River Cruise advice.

We are making provisional plans for a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. Part of the trip will be a river cruise. We have cruised many times with another cruise booked for next year however we have never done a river cruise. What I would like to know is have any of you done a river cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia? What are your experiences with company you chose and what positives or negatives were there

There are a couple threads here on this cruise. Search Mekong River Cruise.

Start here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2591474

In Nov2015, my husband and I traveled with Ama Waterways. We started in Hanoi, did Ha lang Bay, Cambodia and finished in saigon. It was a land/river cruise. It was fantastic. Highly recommend. The experiences we encountered were so different, things we wouldn't have done on our own.

We are still doing the research in terms of what river cruise company to use, do we have a river and land holiday or just a river cruise. We have list of what we want to achieve we just have to fit the holiday around it. We are not sure if we need a third party to arrange our holiday or do it ourselves.

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Because the chances of crossing Tonle Sap on a river cruise is very small, in order to see the temples at Angkor Wat you will need to be in a hotel in Siem Reap, so you can’t do just a river cruise.

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In September, 2015 we did a land and river trip with Avalon Waterways on their new ship that year, the Siem Reap. On September 21, we cruised from Phnom Penh to Seam Reap on the Tonle Sap lake. The whole trip was fabulous and if anyone asks us which of our 8 river cruises is our favorite, we say this one. Our interactions with the children we met in Vietnam and Cambodia really made this trip so memorable and special. We started by flying to Hanoi for a pre extension including Halong Bay. Then we flew to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) for several days before sailing directly from Saigon. Most Mekong cruise ships do not sail directly out of Saigon. The hotels in Hanoi, Saigon and Siem Reap were high end in great locations. The crew and local guides could not have been better. The Viking ships did not could not sail from Phnom Penh. The passengers had to be bused up to 8 hours. Tonle Sap lake is only passable certain times of the year, so plan your trip accordingly.

My husband and I booked two cruises back to back in 2014 with Uniworld: “Highlights of China and the Yangtze” (11 days) and “Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia and the Mekong” (15 days). First, we did China which was a combination land/river experience. Then, we did the Vietnam/Cambodia, Mekong which was the most interesting for us. For the Vietnam/Cambodia river cruise, we had 21 staff and 18 guests because some travellers cancelled the trip. When asked why they did not cancel this portion of the trip because there were not the full complement of passengers, the Uniworld representative said, “Uniworld would never disappoint a customer and not fulfill their obligation.” This was the nicest river cruise we have ever been on and a highlight for us as far as river cruising goes and the excellent care of the cruise company. We have been on seven river cruises so far with different companies and Uniworld is still our favourite.

We are making provisional plans for a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. Part of the trip will be a river cruise. We have cruised many times with another cruise booked for next year however we have never done a river cruise. What I would like to know is have any of you done a river cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia? What are your experiences with company you chose and what positives or negatives were there

We returned in the 1st week of May of this year from our 19 days Vietnam & Cambodia Explorer & Mekong River Cruise by Emerald Waterways, which was subcontracted to Exo Travel, Vietnam. We were on the M/V Mekong Navigator during our 8 day river cruise. Emerald Waterways just recently launched their new ship the Emerald Harmony for their Mekong River cruise.

Anyhow, we were in Hanoi for 2 nights, bussed to HaLong Bay for an overnighter on a junk before being bussed back to Hanoi for a flight to Danang where we were transported for 3 nights in Hoi An. We were then bussed to Hue where we spent 1 night before being flown to Ho Chi Minh City for 2 nights. We then were transported to My Tho in the Mekong Delta for our 7 night stay on the M/V Mekong Navigator. We disembarked at Kampong Cham, Cambodia where we were transported for our 2 nights stay at Siem Reap.

We've been on 20+ ocean cruises & 2 river cruises prior to our Vietnam/Cambodia tour & I must say this was the best ever. The accomodations were top notched & itineraries were second to none. However, this is just my opinion. No negatives here, except for it was go, go, go most of the time.

Enjoy.