Myanmar/Burma river cruise.

I logged on here a few months ago and asked about Cambodian river cruises. Answers, as always, far more informative than any websites or brochures. Someone suggested I considered Myanmar River Cruises also. After much browsing I am still interested in Cambodia but am also now seriously considering Myanmar. We love to soak in local culture and see archaeological sites.

In particular I love the itinerary and look and style of Sanctuary Retreats, Ananda.

Questions please.

Have any of you cruised both Cambodia and Myanmar and which did you prefer and why?

Have any of you travelled on the Ananda, how did you find her?

Thanks in anticipation....

We visited Cambodia in 2006 and Myanmar in 2013. Cambodia was a land tour (Insider Journeys), private tour with driver and guide in the south followed by small group (15pax) in the north. In Myanmar we took a 14-day river cruise with Pandaw which took us well beyond the Yangon-Bagan-Mandalay tourist strip. We explored independently with some guiding, before and after the cruise.

We were fascinated by both countries, though government by oligarchy and their treatment of minorities and the impoverished majority leaves a great deal to be desired. I have been told that Cambodia, especially the infrastructure in tourist hubs like Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, has changed greatly since we were there and Myanmar was gearing up to accommodate an expected tourist boom.

We were delighted with travel providers in both countries especially the Pandaw cruise (15pax on 32pax boat) which took us to the villages, farms and industries on the northern reaches of the Irrawaddy. The care of the crew for passenger interests and comfort was 5-star and the welcome and hospitality of the Burmese was overwhelming.

I wrote an extensive review of the Irrawaddy cruise on this board in November 2013 but I'm not smart enough to give a link. If you search HDS, Pandaw and Irrawaddy it should reveal itself.

Sincere thanks for the reply, off to search your review!

How did you find food quality, hygiene....any concerns? We are used to world travel just not this region.

Thanks again

Found your informative and detailed review. Sincere thanks for taking the effort to reply and for posting such a great review on return from your cruise.

We have cruised both rivers - Mekong in 2010 and Irrawaddy in 2013. There is probably more tourist infrastructure along the Mekong (even though it is still fairly basic) as there were at least 5 companies doing this trip back in 2010 and now there are probably double that. Most boats called into the same villages/towns. We were on the 14 day Yangon to Mandalay cruise(all on the river) many of the towns in the delta area rarely saw tourists - they would be lining the wharf and streets as we walked by. We were visiting local markets and paying local prices for goods - I purchased a local bamboo hat for 30 cents approx. Maybe we were lucky but we usually had less than 30 people on each cruise so plenty of room to move about. Food was good basic food with local specialties to try - I am sure it was catering to western palettes. We do buy food from street stalls but always have hand sanitiser, carry imodium for Bali belly etc.

Chemmo,

We traveled with Vantage 11/2014 on the Irrawaddy

It was a very special trip

here is a copy of the brief trip report I did...

there is also an OLD post on "roll calls" if you search of Irrawaddy river that had loads of great info

his trip was a spur of the moment decision and we are so happy to have been able to have the opportunity to spend time discovering this incredibly interesting country and in the comfort of the beautiful well appointed new ship. Vantage charters the boat and it is managed by haimark who do an excellent job. Pictures don't exaggerate...we had a french balcony room and did not miss having a full balcony and enjoyed the added room in the cabin. Having inside hallways keeps the bugs out of the cabins. The staff is eager to please. The food was varied and good and the kitchen was able to make dietary considerations as needed.

The pace of this trip is very active. Most of us were so tired by dinner's conclusion that there were very few enjoying the pleasant evening in the lounge or on the lovely comfortable sun deck. Please believe Vantage's warning that it is not a cruise for those with mobility issues. The crew is happy to help but it is not fair to other passengers when they have to constantly wait for stragglers. You will be required to put your shoes on/off frequently. There are rides on trishaws, ox carts and horse carts that were challenging for some of our group. The bus ride between Prome and Yangon is brutal. Those at the back of the bus described it as a amusement park "crack the whip", the road is narrow, lots of horn honking and jerky stop and go. The rest stops were dismal.

The excursions were very well thought out and gave us a perfect insight into life along the Irrawaddy. Our local guide was an absolutely incredible teacher; building on our knowledge each day. The people of Myanmar are friendly and open. The tours of gold leaf, lacquer ware, silk weaving workshops were very good.

