Mekong River Cruise Day 1

It's time for our first river cruise and the Toum Tiou II offers an intimate way to experience the Mekong River with just 28 passengers on board. Over nine days, the cruise moves from Cambodia to Vietnam, combining village walks, cycling, kayaking and market visits with rest on deck. But first, find out what the accommodation is like and what you need to know before you cruise!

CroisiEurope (croisi meaning cruise in French) is a French brand and have been operating for over 40 years. But you'd be forgiven for not having heard about it as it is relatively unknown in Australia.

Apart from Europe, Croisi also operate river cruises in Asia along the Mekong River and in Southern Africa. Their focus is on small, intimate sized ships - this one has 14 staterooms carrying 28 passengers. CF Mekong is CroisiEurope's arm of South East Asian cruises and is short for Compagnie Fluviale du Mekong or Mekong River Company.

These cruises are designed so that people get a feel for daily local life along the Mekong River in a small group setting. A 9 day 8 night cruise starts around $1,642.00USD per person and includes all meals aboard, coffee, tea and drinking water as well as the activities and entrance fees detailed in the program. You can also book an all inclusive deal that includes unlimited drinks except for champagne.

We are embarking on the "New Discovery" tour that is designed for those that want to combine light adventure adventure eg cycling (or tuktuk as an alternative), walking through villages, sampan, kayak or boat rides, market tours, meeting local people in rural communities and visits to historic sites. The Mekong River is a mighty river and crosses 6 countries: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and on this cruise we cross two countries starting in Cambodia and ending up in Vietnam.

Fun fact: Cambodia is 35 times smaller than Australia and about the same size as American state Oklahoma. We are making our way by bus from Siem Reap in the north west of Cambodia to south near Phnom Penh. The drive to the start of the river cruise is 5 hours. We drive past rice paddies where water buffalo eat and work, construction work, people sleeping in hammocks and street dogs. A long row of stalls lines one part of the highway. We make a couple of stops along the way for drinks and snacks and then we arrive at where Toum Tiou II ship is docked at Koh Chen.

The Toum Tiou II ship was constructed in 2008 with 2 decks for passenger accommodation and 1 deck for the common area and takes a total of 28 passengers in 14 cabins. 16 crew members service the ship and it is designed with a large open outdoor observation deck and indoor air conditioned restaurant. On this ship they do not use nautical terminology like starboard or port, they use right and left. The Toum Tiou II measures 38m (125 ft) long and 8m (26 ft) wide. It is named after a tragic "Romeo and Juliet" style doomed romance between Toum (the boy) and Tiou (the girl). The captain for our voyage is Tran Dinh Hoe and the purser is Mitch.

After a welcome glass of juice we receive an orientation before being assigned our rooms where our bags are waiting for us. Rooms on cruises are never large and our cabin #2 on the lower deck in front of the ship is 11 square metres in size. The cabin and is designed in a Colonial style with lots of dark rosewood finishes with cream or white.

There is one bedside table and a small cupboard where we hang up some clothes. The design is a little perplexing, some drawers would have been great as the storage is an issue with clothes especially the very thin drawers where deeper ones would help with storage. Also some hooks for towels would be handy. There is air conditioning - a large unit that sits above the bed (which Mr NQN promptly hits his head on). At 6 foot 2 inches his head is an inch below the height of the ceiling so anyone taller than 6 foot 3 inches may have to hunch a little.

We slide the luggage under the bed for storage but if you like working out like I do, there isn't enough space to put down a yoga mat. Wifi is not available in the cabins but it is available on the sun deck and in parts of the restaurant. We have an e-sim which works on the cruise for us although this limits the amount of TikTok and Netflix I watch and I recommend getting an unlimited data e sim if you want this.

The bathroom is spacious with a good sized shower and amenities of shampoo, body wash and hand wash. This is well designed for storage of toiletries. The water pressure is fair so things like washing hair take a bit longer than normal and it does have its quirks - namely that you have to run the water for a couple of minutes before it turns hot and that the hot and cold taps are sometimes improperly labelled (they tell us this before we go to our rooms!). There is also only one double powerpoint with international plugs just near the vanity mirror so bring a double adaptor (or even an extension cord and power strip wouldn't be a bad idea if you need your phone charging near you in bed). There is no tv or fridge in the cabins and the safe is a mythical beast which nobody can figure out.

