The first thing to say is that booking this in advance from the UK was an expensive way to do this. Hanoi is full of tour operators competitively selling these tours at 30% less than we paid for it. The next thing to say is if we were to compare the boat to hotel accommodation it is very much towards the backpacker/hostel end of the market. The bedding was clean, but the cabin could have done with a thorough clean. It was pretty dirty and my parter slant about 20 minutes and a packet of disinfectant wipes cleaning surfaces, light switches, door handles etc. The quick turn around of guests is an excuse for this but not a good one, so be prepared. Also, if you can take towels, the ones supplied are like velvet and not great at absorbing water. Having said that there were positives. The hotel pick up was organised well, and there were just two small stops at ‘craft’ outlets on the 3hr drive to Halong. The welcome lunch was pretty good, as were the staff, who were all friendly. Halong Bay is a real tourist spot now and is possibly at risk from the number of boats operating there. The water did not look clean. The trip to the cave was interesting but busy and a bit of a timed route march to get in and out and onto the next place on schedule. Titop island was my idea of hell on earth, incredibly busy, could hardly get a seat, just a mass of your boats dropping off and picking up passengers. The evenings entertainment was a spring roll making demonstration, a pretty good evening meal, then some karaoke/squid fishing. Meeting the other passengers was s real plus, travellers from all over the world, and speaking to them was a very pleasant way to pass the evening. The next morning was an early start for canoeing, and check out of rooms by 09:30 as the crew needed to change the rooms for the guests arriving at 12:00, which they did while we sailed back to port. Halong Bay is beautiful and I’m glad we did it, though we should have paid less, and managed our expectations regarding the accommodation. As usual all tours exit through the gift shop, and on the return trip there was another 30 min break to wander round a craft shop.
Thank you for your feedback, David Ramsay! We checked with the crew about the cabin and towels. We will take the note and improve it. This is Classic cruise class, the cabin has full equipment and we would say it is not luxury one. You can check the same tour at offline agent office with the price less 25 - 30 %. We got your booking via Viator/ Tripadvisor and we have to pay the commission. So basically, that is the same price. Now the local goverment tries to reduce plastic, we are getting more groups of local and foreigners volunteering collecting garbage in Halong. We know it is not all the solution but that means people care and act for it too. Hope you enjoy Halong Bay overall. See you again in future and we will see a clean beautiful Halong Bay. Best regards, Luong
