Why You Need To Do A Halong Bay Cruise

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Taking a Halong Bay cruise has been a bucket list item of mine for a while. So when I finally made it to Vietnam I knew if I did nothing else in the country, it would be this. Everyone’s pictures always look so amazing that I just had to see it for myself.

Where do you start though? There’s always a part of you that really doesn’t know what you’re booking online. You worry it won’t meet up to your expectations, or that your cruise ship is going to be a rusted contraption you’ll need to help bail out at regular intervals.

The truth is the only way you can know is to go by reviews, so I’m here to tell you a bit about my experience and help with some of your decision making.

Click here to book this Bhaya Cruises Halong Bay tour through Viator

Where is Halong Bay?

In Vietnam there are the three major places people might visit: Hanoi, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). These are, respectively, in the North, central area and South of the country. Halong Bay is also in the North. So if you want to visit it and do a cruise yourself, you’ll likely end up spending some time in Hanoi, the most accessible place to begin your trip.

Halong Bay is about 170km (105 miles) from Hanoi heading East. To get there we were picked up in a mini bus from our hotel, the Hanoi Paon Hotel, at around 9am and drove about 2.5 hours including a stop on the way.

Which company to go with

I did a bit of research looking for a company that had good reviews, enough photos and generally gave me a sense that I would want to give them my hard earned money.

Even though Vietnam is a cheap country, a Halong Bay cruise is not the cheapest item, due to its popularity. After some shopping around I settled on Bhaya Cruises. Their boats looked nice, they got good reviews and it sounded like a good itinerary.

We had the option to make our own way to the cruise starting point, or to book the transfer with them. Again after looking at various options, it seemed a safer bet to just book the transfer with them. For one, if they were running a bit late at least the boat wouldn’t leave without us. We hoped! Return trip transfers from Hanoi to Halong Bay for 2 people ended up being $80 USD.

How much is a Halong Bay cruise?

There are often different options for length of cruises. You can sail for 2 days-1 night or 3 days-2 nights. Different companies have different options but most have these options as the basics.

Given our rather limited time in Vietnam we opted for the 2 days-1 night cruise, and thought that would be enough for us to get a taste of the area.

The public tours on Bhaya Cruises have two service levels, each one on a separate boat. They are Bhaya Classic and Bhaya Premium. Here are some of the main differences:

As expected the Bhaya Classic is the cheaper option, so we went with that one. It still seemed like a great product, and was just what we were looking for.

The cost of our 2 day-1 night cruise on Bhaya Classic in the Deluxe cabin was $290 USD for the two of us. Pricing can start as low as $130 USD per person and varies by date. Pricing in the Terrace Suite starts as low as $210 USD per person.

Prices include accommodation, all food, welcome drink and the activities you do such as cave tour, kayaking in the bay, cooking demonstration or squid fishing. Activities can vary by departure/season.

A wonderful thing I discovered when booking Bhaya is that they are very conscious of environmental impact, focus heavily on recycling and sustainable choices. Read this related post Ethical Tourism in Halong Bay by fellow blogger Paula Pins the Planet.

Getting to Halong Bay from Hanoi

The craziness of Hanoi will soon be left behind as you travel East on the highway towards Halong Bay. The hordes of motorbikes and bicycles will be replaced by average cars. If it weren’t for the street signs, you can quite easily forget you aren’t at home. The cars are a little less dented than their inner city counterparts where bumping into others was the norm not the anomaly.

Pass yellow and green fields with cows or workers tending crops. Small villages with brightly colored houses contrasting the grayed out city buildings in Hanoi covered in years of exhaust smoke and urban grime. Even the cables along the highway look more organized than the haphazardly tied together ones in Hanoi where safety doesn’t often seem like a concern.

Your transfer bus will usually be comfortable and air-conditioned. For us we had WiFi, electrical outlets and complimentary water. You’ll usually get a rest stop for around 20 minutes to break up the journey, grab a drink at the café and peruse glass cabinets full of pearls to buy. Soon though, you’ll reach Halong Bay.

The check in process for a Halong Bay cruise

Upon arriving at the town where the cruises depart at you’ll sign in and pay any outstanding fees such as the transfer cost. Usually you’ll be offered a welcome drink.

Once we’d done this, we waited inside the building until boarding. The building was air conditioned with drinks available for purchase and access to washrooms. It will start to get really busy the closer you get to departure time, and you’ll wonder how they begin to organize that many people. And buses. There are so many buses in the town.

We started boarding our cruise at around 12:15pm and got in a small bus outside to take us closer to the dock. It was a very short ride but one that gave us enough time to play a new game I like to call “sink or float” whereby we’d guess which of the boats were seaworthy or not. Luckily ours looked very night and I was pleased with the choice we made.

Once at your boat, I’m sure you’ll meet the rest of the people you will be cruising with, as you board the boat with your luggage.

Fortunately we chose to pack light since we would be returning to Hanoi, and left most of our luggage in our hotel there. We were assigned our cabins and given a key to our rooms. You’ll then be given time to go to your room and drop off your things. Almost right away you’ll likely need to return to the main deck level for your safety briefing/welcome address – and lunch, of course.

