AMAlotus review anyone??

[amyr]

Oh dear, Freddie, don't be concerned - I too think that AMA is the best way to see the Mekong. Being a past Uniworld passenger and knowing I could get a past passenger discount, I took one look at their itinerary and their ship and booked the AMA trip - I think it's much better. I am really, really, really hoping that your boorish crowd was a one-off though. Hopefully that group leader isn't leading tours anymore, and it's only 7 days out of the whole tour anyway. I'm sure we'll be fine, but I will be sure to report back here :)

[Memsahib27]

I am not sure who wrote that but it seems to make sense! I think you can be unlucky with groups on a cruise or tour - so often with the aid of a glass of wine or two, people can behave on holiday in a different way that they might at home - they feel anonymous and perhaps use the wine to give them courage to socialise with strangers. On our Amalotus cruise, it was a large group from Finland who caused most of the noise and the fact they also made that noise in their own language closed the rest of us right out of the fun they were having. On the last night of the cruise we ventured to the sundeck where the Fins usually congregated after dinner. We asked if they minded us joining them at the bar and it was they who were able to speak to us in English. In no time we were laughing with them, and chatting in English - it seemed they had felt a bit neglected by the other passengers - who possibly didn't even realise they spoke such excellent English, because they hadn't tried speaking to them. We wished we had made an effort to speak to them before as many of them were very interesting. Perhaps rather than being irritated by a group who are obviously enjoying themselves you should ask to join in, you might find, as we did, that much of their "sticking together" is a shield - they had one certain thing in common, their Nationality. Of course the Aussies bragging that the ship was theirs was over the top but perhaps it was those glasses of wine speaking with encouragement from an overzealous guide?

[amyr]

I posted this in the other thread, but I'll add it here as well. My TA sent me this link to an AMALotus review that I hadn't seen before, I guess this guy went in August/September. I'm going to try to link it here. He wrote a pretty good blog of his trip as well - if you click on his name in the review (Eric Goldring) and then once you get to his blog scroll down to August, you can begin reading his entries from the bottom up. They continue in September. I had to laugh because he, like freddie, encountered a loud entitled group, but they were led by their travel agent and were from Vancouver. I forgot to mention in the other post that they stayed at the Sheraton Towers in HCMC, when I thought we would be at the Sofitel as others had reported. Sure enough, I checked my documents (which arrived yesterday) and we're at the Sheraton too. I think the location is much better. Also worthy of noting was that on his included AMA tours they visited the Hanoi Hilton and the War Remnants Museum in HCMC, neither of which I thought were on the tours, so I made my own arrangements to visit them. I'll post this in the review thread as well:

 

http://www.expertclick.com/NRWire/Releasedetails.aspx?id=41705

 

PS - They stayed at the Sheraton Towers in HCMC, when I thought we were at the Sofitel. I checked my documents, and sure enough, we're at the Sheraton too. It's a much better location, so I'm pleased. Glad I saw it though as I had a Cu Chi Tunnels tour set up with a pick up at the other hotel!

[alexandra cruiser]

I ll hold off making other tour arrangements till I see exactly WHAT is inc. in Ama tour.

 

Re;hotel.Says in brocure Sofitel,,wonder whay they switched.?

[amyr]

I don't know why they switched, but it seems to be an upgrade, at least for location. I'm thrilled. The Sofitel Saigon was a bit out of the way I thought, and this one is right on Dong Khoi down by the river. It will be an easy walk to the Renaissance where we will pick up the Saigon Express boat to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Now if they had changed from the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi, I would have been upset.

 

We have HanoiKids set up for tours and were planning to skip the Temple of Literature and add the prison based on others' experience. This guy didn't mention the Temple (doesn't mean they didn't go) and talked about the prison. They're both important. What to do, what to do?

[Coral]

Sheila,,,I wrote about my Viking Russian Cruise in response to your AMA cruise complaints.We had similar bad cruise staff experiences(but passengers seemed fine and easy going). Guess its the luck of the draw when ships are owned by others??

 

 

I would be curious in reading your review. I couldn't find it. If you could point me in the right direction, that would be great.

 

Also, it is my understanding that Viking owns their ships in Russia (one of the few lines that owns their ships there) and hires their own individuals. It is possible that maybe they leased an additional ship this year or something like that.

 

I still think the way to go in Russia is staying in hotels!

 

-------------------

 

We had a very large APT group on our AMA Russian trip. They were very mislead. They thought the ship would be only Australians and that APT chartered the whole ship (which apparently they sometimes do). They were (initially) disappointed because of this. We had half of the ship Canadians and then probably the next largest group was the APT trip and the APT people did not cause any problems on our sailing.

[alexandra cruiser]

I answered Shoshana on another section..sorry,but was a few yrs.ago and never posted review.Have learned and do NOW...

 

Re.Russian river cruises,,ex.for the negative comment about food and some crew members.I d go on another again and realize this can happen on any cruiseline due to country,ship,passengers,etc....so many variables.All in all,it was a great experience,but might look at other cruiselines offering same in future.

