Halong Bay

[seahappy08]

We are in Halong Bay on 13th Feb 2013 on the Millennium but are worried about how long it is taking to get off the ship. We have been told on the present cruise they arrived at 13.00hrs but some people didn't get off until 16.00hrs but unless you overnight on a junk the boats have to be back by 18.30hrs. We are then going on to Hanoi for an overnight. We are thinking of not going on the Halong Bay junk as we will hardly see anything.

Anyone that is on the first Celebrity Cruise and can offer advice please do so?:eek: Or any advice from anyone. Thanks

[John Bull]

If instead of berthing you go ashore by tender, normal routine is that a big pontoon will be moored alongside the ship, so several boats can load at the same time. This should mean that once things are underway, going ashore is pretty quick.

But junks will surely need to be back around 5.30pm, they don't sail in the dark, so you'd be hard-pressed to get in even a basic two hour cruise.

 

Ships' junk excursions have the advantage that they board from the pontoon, avoiding the need to tender to the jetty or the short drive to the junk harbour/moorings. If the ship offers better than a two-hour cruise that pm, it might be worth paying the extra.

Personally I don't think a two-hour cruise is worthwhile, since much of that time is spent crossing the open bay to the limestone islets. But that's just an opinion, and there really isn't anything else to offer in Halong Bay/City.

 

If you choose a cruise instead of Hanoi:

On the first afternoon, at the tender pier, you should be able to fix up a six or eight hour day junk for the second day, sharing with perhaps 8 or 10 others from the ship from around $10-$15 per person. Agree a price & timescale with the rep (tout) at the pier, start time will be around 9am - 10am next day, pay at the end of the cruise.

 

Overnite junks normally leave about noon & get back about 11am next day. You can (in advance & with sharers from your RollCall) hire a junk to leave when you're ready but if you wanted to make up for the late start with a later finish you'd effectively have to pay for two nights.

 

If you want to stick with Hanoi:

You'd perhaps want to forget about the junks & overnite in a Hanoi hotel - maximising your time in the city, including the evening, & spreading the 3 hrs e/w drive over the two days.

 

Most cruise ships visit Halong Bay for a day-and-a-half. Life would be so much easier if it were two full days.

 

Just MHO

 

JB :)

[tiggerman101]

It is a tough choice. I am on the March 3rd Millennium Northbound cruise (sounds like you are going NB as well). Due to the timing I decided to see the bay and skip Hanoi. We are overnighting in HCMC and Bangkok so I felt the junk tour would be a nice change. I did not want to waste a day so we are doing the Celebrity tour to the Yen Tu Monestary, countryside and market. I figured we may as well get out and see something the first day. The next day I booked an independant 8 hour junk tour. I wanted to maximise the time in the bay so we could go deeper into it. As John pointed out, it takes a bit to get out amoung the scenery. I wanted to spend as much time as possible in the bay.

 

To me , it seemed like we had to make a decision betweeen the bay and Hanoi. Hanoi is pretty far from the tender dock so it is a long trip back and forth. With the different cities we are visiting, I figured the peacefulness of an all day junk tour would change it up a bit.

[sandancer]

We are also taking the Halong Bay option. After reading on here about the journey into Hanoi by bus we took the easy option and booked a junk for an 8 hour private cruise. We ended up paying $55 each for a de luxe junk including lunch. It took me many months to fill the spots as most of the rollcall seem to prefer Hanoi. In the event we now have a group of 12 sharing a junk that takes 30. Perfect.

[seahappy08]

Thanks for all your help the advice I went with came from a guide who has just met people off of the first Millie cruise for people that had arranged their own trips. I will wait until they comment on how the trip went as this is the first time Celebrity has cruised in this area we have until Feb to find out all. I agree with the comment on the short days not much time to do anything as we do not drop anchor until 13.00hrs on the first day. Unless you take a ships tour perhaps the rest of us will be in trouble with time as you say we will have to be back before dark from the junks.

