8-Day Majestic Mekong Cruise

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.

Welcome to Cambodia (Please arrive at hotel before 1400). Upon arrival, you’ll be transferred to the Hyatt Regency Phnom Penh, before travelling to Prek K’Dam to embark your Emerald Cruises award-winning Star-Ship. You’ll be welcomed aboard Emerald Harmony by your captain and crew. Later, you’ll set sail for Kampong Tralach.

Please book your flight to arrive into Phnom Penh prior to 01:00 PM.

Begin the day with an Ox Cart ride in Kampong Tralach to a local temple before driving to Oudong. Oudong was Cambodia’s former royal capital until it relocated to Phnom Penh in 1866. In Oudong Monastery’s main temple, receive a traditional Buddhist blessing from the resident monks, as part of your EmeraldPLUS experience.

Return to Emerald Harmony and sail to Phnom Penh. Spend the afternoon at leisure, either experiencing one of our DiscoverMORE excursions, visiting the Central Market, or relaxing on board. After dinner, as part of your EmeraldPLUS experience, enjoy Phnom Penh by night on a remork (local Tuk-Tuk) tour.

EmeraldPLUS
A traditional Buddhist Monk blessing

EmeraldPLUS
Phnom Penh by night on a remork (Tuk-Tuk) tour

DiscoverMORE
A silk farm tour at Koh Oknha Tei (extra expense)

DiscoverMORE
Craft Beer Adventure by remork (extra expense)

DiscoverMORE
Samai Distillery (extra expense)

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.

This morning, learn more about the Khmer Rouge and the darkest days of Cambodia’s history. A short drive will take you to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, where you’ll be able to stroll through the fields, visit the memorial and understand more about the country’s sombre chapter. Afterwards, visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (known as ‘S-21’), a former school converted to the Khmer Rouge’s main prison and torture headquarters. Back on board, savour a Cambodian Street Fair lunch, before visiting the majestic Royal Palace, with its French-inspired gardens. This evening, for your EmeraldPLUS experience, enjoy a cultural performance by the Cambodian Student and Children’s Organisation, before sailing for the border.

EmeraldPLUS
Cultural Performance by the Cambodian Student and Children’s Organisation

Included Excursion
Killing Fields at Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Included Excursion
A visit to the Royal Palace

Known as ‘Mango Island,’ Cu Lao Gieng is a small, scenic island that is untouched by tourism located along the upper Mekong River. Travel by local motorcycle rickshaw through the island’s villages to visit families who work in a variety of local industries, including mango farming, boat construction and temple incense sticks.

Return to Emerald Harmony by sampan and sail to My An Hung Island. Recognised as a cultural and historical destination, this small rural village specialises in cultivating red-hot chilli and peppers. As part of your EmeraldPLUS experience, listen to local folk singing, wander through coconut farms and immerse yourself in traditional village life.

EmeraldPLUS
Listen to some local folk singing in My An Hung

Included Excursion
See the local industries in Gieng Island

Included Excursion
A visit to My An Hung village and its Monkey Bridge

Take a short ride on a sampan to Sa Ðéc, a Mekong Delta hidden gem. Enjoy a walking tour around town with a stop at the home of Mr. Huynh Thuy Le, who inspired Marguerite Duras’ celebrated novel, L’Amant, and a stroll through Sa Ðéc’s bustling central market. Return to Emerald Harmony by sampan for lunch, while cruising to Cái Bè.

Upon arrival, travel via sampan to Tan Phong, a small island located nearby, rich in alluvial soil suitable for cultivating tropical fruit orchards year-round. At this established ecotourism destination, try a hands-on experience at a workshop specialising in weaving water hyacinth into artistic crafts. Board a motorised buggy for a ride through fruit orchards, stopping to sample tropical fruits. Reboard the sampan and cruise back to Cái Bè, discovering local cottage industries where families produce rice-paper and sweets from pop-corn, pop-rice and coconuts. Return to Emerald Harmony.

Included Excursion
A visit to the bustling Sa Dec Markets and the home of Mr. Huynh Thuy Le

Included Excursion
An excursion to the local industries of Cai Be

After sailing from My Tho, you’ll leave the Mekong Delta and enter the Cho Gao canal, considered one of Vietnam’s major arterial canals that connects Tien Giang Province with Ho Chi Minh City. Today, you’ll be fascinated watching the heavy commercial traffic navigating this important waterway, where upwards of 1,800 vessels transit each day. Relax on board, taking in the everchanging vistas of mangroves, cargo barges and local fishing boats. Tonight, you’ll dock in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, where you can admire the city lights; due to Vietnamese customs regulations, you'll not be permitted to venture ashore.

