Viking Mekong 2015

[irocks]

Glad to be of help.

We left Ha Long Bay at 9:30 AM. Half way thru the drive we stopped at the same shop/ bathroom as we had yesterday. A few of our fellow travelers had been measured for tops and shirts yesterday at this shop and the clothing was ready to be picked up today. I didn,t know this was available or I would have done the same. Their tops were very nice and fit well. Price averaged around $30 each. I had purchased some small bags and a purse at this same store which I saw this afternoon in Old Town Hanoi for 1/3 of the price. Once we arrived at Sofitel we had the hotel,s bunker tour which was very interesting. 14 of us went to the water puppet show which we had booked thru the hotel, price $5 each. This sells out early so book as soon as you get to the hotel. Next, the 14 of us went to the Green Tangerine for supper. The food was very good but don,t be in a hurry. It took 2 and 1/2 hours, service was on the slow side.Back to the hotel for our final packing. Tin will take us to the airport at 7:30 in the morning. It has been a wonderful trip and this time of year seems to be the best time to come.

[Mark_T]

Thanks for the posts, we've just booked this one for Feb 2016.

 

We will be traveling in the opposite direction though.

 

Lots to look forward to it seems :)

[rayho94066]

The guides english is very easy to understand. We did not find it necessary to exchange any money. Everyone has accepted our US dollar.

 

Thanks for the review, we are doing the exact same thing 02/16, Bangkok pre and Ha Long Bay post, just curious how much local currencies we should bring for the 3 countries, you mentioned dollar was accepted everywhere? Also, you mentioned getting your own visa for Cambodia and Vietnam, is that multiple entry for Vietnam? I think the place Viking suggested costs around 500.00 for both of us. Do you just send in your application directly to Vietnam and Cambodia embassies in the states?

[rayho94066]

Never mind, found out that we can do e-VISA for Cambodia and drop off our VISA application in San Francisco for Vietnam. Our daughter told us that it is a bit cheaper to get it at the airport upon arrival but I will probably just get it here.

[mapleleaf2012]

Never mind, found out that we can do e-VISA for Cambodia and drop off our VISA application in San Francisco for Vietnam. Our daughter told us that it is a bit cheaper to get it at the airport upon arrival but I will probably just get it here.

 

I don't know who you are sailing with but Viking doesn't recommend e-visas for Cambodia soyou may want to check with your cruise company.

[rayho94066]

I don't know who you are sailing with but Viking doesn't recommend e-visas for Cambodia soyou may want to check with your cruise company.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I called Viking and they are of no help as they told me they do not know validity of Cambodia e-VISA. After re-checking the Cambodia e-VISA website, none of the Cambodia sea or river ports support e-VISA entry, but most other river cruises companies will assist you in obtaining the VISA upon arrival while you are still on the boat, Viking is pretty much the exception. I would not be home from another trip until sometime in November so it may not be practical for me to send our passports in separately for Vietnam and Cambodia VISAs, so instead of spending under 300.00 for Cambodia and Vietnam VISAs, I'm almost forced to do this through the partner of Viking and spend 500.00, or I will just get the Vietnam VISA and obtain the Cambodia VISA when we arrive at the river port on our own, though there would certainly be some delay for doing that.

[Mark_T]

Thought I'd give this one a bump since we are getting close enough to our February 2016 departure to begin thinking about some more detailed planning, particularly on the Visas.

 

We are going to be starting in Hanoi so things are a bit different for us as we will have an air arrival into Cambodia. However even though the Vietnam visa situation seems to have got a lot easier recently, as UK citizens no longer require a visa for visits of 15 days or less, the fact that we leave and re-enter Vietnam in a short space of time may still leave us needing to get a visa anyway.

[ewizabeff]

We're just about to send away for our Visas for our December trip. We've opted to use the consulate instead of our Uniworld-recommended visa service to save about $200, since it doesn't seem to be a very complicated process for U.S. citizens to get a multiple entry visa.

[Mark_T]

We're just about to send away for our Visas for our December trip. We've opted to use the consulate instead of our Uniworld-recommended visa service to save about $200

 

Seems sensible to me as well.

 

We did our own Chinese visas last year and they were a lot more complex than the Vietnamese and Cambodian ones.

 

Fortunately we live pretty close to both embassies, so easy to drop off and collect passports.

[ewizabeff]

Seems sensible to me as well.

 

We did our own Chinese visas last year and they were a lot more complex than the Vietnamese and Cambodian ones.

 

Fortunately we live pretty close to both embassies, so easy to drop off and collect passports.

 

Nice! I'm not near an embassy, so I'll be sending them through the mail with tracking enabled. Just got my first money order ever, so that was an adventure.

