Irradwaddy Burma river cruise

We just signed up to take a river cruise on the Irrawaddy in Burma with Vantage n Jan 2018. This will be our first trip with Vantage. Our previous river cruises have been with Viking and Grand Circle. Anyone have experience with Vantage or Burma?

I rate our Irrawadddy cruise with Pandaw in 2014 as one of our best experiences on all seven continents. The small boat took us almost to the China border, well beyond the tourist strip from Yangon to Mandalay. The Irrawaddy is the highway of the country and we saw so much of life in this country emerging from its long period of isolation.

I did post on this board on our return and there have been several more recent postings about Irrawaddy cruises here since then that should reveal themselves if you "do a search".

I hope you enjoy as much as we did.

We just signed up to take a river cruise on the Irrawaddy in Burma with Vantage n Jan 2018. This will be our first trip with Vantage. Our previous river cruises have been with Viking and Grand Circle. Anyone have experience with Vantage or Burma?

 

Burma is amazing. We did a river cruise with APT from Yangon to Mandalay last October and loved every minute. I have posted a full picture review on the 'Asia' forum in the PORTS OF CALL section. It is about halfway down the list. Although it isn't a Vantage tour, you may find some useful hints and tips.

 

I posted there in the hope of generating interest in this beautiful and relatively unspoiled country.

We did this trip in March of 2014 with Viking. This was, I think, the first year that Viking did this cruise and the boat was leased from Pandaw. The only Viking employee on board was the cruise director. The cruise was fantastic and I highly recommend it. I would suggest doing it earlier in the year, say October through January, after the monsoons and before it gets hot. In March the river was low and the temperature reached 110 F one day! The temples we saw were beautiful and the people we met were really nice.

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Looks like an amazing trip. Many of the places you visited is on our itinerary as well. One question though...I saw in your pictures many of your group, both men and women, wearing shorts. I had read that knees and shoulders were supposed to be covered. Was that a problem?

Burma is amazing. We did a river cruise with APT from Yangon to Mandalay last October and loved every minute. I have posted a full picture review on the 'Asia' forum in the PORTS OF CALL section. It is about halfway down the list. Although it isn't a Vantage tour, you may find some useful hints and tips.

 

I posted there in the hope of generating interest in this beautiful and relatively unspoiled country.

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Looks like we have an amazing trip ahead of us. One question though...In many of your photos I saw your tour mates, both men and women, wearing shorts. I had read that knees and shoulders should be covered. Was this an issue?

We just signed up to take a river cruise on the Irrawaddy in Burma with Vantage n Jan 2018. This will be our first trip with Vantage. Our previous river cruises have been with Viking and Grand Circle. Anyone have experience with Vantage or Burma?

I did the Irrawaddy with Vantage a few months ago (Oct/Nov 2016). I have also done 2 cruises with Viking, 10 with GCCL, and other river cruises companies in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. No trip is perfect, but we greatly enjoyed Burma. The people are very laid back and kind, willing to accept new things that improves their lives, but without feeling an obligation to buy into everything modern just because it is there. IMO Burmese definitely prefer knees and shoulders covered (especially in temples, where both shoes and socks should be removed), but they generally are too gracious to complain to non-conformers.

 

I see you are also doing the Duoro - I was there in April. I'm leaving the end of this week for two weeks cruising, but I'll try to answer questions.

 

Thom

I did the Irrawaddy with Vantage a few months ago (Oct/Nov 2016). I have also done 2 cruises with Viking, 10 with GCCL, and other river cruises companies in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. No trip is perfect, but we greatly enjoyed Burma. The people are very laid back and kind, willing to accept new things that improves their lives, but without feeling an obligation to buy into everything modern just because it is there. IMO Burmese definitely prefer knees and shoulders covered (especially in temples, where both shoes and socks should be removed), but they generally are too gracious to complain to non-conformers.

 

I see you are also doing the Duoro - I was there in April. I'm leaving the end of this week for two weeks cruising, but I'll try to answer questions.

