Pandaw River Cruises and the Irrawaddy Flotilla
Mekong River Cruises

Cyclone Appeal Burma

Click here to make a donation...

Pandaw Cruises have been active in Burma since 1995 and have the logistical team in situ to operate our river ships to assist in the cyclone relief effort.

We are handing over Pandaw IV to Merlin, a UK based charity - www.merlin.org.uk.  They are already in the field and have a team on the way out now with supplies to follow by air cargo.

Pandaw IV will reposition tomorrow from Prome to Henzada where we will meet the Merlin team. Henzada is closer to the airport so easy to transfer supplies being flown. From there she will travel with a medical team on board to Laputta to act as a field hospital and supply centre.

The large dining room will convert to a clinic and the existing cabins used to accommodate the relief team. A number of Burmese doctors have volunteered to join the ship.

Pandaw II is currently in Mandalay undergoing engine repairs and as soon as we can move her she will relocate down to the Delta. We plan hand this vessel over to Save the Children and MSF Switzerland at Bassein.

We are currently negotiating to hire a 200ft barge to tow down to the Bassein area. This will be loaded with food, medical supplies and building materials. In Mandalay such things are readily available. This vessel will then be moored in a secure mid stream position to act as distribution point and handed over to our NGO partners.

This is where your donations can really help. You can help load our ships with vital supplies bought up country and sail them down. You can help pay for the fuel for these ships. Fuel prices have escalated since the crisis began.

Since launching the appeal we have had donations of over $70,000 cleared through our bank. This is amazing and all our Pandaw team in Burma are totally moved by the outstanding generosity of our old Pandaw passengers and others.

All of us who have worked or travelled in Burma feel that this is a country that has touched us in some way. Now we can repay the Burma for all the warm hospitality and enriching experiences we have in the past enjoyed there.
 
Thank you for your support.
 
Paul Strachan

Click here to make a donation...

With four luxury ships we are the largest river cruise company in South-East Asia. In 1995 we were the first to pioneer and explore the region’s great rivers and their tributaries: the Irrawaddy and Chindwin in Burma, the Mekong  and Tonle Rivers in Cambodia and the backwaters of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

These small ships can penetrate remote and otherwise inaccessible areas. Whilst we offer a real adventure experience, travellers are cushioned with incredible  comfort, fine dining, great cocktails and choice wines, not to mention extraordinary levels of service.

Our four boutique ships were built new and designed and finished as replicas of colonial river steamers. These small ships have the highest passenger to space ratio of any ships afloat.

Dining is single sitting with dress smart casual. We also have the highest staff guest ratio of any ship in the world to ensure an incredible level of care.  It is more like being on a 1920s private yacht party than a cruise ship.

The much loved Pandaw staterooms are spacious at 15 square meters and, whilst finished in traditional marine brass and teak, have all necessary modcons. All cabins on main and upper decks open onto promenade decks with their own seating.

A feature of all river cruises is the once or twice daily shore excursions led by expert local guides to explore Buddhist temples, historical sites, markets and handicraft workshops.

The Pandaws have an ultra shallow draft enabling them to moor where other  larger ships could not stop. Inland water navigation in these regions is challenging and the Pandaws have been specially designed to cope with constantly changing river conditions.

Our river cruises connect Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) with Angkor Wat via Phnom Penh and cover over 1500 miles of Burmese waterways from Rangoon (Yangon) to Pagan (Bagan) and Mandalay to Bhamo close to the China border.

Rudyard Kipling based his great poem ‘Road to Mandalay’ on the clunking paddles of Irrawaddy Flotilla Company paddle steamers. Over the past 150 years other poets and writers such as Somerset Maugham and George Orwell have celebrated the company and the river.

Successive Viceroys of India, the Crown Prince of Siam and King Edward VIII as Prince of Wales, are but a few of our former passengers. Today we continue to carry celebrities and royalty, but pride ourselves on treating every passenger the same regardless of fame or rank.