My best memory.....waiting for our tour group to gather, I approached a familly sitting at the side of the road....grmother, mother, grfather a preschooler and small infant. I smiled at the baby, the grandmother took the baby from the mom and grmother told me that she was the mother of the baby's mother....I explained to her that I too was a grandmother.. (this was all done in very halting English and sign language)....the grandmother then handed me the swaddled infant!!!! Impossible to create a connection this real and human....I will never forget it!!!

hotels in both Bangkok and Yangon were comfortable.

If you are thinking about this trip do it now well worth it!

Chemmo,

The food on Pandaw Katha was delicious. I didn't eat (uncooked vegetable) salads for the first few days, no-one had any problems so I enjoyed the delicious salads for the rest of the voyage.

We ate very well in both Myanmar without any problems.

Generally the chicken, seafood, pork and vegetarian dishes were better than the beef and lamb. I enjoyed the Asian style dishes much more than the attempts at western style.

We declined, as graciously as possible, the offers of tea and food from shopkeepers or the locals we met. We did eat fresh fruit from hotel baskets or from the local markets after washing and peeling it.

We are careful with hand hygiene, washing frequently wherever we are and using sanitiser if soap and water is not available.

The boat and our hotels were squeaky clean with western style bathrooms. When we had to remove shoes to visit pagoda, Pandaw crew gave us large wipes to clean our feet before putting our shoes on. I'm not concerned about using squat toilets so can't recall western style toilets were available at all destinations.

Found your informative and detailed review. Sincere thanks for taking the effort to reply and for posting such a great review on return from your cruise.

Can you please post a Link? ;)

Thanks!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1948020

Hope you manage to access Di Princess, makes a good read!

Sincere thanks, for your additional comments HDS.

I am now going to try to find out as much as I can about the different cruise companies, rooms, differences to itineraries, what is included.....Hard work cruising!

Sincere thanks again to all for replies, please keep them coming.

The current issue (Sept./ Oct) of Cruise Travel magazine has a trip report of the new AmaWaterways ship AmaPura. On the Irawaddy. Might make interesting reading. EM

Oh, how I love this pre cruise fact finding.

Sincere thanks, off for a read now!

You may want to have a look at dna-tours.de

It is also found under Friends of Dave tours. Dave is connected with Amawaterways and his site has a Myanmar/Burma trip and also Cambodia and Vietnam.

Dave is based out of Germany and we were to use him on the Viking Star for a day trip in Germany. The Star never got there due to mechanical issues and Dave promptly refunded our money. I was impressed and now pay attention to his web site and blogs. If I were in line to go to Myanmar, Vietnam or Cambodia I would be considering his trips.

Please remember the Cruise Critic guideline that prohibits naming TAs.

Hope this post has not been problematic. I do not know what your concern is, my lack of experience, I am sure.

What I am interested in at this stage of my research is ships... If I am going to cruise Myanmar, which cruise line, ship is the best to use...?

What is/is not included included, what advantages/disadvantages come from choosing the more/less commercialised companies...?

Coming back to your comment, Jazzbeau, can people recommend companies, or not, recommend as long as they are not selling the cruises?

I am a regular contributor to CC but not on the river cruise site.

Please advise...I love reading and contributing to the CC site and certainly do not want to break rules..

Best wishes,

Chemmo

Hope this post has not been problematic. I do not know what your concern is, my lack of experience, I am sure.

 

What I am interested in at this stage of my research is ships... If I am going to cruise Myanmar, which cruise line, ship is the best to use...?

 

What is/is not included included, what advantages/disadvantages come from choosing the more/less commercialised companies...?

 

Coming back to your comment, Jazzbeau, can people recommend companies, or not, recommend as long as they are not selling the cruises?

 

I am a regular contributor to CC but not on the river cruise site.

 

Please advise...I love reading and contributing to the CC site and certainly do not want to break rules..

 

Best wishes,

 

Chemmo

Perhaps they came and went between your visits, but I had to remove two posts (not yours) because of this issue.

Thanks for you speedy response, Jazzbeau!

I continue to welcome advice re itineraries, ships...in Myanmar?

Also...

As stated in my initial post has anyone personal knowledge of Sanctuary Retreat, Ananda, specifically with reference to the Myanmar?

Hope this post has not been problematic. I do not know what your concern is, my lack of experience, I am sure.

 

What I am interested in at this stage of my research is ships... If I am going to cruise Myanmar, which cruise line, ship is the best to use...?

 

What is/is not included included, what advantages/disadvantages come from choosing the more/less commercialised companies...?

 

Coming back to your comment, Jazzbeau, can people recommend companies, or not, recommend as long as they are not selling the cruises?

 

I am a regular contributor to CC but not on the river cruise site.

 

Please advise...I love reading and contributing to the CC site and certainly do not want to break rules..

