Vietnam with Value World Tours

My wife, Esta Lee, and I visited SINGAPORE, VIET-NAM and CAMBODIA, Oct. 31-Nov. 16, ’04, on a tour arranged through Value World Tours (17220 Newhope St., Ste. 203, Fountain Valley, CA 92708; phone 800/795-1633 or visit www.rivercruises.net).

After a $300-per-person early booking discount, our total payment for two people was $6,246. This price included flights on Singapore Airlines starting in Los Angeles; three nights in Singapore; three nights in Ho Chi Minh City; seven nights on a riverboat; two nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia (for Angkor Wat); most meals, and sightseeing. Gratuities, Vietnam and Cambodia visas and a Cambodia departure tax were additional. All hotels were 4- or 5-star.

Overall, we were quite pleased by the tour, despite the very long flights and the constant and truly oppressive heat and humidity. The only other caveat we would note is that, while a river cruise is a comfortable and convenient way to travel, this itinerary left a great deal of Vietnam and Cambodia unvisited. It would have been easy, however, to add additional segments to the trip to cover the region more thoroughly.

Since the cruise was the heart of the trip, I thought I would focus my report on that aspect of the tour. The Pandaw Company (Unit 145, 196 Rose St., Edinburgh, Scotland; phone 00 44 0 871 474 1342 or visit www.pandaw.com) operates a number of river cruises in Burma, Thailand and Vietnam/Cambodia. Two of their ships, the virtually identical R/V Tonle Pandaw and R/V Mekong Pandaw, serve Vietnam/Cambodia. At maximum, the ships carry 68 passengers.

We were told the cabins were 135 square feet, but they seemed larger and were nicely furnished. The two beds in our cabin were fixed to the walls and were a bit higher than we were used to, but they were comfortable. The bathroom was decent-size, with a large shower stall. Storage space was limited, so we mostly lived out of our suitcases. The individual air-conditioner in the cabin was very effective.

Aside from the open sundeck, there were only two public areas on the boat. In addition to its function as a bar, the saloon was also the assembly point for briefings, lectures and other necessary gatherings. The one-sitting restaurant served buffet breakfasts and lunches and à la carte dinners. The quality of food was good, but choices were limited. Nonetheless, the kitchen crew did their best to accommodate special dietary requests. Service overall on the ship was excellent.

Shore excursions tended to be fairly simple (walks through villages and visits to temples and pagodas), except for a more extensive city tour in Phnom Penh. Since there were rarely docks to tie up at, most shore excursions required walking a narrow plank onto a smaller boat or climbing up fairly steep embankments. Taking this together with no elevators and long stairways between decks on the boat, I would not recommend these river cruises to anyone with significant mobility problems.

Anyone with additional questions may e-mail me c/o ITN.

— HARVEY LAMPERT, Rockville, MD