 

Have been on all the major river lines,,and all good ,,,nothing perfect.;)

[Coral]

I answered Shoshana on another section..sorry,but was a few yrs.ago and never posted review.Have learned and do NOW...

 

Re.Russian river cruises,,ex.for the negative comment about food and some crew members.I d go on another again and realize this can happen on any cruiseline due to country,ship,passengers,etc....so many variables.All in all,it was a great experience,but might look at other cruiselines offering same in future.

 

Have been on all the major river lines,,and all good ,,,nothing perfect.;)

 

Thanks - for clarifying :)

[amyr]

I ll hold off making other tour arrangements till I see exactly WHAT is inc. in Ama tour.

 

Re;hotel.Says in brocure Sofitel,,wonder whay they switched.?

 

I reread the blog, and it seems they did go to the Temple of Literature, if "visited some Confucius temple" is what he was talking about. I think it is. I'm still curious about his mentioning the prison since nobody else visited it with AMA. I noticed there is a gap between 11:30 and 3:00 where you're on your own, so maybe they went on their own? I don't think I need to see it twice, but I don't want to miss it.

 

Do you have your docs yet? There is a pretty in-depth itinerary in there.

[alexandra cruiser]

Have been looking at the weather,,will be cooler in Hanoi(averages 72 and 60,it seems) then warmer in south.So bring layers//for Fl.residents seems to be similar to us.

 

Trying to plan my last day in HoChiMinh,,,may do private tour,but will probably just wait and figure it out at last min.,,when there.May be sick of "tours" and want to branch out on own. Many have recommended Zoom,but he wants deposit and plans unsure now.

 

Will look forward to your review and hints.Have fun.:)

[amyr]

My docs got mailed one month from departure and my travel agent brought them to me a day after they arrived at her office.

 

We have a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels booked with Saigon River Express for that last day on our own, but I think AMA has an option for that too. We'll be back from that around 12:30, and I had originally planned to see the War Remnants Museum but the guy in the review seemed to indicate that they went there on his tour as well? I'm kind of fuzzy on what was AMA sponsored and what was on his own. He doesn't give the impression that he did anything on his own, so not sure. At least in HCMC you won't double up on tours since anything you do on your own will be after the conclusion of the AMA portion.

 

I remember asking about the weather in Hanoi in the other thread and everybody said we didn't need any warm clothes, the whole trip was hot, etc. That's not true for us going to Hanoi in the winter though. I'm wearing heavyish knit pants and a jacket on the airplane and am hoping that will be enough to get me around Hanoi for a couple of days. I'll check the weather before we go to make sure I don't need a light jacket too. I hope not.

[mlk58]

We booked a half-day tour for HCMC through Tours by Locals. Inexpensive and he had good reviews. Not 100% sure we're up for Cu Chi Tunnels, honestly. We're thinking we might prefer to explore the city. But we're playing it mostly by ear. Our travel docs have arrived and we couldn't be more excited!!

 

We live in So Cal and it seems the weather in Hanoi will be similar to the weather here at home. I'm bringing my lined raincoat just in case.

[ReturnCruiser]

I'm wearing heavyish knit pants and a jacket on the airplane and am hoping that will be enough to get me around Hanoi for a couple of days. I'll check the weather before we go to make sure I don't need a light jacket too. I hope not.

 

We were on the AMA Vietnam/Cambodia trip in November 2011. While weather can change in either direction, during our early November visit to Hanoi, we were in short sleeve shirts. In fact, I believe that we were in shorts and light shirts the entire trip. The only time it was cool was during the long flights and when we arrived back to US winter temperatures. I did bring a very light nylon rain jacket for any rain. Note that as we left for excursions from the AMA Lotus during periods with likely rain, we were typically offered umbrellas (also used by some for sun) or plastic ponchos.

[amyr]

Oh good, they have rain ponchos as well as umbrellas? That pulls the rain jacket out of the mix. I'm still wearing my heavier knit jacket for the airplane and any possible evening cold front in Hanoi since we're there late November/early December. Someone got stuck in a cold front and said it got down to 45 in the evening. I'm sure it will be 65 at the lowest during the day, which would actually be lovely.

 

Returncruiser, when you were there in November (was it the beginning or the end?) did you take the long drive to the ship or the short one?

[ReturnCruiser]

Returncruiser, when you were there in November (was it the beginning or the end?) did you take the long drive to the ship or the short one?

 

You may recall that in late October 2011 rain was heavy in that part of the world. Bangkok was pretty much flooded. Pub Street in Siem Reap was also under some water. My trip started in early November. By the time we were in Siem Reap, the water had dropped and the town was fully open for business. The weather during our temple visits was very hot.

 

In regards to embarkation, the water levels were too high and we took a four hour bus ride to Kampong Cham, or thereabouts. The drive allowed us to see villages that would have been completely unseen from the boat. Throughout the drive, a local guide shared information about Cambodia and his life - so the time went by quickly. There was one toilet stop about half way. These facilities were ok but one needs to keep in mind that such bathroom stops are still being developed along the drive (consider 200 people arriving at one time for a break in an underdeveloped village).

