AMA Vietnam

[NordicBreezer]

Hi folks ,

Down to 7 weeks before heading to Asia.

A few questions (1) are the little boats that take us to shore along the Mekong, from the ship or from the villages ? Just wondering if the driver(s) get tips or are they AMA crew . (2) the schools .. I have limited supplies so was thinking since everyone leaving their stuff at the Siem Reap school , I might save my stuff for the poorest school on the river. Which one do you suggest? I'm getting confused on names.. ? Chong Koh ? Koh Chen . The town with the ox cart ride or the book store or ?

Tks,

Marilyn

[alexandra cruiser]

generally.Yes, drivers get tips.Don t worry about names, you ll be informed ahead of time about everything.Just have plenty of $1 bills.Re.school supplies,can dole them out as you see fit.No need to leave all at 1.I ran out early and gave my samples of travel soaps,shampoos,etc. Kids appreciate anything.

I was there last yr.at this time,and had so much fun.Would love to go again,one of my favorites so far.We even took a few pm s off from temple viewing and wandered on our own,swam in pools,had nice lunch in town,etc.Sometimes you need a little down time,very intensive and can be exhausting in the heat.;)

[NordicBreezer]

Thanks Alexandra cruiser :)

What were people tipping the ox driver, rickshaw driver, port shuttle boat driver, etc?

A $1 each or per couple ? I guess the boat ride depended on length of ride & whether you were coming or going back to ship.

[alexandra cruiser]

for longer ones @$2.oo per couple.Few short hops $1.00,but really seems to vary among passengers from what I saw.They seemed happy to be tipped anything,it seemed.;)

[Wingtips56]

A question on tipping, for those of you who have completed the cruise:

 

Were you able to charge your crew and cruise manager gratuities to your shipboard account? We were able to do that on AmaLegro in Europe, but I haven't seen if it is possible for the Mekong cruise, on AmaLotus. Anybody?

[EKML]

We charged the crew tips ($10/day/person) to our ship account. Think you can also charge the cruise director tips also, but we gave him our left over dong.

[gtmarcus1]

We charged the crew tips ($10/day/person) to our ship account. Think you can also charge the cruise director tips also, but we gave him our left over dong.

 

We were definitely not able to put the cruise manager/cruise director tip on our shipboard account. Not sure if you are able to do so if you are a cruise passenger only. We did the land/cruise package, and tipped the cruise manager/tour director at the end of the trip.

[Wingtips56]

We were definitely not able to put the cruise manager/cruise director tip on our shipboard account. Not sure if you are able to do so if you are a cruise passenger only. We did the land/cruise package, and tipped the cruise manager/tour director at the end of the trip.

I guess we'll plan for that. I was hoping not to have to carry a lot of cash ..... a bale of $1 bills for tips is going to be bulky enough!

[OldTraveler]

My wife and I just returned from our Feb/Mar AMA Lotus cruise, south to north, two weeks ago. I haven’t had time yet with getting caught up on everything such as reviews, laundry, etc. But here is a quick summary of my pro and con remarks on the trip. I’ll try to answer specific question anyone may have later.

Pro:

1. AMA Waterways provided very good transport between airport/hotel and vise verse if you are arriving outside normally scheduled transfer periods, if you book it through them. In both Saigon and Hanoi, the airports are about a 55 – 60 minute drive either way and taxis’ needs to be researched before you get to Vietnam if you are planning on going that route. AMA charged us $60 each way for special transfer which is about what a taxis will charge so I’ve been told . Worth the money.

2. Hotel section in Saigon, Siem Reap, and Hanoi are all 4 – 5 Star properties. Siem Reap is to die for and most of our group would have liked to spend the balance of the trip there.

3. Rooms and other facilities on the AMA Lotus were all pretty good (except for the two front cabins which are next to the anchor chain locker). No major complaints there as they warned us before dropping/raising the anchor.

4. Food in the hotels was what you would expect from these types of properties.

5. The cruise director and all of our guides were very good. On day one, you are broke up into smaller groups to accommodate the smaller buses and you will normally stay with that group throughout the tour. We heard a complaint about only one guide outside of our group.

