Garth
TNK
Tnk provided me with flawless service. As an American travelling alone in Viet Nam I was a little nervous before my departure, but the entire staff was very kind to me - always making sure that I was comfortable, informed and where I needed to be on time. Highly recommended both for price and quality of service. -G

The Kane family
A wonderful experience with TNK travel (January 2009)

Our family of 4 just came back from first ever trip to Vietnam (18 days). We chose TNK Travel and it was a great trip. I wanted to thank TNK and to share our experience with future prospective travelers.

We started the planning almost a year ago. I must say we were hesitant at first and concerned about choosing a reliable travel agency. I read a lot on the internet (e.g. tripadvisor .com) before identifying a few prospective travel agencies. I then asked for an initial quote from my top 3 choices. TNK was the middle quote but what I liked about them was the level of detail in their initial proposal. I then looked at their guestbook and selected 17 people worldwide who recently travelled with them and emailed each of them to ask about their experience. Every single one of them responded and all were very positive about TNK. This made me comfortable with the idea of having to send money upfront to book a trip in an unknown country where I would have no recourse if dealing with an unethical company. With TNK, everyone assured me that once an itinerary is finalized, the company will do whatever is needed to deliver on its promises and to make it a pleasant experience, and they sure did in our case.

Over the following month, I exchanged several emails with Mr. Dsung Trinh, the Managing Director, to modify the original proposal based on my research about the sites we wanted to see. For example, we removed Sapa from the itinerary because the Northwest is quite cold in January, but added Phu Quoc Island instead. In the end, we agreed on a price for the revised itinerary, and I paid the customary 30% deposit by credit card (with a 3% fee). From that point-on, I dealt with Mr. Dac Dahn in their operations department who always promptly answered my numerous enquiries via email, and sent me hotel vouchers and e-tickets confirmation from air travel within Vietnam, as well as the invitation letter for the Visa. Fast forwarding to the end of the year when our trip began:

We landed roughly on schedule in Hochiminh on Dec. 31st in the evening and had to wait an hour or so (not ideal after a long flight from the U.S.) to get our visa on arrival ($25 per person in cash). Once we exited immigration and customs, our guide (J.J.) and driver were there to greet us with a sign bearing our name. They took us to our hotel. Because of the traffic, we ended up being in the center of the city near the cathedral at midnight, surrounded by thousands of motorcycles ringing their horns when the near year arrived (quite a cultural experience). From there on, the entire trip was very pleasant (I will post details on the hotels on tripadvisor.com). We visited Saigon (and stopped by the TNK office to pay the balance of the trip), the Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc, PanThiet/Mui Ne, Da Lat and Nha Trang by private van and boats with J.J. (who was excellent, paying attention all the time to what we liked and making sure we would always have it). We almost missed the speedboat from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc, because the itinerary was 30 minutes off. As a result, we couldn’t have a scheduled lunch, but TNK compensated us with an excellent previously unplanned dinner in Hue. J.J. ordered a van with more legroom when we returned from Phu Quoc to HCMC (we flew back), arranged for a small canoe to pick-us up and take us to our hotel in Cantho where we were stuck in traffic on the way to the ferry, etc…Then we flew to Danang and were greeted by our new guide Tui (Mr. Dac Dahn had kindly arranged for French speaking guides at the other locations at our request), and from there visited Hoi An, My Son and Hue, Tui was excellent as well, very knowledgeable and helped us solve an issue we had with a tailor-made suit. In Hoi An, the reservation was not a river view room, but after contacting Mr. Dac Dahn generously agreed to pay the difference and we were upgraded accordingly (we had insisted on 2 deluxe rooms with sea/river/lake views everywhere) and I had not noticed it was not the case at that location. We then flew to Hanoi which we visited with our last guide (Mr. Lan, who was OK but not as good as the first 2), and went from there to Halong Bay for a memorable 2-day cruise, then flew back to HCMC, stayed overnight near the airport and had an early morning flight back to the U.S. On returning to HCMC, no driver was there to greet us, we were told after we called the agency that he was stuck in traffic due to an accident. We took a taxi to the nearby hotel, and the driver who picked-us up in the morning for our return flight to the US. reimbursed us more than we had actually paid for the taxi. We didn’t have to pay a departure tax, it was apparently already included in our plane tickets.

