Our travel agent said the Aqua Mekong Explorer was the best of the ships on the Mekong River. We saw some other vessels that were good-looking on the outside at least. Whatever, the cruise we experienced was wonderful. It's a very modern ship. Good-size rooms, decent-size bathroom, air conditioning worked well, which was very important, and the food was excellent. Good maintenance. One criticism: the air conditioning in the bar/meeting room wasn't working. Very uncomfortable. The ship carries about 40 passengers, but we had only 16. There was a Vietnamese and a Cambodia guide. Both spoke good English and were very helpful. We had only a four-night cruise, as the ship cannot go all the way to Siem Reap during low-water season. Each day there were one or two trips in the ship's skiff, which would take us along the shore of side streams and adjacent waters and sometimes into villages and towns. The guides were very informative, and considerate of my physical limitations. My only regret was that we didn't have a full week on the cruise.