6. AMA Waterways tries hard to make it easy during the many transfers on/off the boat, hotel check-ins, and border crossings.

 

Con:

1. Being notified of a last minute change to the schedule (arrived with our final package/tickets days before departing) was not necessary as AMA knew about the changes for weeks prior.

2. The drink policy on-board the boat was not as AMA advertised right up to our Welcome Letter on the boat. Wine and beer are only free during lunch/dinner in the dining room (not in the lounge) and other liquor (whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum) are free only as long as you drink their local brand and don’t mix any other alcohol with it, i.e. no free martinis. When brought to the Hotel Manger’s attention on the boat he said that the letter was incorrect and would need to be changed.

3. There was too much confusion over the point of the Cambodian border crossing on the south to north bound trip prior to getting our Visa. The company that AMA recommended to process the paperwork for you assumed you were going into Cambodia via the Siem Reap Airport which was wrong. I and my TA got two different answers directly from AMA before getting the correct entry point. As a side point, it is very easy to apply for the Visa’s yourself (multi-entry) for Vietnam and single for Cambodia) and you will save a couple hundred in additional processing fees.

4. The Wi-Fi on the boat left much to be desired. There was absolutely nothing on the TV. They did have some old movie DVDs if you wanted them. It would have been nice if they would have maybe had some news feeds. We saw satellite and other TV antenna’s in most places we sailed so it should not have been a problem.

5. At the Wat Hanchey stop, many of us felt that we were scammed by the locals and AMA should have forewarned us. Ladies were selling packages of 10 children’s books in a clear wrapper for $5.00. If you buy them and distribute to the children standing around, the children take the books back to other women where they are re wrapped and sold again. Even the Buddhist priests were turning them back in for resale.

6. Final bill on the boat was provided in Vietnam Dong vice US currency. This resulted in another transaction/conversion fee by my credit card company. In all my years of traveling with US based cruise companies, the final bill has always been in US dollars. Two of the hotels, Saigon and Siem Reap quoted the final bill in both currencies and even the Junk in Ha Long Bay billed us in US dollars.

7. The tour director made a pretty big deal out of providing sandwiches for us at the Siem Reap Airport prior to our flight. They were horrible and we got a small meal on the airplane which would have been adequate.

8. On the flight between Siem Reap and Hanoi, some couples could not sit together (think rows different). There really didn’t appear to be any excuse for this as AMA knows far enough in advance of the flight to book your seats together.

9. This last one and I’m not sure it is AMA’s fault but ultimately, they are in charge. All one morning our guide had bad audio equipment to contend with. I belief that all of the land portions of the tour is subcontracted by AMA and the subcontractor provides the equipment. It was only the one morning and the guide was on the phone constantly trying to get better equipment (it was her transmitting unit).

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for your review.

 

A couple of comments:

 

6. Final bill on the boat was provided in Vietnam Dong vice US currency. This resulted in another transaction/conversion fee by my credit card company. In all my years of traveling with US based cruise companies, the final bill has always been in US dollars. Two of the hotels, Saigon and Siem Reap quoted the final bill in both currencies and even the Junk in Ha Long Bay billed us in US dollars.

 

Our AMA river cruise in Europe billed in Euro, so I believe this is company-wide. I don't know if this is also true of the other river cruise lines. [Ocean cruises I've been on have all billed in US dollars, but sometimes it goes through a foreign bank so you are hit with a fee anyway.] The solution is to get a credit card that doesn't charge foreign exchange or foreign transaction fees, such as those issued by Capital One.

 

9. This last one and I’m not sure it is AMA’s fault but ultimately, they are in charge. All one morning our guide had bad audio equipment to contend with. I belief that all of the land portions of the tour is subcontracted by AMA and the subcontractor provides the equipment. It was only the one morning and the guide was on the phone constantly trying to get better equipment (it was her transmitting unit).

