Halong Bay, Vietnam: Choosing The Right Cruise and Top 3 Things to Do
Halong Bay was beautiful, despite the chilly temps and fog of its cold, rainy season in January. I would recommend visiting Halong Bay in the Fall (September to November). In any event, you can’t miss this place if you’re in northern Vietnam. It boasts beautiful rock formations surrounded by water for miles. If you’ve seen Skull Island, this is where the movie was filmed.
Accommodations in Halong Bay
We decided to stay in Halong Bay for two nights, three days, which is an option that you can book through one of the many cruise companies that operate here. Some opt for one night, two days on a cruise or just a day trip. Our friends, who we met in Phu Quoc and whom we had traveled with throughout much of Vietnam, recommended one cruise called, Mon Cheri. Their research indicated that it was the best value for the money (all activities are included in the price) and the ratings were excellent, so we booked a 3-day, 2-night excursion as well.
Initially, I was conflicted about whether I could recommend Mon Cheri without having experienced any other cruise option in Halong Bay and given our own experience on their boat. It’s my understanding that many of the cruises are “same-same” with some differences. Bear with me as I break down our experience for you.
Mon Cheri is one of the luxury cruises (it has a price tag to match it). The boat is very nice and the rooms are on par with rooms you’d find in a nicer hotel chain, which is great, but you don’t get much time to enjoy the luxury of your room. On the first day, we had no complaints, and everything went smoothly – the staff were all smiles, the lunch and dinner were excellent, and we had a spring roll cooking demonstration in the evening. They also decorated our room for our honeymoon.
On the second day, you’re given a full day itinerary that has you off the boat from 7:30am-4:00pm (with all CAPS on the itinerary that the boat will leave you if you aren’t ready at 7:30am sharp) with a strict breakfast time of 7:00am-7:25am and a 6:45am wake-up call! FML. The third day included another 6:45am wake-up for the half-day excursion. In order to actually enjoy the room and the boat’s amenities, which include a spa and gym, you have to go rouge and request to stay on the boat. We skipped the third day’s excursion and our friends skipped the second day’s. But if you miss the 7:00am breakfast, because you prefer to sleep-in on your vacation, then you weren’t going to eat until lunch, unless you catch a local row by on their floating 7-11 (the Pringles saved the day).
We realized the reason we were off the boat for the entire day on the second day (
7:30am-4:00pm), was because we had to be – the staff wouldn’t let us go back early even at our request. This is because the boat operation is a well-oiled machine – the boat went back to the harbor to pick up a fresh batch of tourists. This would be fine if weren’t held hostage on a small boat until 4pm. The whole experience was low-key intense. You’re on vacation, but not really.
There are two other experiences worth mentioning – one being very bizarre. Even though we paid a pretty penny for the cruise, we were not allowed access to free coffee or tea during our stay. There was free coffee and tea during breakfast, but once breakfast was over, you’d have to pay the equivalent of $2 for coffee or tea. In my opinion, if you’re paying a J.W. Marriott price, then you should be given complimentary coffee and tea.
The second experience that we had was bizarre and awkward. At our last meal, which was lunch on the third day, the staff gave everyone free scarves, which I soon realized were only to butter us up before the survey that the staff handed out minutes later (even before we had the chance to finish our meal).
The survey was your standard survey that asked you to rate different aspects of the experience including the food, beverages, and excursions and a place to leave comments on the back. We decided to take the time to fill out the survey because we felt pressure to complete it, and because we wanted to communicate some of the things we had observed over the course of our stay. The staff did not take kindly to our honest feedback, which was overwhelmingly positive by the way, and bombarded our table in the middle of our meal, asking us to change our review so that they wouldn’t get in trouble. For example, they wanted us to change our 1/5 beverage rating to 4/5. If you recall our chief complaint was that we couldn’t get complimentary coffee or tea. Never have I been confronted to change my feedback on a survey especially when trying to finish my meal. Not only did they accost us once, but four different times while we were at our table! I was very close to throwing myself overboard. When it was time to disembark, we couldn’t get off fast enough. Word of advice: don’t take the survey.
Bottom line, I wouldn’t spend the money for Mon Cheri. I would go for a cheaper option for 1 night, 2 days because many are same-same, and you’re not on the boat for much of the time anyway so what does the boat matter?
We used Booking.com for our accommodations – use our referral link so that you can get a $25 reward! https://www.booking.com/s/43_8/roxyba87
Top 3 Things to Do in Halong Bay
The activities listed below were included as part of our Mon Cheri booking.
1. Visit the Dark and Bright Cave – you’ll have an option to do this by kayak or bamboo boat.
2. Day-trip to Viet Hai Village – you’ll board a small boat to Viet Hai village for an hour or so. Once you arrive, you’ll bike to Viet Hai Village, which was cute and bucolic. There wasn’t much to do there aside from biking around and seeing the beautiful scenery, which was a nice change of pace if we were to get off the boat.
3. Visit the Trung Trang Cave – the cave is 300 meters long and located on Cat Ba island.
Our Key Takeaways and Tips
- Do your research on the different cruise options
- Go for the 2-day, 1-night option instead of a 3-day, 2-night option
- Paying a boatload (pun intended) does not equate to a better experience