 

Thom

 

You didn't say anything about Vantage in particular. Their itinerary and price was what sold us. They will begin using a different boat in 2018. Well I guess we are following in your footsteps with both Burma and Duoro.

You didn't say anything about Vantage in particular. Their itinerary and price was what sold us. They will begin using a different boat in 2018. Well I guess we are following in your footsteps with both Burma and Duoro.

My Vantage trips are:

Antarctica (group on Hurtigruten Fram)

Norway Coast (Hurtigruten)

Seine River

Soane/Rhone River

Douro River

Irrawaddy River

Mekong River (immediately after Irrawaddy as a combo package)

 

Dealing with the sales office in Boston can be trying at times. The descriptions of the trips can be overly generous (14 nights on a boat and a plane trip turn into a 16 day trip [maybe] but a 2 night extension becoming 3 days and then the whole thing becoming 19 days [with only 16 nights accommodation] is a stretch). They can be very good at stonewalling reasonable requests (but I did get my flights to SE Asia switched from United to ANA with no fuss).

 

The trips themselves, and their destination employees have been great! On the Irrawaddy trip the hotels in Bangkok and in Yangon were very nice. Expect to ride in anything and everything (canoe, ox carts, bicycle sidecar, motorcycle taxis, etc) offered as an experience; longer rides were in normal buses. The boat crew was wonderful. Our Irrawaddy boat had some maintenance issues (nothing major, but recurring), so a new boat may be in order.

 

Hope this helps. More questions will be welcomed.

Thom

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Looks like an amazing trip. Many of the places you visited is on our itinerary as well. One question though...I saw in your pictures many of your group, both men and women, wearing shorts. I had read that knees and shoulders were supposed to be covered. Was that a problem?

 

Hi Twototravel,

I'm glad that you found the photos of use. We were advised to cover knees and shoulders at religious sites so many of our fellow passengers carried a thin cover-up and a few of the ladies and gentleman used shorts with a zip-on part or brought a longyi to put on during the temple visits. It was hot so it was good to wear cool and comfortable clothes for most of the time.

 

It was mandatory to remove shoes and socks during visits to all the pagodas and temples. The 'wet wipes' were very nice to use before putting shoes back on at the end of the visits.

 

Enjoy your trip.

...The 'wet wipes' were very nice to use before putting shoes back on at the end of the visits...

I want to buy stock in the Burmese wet wipe manufacturers. On our trip (and I think it was typical) we got wet wipes primarily for our feet, but usable for hands, face, arms or whatever at every conceivable point. I'd end up with a dozen fresh ones in my pocket.

 

Reboarding our ship (again I think typical of all lines) you left your shoes at the entry to the ship in a box with your room number on it. The box contained ship furnished sandals to wear on-board. The crew cleaned your shoes and put them back in "your" box. There is lots of dust and mud in the villages, and this service helped cut down on too much of it in the boat itself. (It was okay to wear your shoes on-board after they were cleaned, but many people just left the sandals on. Return the sandals to your box prior to getting back off the ship, so they are there for the next time.)

I have flat feet and need to wear orthotics. I hope that I can manage the temples barefoot, but can I keep my own orthotic sandals or clogs in the bin as long as they are only worn on board?

I have flat feet and need to wear orthotics. I hope that I can manage the temples barefoot, but can I keep my own orthotic sandals or clogs in the bin as long as they are only worn on board?

 

I'm sure that will be fine. If you have 2 pairs of your orthotic shoes you could keep one pair for wearing on the ship and one pair for wearing on shore.

My Vantage trips are:

Antarctica (group on Hurtigruten Fram)

Norway Coast (Hurtigruten)

Seine River

Soane/Rhone River

Douro River

Irrawaddy River

Mekong River (immediately after Irrawaddy as a combo package)

 

Dealing with the sales office in Boston can be trying at times. The descriptions of the trips can be overly generous (14 nights on a boat and a plane trip turn into a 16 day trip [maybe] but a 2 night extension becoming 3 days and then the whole thing becoming 19 days [with only 16 nights accommodation] is a stretch). They can be very good at stonewalling reasonable requests (but I did get my flights to SE Asia switched from United to ANA with no fuss).

