AmaDara 8/19/19

[luvtocook]

For those that have done the HCMC-Hanoi Mekong cruise with pre and post AMA pkgs, I have a couple of questions.

 

When did you first meet up with the AMA group at the hotel?  Night of arrival or next morning?  We are thinking of taking a cooking class on arrival day as we arrive the day before.  Anyone take a class at Hoa Tuc Restaurant, Saigon Cooking Class?????

 

Re: the City Tour, did they take you to the large market?  The 2019 brochure doesn't say but the 2020 one does.  

 

Is the Sofitel Saigon Plaza in an area safe to wander around, shop, eat, explore etc?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Jack1]

Hello

We did this same trip Feb 2017 starting in Saigon and ending in Hanoi.  We came in a couple days earlier so did some touring on our own first. Seems like AMA is doing more touring this year in Saigon than 2 years ago.  We did the Chu Chi tunnels on our own as this was not available through AMA. We went to a market on our own.

They had a table set up at the hotel (near lobby) so you could pick up your itinerary package and then there was a meeting later to meet everyone and go over the agenda.

The hotel was very nice and I do remember walking about a bit.  Traffic in Vietnam is something else and crossing a road is exhilarating (if you like taking chances!).. lol

This was the 2nd cruise we had taken with AMA, the first in Myanmar.   They certainly have these trips down pat.. 

Sorry can't answer too many of your questions but hope you enjoy your trip.

We've enjoyed these river cruises in SE Asia so much we are booked on a 2 week river cruise on the Ganges  India  in Oct.

Cheers

[gnome12]

I did this trip in 2017 in the opposite direction. There was a desk set up at the hotel in Hanoi where you could pick up your package on arrival day. If someone was there when you were, you would meet them. Otherwise, we met the next morning (I think) in the lobby of the hotel. Feel free to make whatever plans you want for that day; I doubt they will have anything scheduled.

 

As to touring in HCMC, we only found out about it about a day before we disembarked; I had already made independent plans for what had seemed to be a completely free day.

[Buffyr]

On 6/10/2019 at 7:30 AM, luvtocook said:

For those that have done the HCMC-Hanoi Mekong cruise with pre and post AMA pkgs, I have a couple of questions.

 

When did you first meet up with the AMA group at the hotel?  Night of arrival or next morning?  We are thinking of taking a cooking class on arrival day as we arrive the day before.  Anyone take a class at Hoa Tuc Restaurant, Saigon Cooking Class?????

 

Re: the City Tour, did they take you to the large market?  The 2019 brochure doesn't say but the 2020 one does.  

 

Is the Sofitel Saigon Plaza in an area safe to wander around, shop, eat, explore etc?

 

Thanks in advance!

When do you get back?  We are going on September 14th and would love to hear about your experiences.  I think by the time you get back we will already be on our way.  We leave on September 7th and will spend some time in Tokyo before arriving in HCMC.  My email, if you feel like writing is elizabeth dot reich at cox dot net.

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Buffyr