Which Halong Bay Cruise?

[Dagny]

Greetings,

 

I'll be in Vietnam, along with two others, in October on a land-based trip and we want to do an overnight cruise of Halong Bay. One of us is elderly, with some mobility issues, and we will want a luxury experience with suite-service, private baths, private balconies, top-notch food and amenities. I am narrowing my choices to: Valentine, Emeraude, and Paradise Explorer. Any input on these or other possibilities in the luxury range?

 

Cheers,

[goya]

I went on the Emerald and it was great.

Once you get to the port, you can buy the tickets there, its much cheaper.

 

My friend went 2 weeks ago and paid only 12$.

[Bpos]

Suggest you check this out on Trip Advisor - Vietnam - as there is a lot of information about Halong Bay and advice on what junks to book with etc.

 

You will not get a junk for an overnight stay for 12$ as a previous posts mentioned, that must have been for a few hours sailing to a few islands only.

 

Best to book before you go to ensure that you have transfers from Hanoi included and be prepared to pay some extra to ensure you get a good junk that is highly recommended by others.

[freddie]

Dagny - After doing extensive research on Halong Bay overnight cruises in preparation for our visit there in November, I will agree with Bpos that your should check out TripAdvisor. I have no idea what Goya is talking about, as Emeraude sells for about $130 per night, not $12. Maybe there is some backpacker boat that sells for double digits; but you don't want to go on one of those, I am sure. The one that sank last week was a cheap backpacker junk.

 

If you are looking for a luxury junk, have a look at the Luxury Cruise Collection, which includes three of the most luxurious junks on the bay: Halong Ginger, Halong Jasmine, and Halong Violet. http://www.cruisehalong.com/index.php

 

Their newest boat, Halong Violet, appears to be the most luxurious boat on Halong Bay, with easily the largest suites: http://www.cruisehalong.com/halong-violet.html

 

Frankly, Halong Violet looks marvelous, which is why we decided to bite the bullet and pay a bit more for the experience of cruising on that lovely little boat, which has only six cabins, each of which is very large. As your traveling companion has mobility issues, I would imagine that the spacious suites with separate jacuzzi tubs and glass-enclosed showers, along with private balconies, would be most convenient for you.

 

Based upon my research (which may have missed something but did include the junks that you mentioned), the three Luxury Cruise Collection junks easily surpass the competition; and Halong Violet simply has nothing even close in competition at the present time.

 

Have fun planning your trip.

 

Cheers, Fred

[goya]

Suggest you check this out on Trip Advisor - Vietnam - as there is a lot of information about Halong Bay and advice on what junks to book with etc.

 

You will not get a junk for an overnight stay for 12$ as a previous posts mentioned, that must have been for a few hours sailing to a few islands only.

 

Best to book before you go to ensure that you have transfers from Hanoi included and be prepared to pay some extra to ensure you get a good junk that is highly recommended by others.

 

yes of course 12$ on a junk with more people for half day.

 

We went 4 persons on our own , and paid about 70$ EACH by en agency, afterwoods we found out it would be much cheaper to get the ticket directly on the port.

[Dagny]

Thanks Goya, but yeah Im definitely not looking for a backpackers special :)

 

Tripadvisor is one of my usual sources, though I take their reviews with a large grain of salt as they are the largest target of advertising agencies specializing in seeding online review forums.

 

Violet is a possibility, cheers :)

[Philip217]

freddie got it right.

I work for a competitor of the line he recommends.

I wish I worked on the Violet.

 

Emeraude would be your next best bet.

[Dagny]

Further research has made me want to add the Premier Valentine to my shortlist, as it only has two cabins so would be a private cruise for the three of us. Presumably, we could then tailor it to our liking. Does anyone have any information on this?

 

Cheers,

[Dagny]

Thanks for all your assistance everyone. I have ended up chartering the Paradise Privilege for 3days/2 nights and am now having fun deciding on our itinerary. It's going to be a blast!

[des1rees]

Thanks for all your assistance everyone. I have ended up chartering the Paradise Privilege for 3days/2 nights and am now having fun deciding on our itinerary. It's going to be a blast!

