Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East) Cruise Reviews

The ship is nice but a bit outdated for today's expectations. Technology has passed this ship's current capabilities: example 1 - limited number of people accessing the internet at the same time; 2 - wifi access was spotty for android and smartphone use; 3 - who uses DVDs to watch movies? The movie selections were dated and not available because the DVD wasn't returned. Another issue was our first impression of the room was a torn pillow case and improperly installed curtains.

We are a retired couple who have travelled widely and frequently over the past two decades. We went on Viking's Magnificent Mekong tour of South East Asia in November 2013. Having enjoyed three previous Viking cruises, we knew what quality meant in the context of this organization. Therefore, although the land portion of the tour was excellent, we were very disappointed to find that the cruise itself was sub-standard.

The reason is simple: there is little that is “Viking” about the Magnificent Mekong cruise. The main problem is the ship itself. Company literature calls it the “Viking Saigon”, implying that the ship has been built by or for Viking. However, its real name (stencilled on all the lifesaving equipment) is the “Saigon Pandaw”. Viking leases the boat and crew from the Pandaw company which is incorporated in Singapore (www.pandaw.com) and runs its own (competing) cruises on the Mekong.

What are the differences from a real Viking river boat?

There is no indoor air conditioned lounge and viewing area. Instead, guests must congregate on the upper deck (#4) which is partially covered by a canvas roof. This roof does not extend over the deck railings, so when it rains, water drains onto the teak floor making it dangerously slippery. In the daytime, it's very hot and windy, and at night the bugs are biting.

There is no elevator. Travelling between decks involves steep narrow staircases, most able to handle single lane traffic only.

The dining room has a low ceiling and wooden walls and floors. As a result, the acoustics are terrible and guests have to yell (seriously!) to converse with the people sitting across from them.

The lecture/movie room on deck 1 is too small to accommodate 60 guests comfortably. It has a very low ceiling and therefore much of the movie screen is set below eye level. To make movie viewing even worse, there are two steel posts in the centre of the room.

The staterooms have “traditional colonial decor” according to Viking. That means the floors and walls are dark wood and the rooms have very spartan furniture and decorations. On the positive side, the bathrooms are larger than on Viking's European river boats. Although the single beds are comfortable, the low-pitched roar coming from the air conditioning fan makes sleeping difficult.

All staterooms are outside with “personal deck space”, according to Viking's website. What they don't tell you is that the only deck space outside your door is a 4 1/2' wide walkway which extends the length of the ship. Your “personal deck space” is the inside 2' of this public walkway, containing a couple of wicker chairs and a small, square table. If you sit there, you have to move your feet every time another guest wants to walk by.

Although the Vietnamese food is nutritious, well-cooked, and attractively presented, the amount of choice is about 50% of what you would find on other Viking cruises. For example, on the worst day, at lunch, the only dessert choices were pineapple or watermelon slices and runny tapioca. Moreover, there was no option, as on Viking China cruises, to order Western-style entrees at dinner time if you are tired of the local food.

Viking literature says that, “getting on and off the ship frequently may include stairs or inclines”. That's an understatement! Boarding the ship on the first day involved a metal ladder, laid at the wrong angle against a steep bank, and requiring guests to walk on the sharp outer edges of the rungs.

There is no exercise room, no boutique, no reception desk, no carpeting, no bathroom electric outlets, no TVs, no pianist, and only one computer for 60 guests to use.

Another major problem is that there is not even one full-time Viking employee on board to monitor quality. The crew is mostly Vietnamese and their English is minimal. The two Tour Escorts who wear Viking shirts are also Vietnamese citizens and are on contract to Viking from a local travel agency. They're all nice people but they institute some strange “Pandaw” policies, many of which go against Viking's own written policies.

For example, one of the Tour Escorts (Tin Tin) gave “special permission” to two cigar smokers in the room next door to light up outside our door (filling our cabin with stinky smoke). The other Tour Escort (Tony) instituted a high pressure, group tipping system where everyone was supposed to give him $50 on the first day so he could hand out tips during the land portion of the tour. The ship's captain decided one day to moor against a muddy bank where, as we disembarked, we had to pass a dead dog floating by the gang plank and then walk through smoke from garbage fires burning on the shore. The pursar set a policy of only one key per cabin, likely assuming spouses would be doing everything together for every moment of the cruise. For the early “cafe breakfast”, the chef chose to supply only coffee or tea and croissants, omitting orange juice, butter and jam. On the final day, the Tour Escorts suddenly announced a half day Cu Chi Tunnels tour which was not on the original itinerary (perhaps it was their own private enterprise venture). Anyway, they charged over double the price we paid with a local travel agency for a full day tour of the same attraction, including lunch. Our point is that these situations would have been unthinkable on a real Viking cruise.

