Triples on Mekong River cruises?

[Moosey5]

Hi, 

 

We are considering our first river cruise and would like to do the Mekong River. Does anyone know if there are any cruise lines that offer triple rooms? It will be me, my husband, and 17yo son. I spoke with Ama, and they said we would have to get two rooms. They do offer a deal on the single supplement, but a family vacation where one of us is alone is a little strange to me (although by day 12 might be entirely welcome!) It looks like Avalon also does not offer triples, although they have not returned my message from yesterday.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Hoyaheel]

We did an Avalon Mekong cruise in August- the ship is SO small (18 cabins) and as you note - no triples. We had a family of 5 on our trip - they had 3 cabins (mom/dad, 2 brothers, grandfather). (AMA is a MUCH larger boat - my planning notes say AmaDara is 124 passengers, Uniworld Navigator 68 passengers, and Avalon Siem Reap is 36 passengers) We saw an Aqua ship - looked beautiful, wasn't familiar with the brand. Looks like they have 20 cabins; I don't see any indication they have triples. https://www.aquaexpeditions.com/cruise-ship/aqua-mekong/

 

Triples are just VERY rare in river cruising - they've started showing up in Europe, but given smaller ship sizes on the Mekong, I'm not sure they'll make it there....Honestly, I'm not sure how popular they are in Europe.....

Edited January 23, 2020 by Hoyaheel

[Hoyaheel]

Also, the norm on river cruises isn't hanging out in your cabin - you tend to be off the ship, or in the lounge/outside on the lounge deck.....[as an introvert, I might spend more time in my cabin than others - in Vietnam & Cambodia, I also spent more time on deck than most others who found it too hot/humid - I live in NC and honestly didn't find it any worse than August at home, so....]

[gnome12]

3 minutes ago, Hoyaheel said:

Also, the norm on river cruises isn't hanging out in your cabin - you tend to be off the ship, or in the lounge/outside on the lounge deck.....[as an introvert, I might spend more time in my cabin than others - in Vietnam & Cambodia, I also spent more time on deck than most others who found it too hot/humid - I live in NC and honestly didn't find it any worse than August at home, so....]

@Moosey5 Would your son (assuming it was him - I'm not sure whether technically the lines would allow a 17 year old to be in his own cabin) be any more alone on a river cruise ship then in his own bedroom at home? His room might even be closer to yours on the ship. Even if the rooms were on different levels of the ship and different ends, river cruise ships are small and it is very easy to get from one end to the other. And, as Hoyaheel comments, generally you won't be in your cabins that much, people congregate either in the air-conditioned lounge or on the deck.

[Moosey5]

Thank you both for the replies (and for some of your other posts on Mekong cruises - I recognize your names from my earlier browsing!) Thought maybe I was just missing something. We have done a few ocean cruises, and I believe some rooms could accommodate and some could not, so I was hoping to just get away with one larger room vs. two regular.

 

@gnome12, do you know my son?!😊

 

Ama did say that the single would have to be an adult, but I am sure they would not check if we decided to trade off or something.

 

The thing that gets me is the land portion - even in the Siem Reap hotel we need two rooms, because it has to "match" the manifest. We may just do that part on our own since at that point we are off the boat.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Moosey5 said:

Ama did say that the single would have to be an adult, but I am sure they would not check if we decided to trade off or something.

 

The thing that gets me is the land portion - even in the Siem Reap hotel we need two rooms, because it has to "match" the manifest. We may just do that part on our own since at that point we are off the boat.

Remember that the ship is much smaller, so it might be more difficult to hide that your son was the single on AMA. On Avalon it would be almost impossible. 
 

I must say that I’m surprised that the hotel in Siem Reap would also require 2 rooms. I wonder if it is just a reservation system that can’t deal with it. 

[phxbne]

I have looked at Mekong cruises for three of us. Pandaw looks great and while they only have cabins for two they do have dates where 18 and under are free. And it reads they can have the cabin and not split the adults.

we did A triple on AMA Rhine when DD was 13 and it was very cozy and not a full twin bed for the third sleeping space

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, phxbne said:

I have looked at Mekong cruises for three of us. Pandaw looks great and while they only have cabins for two they do have dates where 18 and under are free. And it reads they can have the cabin and not split the adults.

we did A triple on AMA Rhine when DD was 13 and it was very cozy and not a full twin bed for the third sleeping space

Great!

[Hoyaheel]

13 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Remember that the ship is much smaller, so it might be more difficult to hide that your son was the single on AMA. On Avalon it would be almost impossible. 

 

My guess is that everyone would know and no one would care.....[but that is just my guess]. 

[gnome12]

52 minutes ago, Hoyaheel said:

 

My guess is that everyone would know and no one would care.....[but that is just my guess]. 

Probably, unless the kid misbehaved. Then someone might care. 

[Moosey5]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Probably, unless the kid misbehaved. Then someone might care. 

You must be forgetting the free alcohol for the adults. He is the LEAST likely to misbehave.

 

Have never heard of Pandaw but will check it out. Thanks phxbne (and don't worry, I am joking about the misbehavior)