Xuan Tu saved our day!
Xuan Tu saved our day! We were on the second of Norwegian Cruise Line’s messed up itineraries and we were forced to cancel our planned shore excursion with Xuan Tu and were unable to rebook as she was already full up on the new day. We are quite experienced travellers and figured that we would be able to “wing it” from Chan Mai but upon arrival we quickly realized that it would be quite difficult to do with our 3 children under 10. We called Xuan Tu and asked if there was any way for her to organize a car and driver for us, she came through and in less then 2 hours we were on our way to the Lady Buddha. Thank you! Our driver was safe and courteous, spoke good English and was sure to get us back in time for our sailing. Oh, and he came out last minute on Christmas morning! Xuan Tu, I have misplaced our driver’s card and would appreciate if you could add his name to this post. Rob and Alice — Traveller: 830robw from Tripadvisor
Xuan Tu is amazing
We hired Xuan Tu for a combined private tour of Da Nang and Hoi An, based on trip advisor reviews, and boy are we glad we did. She exceeded our expectations!! Xuan Tu is an extremely knowledgeable and efficient “bundle of energy”. She’s a tiny little thing, with a huge, gigantic personality, and is such fun to be around. My husband and I were on a cruise, and had just one day in Da Nang, and I walk with a cane and am limited in how much I can do, but Xuan Tu was excellent at taking us to wonderful places and making sure we saw a lot of things. In Hoi An (which is beautiful), she took us to some special places. One was a beautiful tea room, run by deaf mutes. Another was a “house” in the middle of the town, that had an open garden area. And she took us to this amazing sandwich shop, which Anthony Bourdain recommended, and it was fantastic! She even helped us bargain for some souvenirs. Even though Hoi An was flooded in some places (due to recent storms), we were able to see a lot of it, and even the flooded streets were beautiful (with people getting around on boats). Pretty amazing. You feel like you’ve known her forever when you finish your tour. If you get a chance to book a tour with her, you won’t be sorry. — Traveller: jantour2016 from Tripadvisor
Wonderful, Educational Experience
My husband and I arranged a tour on-line from Tien Sa Port when our cruise ship arrived in Da Nang and were not disappointed. Xuan Tu Mai was already leading another tour that day, so she let us know ahead of time that James would be our guide. Both met us at the port early that morning. They informed us that our original tour plan would have to be altered because the island we were supposed to visit had flooded after heavy rains the day before, and later they even refunded part of our tour cost. We spent a full day with James, who along with the driver, took us by lovely beaches and then to Hoi An, a highlight of our visit. James took us to a local coffee shop to try VietNam’s coffee, took us to historical buildings, helped us bargain for some food items in the market, and went to a traditional family run restaurant for a delicious lunch. We later visited other major locations in and around Da Nang including Marble Mountain and the giant Kwan Yin statue with views of Danang. We had a wonderful time and would definitely recommend Xuan Tu’s tour company. It is very professional, organized, and staff are obviously concerned that each customer goes away happy. We did! — Traveller: colt123 from Tripadvisor
Private tour from cruise port
We organised this tour as a result of a recommendation from our tour operator in Ho Chi Minh City and found it to be cost effective and a comprehensive day out. Our allocated guide was Tommy (Hai) who had great English and a full knowledge of Da Nang and Hoi An. We started our day with traditional tea andcoffee. Tommy showed us significant religious sites in Da Nang ang gave us a brief history of Budism and the life of Buddha . We then drove on to Hoi An where Tommy guided us on a walking tour of the od city and included visits into ancient shop houses and the famous Japanese Bridge. Our day ended back in DaNang at the very impressive Lady Buddha Statue overlooking the city and then a short trip back to the harbour to rebooted our ship. It is a long walk from the ship to the gates of the harbour but there is a shuttle available if you look for it. A great day. Thanks to Tommy and his driver for a safe and memory filled fun day. — Traveller: RussellB719 from Tripadvisor
Less than positive experience
We booked the day tour to Hoi An for 65usd upon the fantastic reviews despite it being more expensive than other local tours. The morning of the tour we were told that Hoi An was flooded and the places inaccessible. We choose to postpone the tour to the next day since this was genuinely an unforeseen circumstance. To cut the long story short, we went on the tour but was told the first half day of the itinerary was again inaccessible. We could not take the cruise or visit any of the villages listed in the itinerary. We were told There was no other places we could go. It became a shopping trip at Hoi An only and the only other place was the silk factory on land after we asked again on options. The weather was not the company’s fault. We just felt that more could be done as it was our first trip to Vietnam and we picked the #1 ranked tour hoping for a premium experience. We took a cab to Hoi An again on our own and the taxi fare was only 750,000 dong return. We must admit that we are disappointed based on our own experience. — Traveller: HappyTravelerSarah from Tripadvisor