 

Best wishes,

 

Chemmo

Sorry Chemmo,

It was my post that got deleted. I was attempting to give you a link to research for Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam but it got nixed due to fear that I was promoting one company. i was not.

Now I am not sure how to pass on the info.

Mine was deleted too...I had no idea I couldn't link to an itinerary, my apologies.

Took me an hour to post my suggestions, unfortunately I didn't keep a copy so the short version follows...

We travelled on Cruiseco explorer, stunning brand new ship, highly recommended, worth seeking out as only sold in Australia. Loved the food, big, luxurious cabins, spotlessly clean and an amazing crew.

I have traveled to Asia at least every year for the last 40 years and still found Myanmar fascinating and surprising. It's like taking a time machine back to the days before Thailand was spoilt by hordes of tourists, with authentic culture, stunning architecture, fascinating history and incredibly friendly people.

We did two weeks on the Irrawaddy which included a week north of Mandalay where the locals are likely to have a tourist boat around 4 times a year. The area north of Mandalay up to the second defile was the highlight, particularly the village where they make the huge clay pots and the elephant camp outside Katha. In total we spent 3 1/2 weeks in Myanmar.

The main thing to be aware of when you travel to Myanmar are that as an extremely poor country with very basic infrastructure its not, in my opinion, well suited to anyone with limited mobility or likely to need any medical assistance on their travels. If anything other than the most elementary medical assistance is needed passengers would have to be flown out to Bangkok or Singapore and that would be a lengthy process from many of the areas we travelled to.

Like on the Mekong, going ashore means walking along a narrow gangplank and up either a muddy bank or steps. In Bagan we had to go up 60 uneven steps then walk about 300 metres to get to the bus, a few passengers didn't go off the boat there after the first time. Onshore excursions are mainly on foot although buses, pony carts and trucks were used as well. Lots of fun, but not for everyone. All religious sites, and that's most of the places we visited, require shoes and socks to be removed so there is a fair amount of barefoot walking in hot and/or uneven surfaces. I loved it!

Myanmar is a magical and relatively unspoilt destination with incredibly friendly people and beyond amazing historical sights and culture. I loved it and highly recommend it for anyone in hale and hearty health who has a spirit of adventure :)

Be aware that there is an election in Myanmar on 8 November this year. It's worth keeping up to date with the political situation when considering booking your trip.

Thank you HMforcruise and 3littlepigs!

Whilst we have travelled in Asia and are very regular sea cruisers all these snippets of information are enabling us to get a picture together. We do want the indulgence of comfortable surroundings and good (and safe) food, hence our interest in vessels as well as itineraries.

Will now have a look at Cruiseco Explorer, which I had not heard about...

Just remembered...

There is a vessel called Irrawaddy Explorer that is pretty much Cruiseco Explorers older sister, would be a very similar cruise, when we saw it, it as chartered by Scenic.

If you are thinking of mekong cruises, a large number of people on Cruiseco explorer had done the Mekong on the sister ship Cruiseco Adventurer and raved about it, particularly the cruise director, I think her name is Rosie.

Thank you HMforcruise and 3littlepigs!

 

Whilst we have travelled in Asia and are very regular sea cruisers all these snippets of information are enabling us to get a picture together. We do want the indulgence of comfortable surroundings and good (and safe) food, hence our interest in vessels as well as itineraries.

 

Will now have a look at Cruiseco Explorer, which I had not heard about...

Chemmo,

Okay, I will try again and hopefully not get deleted.

In your research, have a look at dna-tours.de for the adventure river cruises they offer. I will not mention any thing further in case it looks like promotion of this company.

.....for additional information.

My mind is beginning to boggle now, I need to start collating information.

A couple more questions.

What is the best time of year to go and did any of your trips have 'all inclusive' drinks, not a deal breaker, just nice to know!

Chemmo,

Okay, I will try again and hopefully not get deleted.

In your research, have a look at dna-tours.de for the adventure river cruises they offer. I will not mention any thing further in case it looks like promotion of this company.

On further review they do not seem to be a TA in the normal sense, so I restored your earlier posting. Sorry for the confusion.

Peak season is November to March when it's dry and "cooler" we went in a september which is officially still the rainy season but it only rained about 3 or 4 times in 3 1/2 weeks. It was VERY hot and VERY humid...hard work if you aren't used to it. It was in the 30's every day and in the 40's in Mandalay.

All beer and soft drinks are included, wine with lunch and dinner, and cocktail hour with a special cocktail each day...constantly refilled!

Thanks 3littlepigs.

Do you know if water levels is ever an issue re itinerary?