Overall, a great trip thanks to the logistics, efficiency and professionalism of the TNK staff and agents. Food was excellent (though too copious for us, we always have festive lunch menus booked by TNK with 6 or 7 courses in nice restaurants (included in the price), nice buffet breakfasts in most hotels. The only problem (which is beyond TNK’s control) was insufficient hot water in many hotels for two people to take showers one after the other), a really bad road with big holes when exiting MuiNe to go to Da Lat and a third guide in the north who took us to a number of expensive stores along the road when we saw much cheaper prices elsewhere (we suspect he had a kick-back from these stores (but to his credit, he advised us to see the anthropology museum in Hanoi instead of a couple of extra pagodas, which we really enjoyed). Other than these minor opportunities for improvement, we had great hotel rooms with very nice views (important to us), good weather, good food, good guides and drivers (who seemed satisfied with the tips we gave them), and we were taken to all the places agreed-to on the itinerary. For those who do not feel adventurous enough to be on their own in Vietnam, we do strongly recommend TNK travel as an ideal, reasonably-priced solution. You can count on them for a memorable and pleasant trip. One final comment, although you can pay everything in Vietnam in US dollars or Euros, prices are cheaper if you pay in Dongs (local currency, FX at 17.3 VND/USD on the average during our trip, calculated at 15 by the stores if you pay in USD). Also a word of caution, Vietnam Airlines only allows 20 kg for a checked suitcase and 7 kg for a carry-on so travel light……

If you are thinking of going and have any question about our experience, don’t hesitate to contact me at dkane@mmm.com.

Our sincere thanks to MM. Trinh, Danh and the entire TNK staff for a wonderful trip. The Kane family (Austin, TX, USA)

james fisher
Satisfied

My wife and I just completed a 1 month holiday in vietnam.This was our forth visit,tnk travel did all the travel arrangements for all our visit.we were very happy with them.they arranged all our hotels,internal flights,hire cars and train travel.also airport pick up and drop off.everything went like clockwork.we were very happy with there professional service.and the hotels they chose for us were excellent.

Well done tnk travel.

Jim & Bev Fisher.

John Kellas
Mai Chau 4 day trek

We used TNK Travel for 16 day tour in 2008 and have now moved to Hanoi for a year and use their local affiliate, Dream Travel in Hanoi. We arranged to do the 4D/3N trek from Po Co/Hang Kia to Mai Chau over New Year. While the weather was cloudy and we missed the spectacular sights, we did enjoy the exercise. We had a local Guide/Cook, Miss Phuong, and a Hanoi guide, Quyen, with Mr Son doing the luggage transfers. We had 3 homestays and Phuong showed her culinary skills to perfection, different dishes each lunch and dinner, at each one.
We seemed to meet most of Phuong's family through the course of the 4 days, which we enjoyed. Homestays were satisfactory and trekkers will find them acceptable. Village life is simple and basic and one hears all the animals day and night, so expect the roosters to crow early and often.
We will suggest to our own future visitors that we do some more treks or stay at Mai Chau.

Thanks to Danh (TNK) and Ngoc Anh and Trang (Dream Travel).
JDK
PS Ask for Phuong and Quyen as guides

Gerry Breislin
Vietnam packaged tour

Dear Ms Hang Vo,

Apologies for not writing sooner. We've been back in Sydney now for almost a month but our holiday in Vietnam seems ages ago now.

We would like thank you for all you help in organising our itinerary on our recent trip to Vietnam . The hotels were excellent with very comfortable accommodation and great service. Breakfasts were excellent although we thought the Hilton in Hanoi had the best croissants!

We had a good balance of organised tours and free time and we particularly enjoyed the cooking class in Hoi An. The tours of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Chu Chi tunnels were fascinating. The trip to Ha Lung Bay was quite long, but the cruise at the end of it was worthwhile.

They tour guides and drivers you organised were punctual and attentive and it was a great relief to meet them when we arrived at the various airports. Their stories and descriptions and the information they provided was very interesting and helped paint a fuller picture of Vietnam for us. They were able to answer most of our questions and through our conversations with them, we were able to learn something about their own lives in Vietnam.

We did have a little difficulty understanding our first guide in Hanoi, but he made up for it with his enthusiasm. The other three guides all had very good English.
Please pass on our thanks to each of them.

