Halong Bay, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam

4fal3 5:00 PM Jan 9, 2023

A must do!!
Went on the standard 2 days 1 night cruise with Halong aquamarine. Was more than sufficient time to take in the views of this UNESCO world heritage site. The scenery was exquisite (although we were fortunate with good weather). It did feel overcrowded at times but this didn’t detract from the overall beauty of the bay. The pollution isn’t as bad as some have suggested. Our itinerary included kayaking around Luon cave, a view point at Tiptop island, and exploring Sung Sot cave. The activities were excellent and let you really appreciate Halong Bay from different perspectives.

4Dean L 5:00 PM Jan 26, 2020

Learnings from our Ha Long Bay Adventure
My wife and I took a 3 day/ 2 night trip in Ha Long bay mid January 2020. I spent a lot of time reading reviews before I booked this and I wanted to provide some thoughts now that we completed the tour. General: The cruise boats are parked in a waiting area and you are take a tender for about 10 minutes to reach it. It's extremely organized and obvious that they do this many times per month. Once on the boat, you go to another area that's about 2 hours away. All boats park there and you take another tender to do the daily activities. I envisioned our cruiser boat weaving in and out of the islands but it only does that for the couple of hours to get to the second parking lot of other boats. 1 night vs 2 nights: Our boat had several people who only did one night. If you are short on time, then this is a limited option in my opinion because they offer just short trips like kayaking and visiting a cave in Ha Long Bay. I honestly found the kayaking to be of poor quality because you do it where the boat park and it's fairly polluted with bottles and trash floating in the bay. Since we did the 2 night stay, we left Ha Long Bay and took a tender to Cat Bay island where we biked, visited a small village, tasted rice wine, and kayaked in very clear water with unpopulated beaches we could explore. It was excellent and I felt bad for the 1 nighters who missed this adventure. Bus vs Private Transportation From and To Hanoi: I specifically looked for cruises that included transportation in the booking fee but quickly regretted doing so the day of the cruise. We were supposed to be picked up at 9:10-9:20 but were called and told we needed to be ready by 8:10. I was in the shower at 7:45 so we had to scramble to pack and check out but we made it. We were in the bus at 8:10 only to loop through Hanoi for 2 hours getting other guests ( there were only 15 people in total). Our final pickup at 10:00AM was right next to our hotel so needless to say, this started out bad. I'd recommend spending the money for a private ride. Overall Impression of Boat, Staff and Food: We stayed on the Pandora Cruise ship. The room was comfortable, and the people were extremely nice. The food was abundant and well prepared. They had karaoke at night which was a lot of fun and some of the staff were really good singers. We got a room with a balcony but honestly didn't use it. Anyway, hope this helps if you are considering a trip...