[krillsister]

We leave for our AMA land river tour early November. We sent our passports to Vietnam embassy and they were returned within a week. Had to get a multi entry visa.

Since we start in Hanoi and fly to Cambodia we are waiting to get our visas for Cambodia at the airport.

[mapleleaf2012]

We leave for our AMA land river tour early November. We sent our passports to Vietnam embassy and they were returned within a week. Had to get a multi entry visa.

Since we start in Hanoi and fly to Cambodia we are waiting to get our visas for Cambodia at the airport.

 

I hate to be a killjoy but have you thought about if your flight gets canceled and they bus you to Siam Reap? I've heard of this happening. Food for thought...

[rayho94066]

We leave for our AMA land river tour early November. We sent our passports to Vietnam embassy and they were returned within a week. Had to get a multi entry visa.

Since we start in Hanoi and fly to Cambodia we are waiting to get our visas for Cambodia at the airport.

 

If you are arriving at airport in Cambodia, why would you not get e-visa? Their website lists all the ports of entry that support e-visa.

[FlyerTalker]

Having done a bunch of travel to both VN and Cambodia, don't pay $500 for a visa. And I don't know anything about "e-visas". What you do have is the ability to get visas on arrival at the airport. Vietnam wants you to go through a pre-approval process, but you get the actual visa when you arrive. You need to bring the filled out forms, photos and USA cash. There are services that will do a meet and greet before immigration and walk your visa papers to the window for you. Take them up on this - speeds up the process considerably. Cambodia is show up and pay the money.

[Mark_T]

The Cambodia e-Visa is real, but there are a bunch of unapproved websites offering it so you need to make sure you go to the official government website

 

https://www.evisa.gov.kh/

[FlyerTalker]

Thanks. That's relatively new - we just would use the VOA at Siem Reap airport.

[mapleleaf2012]

The Cambodia e-Visa is real, but there are a bunch of unapproved websites offering it so you need to make sure you go to the official government website

 

https://www.evisa.gov.kh/

 

Note that it's a single entry visa and you will require a multi entry visa.

[Mark_T]

Note that it's a single entry visa and you will require a multi entry visa.

 

Not for Cambodia we won't.

 

Multi-entry required for Vietnam though.

[rayho94066]

This is a wonderful cruise but all the good stuff are from the land tour portion and not the river cruise itself. The ship is very old and small and Viking would stop leasing it as of our cruise, they will start leasing a 1 year old ship after our trip. We happened to have to cross over an Avalon ship during the cruise and that is a much nicer and modern ship than ours. Staff onboard are extremely helpful and friendly, food is just average and quite a few people got sick most likely from food including my wife. We are quite happy with the overall trip with the exception of Viking air, DO NOT let Viking arrange for you air travel, they booked us on the worst route possible (30 plus hours with multiple lay overs while option of less than 16 hours is available at similar or cheaper cost). Most people on our trip complained about the air arrangement and those complained and objected repeatedly got better arrangement and treatment, including one person that emailed the CEO of Viking after getting no response from anyone from Viking. The hotel stays at Siem Reap and hanoi are wonderful but all the hotels are pretty much standard for all other cruise companies. If I have to do this again, I would choose AMA or Avalon, sorry Viking, you just have to do better.

[Viking Cruises]

Dear rayho94066,

 

While we are happy to hear you enjoyed your trip, we regret to learn the onboard experience fell below expectations.

 

Your concerns about the ship, food and Viking Air have been documented, but we remain interested in discussing the details of your disappointment further. Should you wish to do the same, please contact us directly at TellUs@vikingcruises.com.

 

We look forward to your email!

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

This is a wonderful cruise but all the good stuff are from the land tour portion and not the river cruise itself. The ship is very old and small and Viking would stop leasing it as of our cruise, they will start leasing a 1 year old ship after our trip. We happened to have to cross over an Avalon ship during the cruise and that is a much nicer and modern ship than ours. Staff onboard are extremely helpful and friendly, food is just average and quite a few people got sick most likely from food including my wife. We are quite happy with the overall trip with the exception of Viking air, DO NOT let Viking arrange for you air travel, they booked us on the worst route possible (30 plus hours with multiple lay overs while option of less than 16 hours is available at similar or cheaper cost). Most people on our trip complained about the air arrangement and those complained and objected repeatedly got better arrangement and treatment, including one person that emailed the CEO of Viking after getting no response from anyone from Viking. The hotel stays at Siem Reap and hanoi are wonderful but all the hotels are pretty much standard for all other cruise companies. If I have to do this again, I would choose AMA or Avalon, sorry Viking, you just have to do better.