Nha Trang Vietnam, April 2025

The ship docked in Cam Ranh Bay, since the docks in Nha Trang were recently damaged in a storm. Cam Ranh Bay is part of a military base, and we had to take an excursion bus an hour and a half each way to Nha Trang, but it was well worth it.

Here is a video of our approach into beautiful Cam Ranh Bay:

On the bus ride from Cam Ranh to Nha Trang, once we were outside of the military zone, the coast was dotted with 5 star beach and golf resorts, which apparently are mostly marketed to Chinese and Korean tourists. It is a beautiful stretch of coastland.

Once in Nha Trang the tour took us to a local craft and music center, then to the Ponagar Temple and then a long climb up the hill to the Long Son Pagoda, a Buddhist temple with a very large white Buddha statue. 155 steps to the top, where the views were wonderful and the Buddha very impressive close up. Nha Trang is a wonderful city to visit. If only we had more time.

There is a story to the last photo above, which shows the ships officers out on the port wing of the bridge, watching the road from Nha Trang into the port at Cam Ranh. A couple were missing and had not returned from their private outing. We had an "all aboard" time of 5:30pm for a 6pm departure ... and when I took this shot it was 5:50pm and the gang plank was still out. This is our nightmare, to get back to port too late and miss the ship. This occasion had a happy ending, as a taxi came in sight at 5:55pm, the miscreants were on board by 5:58pm and we cast off bang on time. Everyone breathed a long sigh of relief. Only the ships officers seemed unaffected, but I guess they see it often.