To announce that lunch and dinner are ready, the staff walk around the ship banging a gong. At 7pm we make our way to the restaurant for dinner. The opening night's dinner is a set menu and we start with a delicious banana flower salad with shredded chicken that is very moreish and I could happily have the whole thing for dinner. They serve this with warm bread rolls and butter.

This is followed with a hot and sour prawn soup that has a nice flavour but I would love it to be a bit hotter in temperature.

The mains arrive all together family style to share. The beef lok lak has a great flavour but local beef in Cambodia does tend to be a bit chewier than beef that we get in Australia.

There are countless versions of Fish Amok available and this one is less of a blended mousse but more chunks of river fish with a layer of shredded noni leaves at the bottom. I prefer the more mousse-like version that you get at many places as the noni leaves are quite bitter and less cooked through.

The steamed Chinese cabbage has a salty bean sauce that has a slightly fermented flavour to it.

The dessert is fresh fruit with watermelon, papaya and dragonfruit.

Everyone is tired so by the end of the meal we bid our shipmates goodnight and go to bed. The bed has crisp white sheets and one pillow only per person (I need two so I'm glad that I brought mine along). The bed is actually very comfortable and we both have an excellent night's sleep. And I can't wait for my first day's cruising!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been on a river cruise? Have you ever sailed down the Mekong River?

Tips for Cruising with the Toum Tiou II

• Our room was #2 right at the front of the ship but I recommend going for an upper deck room because the sound of the anchor being raised and lowered is very loud and can disrupt your sleep at all hours.

• This is very much a small group cruise so this ship has less facilities than ocean liners with pools and gyms. There is no gym on board but there is a spa. Treatments are well priced at around $23USD per 50 minute treatment and are done in your cabin.

• If you're looking for a cruise with a lot of food all the time, this cruise may not be for you. While there is ample food during breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is no food available outside of these hours apart from cookies, tea and coffee and there is no room service. Chances are you will be out on excursions during the day anyway but if you want food in the late afternoon when you're back on the ship, bring your own snacks.

• The food offering alternatives between Asian and Western every night. The Cambodian food is very good, the Western food is fine. My favourite meal was lunch as the chefs make excellent salads.

• Bring US dollars as Cambodia accepts this as much as KHR (Riels). Also bring along Vietnamese Duong.

• Tips are not included and a general rule of thumb is to pay $5USD per person per day tip to the staff at the end of the cruise. Also keep some money for tips like the Tra Su forest local paddlers.

• For this cruise, we visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. Bring clothing that covers your knees and shoulders for the visit to the Silver Pagoda. This is the case for both women and men.

I recommend bringing along these items:

• Earplugs - especially if you are on the lower deck as the sound of the anchor being winched up or down is very loud in the mornings.

• E-sim with unlimited data (wifi is patchy and only available on the sun deck but is good enough to download movies if you're on the sun deck)

• Hair conditioner and body lotion (only shampoo and liquid soap is provided)

• Double adaptor or power strip

• Extension cord if you want your phone charging next to you

• Power bank for all day excursions

• Extra pillow if you need more than one per person

• Do your laundry before you board as it is charged per piece (a t-shirt is $3.50USD to launder)

• Snacks - especially sweet ones if you prefer something different to fruit for dessert.

• Chocolate - especially if you're like me and must eat chocolate every single day!

• Bug repellent and after bite lotion - they sometimes hold events on the sun deck at dusk, when the mosquitoes come out. We had an excellent herbal repellent and after bite treatment from our stay at the FCC.

Croisi Europe

To celebrate 25 years of cruising the Mekong, CF Mekong and CroisiEurope are offering a 25% discount code for tours departing October-December 2025 on a first come first booked basis.

25% discount prices begin at AUD$2,371 (US$1,559)

October 2025 Departures

Upper deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,279 (25% discount USD$1,709)

Lower deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,079 (25% discount USD$1,559)

November to December 2025 Departures

Upper deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,569 (25% discount USD$1,926.80)

Lower deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,369 (25% discount USD$1,776.80)

www.cfmekong.com/cruise-types/discovery-cruise/

NQN and Mr NQN were guests of the Toum Toui II and Croisi Europe but all opinions remain her own.