Denmom

Anyone want to tell about getting their visas? How they got them, cost of them, single or multiple entry for Vietnam? Just wondering. We are in July 2012 but I have never been so excited about a trip. ;)

Thanks to all of the great advice and review from 2Fltravelers, my husband and I just returned from the Hanoi to Saigon trip. While our experience may have been a little different due to the time of the year, the advice and review were spot on. We did not encounter bad weather--just humid, Halong Bay had gorgeous weather--could swim on the beach and use the sun deck on the junk--we did get to see Ho Chi Minh's body--creepy but interesting and I asked the guide why some people were unable to see it on earlier trips and was told that this portion of the mausoleum closes for a few months each year. Anyway, if anyone has any questions about our recent experiences or needs any advice, please feel free to ask. I may not be as thorough as 2Fltravelers, but I may be able to give you some feedback that you can use. AMA took care of our Cambodia visas at the Siem Reap airport--collected passports, took $20 and in the morning our guide returned them to us. Again, thanks for all of the advice 2Fltravlers and as they stated--it "is the trip of a lifetime"--educational, eye opening , and your perception of these countries will change with this visit. AMA did a great job!!

So how was the weather? We will be doing the Cambodia to Saigon next July and wondered about weather (rain) and if there was any problem with the river being low.

Also, did you do the river cruise and land combo??? We are doing land on our own so wondering how that will work for visa. We fly into Hanoi for 6 days prior to going to Cambodia though. Did you get your Vietnam visa prior to the cruise?

We will be on the AMALotus ship so I know you were on a different river boat but wondered if it had a pool and was it ever used? What about bikes - was there any time to ride the bikes the river cruise offered for free? I have so many questions but my mind is blank right now. This is our first river cruise so we are unclear of anything.

Oops, found it using "Advanced Search"; but it was too late to edit my post. The peculiar review appeared in posts on the "Other Cruise Lines" and "All River Cruise Roll Calls" boards.

 

StarJade - As you become more accustomed to CruiseCritic, you will note that there are sometimes dramatic extremes in reviews or comments regarding cruising experiences. Many of us discount the radical extremes, whether negative or positive. In this case, Visaview has only made three posts on CruiseCritic, two of which were the same rant that you quoted. A number of posters on the thread on the Roll Calls board made good responses to the clearly disgruntled poster, who never responded to any of the later comments or questions. It appears that some people are not remotely suited for travel anywhere other than in North America or Western Europe. One might be well advised to give this rant little consideration.

 

As for my partner & me, we are eagerly anticipating our 3-week adventure in Vietnam and Cambodia in November, a highlight of which will be the Mekong River cruise on La Marguerite. Frankly, we do not think it likely that we will meet any fellow passengers who are so ill-traveled or prejudiced that they do not understand the nature of the countries we will be visiting, since the sort of savvy travelers who choose destinations such as this normally go into the adventure with their eyes (and minds) open. In the unfortunate event that we do indeed come across any such persons, we will waste little of our precious travel time with them.

 

Cheers, Fred

Fred, I wish there was a "like" button and I would just like you. But I agree 100%. The person giving that review obviously doesn't realize it IS a third world country. And you have to expect some things to be different. But overall, I think it will be an unbelievable experience that I can't wait to do. We are going in July 2012 and will be gone a total of 19 or 20 days. (we still have to grab miles for the return so we will see) lol

I am more excited about this trip than any I have been on.

We got our Frommers Book in for Vietnam (which including Cambodia in it) and they have some great tour groups to get prices from. We have already talk to a few that will be putting tour together for us.

Right now, we are leaving on June 22, 2012, get there the 23rd of June into Hanoi. We will fly from Hanoi to Siem Reap June 29th, have three days more in Siem Reap, then get on the AmaLotus, end the cruise in Saigon and spend two more days in Saigon.

From what I could tell, Ha Long Bay is a number one pick of something to do on this trip. I even talk to my hair lady yesterday who is from Saigon and she said YOU HAVE TO DO THAT. (her sister has a jewerly store in Saigon and still lives there).

We have given them things we want to see, ask for suggestions on highlights of the area and one of the tour companies have put together a great schedule for us including hotels, air from Hanoi to Siem Reap, pick up and drop offs at airports and meeting place for the River cruise, and a lot of the restaurants but for sure not all. (I didn't realize that you have to meet at the Siem Reap Sofetel Angkor Hotel to get checked in and taken out to the river boat so the tour company takes care of getting you there also)

Anyway, we are still working with them to perfect the schedule, check pricing from other companies and go from there. This is all making me sooooooooooooooooo excited and I have many trips before this one. OH me.

WE have been working on this trip for the entire weekend. Whew.

We were able to book our front end of the trip tonight and it will be a couple weeks before we can work on the back end of the trip. (I am talking about flights)

We have emailed many tour companies to get prices on tours. We will fly into Hanoi On June 24th and plan to do the 25, 26, 27, 28 just in Hanoi. Part of that will be a junk boat at Ha Long bay. Did you do the junk boat? I need to reread the review now that we are doing more planning. Anyway, was there a luggage restriction? Do you go into a cave or two? If so how long are you in the cave as I do not do very well with caves and tunnels.

On June 29th we are flying from Hanoi to Siem Reap. We will have the June 30th and July 1st to visit whatever is there along with the Angkor Wat which we hear we should see.

