This cruise fitted our itinerary, but on reflection the ship was just too big. With dining mainly at the aft end and entertainments at the front the amount of walking was huge. Food was OK but not up to the standard expected. Drinks prices are OK but drinks packages are way too expensive. Shore excursions were good but expensive, if you could get on them, many of the popular ones were sold out 2 weeks before departure ! The buffet was chaotic so only used when all else failed. Booking of dining options was complex with the online app and many older travellers took the view that they would just stand at the restaurant entrance until the staff let them in. Back to Fred Olsen next time.
We travelled with APT Travelmarval (4th time) on the river ship the Mekong Apsara , it was amazing the ship not like the European ones but in keeping with the surroundings every cabin had a balcony. The staff couldn’t do enough for us friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. The food was amazing with local dishes and there was never a time when we couldn’t find something to enjoy. One day the chefs prepared a fruit tasting table for us I can honestly say I had never heard of half of them, the fresh mango was my favourite tasting nothing like the mangoes we can buy in England. We had lovely dancing demonstrations in Cambodia the “ Apsara “ we started off in Siem Reap in Cambodia sailing down the Mekong over the Vietnamese border and continuing to Ho Chi Min City staying in a hotel for 2 nights before flying home. Amazing experiences along the way visiting villages, schools, temples, palaces tasting local cuisines although I did give the deep fried tarantulas and crunchy crickets a miss. All in all it was a trip of a life time sailing along the Mekong enjoying the luxury of our river ship, we can highly recommend this trip and APT Travel Marvel company , looking forward to choosing where to go next year.
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very good
Good overall but not entirely to our taste
We were very disappointed with the cruise and only partly due to the fact that we missed a number of ports (mainly due to Hurricane Fiona and appreciate this was beyond Ambassadors control) but on two of the Ports we ended up in a completely different (to that previously informed with a lot of hype) and inappropriate berths, the organisation for the change of berths was particularly poor, no organised transfer coaches, 5 hrs delays, completely ruined our day in Montreal and Quebec slightly better.
Ship needs a lot of work / some expertise especially with heating / air conditioning that was absolutely awful, either too hot or too cold. Some electrically operated doors were completely broken and nobody listened to suggestions to fit handles resulting in many broken fingernails.
I for one will not be sailing with Ambassador again. CMV was fantastic in comparison.
The only negative comment is that everything had to be said in 5 languages
Travelmarvel Vega
Travelmarvel Vega is a boutique river ship sailing with Travelmarvel.
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