Musken

We visited Halong Bay for a 2 day 1 night cruise last year and to be honest I found it the worst ever excursion that I have been to. Ok, the nature is gorgous, but that it all. All boats went the same way for the same stops. I felt that nothing was authentic, even the local floating village that we visited felt like set up for tourists like noone actually lived there. We checked a lot of different options (all looked the same in terms of itinerary/food etc.) and went with Emperor cruise which was recommended by the concierge at the Metropole hotel in Hanoi. Small boats with only 8 cabins (all large suites), so it should be rather exclusive, also reflected in the rates paid. We were upgraded to their best suite (royal suite - 70 sq meters), but hardly had any time to enjoy this suite at all since the cruise was packed with all kinds of activities of which they should have left out most to to allow for time to just enjoy. Even the "free" massage (included) felt like so rushed in between everything that we did not book time for it. The whole experience felt so over-planned and "plastic" with the team on board saying the same things and waving at us every time we left and came back. They seemed afraid of removing any activity from the schedule since all boats offer the same things and noone wants to do less. For example squid fishing was done after dinner. We have done that before and thought it was fun, but there was just no squid at all and one of the personnel even admitted that no tourist had been able to catch one for almost a year!!! Food was plentyful and inclued luxury items like lobster etc., but felt mass produced. We really regretted going on this trip and I strongly suggest that you do not go. And about Halong Bay mainland; An over developed place where Chinese investors have taken over, totally ruining any local charme which was there before.

Sorry for being so negative, but I am really just trying to help you not making the same mistake as we did.

erik123

Halong Bay is a tourist trap. Itineraries are rigid and many don't even offer swimming. Caves are neon lit monstrosities, etc. You could look into Cat Ba as there are several charters going from there that avoid the cruise ships and offer flexibility. Unfortunately, most are pretty basic but with some digging you might be able to find something higher end. If doing Cat Ba you'd need 2 nights.

rjque

Avoid the Indochina Junk / Valentine private boats. They are nice boats, but one of our two cabins had a bedbug infestation that had clearly been there for some time. The crew didn't seem to have a clue what bedbugs were or how to deal with them properly.

Kagehitokiri

charter yachts? wonder even from sanya china

Yangshuo has 'new' Alila, opened jun/jul 2017
Krabi/Phangnga has charters via luxury resorts

Musken

Good point, Kage. Stay at Phuket or Krabi and go with private charter to see Phang Nga Bay, Phi Phi etc. instead of visiting Halong Bay.

erik123

They are visiting Vietnam. If Halong is a must you can also consider a one-day fly in-out via helicopter.

offerendum

Musken

Yes, sorry. Of course they cannot just go to Thailand instead. But maybe save it for next trip and rather enjoy other parts of Vietnam. Or maybe they have been in Phuket/Krabi and seen the very similar bay there (we had) and thought (we did) that Halong Bay was worth it?

xray

Was just at Ha Long Bay... I would recommend jadesails. They run a day trip which is really all the time you need to be out there. They also pick you up in a nice limobus from Hanoi (only 6 people per transfer in recliner type seats) and take the new highway which is only a 2h drive compared to the 4.5 h it used to take... It's $100 pp for the day and their boat is incomparable to the other "junks" out there. It's fairly new (less than a year old) and upscale. We had a great day as it was Tet so it wasn't as congested out there. I was apprehensive as I hate these touristy treks but it was worth it.

callmedtop

Seems too good to be true! Would love to hear more.

xray

Yes, I lucked out as I found this online and I liked the look of the boat... As well, I booked online through an OTA and could use my Amex so figured I could bail if it turned out to be horrible. Let's be honest, it's not like Amantaka's sunset cruise. However, it's much more comfortable than any other Ha Long Bay option that I saw out at the harbour.

We were picked up at Metropole at 7:30 am and picked up 4 more people at two different hotels downtown. The limobus was very comfortable with recliner seats (not a huge amount of leg room unfortunately) so it didn't feel like the usual group bus trip. They always use the new highway so we were at the Tung Chau Marina by 9:30 am. When I looked around the harbour at the boats, I was worried that the pictures online weren't representative. Luckily, it's just a transfer boat docked at the harbour which takes the group to the actual Jade sails boat.

The Jade sails boat is very nice - has two levels with a dining area on the main deck and a seating area and outdoor sun deck on the second deck. There are lockers where you can store your belongings, bathroom facilities are clean and spacious with showers if you chose to partake in swimming.

The boat goes into Lan Ha bay with stops for a small boat tour through sea caves, kayaking or swimming. You are served a nice multicourse lunch which is included in the price. There is a cooking demonstration of how to make vietnamese imperial rolls... You don't have to partake if you would rather not. A small snack buffet is also served before the boat returns.

