It was a beautiful night as I stood on the breezy sun deck of the Saigon Princess, the newest fine-dining cruise on the Saigon River, which opened in November. It’s a great way to see HCMC by night, with its beautiful houses, modern buildings adorned with splendid multi-coloured lights, and busy streets along the river.
The cruiser has four floors, including a lower deck for staff with a kitchen, two main decks with luxurious and spacious air-conditioned dining rooms, and a stylish outdoor bar decorated in a Western style with a main colour palette of white, crystal ceiling lamps, and black & white photos of old-Saigon during colonial times. The dining rooms are suitable for meetings with partners, formal parties, or romantic dinners by candlelight. The sun deck is ideal for watching the sunset over the Saigon River, cocktail parties, outdoor fashion shows, or musical performances. The cruiser can cater to 200 guests at a time
To be able to provide the best fine-dining services, Saigon Princess has fully-trained staff and is managed by an F&B Director, Mr Dirk Schroeter, a German national who has worked on five-star cruises in Europe, with a Guest Service Director, Mr Eric Christophe, a French national with 30 years of experience on five-star cruises and who has lived and worked in Vietnam and Cambodia for five years, and Executive Chef Nguyen Anh Hoang, who has worked in F&B in New Zealand and a number of five-star hotels in HCMC.
According to Executive Chef Hoang, the Saigon Princess offers a variety of set menus with Asian and Western delicacies and fusion dishes. Signature dishes include roasted heart of palm soup with crab meat and truffle oil, grilled Australian beef fillet with a special sauce from three peppers - green, black and pink - as well as green tea and cheese cake and grilled chocolate cake.
For dinner, we sat in the main dining room on the second deck, which is deco𝓡rated with flowers, and enjoyed a delicious four-course set menu that included a spicy grilled squid salad with orange, onions, fresh herbs and sesame crackers, roasted heart of palm soup with crab meat and truffle oil, butter lobster with coconut curry gravy, vegetables, and steamed pendant rice, and a special dessert, the Saigon Princess Sweet Trilogy, with chocolate mousse and green tea ‘crème brulée’ coconut ice cream in brandy snaps. Each dish was full of flavour and beautiful▨ly presented, to the credit of Executive Chef Hoang and his team.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saigon Princess - Unique Fine Dining River Cruise
Nha Rong Port
5 Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, Ward 12, District 4, HCMC
☎ (+84) (0)088 890 1068 / (+84) (0)283 514 6033
Sales@saigonprincess.yes88 vn8 vnvn.co
