Passenger Feedback

Hi Angie,

Just a note to say we are safely back home in Hua Hin following our flight from Phnom Penh.

We had a lovely cruise!
The boat is beautiful!
The food was a delight to see and very tasty!
The site seeing was just right.
The passengers we met were charming people.

But, I need to talk about the crew. They were always smiling, helpful, courteous and polite. Questions were answered and requests acted on promptly! It's difficult to single out individuals, but to mention just a few: Mr Long, the tour guide: his memory was incredible he remembered all our names and he had details and dates about all our visits. He is a huge asset to your company. The saloon staff, in particular, Hong & Lak, were very good. The cocktail waiter and his young assistance were smiling fun!

I know from the experience of 40 years with the Royal Navy, that ships only run smoothly if there is a good leader, I have to say that Mr Saroun, the cruise manager, provided this leadership to a very high standard! He is to be commended.

Please also pass our good wishes to our fellow passengers who will be leaving from Saigon on Saturday.

I have had many friends, both here and in UK, who have been asking about the cruise and Pandaw, rest assured, my feedback to them will be one hundred percent positive.

Kind regards,
David & Mon, Thailand

Dear Saroun

Wow....! Just wanted to say a huge thank you for the wonderful service on my recent trip on the MV Pandaw. Your knowledge, service, efficiency, helpfulness and humour was very much appreciated. It was really great to have some chats with you and learn more about your family, your life and your second family – Pandaw.

One of my highlights was visiting one of the local villages and dancing with the children. Such happy faces. The other highlight was visiting the schools and seeing the commitment of the teachers and the students that want to improve their future.

Our guides were all excellent. Lee is a true asset to Pandaw, very knowledgeable. Long was wonderful, funny, committed and was able to share true stories regarding the Killing Fields. It astounds me that I was able to see the smiling, happy faces considering what Cambodians have endured in the past. I hope life will improve for these wonderful people. I wish you and your family the very best.

As travel agents, we do get very well looked after on our educational trips, however, I believe all the guests onboard felt very special and looked after. I feel so confident to offer Cambodia and Vietnam to our clients as a truly enlightening experience.

The little touches such as bottles of water when leaving for day tours, cold face towels and cleaning of shoes were all exceptional. The fact that the staff were cutting out steps into the mud embankments was beyond belief. I don’t know of any other company/staff that would do this for their guests.

Every single staff member was wonderful. We all loved Pha, his smile was so genuine and always so polite. It was so relaxing to go to the Sun Deck and have a cocktail and chat with other guests. Housekeeping, kitchen staff, waiters, and all those behind the scenes were fabulous. I cant talk highly enough of them.

I have now come to believe that Cambodians are truly the most beautiful people. The locals in the villages that we visited were so happy to see us and regardless of the fact that they had so little, were always smiling and welcoming. The staff onboard MV Pandaw had smiles that were infectious and the hospitality was second to none.

I am hoping to travel to Cambodia again and bring my children with me for them to experience true happiness and humbleness of the Cambodian people.

As I mentioned to you, I would like to send some items (books, pens, pencils etc) that you can provide to some of the schools and villages that we visited. If this is possible, could you please advise the best address to send these to. I know you will ensure these go to the correct people that will appreciate the assistance.

It was great to meet you and your staff. Many thanks for making this trip truly memorable. I will never forget this special journey. Please pass my regards to your staff and if allowed, I would love to make contact with them so if you can pass on email addresses, phone numbers or facebook details, I would greatly appreciate this. I know you are very busy with the new destination Laos but if you have time, please send me an email.

Looking forward to seeing you again in the future.

Thanks and regards,
Vivienne Zaarour

Good Afternoon John & Huong,

What can I say, except WOW!!!

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to experience Vietnam & Cambodia the Pandaw way. I was lucky enough to take away 6 of our partners for an amazing 13 days.

On arrival we were greeted by KAI at Ho Chi Minh City airport and transferred to the InterContinental Asiana Saigon Hotel, the hotel and facilities were lovely and of course a great breakfast to start the day. KAI was great, we had a full day sightseeing in Saigon and visited the Cuchi Tunnels.

Next morning onto the beautiful RV Mekong Pandaw, we were greeted by the wonderful staff, smiling, friendly and happy to see us all, this never changed once whilst on the ship. The staff were amazing, all 31 of them. Nothing was too much trouble, our cabins were lovely, very spacious, great air con and shower (this was very appreciated after our shore excursions).

Saroun our ships Purser was fantastic, very professional, always kept us updated with announcements and always had time to talk with all the guests. All the staff were fantastic, they knew everyone’s names, Pha our bartender remembered everyone’s drinks, and of course the shore excursions were interesting. Our guides were LEE in Vietnam and LONG in Cambodia, both were very informative, they also remembered all guests names.

Two of the highlights onboard were when we stopped at a village late one afternoon for Happy Hour with the locals, the ship pulled up onto the bank of the river and the staff got out and dug some steps into the riverbank so we could get off, the local Cambodian people were surprized to see us, Saroun said they had not visited this village before and we had canapés, drinks and danced with the locals on the riverbank at sunset, what an experience. The other highlight was on the last night ALL the staff came up to the sundeck and we were able to Thank them together and then we danced before dinner (Tommy has some great moves – he was like Jim Carey – hilarious), of course the whole cruise was a highlight, such a beautiful way to see both countries.

