Passenger Feedback

Dear Mr. Strachan,

I have just returned home after a 14 day Pandaw 11 cruise (5/3/16), and what a rewarding experience I enjoyed. Your senior staff and crew could not be faulted for their endless cheerfulness and willingness to help and attend our every need. Pandaw 11 is a delight and so so comfortable, and the dining staff headed by talented chefs delighted at every meal. Every expedition revealed another fascinating facet of life in this very complex country, and I was quite overawed by the might and the variety of life both on and off the river. We had an excellent mix of passengers and a couple of memorable nights when the sounds of "ABBA" rang all over the ship, and on the beach cocktail night we managed to get many of the crew, including the Captain , up and dancing. Perhaps you have already heard about that! My congratulations to you and your company for the contribution to the communities, and a huge thankyou to the crew of Pandaw 11...I very much hope that there will be another cruise in the not too far distant future.

Julia Caroline Ross (Carol)
AUSTRALIA.

Dear Paul

A group of 6 of us recently took one of your boats up the Irrawaddy to Bhamo.  It was a wonderful experience.  All the crew were committed, friendly, knowledgeable and generally very good at their respective jobs.  It tempts us to do it again, elsewhere.

We were saddened by the woeful (on the face of it) state of the beautiful river itself - the lifeblood of the country - something we appreciate is outside your control.  It was explained to us that you have tried to help tidy up and improve the general appearance of the often very messy, heavily (locally) polluted landing sites that we used every day.  Of course the message from companies like yours to the administration and others must be loud and strong that without improvement, the valuable tourist trade will suffer (though in reality it probably wont).

On a personal note, my only disappointment was the cuisine.  For me - and I love spicy food more than most - especially in the evening I was hoping (and had been reassured beforehand) that there would be at least one spicy regional offering.  Sometimes there was not; though the cook on request routinely provided a small bowl of hot chilli to spice things up, this slightly missed the point.  One or two nights the supper look decidedly like the standard fare dished up across the globe in 4 star hotels frequented by tourists.  My colleagues might say I am being harsh, and I am not questioning the competence of the kitchen, but something for me was definitely lost in translation.  Nor does it detract from the remark I made initially.

On my main point of writing to you, we were very taken by the good work being done by the staff of the Township Public Library in Katha (picture attached), and committed to try to help them.  The thought was that we might become a regular source of reading material in English for the Library and its users.  Of course this may be politically sensitive.  We are not sure exactly what would be of most use.  And thirdly, importantly we are not sure how we might successfully effect a delivery.  On that point, we wondered whether Pandaw could and would help, in terms of acceptance, customs and delivery.  We would start with a small package of probably new books only.  Before going too far this end, I very much look forward to what I hope is a positive reaction on your part.  It would be a pleasure to work with you on this small attempt to give something back to our wonderful country hosts.

Best Wishes
Peter Carter

Response from Pandaw

Dear Peter

Thanks for your message and delighted that your Pandaw River Exepdition went so well.

I will pass your message on to the ZAWGYI  crew so they know that they are appreciated.

I could not agree with you more about the state of the river banks. I felt the same when I did the same trip as you with my family at Christmas. Sadly there is not much we can do about the habits of 60M+ people. For millennia everything came wrapped in banana leaves which happily biodegraded in the back yard. Then plastic arrived.

I also agree about the lack of spicy food. This is a battle I have fought with our cooks for over 20 years and they just do not understand that most westerners really like spicy food. They think we can not stomach it and deliberately make it as bland as possible. I have endless rows about this when I go on the ships. They just do not get it. I grew up in Glasgow where you get hotter and spicier curries than anywhere East of Aden.

I did not know about this library in Katha. We would love to help them and you could send books care of our Yangon office for eventual delivery. Unfortunately we do not have a reliable or economic means of shipping from the UK. One day we would love to work on that. I will ask my contact at the British Council if they can help with book shipments to libraries.

Best wishes for future travels and hope to see you again on one of the Pandaws before too long!

All kind regards,

Paul Strachan
Pandaw Cruises

Dear Paul and Sven

Mingalabar! Its 3 weeks now since our holiday to Myanmar - The Best of Burma and the Upper Irrawaddy B-BH021AZ, (24^th Feb to 9^th March)  – and we wanted to thank you for all the work that went into making our trip successful! All our guides and drivers were excellent, and it was so good to walk out of each airport to be met by a friendly face holding our names, or met at the hotel ready for the next leg of our holiday, or guided into the airport for the next leg. Our excursions were wonderful and we were able to learn so much about the culture, religion and people of Myanmar. Throughout our whole trip we were warmly greeted by everyone we met and found that people were very keen to share their knowledge with us.

We would especially like to thank the crew and guide from our boat, RV Zawgyi Pandaw. Their professionalism is a credit to your company. Always friendly and keen to help, patient with us and sharing our sense of humour. They showed great pride in their workmanship, and quickly learnt just what our favourite breakfast or evening drink would be, or which cabin our boots were from, or who might need a little extra help getting out of the boats and walking the plank – the little touches that make a big difference. Our guide, ‘Harry’, never lost any of us – despite our group being somewhat a mob of wanderers – and we learnt a great deal about Myanmar from him. At the end of our week we were sad to leave them all.

