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Thailand & Vietnam Questions - River vs Ocean & Itinerary


IWantToLiveOverTheSea
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I know this is a very broad question, but I'd like your thoughts on vacations that go to Thailand and Vietnam. I haven't done much research on these countries yet, so I really don't know what I want to see or experience. In general, though, I like smaller places and don't have to see big cities, especially museums, temples, etc. that are extremely well known. I love photography. To see this part of Asia, there are river cruises (with land components and a flight between two countries) and ocean cruises and I love both river AND ocean cruising. We tolerate some humidity and heat fairly well, but I WOULD be disappointed to experience a lot of rain.

 

For a river, cruise on Viking there's a 15 day vacation that consists of flying to Ho Chi Minh City and staying a few days in a hotel, then board a small river ship in My Tho, go to Sa Dec/Cai Be, Tan Chau, Phnom Penh, Mekong river, Kampong Cham, transfer to Siem Reap hotel and spend a few days there, fly to Hanoi, spend couple days there in a hotel. Don't think there's time to go to Ha Long Bay, as I've read the discussions of that trip already. Cruise is offered (2017) Jan. through March, then July through October. (Just how rainy, hot and humid is it during some of these months?)

 

For ocean (Oceania), the 2017 itinerary that includes these 2 countries doesn't interest me that much, but the 2018 one does. It has stops in Hon Kong, Ha Long Bay, Chan May for Hue/Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City for Saigon, Singaport, Ko Samui, Thailand, and a day in Bangkok before departing the next day or extending at a hotel in Bangkok. The trip is offered early February and is about the same length as Viking River's.

 

SO, with that said, I welcome any comments on which I might prefer, especially based on itinerary. Also, if I take the Viking one, am I likely to experience much difference in rainfall or humidity February versus late October? Also, how is the flying, besides long?

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We took the river cruise option in Feb 2016. Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Ho Chi Min City - Mekong River - Phnom Pen - continue on the same boat on the Tonle Sap River - bus to Angkor Wat. We did this on the AmaLotus with its American sister company APT. AmaWaterways does the itinerary in reverse. You get to see three large cities and many small towns, villages, local markets, local temples, a school, see how people live. Angkor Wat is a (very hot and humid)bonus.

 

My opinion: Any company that takes you to Hanoi and NOT to Ha Long Bay is NOT worth the money. Check photos of Ha Long Bay to know what I mean. It's a bit like going to Phoenix or Flagstaff but not to the Grand Canyon. Same with Angkor Wat.

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We're doing Azamara this fall (Singapore to Hong Kong) to get an overview of the area - haven't been to any of the ports yet.

 

I also have a Mekong river cruise (and Angkor Wat!) on my vacation hopeful list, but have been considering a land trip to Vietnam as well....We'll see what we like from the ocean cruise and go back for more (that's actually how we typically use ocean cruises these days - every so often, and to get an overview of an area to decide where we'd like to explore more in depth)

 

Either way - not terrible choices, right? :D

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We were on AMA La Marguerite the first year they were sailing the Mekong.

 

It was an amazing experience, with the hottest, most humid area being Angor Wat.

 

On the river cruise you will be seeing different areas than if you were on an ocean cruise (strictly coastal ports). We chose to add on the 8 day pre-extension from HCM city (Saigon) to Hanoi - which included Hoi An, Hue, and along the coast.

I would highly recommend choosing an itinerary which included Halong Bay, it is just magical. It was foggy (and colder) - which lent to the atmosphere.

 

Carol

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We have spent the last three winters in SE Asia. Lots of time in Thailand. We recently returned from nine weeks of travel. Three in Thailand, two in Cambodia, and a month in Vietnam.

 

This year we decided to look at cruises since we often add a cruise to an extended land vacation. We came to the conclusion that the cruises, river or ocean, either did not go where we wanted to go or spent too little time there.

We wanted several days in Siem Reap, followed by Phnom Phen and Kampot. Then a month in Vietnam starting with beach time in Phu Quok.

 

On reflection, we are very happy that we did the independent travel vs a river and/or ocean cruise. Halong Bay is very nice, but not unique. Depending where you go in Thailand you will see similar outcrops. Not to say that we did not enjoy our 2 night Halong Bay cruise. We did, but we can understand why a tour company could omit it-either because of the time of year or in view of the entire itinerary. I think that we got to see and experience many things that we would not have otherwise done had we been on river or ocean cruise.

 

Independent travel is not for everyone. You could always consider a combination of an organized land trip and cruise-ocean or river. You really will not get much exposure to southern Thailand with short stops in places like Koh Samui or Phuket. Same with Nha Trang in Vietnam-I think that there are as many Russian and Chineese toursists there as there are locals!

Edited by iancal
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Thank you for the info, and I welcome any more. I guess I need to do a lot more research, as I'm really waffling on what to choose. I'm sure I'd like either itinerary, and that I could perhaps start with one and find a way to see a little more on our own by going early or staying late or combining a land tour with water tour. I suppose I should also consider other lines' itineraries, once I get a feel for what I want to see. I know Siem Reap and Ha Long Bay are up there near the top for me; still not sure if I want to spend a lot of time in the big cities like Ho Chi Minh City. I also know that two weeks plus travel time is probably too little to see much, but I'd prefer not to spend more than three weeks away.

