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Angor Watt


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I was there but on a land tour. think thru ship i feel rushed. also at one point the ship did stay in a 5 star hotel. I do not think you would get the time to climb all the levels and it is breath taking but when we were there very muddy and we had floods.

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Yes a land tour from cruise ship. What time of year was it flooded?

 

Oct a few back.. our hotel was fine-Raffles- but I could not walk across the street to the gardens as it was to wet. we changed part of the tour as roads were to flooded to drive down to some other Wat. water was knee high. we had one lunch out of hotel and there were planks everywhere. food was good. I ended up at the hotel spa vs the pool one afternoon.

 

I agree you need longer than a ships tour. what about an add on after the cruise. or do a land tour with in of the top companies in the states.

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Long way to come and thought of doing it on our own ahead of time but flights are difficult and loose days. Also coming in jet lagged spoils the enjoyment.

 

agree on the jet lag part. could you land and enjoy a hotel pool and spa. wake the next day and enjoy the Wat- maybe something else and then fly to join ship. my land tour was Nam, Cammbodia and Thailand so i had to fly from ? do not remember. check pout Tauck tours as i would of done a tour close to that. that might help with ideas for flights and hotels and base your needs on that. i do that all the time when i want to do my own thing. I also read A&K fro ideas. then go on my own.

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A couple of years ago, while on board the Celebrity Millenium, we took the ship's excursion from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap, and then on the Bangkok where we met up with the ship again. We flew in and our of Siem and stayed 2 nights at a 5-star. It was one of the best experiences of my life, no exaggeration. The tour was the top, everything taken care of with no fussing. Our guide was great, and the places he took us extraordinary. Service and food at the hotel were exceptional, actually some of the best cuisine of my life. But best of all were the tours of Ankor, truly one of the world's most amazing places. This was an expensive excursion but worth every penny. One of the smartest decisions of my life.

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Problem with before cruise is we fly from Canada to Hong Kong Hong Kong to Singapore. I would go from HK to Seim Repp but can not find flights without loosing days. So then I have to fly into Singapore late night get up next morning after overseas flight get back on a plane to Cambodia tour the few days and fly back for ship. Seems like a lot of flying.

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Problem with before cruise is we fly from Canada to Hong Kong Hong Kong to Singapore. I would go from HK to Seim Repp but can not find flights without loosing days. So then I have to fly into Singapore late night get up next morning after overseas flight get back on a plane to Cambodia tour the few days and fly back for ship. Seems like a lot of flying.

 

I totally agree others might not.. I could not do it. i flew Singapore Air and still went thru HK not nonstop from LAX. ther is no such thing from Canada to Cambodia? where does the cruise end? I know there is always more to see but the main goal in the Wat yourself. never sure if a cruise line will give you enough time there. when i was there 4 of us went to the top most never did.. the oldest-not me- and the youngest went up.

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We finish in HK at Christmas time. Still looking at options but I looked again at flights and I would have two choices if we did it before on our own we would half the 15 hr flight to HK then overnight at HK airport hotel next AM on to Siem Repp. Or fly on to Sing. get in by 11 pm, up next AM to flight to Siem Repp.

It all seems a lot and the cruise pkg. is convienent since we have been to Bangkok many times.

I do hear many saying it is not enough time but to me some is better than none and hoping to return.

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We finish in HK at Christmas time. Still looking at options but I looked again at flights and I would have two choices if we did it before on our own we would half the 15 hr flight to HK then overnight at HK airport hotel next AM on to Siem Repp. Or fly on to Sing. get in by 11 pm, up next AM to flight to Siem Repp.

It all seems a lot and the cruise pkg. is convienent since we have been to Bangkok many times.

I do hear many saying it is not enough time but to me some is better than none and hoping to return.

 

I never thought I be in Bangkok again and I been 3 times.. it not enough time but it is better than nothing. honestly we had two nights and it was enough time. mainly due to the floods we could not or they would not drive the road where the water was.

 

can you more or less post what they are doing and add hotel . that makes a difference there. i did not do a cruise overnight but partly as i been to the places and it was too much bus and not enough go go go. plus i would of skipped the dinner to enjoy Queenstown. to many places there to see and do.

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We finish in HK at Christmas time. Still looking at options but I looked again at flights and I would have two choices if we did it before on our own we would half the 15 hr flight to HK then overnight at HK airport hotel next AM on to Siem Repp. Or fly on to Sing. get in by 11 pm, up next AM to flight to Siem Repp.

It all seems a lot and the cruise pkg. is convienent since we have been to Bangkok many times.

I do hear many saying it is not enough time but to me some is better than none and hoping to return.

 

I agree...our Land Discoveries has it all set up for you. I'd take the ship tour :)

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We finish in HK at Christmas time. Still looking at options but I looked again at flights and I would have two choices if we did it before on our own we would half the 15 hr flight to HK then overnight at HK airport hotel next AM on to Siem Repp. Or fly on to Sing. get in by 11 pm, up next AM to flight to Siem Repp.