I have already passed on your details to a friend and would have no hesitation about using you again or recommending your company to others wishing to visit your beautiful country.

Kind regards

John Chiles
Vietnam & Cambodian Tour II

Dear Mr. Dzung

We would like to express our appreciation for TNK's efforts to make our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia so enjoyable. Of our many trips since 2002, this one has been the best. Some of that is due to the attraction of the two countries. But a bigger reason is the treatment we received from your company.

All of our hotels were comfortable, and even somewhat luxurious for a couple that usually stays in bed and breakfast type accommodations. Very good meals in excellent dining establishments.

Our guides deserve most of the credit for the success of our trips. They looked after us from pick up to departure. They ensured that we visited sites at the right time to avoid most of the crowds and avoid the hottest time of the day. They varied the itinerary periodically, with our consent, to ensure that we saw the most desirable attractions, They were well informed about the history and stories of the attractions. They moved us along to cover the itinerary without us feeling that we were being rushed. We always felt that we had any time we wanted to wander through the sites according to our interest.

Although the guides were probably the strongest feature of a very well organized and professionally run tour, their one weakness was their English pronounciation. It was difficult at times to understand the message because some words were pronounced differently from what we are used to hearing. On the whole, however, that was a minimal limitation.

A special thank you for providing us with the document permitting us multiple visits to Vietnam. We had arranged for our visas to Vietnam, although you had offered to do so. However, enroute home, when we and presented our passports with single entry visas to the ticket agent at the Siem Reap airport in Cambodia, we were advised that we needed multiple visit visas in order to obtain a boarding pass for our flight to Hochiminh City, Even though we had advised you that we would be obtaining our visas on our own, your thoughtfulness and thoroughness in providing the multiple visit authorization saved us a lot of grief. This incident brought home to us more than anything else, TNK's level of professionalism and concern for its customers.
There are many other things that we could add to illustrate how well we were looked after by your company. When we first 'discovered' TNK while researching on the internet, our first thought was that this unknown tour company was probably a low budget, high risk venture. You get what you pay for, right? Well, in this case you get more than you would normally pay for - much more. We had been reassured somewhat by a prior TNK traveller who had posted a testimonial on the TNK site, as well as by the timeliness and quality of feedback we received from our e-mail enquires to TNK. However, we still remained slightly skeptical prior to arriving in Hanoi. Within hours of arriving, however, we were reassured that we were in good hands and that we were going to have a marvellous experience. The tour surpassed our expectations.

We wish TNK much success for the future. We expect that your company will eventually displace North American tour companies as the leading choce for tours to Indochina.

Sincerely,

Virjon
Ontario, Canada

Patricia Rojas
Wonderful place

I am impressed. I was navigating and found this site. Beautiful pictures. I wil choose vietnam for vacations no doubt and recomend this page to my friends.

Kind Regards

Cameron Wray
Dear sir

I was recently a customer of yours while in Saigon, I would like to pass on my remarks on your tour guide,(mr Hai) he was excellant, My parents and I enjoyed his company and knowledge immensly, I have since recommended your company and mr Hai to a number of people and will continue to do so, Thanks again for a great holiday in your beautiful country. I look forward to a return there one day.

Cameron Wray

Joel Ng
Vietnam travel services

Dear Mr Dzung Trinh,

our group will like to thank you and your team for the memorable trip in Ho Chiminh city.

JJ (our tour guide) was good and responsible, he took special care of the old and kids well.

Will sure recommend TNK Travel to friends visiting Vietnam.

Joel Ng
Singapore

Mr.Karen Isobel Podolsky
Thank you to Kim Cuong

Dear TNK Travel,

This note is to thank you for the wonderful services you provided on our recent visit to Vietnam.

We especially want to thank Ms. Kim Cuong. She was friendly, knowledgeable, and very helpful. We were very happy with the itinerary she prepared for us. She helped us get a flight back to the U.S., even though it was not part of her job, and we appreciate that. The other people in your office were very good, too.

Please let Ms. Kim Cuong know that we were happy that she could help us, and that we would recommend TNK Travel to anyone who will be coming to visit Vietnam.

Sincerely,
Karen Isobel Podolsky and Joan Renee Sinclair