Myanmar River Cruising

Hi, we are thinking of doing a Myanmar River Cruise in December with Pandaw. The Cruise starts from Pyay. Two questions if I may:-

1. Are there airlines flying to Pyay? If not, how do I get there?

2. Does anyone know if Pandaw provide any transportation to their Ship?

Not sure if the River Cruising Forum is the right place, I have also put this under the Asia Forum, Apology for the double submission.....!

Many thanks in advance for any information!

Hi, we are thinking of doing a Myanmar River Cruise in December with Pandaw. The Cruise starts from Pyay. Two questions if I may:-

1. Are there airlines flying to Pyay? If not, how do I get there?

2. Does anyone know if Pandaw provide any transportation to their Ship?

 

Not sure if the River Cruising Forum is the right place, I have also put this under the Asia Forum, Apology for the double submission.....!

 

Many thanks in advance for any information!

Surely any transfer information should be included in the quotation. The reason I say that is that I have a Pandaw river cruise booked on the Upper Mekong through Laos and they clearly state that transfers are included: in our case from Chiang Rai to Chiang Saen.

You may wish to take a look at my review of our Myanmar, Irrawaddy cruise...

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

Thank you so much for your advice!!

I have given a very detailed reply, with other info on your question posted on the Asia forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2684216), but having read Richard's reply I can add that Pandaw had transfers from the local airport included with the cruise we had booked (and which they cancelled).

Will look at your review when I have time Richard, so thanks for the link. We are off on a land hol to Myanmar in January as the cruise part of our planned hol was cancelled by Pandaw, due to lack of bookings for that sailing.

Dear Barbara, thank you again for your response. Despite the Pandaw River Cruise was cancelled, I'm sure you'll have an amazing holiday in Myanmar nonetheless. Should be a wonderful destination not yet ruined by too many tourists......

Dear Barbara, thank you again for your response. Despite the Pandaw River Cruise was cancelled, I'm sure you'll have an amazing holiday in Myanmar nonetheless. Should be a wonderful destination not yet ruined by too many tourists......

You are welcome.

Must admit though that there are reports of the main tourist sites as becoming fairly crowded, but with locals as well as tourists. With tourist numbers being down because of events over the last year though, we are hoping that will be in our favour regards that. We have also allowed plenty of time at each destination, (4.5 weeks between 4 destinations in Myanmar), so should have plenty of time to explore beyond the main sites and experience the local towns etc. I was unsure about going to Lake Inle as that has gained a reputation of having become somewhat touristy, but my husband wanted to go and I think he is right as it is one of the main bases recommended (mixed reports, but overview seems to be that if you do not know what it was like before tourist numbers increased, you will not miss that experience). Our hotel on the lake, but set back enough to avoid the noise from the boats which start at dawn (local transport is generally by boat), and also reachable of the main town in the area by taxi, should fit the bill for us.

Cheers,

Barbara

I have given a very detailed reply, with other info on your question posted on the Asia forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2684216), but having read Richard's reply I can add that Pandaw had transfers from the local airport included with the cruise we had booked (and which they cancelled).

 

Will look at your review when I have time Richard, so thanks for the link. We are off on a land hol to Myanmar in January as the cruise part of our planned hol was cancelled by Pandaw, due to lack of bookings for that sailing.

Good morning Tring.

Just noted your comment. You may also like to see my review on Rangoon which we did post cruise...

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2017/06/23/one-way-to-do-yangon-rangoon/

Interesting to hear Pandaw cancelled. This happened to us on their Borneo river cruise last October; I was not amused.

PS. Whatever you plan do maximise your days in Bagan and make sure you have TWO sunsets there plus my best recommendation, the sunrise Balloon ride...

Thank you for the extra link Richard.  Lots of photos, so good to see.

Which hotel did you stay in when in Yangon, we are staying just a bit out from Scott Market at the Rose Garden Hotel, so central but looks like it has a good pool to allow rest between out time exploring?

7 hours ago, tring said:

Thank you for the extra link Richard.  Lots of photos, so good to see.

Which hotel did you stay in when in Yangon, we are staying just a bit out from Scott Market at the Rose Garden Hotel, so central but looks like it has a good pool to allow rest between out time exploring?

I too will be staying at the Rose Garden Hotel for 3 nights on my own in Yangon, before I switch to Avalon's Sule Shangri-La Hotel for 2 nights. I'll be there in 2 1/2 weeks. It is getting close!

I'm so bummed that our Myanmar trip was cancelled.  

31 minutes ago, Rebel54 said:

I'm so bummed that our Myanmar trip was cancelled.  

I was worried that they would cancel mine. For the longest time fewer than half of the cabins were occupied. 

On 10/17/2018 at 7:25 PM, gnome12 said:

I too will be staying at the Rose Garden Hotel for 3 nights on my own in Yangon, before I switch to Avalon's Sule Shangri-La Hotel for 2 nights. I'll be there in 2 1/2 weeks. It is getting close!

 We will not be there until early January.  We are feeling fairly confident about our choice of hotel - good mix of decent price, quiet and a good quality hotel.  The main thing complained about in reviews seems to be the prices in the hotel, but you would more or less be a captive customer there, so not surprising really.  We are thinking it should be easy enough to bring water and coke back to the hotel and eat out sometimes.

Not long at all for you - I hope you have a good time,

Barbara  

Thrilled to find this thread.

Currently in planning stages.

2n in Mandalay

4n cruise on Pandaw II

3n in Bagan

4n in Ngapali Beach.

Happy for hotel recommendations. We were looking at the Hilton in Mandalay, Amazing Bagan and Amazing Ngapali..?