Though the cruise did not start out well, it got better. We were staying at the Sofitel Siem Reap because that is where AMA pick up the pax and take them to the ship. We were told two different times that as "the river was low, we would be taken by bus on a 5 hour drive, to the place where the ship was waiting for us. Check-in would be at 07:30am." So, that morning we got up at 6am to be ready by 7:30am. We then discovered that instead of a 5 hour bus ride it would only be 1.5 hours and so check-in was at 11am. No one had let us know even though we had told AMA that we were staying at the hotel. No apology either! At 12:30 we finally on bus to get ferry to AMAlotus. The other people on the cruise were part of a tour and had booked the hotel through AMA. They take care of their own, that is for sure! Moral of story? If you book the hotel separately, call AMA and remind them you are part of the cruise too.
OK, end of annoyance part of the review!
All the people on the cruise were very, very helpful. In the Cambodian part, most of the staff were Cambodian. They left the ship at the boarder and Vietnamese people joined the ship.