Culture56873782047
12 Jul 2025
My partner and I booked this boat tour expecting a relaxing and well-guided day, but it turned out to be one of the most disorganized experiences we've had while traveling.
The chaos started right away: I was contacted by three different WhatsApp numbers, each giving me conflicting instructions about our pickup. One said we’d be picked up by a bus, another mentioned a taxi, and in the end, it was a taxi, thankfully, the driver was very kind, which was one of the few positives of the day.
Once we arrived at the harbor, we were separated from the group and left waiting a long time without any clear communication. No one could properly explain in English what was happening or what we were supposed to do. Eventually, we were brought to a boat, and after more than an hour of waiting, we finally reached the island. As expected, it was very crowded – but that part we had anticipated.
The two "sightseeing" stops were a complete disappointment. First, we visited an old water well that honestly wasn’t worth the stop, and then we were brought to a so-called museum that consisted of 20 identical jars with the same dead fish in each. Nothing educational, nothing interesting.
Next, we were dropped off at a commercial restaurant where we had to wait yet again before snorkeling. Only at this point were we told that if we wanted to actually see the coral properly, we would each need to pay an extra 1,000,000 VND – almost the same price as the whole tour! This should have been mentioned clearly beforehand.
The snorkeling was okay, but we barely saw anything worth mentioning. The lunch was surprisingly good, but although we were told water was included, we didn’t receive any and were later charged for our drinks.
The last part of the day was three hours of free time on the beach – which was nice, but honestly something we could have easily done on our own without paying for a full tour.
The return trip went smoothly – mostly because we were suddenly allowed to join another group, which made things more efficient. But by that point, the day had already been a letdown.
This company markets the tour as a “budget” option, but €70 for two people in Vietnam is far from cheap, and this tour definitely wasn’t worth it. Poor organization, zero communication, and a lot of waiting around – we wouldn’t recommend it.