as219

When is the cruise and is it 3/2 or 2/1 days/night(s)?

In any case, what do you have to lose by getting some quotes from agencies for the sake of comparison?

AirD0c

Sorry forgot to mention this is for 2 night/3day in early March 2015 (figured it can't hurt to look early). And you're right, might as well get some quotes.

as219

You could probably do better, but frankly I'm not dialed into the prices the way I was a few years ago when we went. As I wrote above, we paid $1K for a suite with balcony. At the time, I think the kind of room you're talking about was half that, i.e., $250 per person. But that was then. In any case, it seems to me a $100 here or there is so much less important than booking a room you like on a boat you like.

astroflyer

I went with Paloma Cruises this January. With some negotiation we got it down to $160/person for 1 night. Is $400/person for 3 days/2 nights?

My personal take is that I would not bother with something like a balcony. All the cruise ships have a similar itinerary it seems, which means you're docked all right next to each other every night, all showing up at the same sights at the same time, etc., so there would not be a ton of privacy. I also found that the cruise was so scheduled to the 5 minutes with so many neat and stupid activities, which the tour directed insisted you do, that we spent very little time in the room anyway.

I'm not sure I'm helping with Paradise cruises, but unless you're going to get a boat that isn't doing the exact same itinerary everyone else does, I would work on spending a bit less money.

as219

In general I would agree that a balcony isn't important...but in our case, we wanted the private terrace, and it turned out to be quite lovely -- definitely worth the premium. One other thing: We did a 3/2 day/night cruise. On day 1, there was a side trip to a cave -- all the tours do this. We, however, opted to stay on the boat...which was a good call. We got to relax and enjoy the scenery while everyone else went to see the -- from all accounts -- meh cave.

astroflyer

The cave was definitely "meh", and we were subjected to utterly inane attempts by the guides to identify the cave rocks as particular animals and shapes. The view from the top was nice though.

mayodave

The law now dictates they all have to sail together and park up at night all next to each other, great if you want to listen to some awful karaoke and generators. This is since all those Taiwanese people died in the crash they did such a good job to cover up and blamed the deaths on the Taiwanese for not being good swimmers.

This is supposed to be a place of natural beauty but frankly its disgustingly dirty and over crowded. Due to the system of being able to buy anything you want there, there is now about 50% too many boats operating on the water to cater for all the dumb tourists who pay way over the odds for a cruise on a boat that might just stay afloat.

relangford

Wow, mayodave. You have me worried. My wife and I are going to VN in two weeks with a short, 5-hour, tour of Ha Long Bay (included as part of a tour package). Are you suggesting it is not worth it?

Rusell

Can you book day boat tours or are they all overnight tours?

as219

First of all, I really do think mayodave paints far too grim a picture. Yes, there are too many boats. Yes, the water is kind of gross...in certain places. But the scenery is really stunning, so much so that it's pretty easy to ignore the downsides. We were in awe pretty much the entire time. All that said...five hours? Yikes. That's a pretty quick trip. I just counseled a friend to skip a Halong day-cruise, but she would have started and ended up in Hanoi, which is hours away. If this is part of your package, and you're not doing a same-day round-trip to Hanoi, then why not do it? Keep in mind, these day cruises won't go out as far as the overnight trips, but it will still give you a taste of the bay.

relangford

It lies between the travel from/to Hanoi, thus the approximately 5 hours alloted to the cruise. It is a group tour, so we have to follow the schedule. Thanks!

NYCRachel

Does anyone have any experience booking with easytours24h.com? They seem to have the best price for an Indochina Junk cruise. I emailed them and they are asking for a deposit via PayPal, which seems sketchy.

NYCRachel

FYI ended up booking directly through the tour operator, Indochina Junk. Had none of the problems described above (dirty water, too many boats), since Indochina Junk goes to Bai Tu Long - completely different area than the rest of the tour operators. Recommended.