Best Burma cruise on the Irrawaddy River by your own experience

We are searching and comparing all companies and offers for a cruise and travel in Burma. We are open to both top end to low end budget. The main thing we want is a great experience. A great experience means logistics smooth. A great experience means caring and knowledgeable guides you can understand. A great experience means not getting sick from dirty air conditioning or food poisoning. We are adventurous but don't want to back pack. Personally I need air-conditioning at a minimum.

I figure the best time of year is in the dead of winter. We have a cruise in November so probably Jan-March 2018 or Dec-Mar 2018-9 will work. We have a great TA but I want to hear from people who have done this trip. How was your experience. Anyone with a link to a trip report or blog is appreciated. Thanks in advance

Good luck on your planning. It should be a great trip. I haven't gone, and i only know one person who has. That person went with Avalon, which is somewhat unique in that it does the upper Irrawaddy whereas most of the other lines do the lower part of the river. He really liked seeing the less visited part of the river.

I assume that you've seen the following CruiseCritic article:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1719

A quick google search turned up the following blogs/reviews which might be useful.

http://jeanettesavage.blogspot.com/2016/04/irrawaddy-river-cruise-mandalay-to.html

http://www.nancyandshawnpower.com/irrawaddy-river-cruise-myanmar-burma-ama-waterways/

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2016/03/10/princess-panhwar-on-the-road-to-mandalay/

https://www.rainforestcruises.com/jungle-blog/irrawaddy-explorer-expert-review

I'll be going in 2018 with Avalon because they do the upper Irrawaddy as noted by FuelScience. Only Avalon and Pandaw do that. I chose Avalon for a couple of reasons.

1 As a Canadian being able to purchase in Canadian dollars makes the cost predictable. Pandaw is priced in US$

2 Pandaw wanted 25% non-refundable deposit which would have meant buying cancellation insurance immediately; Avalon has only CAD$250 deposit with final payment due 90 days out. For $250 I'm prepared to eat the loss if I choose to (or have to) cancel.

3 I prefer the cabin layout on Avalon and think that I prefer the interior hallway to having people walk by the window side of the cabin.

I just booked last week for November of 2018 with Avalon. The itinerary appealed to me and there is the opportunity to add a 4 day land extension in Bangkok. The ship is only 2 years old and looks lovely plus it only carries 36 passengers. I read very good reports from people who have done the cruise.

I just booked last week for November of 2018 with Avalon. The itinerary appealed to me and there is the opportunity to add a 4 day land extension in Bangkok. The ship is only 2 years old and looks lovely plus it only carries 36 passengers. I read very good reports from people who have done the cruise.

What date are you sailing? I'm on Nov 8 southbound with Inle Lake.

I am struggling to figure out not only which company, which ship but which itinerary offers the most. I like the idea of up river. Still awaiting someone who has tried this trip.

There are 4 reviews for Avalon Myanmar on cruise critic. There are also a bunch of Pandaw reviews, but you need to know the ship since Pandaw has lots of ships doing a number of different itineraries. I'm not sure what other lines sail the Irawaddy, but you might find reviews for them too.

Appears we are not on the same cruise as we are northbound. Opted to do the 4 day Bangkok extension instead of the longer cruise with Inle Lake.

I'm a bit confused about the dates - I thought they only had the one ship. But you are southbound and we are northbound with overlapping dates. Our onboard starts the 10th through the 20th.

I'm a bit confused about the dates - I thought they only had the one ship. But you are southbound and we are northbound with overlapping dates. Our onboard starts the 10th through the 20th.

It may sound like a silly question, but are you sure you are northbound?

As far as I can see, all the southbound trips board on the 10th November, 2018 and all the northbound trips board on 20th November, 2018...

I used Vantage Deluxe Travel in November 2016. Guides, logistics and food were all great. Vantage does a whole boat Irrawaddy charter a number of times a year. Vantage sells only direct, not through TAs. Info available on line. I can give you a referral worth $100 off pp if you are interested. IMO good value. We actually did this trip in combination with a Vantage Mekong cruise.

Thom

Appears we are not on the same cruise as we are northbound. Opted to do the 4 day Bangkok extension instead of the longer cruise with Inle Lake.

 

I'm a bit confused about the dates - I thought they only had the one ship. But you are southbound and we are northbound with overlapping dates. Our onboard starts the 10th through the 20th.

There is only one ship. You start in Yangon which is in the south, but you should find that you start with a flight to Bhamo to begin the cruise, which means that you are on my cruise. If so, I look forward to conversing for the next year. (I did notice that a second cabin has been booked; I guess that is you.)

Appears we are not on the same cruise as we are northbound. Opted to do the 4 day Bangkok extension instead of the longer cruise with Inle Lake.

 

I'm a bit confused about the dates - I thought they only had the one ship. But you are southbound and we are northbound with overlapping dates. Our onboard starts the 10th through the 20th.

