? Cruise line doing river Kwai trip ?

[fraj1]

I travel solo so tend to do cruise ship tours and as my father was a POW and worked on the death railway I really want to do the river Kwai trip. Can anyone tell me of a cruise line that includes this trip in their itinerary? Many thanks

[Omega1]

I travel solo so tend to do cruise ship tours and as my father was a POW and worked on the death railway I really want to do the river Kwai trip. Can anyone tell me of a cruise line that includes this trip in their itinerary? Many thanks

 

I cannot remember seeing any River Kwai trips from our Holland America cruise last January. We have visited Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai as a day trip from Bangkok on a previous trip. Depending how long your ship docks in Laem Chabang (for Bangkok) you could see Bangkok (briefly) and then pick up a tour out to Kanchanaburi or alternatively arrange for a guide/driver to pick you up from the ship and custom fit a tour to what you want.

We used Tong as our guide http://www.tourwithtong.com, she will arrange anything you want - highly recommended.

[iancal]

We did this tour on our own. We were in Bangkok for five days. Took the train.

 

I was disappointed. There is really not that much to see. You will not be on the exact spot of the bridge. There is a small museum but it really does not have much. It was a full day for us. A few hours both ways on the train.

 

I had a interest in this as well. Bottom line is that I would not do it again. It was a bit of a disappointment.

[someotherguy]

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo has a locomotive from the railway in their museum. The description makes it sound like a public works project rather than a war crime. Quite an eye opener.

[Shorex]

Cruise tour? Probably not. But you can arrange your own day tour. We took a day tour out of Bangkok and found the experience moving and memorable (disregard the movie). It's a full day from Bangkok - depending on how long your port stay (and which port) you may or may not have time.

 

If my father were a veteran and POW of this camp I would find a way to make it happen.

 

Some trip descriptions are here:

 

http://www.viator.com/tours/Bangkok/Thai-Burma-Death-Railway-Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai-Tour-from-Bangkok/d343-3685BKK36C/photos

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297924-d317608-Reviews-Bridge_Over_the_River_Kwai-Kanchanaburi_Kanchanaburi_Province.html

 

http://www.bridgeriverkwai.com/

 

http://www.sightseeingbangkok.com/River_Kwai.html

[Amfa]

My husband & I are also interested in Hellfire Pass & River Kwai so have organised a tour with Matt McLachlan Battlefields Tours. They will be picking us up from the ship at Laem Chabang & driving us to Kanchanaburi where we stay overnight & return to the ship the following morning. They have been very helpful & organised everything for us once we told them what we would like to do. Hope it all works out ok. We are on a HAL cruise with 2 days in Laem Chabang this March.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

We did the River Kwai tour as a day trip during our pre cruise stay in Bangkok. Make sure they show you the War Cemetery. It is immaculately maintained by the locals and is a very moving experience.

[fraj1]

My husband & I are also interested in Hellfire Pass & River Kwai so have organised a tour with Matt McLachlan Battlefields Tours. They will be picking us up from the ship at Laem Chabang & driving us to Kanchanaburi where we stay overnight & return to the ship the following morning. They have been very helpful & organised everything for us once we told them what we would like to do. Hope it all works out ok. We are on a HAL cruise with 2 days in Laem Chabang this March.

 

 

Hi- am wondering how your trip went as am now exploring private providers ? Be good to know how it went! Thanks

[Amfa]

We really enjoyed our tour to this area & everything went very smoothly. The local operators used by MMBT were professional & very obliging. It is a long drive from Laem Chabang (appproximately 4 hours if traffic is ok) but we enjoyed the journey through the countryside & we also drove through Bangkok & were interested to revisit a city we hadn't seen in 35 years. Lots of changes! We were picked up at 8 am & arrived in Kanchanaburi around midday. We found the cemetery at Kanchanaburi incredibly sad. We walked a section of Hellfire Pass & also visited the small museum there. We found the experience very moving. The bridge we were taken to over the River Kwai had parts of the original bridge but it was a very crowded tourist experience. We stayed in a beautiful resort on the River Kwai overnight & we were safely delivered back to our ship early afternoon the next day. We were glad we made the effort.