At the end of the cruise, we will do July 9th and July 10th in Saigon leaving the 10th at night (hopefully) We have just ask the tour companies to give us a tour of whatever are the highlights in that time. (funny, we haven't read anywhere about having tours to things from the Vietnam War or maybe it is on the list and we don't recognize the name).

So, is there ANYTHING that we need to have on these tours? We are having them handle the hotels and air from Hanoi to Siem Reap also.

Please any suggestions you might have. Oh, and the junk boat, does it have private cabins? And this might be a stupid question but does the junk boat have western toilets? We where in China/Japan/South Korea last year and Asia bathrooms aren't to fun. (oh, and did I mention the overnight train ride from Beijing to Xian - we paid for a private car there for 12 hours with a great western bathroom. ON the return back to Beijing, we paid for a private car and ended up with a shared cabin for 4 but the agency got us all 4 beds. The problem is, no bathroom. So I had to walk down the hall and squat on a hole in the floor, Asian toilet, which wasn't so fun. lol And to top it off, sure enough I woke up in the middle of the night needing to go. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Sorry, got off on a rampage thinking about those toilets.

Any help, suggestions, etccccccc will be greatly appreciated. I need to get this all figured out so I can work on visas and another big trip between this one and the River cruise.

Thanks in advance.

We are going on the Amalotus on July 02/2012, 7 days cruise only.

We are first flying to Bangkok , going to Hua Hin for 5 days then flying from Bangkok to Siem Reap 3 days before the cruise staying at the Sofitel,

then at the end of the cruise 5 more days at the Marriott in Saigon.

The cruise if reserved and paid the deposit, we are just waiting to be able to book ff flights from Montreal, we should be able to do that at the end of july.

We were in Bangkok last year at the same time in july and weather was fine,rain usually at the end of the afternoon but always clearing up after.

What date in july are you going??

We are doing that same week. So guess we will be on the same cruise. Cool. We have never been to either place so hoping to go 3 or 4 days early and stay 3 or 4 days after. We also will be looking for FF mile tickets and that could determine when we go and come back. But we were thinking of flying into Phnom Penh (since American Airlines has flights with its partners that goes there) and maybe doing a tour for 3 days that includes the flight/hotel/points of interest and ends up in Siem Reap. Then do the cruise followed by staying after in Saigon or whatever is the most popular at the end of the cruise. But we are waiting for Frommers books to get at least some type of hint of what is the most important things to do.

Hubby still works so he can't be gone super long but we would like to be gone 14 or 15 days total. We had already booked a cruise with RCCL in May for Dubai - Singapore and will be gone 15 or so days so this will be a lot in a short period of time. But I have been begging for this River Cruise ever since someone told us about it over a year ago. And if it is a little rainy, we will suffer through it.

Anyway, we are on the Mekong Deck 003. Porthole cabin. I know there are only 6 of them and we have one. lol But, we don't mind if it is lower level and only portholes. We had to confirm by today so deposit is now paid and now the waiting game. I am already excited even though it is almost a year away. But we have alot to figure out before we decide on those airline dates.

Debe

I am only part way reading this board (up to the review and about 1/3 thru it) but though I would drop in and post.

We are booked on the AmaLotus for July 2012. We had booked several things for next year and when we saw this we decided to go with Cat C cabin, cheapest time of July and just do it. Cruise only. So we will be going early, staying over, and trying to visit some things on our own.

So, questions

1. Why is it cheaper in July? We were told on the phone by AMA that March - June is the hottest months. Sept is the wettest month. So not sure what the problem could be. Also noticed that the ferry that runs from the major airport in Cambodia up to Siem Reap doesn't run until July because of low water so worried about rather it is to low prior to that. Maybe someone else has gone during July and can answer.

2. Our cabin is 2 potholes on the Mekong deck. But it seems that it is the same size as all the cabins except suites. WE cruise a lot and usually get inside because we stay in our cabins very little. And the price for the next level is $400 more per person. We are going to be on a budget since we are booked on so many other trips so anyone else ever had the pothole cabins.

3. Any suggestions of what we should see in Cambodia on our own and in Vietnam? All new to us and we will definitely be picking up Frommers Books to see things to do. But does anyone have any experience with getting driver/guide and doing it on your own? We did that in China last year and it was wonderful. (and cheap)

4. Packing - did you pack a rain suit???? If so, does it need to be light weight due to heat. It is in the 90s in July she said.

5. Shoes - do your shoes just stay wet the entire trip?

6. Not sure how much everyone packed but in the first four pages, I noticed many people talking about having to do laundry. We have done many cruises that are 14 - 20 days and did laundry very little but that was packing outfits for daytime, outfits for night time along with formals. Plus multiple temperatures in the weather. So I am just wondering if night time dinner wear isn't needed (except capris and light shirts) and no formal wear needed or cold weather clothes - seems to me more clothes can be packed. (maybe we just are conservative packers lol but we only pack one duffle per person for all cruises rather it is 7 days or 20 days)

7. Is anyone else booking just the 7 day cruise? If so or have before, when did you fly in for CAmbodia? WE are having trouble with that and seem the big city to fly in is Phenom Phen (hope I spelled that right) and take a bus/ferry/plane/taxi/etc to get to Siem Reap. (we are trying to use AA miles and their afiliates) Also, what hotels and what cities would you stay at.

WE have the cruise on hold until Friday. We aren't able to book air for another 2 or 3 weeks. But want to be sure in the next two days that this is worth it. And it sounds like it is no matter what. And we want to figure out how much there is to see in Cambodia and afterwards in Saigon so we can decide how many days precruise and post cruise to do.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Debe