Leave tonight: Vietnam & cambodia

Leave tonight for airport. Flight 01.15am. Arrive back Christmas eve 11.45p.m.

All packed. Cat taken to cattery. Christmas presents all wrapped. Christmas baking done.

This going away is exhausting. Will only relax when on the plane.

Sailing on the AmaDara. Last minute surprise from APT. Upgraded to top deck. Yeah. Was on the bottom deck.

Will give trip details on return.

Have a wonderful trip.

Looking forward to your report. We are booked on the same trip in January 2017.

I've been anxiously awaiting reviews from folks that sailed the Mekong in November! We'll be right behind you - leaving Tuesday and doing a similar itinerary with pre-cruise excursion on Uniworld.

My TA did this sailing on AMA Lotus this summer. She loved it! Have a great time!

Leave tonight for airport. Flight 01.15am. Arrive back Christmas eve 11.45p.m.

All packed. Cat taken to cattery. Christmas presents all wrapped. Christmas baking done.

This going away is exhausting. Will only relax when on the plane.

Sailing on the AmaDara. Last minute surprise from APT. Upgraded to top deck. Yeah. Was on the bottom deck.

Will give trip details on return.

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful trip. Hope the kitty forgives you when you return.....bring her some treats!! :D

We'll be there in the first week of Feb with Viking, hope you have a great trip and we look forward to anything you have the time to report back on, but above all relax and enjoy.

Looking forward to your review. I'll be there next month on La Marguerite and if internet is good I hope to do a live blog.

but did have probs with internet on boat. Tried to blog ,but worked only half the time. May be better now,since that was 2 yrs.ago.

It was exhausting,but so rewarding. Like seeing third world during day,but enjoying hi end hotels and riverboat at nite. Best of both worlds.

One of my favorites out of 11 river cruises.

Hope to hear all about your fabulous trip.

jc

Looking forward to your review. I'll be doing that trip with Avalon in January 2017.

This is a shopping hint for all traveling into Cambodia. In Siem Reap you can find the most marvelous purses made from old fishing nets. I bought mine in our hotel, but there was also a shop at the airport with a fantastic selection. The netting is very fine and the lining used makes it waterproof. The sizes go from cell phone cases to shopping totes in a wide variety of colors. My purse can be worn on the shoulder and cost $35 US two hears ago. Be sure to stock on silver for yourselves and for gifts at the silver village that your boat stops at. Ours was a wonderful trip with Avalon thanks in part to the small number of pax. We had 20--max was 32. An amazing part of the world. Pat

Just returned from this trip 10 days ago on the AMAlotus. Will probably write a report after Christmas shopping, baking done.

Best prices are in Siem Reap. did not encounter any mosquitoes.

What a wonderful adventure. Enjoy.

We'll do this with APT on the AmaLotus in February. I hope that you all write reports. :)

It's nice to see so many familiar posters in this thread :) We did the AMALotus a few years ago in December. It was chilly and misty in Hanoi (but still well worth going a few days early) and also in Halong Bay. The rest was blazing sun and pretty hot, about like our Florida summers, but without the daily rain showers. A wonderful time of year to go.

Have a great time!

We will also be on the AMADara but not until March 7, 2017! Will be in a suite on upper deck too. Was so hard to decide between AMA and Avalon but we thought Avalon was just a little too small for us though the cabin pictures were beautiful. We also liked that we get one night on a junk on Ha Long Bay rather than night there in hotel. We want to go to Bangkok after so will need to arrange that on our own.

Would love to hear:

- what is the Chefs table like? Can you go anytime or are reservations limited?

- is there open seating in main dining room or specific tables?

- what is the best gift to bring for children?

- is laundry service available at hotels? On ship?

- what are you very happy you packed?

- what could you have left at home?

- how did you survive the flight? Did you use AMA air?

- did you come into Hanoi early? Yes? where did you stay?

We were on Viking China cruise a few years ago. will be interesting to see to see difference in life along rivers.

Wasn't much to see on Yangtzee with water so high because of dam.

Safe travels and enjoy!

