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| View from the top of Titop Island |
Seeing the breathtaking limestone karsts of Halong
Bay was the number one reason I decided to visit Vietnam recently, with the
food coming to a very close second. So
when it came time to choose which cruise company to use, I looked at every
possibility and read up on all the reviews before making my decision.
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| Surprising Cave (Sung Sot Cave) |
How many days?
Unless you're chartering a private boat, your
choices are: one day; two days/one night; or three days/two nights. Likely, you
will be based in Hanoi and most companies offer a shuttle for an extra fee to
pick you up from your Hanoi hotel to Halong City, where the boats are
docked. This is a four-hour drive, each
way. That's 8 hours driving total, which
would make the one-day cruise a very long day indeed. You will be very limited in what you can
visit, usually Titop Island and/or Surprising Cave (Sung Sot Cave).
The two-day/one-night option gives you a bit more
time to relax. But it is not a full two
days of activity. You are picked up from
your hotel at around 8 a.m., arriving at Halong City by 12 noon, where you are
served lunch onboard as your boat cruises to the Bay. After lunch, you either visit Titop Island or
Surprising Cave (Sung Sot Cave), after which you spend the night on the
boat. The next morning you will probably
be offered a kayaking option or visit to a fishing village/pearl farm then the
boat goes back to Halong City by 12 noon and you will be shuttled back to your
Hanoi hotel by 5 p.m.
As you can guess from the above descriptions, the
one-day and two-day options leave little time to visit quieter parts of the
Bay. Which is why in the end, I decided
to do the three-day/two-night option and I was so happy that I did. In addition to the most popular attractions
of Titop Island and Surprising Cave, my cruise offered a visit to Dark and
Bright Cave and Tieng On Cave, as well kayaking in a very quiet cove, which was
my favorite part. Most visitors choose
the two-day cruise so there are fewer people in the more remote areas like Lan
Ha and Cat Ba.
Which Cruise?
After deciding on how many days, the next decision
was which company. In considering which
cruise to take, I knew that I wanted to visit both Titop Island and Surprising
Cave, as well as do some kayaking. Titop
Island is the only place one can go to get a view of Halong Bay's numerous
karsts from above (unless you take a seaplane tour). Note that there are 427 steps to get to the top. You are only allowed 45 minutes to an hour to spend on island total so I would suggest going to the top first before doing any sunbathing on the beach.
Most cruises offer a cooking class in the afternoon (egg rolls), Tai Chi class in the morning, and squid fishing at night.
At first I was attracted to the romantic-looking
wooden junks with the full sails, which also offered lower prices. I'm glad I decided against these because in
real life they look quite old and jenky and none of them have their sails out
at all - only for pictures I guess. I
ended up choosing a newer boat, only a couple years old, which was sleek and
modern and whose pictures looked exactly like reality. In terms of comfort and luxury, I felt quite
pampered. The staff went out of their way to make my cruise amazing. The breakfast buffet had myriad options. Lunch and
dinners were six-course affairs. Not
only did they offer everything in my must-do list, but extra activities as
well. I knew I had made not only the
right decision, but the best one.
Carefully read the reviews on Tripadvisor and
Booking.com to make your final decision.
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| A pearl farm |
How and when to book?
Many book upon arriving in Hanoi either through
their hotel or with the numerous booking agents in the Old Quarter. I have heard that one can get really good
prices with this method, as the cruise companies strive to fill all their spots
for a full boat every day. Other methods
include booking directly online or through a third party booking site.
Having decided which cruise I wanted, I didn't
want to take a chance that it would be full for the days I preferred so at
first I contacted them directly two months before my trip to Vietnam. However, I ended up booking through
Booking.com because the price there was a couple hundred dollars less than on
the company's website and "the deal" I was quoted via e-mail. Also, I wanted an additional avenue to write
a verified review should the cruise experience fall below my expectations.
Definitely shop around for the best price online.
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| View from Surprising Cave (Sung Sot Cave) |
What to expect:
If you book the shuttle with the cruise company,
expect to be picked up in the morning anywhere from 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. The road to Halong City can be rough so if
you're prone to motion sickness, you might bring along some pills or the motion
sickness bands. I did the bands, put on
my headphones and chilled out. I
couldn't nap because of the poor conditions of some of the roads. Midway through the ride, the shuttle will
stop at marble company/warehouse with everything from marble statues, to food
and drinks, clothes, jewelry and other souvenirs for sale. You are not obligated to buy anything. Just use the free restrooms and browse for a
half-hour. After that, you go on for
another hour or hour-and-a-half to Halong City.
The shuttle makes this stop (at another marble company) on the way back
as well. Shuttles to and from Halong
City are a standard $20.
Once in Halong City, you either board your boat
right away or are taken to a hotel lobby area where you can relax after your
drive, check in and are offered some drinks and snacks. Once everyone arrives for the cruise, you are
then taken to your boat and given more welcome drinks during the briefing.
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| Titop Island |
After some downtime, lunch is served while the
boat cruises along to your first stop. Note
that bottled water during meals and any drinks, either alcoholic or otherwise,
is charged to your final bill. Most cruises offer free bottled water in the rooms and pass them out during activities. Also
depending on the company, use of a kayak might incur a fee.
You are usually taken by tender to whatever
attraction you are disembarking upon, whether to Titop Island, Surprising Cave,
a pearl farm or fishing village. If you
are on the 3-day/2-night program, for the second day, you are taken by tender
to a dayboat, which you will use for the entire day because the big boat goes
back to Halong City to drop off the 2-day/1-nighters and to pick up new
passengers.
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