Lynda:confused:

[John Bull]

We ended up paying $55 each for a de luxe junk including lunch. In the event we now have a group of 12 sharing a junk that takes 30. Perfect.

 

As a percentage $55 is a lot more than we paid, but in hard cash it's not a huge difference especially since yours is on a better junk & includes lunch.

More important, you have the peace of mind that it's all fixed-up in advance, whereas we were on a wing & a prayer until we arrived.

 

And yes, a dozen on a 30-seater is perfect - plenty of room for all of you in the saloon or for all of you to lay out top-side. :)

 

JB :)

[greatam]

Thanks for all your help the advice I went with came from a guide who has just met people off of the first Millie cruise for people that had arranged their own trips. I will wait until they comment on how the trip went as this is the first time Celebrity has cruised in this area we have until Feb to find out all. I agree with the comment on the short days not much time to do anything as we do not drop anchor until 13.00hrs on the first day. Unless you take a ships tour perhaps the rest of us will be in trouble with time as you say we will have to be back before dark from the junks.

Lynda:confused:

 

Just a few comments from one who has done the Halong Bay cruises at least 6 times, the last one in May 2012. There might even be a couple of forgettable ones I "forgot". I do business in Vietnam and spend quite a bit of time in ports in both North and South Vietnam.

 

I WOULD NOT waste my time on a 2-3 hour cruise. You won't see much very interesting. I would make up my mind between going to Hanoi or going on an OVERNIGHT Halong Bay cruise.

 

There is NOTHING of interest in Halong City (and certainly not anything worth paying for a "tour"). As one person posted, they are taking a tour of the area on Day 1, then the following day taking an 8 hour Halong Bay cruise. JMHO, the first day "tour" money would be better spent on an overnight charter Halong Bay cruise. Round up some more from your roll car and spend the night out on the water. The peace and quiet and eerie scenery at night is very, very different than what you see in the daytime which is a whole lot of day tripper tourists. You can even go kayaking in the evening if you spend the night.

 

OR make the trip to Hanoi. Plan to spend the night in a hotel in Hanoi. I highly recommend the Zephyr hotel. A small, boutique hotel very close to the market, the puppet show and Hoi Kiem Lake. The "suite" rooms on the top floors with the view of the lake are the same price as the INTERIOR rooms in chain hotels with more name recognition. Breakfast is generally included in your booking.

 

I truly believe with these very short port stops, you have to choose Hanoi or Halong Bay. The guides will tell you anything. They want to sell product.

 

Whatever you do, enjoy.

[seahappy08]

If instead of berthing you go ashore by tender, normal routine is that a big pontoon will be moored alongside the ship, so several boats can load at the same time. This should mean that once things are underway, going ashore is pretty quick.

But junks will surely need to be back around 5.30pm, they don't sail in the dark, so you'd be hard-pressed to get in even a basic two hour cruise.

 

Ships' junk excursions have the advantage that they board from the pontoon, avoiding the need to tender to the jetty or the short drive to the junk harbour/moorings. If the ship offers better than a two-hour cruise that pm, it might be worth paying the extra.

Personally I don't think a two-hour cruise is worthwhile, since much of that time is spent crossing the open bay to the limestone islets. But that's just an opinion, and there really isn't anything else to offer in Halong Bay/City.

 

If you choose a cruise instead of Hanoi:

On the first afternoon, at the tender pier, you should be able to fix up a six or eight hour day junk for the second day, sharing with perhaps 8 or 10 others from the ship from around $10-$15 per person. Agree a price & timescale with the rep (tout) at the pier, start time will be around 9am - 10am next day, pay at the end of the cruise.

 

Overnite junks normally leave about noon & get back about 11am next day. You can (in advance & with sharers from your RollCall) hire a junk to leave when you're ready but if you wanted to make up for the late start with a later finish you'd effectively have to pay for two nights.

