southeast Asia?

[Rickyku]

Hi,

Maybe, kind of, dreaming about, a cruise this summer (August) to southeast Asia - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos.

Key lines, as far as I can tell, include:

Ama

CroisiEurope

Viking

Avalon

Uniworld

 

How do you rate/compare one versus the other?

Thanks,

R

[sanger727]

I can’t compare those cruise lines because I haven’t been on them. I have been planning a Southeast Asia trip for the last couple of years and can share what I learned.

1. As the world started re-opening, Asian countries were the last. We have November of 2022 booked now and will see how that goes. With the covid surge right now I would really hesitate to book a trip there this year.

2. august is hot and rainy season there. Only considered November to February.

3. we booked Avalon. The Mekong River ship looks beautiful and we liked the itinerary the best

[iancal]

We would definitely NOT pick August.

[Host Kat]

5 hours ago, Rickyku said:

Hi,

Maybe, kind of, dreaming about, a cruise this summer (August) to southeast Asia - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos.

Key lines, as far as I can tell, include:

Ama

CroisiEurope

Viking

Avalon

Uniworld

 

How do you rate/compare one versus the other?

Thanks,

R

 

Howdy @Rickyku 

 

Welcome back to the Cruise Critic message boards! I see it has been a few years since you have posted on the boards. 👍

 

Thank you for your new thread titled southeast Asia? on the Ask a Cruise Question forum. However, the forum is for general questions regarding cruising. To help you out I have moved your thread to the River Cruising forum since your inquiry concerns a specific type of cruising.

 

I suggest you use the Follow feature on this thread or any other thread where you are interested in the future replies. You will not have to go l👀king to see if there are new posts on Followed threads because they will come l👀king for you as notifications!  If you need more info on how to do it, please see How to: Follow Topics & Forums (Subscribed Threads/Forums Info).

 

And if you do book a southeast Asian river cruise, after your cruise be sure to submit your review for publication by Cruise Critic. Many cruisers will benefit from your experience!  See How To: Submit a Member Review.

 

Hope this will be helpful and glad to have you back aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat 

[terry&mike]

We are booked with Scenic, and are doing their Southeast Asia river cruise on the itinerary that also includes a few days in Angor Wat. We chose the end of December 2022.

I think the heat in August would be sweltering. 

[ljandgb]

We are looking at March 2023.  One difference I've seen between lines is which land excursions they offer, and in particular, how they experience Ha Long Bay.  AMA uses a ship to sail overnight in the bay, where as it seems the rest of the lines stay on land.  That seems a key difference in an overly touristed area like that.  That said, we have not decided which line we're going with yet.

 

[kayakcove]

We were on AMA in late February 2020, the last before the river border was closed for Covid. We loved it. I definitely would book land extensions on both ends of the river trip. The ship is comfortable, the food never was a disappointment. What was best was our trip director and the local guides. All were knowledgeable and willing to talk about their lives and feelings about their country, Vietnam or Cambodia.  In Cambodia, the impact the Pol Pot had on their families and even the current impact of China on their economy. In Vietnam, you can still get a sense of differences in the culture of the North and South. There was just one night in Ha Long Bay but the ship used was very nice. A second day would have been to rest for the trip home. The picture was taken in Ha Long Bay, so it was not all tourist boats around us. 

February weather was not an issue.

We were sold on AMA and set to do the Nile in March 2022.

Edited January 3, 2022 by kayakcove

[iancal]

We spent several days in Angkor Wat in Feb.  We found it hot.  We toured early and left the site by 2:30 because of the heat.  

 

We hired a private guide.  He was excellent.   Also recounted some history about his family suffering under the Kmer Rouge.  

 

Never got to Laos. But we certainly enjoyed our time in Cambodia and Vietnam.  We did the overnight boat in Ha Long Bay.  We were not overly impressed.  Probably because we had spent five winters in the south of Thailand in and around karst outcrops in the ocean/seas.   It was fine.