I start with 2 nights in Yangon, then fly to Bhamo on Nov 10 to embark, so I'm pretty sure that we are on the same sailing. Avalon only sails between Bhamo and Bagan; everything else is an extension so Inle Lake isn't a longer cruise; when the cruise ends in Bagan we fly to Inle Lake, and then fly from Inle Lake to Yangon.

I looked at Bangkok as an extension but when I'm ready to go to Thailand I think that I would like to concentrate on that; I'd rather see something that is more local to the country I'm visiting. But Bangkok definitely looks interesting.

Where will you be coming from? I have enough frequent flyer miles to do this on business class, but Yangon isn't that easy for me to get to on Star Alliance; I think that I might have to change planes twice in both directions, but I will do more exploration before it is time to book flights.

One more question for those who have the done this trip. Do you recommend the Inle Lake extension? Before or after the cruise better?

thanks

We did this trip in March of 2014 with Viking on a boat leased from Pandow. The cruise director was the only Viking employee on board. We flew into Bangkok for a two night stay and then flew to Mandalay. The cruise was great and I highly recommend it. Our guide was excellent, the food was good, and the boat air conditioned. The only thing I would suggest is to go in the November to February time frame. By March the temperatures are very high (we reached 110 one afternoon) and the water levels low.

Hi, again, gnome12. We fly northbound Yangon to Bagan and cruise to Bhamo then fly back to Yangon. It is the 14 day cruise rather than the 16 day you are doing. So, maybe just a wave as we pass each other.

Bangkok is Nov.5-8, Yangon 8-10, cruise 10-20 and trip ends in Yangon on the 21st.

I am hoping to maybe use Alaska air miles. I can fly out of Seattle or Vancouver.

Hi, again, gnome12. We fly northbound Yangon to Bagan and cruise to Bhamo then fly back to Yangon. It is the 14 day cruise rather than the 16 day you are doing. So, maybe just a wave as we pass each other.

 

Bangkok is Nov.5-8, Yangon 8-10, cruise 10-20 and trip ends in Yangon on the 21st.

 

I am hoping to maybe use Alaska air miles. I can fly out of Seattle or Vancouver.

I checked both the Canadian and US websites, and the direction is southbound for these dates, and we are on the same cruise. Northbound including Bangkok is November 18th departure. Check with your travel agent. I think southbound is the better direction as you are going with the current, so more time to explore on shore, but that is my opinion.

You are correct - we are southbound. I was looking at a map with an airplane going north and upon checking my paperwork I was completely offbase. So all is good and it is great we will cross paths.

I look forward to meeting you! Are you also a single? If so, that takes us down to a maximum of 34 passengers, so the chance of finding someone here on CC wasn't great. We are very lucky.

Nope - there are two of us. I am bringing my adult niece. We travel a lot together. She lives in Vancouver and I live just south of the border. So, should I look for a gnome-like person. Sorry, couldn't resist that.

No, at least I don't think so. My name is Nomi. Gnome was a nickname as a kid.

IJKH, we cruised the Irrawaddy back in 2013 on the Pandaw 11 for 14 nights on a similar itinerary to their current "The Irrawaddy" cruise. Did not go as far as Minguin. One day we will go back and do the Upper river and The Chidwin. We cruised in August - monsoon and the river although shallow in some spots was very wide in places. Back then this was a type of repositioning cruise -done only once a year after an out of water boat inspection. Most cruises concentrate on the area between Prome/ Bagan and Mandalay and either fly or bus to/from Yangon. We loved the small delta towns - we were a novelty, very few tourists to these areas. We enjoy the Pandaw experience (we are going on our 3rd next year) - relaxed cruising (no cruising at night) often tied up to a tree stump in the middle of no where, friendly/helpful staff, good food. Buffet breakfast and lunch with a cooking station (local specialties) and a choice of about 3 mains at dinner - usually choose your dinner at lunch. Local beverages included. Mix of passengers Aus, NZ, UK, USA, Swiss. Mix of couples and singles. Prepare to be "stupified".

At the moment we leaning toward selecting Avalon due to dates and price (airfare deal etc). It would be great if more Burma travelers will please link blogs and reports. This is very exciting. We are ready for a "stupefying" adventure. Thanks for all the help. Please keep posting.:)

We are booked with Vantage departing on 14 Jan 2018. They are now using a different boat...Makara Queen. Looks very nice.

I used Vantage Deluxe Travel in November 2016. Guides, logistics and food were all great. Vantage does a whole boat Irrawaddy charter a number of times a year. Vantage sells only direct, not through TAs. Info available on line. I can give you a referral worth $100 off pp if you are interested. IMO good value. We actually did this trip in combination with a Vantage Mekong cruise.

 

Thom

I am looking at a cruise on the Irrawaddy River and would appreciate reviews on cruise critic from those of you that are taking one this winter. have a great trip.

We are looking to book with Avalon in 2019 and I'm very excited. Our first cruise through Europe was amazing. I'm trying to get a group together for our trip if anyone is interested. Thinking Feb 2019 starting in Bangkok.