La Marguerite Review
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Having traveled independently all over the world, in a Rick Steves kind of a way, I'm nearing 60, and traveling solo now and thought this would be a good way to see Vietnam and Cambodia. It was PERFECT for me. There were a.m. and p.m. tours, breaks for meals and air conditioning, first class accommodations throughout, and staff willing to bend over backwards to attend to your wishes.
Taking the whole 14 day tour I landed in Hanoi and stayed at the gorgeous Hotel Metropole. Loved this hotel, loved Hanoi, felt very safe walking around alone. Our excursions here included a walking tour, cyclo ride and water puppet show, which I though would be lame but was really very entertaining. Shopping was good here, and wish I had spent some more time doing so, prices better than in HCMC for sure.
The third day upon checkout, we carried an overnight bag and left our big suitcases with the bus driver. We were bussed north to Halong Bay (road construction made this my least favorite part of the whole 2 weeks) for the overnight junk trip on Paradise Cruises, very deluxe! The food on the junk was buffet style and delicious. The first day we went by small rowboat to see the floating village and how people live, some never setting foot on land. The next morning coffee and Tai Chi on the upper deck was other worldly in the mist. Day 2 we stopped at a beach for a while, some of us hiked up a stairway for a fantastic view of the bay for photographs. The trip down was not so exciting. On disembarkation we were driven, with a lunch break where we saw our big bags again to repack, then off to Hanoi Airport for a quick flight to Siem Reap, arriving at sunset to the charming little airport.
Cabin Review
This is a higher level cabin that for most of the ports faced the land side. It was nice because there are usually people waiting for us, or lingering on the shoreline, and being above them and not face-to-face from my window seemed advantageous, but maybe that's just me. It was nicely air conditioned, and beautifully decorated in dark wood paneling. The beds are very comfortable, lots of fluffy pillows. The bed was made into a queen, and there was just enough room to walk around. Individual reading lights on each side table were nice. My cabin didn't have an alarm clock, though some others did. Sliding glass door windows led out to a small deck, with a tiny bench over the air conditioning until. It was usually too hot to sit outside unless the ship was moving. The window seat inside was great to curl up and read a book as the Mekong went by. There is a TV with no reception, but videos at the Pursers Office, which I caught up on several great films during the trip. It had outlets for US pronged electronics, but not for high voltage units. The bathroom was a toilet, good-sized shower and sink with very little counter space, but there IS a medicine cabinet mirror, so most of my "stuff" fit in there. Two normal cruise ship sized closets with few hangers.