We all hope and wish that wherever you are during the holidays, you have a happy and peaceful time.
This holiday season Aegean Odyssey will be cruising in the Far East, sailing between Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia and Nha Trang in Vietnam on Christmas Day. Our guests will have a relaxing day at sea before exploring this bustling city.
Thank you very much for your support in 2012 and we hope you join us over the coming year, as we continue to discover the stories of the most exciting sites along the shores of Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean.
Best Wishes,
from the crew of MV Aegean Odyssey and the teams in Fort Lauderdale and Oxford.
Click to view our holiday e-greeting»
Related posts:
Meet Alison Lewin – Our Cruise Coordinator
Syria – Part 1 (Tartus to Krak De Chevaliers)
“There once was a girl called Exell”
Just arrived home after doing the Grand Tour 6th December to 6th January.
My husband and I had a lovely time and definitely would travel with VTA again. I had read a lot of comments and criticisms on other travel sites and was pleased to see that all of the areas of concern had been addressed.. Even down to the teabags.
We found a modern, spotless ship that was well appointed. The staff were wonderful and accommodating and the excursion staff – patient (with those who didn’t listen at the briefings) and very helpful.
There was always something to do if you wanted or nothing to do if that pleased.. lots of naps and reading was done by us and this was greatly appreciated after doing shift work for many years. One comment that I would make was that the movies on the TV were pretty ordinary. Half the time the channel didn’t work or the PLAY button needed to be pressed in the office. And if you were on the month cruise like us, it was disappointing to see the same movies pop up on the second half of the cruise. DVD’s are so cheap, it wouldn’t be hard to improve the Library .. there are some of us that found the music a bit old fashioned in the lounge, so elected to watch a movie in the comfort of your cabin.
We loved the food and only dined at the Marco Polo a couple of times as it was just as easy to wander out the back and enjoy a sunset whilst enjoying too much food. The included wines were drinkable and freely given. The stewards a funny happy lot always eager to please.
I was a little worried about what to wear, but most people seemed to wear 3/4 length shorts and t-shirts all the time.. always very comfortable and casual, which was nice. I even wore thong sandals the whole time despite reading that we would need good sturdy walking shoes. We visited so many temples, buddhas, etc where he had to remove our shoes, that thong shoes were an excellent choice. We didn’t really walk that much so the thong sandals were very comfortable.
Our best day was at Kota Kinabalu and I’m sorry to say that this was a private excursion to Shangli-la Rasa Ria Resort. They have a small nature reserve there with ORANGUTANS. We had the best time.. It’s open to everyone and VTA should look at making it part of their excursions. Probably best as an optional excursion and as there’s quite a few steep steps to get to the viewing platform, this would allow only the fittest of guests to book this trip. Just like the Mandalay excursion – limited numbers, first in best served. Our new friends on board were very disappointed with their day and would have loved to see these cute baby orangutans.
Disappointed that the jacuzzi wasn’t on board and that the weather on the second half of the trip was too rough to have the pool filled very often. Christmas and New Years Eve very quiet, probably with everyone asleep after taking sea sickness tablets.
Quite a number of us felt that towards the end of the trip we had seen too many temples, pagodas, water villages, buddhas and museums, but as I reminded them, it IS a Voyage to Antiquity, not voyages to the shopping malls and beaches.
Still we all felt that it had been a good trip. Especially the pre- and post -cruise accommodation, this was outstanding.
Hello Karen
Thank you for all your comments which we will feed back to the ship team. We’re so pleased you had a great time and the chance to enjoy two cruises back to back. We hope to see you on Aegean Odyssey again soon – perhaps the Med in the summer which tends to be very warm and calm?