Romantically referred to by the French as the Pearl of the Orient, Ho Chi Minh City today is a super-charged city of sensory overload. Motorbikes zoom day and night along the wide boulevards, through the narrow back alleys and past vendors pushing handcarts hawking goods of all descriptions. Still called Saigon by most residents, this is Vietnam's largest city and the engine driving the country's current economic resurgence, but despite its frenetic pace, it's a friendlier place than Hanoi and locals will tell you the food—simple, tasty, and incorporating many fresh herbs—is infinitely better than in the capital.This is a city full of surprises. The madness of the city's traffic—witness the oddball things that are transported on the back of motorcycles—is countered by tranquil pagodas, peaceful parks, quirky coffee shops, and whole neighborhoods hidden down tiny alleyways, although some of these quiet spots can be difficult to track down. Life in Ho Chi Minh City is lived in public: on the back of motorcycles, on the sidewalks, and in the parks. Even when its residents are at home, they're still on display. With many living rooms opening onto the street, grandmothers napping, babies being rocked, and food being prepared, are all in full view of passersby.Icons of the past endure in the midst of the city’s headlong rush into capitalism. The Hotel Continental, immortalized in Graham Greene's The Quiet American, continues to stand on the corner of old Indochina's most famous thoroughfare, the rue Catinat, known to American G.I.s during the Vietnam War as Tu Do (Freedom) Street and renamed Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street by the Communists. The city still has its ornate opera house and its old French city hall, the Hôtel de Ville. The broad colonial boulevards leading to the Saigon River and the gracious stucco villas are other remnants of the French colonial presence. Grisly reminders of the more recent past can be seen at the city's war-related museums. Residents, however, prefer to look forward rather than back and are often perplexed by tourists' fascination with a war that ended 40 years ago.The Chinese influence on the country is still very much in evidence in the Cholon district, the city's Chinatown, but the modern office towers and international hotels that mark the skyline symbolize Vietnam's fixation on the future.

Romantically referred to by the French as the Pearl of the Orient, Ho Chi Minh City today is a super-charged city of sensory overload. Motorbikes zoom day and night along the wide boulevards, through the narrow back alleys and past vendors pushing handcarts hawking goods of all descriptions. Still called Saigon by most residents, this is Vietnam's largest city and the engine driving the country's current economic resurgence, but despite its frenetic pace, it's a friendlier place than Hanoi and locals will tell you the food—simple, tasty, and incorporating many fresh herbs—is infinitely better than in the capital.This is a city full of surprises. The madness of the city's traffic—witness the oddball things that are transported on the back of motorcycles—is countered by tranquil pagodas, peaceful parks, quirky coffee shops, and whole neighborhoods hidden down tiny alleyways, although some of these quiet spots can be difficult to track down. Life in Ho Chi Minh City is lived in public: on the back of motorcycles, on the sidewalks, and in the parks. Even when its residents are at home, they're still on display. With many living rooms opening onto the street, grandmothers napping, babies being rocked, and food being prepared, are all in full view of passersby.Icons of the past endure in the midst of the city’s headlong rush into capitalism. The Hotel Continental, immortalized in Graham Greene's The Quiet American, continues to stand on the corner of old Indochina's most famous thoroughfare, the rue Catinat, known to American G.I.s during the Vietnam War as Tu Do (Freedom) Street and renamed Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street by the Communists. The city still has its ornate opera house and its old French city hall, the Hôtel de Ville. The broad colonial boulevards leading to the Saigon River and the gracious stucco villas are other remnants of the French colonial presence. Grisly reminders of the more recent past can be seen at the city's war-related museums. Residents, however, prefer to look forward rather than back and are often perplexed by tourists' fascination with a war that ended 40 years ago.The Chinese influence on the country is still very much in evidence in the Cholon district, the city's Chinatown, but the modern office towers and international hotels that mark the skyline symbolize Vietnam's fixation on the future.

After breakfast this morning, you will be transferred to Ho Chi Minh City airport to catch your onward or homebound flight.

This itinerary is a guide only and may be amended for operational reasons such as high and low water. As such, the cruise may operate altered from that stated above.