Our cabin on our Halong Bay cruise

The cabin on our Bhaya Cruise had two twin beds, separate toilet and shower stalls with a sink area in between the two stalls. We had a balcony with table and two chairs, and the room had an air conditioner.

The only issue we had was that our air conditioner was leaking halfway through the night which was a bit annoying. But the staff were very helpful and even gave us both a small gift as an apology the next day.

The look of the room was very nice. Polished wood, solid wood furniture, nice furnishings and decorations.

There was enough space for our backpacks, but it might be a little tight if you have a lot of luggage. I would consider leaving some at your hotel in Hanoi if, like us, you are there before and after the cruise.

Despite being on a boat, a smaller boat at that, I had a surprisingly restful sleep (not counting the AC incident). The boat anchors down at night in the bay so there’s not much movement.

Welcome to Bhaya Cruises

When we boarded the boat we read our itinerary and although there were a few activities and it seemed pretty regimented at first, it was actually relaxing. And a whole lot of fun.

To start off we dropped our bags off in our cabin, freshened up, then headed to the dining room. We were greeted by our onboard manager for the cruise, Mr. Thomas. He introduced us to all the staff who would be taking care of us for the next 24 hours. The staff to guest ratio was rather high as there were at 25 staff members there and only 33 guests on the cruise.

After the welcome, lunch will typically be served. For us, there was a good selection of food, hot and cold. Soups, salads, bread, fish and meat dishes. I mentioned in advance I was vegetarian so at the start of lunch I was told that they would bring me food. I got a plate of three different salads (banana blossom, green papaya and potato) and veggie spring rolls.

All were delicious, but I was a bit sad that all they though vegetarians ate was salad. I diligently ate the plateful of food though thinking that would be my lunch. Turns out that was the first course. Oh no! Already pretty full, I then got served tomato tofu, then stir fried veggies and rice. Then dessert.

Needless to say, vegetarians are at least well catered for. If you have any other dietary requirements I’d recommend letting the staff know as soon as possible – or in advance during booking.

Afternoon of adventure

After lunch on our cruise we had plenty of free time to relax on the top deck or on our balcony (or in the room if it’s too hot for you). Leaving the harbor behind and distancing ourselves from all the other vessels, it was time to finally start appreciating the views. And they are pretty spectacular so make the most of the outdoors.

The islands jutting up all around create an otherworldly feeling as you meander through them. For the first time since landing in Vietnam you may hear nothing but silence. For us, the lack of cars and throngs of people chattering and trying to sell you things at every turn was rather nice. Relaxing on the balcony watching the world go by is so peaceful.

Kayaking in Halong Bay

Activities may vary but on our cruise our first activity was kayaking. And if you’re not into them you can stay on the boat and relax or sunbath, or even go for a swim.

At around 3pm we took off on our kayak adventure. Now, my kayaking skills are poor at best but we had fun. We tried to keep close to the coastline for a circular path but instead ended up going too far one way, then over-correcting the other. And we spent most of the hour yelling warnings to people we were getting too close to.

Swimming in Halong Bay

After our kayak adventure we were taken to a nearby cave to find a secret beach. While not a complete secret, it is a private beach that only Bhaya Cruises can use so it wasn’t overrun. We wandered through the cave (watch out for bats flying around) and reached a lovely sandy beach area where I claimed a (not too) sunny spot to sit down.

The beach has access to the bay in a netted off area where we could swim without worrying about going too far out. Perfect for someone like me who isn’t a good swimmer.

Watch out in the water – there are often some sharp shells and rocks if you have bare feet. The water will be lovely and relaxing though, and nice to cool down on a hot day. We then begrudgingly left our paradise island to get back to the boat. But on the plus side it was nearly time to eat again.

Click here to book this Bhaya Cruises Halong Bay tour through Viator

Evening in Halong Bay

After returning to the boat we showered the salt water off and got ready for a nice evening on the boat. We made it to the bar ready for Happy Hour (buy one get one free drinks).

Usually there’s some entertainment to accompany happy hour. On our cruise the top deck had a cooking demonstration of making spring rolls which was a lot of fun. If you want to know more about Vietnamese food, read about the cooking class we took in Hanoi.

There was also a Vietnamese coconut rice wine tasting. We were told that what they do is make a hole in the coconut and pour in the rice wine, mixing it with a bit of the coconut water and they seal it up. This is then left for a while (weeks or months) and essentially the rice wine takes on the flavor of the coconut. It was actually really delicious..

What drinks are included on Bhaya Cruises?

Well this is where the pricing differs from the rest of our experiences in Vietnam. The drinks are much more expensive on the cruise.

We got a welcome juice drink when we arrived but other than that all drinks were to pay for. In most restaurants and places in Vietnam you will get a beer for about 25,000-45,000 VND (about $1-$2 USD). On Bhaya Cruises the beer was 65,000-70,000 VND (closer to $3 USD). That might not seem a lot but when you’re budgeting it can add up.

