There’s More Than One Type of Cruise

Inclusive pricing.
Unlike the average mega ship, fares typically include spirits, expert guides that sail along with you, and daily shore excursions. On Pandaw, for example, all beers and local booze (perfectly acceptable vodka, gin and whiskey) are included, and so are all shore excursions and tips (though most people chucked another US$ 20 or so into the tip jar at the end of the cruise).

Limited entertainment.
There are no casinos or Vegas-y show lounges to distract from the destination or keep you up late (tours often start first thing in the morning). Sometimes the boats and barges stay in port over night so you can check out the entertainment on shore (our Pandaw boat stayed late in Phnom Phen so we enjoyed dinner and an $ 8 massage in town before heading back to the ship around 10 or 11pm). Otherwise, on board there maybe be a local folk dancing or singing performance, movies relevant to the region (Indochine, the Quiet American and The Killing Fields on our Pandaw cruise) and drinks and conversation with fellow passengers.

Few organized activities.
Considering you’re typically on shore every day, sometimes in two or three different ports, there’s not all that much down time for typical cruise ship pursuits ala Bingo and belly-flop contests. Still, during the afternoons when the Orient Pandaw was on the move, I took the opportunity to book a massage on board (who can complain about a US$ 30 deep tissue!) and catch up on some reading, while my friend who accompanied me hopped on the (lone) stationery bike up on deck for her daily work-out. The larger European-based river boats may have a small pool, and sometimes a sauna, hot tub and cozy work-out room.

Small cabins.
Generally, a river cruise vessel will have smaller cabins than your average cruise ship. That said, the standard cabins on the Pandaw Orient were 170 square feet and very comfortable with attractive wood paneling, super comfy beds, roomy bathrooms, bathrobes and slippers, and plenty of storage; there were no televisions (thank god, I didn’t go to Cambodia and Vietnam to watch the tube) or telephones. That said, some of the larger Europe-based river cruise boats, and the small super luxury river barges, have cabin amenities like TVs and mini-bars.