We did the 2 day 1 night Ha Long Bay cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Mr Lee the Manager provided exceptional service. When we were waiting to go on the transfer boat Mr Lee asked people if they had any dietary requirements. I asked if they had any Soy milk onboard and he replied no. Twenty minutes later he came up to us with some cartons of soy milk for my husband to use in his coffee. He had personally gone and bought the soy milk himself. Now that is service.
We had the King Terrace Suite which was huge with great views. The room sizes were the reason we booked this cruise.
When we got onto the boat around 12.40pm, we were given a set 5 course lunch which was a nice start to the cruise. It was a bit strange that dinner was a buffet. Would probably make more sense to swap the set meal to dinner as people were more relaxed and dressed for a nice dinner.
After lunch we were given the keys to our rooms and given some time to explore the ship. They had an afternoon kayaking excursion which we decided to miss in favour of a relaxing spa bath taking in the magnificent views instead. The day boat was moved to the side of the ship so they could launch the kayaks off the back of the boat. This meant that whilst we had panoramic views of Halong Bay from the many windows in the suite we also had the day boat alongside said windows which didn’t provide much privacy.
Before dinner they had happy hour on the deck which we enjoyed and then we headed in for a buffet dinner. I had mentioned that it was my husband’s birthday so at the end of dinner the crew bought out a birthday cake for my husband and everyone sung Happy Birthday which was lovely. It started to rain after dinner, so we went back to our room and relaxed.
The following morning there was early morning Tai Chi and a light breakfast and then we got on the day boat around 7.00am to go to a cave. We had a lovely rower who stopped to take photos for us and also sang songs with such a beautiful voice. It was good that we left so early as we were the first into the cave and on our way out there was a queue of cruise ships waiting.
When we got back from the Cave we had time to shower before we had to check out at 9.15am and have breakfast. We got back to the pier at 11.00am then had to wait till 11.30 for the bus back to Hanoi.
Positives
• Great staff and large rooms
Room for improvement
• The King Terrace Suite shares the sun terrace with their neighbour. There is no divider between the rooms just an open sun terrace with 2 lounges outside both rooms so no privacy, if you want to use the lounges you will get to know your neighbours.
• You have these beautiful jacuzzi baths with an incredible view however the window is not tinted so you can see out, but others can’t see in like normal bathrooms. This means you have other boats going past as well as the women in the row boats selling their goods able to see you when you are in the bath.
• 9.15 is too early for checkout . What was the point of waiting for 30 mins on the pier for the bus. We could have stayed in our rooms enjoying the view for an extra 30 mins.
• Luxury bus that picked us up from Hanoi was beautiful and truly luxurious (like business class on a plane) and only took 2.5 hours. Why was the bus that took us back to Hanoi not the same standard?. It did have recliners but it was a much older bus and the driver was so slow that it took 3.5 hours to get home.
Ha long bay is a special location and we enjoyed its beauty, the staff and the room we had on this cruise. Despite it saying it’s a 2 day 1 night cruise you actually spend under 24 hours on this cruise but I would still recommend the experience.
This was my first time visiting Vietnam and lot of people had mentioned my to do an overnight cruise at Halong bay, after a lot of research I booked Era cruise, I would want to thank John for helping us with the bookings and also arranging for cars for pick up and drop, the entire process was very seamless, thanks to him.
I was initially skeptical as I was worried that the photos in the website versus reality would be different and also since I was travelling with my 7 YO son and we are vegetarians, we were worried about the food and if my son will enjoy there.
When we saw our cruise for the first time, my skepticism disappeared, Let me tell you, the cruise was really beautiful, it’s like a 5 star hotel on sea.
We are greeted by Mr Lee in the cruise, he took us to the dining area, where he explained us the food timings and the activities that are planned, he is an amazing host, he checked for our food preferences (Gladly John had already communicated to him). He made sure we are comfortable.
Cruise - it is a beauty!! Amazing 4 storey cruise.The upper deck and the bar area is really beautiful, we clicked 100s of pictures there :) it also has a small gym inside, though I was busy clicking pictures and eating, didn’t us gym ;)
Rooms - What a view from the room!! The room was huge and had a sea facing view, opened all the curtains and could see sea from the room and also from the toilet. The room had a huge balcony with 2 beach chairs, where you could sit and relax. My son was so excited as this was the first time for all of to stay in a cruise. The toilets were clean and hygienic (I am little finicky about it).
Food - Let me tell you, I have never eaten such amazing vegetarian food in my 9day trip in Vietnam. (I am sure the non vegetarian would relish the food too). The variety of food was good, there was a great spread
Staff - Amazing staff!! They took care of us and made sure we are comfortable. Every one were courteous and supportive, I can’t recollect everyone’s name but to call out few (Mr Lee and Hàng)
Activities- they had planned Kayaking and swimming for us in the afternoon, I don’t know how to swim but my adrenaline kicked in and I did both of them (with life vest on). It was an amazing experience.
In the night they had planned for squid fishing, which I did with my son, unfortunately couldn’t catch any. Also post dinner they had planned for movie in the private theatre room, it was just my family in the theatre and thanks to Lee who handed me over list of English movie, allowing me to select and watch with my family, felt so good having a private theatre just for us :)
Next morning they planned for cave watching in a boat, Hàng took us along, he is such a gentleman, made us comfortable throughout the journey. The view was amazing and very scenic.
Pros
- Rooms - Huge rooms with amazing view
- Staff - can’t thank them enough.. John for seamless arrangements.. Lee for being an amazing host.. Hàng for taking care of us
- Food - Best food I had in my 9 day Vietnam trip
- View - what a view from the cruise, if you like to click pictures, go for it!
- Activities - well planned and was really fun
Con
- actually none, but just for the sake of adding, if they had planned for a DJ for short time and also had a kids play area for young kids to play, it would be more better.. but don’t want to take anything away from the amazing experience they have provided us.
Thank you Era cruises for making our first cruise experience so memorable and amazing and making us feel royalty. Look forward to visiting again.. Highly recommend to all to visit here.