 

If you want to stick with Hanoi:

You'd perhaps want to forget about the junks & overnite in a Hanoi hotel - maximising your time in the city, including the evening, & spreading the 3 hrs e/w drive over the two days.

 

Most cruise ships visit Halong Bay for a day-and-a-half. Life would be so much easier if it were two full days.

 

Just MHO

 

JB :)

I so agree with your comments we have booked overnight for Hanoi so we may have to miss the junk as it is an independant tour so we will have to go to shore before it can start. Our guide Mrs Thi is looking into it all for us as this is the first time Celebrity has been to Halong Bay and it took ages for people with tours to get off the ship. My husband said it is all to do with tides. See you live just down the road from us. Happy Cruising!

Lynda:cool:

[weliketocruise86]

Looks like the southbound itinerary should be ok. We are scheduled to arrive 7am and leave the following day at 1pm.

 

Will wait for 23/12 for more information.

[3littlepigs]

We were in the first cruise and missed the afternoon trivia at 2pm because we were already off the ship. If the tour guides passengers did not disembark until 4pm they either chose to stay onboard or didn't bother arranging tender tickets on a timely basis.

 

We had a private all day cruise which basically followed the itinerary of the overnight tours. Because an all day tripwas a bit unusual we didnt find crowds of people wherever we went.

 

The caves they take you to are 240 uneven stone steps above the water, not climbed in one go, the first set of steps is about 100, then various other lots inside the caves, its 240 straight down at the end. the caves themselves are terribly damaged and other than the magnificent view from the highest points outside, not worth the effort. The kayaking was magic, so peaceful, our group saw monkeys feeding on the side of one of the cliffs.

we were very glad not to be getting on yet another very long bumpy bus ride to Hanoi and enjoyed the peacefulness of being in such an amazing bay.

[sandancer]

Thanks 3littlepigs. I have posted on the Celebrity forum asking you about this tour. It is so helpful to have info from someone who has done this trip recently.

[seahappy08]

We were in the first cruise and missed the afternoon trivia at 2pm because we were already off the ship. If the tour guides passengers did not disembark until 4pm they either chose to stay onboard or didn't bother arranging tender tickets on a timely basis.

 

We had a private all day cruise which basically followed the itinerary of the overnight tours. Because an all day tripwas a bit unusual we didnt find crowds of people wherever we went.

 

The caves they take you to are 240 uneven stone steps above the water, not climbed in one go, the first set of steps is about 100, then various other lots inside the caves, its 240 straight down at the end. the caves themselves are terribly damaged and other than the magnificent view from the highest points outside, not worth the effort. The kayaking was magic, so peaceful, our group saw monkeys feeding on the side of one of the cliffs.

we were very glad not to be getting on yet another very long bumpy bus ride to Hanoi and enjoyed the peacefulness of being in such an amazing bay.

What was the weather like and how did you dress for the boat trip? Do you think cargo pants a t-shirt and a fleece ok for when it got cooler?

Thanks Lynda

[3littlepigs]

It wasnt particularly cold but foggy all day, I think it could be much colder some days. If you have long pants and a wind/waterproof warm jacket you should be fine. If its cold upstairs on the deck you can always go downstairs and sit inside.

 

You will soon warm up climbing up to the cave, then climbing even further up to the lookout they stop at!

 

Most people got a bit wet kayaking, take a towel and change of clothes in your backpack!

 

And don't expect deluxe to have the same meaning in Vietnam as at home ;)

[Busybean]

We were in the first cruise and missed the afternoon trivia at 2pm because we were already off the ship. If the tour guides passengers did not disembark until 4pm they either chose to stay onboard or didn't bother arranging tender tickets on a timely basis.

 

We had a private all day cruise which basically followed the itinerary of the overnight tours. Because an all day tripwas a bit unusual we didnt find crowds of people wherever we went.

