Trip report: Six Senses Ninh Van Bay, Vietnam
Jun 1, 2015, 2:10 pm
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
Ninh Van Bay Ninh Hoa, VN 57000
Trip report: Six Senses Ninh Van Bay, Vietnam (0 Photo)
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
In Vietnam, we stayed at the Six Senses Ninh van Bay. We arrived a little late, so we didn’t get the usual welcome procedure.
The hotel has a very remote location near Nha Trang so you can only reach it by speed boat. Beside the dock, they have a little arrival room with toilets and a waiting room. Soon we could board the boat and after a 10 minute ride we finally arrived at the resort.
We were greeted by the guest relations manager and another guy who showed us our villa. The resort has 4 main villa types. Hilltop Villas, Beach Villas, Water Villas and Rock Villas. All Villas have their own pool. While the Beach Villas are duplex style, the 3 other types are very similar when it comes to indoor spaces. While the Hilltop Villas are very private and have a great view over the ocean, the Rock and Water Villas are directly at the ocean. From the deck of the Water Villas you have direct access to the water.
We chose a Hilltop Villa because we like a very private location. We thought it was the right decision. From the restaurant of the resort you had a good view of the decks of most of the Water Villas, so there’s very little privacy in them. Only 1 Water Villa is private and you need 20 minutes to reach it. The same can be said about the Rock Villas that have a direct view of each other. Beach Villas could be partly seen from the main walk and the beach, also many families stayed there. So I would always book a Hilltop Villa.
The Villa itself was very rustic and was made more or less completely of wood. If you like marble its not your hotel. We had a main pavilion with the bed- and bathroom and a second pavilion with the living room. Our pool and deck were big enough. We found it comfortable and we had everything we needed.
Video from our villa
Link:https://www.flickr.com/photos/100832...7651060797591/
Way to our villa:
Entrance:
Our pool:
The deck:
Living room
Bedroom:
Bed at night:
Bathroom:
Outside our villa:
View:
The hotel had a tennis court which was free for use. Also they had a house-reef were you could snorkel. The beach was good szized. Both were really nice also not „world class“.
Beach
Garden:
Tennis court:
Snorkeling pictures:
The hotel has 3 restaurants. The casual Dining by the Pool, the „gourmet“ Dining by the Rocks“ and the main restaurant Dining by the Bay. Wen mostly ate at Dining by the Bay which had a good selection. Quality was OK, but nothing special. Also the Vietnamese cuisine was relatively European, the chef is from Italy. Dining by the Rocks was by far the best restaurant, but had only few choices without meat. We only had once dinner at Dining by the Bay. It was a Vietnames street buffet. While the price was nearly double of a normal dinner at Dining by the Bay the quality was disappointing. Nothing special and not really Vietnamese. Over all we enjeyed our meals but it could have been better. Especially as we ate in Saigon we knew what would have been possible.
Dining by the Bay:
Dining by the Rocks
Buffet (Dining by the Bay):
Performance during the buffet
Food from the buffet
The bar is good situated with daybeds, the cocktails are pretty good. We didnt try their food, but I believe its from the Dinner by the Bay restaurant. Breakfast is served at the main restaurant with a nice selection of good food. Surely not the best breakfast we ever had but good enough.
Bar
Breakfast:
A great treat was that they had free icecream every day around noon!!!!!
Service at the resort was always very friendly but not always very professional. Some staff members didnt really speak English. Every villa has a designated butler which is a good idea. Our butler was really lovely and made our stay very convenient. At dinner the staff was often a bit confused. Once they asked us three times if we’d like to order something and one time they didnt really know what they were serving. When we told them we dont eat meat our Amuse Bouche was a meatball. At the bar they sometimes needed 15 minutes to get our order and another 20 minutes to serve it. Another example was my wife’s birthday. Even though they took our passports on arrival they didnt mention it.
We didnt use the main pool as we found it rather unattractive. We did a boat trip to a marine park to snorkel (separate post will be coming soon in the trip report forum) and a walk to a private beach.
