The HUONG HAI SEALIFE CRUISE : Exploring Halong Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay

I'm King of the World!!!

Perhaps one of the top things to do when visiting Hanoi is to take a peek at the UNESCO Heritage Site that is Halong Bay.

Late last year, upon finalizing our accommodations in Hanoi, Phil and I decided to go the extra mile and secure an overnight cruise via Agoda, to Halong Bay. We initially booked through an 8/10 star review company known as Fantasea Cruise .

If you've read up on our amazing hotel experience at Hanoi's Old Quarter (see link here of our stay at the Emerald Waters Trendy Hotel), you'll know that they arrange tours in and around the city. After having a chat with the Manager, we were utterly convinced to cough up a little over $100 (USD) extra to upgrade our cruise experience.

Thanks Pappy for taking us with you :*

Kelvin, the hotel manager suggested that Bai Tu Long Bay was much cleaner and less crowded than Halong Bay. To be fair, he was right.

We would still pass through (the somewhat polluted) Halong Bay, but our ride and our room in the ship would be much better than that from the first ship that we picked. We ended up booking an executive suite with the Huong Hai Sea Life Cruise.

up and about. Here's us heading up to the 7th floor for some breakfast

LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD
The pick up from The Emerald Waters Trendy Hotel was around 7:30 AM. By this time, we had already gotten our fill from the breakfast buffet of the hotel.

hotel pick up at 7:30 AM

THE RIDE
The vehicle that picked us up was dubbed as a "limousine van". It sits 9 people (driver included) comfortably. Captain seats on the first two rows and the back seat (where we were), was just perfect for Phil, MAX and myself.

As is the norm in most places in Vietnam, the van had WiFi. The seats can be reclined comfortably, the AC was at full blast (I wore a windbreaker at this point), and there were charging ports on the side of the chairs. We were also given a cool bottle of mineral water each for the trip.

The driver was English speaking and was both careful and efficient in his duties as driver / tour guide (sort of) and time keeper.

on the road

THE TRIP TO HALONG BAY
The ride was mostly uneventful, or as uneventful as being on the road in Vietnam goes (visualize counter flowing vehicles, trunks driving like its a race and lots of horn honking). After about an hour or 2 into the trip, we ended up in what I lovingly call "Tourist Trap #1 aka TT1".

It's an embroidery factory/gift shop that sells lacquerware, handicrafts, clothes, local food products, bags, jewelry as well as foreign snacks (chips, sodas, candy, etc). It also has a restaurant in it's premises. It's also government-owned.

We were given 15 minutes to shop around, grab some grub and go on our respective bathroom break. I ended up with a Kipling bag, a pack of cherry Haribos and lotus seeds for the road.

After about 3.5 hours, we arrived at Ninh Binh, where the Vinashin Tourist Harbor and Hon Gai International Harbor is located at.

We didn't immediately board the ship as it was only around 11 AM. Boarding the ship was slated about an hour after. Instead, we were dropped off at the front of Huong Hai's Executive Lounge.

inside the lounge

An air conditioned room with WiFi, clean bathrooms, comfy and clean surroundings and a round of free ice cold tea was given to us. Drinks (Vietnamese iced coffee and sodas, among others) were sold too in the lounge.

and we're walking..we're walking

CRUISING TIME
A little before noon, we were told that it was time for us to board the ship. A 500 meter walk to the pier (our luggage was loaded ahead of time in the ship) ensued.

We then proceeded to board our spacious transfer motorized boats that would take us to our ship. The boat ride probably 5-10 minutes. Wearing a life vest on this boat is coastguard required.

Entering the ship for the first time, we were all instructed to receive the cruise orientation at the dining room. The ship was spotless, made with hardwood interiors, had huge picture windows and dotted with traditional Vietnamese decor.

Cold towels and welcome drinks were handed to over to us as we fund our seats for the orientation. Our cruise director, Viet, had given us copies of our itinerary as well as a quick rundown of what their brand was all about. It was quick and friendly.

As we set sail, we were told that we could go to our rooms. Our room keys had been issued during the orientation and we were told that our luggage had been brought up to our front doors as well.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Walking up to the 3rd floor, lovely seating areas and decor was to be found in every turn we made.

Our room was found at the end of a short corridor. At the end of that corridor was a door that opened out to the ship's helm (where our captain was busy getting us out of the harbor).

Stairs on the left and right of the the room that housed the helm led up to the sun deck. Without even going up to the sun deck, the view was seriously stunning from our room's level.