 

Hello Dagny,

 

I am looking to book something similar for my parents - can you give me a ball park figure how much the 3 days/2 nights cost if you don't mind?

 

Thanks,

 

D

[albertvn]

You should also add Bhaya to the list! They have Bhaya Legend which is also very nice!

https://www.bhayacruises.com/bhaya-legend/overview.aspx

 

I also have just read some tips for booking cruise in Halong Bay and hopefully it helps!

http://www.travpr.com/pr-7070-how-to-select-the-best-cruise-in-halong-bay.html

 

Albert

[GreenBayLane]

Hello all

We are going in March 2012 and are trying to decide which company to take. Originally were looking at Indochina Junk Cruises with the Red Dragon and the private Princess. After reading the notes posted I am now leaning towards the Halong Violet. Our agent has said that the Violet goes into the more touristy area while the smaller Red Dragon and Princess go into the less trafficked areas.

Can anyone give me any advice!:confused:

[freddie]

GreenBayLane - As I stated in my post #4 above, we'll be on the Halong Violet in a couple of weeks. In addition to the quality of the cabins (suites) on that junk, I also tried to determine (as best as one can by reading a lot of the hype on the sites of the various agencies that sell junks on Halong Bay) whether Violet overnights in one of the crowded bays. I was convinced that it does not do so. I guess that I'll find out in a couple of weeks. On the Luxury Cruise Collection website, they say that they use a "quiet overnight anchoring spot".

http://www.cruisehalong.com/life-on-board/itineraries/map.html

 

We also considered both Red Dragon and the private Princess option. Although Red Dragon (with 5 cabins) has about the same number of passengers as Halong Violet (with 6 cabins), the cabins/suites on Violet looked much larger and more luxurious that on Red Dragon. Our concern with Princess was whether the galley would be able to provide the same quality meals as on Violet. Frankly, they all look like good options.

 

I'll be posting about our experience either from the trip or when we get back in early December, probably on the River Cruises board of CC, on the thread named, "AMA Vietnam".

 

Cheers, Fred

[Aussie Gal]

We went to Vietnam at the end of September flying into Hanoi. We were booked to go on a Halong Bay cruise for 2 days on one of the Indochine Boats. Unfortunately, due to one of the three typhoons we experienced whilst in Vietnam, our trip to Halong Bay was cancelled. As you can imagine we were very disappointed as that was to be one of the highlights of our trip.

 

When visiting Vietnam the weather does play an important part and sometimes it just doesn't co-operate. This year has been a particularly bad one for typhoons in that part of Asia. Bangkok is now suffering from the after effects of so many typhoons this season.

 

Jennie

[GreenBayLane]

Thank you Fred. Have a great vacation

 

Rit

[Queenk2]

We are scheduled to go overnight on the Violet in July. We have booked one of the suites. I especially like the Phoneix suite. I willk report back to you after our trip.

Karen

[greatam]

Just a quick note about booking Emeraude. It is sold by all kinds of agencies in Hanoi in large group bookings. LOTS of partiers/backpackers book those group bookings.

 

We were on the Huang Hai anchored not too far from the Emeraude. We finally had to get out of bed, find the Captain and ask him to MOVE. Between the loud music, the loud conversation and all the crap being thrown over side and making a LOT of noise, it was a very crappy experience until we moved to another location.

 

I have taken 3 Halong Bay overnight cruises-the Emeraude has usually had its fair share of partiers on board every time we have seen it. So if you are looking for a surreal, peaceful experience that Halong Bay is, don't book Emeraude OR allow your Captain to dock close.

[someotherguy]

I've been on the Red Dragon and enjoyed it very much. As mentioned

above, their company (Indochina Junk) is is the only one with a

license to go into Region 2 (the eastern group of islands nearer to

Bai Tu Long Bay), so you're away from the crowds once you leave the

port area.

 

When I went (2009), the company had 11 boats; the Red Dragons (there

are two) are the biggest, the others mostly sleep just 4 or 6. The

Red Dragons mostly do one night cruises (which is what I did); the

smaller boats also do two nights and more. Our guide said he thought

the two-nighters were the best and people I shared the ride back to

Hanoi with who had done that said they really enjoyed it.

