the one nobody books first. Look at it twice.
Vung Tau is a coastal city roughly 33 kilometres southeast of the berth, about 45 minutes away, on a road that doesn't misbehave the way the Saigon run does.
Beaches, a seafront promenade, and a Christ the King statue that people reasonably compare to Rio's. It's a working coastal city, not a resort strip.
Venture Ashore lists a Private Tour of Vung Tau at 7.5 hours and US$92, and Vung Tau: Coastal Beauty, History and Culture at 8.5 hours and US$170. Royal Caribbean sells a Vung Tau City Tour of its own, price not published.
This is the honest recommendation for a short call, a hot day, or a second visit to Vietnam — not a consolation prize.
- Time commitment
- 7.5 to 8.5 hours listed, but only about 90 minutes of it is driving.
- Getting there
- Vehicle, same as everything here — but a far shorter and more predictable one.
- Suits
- Short calls, second-time visitors, anyone travelling with someone who can't face four hours in a seat.
- Ship or independent
- Independent is easier here than anywhere else at this port, because the return leg is short.
Why it's worth considering
It's the only destination from Phu My where the all-aboard maths is comfortable rather than tight.
A working Vietnamese coastal city is a real experience, not a consolation prize.
The catch
It isn't Saigon, and if this is your only Vietnam call, you may regret trading the city for the beach.
Be honest with yourself about which you actually want before you book.
Verify before you book
- Whether your call is long enough for the city after all — check the published port hours first
- That the statue climb is optional if stairs are an issue
- Beach conditions for the season; this is a monsoon coast
The genuine independent option — and the only one we'd call realistic. It needs booking weeks out.
Port guides publish roughly 3,000,000 VND, about US$115 at September 2026 rates, for a ten-hour car with driver. Split four ways that undercuts nearly every per-person coach fare on this page.
Guided private versions cost more — GoWithGuide cites two named operators at US$460 and US$490 per group, for 9 and 8.5 hours respectively.
There's paperwork either side of it. Drivers generally need your passport details in advance to arrange seaport passes, and collecting you at the ship rather than the gate needs an inside-port permit, reported at around US$25 to US$30 per person. That isn't a scam — it's how a working container port handles strangers on the quay.
- Time commitment
- Ten hours is the standard block operators sell from here.
- Getting there
- Your driver meets you at the main security gate, or at the ship if the permit is paid.
- Suits
- Groups of three or four, anyone with a specific list, and travellers who want the air conditioning to themselves.
- Ship or independent
- Independent by definition — and the one independent arrangement here that consistently works.
Why it's worth considering
Four people at US$115 total is roughly US$29 a head for a full day with a vehicle that waits.
You set the stops, the pace, and the point at which you turn around.
The catch
No all-aboard guarantee. If the expressway backs up, that's your problem, not the line's.
Widening work on the Long Thanh–Dau Giay corridor has been adding bottlenecks through 2026.
Leave the city by mid-afternoon, not late afternoon.
Verify before you book
- Whether the quote includes the inside-port permit or expects you to walk to the gate
- The operator's own stated return time, in writing, against your all-aboard
- That your passport details went across early enough for the port pass to clear
The delta is a different Vietnam entirely. Waterways, orchards, boat markets, village life.
It's also the longest thing anyone sells from this berth — by some margin.
Venture Ashore lists Private Mekong Delta Discovery at 11 hours and US$232, and Private Mekong Delta Sightseeing at 10 hours and US$231. Shore Excursions Asia publishes its gentler river version at 12 hours from Phu My, against 10 from a downtown berth.
Royal Caribbean's own listing is Deep in Mekong Delta. Price not published.
Check your port hours before you fall in love with this one — a 12-hour tour against a 07:00 to 19:00 call leaves you no margin at all.
- Time commitment
- 10 to 12 hours depending on operator and version.
- Getting there
- Vehicle southwest, then boat. Longer than the city run in both directions.
- Suits
- Long calls only, and travellers who've already done Saigon or don't want it.
- Ship or independent
- Ship, on any call under twelve hours. The all-aboard guarantee is worth real money at this length.
Why it's worth considering
It's the only tour here that takes you somewhere genuinely rural rather than somewhere urban.
On an overnight or extended call it stops being a gamble and starts being the best day available.
The catch
The published durations bracket or exceed a normal call. That's the whole risk.
Boat sections are hot, slow and exposed. Bring water and a hat, not a schedule.
Verify before you book
- Your ship's exact arrival and all-aboard times before booking anything over ten hours
- Which delta town the tour actually reaches; they vary a lot in distance
- Whether lunch and boat fees are in the price
Worth knowing about if a third museum sounds like a lot. It is a real alternative, not a filler.
Venture Ashore lists Private Cooking Class Plus Shopping Time at 8 hours and US$156. Shore Excursions Asia sells A Taste of Vietnam with Saigon Cooking & Culture at 8.5 hours, private guide and vehicle, price not listed.