The return transfer is again by the same limobus and we were back at the hotel by 7:30 pm.

This is a comfortable efficient day trip and is upscale (keeping in mind, it's VN). Happy I found it...

Kagehitokiri

thanks for posting!
$95pp, wonder how much for buyout
and how crowded at max occupancy

User Name

Did Bhaya Cruises "luxury" AuCo "3-day" cruise last week. Note the use of inverted commas. We booked the most expensive cabin type which was an AuCo suite, a small-ish room with a queen bed, built in sofa (on which our child slept), en-suite bathroom with separate bathtub and shower cubicle and a wrap-around private deck with two high chairs and a small table. There are two suites of this type, adjacent to one another at the front of the boat.

While we understood this at time of booking, the cruise being 3-day is just marketing nonsense/outright lie for a trip that lasts less than 48 hours (depart 12.30pm on day 1 and arrive back at 10.30am day 3). I had been shopping around and missed a 30% off sale by one day while we were making our decision. I emailed them to say that we would book if they gave us the sale rate, to which they agreed.

The capacity was around 70 passengers, and the cruise was about half full. The crew marginally outnumbered the passengers. The crew were absolutely lovely, enthusiastic but with poor to very poor English. Apparently Byaha cruises does a lot of very noble work to help the local community on Cat Ba island, including offering many jobs on the ships - but I suspect this is the reason for English being below the general standards we otherwise experienced in the Vietnamese tourist industry. This led to quite a number of misunderstandings, especially around F&B which grated after a while.

The ship was 7 years old, but designed to look older with dark wood interiors in many areas and wooden floorboards. While everything was visually good-looking at first glance, upon closer inspection many surfaces in the cabin were quite grubby - a quick rub with dry tissue paper turning it dark grey. On the plus side this corner suite was very bright, with windows all around and two large, opening portholes in the bathroom. The cabin was equipped with AC which the crew kept leaving on but really wasn't needed on the days we traveled.

One of the reasons we had booked the suite was to enjoy some peace and quiet, especially on the private deck in the evenings while our daughter went to sleep inside. We figured the front of the boat would be a good choice as it was furthest from the bar at the rear (and some passengers had definitely come to drink). Unfortunately this was not to be the case. It seems all ships that overnight in Ha Long do so in one specific spot. There were about 20 cruise boats in total including one with a loud disco on the first night whose music seemed to bounce off the beautiful moon-lit limestone karsts all around us. Thankfully it was absent on the second night, but replaced by shouting and cheering from the crew directly above us as they watched a football match on TV. I called reception to complain, and had a very hard time making myself understood. Eventually it stopped - maybe the game ended.

There were a number of shore excursions (cave visit, floating fishing village, cycling on Cat Ba and finally a beach visit with optional kayaking) but we ended up skipping one because it felt like we were on-the-go all the time instead of relaxing.

Food was generally of a high quality and well presented except for the second dinner which was a poorly-executed on-deck barbecue, where the quality of everything was noticeably lower than all the other meals. All drinks were payable except filtered water with lunch and dinner, and all drinks at breakfast. A glass of wine or a cocktail came to about VND150k, and each evening before dinner there was a 1-1.5h Happy Hour with 2-4-1 drinks (of the same type).

Overall I'm glad that we did this, but as we paid US$1,300 (including discount) - a fortune by Vietnamese standards - we felt like the value for money wasn't quite there.

​​​​​​I haven't tried to give an exhausting picture of the ship - this is easily Googled - but if anyone has any particular questions they can't answer via the company's website then please feel free to ask.

golfingboy

We are in the planning stages for our Vietnam trip in early October and I am looking at different cruise options - I am willing to splurge for this experience and avoid one of the junks.

The one that caught my eye was Orchid Cruises - Orchid Cruise Official Website - Unique luxury Halong cruise

The cruise only has 14 rooms and they all are suites with balcony with wide sweeping windows across the cabin. The boat was build and began service sometime in late 2016 so relatively new.

Thoughts?

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

There's nothing truly luxury in Halong Bay. We did a 1-night cruise aboard Hera Cruise, which is about as close as it gets (4*). Suggest booking the Sun or Moon suite, which are at the bow of the boat. Large forward balconies, bedroom with small seating area, and largeish (for a boat) bathroom with full shower and soaking tub with views

Our Cruises - Aphrodite

Gallery Aphrodite Charm - Aphrodite

Most of the room photos in that gallery are of the Sun/Moon suites.

Stayed in a suite at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi afterwards. Quite a place.