River Cruise or Ocean Cruise to see Asia

[yorkiemomjn]

Which is the better way to see the major sights in Asia?   A river cruise or an Ocean cruise and which one?

 

[iancal]

It really depend on where in Asia you want to go.  Lots of choices.

[Hoyaheel]

The answer to this question is "Yes". 🙂

 

On an ocean cruise, you can see more countries/ports. On a river cruise, you'll see MORE of a country/area (same as a land trip). We've done an ocean cruise (Singapore to Hong Kong on Azamara) and I've had work trips in China so I've at least explored Shanghai & Beijing some, countryside NW of Beijing, and been to a very much off-the-beaten-track section of the Great Wall. 

 

I very much want to do a river cruise in Cambodia and Vietnam and explore ANgkor Wat as well as towns in Vietnam. My husband sort of wants to do a land trip in Vietnam. We'd like to visit Japan, up in the mountains - so, a land trip for that.

 

FYI ocean cruises are usually quite a bit cheaper than river cruises, depending on the line/size of ship you pick.

[jkgourmet]

We're off to Japan on a cruise next month.  But cruising in Asia requires making some hard concessions.  A fair number of ports are literally hours away from the major  sites.  Substantial time is spent 'commuting '.  We've eliminated most Asian itineraries for this reason (unless we were willing to pay for luxury small ships, which we're not).

 

If you really want to see "the major sites", a land trip is THE way to go.  We were lucky that we did China, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Thailand when we were younger and more mobile.  I dearly regret we didn't do Vietnam.  

 

An additional benefit of land trips to most counties in Far East Asia:  they're pretty inexpensive.  Land trips with a tour group or independent travel will be less expensive than a cruise.  Downright  Cheap if you can get your mindset out of requiring the Royal Suite and the Four Seasons Hotel.

 

 

[Globaliser]

21 hours ago, yorkiemomjn said:

Which is the better way to see the major sights in Asia?   A river cruise or an Ocean cruise and which one?

 

The answer to this is always the same, and I agree with jkgourmet about this: If you want to go somewhere to see the sights, don't go on a cruise. I love cruising, but the only thing that cruising is good for is the experience of being on a ship together with occasionally grazing one or two spots that happen to be near a port that the ship calls at.

[iancal]

Agree.  We have spent several winters in Thailand and Vietnam.  Land travel is the only real way to truly see and experience these countries.  This is about the only area where we do not bother looking for last minute cruises because of where they dock vis a vis the attractions and areas that we want to explore.

[diesel1973]

Agree with iancal. Have done 2 land tours in China. First one included 6 cities with flights connecting  some of them. The second one was similar but also included 4 day Yangtze river cruise. Am booking Thailand/Viet Nam 16 day land tour for next Feb. Is that a good time of year to go iancal? 

 

[iancal]

Yes.  We typically go mid/late January and return 60 days later.  Feb, IMHO, is the ideal time to go based on five winter trips..  We go from south to north in Vietnam .

[diesel1973]

Thanks for the response. This will be a fully guided tour. We are very excited to compare to China!

[Ashland]

On 3/10/2019 at 5:56 AM, Hoyaheel said:

The answer to this question is "Yes". 🙂

 

On an ocean cruise, you can see more countries/ports. On a river cruise, you'll see MORE of a country/area (same as a land trip). We've done an ocean cruise (Singapore to Hong Kong on Azamara) and I've had work trips in China so I've at least explored Shanghai & Beijing some, countryside NW of Beijing, and been to a very much off-the-beaten-track section of the Great Wall. 

 

I very much want to do a river cruise in Cambodia and Vietnam and explore ANgkor Wat as well as towns in Vietnam. My husband sort of wants to do a land trip in Vietnam. We'd like to visit Japan, up in the mountains - so, a land trip for that.

 

FYI ocean cruises are usually quite a bit cheaper than river cruises, depending on the line/size of ship you pick.

Can you offer more info on the river cruise you're considering that would include Cambodia & Vietnam?

[Hoyaheel]

Many of the lines that cruise Europe (Avalon, Uniworld, AMA - I'm sure there are others) offer cruises along the Mekong that go between Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) and HCMC. Depending on the season, part of the trip might be bus (Tonle Lake isn't navigable for all vessels all year round). You could add on through the cruiseline a stay pre or post cruise (or do on your own). I'd like to fly to Cambodia and visit the Angkor Wat area on my own and then depart from Vietnam. I have been to HCMC ("saigon") but would like to visit other places in Vietnam - might not be feasible.

