sdianem

We are boarding mid February on 12 day round trip voyage on a (hopefully) newly refurbished ship. This is our third trip to Norway but never in winter and looking forward to seeing Northern Lights, Ice Hotel, dog sledding, etc. Can hardly wait. We will take a taxi and will preorder from reception/tour guide (whatever they have and whatever they will do for us).

All the previously published info has been very helpful and we thank you all - past and present.

Thank you for info - exactly what we needed to know! Also appreciate all the clothing suggestions you have previously posted. Important as we are going in February.

Lots of info on airport to ship but can find nothing on reverse. As we have a 7 PM flight and Hurtigruten told my TA that it would dock at 3 PM or so, I am anxious to know what to expect prior. Tried private transfer companies and can find none. Is there a taxi stand by cruise terminal? Would ship provide any assistance to passengers? Do we need to contact the Bergen Taxi Company ourselves?

Thanks for any help!

We used the hand sanitizer outside the dining room every meal and additionally used our hand wipes before eating as one has to use community serving pieces (especially at breakfast and lunch). We also chewed Pepto Bismol pills before meals. Neither of us got sick or felt "funny" as many many of our fellow passengers did. We noticed that the hand sanitizers were seldom used. The only time I felt slightly sick was immediately after a group lunch on the last tour day in Saigon where we were served family style and had no opportunity to wash hands. We also had other meds with us but never needed any. So if one is careful I do not see problems ahead for future passengers. If one reads the 2FLTravelers review you will notice she addresses this issue. By the way we ate all the food - raw fruits, vegetables - with no problems. Also we brushed our teeth with the bathroom tap water.

Really appreciate your review, thoughts, info. We also leave in a few weeks for Dec 20 trip. It sounds like AMA is doing a terrific job on this itinerary. We have also been with AMA before (Budapest to Prague) which was a model of organization and on that trip they announced this new itinerary to SE Asia. The info on this thread has been terrific and you and 2FLTravelers are wonderful!

Sylvia

Yes, I stapled one photo to application. When you pull up the app from the embassy website you will see they ask for only one. I am assuming you only need one for Cambodia Visa (which you get at airport) based on AMA info and I also believe 2FLTravelers. However, just to be safe, we each had 6 taken and are bringing all of them!

Freddie is correct and I forgot that you can get an evisa (as 2FLTravlers did) and present in Hanoi airport. 2FLTravelers describes it well I believe in her review or on this thread. I forgot that we will probably land at 10 PM if we fly United and didn't want any delay with our arranged pickup in case officials delayed us and didn't seem to know what to make of an evisa - someone on this board had written of this occuring but not recently.

As for Angor Wat, somewhere on AMA website states that you get a badge issued for entrance and it requires a photo.

Finally for Cambodia - instead of getting in advance as we did before - we are waiting for airport and getting it there and my TA just confirmed this with AMA as preferred method. That also saves a lot of money. You can get an electronic visa from their website but it requires a digital passport photo and I just didn't want any extra work!

Strongly suggest you contact embassy - you're supposed to in order to get the "correct" Visa fee (as if it changes daily). I emailed them asking if they would remove our other Visa due to only 3 blank pages left in passport and they said "no". But very fast response and very helpful. I also think 2FLTravelers had same fast response.

By the way, their process is very reliable - we went through an agency for both Russia and China as advised by our TA. It realy went well both times.

You need one photo for Visa application plus you need one for Cambodia Visa and one for temple entrance at Angor Wat (per AMA).

The cost I paid at our local post office was about $13 for the envelope to the embassy, mailing costs (which included certfied mail), and the envelope with the passports returned to us. The application states specifically what tye of mail to use

We live in Arizona and it took about 7 calendar days from the time we mailed the application off to the embassy in Washington DC to the time we received it at home.

As to the time frame, I do not recall seeing any mention of how far in advance you can apply. I applied the end of august for a mid December trip. You can always call the embassy.

This was our second time getting their Visa on our own and it was flawless.

P.S. sorry, did not realize you and I had already communicated ! I am still a bit of a novice on this board and how to navigate the "THREADS/POSTS" ... hope I can find you again once I sign out, have a great day, Leslie P.

Leslie,

Check out this board for my July 20th reply to yours (I don't want to reptype it!).

