AmaWaterways AmaDara Mekong River Cruise, Nov-Dec 2023

[bleacher04]

Long post so I am breaking it in two!

 

Wow, what an experience!  This was our first river cruise, and the trip up the Mekong was unlike anything we’ve done before.  A lot of the excursions were in rural Vietnam and Cambodia, visiting villages with small markets and workshops and visiting people’s homes in the villages.  A different side of travel, which we really enjoyed.

 

Without exception, the crew on the AmaDara were fantastic.  As others have already said, they really do go the extra mile to make your time aboard special and enjoyable.  The local guides in Vietnam and Cambodia were also top-notch.  I liked that they stayed with us for the duration of the time in their respective countries.

 

The AmaDara itself was very nice, but by no means luxurious, compared for example to the boats from Scenic and ATP that we were docked alongside us in Phnom Penh.  But it was certainly comfortable enough and I would not hesitate to recommend it.

 

The food was always good but rarely great.  Breakfast was buffet plus standard items that could be ordered from the menu.  The coffee was terrible but you could get lattes, cappuccinos, etc. made to order.  The lunch menu typically had 2-3 choices plus a sandwich of the day, with salads and soups and 1-2 appetizers at the buffet.  A light lunch menu could be had from the bar on the top deck.  The dinner menu typically had a couple of appetizers and soups, and three entrees to choose from.  I would say that most of the dishes were either locally-inspired or Asian-western fusion.  We ate at the specialty Chef’s Table restaurant one night — same fixed menu every night — and that dinner was excellent.

 

Wine and beer flowed freely at lunch and dinner, but if you wanted a glass of wine before or after dinner that cost extra (whereas beer and local spirits were free all afternoon and evening).  The complimentary house wines were decent quality, apparently not the same standard as on European cruises, but not so poor that we ever thought about buying the upcharge wines.  The bar liquors were all Vietnamese; the gold rum was good enough to drink neat or on the rocks, and the gin was fine in a G&T.

 

There was not a lot of choice on the tours, because most of the stops had only a limited selection of things to do.  Really the only choice for tours was to choose an “active walking” tour or a more sedate and often shorter version of the same tour.

 

We found the agenda very busy, with early starts and little downtime, but not so much that we ever elected to skip a tour.  There just wasn’t much free time; no “sea days” like you’d typically have on a sea-going cruise.  With the exception of Phnom Penh, where we were docked for 2 nights, we usually moored in the middle of the river overnight, and the boat would sail to a new destination during lunch and at dinnertime/evening.  For excursions in Vietnam we were transferred from the ship to the shore using local tenders, in Phnom Penh we were docked as mentioned, and in the rest of Cambodia we just pulled up to the shore and disembarked via the gangplank.  Fortunately it was no longer muddy as @hoosier2017 had described.

 

Evening entertainment was definitely one of the weak points on this cruise; they had an on-board pianist most nights and did a crew talent show one night.  The first night in Phnom Penh we sat on the upper deck and listened to the singer & guitarist from the Scenic boat next door, and the second night a group of us took a tuk-tuk tour around the city and to a rooftop bar for a nightcap.

 

Our cruise had 77 passengers, well below the maximum capacity of 124.  We were divided into three “families” in Saigon, but you could elect to join a different group (or sometimes had to due to the active vs. “gentle” excursions).  I was told that the typical maximum number of passengers was around 100-110, because there are always a lot of singles.  When the number is that high they split into four groups for tours.  Organization was generally excellent

 

Pre-cruise we spent three nights in Saigon, two with AMA and one extra.  The Sofitel Saigon Plaza hotel was comfortable and well-located, and the breakfast was excellent.  I can also recommend two restaurants nearby: Quan Nem (or just Nem) for lunch (5 minutes walk), and Propaganda for dinner (10 minutes walk).

 

The excursions in Saigon were okay, but that was partly because we had been there before.  On our fist evening we went off on our own on a scooter foodie tour with a guide that we’d used in the past, and that was great fun.

