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AmaWaterways has had a presence in the Mekong since 2009. The AmaDara sails the Mekong through Vietnam and Cambodia from August to the end of April each year. The pace of these trips is relaxed and quiet, and the look and feel of the ship is designed to reflect the style of the region with lots of shiny wood -- from floors and panelling to intricately carved room dividers -- and fresh orchids throughout the vessel and even in the cabins.
Service levels are high onboard, and -- with a maximum of 124 passengers -- it never feels like you're part of a large crowd struggling to do the same things at once. In fact, the crew members quickly learn your names and preferences. ("Maria knows we're dairy-free and so she brings me soy lattes every morning," said one passenger, to a table full of nods.)
The pace onboard is designed to show passengers life on the river without offering a schedule that's too challenging or taxing. On our sailing there were several families travelling with children, and the kids -- who ranged in age from kindergarten to high school -- seemed to enjoy the experience, though without organized activities onboard designed for little ones, it was on the parents to keep them entertained.
This is a casual ship, all day long, with no formal dress code requirements for dinner. Pack lightly and comfortably, both for the potential muddiness of some ports and for the hot weather of the region. Some passengers pack a slightly nicer outfit for the Chef's Table restaurant and the farewell dinner, but the line does not impose any restrictions.
Some tips, many drinks and all shore excursions are included in the fare. While wine is included at meals, both wine and cocktails -- except for those using local libations -- come with a fee in the lounge. Free internet and Wi-Fi are available throughout the ship, and there are also a couple of computer stations set up onboard for those who didn't bring laptops. The internet is fast enough for social media, email and surfing, but uploading photos and streaming video is not suggested.
Most days include plenty of time on land, with the standard schedule including a morning tour, a return to the ship for a long lunch and an afternoon tour.
All shore excursions are included, most are half-day, and there are only a few days when there are options to choose from, most notably on the day when the main tour goes to the emotionally intense Cambodian Killing Fields, site of Pol Pot's holocaust.
Despite the fact that there are only ever a maximum of 124 passengers at any time, the passenger list is divided into four colour groups, and you can choose to stay with your group for the duration of your trip, providing a continuity of guides and a chance to get to know a small group of passengers better. The cruise director does an excellent job of building up "team" spirit by playing danceable music for the groups to parade out of the lounge to for their tours each day.
Many of the tours include a walking element, and there are also plenty of opportunities to ride in tuk tuks and oxcarts as well. As this cruise sails through rural Vietnam and Cambodia, expect to see lots of rice paddies, small villages, silk-making businesses, temples and monasteries, and local food markets. Tour guides' lectures about the scenery and culture are broadcast to passengers wearing headsets so that other groups are not disturbed.
Passengers are offered bottles of water, umbrellas and ponchos each time they leave the ship, and glasses of fruit juice and cold towels when they return from excursions. When the river is too high or too low, people may be bused to some locations that can't be reached on the water, but the changes are made smoothly and passengers are given notice of the tweaks to the itinerary.
When there is downtown onboard, many passengers take the opportunity to rest and relax between tours. There are, however, some organized activities onboard as well.
Lectures and workshops are minimal on this cruise, and the most common activity is the meeting each evening to discuss the next day's activities, including a rundown of what you'll see and whether you'll need insect repellent and to cover your knees and shoulders at religious sites as well as a funny story or two from the cruise director. Other daytime activities include a cooking class, a geography lesson, an impressive scarf-tying class and a napkin-folding class.
Each evening, after dinner, most passengers gather in the lounge for a drink, and the ship offers small-scale entertainment that ranges from karaoke to a crew talent show. The crew does the best that they can with little resources onboard -- there are no singers or dancers on river ships in Asia as you might find on some European cruises, but there is a piano and lighting. Mornings include an early start every day so at night the ship is always quiet by midnight and usually most guests have retired by 11 p.m.
There are two bars onboard, one indoor and one outdoor, and both are located in multipurpose spaces that tend to have a traffic flow whenever guests are onboard. Both spaces have Wi-Fi as well.