Royal Caribbean's own version is the Hands-on Cooking Class. Price not published.
The market stop is usually the best part — you shop for the ingredients, then you cook them. It's still a four-hour round trip, though; the class doesn't shorten the drive.
- Time commitment
- 8 to 8.5 hours on the two operator listings that publish one.
- Getting there
- Same coach or car into District 1 as every city tour.
- Suits
- Repeat visitors, couples, and anyone who'd rather do something than look at something.
- Ship or independent
- Either. Private versions cost more but set their own pace.
Why it's worth considering
You come back with a skill rather than photographs.
Indoor and air-conditioned for a decent chunk of it, which matters in April.
The catch
It uses a full port day on one activity, in a city you'll probably only see once.
If this is your only Vietnam call, the museum is the harder thing to skip.
Verify before you book
- Whether a wet-market visit is actually included or just pictured
- Dietary requirements, well in advance
- The class location — some sit outside District 1, which adds driving
The nearest real town to the berth — and the shortest excursion on offer. Six hours, door to door.
Venture Ashore lists Private Ba Ria Caves and Tunnel at 6 hours and US$139. Royal Caribbean sells a Ba Ria Local Life Experience, price not published.
Ba Ria sits 20 to 30 minutes from the port gate — that's the entire pitch. Markets, local streets and a wartime site, not headline sights.
It's the right call on a genuinely short port stop — or when someone in your party can't do a long day.
- Time commitment
- 6 hours listed, and the shortest option we found from this berth.
- Getting there
- A short road transfer, no expressway involved.
- Suits
- Short calls, limited mobility, and travellers who've already seen Saigon.
- Ship or independent
- Either. The distances are small enough that the risk largely disappears.
Why it's worth considering
Almost no road time, which is the scarcest thing at this port.
Everyday Vietnamese life without a coach convoy arriving alongside you.
The catch
Nothing here is famous. If you wanted the War Remnants Museum, this doesn't substitute.
English-language information on Ba Ria specifically is thin, so ask the operator what the itinerary actually contains.
Verify before you book
- What the itinerary includes, in detail — listings for this one are vague
- Whether a guide is included or it's a driver only
- Opening days for the local market, which isn't daily everywhere
A real option · free
Staying aboard, and why it isn't a cop-out here
We almost never recommend this. Here we'll make the case.
A Phu My call costs you four hours of road for anything worth seeing, in heat, on a schedule — and some people would genuinely rather have the pool deck to themselves.
There's a paperwork angle too. If you never go ashore in Vietnam, you don't need the visa — though we'd still get one, because plans change and the e-visa costs US$25.
Be clear-eyed about the setting — you'll be looking at a container terminal, not a harbour town. If Nha Trang or Da Nang is also on your itinerary, sitting this one out costs you less than it looks.
- Time commitment
- None, which is the point.
- Getting there
- You're already there.
- Suits
- Long itineraries with multiple Vietnam calls, anyone worn down by sea days, and travellers who hate coaches.
- Ship or independent
- Neither. That's the appeal.
Why it's worth considering
Eleven hours of near-empty ship is a genuine luxury on a full sailing.
You skip the single least pleasant transfer on this whole itinerary.
The catch
Ho Chi Minh City is a major world city and you were two hours from it.
Don't make this call casually if it's your only Vietnam stop.
Verify before you book
- Whether your line requires you to clear immigration anyway, even staying aboard
- What's actually open on the ship during a long port day
- That skipping this port doesn't void a group-visa fee already charged to your account
04
Ship tour or on your own, at a port with no safety net
Phu My is the highest-dependence port on our Asia map. It isn't close, either.
What the ship's tour actually buys here
Not access, and not commentary — it buys the guarantee that the ship waits for you. On a two-hour transfer along an expressway with active widening work, that's worth more than it is almost anywhere else we cover.
Miss the all-aboard here and you are 70 to 80 kilometres from your ship, in a country where you needed a visa to be standing there at all.
When independent genuinely wins
Two cases, and they're specific. This isn't a general rule.
A party of four in a private car, at roughly 3,000,000 VND for ten hours, pays about US$29 a head — against coach fares of US$95 to US$153.
And anything Vung Tau-shaped, where the return leg is 45 minutes rather than two hours, so a delay stops being a catastrophe.
What doesn't work
There is no public bus from Phu My to Ho Chi Minh City. No motorbike rental on that route either.
Ride-hailing works fine inside the city — it's an unreliable bet for a late-afternoon run back out to a remote industrial port.
Taxis at the gate suit short local trips, not long ones. One guide quotes roughly US$60 one way to the city at published per-kilometre rates — which isn't a bargain once you've paid it twice.
The group visa can decide this for you
Some lines arrange a group landing card, billed to your account at US$50 to US$99 per person on passenger reports, against US$25 for the e-visa you buy yourself.
