Trip Report: Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia & the Mekong (Uniworld) 12/20/15

[ewizabeff]

Had a chuckle when I saw your list of past sailings, one of my first cruises was on the Monarch of the Seas and I'm going to "graduate" to river cruises later this year, with a slightly more "ordinary" Rhine trip (on Viking)! However I have been tempted by the more exotic routes and your blog has inspired me to definitely look into it - budget and time allowing!!

 

My parents got us started young with ocean cruises, and it was actually me that suggested they join Aaron and I on a river cruise! They're coming with us again next summer.

 

If you have an interest in the Vietnam/Cambodia itineraries, I recently noticed that Emerald is doing them at a pretty affordable price, and their itineraries look great. I can't speak first-hand of that line until I give them a shot in France in July 2017, but so far reports have been good.

[deec]

and you do an awesome job as does JPalbny....always a great read with thoughtful insights.......thanks to both of you for all your efforts!

 

Westcoasttech....check out Vantage ( reasonably priced for the trip) for some of their exotic cruises. We have been very happy with our two cruises with them to the Irrawaddy and then the Peruvian Amazon (not sure with recent incidents that I would take the Amzaon trip now) we are scheduled for the Mekong and Cambodia in early November. My only caveat about recommending Vantage is that their passengers seem to be "older" ( my husband and I are 66) and this has presented an occasional hindrance on some of the excursions. I hope someone is nice to me when I am 80 and still want to travel!!! The trips have been outstanding!!!

[whatnot]

Have been really enjoying your reports. So much so that we think we want to do this cruise. We love Uniworld, ( have done the Danube and the Rhine and know this will be more rustic). We are thinking of doing Vietnam in perhaps January or February of 2018. Anyone know when that schedule comes out so we can book early?

[ewizabeff]

Have been really enjoying your reports. So much so that we think we want to do this cruise. We love Uniworld, ( have done the Danube and the Rhine and know this will be more rustic). We are thinking of doing Vietnam in perhaps January or February of 2018. Anyone know when that schedule comes out so we can book early?

 

If I remember correctly, the 2017 schedule came out in late December 2015/early January 2016. So... probably in about 4 months?

[deec]

We will be on a Vantage Mekong trip in November. The provided information states that we can plan on using USD in Cambodia ( we did that in Myanmar) but in Vietnam the information seems to suggest we have local currency. Are there convenient ATM's or should we get it before we leave the USA ? we will start in HoChiMinh (Saigon) after starting in Hong Kong. Will we need much money except for souvenirs? Doesn't appear that we will have much free time.

 

re-reading this review and getting excited

[Mark_T]

Although it is not an official currency in Vietnam, you will find that some places will still accept USD, but really you should be using their own currency for simplicity and certainty.

 

We did find that ATM's in Vietnam were a bit of a lottery, many would not accept US bank cards but with a little searching we did find a Citibank ATM in Saigon for example and that worked fine.

 

Easiest way to handle this is to convert USD in the hotel, or just bring the currency with you.

[ewizabeff]

I'm still at it: Here's my diary from the second-to-last day of our Uniworld trip. It has a little bit about our city tour, pictures of our accommodations, and lots of information on an amazing seafood street food tour that we booked on our own.

 

Ho Chi Minh City: City Tour, Park Hyatt, and Saigon Street Eats Seafood Tour

[deec]

Thanks so much for your wonderful blog...

just finishing in time

we leave tomorrow ( Vantage ) with a pre-stop in Hong Kong!!!

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Thanks for all. Your blog convinced me to plan an early 2018 trip to Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. I had not given much thought to this before reading your posts. Now I am hooked.

It also helped that we each got 1,000,000 points from opening Chase Reserved credit cards which will go a long way booking air fare.

[ewizabeff]

Glad I could provide the info you needed to decide! Although, I think you added a a zero to the Chase Sapphire Reserve signup bonus....if not, I really missed out by not getting that deal.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Oops. You are right. One hundred thousand points for signing up.

[whatnot]

The 2018 schedule is out but not the brochure. We are working on booking the Vietnam/Cambodia Uniworld cruise but waiting on our friends to decide.

