Hanoi (Halong Bay),Vietnam

[wendyp247]

We will be traveling  on a Celebrity ship and we were wondering if the overnight excursion they offer to Hanoi (Halong Bay),Vietnam is worth it if we are there on a Friday. I understand the interior of the main museum is closed on Fridays. I don't know if  we would be scheduled to go to the museum on Saturday because the ship departs and 1 pm and its a long ride back to the ship from Hanoi. Just trying to get  thoughts  if it is worthwhile. If you don't hink the overnight is worth it what would you suggest  visiting near Halong Bay , we will be docked overnight. Thanks 

[Miaminice]

15 hours ago, wendyp247 said:

We will be traveling  on a Celebrity ship and we were wondering if the overnight excursion they offer to Hanoi (Halong Bay),Vietnam is worth it if we are there on a Friday. I understand the interior of the main museum is closed on Fridays. I don't know if  we would be scheduled to go to the museum on Saturday because the ship departs and 1 pm and its a long ride back to the ship from Hanoi. Just trying to get  thoughts  if it is worthwhile. If you don't hink the overnight is worth it what would you suggest  visiting near Halong Bay , we will be docked overnight. Thanks 

 

Hi Wendy,

 

I believe we are on the same cruise. 

Just to let you know... the ship does not depart at 1 pm!!

 

We arrive at Halong Bay Friday at 1 pm and depart Saturday 10 pm.

[John Bull]

The in-port times quoted by Miaminice are pretty typical - half-day followed by full day, or full day followed by half-day.

 

One difference - 10pm is a much later departure time than most .

That's likely to allow for either a decent amount of time in Hanoi for the long drive (3.5hrs each-way), or a combo of Halong Bay cruise on day one and a long day-trip to Hanoi (6 hrs+ in the city, much like the available time in the city on most overnites).

 

For us, seven hours in a bus is too long to visit a city of limited interest.

So the first afternoon we banded together with others on the ship to fix up, for the next day, two junks to sail amongst the limestone karsts of Halong Bay - one group settled for 4 hours, the rest of us for 6 hours. It's also possible to share an overnite junk.

Halong Bay is magical - away from the crowds sailing thro the surreal watery moonscape. The weather is usually fine but misty - elsewhere mist detracts from enjoyment, but here it simply adds to the eeriness. Phahg Nga Bay in Thailand is the only place we've been which compares.

Book a junk privately, ideally with about a dozen others. Ship-sponsored junk cruises  will fill junks to capacity - about 30 to 40 people.

And don't go for less than four hours - a two hour cruise achieves little more than sailing across the open bay before reaching the karsts in the most crowded part.

Junks don't sail in the dark - they're back (or, for overnites, they're moored) well before 6pm.

 

 

Most folk have to choose between Halong Bay junk cruise or Hanoi. But with your late sailaway you also have the choice of a decent junk cruise on day one AND a decent Hanoi day-trip on day two.

There are pros & cons for all three of those options.

 

If you choose to go to Hanoi (overnite or day-trip), I'd recommend ship's tour. We generally avoid ship-sponsored excursions, but Hanoi is a long way on busy, sometimes congested, roads. And tourism is still in its infancy.

 

We found that a tour of Halong City was a complete waste of a couple of hours. But members have posted that they enjoyed countryside tours from Halong, so that's another option for your first afternoon.

 

All MHO as always

 

JB 

 

[dani negreanu]

We arrived at noon on Millie, and left the day after at 10PM.

 

For us, Halong Bay was the highlight of our cruise, and decided to make the most of it.

 

Turns out that the overnites leave at 11AM every day, so this option was out.

 

We booked a junk with others in our roll call, for a 6 hours tour. It could hold 42, but the travel company limited it to 16 pax.

It was wonderful, and we thoroughly enjoyed the day, were lucky to have nice weather. Mission accomplished on our part.

 

The afternoon of our arrival we took our time to debark, grabbed a taxi and went to the fish market in HB city, which was not touristy at all. Also a good visit. On our way back, we passed the new museum with its special building, and asked the taxi driver to let us at a nice night market near the port, and we walked the rest of the way.

 

[sugarbird]

Hanoi is a long way, but a great stop---Ho Chi Min's house, the French Quarter, the old Central City, Hanoi Hilton ( where  McCain was held prisoner)--lunch in Mocha Cafe--if still there.--and many others.

I would recommend the ship's trip due to the distance and getting back on time.

[sugarbird]

Hanoi is a long way, but a great stop---Ho Chi Min's house, the French Quarter, the old Central City, Hanoi Hilton ( where  McCain was held prisoner)--lunch in Mocha Cafe--if still there.--and many others.

I would recommend the ship's trip due to the distance and getting back on time.

 

I should have mentioned that Halong Bay is very interesting also--but Hanoi is special.

[mahdnc]

Our next cruise (Celebrity Solstice, Dec 2021) will overnight at Hanoi.  While there, we are interested in doing an overnight cruise at Halong Bay and I have just begun studying this. 

 

I would prefer to book an overnight cruise independently but our ship leaves Hanoi at 1pm which based on my early research seems to rule out many (or all) of the overnight cruises.  Is there a company with an overnight Halong Bay itinerary that will allow me to get back to Solstice in time before she leaves at 1pm?

 

Celebrity offers a shore excursion that does an overnight cruise at Halong Bay.  Does anyone know who Celebrity uses?