 

Stuff happens. Electronic equipment breaks. Yes, it is ultimately AMA in charge -- but they aren't God.

[alexandra cruiser]

and such a difference in same cruise on same ship last yr.at this time.

 

We had NONE of the problems you faced. Let s hope it was a fluke.

 

I did a LOT of research on member reviews,boards,etc.so really knew what to expect.Like,,not buying those books,etc.Not giving money.AMA handled our Cambodian visas with no hassle.

 

We also only had drinks during lunch and dinner,but that's what was said prior.So no false expectations.We had a few audio probls with headsets,but quickly fixed.

Look

ed at you tube videos prior,so knew what rooms looked like on ship,junks,hotels,etc .

So for future AMA Vietnama cruisers, best to do a LOT of research so you know exactly what to look forward to,no surprises like above poster.

In summary, we LOVED our cruise and hi ly recommend AMA and Vietnam.

 

Sorry, about your trip and really hope the standards are not slipping.;)

[Wingtips56]

We were on AmaLotus just last month and had a marvelous time. We started in Hanoi, flying south and sailing westbound to Ho Chi Minh City, so we did our Cambodian visa on arrival at Siem Reap airport. And I spend a fortune with CIBT to get the Vietnam visas in advance, but it was hassle-free.

 

Ama held our passports from check-in at the (gorgeous) Sofitel in Siem Reap until the day before disembarkation, so they had time to review that everyone had the right visa to enter/re-enter Vietnam on the river, and get it fixed if not. We didn't have to do a thing on that border crossing day but relax, enjoy the river and get massages.

 

We found the on-board standards to be just fine, and as comparable as could be as the European standards, considering the countries we were in. The complementary wine with lunch and dinner was indeed free-flowing by the gallon if you wanted, but was a cheap Aussie box wine....we knew that in advance. On a couple of nights, we bought bottles of a nice Sicilian wine that was extra, but not unreasonably priced. Basic cocktails with the house hooch and a non-alcoholic mixer we complementary, as was beer, but I did pay extra for my Black Russians, as the Kahlua was not on the comp list ... my option and no problem. DH had G&T and Screwdrivers at no charge.

 

We did know in advance that the ship would not be able to come up to Tonle Sap Lake (none for the rest of the season) as new bridge-work close to Phnom Penh blocked the overhead clearance. So we had a long bus ride with a couple of stops, which wasn't fun, but was tolerable. (Sorry to those who didn't know in advance, but in normal conditions, the ship can't always make it into the lake on high/low water days anyway, without prior notice ... with any river cruise, you just have to roll with the changes. On a previous cruise on the Danube, our ship was held overnight in Budapest due to an unexploded bomb found in the river, causing a 14.5 hour delay and skipping a port.) As we instead joined the ship on the Mekong up stream from Phnom Penh, we did have substitute ports that didn't normally cater to tourists, so they were interesting, but not any great Disneyland thrill. We bought bags of candy in a couple of villages to give to kids, but didn't notice or weren't aware of any repackaging and reselling. It was nothing to us if they were; we enjoyed being generous for the whole dollar or two that made kids smile.

 

As an extra bonus, we unwittingly had timed our Hanoi visit over Tet, the lunar new year. Hanoi was all decked out for the big holiday of the year with banners, masses of flowers, blooming peach trees (symbolic) and enjoyed by all the families strolling the lakeside in their Sunday best, with the cutest little kids saying "Hello, Hello" in their best bib and tucker. Locals kept surrounding us to have their friends take pictures of them with us Westerners. Very welcoming.

 

I'm still wearing my three different yarn "bracelets" that represent the blessings of the Buddha from Angkor and other temples, and and truly do feel blessed for the experience.

 

We enjoyed it so much, particularly with difference in our cultures, seeing happy people in what we normally think of as drear third world conditions, all the sweet little kids saying "Hello" and waving with their beaming mothers and dads encouraging them, that we wanted it to last longer. In lieu of that, we booked the Myanmar cruise on the new AmaPura for January 2016 while we were still on AmaLotus. Can't wait!

