A cruise director with Riviera Travel recalls her most memorable voyage, a trip that stretched across decades aboard ships and left a lasting impression. Anette Taylor, who joined the industry nearly 40 years ago and has spent 13 years at sea on ocean liners and 26 more with Riviera on river and sea ships, says the voyage stands out as the most amazing experience she has had in the line of duty.
On that itinerary, the liner was among the first cruise ships to be allowed into Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The political situation in the Southeast Asian country was not as drastic then as it is today, Taylor notes, but travel arrangements were meticulous. "So we were allowed with American passengers, but it was a lot of paperwork and so on," she recalled in an interview with the Daily Mail.
Some crew members had free time and visited the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. "I've never been to a place like it in my life. It was the most serene area that I've ever been to, in contrast with the government of the country, you know," Taylor said. "The people themselves are absolutely gorgeous, is the only word, so peaceful, so welcoming, so friendly."
Anette was then given the opportunity to go on a rickety old plane to what is described as Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was once the capital of the medieval Bagan Kingdom. The cruise director describes how there were about 500 temples and pagodas all in derelict condition, with some people living among the ruins. Bagan is home to about 2,300 temples today, World Atlas notes, though it once boasted more than 13,000 between the 9th and 13th centuries. "It was serene. It was awe-inspiring. It was just out of this world that something like that actually existed and hadn't been even known," she says.
For Taylor, that Myanmar chapter remains the standout memory from a career spent crossing continents by sea and river. "That was my most amazing experience that I was lucky enough to have," she says, underscoring how such moments continue to draw travelers to Asia’s ancient landscapes even as travel advisories evolve. Current guidance from the UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of Myanmar and to exercise caution in other areas, a reminder of how quickly conditions can change even as memories endure.