When the itinerary was originally released, the first stop after leaving Bangkok was identified as Ko Samui, Thailand. As those that have been before, a wonderful resort. Regent then published a schedule change dropping Ko Samui and adding Sihanoukville, Cambodia instead. This entails needing to get a Cambodian visa for which Regent will gladly charge you $89. I wasn't too disappointed in the change as I had never been to Sihanoukville, or more importantly, Phnom Penh which Regent listed as the destination of "potential" excursions from Sihanoukville.

Alas, when official excursions were published, there was no trip to Phnom Penh. Today, when booking our excursions, we went through the three excursions that were listed and weren't too excited about any of them but we figured they were free (I mean included) and it was probably our only time going to Sihanoukville. Unfortunately, the excursions aren't free as we need to get a visa just for our four or five hours ashore.

I would like to enlist fellow LCTers in a protest refusing to get a Cambodian visa and just plan on spending the day on the ship.

Any takers?

Marc, as posted on CC:

Marc, Cambodia, esp Sihanoukville is the one port God forgot--the most depressing port we have ever visited on an "included" Regent excursion. (we were there last April on a Voyager HK to BKK cruise) IMO, you will miss absolutely nothing if you skip excursions at this port.

+1. Sihanoukville was just awful. It is very poor and really not ready for tourists. The children are very aggressive. We saw an impressive temple but spent lots of time trying to shake off the gangs of kids. One kind-hearted lady gave some a few coins and once that word spread it was unbearable how many kids showed up.Tiny little kids with even tinier ones on their hips.

Our friends took the ride to Pnom Penh. They enjoyed it but said it is very long ride on not so great highways..I would stay on the ship.
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Helen

Mark, we have no problem staying on the ship, but everyone may have to have the Visa whether you get off or not just to have the ship cleared. It's a good question to ask. We're going to Angkor Wat pre-cruise and the visa is included there, but I think it's a single entry visa, so we'd need a second visa for Sihanoukville.

I checked with Operations, even if a guest stays onboard they need to have the Cambodian visa for that sailing to transit through it is a requirement and it does not matter if guests choose to debark or stay onboard. Eugene did post on another thread you can get it for less from the Cambodian Embassy by mail but cannot do that until 3 months before entry. It is up to each person if they want to save $ doing it that way or just pay extra for the convenience.

I did confirm today that you can get this visa onboard and use your SBC for the payment so I will be going through deleting all the Cambodian Visas as I am sure everyone will want to use SBC for that payment.

I booked the nature reserve tour and I really liked the sound of that trip - of course I am a nature lover so maybe that is more interesting to me than others.

I will never forget Tom and Marcie buying a painting from one child on a cruise to Mexico and then kids with paintings appeared from the woodwork. I think Ken took a picture of that.