Saigon Lounge (Deck #2): This lounge, which is used for daytime lectures and port talks as well as evening cocktails and post-dinner entertainment, is the beating heart of the ship. Passengers stroll in and out throughout the day for complimentary drinks (including coffee and tea, soft drinks, espresso drinks, and local beers) and for-a-fee cocktails and wine. Throughout the day, there is a table of snacks, including fruit, cookies and crackers, and during mealtimes you'll find some sandwiches or other light fare for those who choose to skip the meal in the Mekong Restaurant. In the evening before dinner, you'll also find trays of a complimentary cocktail of the day, which tends to be some sort of fruit-and-rum punch, though the drink itself changes daily. This space also includes a small library of books, including popular guidebooks to the regions visited on the cruise.
Sun Deck Bar (Deck #3): This bar, located behind the pool, has plenty of lounge-style sectional seating and café tables as well as chaise loungers facing the water. The Sun Deck Bar also serves complimentary drinks and for-a-fee cocktails, as well as a snack menu of light alternatives at lunchtime, such as Reuben sandwiches, chicken burritos, chilled papaya soup, Caesar salads, and cheeseburgers. On one day per sailing, it is also home to the deck-top Asian fruit tasting, a chef-hosted afternoon of explanations and samples of every single fruit you might find in the local markets, from custard apples to even the dreaded Durian.
On the sun deck, you'll find a small pool as well as a wide selection of lounge chairs. On sunny days, passengers do gravitate toward the area when there is downtime onboard.
There is a friendly staff at the reception desk, a tiny "library" in the lounge, a couple of computers for use and a gift shop full of the kinds of items people buy on land in this part of the world, including silk scarves, raw silk pillow cases, chopstick sets and "elephant"-style pants in busy patterns. There is no self-serve laundry onboard, but there is the option of sending out your washing and dry cleaning for a small fee. Wi-Fi is complimentary throughout the ship.
The onboard spa has three treatment rooms and a hair salon, but it is very popular despite its size. Prices would be high compared to what you find on land here, but they're a steal compared to the rates charged in most people's hometowns. The menu includes massages, facials, manicures and pedicures, and blow outs. We heard passengers rave about the scalp massage that came with the blow out, and we loved our massage.
There is also a small gym onboard with a couple of cardio machines and a weight machine, as well as daily fitness classes on deck, including stretching, yoga and resistance band classes, all of which get a substantial turnout that reflects a demographic shift toward retired travellers' increased appreciation of fitness. Unlike on AmaWaterways European itineraries, there are no bikes offered on the Mekong, and the line representatives say that it is because of unpredictable traffic patterns and the poorly maintained road quality in the region.
Dining on AmaDara is a highlight of the trip, with a wide variety of both Western and Eastern choices at every meal. Best of all, the options change every day and, while you'll never find the kind of spicing the locals prefer, there are often excellently prepared Asian dishes that make you happy to eat on the ship. There are no fees for any dining options onboard, and all dining areas are open seating with a mix of table sizes. While, on our cruise, the two-top tables did fill up first, passengers were friendly and social and tended to move around and meet new people, which is good because there is no room service (unless someone is sick or tired from jet lag) and therefore no options of opting out of communal meals. Guests with special diets are catered to with custom choices every day, and we even saw a restrictive vegan, oil-free diner offered excellent choices at every meal.
Mekong Restaurant (Deck #1): This is the primary dining room onboard for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which are served at set times each day. The breakfast spread changes every day, offering a lot of variety, but there is always an impressive buffet of baked goods, Asian fruits, smoothies and juices, eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, pancakes and French toast with maple syrup, cereal and granola, yogurt and oatmeal with a variety toppings, and handmade dumplings in giant bamboo steamer baskets. Every day, there is also an "action station" with both made-to-order eggs and omelettes and an Asian noodle soup, which changes every day and is always delicious if not exactly what you would find served on the nearby streets. There are also optional additional dishes that can be ordered from a menu, such as eggs Benedict, and complimentary (and unlimited) espresso drinks. After the first day, our waitress learned all of our order preferences, including the soy lattes of the lactose intolerant gentleman we often ate with and my Vietnamese-style iced coffee addiction, and brought refills throughout the meal with a smile.
