I loved this. The rooms are phenomenal. Pretty big for a boat, and the bath is just stunning. I could never get bored of laying there, gazing out at the scenery.
The ship seems very new and everything was spotlessly clean. The pool is fantastic, as are all the common areas.
Definitely do the 2 night/3 day cruise. Every person that did the 1 night instantly regretted it. It’s just not long enough.
The whole thing was very well organised. It’s worth noting that the boat is not actually moored in Halong Bay, so you have to get a tender boat out to it, which takes nearly an hour each way. The full day excursion on our middle day was also done on a smaller (shared) boat so you don’t actually spend much time on Doria, which is the only real negative, as the small boat has no privacy, balconies, swimming pool etc
The staff are brilliant. A special mention to Kim, Ashley and Miley, who go out of their way to ensure you have a good time. But standout for me was the lovely Luna, who looked after us every day in the restaurant. She really is just a delight, and a real asset to your company.
The food was pretty good. I loved the taster menu format, with the chicken, sea bass and prawn dishes being the stand outs. The buffet on arrival was also particularly good, as was the lunch on the excursion to Cat Ba.
The drinks were pretty expensive, but given the location, I guess that was to be expected. They do a 3-4-2 offer on cocktails before and after dinner, but it’s still not cheap. Also, as a solo traveller, having to buy drinks in multiples of three is annoying - 30% offer would have been better.
Good to see them stop serving alcohol and close everything down at 10:30pm. This ensures everyone can get a good nights sleep.
I would have loved the option to add another night, just so I could spend a day doing nothing/chilling on the boat. As much as loved all the excursions, one more day, just sitting around the pool, would have been awesome.
It definitely gets a massive thumbs up from me. I’ve never done a Halong Bay cruise before, so I have nothing to compare it too, but loved every minute of it.
After no shortage of research we booked on Doria cruise. We ended up using our Hanoi hotel to book, becoming bewildered by the different websites and WhatsApp conversations that we got involved in. It is the same company that owns Doria, Doris, Dora and Elina. They all looked similar - with the exception of Elina that from the outside looked a bit older. Doria is an old boat, but newly kitted out - only 3 months ago - and the fixtures and fittings are of very high standard. The staff are similarly excellent, with the main host Kim, very friendly - and excellent with our two kids (aged 6 and 8). She really added to the trip. The food was very good, and whilst a 7 course dinner is a bit unnecessary, it is served quickly. We enjoyed the pre dinner drinks (even if buy 2 get 1 free is a bit of an odd deal), the cooking class was nice (spring rolls) and squid fishing entertained the kids and adults alike for a while. The heated swimming pool was great for a dip in - and an alternative to the sea (see below). We choose the 3 day 2 night option - and are glad we did so - the full day in the middle, with some cycling, a visit to a local village, and some kayaking/swimming around the less busy parts of Halong was worthwhile. I suspect the 2 day, 1 night package would have felt very rushed - and it is really only 2 half days at most you end up getting.
A trip to Halong Bay isn’t as serene as it could be tho - and there are some things to bear in mind. (1) parts of the bay are strewn with floating rubbish - others have said it, but it is striking, and something really needs to be done. It does detract from the scenery. (2) this is such a popular activity that in the Bay’s sleeping area you can easily count 40 other ships. Similarly most of the attractions will have other boats in the vicinity, so our trip at least wasn’t as secluded as we might have hoped. As mentioned the middle “full” day helped offset this. (3) during the 3D2N option you effectively overlap with two lots of guests doing the 2D1N option - albeit this isn’t a problem per se, and they don’t get to do the full day tour. (4) the full day involved a transfer onto a smaller - much less salubrious boat, it has a nice top deck which everyone shares - but the majority of your trips sailing is done on this day boat - so e.g. you aren’t enjoying the views from your balcony. (5) similarly the transfer from the marina to Doria (c.45 minutes) is done by a separate boat - we did see some some other boats that picked you up directly in the marina. (6) as with any boat, it gets pretty noisy early in the morning.
All together - we very much enjoyed our trip, and whilst an expensive part of any trip to Vietnam - the size and luxury of the room relative to its cost is fairly unique in our experience. We did see other smaller and well equipped sleeper ships that were doing the full days activities (ie no need to transfer onto a day boat) - which given our time again we would likely favour. As an alternative - but missing the “experience” of staying overnight on the boat - it might be possible to do day trips from a land based hotel.
Escape04423524312
26 Mar 2025
Gran experiencia. El personal trabaja muy duro y es súper agradable. Julie y el resto del personal fueron muy serviciales. Como hacía dieta, me atendieron muy bien y siempre tuve mi propia comida. Definitivamente será recordado positivamente :-)
Habitación ruidosa (puede ser normal en un barco)