 

The caves they take you to are 240 uneven stone steps above the water, not climbed in one go, the first set of steps is about 100, then various other lots inside the caves, its 240 straight down at the end. the caves themselves are terribly damaged and other than the magnificent view from the highest points outside, not worth the effort. The kayaking was magic, so peaceful, our group saw monkeys feeding on the side of one of the cliffs.

we were very glad not to be getting on yet another very long bumpy bus ride to Hanoi and enjoyed the peacefulness of being in such an amazing bay.

 

Hi

 

Your quote is very helpful especially as it seems to indicate that timely disembarkation WAS possible in Halong Bay.assuming passengers sorted out their tender tickets in time.

I have a trip sorted out to leave as soon as we are ashore so I am particularly concerned to hear about any potential problems with tenders

Thank you

Sue.

[cjb0717]

I have an 8 hour Halong Bay tour organized on Feb. 20. Our tour guide sent me an email addressing some of the concerns about the Dec. 9 Celebrity cruise. Here's some of her comments:

 

After we have done the tours for people from 2 Celebrity Cruises on 15 – 20 Dec and 26 – 31 Dec, I would like to update with you about the arrangements for the tours from 20 – 25 Feb 2013 for your groups.

 

There is no problem with Phu My port and Chan May port. The only problem happened in Halong bay port because they had to use a tender and it took quite much time.

 

It was true that the first ship on 19 – 20 Dec to Halong Bay was not well-organized. They used a small tender and it took about 20 minutes each way to go to the shore.

Many groups started the tours late. We supposed to pick them up around 1:30pm to 2:00pm, but the last group got down to the pier was about 3:15 – 3:30pm.

 

For the second ship on 26 – 27 Dec to Halong Bay, the situation was better because they used a bigger tender which could take maximum 150 people per time and the big cruise was anchored closer to the shore so it took about 7 – 10 minutes to go to the shore per way.

We supposed to pick them up around 7:30 – 8:00am. Some people got on the first tender and arrived at the shore around 7:30am. The last people we got on tours arrived at the shore around 8:30am. So all the tours took place smoothly.

[LdyDDS]

We had a private tour booked for Halong Bay & Saigon. Our tour guide waited for us to get off the tender and took up directly to the boat for the bay tour. Even though we were only 6 people we had a large boat just for us. We sailed around the bay for a short time, saw the floating village, took the tour of the cave and made it back to shore just at Dusk. We were given the choice of touring the cave or a longer bay tour with no cave stop since we got off the Millennium later than expected. We then got into a van and drove to Saigon, stopping 1/2 way there for a really nice dinner. We arrived at our Saigon hotel at about 10pm. The next morning we started touring at 8:45, had a good full tour and made it back to the ship with plenty of time. I am glad we organized the private tour so that we could get both the bay and city tours in. We were also on the 3rd tender off the ship in Halong Bay.

[LdyDDS]

for those who have not been to Hanoi before, I would recommend you visit it with a guide. I thought I would not like Hanoi at all. I enjoyed the tour of Hanoi much more than Saigon. It was very interesting. I would also recommend you make sure your tour includes some time at the Hanoi Hilton...very interesting....seeing the propaganda still on the walls of this museum.

[emileg]

We were in the first cruise and missed the afternoon trivia at 2pm because we were already off the ship. If the tour guides passengers did not disembark until 4pm they either chose to stay onboard or didn't bother arranging tender tickets on a timely basis.

 

We had a private all day cruise which basically followed the itinerary of the overnight tours. Because an all day tripwas a bit unusual we didnt find crowds of people wherever we went.

 

The caves they take you to are 240 uneven stone steps above the water, not climbed in one go, the first set of steps is about 100, then various other lots inside the caves, its 240 straight down at the end. the caves themselves are terribly damaged and other than the magnificent view from the highest points outside, not worth the effort. The kayaking was magic, so peaceful, our group saw monkeys feeding on the side of one of the cliffs.

we were very glad not to be getting on yet another very long bumpy bus ride to Hanoi and enjoyed the peacefulness of being in such an amazing bay.

