RV La Marguerite

For the next seven days I'm on board the RV La Marguerite as we go up the massive Mekong Delta eventually crossing into Cambodia.

It's a great wee boat, at 72 metres in length. It can take up to 90 people, but we have only 60 to 70 on board. The bedrooms are reasonably large (for a boat) at 21 square metres.

The 1st floor has the dining room, the second floor the lounge and the library and the floor the pool and the gym. The wifi is in the lounge so I am there a fair bit – now 9.40 pm at night and only one still up! The free (including spirits) on board helps!

They've done the pool area quite nicely with shades all around the pool, plus a bar on the pool level also – and yes they serve you in the pool – none of this nonsense about no glassware.

You can't really do laps in the pool, but it;s still bloody relaxing. My routine each day is:

  • NZ afternoon blogging 6 am – 7.30 am
  • Breakfast 7.30 am – 8.30 am
  • Morning tour 8.30 am – 11.30 am
  • Read 11.30 am – 12.30 pm
  • Lunch 12.30 pm – 1.30 pm
  • Read 1.30 pm – 3.00 pm
  • Afternoon tour 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm
  • Swim and sun bathe 5 pm – 6.30 pm
  • Briefing  6.30 pm – 7.00 pm
  • Dinner 7.00 pm – 8.00 pm
  • Morning blogging 8.00 pm – 10.00 pm

We passed under this bridge while I was in the swimming pool. It was a somewhat unusual sensation having people on a bridge waving at you as you have a drink in the pool.

One of the three boats we would go ashore in. Had to laugh that the Vietnamese captain assured us the lifejackets were not Made in . Even in , that signifies crappy and unreliable quality 🙂

I'm not a fan of cruises where you spend days and days at sea with nothing to do. But cruises where it is basically a floating hotel, and you're in a new location every half-day or day is pretty good. And being a smaller boat makes a big difference too.