We heard many other previous Viking customers complaining about the sub-standard quality onboard ship. And several first-time Viking cruisers said they would look to other companies for future travel. Our recommendation, for anyone wishing to go on a South East Asia tour and Mekong River cruise, is that you look carefully at AMA Waterways (http://www.amawaterways.com) or APT (http://www.aptouring.com( who offer itineraries very similar to Viking's. Both of their beautiful, sleek white river boats were docked next to our little squat, brown “Saigon Pandaw” at Phnom Peng. From our top deck we could see their gorgeous lounge areas and swimming pools. We certainly felt like the poor cousins of Mekong River cruisers.

There were rumours onboard that Viking is planning on having a new Mekong River boat built. If that is true, we would certainly applaud the decision. However, until the new ship actually appears, you might be wise to look elsewhere.

I had a big trouble with this ship, I don't know what was the problem, many rooms in 2 floor began to leak water, more and less more and less two unbelievable centimeters of water in my room, after that, the carpet got terribly stinky and was impossible to stay in the desk, when I thought they would give me something better or at least the same room I had got. I got disappointed when they gave me my room, actually the room was the same category, but many things in stateroom was broke as window covering and mirror. But this wasn't all, I had to carry my stuff because the crew didn't do it. when I went to complain at front desk, they just said that couldn't do anything. In my last day, they gave me 50 dollars by perturbation, some people just stayed in the same stateroom where the smelly were, unbelievable, in no time they care with the passengers.

summarizing I don't recommend this ship and Rolland america

I spent my New Year in the cruise. It could have been a good vacation, just average the food, staff could be friendlier, entertainment needs improvement. However, when the bags were collected for disembarkation, it was opened and all my jewelries were gone. Poor security, according to the ship, they couldn't put surveillance cameras due to privacy issues, but I guess this gives the license for the staff to steal.

My cousing and I sailed on the "Spice of Asia" cruise in November. It was our first cruise and we were a little apprehensive because my cousin suffers from travel sickness. However, this cruise was perfect in every way. It sailed so smoothly that we sometimes had to look outside to see whether we were, in fact moving. Our cabin was spacious enough for the two of us and my fear that it might be noisy was unfounded. We were on Deck Two, in an outside cabin with a porthole, and we couldn't have been happier. The bathroom was small, yet big enough for us. However, I'm not sure how large people would fare. 

The staff on the cruise is professional, charming and helpful. On returning to the ship after shore excursions, we felt as though we were returning "home", such was our feeling of comfort and safety. 

The ship offers so many activities that it was impossible to try everything. We loved the variety shows and were impressed by their professionalism. In fact, we enjoyed our time on the ship more than we did the shore excursions, and if we ever had the opportunity, we'd take this cruise again and not participate in the shore excursions at all. 

Every day we indulged in cocktails in one of the bars and were pleasantly surprised to find the cost of drinks to be so much cheaper than we'd been paying in Singapore. It is not necessary to buy water in advance, as I mistakenly did, on the advice of others. There is no problem having water or ice while on board the ship, although this is not the case when embarking on shore excursions into Malaysia or Thailand. However, the tour operators supplied  water on he coaches and  it's possible to buy water everywhere.

We took $US on the cruise. This is not necessary, either, as all charges are made to the Sea Pass card - a card that keeps accounts of all expenses on board. 

Most of the passengers on our cruise were Australian and we were seated at a table with fellow Australians. This added to our sense of comfort and we felt a real sense of camaraderie within a very short time. 

All in all, we just loved our time on Mariner of the Seas, and really would have loved to continue for a few more days. I would thoroughly recommend this cruise as a first-timer. 

Very nice ship. The crew was very nice. The food was very good. The matradee accommodated us with a new table. The cruise director had a Thanksgiving event for us US citizens. This was very nice and greatly appreciated.

Embarkation in Singapore is awful. The diamond status does not matter. Internet service is intermittent. Only 168 Americans out of 2700 plus passengers. Many slow moving elderly people; many groups with 5 children or more. Gym and spa were empty. Cameras flashing all the time. Tour of Phuket never mentioned the tsunami. The ship is fine, the staff tries hard to resolve problems. Was ready to disembark.

We were on the Rome to Singapore cruise - 28 days.  We researched the ship and from all input determined that a back (aft) suite would be the best......it was also one of the most costly cabins on the small ship. Every day, we were treated to black soot coming down on our deck from the smoke stacks up above. It was also very noisy since the outdoor dining/smoking deck was right above us. We asked and were moved to a lower level back suite - but there we had so much noise & vibration that it was difficult to sleep during the entire cruise. Add to all this, the food was mediocre, we ate in the better restaurants almost every night (at added cost). The service was fine, until due to port travel circumstances beyond our control, we missed the boat in Kuala Lumpur - the last port of call before disembarking in Singapore the next morning.

We went through hell to go through a long and costly immigration problem, and then to find a last minute flight to get us to Singapore to meet the ship at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. We were there before the ship, but despite our strongest efforts and that of the Singapore Port Authority staff (who were very helpful), Princess would not let us get back on the ship to retrieve our belongings. At first they told us it was a Singapore security regulation, then when we told them that was a lie, the security officer from the Princess turned and left us standing there. 

About an hour later, 3 people showed up with our belongings - hastily thrown into open canvas bags in some cases - with expensive jewelry just loose on the bottom of the bag (which had come from our safe). 18 items were missing we determined days later, but Princess would not reimburse us for even 1 - what a bunch of thieves!  