Lunch is a similar ever-changing buffet of Eastern and Western treats, with an action station that sometimes includes noodle dishes topped with roasted Asian meats. (One highlighted: roasted chicken stuffed with lemongrass and served with a vinegar-based Cambodian pepper dipping sauce.) You'll also find a salad bar, cold salads, sandwiches, pizza, spreads of baked goods and fruit, two soups and a full menu of dishes you can order that also includes both Western and Eastern options. At lunchtime, there's a daily buffet of Asian and Western sweets as well as a sundae station with flavours that rotate from coconut to chocolate and strawberry.
Dinner does not include a buffet, but instead is a four-course à la carte meal with salad, soup, an entrée and dessert, and several choices in each category. There is more of a focus on plating and presenting a fine dining experience at dinner, and less focus on offering authentic local choices and therefore for passengers who prefer the Asian dishes it can be a less satisfying experience. There is a vegetarian option on every menu and there are also additional standard dishes that you can order any night, including roast chicken, steak and potatoes, and an excellent Caesar salad, and we saw an off-menu request for a burger and fries accommodated one night as well. At lunch and dinner, the complimentary house white and red wines (which change daily depending on the menu) are poured freely. On the eight-night trips on the Mekong River, there is also one Vietnamese-focused dinner and one Cambodian-focused dinner as well as a captain's night and a farewell dinner.
Chef's Table Restaurant (Deck #2): Passengers can reserve one meal per sailing in this smaller, aft dining room, where the plating is a step-up from the main dining room and the intimate atmosphere makes it a favourite of couples celebrating anniversaries and families toasting birthdays. These special occasions are celebrated with cakes and a singing gang of crew members, who dim the lights and march into the room with sprinklers to celebrate the moment. Even passengers at other tables are then offered a slice of cake, in addition to the desserts that are on the menu. If there are seats available, cruisers can choose to dine here a second night but the menu remains the same. In addition, we heard one person say that his wife was said to miss the Cambodian menu in the Mekong Restaurant on the night he had made a reservation at the Chef's Table restaurant, and the ever-accommodating staff had offered to serve her those dishes instead.
This ship has well-designed, if small, cabins that work well for couples. Every cabin has floor-to-ceiling windows, a mini-fridge, a large closet with a safe and floor-to-ceiling mirrors, a flat-screen TV (with live TV and complimentary on-demand films), a desk and a small balcony with a table and a couple of chairs.
Bathrooms have single sinks, small showers, wall-mounted blow dryers and toiletries (including shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion as well as shower caps and cotton swabs). Plenty of complimentary bottled water is supplied both for drinking and for washing your teeth, and your stash is replenished each evening. Cabins also come with satiny bathrobes and slippers for use during your stay, and fresh Asian fruit and sparkling wine on check-in, and cabin stewards leave towel animals on the bed each night. There are neither connecting nor accessible cabins on this ship, and there is no lift onboard either. There is powerful air conditioning onboard, and it's controlled in each cabin.
Standard Cabins: The bulk of the cabins onboard (48 of them) are standard outside cabins with what they call "twin" balconies, with a small outdoor terrace and a floor-to-ceiling window that can open for a Juliette-style balcony. These standard cabins fall into the A, B and C categories, but they are the same and the only variable is location. They are all 251 square feet, but well designed with plenty of storage space.
Suites: There are only 10 suites onboard and -- at 366 square feet -- they do feel like an upgrade from the standard cabins. Larger sitting areas make up the bulk of the difference in space, though they also have larger bathrooms with tubs.
Luxury Suites: There are only two of these, and they are each 502 square feet each, making them twice the size of standard cabins. They have plenty of space, king-sized beds and larger terraces with full-size lounge chairs. The bathrooms are massive, and come with showers with rain shower heads and a large jetted Jacuzzi tub that is big enough for two people.
