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Besides, they have great ships and superb food.
quote: their ships are small enough to sail up the Saigon River,which is the only way to go. The big ones have to anchor at Vung Tau and you are faced with a dull bus trip to Saigon
The ships may be small enough to sail up to Saigon,but are they permitted to do so these days?Pacific Princess is the same size and she has to dock at Phu My which I believe is even further out than Vung Tau and an equally dull bus trip into the city.I heard that on Pacific Princess's last call there ,arrangements had been made and permission granted to sail up to Saigon, but it all fell through at the last minute........Red Tape and all that ....
"We arrived at the mouth of the Saigon River at about 8:00 a.m. in the morning. Then we began our sail up the river to Ho Chi Minh City. It took us four hours to reach Saigon. You can call the center District 1 or Saigon, and in fact most the people in the city refer to it as Saigon. The Saigon River is very large and is the northern most river that comprises the huge Mekong Delta area. It is very muddy and has a strong current. Lots of greenery was floating in the river from the heavy rains upstream. Lots of boat traffic as well. On the lower part of the river, it is still rural with many fish or shrimp farms. A large amount of the frozen shrimp we get in the U.S. comes from Vietnam. Further upstream there is a very large power plant and many large docks for loading and unloading ocean going ships. This is the largest port in Vietnam and the busiest.
While Ho Chi Minh City is on the Saigon River, the ship cannot go completely into the city center but must dock on the outskirts in the commercial shipping area. We could see the skyline as we docked. This is the first time we have seen a city skyline with tall buildings in Vietnam. We, unfortunately, as on the dock side which is a grim, dirty port."
Pam
So does Saga, also with 33,000 tonners. Saga posts an interesting Captain's Blog, and I read of the voyages up the river with considerable interest, for obvious reasons.
We overnighted in Ho Chi Minh City, probably as noted by Pam in her post re: Seven Seas Mariner, not very far from everything.
Oceania is outstanding!!
http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/seastories/saigon_river.asp
Now pardon me while (whilst?) I swat that goddam mosquito!!
The same 24 day cruise we were on this past year is scheduled for 2007, Febr.20th through March 16th on Nautica.
5 overnights: Bangkok at the beginning, then Ho Chi Minh City, Halong Bay for Hanoi, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Also, day stops at Ko Samui in Thailand, Da Nang, Taiwan, Kagoshima & Nagasaki in Japan, and Inchon(for Seoul), So. Korea. And, seven single day sea days.
It's a fabulous itinerary....go for it!!!
And on Oceania ...sigh!
Yes I have salivated over that cruise covering so much of my old territory. Perhaps next year. My 16-day QE2 Christmas/New Year Cruise is blowing my resources this year..even with some good support from ebay sales.
A
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