 

The 5-hour bus ride from Kampok Cham to Siem Reap was not as painful as I feared; they used smaller coaches and made a couple of stops.  But the chicken Caesar wrap in the boxed lunch from the boat was terrible IMO, so I would suggest grabbing some extra food at breakfast.

 

Post-cruise in Siam Reap was all about the Angkor temples of course.  Four different temples in less than 48 hours, and while we found them all very interesting and very different, some people did get templed out.  The Sofitel in Siam Reap was a very, very nice hotel; we stayed an extra night and just spent the day relaxing by the pool.  Food and drink was relatively expensive to compared to the rest of the country (which comes with staying in a resort hotel).  One night we went into the city, to a good restaurant and then to "Pub Street", which has to be experienced.

 

Overall it was an excellent experience and a very enjoyable trip, enough so that we put down a future cruise deposit for another Ama cruise.  Because of the (relatively) smaller number of passengers, we met and socialized with more people who became good friends than we ever have on larger sea-going cruises (with 20X the number of passengers).  Highly recommended.

 

[bleacher04]

Part 2:  Some Tips

 

It was really, really hot, and very humid.  We’d been to SE Asia at this time of year before, and it seemed hotter this time.  We were constantly washing dri-fit shirts and underwear and stringing them around our cabin.

 

The ship provided cold bottles of water each time we were disembarking for a tour, and the buses always had coolers of water too. AMA also provided water bottle carriers. We went through a lot of water every day.

 

Bringing a stack of crisp US $1 bills was the best advice I got from the people on this forum (thanks @gnome12 and @franski). And $5’s too. Most people tipped guides and drivers during the cruise, even though AMA said that gratuities were included for the river cruise portion.  And we bought lots of scarves and rattan mats using cash, and cold beers for $1.

 

Did I mention that it was really, really hot?

 

We brought old shoes in case of mud but never needed them; it had dried up considerably in the short time since @hoosier2017 took their cruise (and the water level had dropped a lot too, according to one of the bartenders).

 

We never unpacked our raincoats. We only had two major rainfalls, one in the evening and one during a temple tour. AMA provides umbrellas and cheap plastic rain ponchos, and the hotels also provided umbrellas.

 

Electrical:  The AmaDara does indeed have 220V/50Hz outlets that accept both N. American and European plugs. As noted, most modern devices will convert as needed, but be careful if you have an old curling iron or something that is only 110/60. The Sofitel in Siam Reap had the same outlets. The Sofitel in Saigon had UK-style plugs, which was a surprise.

 

Insects were not much of a problem. We applied a 30% DEET cream whenever we were in rural settings — the Cu Chi tunnels, the Killing Fields, rural villages where we walked on dirt paths, and the Angkor temples — and I don’t think we were bitten once. But we did get a couple of undetermined bites at the hotel in Siam Reap.

 

My almost-knee-length shorts were quite acceptable for the Cambodian temples and holy places. As @franski mentioned, they seemed to be more concerned about bare shoulders. In some (but not all) cases, women were allowed to covered their shoulders with scarves.

 

Dinner on board the AmaDara was very casual. The hotel manager only had one request, and that was that men wear long trousers to dinner.

 

Finally, I want to thank everyone on this thread for all of your tips and advice!

[nicki-k]

This thread has been really informative, thank you! We are doing the identical itinerary in April and then returning to the UK via Singapore where we will be spending 3 nights. It's our first time on a river cruise so we will be out of our comfort zone mixing with other guests, it's reassuring to read that you really enjoyed this aspect. We plan to make the most of every experience and can't wait to go. 

[bleacher04]

16 hours ago, nicki-k said:

This thread has been really informative, thank you! We are doing the identical itinerary in April and then returning to the UK via Singapore where we will be spending 3 nights. It's our first time on a river cruise so we will be out of our comfort zone mixing with other guests, it's reassuring to read that you really enjoyed this aspect. We plan to make the most of every experience and can't wait to go. 