We then had to leave the beautiful RV Mekong Pandaw, this was sad, we all had tears in our eyes as we waved goodbye to our new friends, we had met such wonderful people, both staff and guests. Our journey to Siem Reap by coach was comfortable and then checking into the Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa, this hotel also had lovely facilities and breakfast. Our guide for Siem Reap, BUNN was waiting for us and we had the afternoon sightseeing and then the following day we visited Angkor Wat, this was beautiful and also more sightseeing that afternoon, we did have time to fit in a bit of shopping before dinner and a visit to the Phare Ponieu Selpak Circus, they are a very talented troupe and the venue was packed, great news they will be travelling to Paris to perform.

Our drivers for transfers and sightseeing were always waiting, they were friendly and we felt safe travelling, the Tour Guides were very informative and spoke English well.

Thank You again for this wonderful experience, all 7 of us had a fantastic time.

Kind Regards,
Linda Elliott

Dear Sven

I have just returned home after 10 wonderful days on the RV Katha Pandaw cruising from Pagan to the Upper Irrawaddy. This is my second Pandaw cruise but my first in Myanmar and I would like to thank the captain, crew and tour guide of the RV Katha Pandaw for making this first visit to Myanmar such a wonderful experience.

The crew were so professional, caring and kind to me (a single traveller) and our tour guide, Willy, most informative on our excursions ashore. He soon discovered that my interest was in Botany and would point out and name all the local plants along the way.

On my last morning on board the RV Katha, I woke early and sat on the upper deck listening to the chanting of the monks and the stirrings of daily life on the Irrawaddy. I thought about the wonderful past 10 days, all the wonderful places we had seen, how lucky I had been to have such a good bunch of travel companions and the special care from all the crew.

And my special friend, U Naing Naing Win, who gave me the gift of true kindness during our many excursions ashore. He was at my side, literally, every step of the way, and shared with me his fried crickets (yummy) and delicious noodles in the market at Katha on my birthday.

Please thank them all for the lovely memories. Jay-zu-ding-ba-de.

With kind regards
Daw Chau (Auntie Sweetie)

Jane Bell
Canberra, Australia

Good morning.

We have just completed the Pagan and Upper Irrawaddy river cruise which started on October 22 and it was the most fantastic cruise that we have ever taken.

We could not have asked for anything more on this fabulous cruise, the food was wonderful, the teak boat was beautiful and very comfortable and two staff members made this trip a wonderful experience.

Harry the guide was absolutely exceptional. He was engaging in his conversations and is just a wealth of knowledge concerning his country, culture and values. He truly made this experience a memorable one.

The other member was Myo. He has a good sense of hospitality and is a dedicated individuals in all his activities. As a result of a family emergency, Myo had replaced the chief purser and truly did a good job and I strongly believe that he has all the skills necessary to undertake this job full time and will be quite successful at it.

Thank you for making this trip truly exceptional for us.

Daniel

Dear Huong

My wife and I travelled on the 10 night Bagan to Upper Irrawaddy cruise aboard the Katha Pandaw from 22nd October – 1st November and we would like to express to you our absolute delight in all aspects of the trip. The boat was everything we had hoped, beautifully maintained and very comfortable, the itinerary very interesting and the food absolutely delicious. While all the crew were exemplary in their service and friendliness, we would especially like to single out Myo, the acting pursar, and Harry, our guide, for special mention. These two men absolutely made our trip – Harry for his great knowledge and interest in the history and culture of his country, and Myo for his cheerful disposition and meticulous attention to his guests.

We have already given Pandaw a very strong recommendation to several friends and will continue to do so. Similarly, I have posted a glowing review on Tripadvisor.

Thank you so much for providing us with one of the best trips we’ve ever undertaken and we would be grateful if you would pass on our thanks to all the crew.

Kind regards
John Nicolson

Dear Mr Strachan,

My wife and I just returned this morning from our fourth Pandaw trip, this time on the Kalay on the Chindwin.

I can recommend this ship highly - and its crew. When saying farewell, I got our guide to translate for me, to tell them that in English we say "small is beautiful", and so was the Kalay. We were particularly impressed by the Purser, U Win Myo, who was a gem; also one particular crew member who was the exact double of the comedian Michael Macintyre, even to the hairstyle and cheeky grin, albeit a trifle more suntanned. All crew were splendid. They paid me the compliment of calling me "Aba" or "Babar".

My wife wondered whether you, or your wife, might be considering producing a Pandaw Cookbook?

Regards,
Tim Tawney

Response from Pandaw

Dear Tim

Many thanks for writing to me about your recent river expedition. I am so glad it went well for you.

I have passed on your good wishes to purser, guide and crew who will much appreciate your praise.

Otherwise, many thanks for coming with us and I hope we will see you again on a Pandaw one day.

Good idea for a cook book!

Please do consider supporting The Pandaw Charity, which is registered in the UK. We are now running 12 clinics with a total of 5,000 treatments a month. We are currently raising funds for a new X ray machine for our central clinic at Pagan. You can donate online at: www.pandawcharity.com.

Unless you have any objections I will post your letter on our Feedback pages so potential travellers can learn from your experiences.

Many thanks for coming with us and I hope we will see you again on a Pandaw one day.

With all regards,
Paul Strachan