 

It wasnt particularly cold but foggy all day, I think it could be much colder some days. If you have long pants and a wind/waterproof warm jacket you should be fine. If its cold upstairs on the deck you can always go downstairs and sit inside.

 

You will soon warm up climbing up to the cave, then climbing even further up to the lookout they stop at!

 

Most people got a bit wet kayaking, take a towel and change of clothes in your backpack!

 

And don't expect deluxe to have the same meaning in Vietnam as at home ;)

Reassuring and useful information. Thanks.

[weliketocruise86]

Does anyone know what the process was for the Priority Tender Tickets available to Elite members ?

[33lp]

We had a private all day cruise which basically followed the itinerary of the overnight tours. Because an all day trip was a bit unusual we didnt find crowds of people wherever we went.

 

As Celebrity only organise half-day trips, I would be interested to know who you booked with, for your all day cruise. Browsing the Internet, I can only find overnight trips or day trips which start in Hanoi.

 

Would you recommend your Halong junk trip?

[tomtnt]

We had a private tour booked for Halong Bay & Saigon. Our tour guide waited for us to get off the tender and took up directly to the boat for the bay tour. Even though we were only 6 people we had a large boat just for us. We sailed around the bay for a short time, saw the floating village, took the tour of the cave and made it back to shore just at Dusk. We were given the choice of touring the cave or a longer bay tour with no cave stop since we got off the Millennium later than expected. We then got into a van and drove to Saigon, stopping 1/2 way there for a really nice dinner. We arrived at our Saigon hotel at about 10pm. The next morning we started touring at 8:45, had a good full tour and made it back to the ship with plenty of time. I am glad we organized the private tour so that we could get both the bay and city tours in. We were also on the 3rd tender off the ship in Halong Bay.

 

Hi, would you mind telling us who you used to book your full day Halong Bay tours? Can't seem to find any providers originating from Halong Bay (rather than Hanoi).

 

We will be on the 2/17 sailing arriving in Halong at 7am and would like to do a single all day tour and skip Hanoi.

[emileg]

Hi, would you mind telling us who you used to book your full day Halong Bay tours? Can't seem to find any providers originating from Halong Bay (rather than Hanoi).

 

We will be on the 2/17 sailing arriving in Halong at 7am and would like to do a single all day tour and skip Hanoi.

Check with Mrs. Thi of Smile Tours.

 

http://www.smiletoursvietnam.com/en_map_vietnam.php

[ottawa24]

Hi, would you mind telling us who you used to book your full day Halong Bay tours? Can't seem to find any providers originating from Halong Bay (rather than Hanoi).

 

We will be on the 2/17 sailing arriving in Halong at 7am and would like to do a single all day tour and skip Hanoi.

 

I see you are new to Cruise Critic. Check out the Feb 17 Millennium board we are one of the couples who are going to Halong Bay for the first day. You could contact me at lpc8130@yahoo.com and I will put you in contact with the person who has organized our tour. We are using the Smile Tours. Please put cruise critic in subject line. Thanks

lesley

[sandancer]

The post from Lesley just goes to show the advantages we have over non CC members when it comes to getting help and advice on tours or indeed any other aspect of your cruise. There are so many very experienced cruisers on these boards that you can almost guarantee that someone will have the answer you are looking for.

[Bellair]

We are in Halong Bay on 13th Feb 2013 on the Millennium but are worried about how long it is taking to get off the ship. We have been told on the present cruise they arrived at 13.00hrs but some people didn't get off until 16.00hrs but unless you overnight on a junk the boats have to be back by 18.30hrs. We are then going on to Hanoi for an overnight. We are thinking of not going on the Halong Bay junk as we will hardly see anything.

Anyone that is on the first Celebrity Cruise and can offer advice please do so?:eek: Or any advice from anyone. Thanks