Halong Bay 2 Days 1 Night Cruise

This might be a long review because I want it to have all the information I was looking for when we booked a 5* star inclusive Halong cruise. Firstly our hotel was well out of the pick up area so we decided that we would meet the bus in the old quarter. Once our booking had been confirmed the guide contacted me and offered to pick us up from our hotel, I was happily surprised at this as it was going to save us from getting a grab into the pickup area. The bus that picked us up was fantastic! It was the first limousine bus I have been on and it set the bar high for any future buses. We were given bottled water and the seats had a massage function, we stopped half way for a 20 minute break where we could buy food, drinks and souvenirs as well as go to the toilet. Once we arrived at the dock we were met by a lovely guide who took us to a separate waiting area with a little coffee shop. The FeFe coffee was delicious! When is was time a guide came to collect us and took us to the boat. Once on board our beautiful boat we all sat is our assigned seat that were designated using flags of our nationality and given a short safety brief. After the brief we were issued our room keys and had about 20 minutes to explore the boat before we were served a buffet lunch. After lunch we went to visit the Sung Sot Cave and then Ti Top Island, both were beautiful but there were a lot of stairs to climb! We spent an hour at each stop before returning to the ship with enough time for a quick shower and a spring roll making lesson before dinner. Dinner was enormous! There was so much food and it was all delicious, we were shown the menus before dinner to confirm that we didn’t have any allergies but I was still surprised that there was so much food. Finally we had the opportunity to try squid fishing before bed, we were unsuccessful but it was great fun. The following morning we awoke to beautiful views of Halong Bay before breakfast. We then went on our final excursion to another small cave where guests had the option to kayak or catch a bamboo boat to explore the area. Monkeys came down from the top of the mountains to check out the guests which was a welcome surprise. After an hour we returned to the ship, where we had time to pack up, check out of our room and settle any bills that we had. Once we were all sorted we then had brunch in the dining room before disembarking. The return transfer was just as good as the first one and we had a comfortable drive back to Hanoi with the seat massager going the entire journey! I highly recommend this tour! We couldn’t have enjoyed it more! The staff were all amazing although Kelvin was the highlight! He managed to connect with all of the passengers and always had time to answer questions and make everyone feel welcomed and heard!