 

IMO (and limited experience) it’s way easier to meet people on a river cruise than on a big cruise ship.  The lounge and the dining room are set up to encourage mixing (although there are some tables for two if you’re so inclined).  Two of the couples that we spent a lot of time with we met on the pre-cruise leg in Saigon, and another couple just sat with us for drinks before dinner and we hit it off.  And then you just meet people randomly on tours or just chatting on the top deck.

You will love it, it was a fantastic experience.

[nicki-k]

Did you arrange your own transport from HCMC airport to the hotel. We land about 11am on the Saturday and plan to explore as soon as we arrive at the hotel but do you have to register or do anything with Amawaterways on the Saturday? Thanks for your help.

[bleacher04]

2 hours ago, nicki-k said:

Did you arrange your own transport from HCMC airport to the hotel. We land about 11am on the Saturday and plan to explore as soon as we arrive at the hotel but do you have to register or do anything with Amawaterways on the Saturday? Thanks for your help.

 

We arrived one day early and had booked an extra night at the hotel (so three days total).  We landed around midnight and just took a taxi from the airport.  There was a taxi desk just as you exit the luggage area, we paid by credit card (around USD $20 as I recall), and then a woman from the taxi desk escorted us outside to the taxi stand and to our cab and told the driver where to go.  Grab (SE Asia’s Uber) might have been cheaper but this was clean and painless and easy.

AmaWaterways will have desk set up in the lobby of the hotel.  If it is manned you can register any time — it’s really just checking off your names and giving you luggage tags with your cabin number and coloured ribbons for your luggage (this colour is your group, at least for your time in Saigon and your bus ride to the ship).  They can also provide suggestions for exploring and restaurants.

An info brochure from AmaWaterways was provided to us by the hotel when we checked in.

 

If you’re staying at the Sofitel Saigon Plaza, then the old Post Office and the Notre Dame church are within easy (< 10 minutes) walking distance (although Notre Dame is still covered in scaffolding).  You will go there briefly as part of the Day 1 tour but you may wish to explore on your own — the PO is a weird combination of colonial history on the walls surrounded by jewellery and souvenirs.  Between the Sofitel and the church/PO is a charming little pedestrian alley that’s mainly devoted to bookstores (and coffee shops).  And there’s a long concrete park near the city hall (?) with a large statue of Uncle Ho; you can walk down to the river and then take another street back to the hotel.

[nicki-k]

That’s really useful, thank you! 

[docpetey]

Thanks for all the intel . I have a tripped booked for Jan 2025. Since your review of the food on board was not great I  wonder about looking into Uniworld? I have read great reviews about them but I like the Ama Itinerary  and have already booked all the extensions including Bangkok

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, docpetey said:

Thanks for all the intel . I have a tripped booked for Jan 2025. Since your review of the food on board was not great I  wonder about looking into Uniworld? I have read great reviews about them but I like the Ama Itinerary  and have already booked all the extensions including Bangkok

The Mekong was the only cruise I took with Ama (in 2017). I thought the food was great. I'm a fairly picky eater, although I do like Chinese and Thai food. I surprised myself by always finding something on the daily menu, and never having to resort to the always available items.

[nicki-k]

On 4/2/2024 at 12:43 PM, docpetey said:

Thanks for all the intel . I have a tripped booked for Jan 2025. Since your review of the food on board was not great I  wonder about looking into Uniworld? I have read great reviews about them but I like the Ama Itinerary  and have already booked all the extensions including Bangkok

We returned from this cruise with Amawaterways last weekend and it really was a trip of a lifetime. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the food we ate onboard, there was plenty of choice for us and more than enough to eat throughout the day. What made the trip exceptional for us was the cultural immersion on the tours, the guides and staff in general were first class and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Amadara based on our experience. 

[docpetey]

51 minutes ago, nicki-k said:

We returned from this cruise with Amawaterways last weekend and it really was a trip of a lifetime. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the food we ate onboard, there was plenty of choice for us and more than enough to eat throughout the day. What made the trip exceptional for us was the cultural immersion on the tours, the guides and staff in general were first class and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Amadara based on our experience. 

thanks