 There
are hundreds of tour companies offering boat
cruise
service in Halong Bay and you may get confused about
which one is suitable. The answer is you get what
you pay for, some people argue "cheap is not good
and good is not cheap" however if you are wise
enough you can find a cruise which is both cheap and
good.
Actually there are only 2 classes of
cruises in
Halong Bay, deluxe class and budget class, is it
worth 1000 usd for just a couple of days on board
with a join group tour? Some newer boats built
recently such as Violet, Au Co claim to have luxury
5 star service, and their price is also 5 star.
Most travellers to
Halong Bay look for middle class
cruisers, this way guarantee them a decent trip
without paying too much, there are many cruises of
middle range and there is not much difference
between them. Travellers can pay less than 100 usd/person
for tipycal 2 day Halong bay tours, with full meals
on board, entrance fees, guiding service included,
but you have to pay for your drinks on boat, the
food is pretty good, mostly seafood like crabs,
sentinels, squid together with local specialities
such as Spring rolls, beef fried with vegetable,
chicken eggs, boiled morning glory plus 1 soft drink
during meals
Most halong bay cruisers have 10-12 cabins, or
bedrooms, provide accommodation for 20-22 guests,
some boats such as Poseidon, Helios have only 6-8
cabins catering for 12-16 passengers only. The
cabins are rather large, about 18 square meters,
passengers can have a double cabin with 1 big bed or
a twin cabin with 2 single beds, this should be
arranged when you book the tours, the cabins are
equiped with good and clean pillows, blankets, some
water and fruits, and there is 1 western toilet in
the bathroom...in other words it is like a 2-3 star
hotel room.
All Halong bay cruises start from Hanoi, passengers
are picked up between 8.00 - 8.30 from different
hotels in the Old Quarter or the centre area,
travellers staying at hotels in the outside area
have to catch a taxi to the cruise office to start
the trip, it is sometimes annoying as the traffic in
Hanoi in the morning is really heavy and you may
have to wait 1 hour to get picked up.
Most people arrange their trip before coming to
Vietnam, however you can keep the cost down by
booking the trip when you are in Hanoi, there are
plenty of booking offices in the Old Quarter and you
can have a good deal if you book the trip in the
last minutes, though sometimes it is risky as your
favourite boats may have been fully booked. You can
also arrange the trip through the hotels you are
staying, most hotels have a travel desk at the lobby
arranging trip for guests of their hotels.
Travel time from Hanoi to Halong bay is about 4
hours, with a 20 minute stop at a shopping complex
in Hai Duong town, this is where visitors have a
chance to go to toilets and buy souvenirs, most
complexes like this provide job for the disability
and prices are more expensive than average, and most
of the profits go to local charity houses. Stuff in
the complex is of high quality and all made by hand,
here you can buy an embroideried picture for 50 usd
or a marble Buddha statue at 40 usd, if you are not
interested in buying souvenirs just have a window
shopping or take a seat and enjoying the speciality
of this town: Green Bean cake with Vietnamese tea,
all for free.
Most cruisers stop in
Bai Chay area of Halong city,
other boats pick up passengers from Tuan Chau
island, it takes about 30 minutes to get permit and
finish all paperwork travellers get on boat and
start sailing towards the sea... |
