Hi Lan,
Sorry about the delay! Here is our feedback.
It was truly an amazing trip to Vietnam and we appreciate all the hard work Vivu put into it! I'm going to list out our feedback in bullet points, please let me know if anything isn't clear or you have questions.
It would be great to share the appropriate attire for each day based on the day's activity (i.e. if we are doing a lot of walking, suggest tennis shoes, if we are going to temple, remind us to cover up).
A more extensive packing list provided to everyone would be great as well. It just would have helped to understand the quantity of active/leisure attire required compared to other clothing.
Tipping wasn't always clear enough. We were aware, per your instructions, that we needed to tip our guides and our drivers but we didn't realize we needed to have more to tip for additional services (i.e. boat drivers, farmers, rickshaw driver, river cruise guide, etc.). It became really confusing and we were never sure how much Dong to have on us. We actually recommend that you add tips as a service charge on top of what you have us pay at the beginning of the trip and then give that Dong to the guides and they can be in charge of tipping. We hated being in any position where we didn't have enough Dong and we definitely don't want to short anybody their tip and hard work.
Speaking of money, credit cards were actually not readily accessible. We got a lot of "Oh the machine is broken" or "Oh we don't do credit cards" - so letting people know that in advance would be helpful.
Also it would be better to know in advance that exchanging money isn't as easy as we thought. Many hotels and exchange centers would only take very, very crisp bills. We also didn't know they would only take 100s.
We LOVED the regular bathroom breaks and guides taking us to clean bathrooms
Guides did a great job at adjusting to one off requests (i.e. food, souvenirs, etc.)
The Saigon Liberty is not a quality hotel - would recommend a different hotel in Saigon going forward
The Halong Bay Cruise was AMAZING - highlight for sure and would recommend including in all itineraries
Hotel breakfasts were all great!
Planned lunches were amazing - guides really paid attention to what we asked for
Guides were great at taking care of luggage, talking to hotels and to airport staff. Finding each of them at each destination was so easy - we never panicked! They also always made sure to provide water and watch luggage.
Transportation was great - vans and drivers alike
The variety of experiences was top notch, we really felt like we saw Vietnam
Was very nice to have some free time regularly in between tours and activities
Loved getting to ride in so many types of boats and just being on the water!
Lan - this started and ended with you! You communicated so well, never left us feeling alone or confused, made us feel so comfortable and continued to touch base with us throughout the trip. We knew we could turn to you for any problem and you always delivered! Thank you so much!! Also, the value and price of the trip was great!
Again, we just want to reiterate how wonderful everything was! We will never forget it and Vivutravel! I will leave my TripAdvisor review as well. Thank you for your patience, getting caught back up to real life took a little bit.