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Viking Mekong


Mizzou70
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My husband and I will be on the Viking Mekong in late December. Although we are experienced Viking travellers, I have questions about preparing for this trip. Would someone be willing to share your packing list? What was the typical dress for dinner? What things do you wish that you has known before your trip? Will Viking have special activities on Christmas Eve and Cbristmas Day? What are the charges for laundry on the Mekong?

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My husband and I will be on the Viking Mekong in late December. Although we are experienced Viking travellers, I have questions about preparing for this trip. Would someone be willing to share your packing list? What was the typical dress for dinner? What things do you wish that you has known before your trip? Will Viking have special activities on Christmas Eve and Cbristmas Day? What are the charges for laundry on the Mekong?

 

 

 

My husband and I will be doing this trip in September. I am planning on taking a few quick dry shirts for during the day. For night a few pairs of crop trousers and a variety of tops nothing to dressy

 

 

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My husband and I will be on the Viking Mekong in late December. Although we are experienced Viking travellers, I have questions about preparing for this trip. Would someone be willing to share your packing list? What was the typical dress for dinner? What things do you wish that you has known before your trip? Will Viking have special activities on Christmas Eve and Cbristmas Day? What are the charges for laundry on the Mekong?

 

River FAQ has links to the laundry price lists.

(also for China, Europe and Russia)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dress on this cruise is very casual, a function of the climate as much as anything else.

 

 

The ship is culturally in keeping with the locale and does not feature large A/C controlled areas so even though there was never an issue with temperature during dinner for example, you will spend the rest of the evening outside if you are not in your cabins (also with good A/C).

 

 

You will want to have sturdy shoes for most of the trips off the boat, I would generally not recommend open-toed sandals for example as you will mostly be on unmade roads and paths outside the cities and with a wide variety of local insects :)

 

 

Do consult with your guides about any insect bites or any other ailments as the medication you bring with you may be less effective than the options the guides tend to have with them.

 

 

 

If you are luck enough to have 'Bob' (real name Tuen) as your guide, then you will indeed have an excellent time.

 

 

As ever, I am sure there are other excellent guides, but 'Bob' is the one that seems to get mentioned the most.

 

 

Happy to answer any other Viking specific questions people may have. We did this one 2 years ago.

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Thanks Mark,

My wife is a bug magnet and really swells up when bit! It's a serious problem (insect bites) for her. There is some very good repellant with high deet (I think around 10 or 12 deet?) that is available but if you have info on what the locals recommend, I'd like to know that.

The insects don't often bother much with me (I think it's my Irish blood :p!)

We just got back from a road trip around the Netherlands and Belgium with my 2 daughters and brother-in-law and everyone got a lot of insect bites throughout the trip. I got one bite on the last day - lucky me!

Good info about the ship as well.

Did the ship retain an on-board doctor? We both got very ill earlier this year on a Viking Nile cruise and the on-board doctor saved us big-time!

I'm also thinking about booking my own flights this time as we seem to have better luck when we do this on our own. There is also a $ savings as Vikings fares are inflated somewhat to cover their advertised reduced air fare and airport transfers to hotels and/or ships.

Having said that, Vikings airport transfers are usually very good and stress-free!

As I research this trip more I will probably get in touch with you again.

 

Thanks again,

Johnny

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Re the insect repellent my wife used a high deet product I purchase in Texas, aimed at hunters, I don't think the brand matters as much as the deet content :)

 

 

 

No, there is no onboard Doctor, the ship is just too small for that, but you are rarely all that far from onshore medical support if required, and our guides carried a veritable pharmacy of medications for all the problems that they know western guests are likely to encounter.

 

 

We booked our own air travel, routing into Hanoi via Hong Kong. Not because of any particular issue with Viking prices, just that I get a large quantity of air miles each year so it lets us fly in classes we would never pay cash for :)

 

 

We booked our transfer from the airport with the hotel (Sofitel Legend Metropole), best transfer ever, flawless in all respects, we were met at a dedicated separate entrance by about 5 staff who smoothly collected us from the car and conveyed us to our room with the minimum of fuss and maximum convenience including private check-in.

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Re the insect repellent my wife used a high deet product I purchase in Texas, aimed at hunters, I don't think the brand matters as much as the deet content :)

 

 

Besides being a cruiser I fly fish which puts me in areas with vicious mosquito. I use a product which is 98% deet I purchase from rei.com , a backpacking store. It is available by mailorder or check for a similar store in your neighborhood and avoid the big box drug stores.

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Packing is pretty easy for this trip. I took a long skirt and a nice shirt. The rest were all capri, shorts, tees, and tanks. We had a couple nice outings to dinner that a majority wore dresses on but there were some passengers that just wore shorts and a shirt. Attire is completely up to you! My hubby didn't pack a single pair of pants so it was shorts for him all the way. I will say the hotel in Saigon I felt very under dressed as it is 5 star + luxury.

Laundry - the resort in siem reap has a laundry bag you can stuff full for $40! Or you can do on the ship. Typically $5 per item. If you have on board credit this is a great way to spend it.

If I had to do it again packing: one more dress and utilize the ship laundry or other source. Clothes are super cheap in the markets and you can always pick something up there if needed.

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Thank you for the excellent information. Mark, did you go into the Cu Chi tunnels? Just curious what were the meals like on the river?

 

No, we didn't go to the tunnels, I don't recall that it was an option on our trip.

 

We found the meals on the river to be good. They are working with a very small galley so they ask for an indication of your choice from the dinner menu during breakfast so they can get the balance right for their preparation, but if you didn't enjoy what you had ordered at dinner I don't recall there being any problem with a change of selection.

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