[amyr]

It's been a few years, but I did a spreadsheet to compare all the lines before we chose AMA.  I liked the looks of all the ships offered and they seemed pretty equal, and I couldn't figure out the differences in the actual river portion itinerary, if any, so I concentrated on the rest of it. All of this may have changed, and the others may now offer the same as well, but didn't back then.  There are more players in the market now too:

 

1) Halong Bay spent overnight on the water in a Junk.

2) I liked the hotel in Angkor Wat (Sofitel) though there are other nice hotels there too.

3) I really liked the hotel in Hanoi, the lovely historic Sofitel Metropole (add an extra night or two it's worth it) when other companies stayed in the Westlake area which I didn't like as much.

4) We overnighted in Phnom Penh on the ship, which made for a wonderful evening ashore. 

 

We went the first week of December which was dry season and probably the most comfortable you could be temperature wise.  Other than Hanoi and Halong Bay, which were both misty and cool, the temperature/humidity was equivalent to a hot August day in Florida.  I don't even want to know what August in Cambodia feels like.  

 

We would have had no way to know this ahead of time, but our guides were amazing.  

[gnome12]

One thing I did find was that the pollution in Phnom Penh was awful! They provided medical masks for us, but when we had free time to wander I couldn't breathe, and headed back to the ship.

 

I travelled in November; while it was hot everywhere, I found the heat in Saigon unbearable.

[lyndarra]

Having spent some time in SE Asia I can say  temperature variation with seasons is minimal. What does make a difference is the monsoon season May to October which also coincides with typhoon season. Monsoon can be very, very wet = high humidity which is why many visitors feel uncomfortable. 

I have done a couple of Halong Bay overnighters which I can recommend if one has the opportunity. I booked on-line through local operators and found their service to be excellent. Our last time we had a junk, with a 30 pax capacity, but only my party of four on it. Excellent service and food was fresh, locally sourced.

 

 

 

[terry&mike]

One thing you might consider is booking the Halong Bay area extension on your own.

We have a dear friend who is a guide in Vietnam, and he suggested we look at Lan Ha Bay, which is just as beautiful as Halong Bay, but without the hundreds of ships packed together.  We booked directly with a local operator for a 2 night sailing over Christmas on Orchid Cruises. They will pick us up at our hotel in Hanoi and bring us to the ship for boarding, and then we will taxi to a local airport when we debark the junk boat, and fly on to Danang for a few days stay in Hoi An.

[nogihs]

GREAT info, We are looking at march 2024. Any updates would be great, A lot of ship options, Anybody used Croisi? looks like they sail all the way to Siem Reap. 

[sanger727]

We took a southeast Asia river cruise in November/December. A link to the review is here: 

 

 

Any information that you specifically looking for? We did Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. All three are fully open with no vaccination or testing requirements. We were required to show our vaccination cards to Avalon. We flew from Siem Reap to Phenom Phen and boarded the ship there. I don't think sailing from Sieam Reap vs flying is a deciding factor. I would not be up for a bus ride. Also, you want to go towards the end of the dry season. Areas of the Tonle Sap that are normally flooded will be dry. If that is a deciding factor, I would make sure that they can sail from Siem Reap to Phenom Phen at that time of the year. 

 

[TriMomma]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:25 AM, ljandgb said:

We are looking at March 2023.  One difference I've seen between lines is which land excursions they offer, and in particular, how they experience Ha Long Bay.  AMA uses a ship to sail overnight in the bay, where as it seems the rest of the lines stay on land.  That seems a key difference in an overly touristed area like that.  That said, we have not decided which line we're going with yet.

 

We went with Emerald in Oct 22 and it included two nights on a junk in HaLong Bay.  

[franski]

On 12/26/2022 at 9:47 AM, nogihs said:

GREAT info, We are looking at march 2024. Any updates would be great, A lot of ship options, Anybody used Croisi? looks like they sail all the way to Siem Reap. 

We are booked with Emerald in February this year - the same trip as TriMomma did. Vietnam/Cambodia has always been my husband's dream trip - but I wanted to make sure that I got to Ha Long Bay.  And - I got to sail the bay - not stay in a hotel and do day trips (as some companies do...).

 

One thing about Emerald is that their boat actually sails right into HCMC.  Many of the boats dock outside the city and you are bused. 

 

Fran