 

This is one example of MANY https://www.avalonwaterways.com/river-cruise/mekong-discovery-cruise-only-southbound/wsh0/

 

[jkgourmet]

1 hour ago, Hoyaheel said:

Many of the lines that cruise Europe (Avalon, Uniworld, AMA - I'm sure there are others) offer cruises along the Mekong that go between Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) and HCMC. Depending on the season, part of the trip might be bus (Tonle Lake isn't navigable for all vessels all year round). You could add on through the cruiseline a stay pre or post cruise (or do on your own). I'd like to fly to Cambodia and visit the Angkor Wat area on my own and then depart from Vietnam. I have been to HCMC ("saigon") but would like to visit other places in Vietnam - might not be feasible.

 

This is one example of MANY https://www.avalonwaterways.com/river-cruise/mekong-discovery-cruise-only-southbound/wsh0/

 

 

Yowza on those prices!!!!!  And I'm just looking at those with discounts.

Edited March 14, 2019 by jkgourmet

[Hoyaheel]

4 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

 

Yowza on those prices!!!!!  

 

Have you ever priced river cruises? That's quite common. But river cruises include a lot more things (on a MUCH smaller boat) than ocean cruises. They're not really comparable. Well, obviously, they ARE comparable. But you need to be aware of what you are comparing....

[Ashland]

Thanks for the link...I think I'll stick with a land tour with Affordable Asia or Gate One that will include Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam. I've done a China tour with Affordable Asia and was very pleased.

 

Enjoy your river cruise.

[Hoyaheel]

When I do a land trips,  I prefer DIY. No river cruise planned now, but I still want it 😉 Some day....

[jkgourmet]

5 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

 

Have you ever priced river cruises? That's quite common. But river cruises include a lot more things (on a MUCH smaller boat) than ocean cruises. They're not really comparable. Well, obviously, they ARE comparable. But you need to be aware of what you are comparing....

 

I have - but the European ones, which are cheaper than this one.  I'm aware of some of the things they include that are not included on mass market ocean cruises. 

• Wine/beer with lunch and dinner, we get the alcohol package with Celebrity free when we book. 
• Excursions are included with river cruises, but we rarely take a ship excursion, sometimes book an outside tour, and unusually just FYI.  I've read that most of the included excursions are walking tours.  DH can't walk very long distances anymore. 
• Frankly, we book the cheap seats on ocean cruises, inside or OV, whatever is cheapest to get us the perks that we want (alcohol packages and gratuities.  Don't care about free internet.)
• Yes, smaller ship and more attentive service is very nice.  Yes, the cabins are nicer, I'm sure.  I'm positive the food is better than the MDR on the mass markets (though we have no complaints about that with MOST of the mass market cruise lines).

I'm truly NOT trying to argue with you.  I'm trying to find things to justify the cost. 

 

We'd like to do a river cruise, but when we compare the prices and what we get with ocean cruises with the cost of a river cruise, we just can't justify the cost.  Ends up looking like 2-3 times more per person for 7 days on a river cruise versus 14 days on an ocean cruise in our regular cheap seat cabins. 

[Hoyaheel]

I won't cruise on a ship with more than 1200 passengers (preferably smaller) so I'm never going to find the "cheapest" cruise fare. It's all about what you want and what you're willing to pay. Right now, I prefer DIY over river cruise expenses (I don't ocean cruise that often). I'm just happy there are options.

 

(You're rarely going to hit the same ports on a river or ocean cruise, but can do anything by land....)

[iancal]

I met a gentleman in Hue, Vietnam, who was on a Gate1 tour.   He was very pleased with the tour at that juncture and was recommending Gate1 to me.

[diesel1973]

We just booked Gate 1Thailand 15 day Kaleidoscope tour for Feb. Have done 2 tours in China and 1 in Italy with them. No complaints or problems with them and the prices are great. iancal: do they have western toilets in Thailand and are shorts (men) permitted to be worn? Also is it possible to find people who speak English?.Please be patient with me as I might be asking questions from time to time. Thanks in advance.

[Hoyaheel]

No knees or shoulders in temples in Thailand - men or women.

[diesel1973]

7 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

No knees or shoulders in temples in Thailand - men or women.

How about western toilets and is English spoken there?

[Hoyaheel]

In tourist areas, people will probably speak some English. We had a guide our first day in Bangkok and on the 2nd day, we roamed a little on our own and got foot massages and managed with not much verbal communication. I think the tourist sites & temples & wherever we had lunch with the tour guide had western toilets but not sure about other areas. In ko samui we did a quick walk around port, had a beer & a foot massage and didn't use a toilet.....

[diesel1973]

Thanks for the reply. We will have a guide most of the time but when we have some free time we like to roam around. Our guide in China would rate the bathrooms 1-10 star for us so we are expecting the same. We are staying at 4 and 5 star hotels that look amazing.

[Ashland]

I've personally found when going into the women's restrooms to look for the handicapped sign on the door (some have said "maimed") and these are usually western style instead of the squatty pottie's.

[Philob]

In Asia as a general rule always carry a pocket-size packet of Kleenex or two; TP is not always provided