 

Bob

[alexandra cruiser]

Halong Bay, a current cruiser has been posing good tips.Helpful for all AMA Vietnam cruisers.;)

[mlk58]

In case anybody is interested, my husband and I arrived in Hanoi last night and are doing the AMA La Marguerite two week Vietnam/Cambodia trip. We're blogging it at http://katzesinasia.blogspot.com/. You are all welcome to follow along! So far, so good -- the Sofitel Legend Metropole is AMAZING!

[alexandra cruiser]

tried to post a comment there,but not sure why it didnt work.

Can you tell me if the Asiana Business class seats flatbed? We have it booked too(from Chicago).

Also, looks like a very busy 1st day in Hanoi,,,when did they have dinner scheduled??Not seen.

Room looks very nice and hope you get better weather.Is it also cool?

How many passengers on trip,so far?

Great photos,too...THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! PS..Love all the details.:)

[alexandra cruiser]

What happened to blog?Been checking ea day...miss it.

 

AMA states they have fully equiped bathrooms,,,anyone know if that inc.lit make up magnifying mirror? If not, will have to pack...oh,,on junk too?

 

In the cave excursion,,is it clautrophobic..or have steep steps? Sorry, a few phobias.

 

Anyone having any GI problems on this one? Sure hope not,,and that all are having a great time.

 

Do they weigh luggage before intra asia flight,,says 44 lbs.strict..will have to leave much home,it seems.and 10 lb.for carry on???:confused:

[mlk58]

Alexandra, they are keeping us too busy to blog! LOL

 

The Asiana seats go flat but at an angle, if taht makes sense! No GI problems, weight limitations for inter-country flight are not strict. It's more of a nudge, nudge, wink, wink kind of arrangemetn.

 

The cave excursion is not claustrophobic and not VERY steep but not "not at all" steep, if you know what I mean. There is also an island on Halong Bay with 400 stone steps you can climb to an amazing vantage point -- very steep but totally worth it. WEAR GOOD CLIMBING/WALKING SHOES FOR HALONG BAY! Also bring a complete change of clothes including underthings if you plan to climb the 400 steps because you will get very sweaty!

 

We got a big cabin on the junk because we have a suite on the Marguerite. I am quite sure that is how the cabins are assigned.

 

Gotta go work on a blog post.

 

This trip is absolutely the trip of a lifetime!!

[amyr]

Alexandra, the signal once on the ship is too poor to post here on Cc, I've tried twice, but I'll give it one more shot.

 

Yes, to the magnification mirrors, but they're not all lighted. No GI so far, but we have a vicious respiratory going around, brought on the first day in Hanoi by one of our fellow passengers.

 

Save the toothbrushes you get in your rooms for the kids.

 

Our bag weighed 48 pounds before we left home, and nothing was said in Hanoi about it.

 

Asiana has two types of glad beds, one recliner 170 degrees, and one individual flat bed pod. We had e latter, and apparently ORD has the latter three days a week. Depends on which day you go, I think.

 

Rooms on the junk are semi-random - we had one big and one small, but our cabins on the ship are the same.

 

Gotta run, the tendr is here.

[mlk58]

Yes! Save all the extra cosmetics in all your hotels for the kids! Also, I was worried because I ran out of time before I got out to shop for the school but our guide says there will be a donation box. Also there is no pressure at all to donate anything -- they are emphasizing that by traveling with AMA we are already supporting the school and the kids!

 

And yes, no internet on the junk at all -- signal too weak!

[amyr]

You'll visit the AMA school in Siem Reap, and don't worry if you don't have school supplies - they have a donation box as well as artwork you can purchase drawn by kids at the orphanage, which you can choose to visit as an alternative. The kids we gave the toothbrushes to were gathered around the AMALotus when we boarded. They were miming for us to give them toothbrushes, and I wished I had brought a pile of travel sized toothpaste.

 

One of our travel companions unlocked her iPhone and has been buying cheap prepaid data SIM cards, so we've had wifi almost everywhere, even on the many bus trips.

 

Two more days aboard and still no gastro illness, but the nasty cold is rampant. We've infected the crew as well, it seems. They must dread each new group of passengers wondering what we've brought on board with us this time:eek:

[alexandra cruiser]

figured the reception might be bad. Good about luggage weight,,but will TRY to get it near it.

Sorry Amyr,,,about the sickness,,hope YOU escaped it.

 

Good about cave,,think I can manage that,,but NOT the 400 in Halong Bay.:mad:

 

Keep up the news.:)

[Memsahib27]

Jut picked up on this conversation and thought I would mention to anyone going on cruises to Vietnam and Cambodia to take pencils and paper for the kids. Even paper that has been used on one side - they so want to learn but cannot afford these items and have to share them in school. One couple on our cruise knew this and had letterheads left over after a logo change ( with logo cut off) and packets of cheap lead pencils and gave children who asked for sweets (candy) two sheets of paper and a pencil - the kids just loved them. Much better than any kind of sweets as they cannot afford dentists. :)