Vietnam - Halong Bay

Ti Top Island, Halong Bay - with Paradise Cruises in the background

Before booking in Halong Bay I had researched a fair bit and was quite tentative about going here for a few days. I had seen glowing reviews, but also numbers upon numbers of negative reviews. They ranged from negative experiences with the weather, not being able to see anything through fog, pollution in the water, rats on the boats, food poisoning, bad karaoke, tour operators who ignored the guests etc etc…

The thing in common with most of these reviews though, was that the people had booked extremely cheap junks, travelled during a bad weather season or not booked ahead at all and bargained/jumped on a junk at the harbour.

Being incredibly anal, I checked weather forecasts, booked in advance and also booked one of the nicest junks I could find. Yes, the junk I booked was expensive – but it is expensive for Vietnam, not for Australia. Considering the experience I got it was definitely worth it and I believe it was value for money!

So keeping this all in mind – Halong Bay….. was breathtaking.

We were picked up from our hotel in Hanoi at 8am by Paradise Cruises who drove us in a nice air-conditioned car to Halong Bay. The drive was around 2 hours and there was a short break halfway there at a souvenir shop. Not sure if this was a bit of a rip off but supposedly the products from the shop were made by disadvantaged people. The shop is huge and has marble, clothes, silk products etc.. I picked up some gorgeous silk scarves from here, regret not picking up more they would make fantastic gifts and I am too selfish to part with mine…

Arriving at Halong Bay was not what I expected, and certainly not what my friend was expecting. As I had planned and booked the entire trip, a lot of the time she was travelling blind, not actually knowing much about what I had planned. For the Halong Bay part of the trip I had mentioned we were spending two nights on a Junk. I must not have elaborated on this and she did seem quite apprehensive and not excited at all about this impending cruise…

Arriving for Paradise Cruises is quite different to the other cruises, usually the junks leave from the main area in Halong Bay, however Paradise Cruises has its own dock on an island of Tuần Châu. Special! We arrived at the dock and were escorted into a waiting area while staff attended to our luggage. This is when my friend started to freak out along these lines; ‘Is THIS the junk? Is THIS what we are going on??? WHAT? OMG! This is Awesome!’ Apparently my friend had made some assumptions about our boat cruise. 1 – we were travelling on a modest budget. 2 – I had mentioned staying on a ‘junk’. She associated the word junk with an old leaky boat, which would be a correct assumption for many Halong Bay vessels, but certainly not Paradise Cruises. Needless to say she was absolutely ecstatic and out of control once we boarded the junk, it was like travelling with someone with ADD.

Paradise Cruises offers a few room options, superior cabins with twin or double beds, deluxe cabins with double beds, Suites with double beds and the terrace (honeymoon) suite. I am not sure why, it may have been something to do with availability and my desire to have large windows and a deck in my room, but we booked a deluxe cabin with a double bed. The room was beautiful, quite spacious for a room on a boat, wonderfully fitted out and had lovely big windows looking out on our private deck and the bay beyond.

The problem here was that we were two females, with a double bed, on a romantic luxury cruise, surrounded by guests 90% of whom were couples on their honeymoon. This was all a bit awkward because we were either perceived to be a lesbian couple in love (which we weren’t), or two random girls ruining the romance, serenity and exclusivity of a coupley cruise. I guess I just felt a bit guilty that these people were splashing out on an expensive romantic honeymoon trip, and we were just treating it as part of our tourist travels.

The next two nights aboard the Paradise Junk was amazing. The first leg of the trip where we sailed out through the karst island was just stunning. I must have taken a gazillion photos because everywhere I turned the views were beyond anything I had ever seen – I eventually gave up and video-taped a 360 degree view to cover all bases! We were blessed with good weather the entire trip with not a drop of rain, clouds or extreme humidity. The food was also top notch, with buffet lunches and lots on offer.

Dining room aboard Paradise Cruises

Paradise Cruises Deck

The itinerary for the cruise was quite full on, I don’t think anyone could ever get bored during the days. Over the course of 3 days/2 nights we visited Hang Sửng Sốt, or ‘Surprise Grotto’ which was an incredible cave, the biggest I have ever been in. We visited local fishing villages that float on the water, cycled and hiked around Việt Hải Island, Kayaked though the Lan Hạ bay area, climbed up the Tuần Châu Island lookout, went squid fishing, learnt how to make Vietnamese spring rolls and did Tai Chi every morning on the top deck. In between this add a lot of relaxing, eating, massages and cocktails and you get the idea – this cruise was definitely worth the dosh!

I won’t go into too many details, the pictures tell the story – however I should add that all the staff onboard were amazing and just beautiful people, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

http://www.paradisecruises.org/ - please note there are about 1000 non-official websites for each Halong Bay Cruise Company, this is the official Paradise Cruise website.

view from our room, amazing the entire time!

Floating convenience shop

Surprise Grotto, Halong Bay

Surprise Grotto, Halong Bay

Surprise Grotto, Halong Bay

Surprise Grotto, Halong Bay

Rafting out though tunnels

Ti Top Island, Halong Bay

Ti Top Island

Some pollution floating around on the currents

Floating Villages in Halong Bay

Hotel: Paradise Cruises
Cost: 3 days/ 2 nights @  $340 USD per person including dinner, lunch, breakfast, car transfer to Hanoi, all activities. (excludes alcoholic drinks/massage/spa treatments)
Web: http://www.paradisecruises.org/

Phone: (844) 37834288