A 14-day river cruise on the Ganges from Varanasi to Kolkata aboard a luxury shallow-bottomed river boat with fascinating daily excursions - if only!

We had signed up for an "adventurous expedition" and were to be prepared for the unexpected. So I guess we should not have been shocked when we arrived at the hotel in Varanasi with bags packed ready to go on board to be told there's been a "change of itinerary". The first four days of our river cruise were not to be spent on the the river but in two mediocre hotels, bus journeys and an internal flight. So this means we also miss six particularly interesting excursions? Hey, they've arranged a kebab meal in the local Radisson Hotel instead!

Pandaw after all only had been operating this journey for three months - and even though only the first two out of 12 trips had succeeded in completing, miracles do supposedly happen on the Ganges so maybe they didn't like to spoil our holiday plans by giving us any advance warning of the possibility of change. Read more