[cruisesgn]

Greetings,

 

I'll be in Vietnam, along with two others, in October on a land-based trip and we want to do an overnight cruise of Halong Bay. One of us is elderly, with some mobility issues, and we will want a luxury experience with suite-service, private baths, private balconies, top-notch food and amenities. I am narrowing my choices to: Valentine, Emeraude, and Paradise Explorer. Any input on these or other possibilities in the luxury range?

 

Cheers,

My company's partners just had a good way to visit Saigon and Halong. They flew in late at 11 P from Narita. Next morning they started their two-day visits to the city, Cuchi and My Tho. They flew very early the next day to Hai Phong. From Hai Phong they drove shortly to Tuan Chau where they got onboard the P. Yatch for a two day & one night stay. From Tuan Chau two days later they drove to Hanoi. Upon arrival at 5 P they had enough time for a rickshaw tour and a water puppet show.

Good and time saving points are first to fly to Hai Phong instead of Hanoi. To pre book a stay onboard a ship is the second time saving point.

[Dagny]

I'm back from my Vietnam trip and it was amazing from start to finish. Zoom, our Saigon tour guide, got us our private charter for Halong Bay on Paradise Privilege, (even after my own efforts came up short), and it was the most incredible experience. We were told the boat catered to western standards of luxury, and it delivered. The three suites were beautifully appointed, the boat was gorgeous, the food and service was 5-star. We pre-selected our activities, but the staff had no problem adjusting our itinerary on the fly, and with 6 staff to cater to 5 guests, they managed unobtrusive pampering. This cruise was the highlight of our Vietnam trip, and we all agreed that Halong Bay might be the most beautiful place on this or any planet. We are so glad we opted for 2 nights versus one. The cost to charter the boat was around $3000 for the 2 nights and worth every penny :)

[Pduddy1]

We had booked a three-day, two night cruise on the Glory Legend through the tour operator, 365 Vietnam Travel. I had made one very simple request, twice in writing: as I was recovering from an eColi bacterial infection, please provide me with light food for the trip (soup, steamed vegetables, etc.). Once we were on the boat, we soon discovered that my request appeared to have evaporated. It was obviously too late to do anything so I suffered through the three days. On arrival back on terra firma, we got the typical Vietnamese-style finger pointing: 365 Travel blamed Glory Cruise and vice versa. I even got a meaningless hard copy letter of apology from both firms stating: "very sorry" and "please sympathize with us for mistake". Other passengers also appeared to have complaints about simple special requests. If you do decide to take your life in your own hands and go with Glory, here are a few tips: (1) get all requests acknowledged in writing (2) take your own drinking water (they charged US$2 for a 350 ml bottle) (3) if you like an adult beverage or two, again take your own - the captive audience was being ripped off. Upon sailing, the happy hour magically got reduced from "two for one" drinks to "three for two". Also, the happy hour pricing mysteriously didn't apply to wine. The only activity that was efficiently and meticulously handled, was the collection of tips at the end of the cruise.

[John Bull]

The only activity that was efficiently and meticulously handled, was the collection of tips at the end of the cruise.

 

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic. :)

 

Sorry to hear of such poor treatment on your junk cruise. :(

Because tourism in Vietnam is still in its early years, a lot of operators promise more than they give - and sometimes (eg the two-for-one happy-hour) you have to be firm and require them to stick to what was promised.

That's not true of the whole industry in Vietnam, there are some very good tour operators, many of whom are more likely to provide more than they promised - but you do need to get plenty of independent recommendations.

 

Because of the American tipping culture, there is a tendency to presume good tips from Americans as a right.

But in those circumstances other nationals would tip zero, zilch, diddley-squat, and say why there's no tip - tips have to be earned by good-to-exceptional service and such disappointing matters mean that no tips were deserved.

I'm glad to say that outside of the US, a growing proportion of Americans now take the same attitude as the rest of us.

Hope you did the same ;)

 

S E Asia is fascinating, hope that experience didn't detract too much from your enjoyment.

 

JB :)