 

The trips themselves, and their destination employees have been great! On the Irrawaddy trip the hotels in Bangkok and in Yangon were very nice. Expect to ride in anything and everything (canoe, ox carts, bicycle sidecar, motorcycle taxis, etc) offered as an experience; longer rides were in normal buses. The boat crew was wonderful. Our Irrawaddy boat had some maintenance issues (nothing major, but recurring), so a new boat may be in order.

 

Hope this helps. More questions will be welcomed.

Thom

 

I agree with your assessment about dealing with their head office. I was on the phone booking for what seemed like an hour...website info for 2018 was messed up, prices were not right, etc. etc. As it turned out we ended up paying less than expected. We splurged for business upgrade; this actually cost more than the trip :eek: I called back customer service with an additional, very simple question and the guy on the other end just wanted to upsale me :mad:

 

What denomination of US bills should we bring to exchange for local currency?

 

The boat they are using in 2018 is the Markana Queen. Looks really nice.

 

We are looking forward to the trip. I've also been looking at the forums on Trip Advisor as well for general info.

I agree with your assessment about dealing with their head office. I was on the phone booking for what seemed like an hour...website info for 2018 was messed up, prices were not right, etc. etc. As it turned out we ended up paying less than expected. We splurged for business upgrade; this actually cost more than the trip :eek: I called back customer service with an additional, very simple question and the guy on the other end just wanted to upsale me :mad:

 

What denomination of US bills should we bring to exchange for local currency?

The boat they are using in 2018 is the Markana Queen. Looks really nice.

 

We are looking forward to the trip. I've also been looking at the forums on Trip Advisor as well for general info.

 

Our program director recommended that we exchange a $100 bill at the airport to get the best exchange rate. We took lots of $1, $5 and $10 bills. The street vendors sold lots of items for $10.

 

Don't forget to take all the OTC drugs that you might need (especially Imodium) because it is not easy to purchase those items there.

What denomination of US bills should we bring to exchange for local currency?...

In Thailand there are a lot of ATMs; most have a 200 Baht (~$6) service charge, but our Charles Schwab ATM card covers those fees as well as charging us no Foreign Transaction Fee. Bigger shops, restaurants and hotels take Credit Cards, most vendors expect baht (dollars used much less than in Myanmar). If you are changing US bills, there is a slight premium for larger bills. Crisp new $20s, $50s and $100s seemed to be readily accepted at currency exchanges. We got more baht than we thought w would use and used them for part of the tip to the guides (making up any shortfall in US$).

 

ATMs are uncommon in Myanmar. The airport cash exchange gave a slight advantage to large bills; I cashed a crisp new US$100 into Myanmar kyat for walking around money. Tips to the boat crew and boat charges (drinks, etc) could be done by credit card,as could any charges made at the Yangon hotel. The boat Cruise Director and the Vantage guide were happy with US$, Thai baht or Myanmar kyat. We are way beyond needing many souvenirs, so we didn't need a lot of kyat, but most people probably cashed more than we did. Actually many of the small items sold by the vendors gathered by the boat ramp were quoted in dollars (often $1 to $3), but I'm sure they would have taken kyat. The CD would comment that the "mosquitoes" (vendors) were out in full force. They were persistent; if you said "maybe" leaving the boat, they would be sure to pounce on you on the way back on the boat. Lyn looked at an inexpensive bracelet as we were climbing into a horse cart, but didn't buy. 300 yards down the road a fast moving bicycle pulls right up behind us and the sales pitch continues. We go into a temple, and she is there when we come out. Lyn buys. Rather than finding this annoying, I found it amusing, so I guess a win all around.

 

We probably carried US cash of two or three $100s, maybe twenty $20s, a few $10s and $5s and maybe forty $1s.

Thom,

How did you feel about doing both rivers? Given the time and wear and tear getting to that part of the world, I would consider it.

Or should I do one, and explore more of that country?

Thanks!