[OldTraveler]

Thanks for your reply and that of Alexandra Cruiser above. But, I think that you may have misunderstood a couple of my comments. First let me clarify that my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip and we had researched things before hand. I traveled internationally while working and now after my retirement we travel outside the US at least once a year, for 4 weeks at a time. A good part of our travel is self planned.

 

That said, my comment about the scam only referred to one stop in our itinerary. AMA did warn us at a couple of the stops to not carry credit cards, passports etc., as there had been occasional problems with pickpockets. We felt that surely they must have been aware of the scam at Wat Hanchey and should have warned us. I think most of us on our cruise tried to contribute to the local economies and the welfare of the village people. We had an unscheduled stop at a third school along the way and most of our people went out of their way to buy items off of the street vendors to leave at the additional school.

 

As far as the drink policy goes, I have a small problem with it in general. If it had just been the letter on the ship I would have just passed it off as a local error. But, some information prior to the trip lead me to expect full open bar (local brands only). That was misleading. Did I misread something, always a possibility. In general I think the open bar policy is bad because the cruise lines (mostly small boats) build the cost into the price of the ticket and people that don't drink subsidize the heavy drinkers. Personally, I think a pay as you go or a beverage card is a better idea where you pay for what you consume. Not have someone else support you.

 

As to the poor communications equipment one morning. That is something else. I think that I forgot to mention that our guide was given two additional units in addition to the original one that morning with the same problem. I spent both my military career and my second life working in the the electronics field, maintenance, reliability, etc. I understand equipment failures. Three bad units are hard for me to pass off as an act of God.

 

But enough said, we did have a great trip. We really enjoyed interacting with the Vietnamese and Cambodian people, especially the children who we found very out going and honest. There are no qualms about their asking your age (we do not look so old to them), taking pictures with us, and my wife's telephone number. She is wondering if one day she will get a call.

[Riverroad]

A small correction to Wingtips' report on the reasons for being bussed to Siem Reap. There may very well be bridge work at Phnom Penh but if you take this trip from Janury to March and maybe even April, you will always be bussed between the two. It's not just a few high/low water days or an occasional occurrence. This is the "dry" season and Tonle Sap lake is too low for the boat to travel on it. The bus trip is about 4 hours and is very boring. Hope you have a well-air conditioned bus. When we did this, we had a really annoying guide who never stopped talking. I spent the trip with my Bose earphones and iPod.

[OldTraveler]

Hi Riverroad,

 

We also knew in advance that we would have a bus ride due to low water during the dry season. We picked the time to travel and accepted the bus transfer without a problem. What was unexpected to us was the fact that we had to back track and go up another route on the river. This resulted in a 5-1/2 hour plus bus ride for us. Thankfully our bus A/C worked fine as we were in 90F+ temps. Our tour director was actually pretty entertaining during the trip. I think that AMA knew about the bridge construction much earlier then they advised us of it i.e, the morning of the transfer. Didn't really matter much but I previously commented on it to advise traveler during the remainder of the dry season what to expect.

[AmaWaterways]

Hi Riverroad,

 

We also knew in advance that we would have a bus ride due to low water during the dry season. We picked the time to travel and accepted the bus transfer without a problem. What was unexpected to us was the fact that we had to back track and go up another route on the river. This resulted in a 5-1/2 hour plus bus ride for us. Thankfully our bus A/C worked fine as we were in 90F+ temps. Our tour director was actually pretty entertaining during the trip. I think that AMA knew about the bridge construction much earlier then they advised us of it i.e, the morning of the transfer. Didn't really matter much but I previously commented on it to advise traveler during the remainder of the dry season what to expect.

 

Dear OldTraveler,

 

Thank you for your feedback from your cruise with us on the Mekong and we welcome you home from your journey.

We are thrilled to read that you enjoyed your overall experience.

 

We also appreciate your candid feedback of pros and cons, which are being thoroughly reviewed.

Should you have any further information to share with us or questions we can assist you with, please feel free to email us at customerrelations@amawaterways.com and we would be very pleased to assist you further.

