Luxury Mekong River Cruises

Activities: Travel to My Tho, cruise along the Mekong, enjoy the sunset, hit Cai Be

Meal: Lunch, Dinner

We gather before noontime at our welcome lounge in Saigon. Lean back with a drink as our staff welcomes you and collects your details for boarding. We bid farewell to the hustle and bustle of Saigon and travel 70 kilometers south overland to My Tho to embark on your luxury floating home for the upcoming journey along the Mighty Mekong.

After our crew warmly welcomes you, you check in to your well prepared staterooms. The ship sets sail and a fascinating voyage along the Mekong begins. Lunch buffet is served in the restaurant while the vessel steadily glides upstream to reach the overnight spot. Make yourself familiar with all the ship facilities. Now it is time to become one with one of the largest streams in Asia.

The afternoon allows you to leisurely pass time on your private balcony or join our tea time at the open air bar as the twilight bathes the Mekong Delta in a golden haze. During the time you savor your dinner, the ship reaches Cai Be. It is a charming town, famous for its Catholic French church and the manufacturing of traditional crafts and food products. The floating market of Cai Be is getting smaller every year, since trading on the water is shifting more and more to the modern central markets.

We anchor mid-stream near Cai Be for dinner and moor there overnight. After dinner our lounge cinema features selected classic movies (every night).

Activities: Explore floating market, stunning landscapes along the Mekong Delta, cruise to Tan Chau

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Each morning, we offer our guests an invigorating Tai Chi class on the sun deck. Start your day, just as many local people do in Asia, as the sun begins its gentle glow. A sumptuous buffet breakfast is served for the perfect first exploration day in the Mekong Delta.

Our morning tour takes you to Cai Be. We can still see some boat to boat trading of local goods such as fruits and agricultural products. Our guide will explain the particularities of this long lasting trading culture. Each boat has a special marker that lets buyers know what goods it is selling. Cai Be is a rustic town crisscrossed by many water canals. We go on-shore to visit a workshop and learn how rice paste, rice paper, rice cookies and rice wine is manufactured. Cai Be and its surrounding areas are covered with palm trees and hence the region is also famous for the production of coconut candies. With our local boat we continue to explore the lush and green canal network and observe the farmers working in the fields.

Back on board lunch is served. You can enjoy time for yourself then to either enjoy a true Vietnamese coffee at the bar or simply watch the life on the riverbanks floating by.

In the afternoon, we reach the area of Sa Dec. We embark on a traditional local boat and head towards Binh Thanh Island. This island is one of the larger ones in the vast stream of the Mekong. Some communities have settled here and make their living by growing water hyacinths. We exclulsively visit one of those untouched areas. By wandering through the village, we get a deep understanding of the native life. Moreover, we see the whole process of mat making. You can try weaving yourself, which is still done manually. We will meet also an elderly local couple who shares their story on this island. They are happy to engage in a conversation with you.

Back on board you may like to pamper yourself with a spa treatment or take a dip into the pool on the sun deck. Our expert guide offers a presentation on the “Life on the Mekong Delta” as the ship continues sailing to Tan Chau – near the border to Cambodia. We moor midstream.

Dinner is served and afterwards you can join our evening cinema session (offered every night) featuring selected classic movies.

Activities: Discover around Tan Chau, reach a fish sanctuary, slowly move around the streets to see all the workshops, houses and domiciles, get to the border for Phnom Penh, enjoy the boat, reach to Phnom Penh

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Welcome to the fish sanctuary of Vietnam. Begin your day with a hearty breakfast at the dining hall or in the quiet privacy of your balcony.

Brace yourself for a tour around Tan Chau, a pleasant, slow-paced town with a sizeable Chinese, Kinh and Khmer community. Once on-shore we hop on “xelois” to explore Tan Chau. A “xeloi” is a local vehicle which is still used as a taxi in this region. We slowly move around the streets to see all the workshops, houses and domiciles. Get to feel the laid-back vibes of this place. We stop at the colorful local market near one of the town’s temples. This is the best time to interact with the vendors of this friendly town to practice your bargaining skills. We board our local boat and cruise past floating houses and finally reach a floating fish farm. This region is the source of a fish production that is sold all over the world. Here we get a deep insight on how fish farming works.

Back on board our “home” we sail towards the Vietnamese-Cambodian border. Get ready for a fascinating and leisurely cruise through the deep Cambodian countryside towards Phnom Penh.

The whole afternoon is at your own arrangements. Now is the time when even the last passenger will switch into cruise mode and experience the therapeutic influence that this mighty river radiates. It is time for massages, for relaxation on the sun beds, for private balcony kick-backs - it’s the time to merge with the river.

A culinary class is offered in the afternoon to sharpen your knowledge and skills on the local cuisine. Some may like to visit the bridge- the captain always has a little story to share about “his” river. Float into a state of mild bliss and join our afternoon High Tea for sweet treats before you totally drift away in relaxation.

Dinner is served before we arrive at the capital of Cambodia. Around seven o’clock the boat docks at the pier of Phnom Penh. You are free to go for your first exploration by yourself. Stroll along the river promenade and watch the locals chit-chatting, selling odds and ends or have a drink in one of the numerous bars (kindly inform our crew once you are leaving the ship on your own).

Activities: have breakfast, check out

Meal: Breakfast

Welome to Phnom Penh - the once called Paris of the East. Despite its rapid development, it has retained a lot of its rustic charm and elegance. It is an amazing town to bespeak centuries of incredible history and culture which can still be felt at many street corners.

After breakfast we bid farewell to our passenger of the Pearl of the Orient Cruise (3-nights).