Mekong River Cruise

[makeupartist40]

Hi Everyone,

glad to be here.. did a search and read the posts already on here about River cruising on the Mekong.. they all sound great so now I'm thoroughly confused :)

 

I'm leaning toward the Uniworld River Saigon but would love some feedback ..comparisons with other lines (the accomodations, itineraries, food, staff) .. experiences with Uniworld, etc

 

 

a bit about this trip and questions:

- thought about doing a land-only trip throughout SE Asia, but a river cruise seems to be a "no brainer" way to go

- it will be for my 50th birthday.. once in a lifetime..going with my husband.. I'm not opposed to paying luxury prices and want this to be a luxury "want for nothing" trip (only turn 50 once!), but I do expect to get what I pay for in every way.

- I have a ton of food allergies.. mostly seafood and nut products.. so I need to deal with staff who are attentive to that.

- as I mentioned.. turning 50.. I get that such trips are often with an older clientele.. and I don't have any issues with that.. but, just curious, will I be the youngest passenger on the boat? and will this affect the land touring?

- speaking of the land tours, am I correct that they are all included in the prices with guides?

- they mention luggage restrictions on the domestic flights during the land portions... assuming it's 30lbs/15kg each which can be done but doesn't give enough room to bring a whole lot for 2 weeks.. is there laundry on the ship?

- any "extras" you had to pay for once you started your cruise?

- looking at November, 2013.... I realize that they are small ships so when it's sold out, it's sold out.. so when is the best time to book? is it too early now? (I always get the insurance because we have older parents and you never know.. so I know I would have to do that no matter what)

- do you recommend booking directly though the cruise line or using your own agent? will the cruise line arrange for the flights? (the "no brainer" advantage coming into play here) :)

- if I can convince my husband to take a longer vacation, I would like to add Bangkok.. did the cruise line do a good job with arranging that? will you get a guide?

 

I'm sure I will think of more questions.. thanks so much in advance for any insight :)

[EJRIVER]

We went last September with Viking Cruises. Be aware that the trip is river boat and hotels. We were on the boat only 8 days out of 16 days.

The food allergies -

The staff will prepare subsitutes for you, just tell them ahead of time.

 

Age Range:

We found the passengers to range 50 to 80. And also there is only about 60 people on the tour, so it is a nice small group.

 

Extra expenses:

Depends on what you want to do. Everything is included but for a few meals while staying at the hotels. Of course the tips to the daily tour guides and your assigned guide are to be considered at the end of the cruise.

 

Packing:

Pack light airy clothes. The dress code is VERY casual and cool. Comfortable shoes are a must! There is laundry onboard and in the hotels for a reasonable fee.

 

Not included in Cruise charges:

The travel insurance is a good idea. The Visas are an extra also.

We have been on 3 Viking cruises. Booked with TA 2 times and with Viking for the Mekong. Viking arranged everything for us. It was easy to do with them and had a Viking rep to call if we had any questions.

 

Extension trips:

We added the post trip to HaLong Bay. Well worth the money. The people that added the Bangkok Pre trip said it was very good. All is arranged through the cruiseline and the guide is also on the PreTrips and PostTrips.

 

Enjoy the once in a lifetime adventure!

[makeupartist40]

thank you so much for your response...sounds like you had a great time.

 

yes, I got that it's a land/boat combo.

 

how did you deal with luggage on the domestic flights? carryon only?

[EJRIVER]

As I remember - we both had carry-ons with personals and cameras, etc. -plus a large suitcase each from Atlanta to Korea for the lay-over. The luggage for the Korean Air overseas is about 44# each (?). Then from Seoul to HoChiMing, we had no problem on Vietnam flights. The luggage is weighed as a group and we were under the allowable weight each. The cruiseline takes care of everything. Just have to put your luggage outside your cabin or room door at the assigned time for departure.

[makeupartist40]

thank you for your response... I know I will double check with the cruise line about this but it's good to know... especially if we decide to do an add-on which might involve smaller domestic planes.

 

I managed Kenya for 2 weeks with just a carry on... isn't my favorite way to travel but we had no choice because of all the domestic flights that had a 30lb per person restriction (I usually need a bag just for shoes and makeup but I did it!) :)

[makeupartist40]

here are three itineraries.. they differ slightly.. am I correct that you see more with the Uniworld itin? Viking's itin appears (to me) to have more " free time".. I like things a bit more organized.

Anyone cruised with Avalon? how does it compare to the other two?

 

thank you for any opinions

 

http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/rivercruises/mekong-hanoi-angkor-saigon-2013/itinerary.aspx

 

http://www.uniworld.com/Destinations/Vietnam_and_Cambodia/Timeless_Wonders_of_Vietnam_Cambodia_and_the_Mekong/2013/Day-To-Day/

 

http://www.avalonwaterways.com/Product.aspx?trip=3WSH&content=itin

[Island Cruiser]

I guess everyone's definition of "luxury" is going to be different. Our "luxury" travel experiences have been on luxury cruise ships (Regent & Silversea). Our two riverboat trips have been very good. They both exceeded our expectations. But they weren't "luxury" experiences. Our last riverboat trip was on AMA in the Mekong. We were in one of the two suites on the boat. The suites are beautiful and spacious. But the two easy chairs in the suite were magnificent to look at but impossible to sit in. Form over function. The quality of the food served exceeded out expectations. Very good! Not luxury. The dining room was so noisey it was hard to carry on a conversation with the two other couples we were traveling with. Anything but luxury. The cruise director, who I think works for tips, was very popular with most of the passengers. But for the six of us, not at all to our taste. More like a scout camp director than a tour guide for seasoned and sophisitcated travelers. We will always cherish our experience on the Mekong. But it, to us, wasn't a luxury experience.