A can of soda costs around 55,000 VND, whereas usually you would be paying around half the price or less for that. Cocktails were obviously much more. Still all cheap since we’re in Vietnam but worth budgeting more for the cruise drinks than you usually would pay in Vietnam restaurants.

Needless to say we took full advantage of happy hour. Buy 1 get 1 free drinks. That means we were essentially paying the more regular price for beer. We stocked up during the hour and didn’t buy any more after that.

Dinner on our Halong Bay cruise

Lunch was a buffet with a lot of great options (and vegetarians well catered for). I was really impressed with the quality of the food and the service. So I was excited about dinner.

For dinner we were given a set menu (see photos above) which was laid out on our table when we arrived. I got my own vegetarian set menu. It was 6 courses. I felt like they were going to have to roll me off this boat when we got back to shore.

Hands down my favorite Asian flavor is taro. I love taro, you know the purple yam that’s a little bit sweet? Looks weird but tastes delicious. So I was over the moon when my third course ended up including taro dumplings. They were like little pieces of heaven on a plate.

I started wavering by course number 4 but I made it through as much food as I could. Dessert was spectacular but I think the most over the top course was on the regular menu. My friend got the steamed prawns and they were served in the most outrageously flamboyant way.

After dinner we went to the top deck of the boat and watched the relaxed a bit more, enjoying the peace and quiet of Halong Bay. Then we went to bed since we were told that if you get up around 5am you can see the sunrise. Sounded like a plan.

Sunrise over Halong Bay

Getting up for sunrise sounds like a great idea until the alarm goes off. “We’re only here once, we should do this”. Still, we dragged ourselves out of bed safe in the knowledge that Tai-Chi started at 6am anyway. So even if we stayed in bed we wouldn’t get that much more sleep once Tai-Chi started.

We went to the top deck of the boat, expecting not to see many people there. Turns out pretty much everyone was there and all waiting patiently for the sunrise. It was already quite warm out.

We watched the sun come up and it was nice, but since it was a little cloudy out it probably wasn’t as beautiful as it could have been. Still, it was pretty and it was a great way to start the day.

First time visiting Vietnam? Here are 7 helpful tips to get you started

Breakfast on our Halong Bay Cruise

Breakfast was in two parts. After sunrise and Tai-Chi there was a light breakfast buffet with fresh pastries and fruit, juices and coffee. But then we had an activity planned (more on that below).

So when we returned from our activity that’s when the main breakfast happened. Again, it was a large buffet with a lot of hot and cold food options. Both Western foods and Asian food.

There were some odd choices for breakfast in my opinion (spaghetti bolognese anyone?!) but the food was good.

Like the lunch buffet the previous day I was brought my own vegetarian version of the food separately. Stir fried rice with vegetables, breakfast potatoes and spaghetti with a tomato sauce.

Morning activity on our Halong Bay cruise

In between our two breakfasts we had another excursion off the boat. This time we were headed to Sung Sot Cave, a popular place for many Halong Bay cruise companies.

This is a giant cave, the biggest in Halong Bay, with three chambers each larger than the last. We took a smaller boat to get there and although it was only 7:15am it was still unbelievably hot and humid already. There are some steeps steps to enter the cave. Not too many but if you aren’t good with steps then this probably isn’t a good activity for you.

It was a very touristy cave, and by that I mean there was an illuminated walk way, lots of signs and it had lots of colorful lights lighting up the rocks. Still, we learned about the cave as we went along on our guided tour, passing the numerous other groups of people. It was quite busy, but at least it was lovely and cool in the cave.

The best thing though was when we got out of the cave and started our descent back to the boat. There was an amazing view of Halong Bay, so green and with bright blue water. Just phenomenal.

Of course the descent down the steps in the heat was not fun. We had to wait to be taken back to the boat and as soon as I got back I needed yet another shower to cool off. It was at this time only 8:30am.

Leaving our Halong Bay cruise

Upon returning to the boat we packed our bags, had our breakfast and settled our bills from the bar. Our boat docked at 10:30am and we walked in the light rain to the bus for our return to Hanoi. We were lucky that it didn’t start to rain until we were almost done with our cruise. We ended up with some brilliant views and had the best weather we could hope for after spending $200+ on the short tour.

The journey back to Hanoi was the same small bus with a brief stop, and we were at our hotel by about 2pm.

I am really glad we did the cruise, it was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. Even if it is a little more expensive than most activities in Vietnam we were catered to very well and it was worth it. The accommodation, boat, food, service and staff were all incredible.

The cruise length was good, we got plenty of time to do what we wanted. Perhaps if you wanted a bit more relaxation time the two night trip would be better for you.

I didn’t feel rushed at any point though. I would recommend Bhaya Cruises to anyone else looking for a solid option for your Halong Bay Cruise. There are a lot of options out there so I can’t talk to them, but I would go with Bhaya again.

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you done a Halong Bay cruise? What was your favorite part?