Aqua Mekong

Nobody built this ship for the open sea, and that is exactly her appeal. Saigon Shipyard delivered her in 2014 for one stretch of water, the Mekong where it crosses from Cambodia into Vietnam, and she moves along it at about eight knots so that the riverbanks, rather than the horizon, become the view.

Days follow the shore. Guides take guests off the ship twice a day: to Khmer temples, to Moat Khla, a village that floats on the water, where a monk gives a blessing, to the silversmiths of Koh Chen, or across Tonle Sap to the Prek Toal bird sanctuary, part of a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Four speedboats handle the shuttling, and there are kayaks and bicycles for those who prefer to set their own pace.

On board, the rhythm slows. The menus are designed by the chef David Thompson around Southeast Asian cooking, there are two spa treatment rooms, a gym, a games room, a cinema indoors and another on deck, and on the top deck an infinity pool faces forward with cabanas alongside. The interiors, by Noor, have won hotel-design prizes, including PURE and the Asia Hotel Design Awards, and borrow materials and crafts from the region.

All twenty suites face outward with glass from floor to ceiling, each with either a balcony or a daybed by the window, and some connect to make a family unit or a private lounge. With roughly one crew member per guest, the service feels closer to a small hotel than to a cruise.

Book the whole ship when a big group shares one plan: a family reunion across three generations, a milestone birthday, a company retreat with time for culture. A party of eight would be paying for space it never uses. And anyone hoping for swimming off the stern, beach clubs and jet skis should look at the sea, not the river.