Hi OBX,

We flew into Hanoi a few days early because we felt that was the only weakness in the itinerary. We stayed at the Sofitel Metropole, where our tour stayed, and it was fantastic. Not sure if that's still the AMA hotel. Our tour guide met us at the airport and took us to the hotel even though we came in early. We booked a free tour with HanoiKids for the first morning and had them teach us how to cross the street, a most important skill in Hanoi. We were glad we went early because we had nice weather and got acclimated. The AMA tour was really only one day and it was cold and rainy, and everyone was exhausted from flying in. Most of the flights got in late in the evening, we got up early for a full day of touring, and it was out the door the next morning for Halong Bay. It was kind of miserable, and everyone that didn't come in early said "Oh, Hanoi, we could have skipped that, not a nice city." Those of us that came early thought it was wonderful, and we were rested and ready to go for the tour to start.

We sent laundry out in a couple of places, and it was all cheap and well done. The best was at the hotel near Angkor Wat. It came back in a bamboo box, each piece folded between tissue paper.

We survived the flight by using miles for business class.

We'll be in the Sofitel Metropole with Viking, and we'll be arriving (in comfort thanks to air miles) mid-morning.

So we'll have the rest of the day to have a little wander around and settle in before starting the tour the day after.

I certainly agree that arriving late in the evening, the day before starting, is best avoided if possible.

I must say that each of the Sofitel hotels we are using look excellent.

We did the Mekong on the Amalotus in November. It was a terrific, educational and exciting trip. Many raves about AMA, particularly their service and attention to detail. Cruise Mgr. We is exceptional at his job! Food and beverages great and, all in all, a trip of a lifetime for us. We also took the land tour which provided Cambodian temples and villages. Excellent! It was wise, too, to spend a couple of extra days at both ends (Hanoi and Saigon). We would choose AMA again!

A question for those flying from the US to Hanoi or Saigon. Did you get your visa from a Vietnamese embassy or consulate before you left or did you use the Visa on Arrival program? From preliminary reading the Visa on Arrival seems a lot less time consuming.

Thanks.

Spruce,

please check carefully what the visa prerequisites for Vietnam are at the time when you want to travel and for your nationality. We got our visas - US passport - from the consular service of the Vietnamese embassy in Washington DC. We fly in from Laos on our own. The way we read the rules, we would have needed a letter of invitation from a Vietnamese travel agent to get the visa at the airport.

We have now sent off our passports for the Cambodian visa. e-Visas are not accepted at the border checkpoint on the Mekong river, only at certain check points, one on the road, others at airports.

We arrived 2 days prior to the start of our tour. I loved Hanoi. Instead of paying the outrageous prices of the Sofitel, we stayed at the Oriental Suites in the Old Quarter for $55 a night. (breakfast included) The hotel staff was amazing.

LOved ha Long Bay. we were lucky that the first day we arrived it was sunny. There was a beautiful sunset that evening.The next morning, it began as a cloudy day and by the time we left the caves, it started to rain.

On the Amalotus, it was open seating.

As for bringing gifts for kids, I would stray against that as there are so many and you don't want to leave any out. The best thing you can do is purchase pencils, markers and paper to leave with the teachers at the school.

Direct from the Embassy in Washington. Same for Cambodia.

A question for those flying from the US to Hanoi or Saigon. Did you get your visa from a Vietnamese embassy or consulate before you left or did you use the Visa on Arrival program? From preliminary reading the Visa on Arrival seems a lot less time consuming.

 

Thanks.

We flew into Hanoi and did our visas beforehand because we were flying in late and I was worried the little window wouldn't be open. Our traveling companions landed in the middle of the day and did the Visa on Arrival with no problem. Easy peasy. I can't remember, but we may have needed double entry?

For Cambodia, we brought two passport sized pictures each, and with those and $20, our tour guide handled the visas for us as a group. It might be different now - our trip was two years ago.

We had a wonderful thread going on here for years, but it's fallen by the wayside. Some of the information is old, but there's great stuff in there. It helped me tremendously. I'll see if I can find it and bump it up.

I can't remember, but we may have needed double entry?

Yes, you usually will as you enter Vietnam, leave it to go to Cambodia and then re-enter Vietnam again.

It creates an odd situation for UK passport holders as at the moment, you don't need a visa to enter Vietnam with a UK passport as long as your visit is no more than 15 days, but it you want to re-enter Vietnam within 30 days you do need a visa.

So the first entry at the start of the trip doesn't need a visa for a UK passport holder, but the second near the end of the trip does...