Emerald Cruises to offer Mekong River tours

For an 8-day tour, the cruise departs from Ho Chi Minh City before visiting small communities in the Mekong Delta where tourists will explore the ancient house of Huynh Thuy Le who inspired Marguerite Duras' famous novel "L’Amant" ("The Lover"), and will visit a scarf weaving factory.

The journey also allows visitors to drop by the Killing Fields & Tuel Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh before traveling to the Oudong Temple.

The tour scheduled to depart on August 26 next year costs from $1,694 per person.

For a 19-day itinerary that is scheduled to depart from Hanoi on August 19 next year, visitors would cruise the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay in a traditional junk boat before heading to HCMC and embarking on a river cruise along the Mekong River to visit the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's rice bowl and aquaculture hub.

The journey that ends in Cambodia’s Siem Reap, costs from $4,503 per person.

For a 15-day journey scheduled to depart on August 23, 2024, visitors will embark on a luxury cruise from Siem Reap along the Mekong River to visit flower villages and small communities in the Mekong Delta before finishing the journey in HCMC, the cruise line said on its website.

The tour also allows visitors to navigate Phnom Penh by tuk-tuk, receive a blessing from a Buddhist monk and take their seat at Cambodia's world-famous Phare circus. Prices start from $3,568 per person.

Each river tour are able to accommodate a maximum of 84 guests.

Last year, Vietnam was named Asia's best river cruise destination by World Cruise Awards, the most prestigious prize in the global cruise tourism industry.

Vietnam has a dense river network containing 2,360 rivers with a total length of more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).