We are avid cruisers and thought we'd give Princess a try - got the best suite on the ship - and this is how they treated us. They really blew it by not letting us get back on the ship to retrieve our belongings. We might have been new regular customers for them, but after being treated like suspicious dogs, we'll NEVER cruise on another Princess ship again. 

They are a terrible company and do not really care about their passengers - UGH!!!

The ship was easy to move about, cabin was clean, arranged for easy movement, Dining Room- open feeling,menus selection developed with atmosphere ( Chinese) and Western Menu for change of pace. Library, Computer Room, Bar, Open deck all organized and maintained and the crew had the passenger's welfare in mind at all times.

I had a wonderful time on the Mariner. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The onboard entertainment was great, especially the singer Coleen Austin. She has a great voice. The state room attendant kept the room very clean and the wait staff was wonderful.

I have to say, the Costa cruise line was totally failure. I spent more than $1700+ USD for my trip (per person), and the following are the services I received. First, the cruise itself is a 18 years old ship and had many places seems broken down. I saw many "maintenance in progress" sign at spa, sauna rooms, bars, where we couldn't use for few days and even my cabin drawers were broken.

More, the first night dinner was a chaos. The company arranged that all the passengers separated into two groups for dinner ( We couldn't pick our own times and each day can only eat once, every differ than other cruise line that I had been on). And they mess up the first dinner time so badly that we had to wait for 40 mins to have our dinner. Everyone on the second round dinner list were in front of the restaurant, yelling, it was a pretty scene. Costa should have a better management plan in terms of organizing it's dinner time.

Moreover, the servers on the cruise wasn't friendly at all. I went to talk to the information desk couple times, and some of the workers had attitudes toward customers. Plus I never see the restaurant waiters smile once but messing up my food orders couple times and never pour us water until I ask for it.    On the third night, the six floor was flooded because of the heavy rain on the sea---> flooded cruise? I really don't know how save it was

....

Last but not least, the food quality was the poorest!!!!!! Some of the plates were dirty like this:

 My sister ate a ROTTEN fish one night and I got a  POISONOUS potato the following dinner---> my potato had roots that were about an inch long, I really don't think they did a good job on food quality control...... The following is not apple.... but a potato...

 The reason that I couldn't stand because the manager didn't even apologize or do anything about it! My parents and many of other passengers were complaining about lobsters the company offered was a scam, because the lobsters seem old and had very little meats in them. More, the whole ship don't offer other drinks but water except breakfast (unless you purchase them) and the water all had weird taste and smell.  HORRIBLE! 

I was really excited about the cruise trip and expecting having a good time with my family, but all I got was anger and dissatisfaction. I DO NOT recommend anyone to choose Costa cruise line if you want to have a good memories with friends and family!!! 

So this River cruise to China is as much about the land excursions as it is about the river -- and the land accommodations and tours did not disappoint. the 5-star hotels were excellent, and the food off-shore was generally good (one really bad meal in Beijing). Onboard the meals were excellent, good variety, nice service, plenty of decent complimentary wine. I would have preferred more varied exercise equipment, and there wasn't much to do onboard other than relax and mingle. Stateroom was surprisingly comfortable. The organization was top notch -- buses were always where they should be, flights and luggage handled well. Our Chinese tour escort was absolutely the best -- she provided so much insight into the life of Chinese people in addition to making the sights come alive with her stories and background info. She made it really special.

Updated and excellent

The staff was great!! Food was excellent!! No complaints

The cruise was delightful and especially loved the casino because they had many penny slots. The variety of food in the main dining room was disappointing, the food that they served was good. The crafts and daily entertainment were a disappointment. So much could have been done with a middle eastern theme.

We have cruised multiple times with different cruise lines. This is the 4th time with Royal Carribbean and we feel it is a high quality cruise line.

The Costa Classica is not a new, modern boat, and that is the main reason that the fares are so reasonable. Based on the price we paid, I can't complain, but don't expect a highly modern ship. The crew were great, and the food was on par with other cruise ships. It is also smaller than most ships nowadays.

Crew was fantastic and friendly. Food was, overall, plentiful and good. Lots of activites on board, great live shows and artists, really funny comedians. Not enough time in the ports and/or too early or late arrival, which caused stores not to be open (Key West) or to be closing by the time we got there (Nassau). Great overall experience and I would sail with Carnival again.

It was a three-week cruise from Singapore to Mauritius. We visited Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles. Ships after renovation, new. Food was excellent. High-level service. Entertainment unobtrusive. Minuses. Sometimes smelled of food waste. Squeaking in the cabin. Neptune holiday was mediocre.

Great staff, Fabulous atmosphere, enjoyed time on boat. Now for the rest of the story. Basketball rims had no nets, it is closed in a net that sags down low enough to keep you from shooting the ball past 5 feet. so don't think your going to play basketball. The Sauna and stearoom on the mens side doesnt get hot maybe 75 degrees. Still an absolute great week.