It all seems a lot and the cruise pkg. is convienent since we have been to Bangkok many times.

I do hear many saying it is not enough time but to me some is better than none and hoping to return.

 

Personally I'd take that option there are times when the logistics are too challenging to DIY. We did a cruise ship overnights option off Azamara in Israel a few years ago. The doubters said not enough time etc etc I know we saw as much as everyone could have done and the organisation was spit on

Edited by uktog
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Yes that is how we felt. To return and do another trip another time maybe but you never know as life gets in the way. So we think ships tour that flies in afternoon gives you evening I think at Raffles Angkor and then tour morning come back to hotel for lunch take bags on bus or van and Tor more sites then on to flight.

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Yes that is how we felt. To return and do another trip another time maybe but you never know as life gets in the way. So we think ships tour that flies in afternoon gives you evening I think at Raffles Angkor and then tour morning come back to hotel for lunch take bags on bus or van and Tor more sites then on to flight.

 

if it Raffles you will love it. When i stayed there we had 3 meals there and one out. there are two restaurants there. one a buffet-spicy food. make sure you eat in the other one. reason is the lunch buffet the same as dinner one. you might get bored or not. I managed to eat in the fancy one both nights. totally different foods each night. try to find some pool time. great pool. to bad the flight not earlier on day one. as than you could really sun or use the spa. in case of mud wear sandals easier to clean.

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I would have hoped they would come in earlier but that is what it says

 

not sure at all how many flight pre day out of BangkoK. but it would be nice to enjoy the hotel more. you are paying for it too. I know you will love it. I just read about a land/river cruise from a travel book that came today. maybe one day i will go back.

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Is that the one that goes up the Irridalady not sure I spelt that right.

 

Yes my husband and I are still discussing and saying maybe we should leave the Angkor trip and do it with a river cruise another winter.

 

yes that the one and i saw one i loved more on the Mekong that ended in Nam. not sure if i can use name but it is A&K. expensive but the best around. i think it was the Mekong one that went from Cambodia. land tours tire me out but i see more that way and know if I need to go back. also some parts of europe you only go by land.

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Personally I'd take that option there are times when the logistics are too challenging to DIY. We did a cruise ship overnights option off Azamara in Israel a few years ago. The doubters said not enough time etc etc I know we saw as much as everyone could have done and the organisation was spit on

 

Agree with Bonnie and uktog--in your situation, I would take the ship's tour!!! For an AZ for a Buenos Aires to Rio cruise (Christmas 2014-New Year's 2015), I'd decided that seeing Iguazu Falls was a "must do." (as Eleanor Roosevelt commented on seeing Iguazu Falls, "poor Niagara.)" Anyway, I tried hard to figure out a DIY plan. Flights to get there were few and far between and there were many logistical issues. I did not want to deal with an overnight as it didn't seem necessary.

 

So, we went with Az's tour and it was GREAT!!! Yes, we had to be ready to go by the shore ex desk area at 4:00am, then bus to airport, then flight, then bus to the Falls. The escort and guide and the flights AZ had arranged were terrific. It was a looooong day, we didn't get back to the ship until about 7:30 pm, but we really got to see Iguazu (from the Argentina side, which I think is better) and to see numerous falls and go in a boat under some of the smaller falls. The Falls are magnificent!

 

How wonderful was the company AZ had hired to shepard us (we were a group of maybe 20-25)to the Falls and back? We were in the airport closest to the Falls waiting for our flight, and my husband realized he didn't have his phone and had left it on the bus. Our escort called the bus driver who by this time was probably 20+ minutes away and told him to come back to the airport. She runs down to meet the driver curbside, finds the phone in the seat pocket, and sprints back to the boarding gate with about 5 minutes to spare before the ramp was removed. Our heroine! Shows you that AZ hires high-quality local tour providers that will look out for AZ passengers (this lovely woman really went above and beyond).

 

AZ sends a crewmember on (almost?) every excursion, in case of emergency, so any problems can be communicated to the ship, but also to evaluate the quality of service given by the local tour provider. When we were hiking to gorgeous Lopes Mendes beach in Ihla Grande, Brazil, we were with the IT officer in charge of the ship's satellite reception for TV, Internet, etc. and he told us this.

Edited by pvkatmom
forgot something
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Is that the one that goes up the Irridalady not sure I spelt that right.

Yes my husband and I are still discussing and saying maybe we should leave the Angkor trip and do it with a river cruise another winter.

 

The Irriwady is in Myanmar. A wonderful river trip with glorious temples, but not near Angkor Wat.

We did the Viking trip up the Mekong (Vietnam and Cambodia) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The trip finished with three days in Siem Reap at a 5 star hotel. Good tours of Angkor Wat and a couple of nearby sites. I absolutely agree that you need at least two days there and three would be better. Do it from the ocean cruise only if there is no chance you could ever see it otherwise. But I highly recommend the river.

Jay

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