Orchid Cruises, Hai Phong, Vietnam

4Traveler11099327523 5:00 PM Jan 10, 2023

Two days in Halong Bay
If you are looking for a 1,2 or 3 day cruise in Halong Bay, I would not hesitate to recommend the Orchid Luxury Cruise. Note that they have three different options.. Regular, Trendy, and Luxury. There must be over 100 very small cruise boats floating around Halong Bay, and from our observation, the Orchid boats were as good as any of the others. We selected one of the two large cabins at the back of the boat with our own private balcony. It was very comfortable and private. There were only 27 passengers in our cruise. The staff try very hard to make your stay special. In particular, we’d like to thank Smile for looking out for us on the cruise. The food was ok, but some of the local Vietnamese dishes (especially the soups) were amazing. In spite of the spectacular beauty of Halong Bay, we left with a sense of sadness at the amount of garbage in the water. It seems that a cruise line focused on ESG could do well as something needs to be done. It would have changed our choice, if we knew that the cruise line recognized the problem and was committed to helping with cleanup.

5Stephanie Read 5:00 PM Mar 5, 2023

Experience of a Lifetime
We had an amazing experience on the Orchid Classic Cruise and recommend anyone looking for a relaxing, adventure outside of the main cities! The views and atmosphere in Ha Long Bay are unique and unmatched by anywhere we have been! Service was exceptional, particularly from Linh, Nhat, and Eric, who made sure we were always taken care of with a huge smile. The cruise manager, Tien, was very informative, friendly, and helpful throughout. Everyone on board went the extra mile to make you feel special. The food and drinks were both delicious and aesthetically pleasing. The food was focused primarily on local dishes with some western options. The staff were able to accommodate any dietary restrictions with alternates always available if there was an item you could not eat or did not want. I would recommend doing the 3 day, 2 night cruise to get the full experience as there is a bit of travel time involved from Hanoi. We had a hectic few weeks of travelling in Vietnam so the cruise was a much needed relaxing part of our trip. The staff had an itinerary that was packed with activities, like a cave tour, biking to a village, swimming and kayaking, and cooking classes but even though there was a lot of options you could opt out but we attended as much as we could as it was nice to just follow their lead and not need to worry about any planning, transportation, or activities ourselves. It was an experience of a lifetime and we were so glad we included this in our itinerary. The rooms were clean, comfy, and very spacious - they even had a giant soaker tub overlooking the window! Everything was well organized and thought out, and communication was seamless from initial booking, questions before arriving, changing our dates and hotel pickups and all the way through the cruise until our final drop off.