Originally Posted by
HKtraveller
I paid 125$ with phoenix, a very reliable company because they have a permanent crew (Paradise had a fatal accident - 5 killed in the beginning of October). We enjoied the trip very much and even our vegetarian request was perfectly fulfilled with excellent food.
A good contact is Juergen Eichhorn - a German guy in Hai Duong who sends his customers always with Phoenix and checks the boats himself on a regular basis.
http://www.aea.vn/travel_en.html
What's strange is that we did our Paradise cruise about a week after this accident happened. We were in transit to Vietnam when it occurred. On the boat, some other passengers mentioned an accident that had happened the week before, but until your post, I didn't know it involved Paradise. Frankly I'm glad we didn't know; it would have just made us nervous.
FWIW, we felt completely safe the entire time of our cruise.