A charter that ended, and a typo in the address
The Mekong Navigator carried this brand's Mekong programme, between Vietnam
and Cambodia. She no longer does. The hull belongs to a Vietnamese shipowner
who chartered her out: she went back to him at the end of the contract, and the
name left the catalogue with no announcement and no published date.
The detail worth flagging, because it affects whether the page can be found:
this page's address spells Meekong with two e's. The typo was frozen in when
the page was created and it stops a reader searching the correct spelling from
landing here. We report it to the technical team rather than change it
ourselves.
A seventy-metre hull
Thirty-four cabins for 68 travellers, in service since 2014. That is a
middling size on this river: larger than the smallest units that work the
narrow side channels, modest enough to stay manageable when mooring at villages
with no quay.
The Mekong programme is now carried by the Mekong Jewel. That is not the
same hull, not the same generation and not the same size: your advisor compares
the two rather than presenting one as an exact replacement for the other.
The other distant rivers
The Mekong Jewel carries the Mekong today. The Aria Amazon works the Peruvian Amazon. The Ganges Voyager II
runs the Ganges. The River Tosca sails the Nile.
The ownership model, and why it matters
Some ships belong to the line, others are chartered. Since 2004 the line
itself has belonged to a group that gathers some twenty travel brands, and a
definitive agreement to sell it to American investment funds was signed on 16
July 2024.
That structure bears directly on the pages in this batch: a hull can move
from one brand to another inside the same group without ever being sold, and a
chartered hull can vanish without ever having belonged to anyone but its
owner.
Included in the fare
Gratuities to the onboard crew. Drinks served at meals. Excursions listed in
the itinerary, at least one per touring day. Internet access provided with no
guarantee: the connection depends on the land network the river runs past, and
it is not reliable everywhere.
Still to pay: the international flight, the taxes that go with it, and
gratuities to coach drivers ashore. The transfer between airport and ship is
included only if the air was purchased from the line. Purchased elsewhere, it
is not.
What is written, and what is not
What is written: a traveller needing help must be accompanied by someone
able to give it. Folding wheelchairs are accepted, mobility scooters are not. A
mid-voyage disembarkation can be decided by the crew, and it carries no
refund.
What is not written: how many cabins are adapted. The line publishes no such
number, for any of its ships. The accessibility statement shown on the site
covers the website only.
Where a dispute is heard, and what that changes
Not in Quebec. The transport contract points to Swiss law and the
Rheinfelden court; the Canadian entity points to Toronto under an Ontario
permit; the American entity points to Los Angeles. No binding arbitration
clause is provided for, which is rather good news.
One detail that matters for a traveller here: this brand's British catalogue
is sold by a company established in Guernsey. The British protections that
catalogue invokes do not apply to a file opened in Quebec. Voyages AquaTerra
does hold a Quebec licence, with the trust account and the Compensation Fund
that come with it.