 

Warm Regards,

Customer Relations

[Wingtips56]

This season, it's different than the usual high/low water issue. Ordinarily the ship at least comes up the Tonle Sap River from Phnom Penh. If it can't go on into the lake, the embarkation point with the bus is Kampong-Chhnang. There are three additional stops on the Tonle Sap River between there and Phnom Penh. However this year, the Tonle Sap River is not accessible due to bridgework just above Phnom Penh, so the ship is actually going further up the Mekong instead....the embarkation point is Kampong Cham, on the Mekong. It sails from there further upstream to Wat Hanchey, then comes back down through Kampong Cham the next morning, followed by a whole different set of port calls on the Mekong before resuming the normal itinerary at Phnom Penh. The stand-in port stops were not terribly exciting really, but kept us busy. The Ama website shows this itinerary applying to every sailing for the rest of 2014, not returning to the Tonle Sap routing and possible Siem Reap embarkation until January 12, 2015.

 

The long bus ride was a straight shot from Siem Reap on the highway north of the lake to Kampong Cham. The bus was quite comfortable and the two stops for "Happy Rooms" and one lunch were fine. But it was about 5 1/2 hours or more.

 

We had to scramble up and down newly hand-dug steps in the dusty embankments as there are no docks for the substitute ports. You meet the entire crew (cooks, waiters, housekeeping, maintenance, navigation and all) as they are spaced out up the embankment to assist the passengers. (Crews had to hand-carry our bags down.) On returning to the ship, you get hand sanitizer, cooling towels and juice; typically AmaWaterways. Very nice. We tracked a lot of dirt in, keeping the staff busy with floor mops.

[NordicBreezer]

Just back from an awesome Asian trip . We were on the March 4 - 19 Hanoi to HCM tour. Had a great time; our guides were knowledgeable & very amiable; the crew on the AMAlotus were very personable; our restaurant wait staff awesome; my spa girl worked miracles; and lots of new friendships were made amongst the guests. All the hotels were 5* in my books. We've never had a 7 course lunch before (on the junk); very impressed.

 

In response to previous comments:

*We found beer & local spirits to be free flowing up on the pool deck & the lounge during non meal times. I'm not a wine drinker so I usually took a lounge drink to dinner with me .

*At the Wat Hanchey stop, a previous blogger had said that this was a good location to pick up extra scribblers, to be given out at the next school stop. I handed out my school supplies to the orphanage ( schools were closed that day ) & the primary school at Chong Koh.

 

If I had a suggestion it would be to allow for a bug screen to be installed on the stateroom window. Prior to tour we had been in Thailand for a couple weeks & in the Phuket area the cold air conditioning combined with the heat brought on bronchitis . Thereafter, in the heat of Seim Reap to HCM , we had to shut all our room air conditioners off so that I didn't cough all night long. We saw all the flying bugs clinging to the ship's cabin windows so knew we couldn't crack open the balcony door to let in fresh air like we do on ocean cruise ships; but it would have been so nice to have that option at the window.

 

This was our first initiation to a river boat & I was very impressed. We will definitely be booking another river cruise in the future. Thank you AMA waterways.

 

And cheers to the "yellow" family. It was a hoot !! :D

[alexandra cruiser]

love fresh air at nite,but unable to open door due to BUGS.So trapped in AC.Did mention this to staff and front desk,also to an AMA rep taking the cruise.Guess it was NOT FIXED,since cruise was last Jan.

 

Also, even then we had the long bus ride and slippery ,mud steps to ship on river bank.With crew helping,but could have been handled better.Wood planks,etc??Not what I expected.

 

But,other than that,still LOVED it.Was on my bucket list and GLAD I went.

 

AMA,wonder if those changes have been considered??:confused:

[AmaWaterways]

love fresh air at nite,but unable to open door due to BUGS.So trapped in AC.Did mention this to staff and front desk,also to an AMA rep taking the cruise.Guess it was NOT FIXED,since cruise was last Jan.