The SPA is of course very important and we had some treatments. Again it was good. The SPA-suites were integrated into the nature. But it wasn’t comparable to the Seychelles for example.
SPA-Suite:
For our departure, we booked the individual car to the airport, otherwise you travel in a shared van. Who knows me knows that a shared van is not my thing. We payed over 100 € for the one way transfer (shared was already included in our rate) in a mediocre Toyota Sedan which was way too expensive. Otherwise it was worth it as I had no intention to travel with the 2 other couples who left in one van.
Considering we payed around 2800 € for 7 nights with breakfast, it was really good value (especially during Chinese New Year). We liked the rustic style and didnt really miss much. I would recommend this resort to everyone, its really a solid product.
Jun 1, 2015, 5:44 pm
Look at this pictures and try to tell me they don't scream 'six senses' - https://www.flickr.com/photos/isserb...57650417882575
Jun 1, 2015, 7:37 pm
Jun 2, 2015, 12:56 am
Look at this pictures and try to tell me they don't scream 'six senses' - https://www.flickr.com/photos/isserb...57650417882575
No, absolutely not. They use some chemistry against it. Problem was. that you saw very few wildlife inside the resort.
Jun 2, 2015, 7:22 am
We loved how secluded and untouched it felt. We were in a water villa and also found them very private. But there were things about the villa that we did not like (I wonder if they have changed any of these?). For example, the bathroom was completely open-air. And while there were no mosquitoes that I recall, there were lots of other flying insects. I still recall trying to shower and getting bombarded by wasps and other flying things. Even in the bedroom, we did not have much luck with the air conditioning. It 'worked', but it was just a tiny wall unit and struggled with the blazing Vietnam heat. At that time, it was not a place to go if you needed relatively cool interior spaces.
I recall enjoying the food. At least until I got a mild case of food poisoning and was in bed for 24 hours.
When we were there, service was good, but as with you, English was a problem for some. Our butler was also very good. This is one of the few places I've stayed that had butler service that actually worked well.
I recall having a conversation with the GM (who at the time was very good, but is probably long gone) and he referred to the resort as 'luxury camping'. I would agree with this assessment.
But if you like the style, the place is hard to beat (especially if the price is right). All things considered, I preferred our stay at their Con Dao property (especially if you can get in to one of their residences).
Last edited by xracer; Jun 2, 2015 at 7:27 am
Jun 2, 2015, 10:04 am
We loved how secluded and untouched it felt. We were in a water villa and also found them very private. But there were things about the villa that we did not like (I wonder if they have changed any of these?). For example, the bathroom was completely open-air. And while there were no mosquitoes that I recall, there were lots of other flying insects. I still recall trying to shower and getting bombarded by wasps and other flying things. Even in the bedroom, we did not have much luck with the air conditioning. It 'worked', but it was just a tiny wall unit and struggled with the blazing Vietnam heat. At that time, it was not a place to go if you needed relatively cool interior spaces.
I recall enjoying the food. At least until I got a mild case of food poisoning and was in bed for 24 hours.
When we were there, service was good, but as with you, English was a problem for some. Our butler was also very good. This is one of the few places I've stayed that had butler service that actually worked well.
I recall having a conversation with the GM (who at the time was very good, but is probably long gone) and he referred to the resort as 'luxury camping'. I would agree with this assessment.
But if you like the style, the place is hard to beat (especially if the price is right). All things considered, I preferred our stay at their Con Dao property (especially if you can get in to one of their residences).
We hadnt really problems with aircondition, but it wasnt the best I met in my life. No issue for us as we dont need a "cool" room.
Im still not sure if I will try another Six Senses. It was a nice experience and I enjoyed the rustic charme, but I dont know if I Need it every vacation. My wife like to do Soneva Kiri when we will do Thailand. I think its even more rustic. Also you have to fly in a small plane with only 15 kg lagguage (why do I fly F?).....