 

I have a question about arrival. You mentioned that you were confused about the start times of your tours in Hanoi and had arrived earlier. Yet you said that a Uniworld transfer met you at the airport and took you to the hotel. So I am a little confused since we have arrived the day before a Uniworld cruise in Europe and they would not provide transfers. I always like to go in a day early because I once had a flight problem caused by weather and we had a 24 hour delay and did not arrive until after the tour had started and missed a whole day of our tour.

 

Looking forward to a clarification on this.

[ewizabeff]

The 2018 schedule is out but not the brochure. We are working on booking the Vietnam/Cambodia Uniworld cruise but waiting on our friends to decide.

 

I have a question about arrival. You mentioned that you were confused about the start times of your tours in Hanoi and had arrived earlier. Yet you said that a Uniworld transfer met you at the airport and took you to the hotel. So I am a little confused since we have arrived the day before a Uniworld cruise in Europe and they would not provide transfers. I always like to go in a day early because I once had a flight problem caused by weather and we had a 24 hour delay and did not arrive until after the tour had started and missed a whole day of our tour.

 

Looking forward to a clarification on this.

 

Sorry for the late reply - just got back from a vacation to Japan!

 

We booked our extra night in the hotel through Uniworld, which of course we paid a premium for. But, it meant that they would still provide the airport transfers for us. Having never traveled in Asia before, that was important to us.

 

If I were to do it again, now with two Asian trips under our belts, I'd save the money and book the first night's hotel on my own (same hotel as Uniworld) and use one of the recognized transfer companies from the airport.

 

So, short version: If you're willing to pay the premium on the cost of the hotel (it honestly might be double what you would pay booking directly), Uniworld will consider it a pre-trip extension and include the transfer, in my experience.

[jpalbny]

Let me add a caveat to Ewizabeff's post. It is almost always more expensive to book hotel rooms through the cruise line but not always. Sometimes you can get a deal.

 

For our upcoming Uniworld cruise to India, we're going in a day early and the room was $100 cheaper if we booked through them. Booking directly with the hotel was actually more expensive. I was surprised, and checked a few times to be sure that it wasn't $xxx per person.

 

So, check now and then. Sometimes it's worth it. But we pretty much always book on our own in Europe, and get to the hotel independently using public transport.

 

Ewizabeff, how was Japan? Are you blogging about it yet?

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

Edited January 6, 2017 by jpalbny

[whatnot]

Thanks so much to both of you! Guess I'll just have to check. If the hotel is really pricey, then it might be worth booking it on our own. Wonder how pricey the transfers would be on our own? Sometimes transfer companies can be pricey too! But not always.

 

Hope you enjoyed Japan! Let us know!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks so much to both of you! Guess I'll just have to check. If the hotel is really pricey, then it might be worth booking it on our own. Wonder how pricey the transfers would be on our own? Sometimes transfer companies can be pricey too! But not always.

 

I have been burned more often by trying to be frugal on transfers than spending too much. There's nothing to start or end a trip on the right note better than having a private transfer arranged from the airport direct to your hotel. If taxi ripoffs are a worry [often :roll eyes:], you can get the hotel to arrange the transfer with someone they can vouch for. The price may be high, but reliability is priceless!

[ewizabeff]

JP, good to know that sometimes the hotel through the cruise company can actually work in a traveler's favor!

 

Japan was fantastic, even though I feel we barely scratched the surface of it. We had an experience of a lifetime on Miyajima at the Chinkasai (fire festival) on New Year's Eve. I kept a journal (of which I need to finish half) and will eventually blog about it... but I still have 3-4 blog posts left from last New Year's trip (topic of this thread), then I have a full journal from our May trip to England, and a November trip to Germany to blog. I decided I need to make this a priority during the winter months. I love preserving our memories, and I also like knowing that it helps obsessed travelers like myself learn from my experiences (for better or worse).

 

There were some interesting additions to our Japan trip (minor earthquakes, cancelled inter-Japan flight b/c of lightning strike, food poisoning), but none of them will make me think less than fondly on my experience..... except maybe the one restaurant that caused me to spend a day in our hotel, close to the bathroom!

[jpalbny]

JP, good to know that sometimes the hotel through the cruise company can actually work in a traveler's favor!

