Top Ha Long Bay Day Cruises

Absolutely worthwhile, extremely good value adventure among Ha Long Bay’s gorgeous islets. The 3 stops included kayaking through a cave to an enclosed area with monkeys (row boats available for people with less energy), a guided walk through Surprise Cave and then Titop Island where you can either walk to the viewpoint (about 100m up, lots of steps) to enjoy fabulous views or chill on the beach. The tour itself was very well organized. Our home base was the boat Vera Cruise where we were served a delicious lunch as we left the cruise terminal. Staff were available at all times; beyond the included lunch there was a comprehensive beverage menu. Our guide Quan was great and kept us on track time-wise. The day we went was unusually crowed due to 2 big ships in town that day and the weather was overcast/hazy but we still had a fantastic time.

What an amazing day. The entire tour was well planned and executed. From the pick up to drop off there were no wasted time. The boat was clean, the food was amazing and Halong Bay was one of the most beautiful wonders of nature. Viet, the guide, was professional and informative.

The ship is good, staff super friendly, meal excellent, combo of stops for kayak / boat, cave walk and view climb ending off with sunset 'party' great DJ EDM was so much fun. Best money I spent in Vietnam. Don't bring plastic water bottles. They will be confiscated. Be prepared to say no to hard sell on pearls and drinks. They bill the latter at the end and can be more than the whole cruise.

The tour guide Paul was great on this trip and offered his service if we were ever in need of help in Hanoi. It was well organized with a great variety of at the buffet. The views on climbing the 500 steps was worth the climb. The ride on the boat was a great activity with also a choice of kayaks/speed boat. This is a tour you must take if Hanoi is on itinerary. Ask for 21 years Paul as your guide. English is well spoken by him

Pros 👍🏼👌🏼🥰: Tuk 특, our Tour Guide, was very friendly, enthusiastic, witty, hilarious 🤣, magnetic 🐸, helpful, fun and memorable. He is also highly intelligent—to include interpersonal skills and language skills—and is a very knowledgeable, informative, passionate and captivating storyteller (especially within THE CAVE). Anh—one of the cruise members who helped take care of everyone—was very professional, gentle kind 💝, keenly observant, thoughtful 🫠, and prompt; she basically provided warm and excellent 👌🏼 service throughout the cruise. Other team members were great 👍🏼 as well, but these two are the ones I interacted with the most, and they all deserved big tips. The tour was overall great, especially the gorgeous views of nature 🏞️ and the hauntingly beautiful cave. The buffet was overall pretty good; but reviews raving about it being amazing seem a bit of a stretch (since I’ve experienced truly mouthwatering, delicious, and amazing food). Granted, there’s potential towards amazing; plus, everyone has their own preferences, so what’s decent to one can be mind blowing to another. Even in January, there were a lot of tourists, so it was very loud at times; but that’s expected, and apparently inevitable, unless you come during the slowest season. Heads Up ⚠️ Regarding Meeting Point: The meeting location provided within the booking confirmation will take you to a different location. So it’s absolutely important to receive the correct location. Layla, from Ha Long Bay Adventures, initially contacted me via WhatsApp the day before this tour. But then she never replied the same day, and the next tour day—with an exact meeting point, plus answers to my questions—which was baffling. I even tried calling her, but there was no answer and no option to leave a voicemail. So then I received the exact meeting location via email at 8:32 am, the morning of the tour, which is NOT okay 🫩, since I was in the middle of getting ready to wait for my Grab app driver outside the building I was staying at (and I didn’t see the email until I arrived at the wrong location). Fortunately, the thoughtful driver helped me to call this tour company’s phone number—since I didn’t have mobile WiFi—who then gave him directions in Vietnamese to the actual meeting location. So I ended up paying for two rides to the start point 😐, which could’ve been prevented with better communication 🗣️💬👤. That’s when I met Tuk, our tour guide—at the actual meeting point—who helped to resolve what was apparently a misunderstanding. He said he doesn’t know anyone named Layla within their company, which seemed odd since she had all the information related to my booking confirmation, to include my full name and phone number. Plus, Tuk had attempted to contact me via WhatsApp that morning (as I later saw); but once again, since I didn’t have mobile WiFi while in my Grab app ride, I wasn’t able to access WhatsApp to receive his two calls. I realize this is a very detailed part of this review, but I’m sharing this so that hopefully others don’t have to experience what felt like a major pain in the @$$ (donkey emoji 🫏), chaotic process before the tour even started. 😳 For everyone’s sake, may this company tune into an effective solution, to include sending the exact meeting point the day before the tour (rather than the morning of). I’ve been informed that this meeting location has been difficult to find for other tourists in the past as well. So perhaps sharing a map with directions to the exact meeting point can help (and also attach it to an email just in case foreign visitors don’t have WhatsApp on 24/7). Since mistakes can happen—and there’s always room for improvement—I decided to give this review a 5 star rating rather than a 3 or 4, mostly because of the staff who went above and beyond with customer service. Plus, this tour was a great deal compared to many other options of its kind. Wishing you ALL many fully present 👁️👀 and pleasant 🌅🌄🌌🌠 moments of Life 🌳🪷. 💖🫂

Everything with the tour was good, and the sites you see are beautiful! Phong was a good guide; he explained information about Ha Long Bay and Hanoi, and was always clear about logistics (like where we were going and how long it would take to get there). The lunch and snacks provided were delicious. Some of the logistics were unclear from the Viator listing and could have been communicated a little better ahead of time, but the organizers respond very quickly on Whatsapp to all of the questions I had so this wasn’t a problem.

Massage chairs on van to boat, perfectly executed experience on a luxurious boat from activity to food to drinks. Plentiful staff willing to help you with anything. Early departure helps avoid all the crowd. It’s like traveling business class for a boat trip! Book this one.

I had a fantastic time on this trip! Everything was well organized even when it came to the pickup and drop off. The staff was fun and friendly and planned activities. The multi course lunch was a treat and the boat has many viewing areas and hang outs. I give this a 10/10.