The part that touches your booking is not the price. Nobody could tell us whether a group card leaves you free to travel independently or ties you to the ship's own tours — and if it ties you, the private car below stops being an option you can take. Ask your line in writing before you book anything independent. The port guide has the full paperwork version.
How each option compares in Ho Chi Minh City
| Excursion | Lean ship excursion when… | Independent works when… |
|---|
| A full city day | Almost always — the transfer risk is real | Only with a private car booked well in advance |
|---|
| Cu Chi Tunnels | Yes, especially the 7.5-hour private version | Rarely worth arranging yourself at this distance |
|---|
| Vung Tau | If you want it effortless | Yes — the short return leg makes this the safe DIY pick |
|---|
| Ba Ria | Either | Yes — 20 to 30 minutes from the gate |
|---|
| Mekong Delta | Yes, on any call under twelve hours | No. The published durations already bracket your port day |
|---|
| A party of four | Only if you want the guarantee | Yes — about US$115 total for ten hours beats every coach fare |
|---|
| Getting to the port gate | Free shuttle, or a 15 to 20 minute walk | Same shuttle. An inside-port pickup costs US$25–30 per person |
|---|
| The visa itself | US$50–99 per person on passenger reports | US$25 direct from evisa.gov.vn, 3 to 5 working days |
|---|
Short answer
Book something. If you're four people who've travelled in Asia before, book a private car; otherwise book the ship's tour and let the all-aboard be somebody else's problem.
06
Phu My logistics: the visa, the gate and the drive
The visa, first, because it's the one that stops you
No waiver exists for a U.S. passport in Vietnam, at any length of stay. The only exception is Phu Quoc island arriving direct from abroad — which no Phu My itinerary does.
- Apply at evisa.gov.vn and nowhere else — the State Department warns specifically about lookalike sites
- US$25 single entry, US$50 multiple entry, valid up to 90 days
- Usually processed in 3 to 5 working days, per travel.state.gov
- Print it and carry it with your passport; a screen isn't enough
- Passport needs 6 months' validity beyond arrival, plus a blank page
- An e-visa can't be extended or renewed once you're inside Vietnam
The checkpoint field, and the tour money riding on it
Nominate Vung Tau Port. It's a named seaport checkpoint; "Phu My" isn't one, and Phu My sits inside the Vung Tau seaport area. Ho Chi Minh City Port is a different listing for downtown river berths, which is the wrong one to pick however much your itinerary says Ho Chi Minh City.
Whether that field still binds you is disputed — December 2025's Resolution 389/NQ-CP took checkpoints from 42 to 83 and seaports from 13 to 39, and two 2026 visa services read its effect on the port-of-entry field in opposite directions. Our Phu My port guide sets both readings out in full. For booking purposes it collapses to one line: Vung Tau is right either way, and a refused e-visa means a non-refundable US$95 to US$232 tour you watch from the ship.
Where you dock, and how you get out
Ships tie up at cargo berths in the Cai Mép–Thi Vai cluster — nine terminals there were cleared in October 2025 to receive international cruise ships.
No tender, and no passenger terminal either. There are no shops or cafes at the berth, and nothing to walk to.
- A free port shuttle runs ship to main security gate in roughly 10 minutes
- Walking it takes about 15 to 20 minutes, along a working cargo road
- Guides collecting you at the ship need an inside-port permit, reported at around US$25 to US$30 per person
- Local drivers generally need your passport details in advance to arrange seaport passes
- Exit scanning at the gate can add real minutes when several ships are in
The drive, and how much slack to leave
Royal Caribbean's own port page puts central Ho Chi Minh City at about 1.5 to 2 hours each way. That's in normal traffic.
Road distance varies by source — roughly 70 kilometres on two guides, roughly 80 on two others. We're quoting both, not averaging them.
Widening work on the Long Thanh–Dau Giay expressway has been causing bottlenecks through 2026, particularly around Long Thanh Bridge. Leave the city with two hours of margin, not one — that's the whole trick at this port.
Money, and what things cost
- Dong conversions below use roughly 26,000 VND to US$1, the rate on September 18, 2026
- Small entry fees are cash in dong, not card
- War Remnants Museum: 40,000 VND, about US$1.55, open 07:30 to 17:30 daily
- Cu Chi Tunnels, Ben Dinh: 110,000 VND, about US$4.25. Ben Duoc: 90,000 VND
- Private car and driver: roughly 3,000,000 VND, about US$115, for ten hours
Which Vietnam ports your sailing actually calls at
This changes what you need. Check it rather than assume.
Ten-night Singapore round-trips we checked call at Phu My alone — a nine-night version adds Nha Trang the day before.
Longer Princess loops add Nha Trang or Cam Ranh, Ha Long Bay and Da Nang. That's four Vietnamese calls on one sailing, all covered by a single-entry e-visa if you don't leave the country between them.
