Halong Bay 2D1N Cruise Trip

Halong Bay, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the natural wonders of the world which you have to pay a visit while in Vietnam. Located in the Northern Vietnam, it is about 3.5 hour bus ride from Hanoi. The best way to visit Halong Bay is by joining a cruise so you can go around the bay and enjoy the beautiful view. There are lots of option for this. First, you can book a one day or full day trip which goes to Halong Bay daily. Since it takes pretty much time to reach the bay from Hanoi, you may want to stay overnight in a hotel around Halong area. The second choice, and also the most popular among tourists, is to join a 2D1N cruise, the tour package would be enough for you to enjoy the bay. The third one, you can join a 3D2N cruise, but I personally think that three days would be too much to spend here, since the itinerary isn’t much different from the second choice, also the price for three days trip would be twice the 2D1N price. Cruise companies held these tours daily, so you can join the cruise on any day.

There are dozens of cruises which go to Halong Bay and their itineraries are pretty much same with the others, so you should choose the one with great facilities, good reviews, and also reasonable prices. Based on the receptionist of the hotel where I stayed at in Hanoi, the cruises only claim themselves as 3 or 4 star cruise without any organization assess and give the rating. You can book the cruise directly from the cruise company or through an agent. I would recommend you to book it directly from the cruise company. Why? Because you will have to make deposit payment, so it would be more reliable if you pay directly to the company. Second, it would be cheaper since the travel agent will get commission if you book from them. Third one, there are thousands of travel agents offering this cruise packages, so it might be confusing for you when choosing the agent. There used to be a popular travel agent called ‘The Sinh Tourist’ in Vietnam, and if you go to Hanoi now, there would be hundreds of travel agents with that name and you never know which one is real or fake.

Some people said that it would be cheaper if you book the cruise when you’re in Hanoi rather than booking it online as the staff will give you discount and encourage you to book right at that moment. But if you don’t have much time to spend in Hanoi, it might be better for you to book the cruise in advance, since the cabin might be full during high season. When booking the cruise through the web, you will be directed to a salesman, feel free to ask if they have special offer and negotiate on the price. Everything in Vietnam is negotiable even if you book directly to the company.

I visited Halong Bay with my family and there were 5 of us. We decided to book ‘Glory Legend Halong Cruise’ which is under Pelican Group. Pelican has many other cruises with different prices. Just check out their website for more information. We got two rooms for 2 plus 1 extra bed. No room is available for 3 people, so they only added an extra bed. Rooms on the first floor are cheaper than the one on the second floor. It would be a little bit noisy on the first floor, restaurant is located on the second floor, and sundeck on the highest floor. Since we asked the salesman for discounts, we got two rooms on the second floor, plus a bottle of wine, and a fruit basket, by paying the price for first floor cabin. It cost us USD 611 in total, so about USD 122 per person, includes round-trip transfer from Hanoi to Halong. They require 25% deposit payment, and remaining payment can be settled at their office in Hanoi or Halong. Actually you can take public bus from Hanoi to Halong and it might be cheaper. But I’m not sure if the bus has fixed schedule, so it’s better for you to book the bus from the cruise.

You will be picked up by minibus from your hotel in Old Quarter, Hanoi around 07.30 – 08.00. During your trip to Halong, you will be able to see beautiful yellowish rice terrace along the way. You will also stop for about 30 to 40 minutes at a shopping center which sells souvenirs made by disabled people, such as paintings, clothes, jewelry, and Vietnamese foods.

Once you arrive at the cruise office in Halong, you will settle the remaining payment and check in to the big boat. Then the staff will welcome you, give the itinerary, and the room key. You can take a rest for a while or go around the boat before lunch is served. All the foods served on the boat are really great in portion, taste, and presentation. The menus would vary, but ours were Vietnamese. Remember that all cruises never provide water for you to drink, except two bottles of mineral water in your room. Other than that, you will have to buy. If you drink a lot, it’s better for you to bring some, since the small bottle of mineral would cost around 1.5 USD at the cheapest. After lunch, you will be given some time to prepare yourself before visiting Luon Cave and Ti Top Island.

You will be transferred to small boat and the first destination would be Luon Cave. The cave has an arch shape and the height would be between 2.5 – 4 meters depending on the tides. Therefore, the only way to enter the cave is either by kayak or bamboo boat. Many tourists say that Luon Cave is a perfect place to kayak. You will be given 30 minutes to kayak around the cave. But if you’re not confident enough to kayak by yourself or if you just want to relax, you can take the bamboo boat and the local will row the boat for you. 

After that, the journey continuous to Ti Top Island. There are two things you can do here, relax and swim on the beach or go to the viewpoint. I would say that go to the viewpoint may be the best option. The Ti Top beach is really small and there are hundreds of people there, swimming, playing volleyball, or just sitting, so it would be a bit chaotic. If you decide to go to the viewpoint, it would take about 10 minutes climbing up the stairs. At the end, you will be able to enjoy the beautiful view of Halong Bay. Unfortunately, it is really crowded that it’s hard to take a picture without someone passing in front of you. Once you get back from the viewpoint, you may feel thirsty, so you should drink some coconut, it tastes really sweet. Considering it is a tourist area, everything would be expensive and a coconut would cost VND 60,000.

From Ti Top Island you will be transferred back to the big boat and it’s time to take a bath or relax on the sundeck. After that, there will be spring roll cooking class on the deck. It is not really a cooking class by the way, since they have made the spring roll filling for you. So basically you only help them to roll it before they fry it for you. Then dinner would be served. Just like lunch, it contains appetizer, main course, and dessert. This time, our menu was western foods. Dinner is the last activity of the day and the rest would be free time. You can do squid fishing, or buy some drinks at the bar on the deck, or just relax. FYI, there is no TV in the room.

The next day starts with a buffet breakfast which is served at 07.00, and there are lots of options for breakfast. After breakfast, you will be transferred to small boat to visit Sung Sot Cave which means Surprise Cave in English. You will be given around 45 minutes to explore the cave. For your information, the cave is quite big and, so don’t spend too much time taking photos. The way inside the cave is pretty easy, you have to climb up some stair to enter, but it is much better than the way to Ti Top Viewpoint. 

However, the staff will not recommend anyone with heart diseases to go up, since some area has a narrow space and limited oxygen. The other reason is that the boat will wait for you on the other side of the cave and there is only one way inside the cave. So, once you enter the cave you can’t go back and have to continue until the exit. If you are not going to the cave, you can stay on the boat and wait for the others. Back to the big boat, you will be given some time to take a bath, pack your stuffs, check out, and settle all of your bills. After that buffet brunch would be served before the boat finally stop at the harbor. The minibus will pick you up again at the cruise office and it takes another 3.5 hours back to Hanoi. On the way, the bus will stop at another shopping center for about 30 minutes and you will arrive in Hanoi at 16.30. Overall, I personally think that this is a pretty good trip. In terms of nature and scenery, this wasn’t that good for me. The highlight of the trip was the cruise, that’s why I recommend you to stay overnight on the cruise instead.