Heritage Line The Jahan Cruise

Ms. Hong Nham from Inside Travel assisted me with the booking process for my Mekong River cruise with Heritage Line. She did a wonderful job in responding to all my questions, and provided me information when I needed it. The planning of my trip from beginning to the end, went very smoothly due to the help of Ms. Nham. I am very happy with the service and will book again in the future should we do more river cruises in the area.

Inside Travel helped me book passage on a Mekong River Cruise. I had previously done some research and had a general idea of what I was looking for. I decided to reach out to a local travel agent for their thoughts. Hong Nham, from Inside Travel, patiently helped me sift through the options to select a boat perfect for what we wanted. The price she offered was LESS than booking directly through the cruise line itself (I researched the prices online on the cruise line’s website and contacted them to see if they offered any discounts).



THEN there was the drama of paying by credit card (the charge was repeatedly denied). Hong patiently advised me though the process. Apparently, VISA flagged the charge from overseas even before it reached my Bank of America credit card people. Though the regular credit card customer service could not help me, they transferred me to fraud who transferred me to the frontline visa group. Do not despair. Call VISA directly, explain the charge, they will release their hold and the charge will go through.



Hong continued to monitor all aspects of our trip all the way to embarkation – and this was no small detail. Vietnam requires a visa for USA citizens to visit. Since we were visiting Hanoi first, then China, then the trip from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) Vietnam, this meant we needed multiple entry visas for Vietnam. I applied online, which was easy enough, paid the extra cost of multiple entry visas (rather than single entry visas) and, voila, I received two visas and I was set. I thought.



Fortunately, Hong reviewed all of my paperwork before we left the USA. And, she noticed a problem. Even though all of my application paperwork and credit card charge was for multiple entry visas, my visa was different from my wife’s in one very important point. Everything looked exactly the same except, on line three where it stated the type of visa, my wife’s was marked “multiple” and mine was marked “single”. It did not even occur to me they would issue one visa incorrectly. Fortunately, Hong requested copies from me of our visas and she caught the mistake. Even though it was impossible to get the Vietnam government to correct the mistake, at least I had time to apply for a second single entry visa for myself. Without Hong, our trip could have become a disaster.



Finally, when we arrived at the airport in Siem Reap, Hong had a car there to pick us up and deliver us safely to the hotel. In the end, the river cruise was one of the most enjoyable trips my wife and I have shared in 30 years of travel. And a BIG thank you for the happy experience goes to Hong and the team at Inside Travel!

We spoke to Hong from Insider travel to organize trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.
What excellent service!
being our aniversary we were treated like royalty.
She also booked us on a river cruise from Phnom Penh to Siem Riep.
Transfers were on time and guides friendly

Ms. Hong Nham was our agent and from beginning to end she provided the best service you could hope to receive. Anything that needed amending or changing or even for any type of assistance she always delivered so thank you so much!
We travelled aboard the Jahan ship from Vietnam to Cambodia.
Tour Guides: Tai during the Vietnam part of the trip and moved to Wanty for the Cambodian part. Both were locals to the areas that we visited and provided so much informative information. It was so interesting to hear about their personal and family experiences during the Vietnam and Khmer Rouge wars.
Ship crew: We had 22 people on our cruise and there were 42 (or thereabouts) ship crew. The service we received was amazing from the start of the day at 0600 hrs for morning coffee followed by Tai Chi - right to the end of the day having drinks at the bar! Again, it was interesting learning about their histories. By the end of the cruise they all felt like family.
Food: What can I say? Amazing! Buffet breakfast, buffet lunch and a five course dinner. There were snacks at 4 pm. There were food classes, fruit carving lessons, parties and dancing with the crew while eating BBQ food. So good!!
Shore excursions: Every day. No 'tourist' venues here. It's all local 'real world' experiences that I really cherished. I didn't miss any of the excursions. The one or two that I was hesitant about ended up being really informative so I'm glad that I ended up going.
Tipping: We put some dollars into the box to share for the entire crew but we also handed out some extra to some of our favourite crew members. I wanted to put my Tai Chi instructor into my suitcase and bring her back to Australia!
Ms. Hong Nham stayed in contact with me during the trip to make sure everything was going well. I needed assistance with a tour after our cruise was due to end and she was right on to it. Straight away she was in contact with people and my tour was arranged perfectly.

Inside Travel helped us book our tour on The Heritage Line which was a very exciting and fabulous tour!