 

Japan was fantastic, even though I feel we barely scratched the surface of it. We had an experience of a lifetime on Miyajima at the Chinkasai (fire festival) on New Year's Eve. I kept a journal (of which I need to finish half) and will eventually blog about it... but I still have 3-4 blog posts left from last New Year's trip (topic of this thread), then I have a full journal from our May trip to England, and a November trip to Germany to blog. I decided I need to make this a priority during the winter months. I love preserving our memories, and I also like knowing that it helps obsessed travelers like myself learn from my experiences (for better or worse).

 

There were some interesting additions to our Japan trip (minor earthquakes, cancelled inter-Japan flight b/c of lightning strike, food poisoning), but none of them will make me think less than fondly on my experience..... except maybe the one restaurant that caused me to spend a day in our hotel, close to the bathroom!

 

It's only happened twice that the cruise line rate was better, but when it does, you can't beat the convenience!

 

Sounds like an interesting trip...sometimes the misadventures make for more interesting, and certainly more unusual, stories. Bummer about the foodborne illness, but it can happen anywhere. I was not surprised at all that we got something in Madagascar. Luckily, I travel with a pharmacy, and Cipro still works for most things.

 

Japan is moving up on our list. Looking forward to reading your blog, when you have time to put it together. I know how much time they take. My Madagascar and South Africa trip took over a month to do, and I have not yet started on our Christmas trip to Paris and Geneva.

[pinotlover]

With Uniworld, the hotel rate they provided for our extra nights at the Ritz Carlton in Beijing and at the Four Seasons in Cairo was less expensive than the price I could get booking myself. Plus the Uniworld price included the transfer, which made it a slam dunk.

 

One slight drawback I discovered. I'm a Marriott rewards member, and have battled with the RC over those nights stayed there. The Ritz claims that their contract rate with Uniworld is too low to award nightly credits. So even though I didn't pay that large of a discount for the room through Uniworld, to the RC it doesn't matter. So in the long run, I lost a bunch of Marriott rewards points, but got a free transfer. Additionally, I was never in the Marriott system as having a reservation at the Ritz, prior to our departure. Marriott said no record of our, or even any Uniworld, reservation existed, that it must be through the Chinese tour Agency! I'm not in the Hilton rewards program, so it doesn't matter to me with the Four Seasons. Glad to be getting that transfer with our day early arrival in Cairo! ;)

 

On this subject, on the Uniworld Spain and Douro trip, I opted to book the Westin Palace directly for our day early arrival in Madrid, in lieu of having Uniworld book it. Westin/spg gave me the points for that night I booked, plus incidental spending the duration of being there, but would not give me points or credits for the nights booked with Uniworld for the cruise/tour portion of my stay.

[deec]

On our last trip we were also unable to accrue MILES on American Airline booked through Vantage. Marriott has not given us points in the past but has upgraded our room and given free internet when our stay was through a tour company.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

We have never been able to secure hotel points when booked in through a tour group as part of the tour. Sometimes I get other perks when I show my membership card however. I always join every loyalty program I find. When I pay hotels direct, all hotel points convert to Avios to my British Air account.

 

On a tour of OZ/NZ with Road Scholar, we could earn miles on the intercountry flights.

[OBX Cruisers]

After reading your blog about the food tour in Ho Chi Minh City, I was thinking you all must have iron stomachs! Looks like Japan did you in though. Sorry about that and hope you're feeling much better now. Thanks for all the time in sharing your experiences. We leave for Hanoi and our AMA Waterways tour on March 4. Really looking forward to it!

[ewizabeff]

I do have a VERY strong stomach :) The funny thing about Japan was that what made me sick was a very busy restaurant serving "normal" food. It was nowhere near the most adventurous thing I ate.

 

You'll have a great time on your trip!

[ewizabeff]

441 days later, I wrote the second-to-last blog for this trip: Ho Chi Minh City - Remnants of War

[ewizabeff]

And, the trip home. This doesn't have anything about Uniworld, but it concludes the blog for this trip.

 

The Long Journey Home from Vietnam

Next on the blog are non-cruise trips (UK in spring, Germany in fall, and Japan in winter) so I won't be posting them here. Feel free to visit to keep up if you like!

 

I'll try to be a little more timely with our trip journal from our France river cruise this summer.