Travelbug155004
29 Mar 2023
We used Halong Bay Cruise Hunters to source our 3 day / 2 night stay at Halong Bay. The service and communication from the people at Halong Bay Cruise Hunters was very good and they went above and beyond when we forgot something on the bus that dropped us off at our hotel at the end of our trip, thanks again and much appreciate the help.
As for the actual boat cruise. We stayed for 3 days / 2 nights with our 11 and 8 year old in an adjoining room suite. Our boat was called the Aquamarine. The room is spacious but needs to updated and they have to focus on doing a real deep clean between cruises. There are black smears all over the doors from dirty hands that appears like they just have never been cleaned. We saw the cleaning in action and it was pretty superficial. The beds were comfy and the bathroom was very spacious as well with heaps of hot water available for a family of 4. What I will say, the picture attached to this is nothing like the room you really get. The photo looks like a 5* hotel that is well maintained, you will not get that. Most of the boats we have seen are under constant use and there is wear and tear.
They only provide one room key which is also the master power for your room. So you can never really keep your room at a comfortable temperature because you have to take your key with you thus shutting off the AC. As well, you can bring your own alcohol with you but the mini-fridge is also attached to said electricity so again, coming back to a warm beer / white wine everyday was not ideal. As well, I don't think our mini-fridge was working that well and probably should be replaced.
The activities were good but I would not recommend them for families with young children, our 11 and 8 year old did fine, but younger ones might be a bit bored and they might wear down quickly. Going through caves and visiting a beach were good. The next day we did kayaking, visited another beach and a Pearl Farm. On day three we were taken to another location for kayaking or you could be taken on a ride on a bamboo boat (which was actually just metal and fiberglass). When it comes to day tours, you need to have cash on you. You are put on a beach or a separate day trip boat where they sell you drinks, but you need to pay cash, nobody told us this so it became kinda weird when you get a bill that you can't pay (it all worked out)
The food on the Aquamarine was good and there was sufficient most of the time....breakfast on morning #2, stuff ran out and it was not being replaced. Otherwise, the menus were good and they were accommodating to our children who were not necessarily keen to behead a shrimp and eat it....they would end up with a pasta dish or chicken nuggets.
The evening agenda would start around 5pm with happy hour where they put out some light snacks and you can purchase buy 2 get 1 free drink offers. My wife and I did this with gin and tonics, it was nice. There is also a "cooking class" which is where you learn to make a spring roll, unfortunately the experience lasts 10 minutes at most so kind of a lost opportunity to teach about your cuisine while entertaining guests.
The top deck of the Aquamarine is a lost opportunity, The astroturf decking is coming apart at the seams and needs to be replaced with something better, just looks trashy. There are tons of lounger chairs but no cushions so you are sitting on plastic rattan. There are lights burnt out all over the place. It is all of these attention to detail pieces that come into consideration, considering we spend almost $2000 CAD on this 3 day / 2 night trip.
The staff were all very nice and what I learned is Vietnamese people hustle. But, language barriers are massive. I am not saying that everyone should or has to speak English but there were very few staff on the boat that could 100% understand what was being asked / conveyed...and these were simple service requests, We don't hold it against anyone and understand this is an industry that is growing in a place like Vietnam so we manage expectations but be patient as they are lovely people trying their best.
The area where you are housed while you wait to board and where you are left to be picked up could use a facelift and maybe entice people to spend money. It kind of feels like you are in a detention centre. Random plastic chairs in a dirty room and people just kind of hang out. Maybe a TV with news, some music with someone serving drinks to get you excited about your cruise...I don't know but it could be better.
Now Halong Bay itself. Beautiful landscape, some lovely caves and island and who doesn't like cruising on boats for a few days. However, the water is massively polluted, to a disgusting extend. It is truly sad to see styrofoam and plastic floating everywhere, including where they take you to swim at the beach.
At the end of the day, we had fun and it was a good experience seeing a new place, but would I recommend that you go out and book something to Halong Bay, knowing it is a 3 hour drive from Hanoi and the water is massively polluted, I would say no. There are more beautiful places that deserve your time and money. If they clean up the water, then I would be all in.
Halong bay cruise hunter was the best experience, they arranged everything and made sure the trip was all put together and according to the itinerary.
They were very friendly and helpful.
We had de 3 nights, 2 days at this amazing new ship called the stellar of the seas.