OUR ROOM (Rating this a 5/5!)
Upon opening the doors of room 301, the 3 of us were quite ecstatic on how everything turned out. Here are pictures of our room and a rundown of it's amenities (I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves):

wow!!!

even better with the curtains pushed back!

overcast skies did not dampen our day

a whirlpool tub in our ensuite bathroom

there was WiFi in the ship's common areas. No TV signal but USBs with movies, cartoons and what have you can be borrowed from the front desk

it's easy to appreciate the scenery when you have your own balcony :)

THE FOOD
Meals were quite varied and plentiful. If you feel that you're not getting enough (we had a sit down dinner), just tell the cruise director. Here's what was served (meals included were 1 lunch, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast and 1 brunch):

brunch and a view

the early morning breakfast before we set out to the fishing village was quite light. The bread in Vietnam, however is European in every way

long line at the pho station

THE ITINERARY:
Copying the itinerary from their website with minor revisions based on what we did, I've included comments and pics on what went down:

(the rest of) DAY 1: Vinashin Tourist Harbor - Bai Tu Long Bay -Thien Canh Son Cave- Cong Do Sleeping Area.

14.30 : Visit and explore the well-hidden Co Cave (known as  Thien Canh Son Cave) where you can go hiking to the middle of the mountain to see the wild and mysterious beautiful cave, contemplate numerous  sparkling  stalactites  appear  like 'hanging  lamps’  inside  the  Cave.  (No swimming).  We skipped this activity and the kayaking as we a. wanted to rest and not walk through the path leading into the cave..it's supposed to be 1000 steps or so and b. was worried as to how MAX was going to handle riding a kayak and not a regular boat, where he's sitting with either Phil or me.

the rest of our ship mates, returning from their kayaking and power walk through stairs in a cave. See that white spot below this photo? That's a jelly fish. PS There was a LOT of them in the water, just below our balcony

huuuge AF jellyfish!

Return to the boat and enjoy Happy hour. You will have 30% discount off from the special menu drinks including of cocktail, mock-tail and mixed drinks (from 16.30 pm to 19.00 pm.). 

16.30: Enjoy kayaking and relaxing on the cruise in Cong Do Area.

18.00: Attend our chef’s cooking demonstration and try your skills in the art of traditional Vietnamese cooking (spring roll). I love cooking so this was clearly a fun activity for me. Still making them spring rolls to this day

19.15 : Dinner is served in the restaurant. You can enjoy the charm of Bai Tu Long Bay at night. see pictures above :)

squid fishing at portside

21.00 : Enjoy evening activities (Squid Fishing, Movie Night, Board Games, Massage & Spa services) or relax at the leisure then overnight at private cabin at Cong Do area. - predictably, we rested

Bai Tu Long at 5 AM - woke up to the gentle thumping of drums, waking us up to join the ship's tai chi class

DAY 2: Cong Do Sleeping Area - Vung Vieng Fishing Village - Vinashin Tourist Harbor.

early morning tai chi lessons

06.30 : Welcome a new day with an amazing dawn on Bai Tu Long Bay. Refresh your body and soul with a Tai-chi session on the sundeck.

07.00 : Catch the morning view of seascape while enjoying the breakfast with cookies and tea, café in the restaurant.

07.30 : Visit Vung Vieng fishing village - the famous fishing farm by bamboo boat and discover life of local people living on the surface of Halong Bay. (No swimming). a beautiful boat ride on a wonderfully scenic route. Saw the floating fishing village and went on a side trip to the pearl farm.

08.30 : Pack up the luggage and check out of the cabin.

09.30: Enjoy the brunch in the restaurant while cruising back to Vinashin tourist harbor.

11.00: Disembark from boat.

12.00: Your driver takes you back to Hanoi. The trip ends.

THE LOWDOWN
The entire staff of the Huong Hai Sealife Cruise was very attentive, polite and informative. The Cruise Director, Viet and the ship's Chef were the stars of the cruise, as they made sure that everything was more than A-OK. 

Marketing this trip as a "luxury cruise" was quite accurate, despite the totally packed itinerary and certain individuals that joined the cruise. If the cost wasn't quite pricey for us Mediocre Wanderers and we had the chance to do this again, I'd opt for an extra day to get rid of that harried feel.

But then again, we had an 8 hour long city tour the day before the cruise, so being exhausted when we joined the trip was quite unavoidable.

the ship as it picked us up from the pearl farm

I enjoyed the food. Extremely pleased that concessions were made for our MAX's food preferences which we mentioned to our hotel manager, after booking this cruise (ASD parents will relate to this. MAX got to eat fries and fried chicken during the cruise but we were pleased to note that he also tried out some of the local dishes), and our room and it's amenities was top notch.

last one off the ship because saying goodbye is always the hardest thing to do

I enjoyed the activities that we participated in but would probably rate our whole experience as an 8.5/10 (compared to the 9.2 rating they've been getting from booking websites).

We docked points off what could have been a perfect experience up until unruly kids kept on running, crying and screaming at the corridor in front of our room. Since we were a floor below the sun deck, the same stomping and running kids could also be heard inside our room. Luckily, this did not persist when bed time came.

Those kids were able to penetrate through what Huong Hai Sealife Cruise described as a "soundproof" room. For the record, our 9 year old didn't spend time pounding walls and doing all the other things those unruly kids were doing, but instead, enjoyed the peace and quiet that our room's private balcony, had to offer.

For the record, I'm blaming the kids' parents and not Huong Hai Sealife, as the latter provided exemplary service.

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!