 

Also, even then we had the long bus ride and slippery ,mud steps to ship on river bank.With crew helping,but could have been handled better.Wood planks,etc??Not what I expected.

 

But,other than that,still LOVED it.Was on my bucket list and GLAD I went.

 

AMA,wonder if those changes have been considered??:confused:

 

Dear alexandra cruiser,

 

Thank you for your inquiry about the AmaLotus, as this is very important to us. Please be assured that we are always working to improve the experience of our guests and we are listening intently to your feedback.

 

In Vietnam and Cambodia it is an entirely different experience with embarkation and disembarkation for all river cruise ships as there are no docks built. We will continue to inform our guests of this in advance so they are prepared. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced and we're happy to read that you still thoroughly enjoyed your time with us, as well as crossed something off your bucket list!

 

With regards to balconies and screens, river cruise ships in general don't have screens on balconies for various reasons - and this is consistent for all cruise companies. However, be assured that this suggestion has been passed along to our Management and Operations Team to be considered for the future.

 

Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any further comments or questions we can assist you with. We hope to welcome you aboard again in the future!

 

Warm Regards,

Customer Relations

[amyr]

Even though it's generally frowned upon, I'm bumping up this old thread to help those embarking on this wonderful cruise. I'm seeing a lot of the same questions now that I had a couple of years ago. The last post is over a year and a half old, so the folks looking for information now aren't likely to find the thread.

 

All the information in the thread was invaluable to me, and I'm assuming a lot of it is still current. If it isn't maybe recent returnees can contribute.

 

If only there was as much information on a trip I'm trying to plan on the Ganges :)

[Vineyard View]

HI Amyr - you are a familiar face to me on these boards. I am glad that you resurfaced this thread. As you said, it is filled with great advice and information.

 

We are considering the new AmaDara land/river cruise - and while normally we are self guiding while not on a cruise, I would be interested in any feedback from those who have sailed on this new AmaDara as well as the land/River option offered. We have not experienced Ama to date so would appreciate any suggestions/input.

Thank you

Edited December 15, 2015 by Vineyard View

[amyr]

VV - I think we recognize each other from the Viking Maiden Voyage threads. We took the Maiden from Istanbul to Venice, and I think you were embarking just as we were getting off?

 

Anyway, this is an amazing trip. It made me want to book one to Myanmar as well, though my husband thinks it would be too much the same. I disagree, but it got him to agree to a Ganges cruise. I think the AMA Dara is just a newer version of the AMALotus that we took. The cabins all look the same. I notice that all the cabins have balconies. I think the Lotus had a lower deck with just portholes, but on our cruise everyone was upgraded out of that deck anyway. The itinerary looks identical.

 

Anybody going into Hanoi early should absolutely get up early and walk to Hoan Kiem Lake and enjoy all the people out for their morning exercises. Groups doing Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, etc. It's a wonderful experience just to walk all the way around the lake.

 

PS - VV - we are normally self guiding too, in fact didn't take any of the included Viking excursions, but this was just the right mix. You will go to places you never would be able to on your own.

Edited December 16, 2015 by amyr

[deec]

AMYR,

We too are in a dilemma; although not on AMA we took the Vantage Irrawaddy /Myanmar trip.....absolutely incredible...we learned so much and really felt we experienced a very unique culture and had true encounters with its people.....now we are thinking about the Mekong but do not want to be disappointed.

[amyr]

AMYR,

We too are in a dilemma; although not on AMA we took the Vantage Irrawaddy /Myanmar trip.....absolutely incredible...we learned so much and really felt we experienced a very unique culture and had true encounters with its people.....now we are thinking about the Mekong but do not want to be disappointed.

 

You won't be disappointed. The cities of Hanoi and Saigon are probably going to be much more cosmopolitan than what you saw in Burma, but the river experience will probably be a lot the same. Plus, you have Cambodia and Angkor Wat, Halong Bay, etc. You liked the Vantage trip? I'm looking at them for the Ganges. They look to have the best itinerary for the price that I can find. Never used them before, but they get good reviews.