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I did a lot of research before travelling to Indochina and concluded that a land tour was best for what we wanted to see and do. I have no regrets and it is one of the easier parts of the world for planning and touring. The prices are low and the service is high. There are lots of guides and tour agencies if you need them.

 

We spent decent amounts of time in Hanoi (plus two nights on Halong Bay), Hoi An, Hue, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Hsipaw, and Inle Lake. We had an amazing time.

 

We spent over four weeks in this area, took many flights and likely spent less than either type of cruise.

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maryann..this has been our experience as well.

 

As an example, we paid $40. for a full day with car/driver/guide in Phuket, Dalat, Hue, Siem Reap, and one or two other places that I cannot remember at the moment.

 

Last year we spent a few days in Penang, Malaysia. We visited a heritage home and took a tour. What struck us were the folks from a cruise tour. They rushed in, rushed out and left before the tour was over and missed quite a bit. Sure they stopped in Penang and they may have had six hours of touring but they really did not see the real Penang nor did they experience it. We saw this several times in our travels over the past three years in SE Asia. We enjoy cruising but this is our issue with cruising in some locales. Same with Phuket, Ko Samui, Bangkok, etc. So glad we did land trips in this part of the world.

 

We were late this year. In past years we have left in by the first week in Jan. We had a wedding commitment this year and could not leave until mid Feb. We were in Siem Reap in the second week of March. It was very hot. The water levels were low. Tours of the lake/floating villages were pointless as the water was so low and the smell very unpleasant. Unsuspecting tourists were however still being sold tours on the late!

 

Our preference would have been to go a month early. The timing weatherwise was perfect for Vietnam since we started in the south in mid March and ended in the North in mid April. Though this was not the best time to visit Halong Bay.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We really do enjoy cruising. We think SE is the exception, at least the the countries that we have travelled in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

 

We have spent the last three winters in the area. This past year we looked at ocean cruises in the area. There was not one that appealed to us. We noted that many of the port stops were either in tourist traps, did not spend enough time on land, or well away from the real attraction.

 

We are slow travellers in the winter. We take our time, enjoy the places, soak up the atmosphere. We are in no rush to return home to snow.

 

Our recommendation would be a land based trip with perhaps a river cruise or perhaps Halong Bay component. If you are not an independent traveller you can also do some island hopping in the south of Thailand and then join a land based tour. As an independent traveller we find travel in SE Asia be very easy from a language and budget perspective. Air travel is plentiful, reliable, and well priced. I would also not recommend rushing about trying to see everything in one go.

Siem Reap was great, Phnom Phen was interesting but I think we preferred the small town of Kampot and it's surroundings than we did Phnom Phen. If we did it again we would give Phnom Phen a miss.

 

Our conclusion...if you depend on an ocean based vacation to visit Thailand, Vietnam, or Malaysia you will be missing out on so very much that is worthwhile to see and to experience.

Edited by iancal
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We too have been considering doing an Asian cruise with a view to seeing where we might enjoying taking a land based holiday.

However after reading reviews of others experiences I think for us it would be hard to enjoy each port when you have to consider such things tendering, busy traffic and time restraints.

We are travelling from Australia and have chosen to do 4 nights each Singapore, Hoi An and Siam Reap in December.

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  • 1 month later...

Several people have asked about Halong Bay. We did it for 2 nights. It was a zoo with literally tens of ships. Not worth the money in our estimation. Takes 1/2 day to get to the ship and another to get back.

 

The weather can be very cloudy. I understand October is the best time to go. Understand that our comments are based on our experiences in a similar geography to Halong in Thailand. We much preferred our Thai experience from all perspectives. The sights in Thailand were equally impressive. Weather was better, much better value for money.

 

Knowing what we know now, if we only had 10-14 days in Vietnam we most definitely would not bother with Halong Bay. Save this type of area for Thailand.

 

The weather in Siem Reap was very hot when we were there this past Feb. 36C and very muggy. Whatever you do, do not take the tuk tuks if it is hot. Long, dusty drive to Angor from Siem Reap. The lake was low, too low to bother taking a boat trip to the floating fishing village. There were no boats to Phnom Phen because the river was too low. Even after touring with a guide/car we were tired and usually returned to our hotel by 3PM for a swim and a cold beer. The weather was somewhat cooler when we moved south to Kampot, an area in Cambodia that we enjoyed.

Edited by iancal
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We spent two nights on Halong Bay with Indochina cruises. They are the only company able to take you to the more secluded Bai Tu Long. It was very peaceful and ever so beautiful. The food was wonderful and fresh and our dinner in the cave was magical. This was on one of their three Dragon Pearl junks.

 

We were in Siem Reap in November. It was hot but we enjoyed our four days with our Tuk Tuk driver, Savuth. He kept a cooler with ice water and it there was a cool breeze when we were moving. Since the drive to Angkor Wat was on paved roads it was not dusty. We were lucky that there was enough water in the lake to visit a stilted village.

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  • 2 months later...

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