[makeupartist40]

thank you Island Cruiser.. I did look at AMA and decided it wasn't for us... more passengers so it must be a bigger boat.

 

I do agree that "luxury" on boats in general can mean something different than a luxury hotel.. and it also may vary by country too.

 

Thanks again for your input.

[freddie]

mua40 - In addition to the three lines for which you showed links, you might want to have a look at the AMAwaterways offerings on "La Marguerite" or "AmaLotus". Like the other three lines, AMA offers a combo-land & cruise package. Although we did our own private land package, the people on our La Marguerite cruise in December who took the AMA package were very pleased with their experience.

 

A significant difference amongst the several options are the boats themselves. Viking and Uniworld use a "Pandaw" style boat, a reproduction of a colonial period vessel. The standard cabins are 168 sq.ft. and appear from the website to be pretty but "cozy". Those boats carry 60 pax.

 

Avalon also uses a Pandaw-style boat, although a much smaller (and therefore more intimate, which may or may not be an advantage, depending upon the luck of the draw in terms of passenger mix) version, with about 32 pax and a slightly different cabin design at 172 sq.ft.

 

The principal reason for our preference for the quite different style of colonial boat reproduction that AMA uses is that the on the AMA design all of the cabins are directly on the outside of the boat, with private balconies or windows, whereas on the Pandaw-style boats the cabins open onto a common outer promenade, sort of like in a 50's-style motel. Hmm, can we say, "Don't leave the curtains open unless you want to flash everyone who walks by?"

 

Furthermore, the standard cabins on the two AMA boats are significantly larger than the others, at 226 sq.ft. However, full disclosure here, I find that the design of those cabins does not make remarkably practical use of that space, particularly when compared to the same general amount of square footage on some other ships we've experienced, such as the Paul Gauguin or the Hanseatic, on both of which ships that amount of space seemed quite adequate. In contrast, on the AMA boats, the benefit of the 226 sq.ft. seemed to have been diminished somehow in the gorgeous but not efficient design. Even with that caveat, it appears to me that the cabins on the AMA boats are (even with their design flaws) a lot bigger than those on the Pandaw style boats.

 

All things considered, a Mekong cruise is a marvelous experience; but if your definition of "luxury" is something comparable to what we can find on such ocean cruises as Regent, Silversea, or Seabourn, I would suggest that there is nothing like that available on the Mekong. It might be prudent for you to modify your expectations, as we did, in order to allow yourself to enjoy an incredible journey in Vietnam and Cambodia. As it turned out, our SE Asian adventure was one of the best we've had in nearly 40 years of traveling, despite our having come to the practical conclusion that the Mekong River cruise portions of the trip are quite good but not by any reasonable definition, "luxury".

 

Editing to add (since I wrote this while mua40 was posting), that even the AMA boats are quite small by most cruising standards at 90 and 120 pax respectively. Further editing to add the comment that while the boats used by these various lines are certainly not at a luxury standard, many of the hotels are, including the lovely Metropole in Hanoi.

 

Cheers, Fred

Edited June 2, 2012 by freddie

[makeupartist40]

thanks Fred.. no worries.. I am fairly well-traveled and know that there are different definitions of "luxury" depending on where you are and what you are doing.

 

My intent in the original post was to clarify that I am not looking to "rough it". :)

 

I thank you for your thorough post

[makeupartist40]

I think I have decided to go with the Uniworld cruise.

 

Called a local travel agent and let's just say ..she didn't instill a whole lot of confidence.

 

So my question is.. am I better off contacting Uniworld myself and booking that way?

 

I also want to add Bangkok post cruise.. and have some questions that I would want either the agent or someone at the cruise line to be able to answer with some degree of confidence

 

thanks in advance :)

[maryann ns]

Has anyone who has cruised on Uniworld's River Saigon tell me about the staircases. I have a friend going on this. She walks with a cane and is fairly large. How narrow are the staircases?

[Island Cruiser]

Oh boy! Large and walks with a cane.

 

Mekong cruises are NOT for the mobility challenged. Many of the tours involve a transfer from the riverboat to the bow of a local shuttle boat. You then walk across the bow of the local shuttle boat, which sometimes is unsteady in the water, to be seated, and then across the bow again to land.

[Riverroad]

Has anyone who has cruised on Uniworld's River Saigon tell me about the staircases. I have a friend going on this. She walks with a cane and is fairly large. How narrow are the staircases?

 

Please listen to Island Cruiser's response. We did this trip a couple of years ago and found the excursions taxing and we're reasonably fit. Plus, the heat and humidity make touring uncomfortable. Your friend will also have difficulty navigating the Angkor temples with a cane.

[Aiden90]

Mekong cruise is a marvelous experience; but if your definition of "luxury" is something comparable to what we can find on such ocean cruises as Regent, Silversea, or Seabourn, I would suggest that there is nothing like that available on the Mekong. It might be prudent for you to change your expectations, as we did, to allow yourself to enjoy an incredible journey in Vietnam and Cambodia.

[twototravel]

My husband and I are booked with Viking for their Mekong trip in Sept 2013. We are doing Bangkok as a pre-trip. Any experience or tips on this journey would be most welcome.

[makeupartist40]

We ended up doing the Mekong River cruise with Uniworld.. definitely lived up to my expectations and more!

 

The rooms are small but we didn't spend much time in there at all anyway.. nice linens and spotless .. the service impeccable.. the food awesome.. the views, wow.. just wow.. never seen a more beautiful sunrise... and the people are amazing.. the staff, the guides, the local people.. unforgettable.. and I have over 1100 photos to prove it... all around an awesome experience.

 

Highly recommend!