We have been out of country for past few weeks and am now recovering and emailed Vietnam embassy for Visa prices. No response yet. Am going to do what 2FL Travlers did and get that one on my own. Will check with AMA on Cambodian situation and may also get electronic version.

Am also revisiting my wardrobe as to what to bring for a hot, humid, dusty climate (after Hanoi). We were in just such a place for a few days and I wish I had tops with long sleeves as the sun nearly killed me even with sunscreen.

Sylvia

Hi Leslie - we booked about a year ago and are in B cat. We went with Viking on their 2nd trip to China and it was the best ever. We have used them 4 times now - last time in November from Antwerp to Basel. When we were on the AMA trip the cruise director announced that they were going to SE Asia and and really got our interest up. The cruise ship we took from Hong Kong to Singapore did not allow us to see much of Vietnam - bus ride took up about 6 hours round trip to Hanoi. We also went to Egypt but it was in December 1994 and had to buy extra clothing to keep warm at night especially. This was a river boat trip too and our first which hooked us. Not a huge fan of traditional ocean liners but friends who are using Silversea are most enthusiatic about line so maybe in future... At any rate, we love the idea of spending Christmas and New Year's elsewhere so are looking forward to this. We are going to be gone for about two weeks and when we get back mid August I need to get serious about plane reservations and VISAs. Where does your family live in Arizona? We are in Cave Creek. Sylvia

We are on trip too and have been on one AMA cruise (Budapest to Prague) which was handled very well in terms of excursions, food, service. However, this boat is leased and some info is unknown or incorrect. We have read all the info on Cruise Critic (especially 2FLTravelers review). We also are doing the entire program and arriving in to Hanoi on December 17th or maybe the 16th (depends on flight situation - United or EVA). We are probably not extending beyond January 4th. Also doing only the excursions included - program sounds busy enough! . The included liquor is local brands only - if you want American brands (wine?) then it costs extra. As to the weather, I pulled up the forecast for all the places last December and, except for Hanoi and Ha Long, it will be in the 90s but with humidity the real feel elsewhere is probably at least 100! We were in Vietnam 4 years ago on a cruise and did not have any problems with weather in mid January being too hot or uncomfortable but then we are from Phoenix.

The Florida review answered all of my questions

This will be our 7th river boat trip and we have liked them all.

Sylvia

Have been so puzzled about 8 day pre-extension metioned on board from past cruisers and called AMA wondering about it. This was offered by AMA for about the first year the cruise was offered and is no longer. We are taking the 16 day Hanoi to Saigon trip and that is complete AMA offering as for now. Just in case anyone else was wondering.

As to laundry prices, they do not have a list for the Vietnamese boats as they do not own them (they can email European laundry lists however) and their ballpark quote on prices seem way too low so we will wait for actual list on board. (Representative said office mates guessed about $2 for either a shirt or trousers.)

Thanks for the review - very appreciated. We are going on AMA next December. We also are loyal Viking customers having gone on 4 of theirs but AMA does a great job too. Appreciated your comments on the money situation especially that the preference is for US dollars.

Great review and thanks for writing it. Appreciate all the info especially on VISAs and shoes! Someone else just published a review on Viking's trip and with both of your reviews all our questions have been answered plus others we hadn't thought of.

Originally we planned on getting the evisa for Vietnam but after reading the boards' we are going to get the Vietnam VISA in advance directly from the embassy but use the online service for Cambodia that 2FLTravelers mentioned (which I didn't know about - thanks for tip!). My concern is that we will arrive in Hanoi after 10 PM and don't want to stand in any line at that time after 3 flights and was concerned that if a problem arose (no one there, on break, etc) at that time it would be more time consuming. PhillyGirl - thanks for your comments on possible problems as that reinforces my feelings.

We got VISAs for both Vietnam and Cambodia on our own, directly from the embassies and had no problem at all and fast service.

Am most interested in recent feedback including answers to questions from freddie. Would someone please address the VISA situation - my understanding is that one can get the Vietnam VISA through their electronic method on line and then get stamp when one arrives. Also AMA wil obtain Cambodia VISA for us while we are there. Is this correct? Any hassles with the Vietnam procedure? Have not talked to TA or AMA about this and wanted to be prepared for any issues befor we do this.