We read with much interest of the charity work undertaken by Pandaw and would like to make a donation to assist with the medical and educational work undertaken – and so very much needed in this country. As we live in Australia, could you please advise the best way for us to do this that would involve the least loss through foreign exchange transactions?

Hoping to hear from you soon, and thank you again

Best regards
John and Louise

Response from Pandaw

Dear John and Louise

Thank you for cruising with us and for your very nice email. Its always great to hear back from happy guests. We will send your regards to the Zawgyi crew.

The best way to donate to Pandaw Charity is via this link https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/donate/makeDonationForCharityDisplay.action?charityId=1006340 .

We do not have a AUD account.

We look forward to hopefully welcome you soon at a new Pandaw expedition.

Stay tuned, next week we will announce a new destination!

Kind regards,
Sven

A holiday of a lifetime - up their with going on a safari in Kenya. We did this tour with a group of friends and had so much fun, due in large because of the wonderful staff on board the RV Mekong Pandaw. The Ship Purser was a delightful young man full of enthusiasm for his country and it's people, and extremely helpful to us, as was all his staff, and they delighted in showing us as much of their country and their culture as they could. The ship has such an olde worlde feeling to it but boasts all the mod cons. We were treated to wonderful food and friendly well attended service in the dining room. Our cabins were attended to each day as were our shoes when we came back off tour along with a lovely cool napkin and refreshing drink. Each morning and afternoon we would set off on amazing tours visiting temples, villages, schools, 'genuine' fake silver merchants, silk weavers and markets. In fact there was too much to see and do. Each evening we relaxed in comfort and enjoyed the free local spirits that were on offer. We came back home enriched with making many friendships and hoping that we can somehow make a difference for the rural village children of the Mekong.

Dear Huong,

We are back home now, and we would like to thank you and the entire Pandaw staff in our boat, for this fantastic experience!!

We have been frequent travellers all our life, but this travel was really a highlight. Your staff in the boat, ALL, were really exceptionally good, friendly, efficient… and any good thing additionally you can think about!! Every day was a new enjoyable journey, and we were even sad to leave the boat at the end of our travel.

We would like to put positive reviews in any website or place you will. Please let us know where/how do you want it.

All the best!!
Sarah and Pablo Rosenthal-Almirall

Dear Sven,
We are safely home in Australia where Glenys has had an operation for a detached retina. The outcome is uncertain and we will have to wait two months before she knows what sight will return to her right eye.

We would however like to take this opportunity to commend your company and staff.

This was our third Pandaw trip in Burma, and we were really impressed by our first two experiences. This third trip, albeit cut short, has left us in awe.

When Glenys first realised she had a serious eye problem, Daniel the guide, and Aung the purser, immediately took action.The fact that Pandaw had antibiotic drops on board and that Daniel had clinical knowledge was impressive to say the least. When it became apparent that this wasn't the answer, Daniel managed to find out that there was an eye doctor at Magwe, two days away. As Pandaw got closer we were told if we didn't arrive by 2pm the doctor would no longer be available. Pandaw excelled again as the Captain sped up the boat to ensure we would arrive in time.

Daniel and Aung had a tuktuk waiting and they accompanied us to act as interpreters. We were literally number 47 in the waiting line yet Daniel talked us to the head of the queue. A diagnosis was made but with limited equipment it turned out not to be accurate although we didn't know this at the time. It did give enough clues however to make us realise that we needed to return to Australia immediately.

We were two days from the nearest airport at Bagan but once again Daniel and Aung swung into action. By the time we reached Bagan air flights had been booked and altered. On arrival your Bagan representative met us in his own car, took us to the airport and waited with us until we boarded our flight.

Just as impressive was the fact that the Captain and many of the crew farewelled us as we left the boat.

This is a story of some of the most impressive service we have ever seen. Again we commend all that were involved.

We would appreciate it if you could pass this email on to Paul Strachan.
We are indebted to you all.

Best regards,
Dave and Glenys Benda

My wife and myself readup on your company, the cruise, the boat and especially the country of Myanmar before selecting this cruise. We also had never contemplated a river cruise before.

Suffice to say, this trip was unbelievable, superb, great, professional, friendly etc etc. There are just not enough superlatives for Pandaw and the experience your crew and operation have given us.

Aung Aung Oo...Great Purser who I believe was the quiet achiever of this trip. I have no doubt that behind the scenes this man worked hard with his staff and arranged details with the locals at every port of call.

Daniel (Htin Gyi)...In all our years of travel this man was the best guide we have ever had. Caring, informative, professional, a great love for his country and a privelage to meet. This man is one in a million. Hang on to him.

All crew from Captain, Cabin attendant, maintenance crew were professional, caring and truly an honour to meet and get to know.

Food....Congratulations to Chef and his team and Waiting staff. Greatl and wonderful food and not once was the menu repeated. Well done.. Barman Jack....brilliant and nothing a problem.

What an experience. Our thanks to all involved.

Pandaw is in our conversation to all our family and friends.

Goodluck and best wishes to all at Pandaw and please pass on this email to all concerned.

Robert and Gayle Berg