 

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Our next cruise (Celebrity Solstice, Dec 2021) will overnight at Hanoi.  While there, we are interested in doing an overnight cruise at Halong Bay and I have just begun studying this. 

 

I would prefer to book an overnight cruise independently but our ship leaves Hanoi at 1pm which based on my early research seems to rule out many (or all) of the overnight cruises.  Is there a company with an overnight Halong Bay itinerary that will allow me to get back to Solstice in time before she leaves at 1pm?

 

Celebrity offers a shore excursion that does an overnight cruise at Halong Bay.  Does anyone know who Celebrity uses?

 

 

This has been a problem for many cruisers.

Junk operators get the bulk of their business from travellers whose itineraries includes Hanoi, and they sell packages including transport from & back to Hanoi. Hence the impossible start or finish time for cruisers whose ships are in Halong Bay for a full day & a half-day, or a half-day and a full day.

But I know that for the past few years it's been possible to book an overnite junk that suits cruisers' time-scales. That's block-booking a junk, not bookings for individual cabins - so you'd need to get to work finding sharers via your cruise RollCall.

 

Sorry, don't know which junk operators - unless you get any suggestions here, you'll have to google and e-mail some of them. Make your phraseology very simple & concise - English-language skills are extremely varied. But ask them for suggestions if they don't offer suitable timings.

 

BTW, the actual sailing duration of overnite junks is no more than 8 hours (same as can be done with a full-day trip), because as my earlier post they don't sail in the dark.

 

JB 

[mahdnc]

On 9/10/2020 at 12:44 PM, John Bull said:

 

This has been a problem for many cruisers.

Junk operators get the bulk of their business from travellers whose itineraries includes Hanoi, and they sell packages including transport from & back to Hanoi. Hence the impossible start or finish time for cruisers whose ships are in Halong Bay for a full day & a half-day, or a half-day and a full day.

But I know that for the past few years it's been possible to book an overnite junk that suits cruisers' time-scales. That's block-booking a junk, not bookings for individual cabins - so you'd need to get to work finding sharers via your cruise RollCall.

 

Sorry, don't know which junk operators - unless you get any suggestions here, you'll have to google and e-mail some of them. Make your phraseology very simple & concise - English-language skills are extremely varied. But ask them for suggestions if they don't offer suitable timings.

 

BTW, the actual sailing duration of overnite junks is no more than 8 hours (same as can be done with a full-day trip), because as my earlier post they don't sail in the dark.

 

JB 

 

Thank you for the reply.  

 

How far apart is the cruise ship pier from where the Ha Long Bay ships leave?

[John Bull]

6 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Thank you for the reply.  

 

How far apart is the cruise ship pier from where the Ha Long Bay ships leave?

 

 

We tendered, were met at the tender pier by the rep plus a couple of taxis, 5 minute drive to junks, included in the charge. Same routine on return. I suggest you fix for the same from your ship's pier or tender pier. There are several junk harbours, I doubt you'll be more than a 10-minute drive away. 

 

BTW ...................

Two qualities of junks - IIRC they're standard or luxury. We went for standard (we're cheapskates ) - pretty basic, but don't expect "luxury" even with a "luxury" ).

Like most, it had a saloon (could take mebbe 30), a bit of a kitchen, a John at the stern, and sunloungers for about a dozen on the saloon roof.

Dani shared with 15, we were about a dozen - they're the sort of numbers that make sense.  

All Ha Long junks are powered by little diesel put-put engines, the sails are just for decoration.

Cash bar (err, make that cool-box) for beers & sodas, silly-cheap.

Also sold trinkets, silly-cheap - we  bought a few just to show willing.

Captain & crew unlikely to speak much English, but not a problem.

On a day-junk you can book food. Or the crew will cook fish if you buy at a floating fishing-village (the only thing we found in Vietnam that was grossly over-priced - we declined). I presume that meals are included on an overnite.

 

Our trip was seven or eight years ago.

I won't tell you how little we paid, cos either you'll go green with envy or you just won't believe me.

Vietnam now has some experience in tourism, I very much doubt that prices will still be so silly-cheap - but will still be very good value.

 

Hope this helps

 

JB 

[Donald]

You should be aware that most of the Ha Long junk companies - as charming as they seem - have absolutely zero standards for hygiene and safety.

I was managing director for one of the older “classic” junk companies in Ha Long a few years back. 

When I first boarded our “ships” I was surprised to see the galley staff using the galley floor tiles (still attached to the floor) as cutting boards for meat and fish.

There were no fire extinguishers on our wooden boats. There were also no life preservers.

 

We had a small swimming platform on the stern of each boat. Guests loved it when we stopped to let them have a swim in the bay. 

We didn’t mention that the pollution levels of the water in Ha Long Bay are astonishingly high.We also hoped that the guests swimming at the platform didn’t notice the sewage exiting the hull just a few meters away from them. The Ha Long Bay junks do not have any acceptable sewage holding or treatment equipment.

 

I pushed very hard for one year to convince the owners of our junks to upgrade the hygiene and safety standards onboard. In the end, they refused. They thought it unnecessary expense. 

 

Ha Long Bay is a truly amazing place. But if you visit, please be very very careful choosing what you eat or drink there. Any seafood from Ha Long Bay should not be consumed by foreigners. Please do not swim in the water there.

 

The people in Ha Long are wonderful. The trip to Hanoi will soon be much faster on the new highway / train line being constructed. Hanoi is amazing.

[iancal]

We did a month long land independent land trip to Vietnam.  Loved it and plan to return.

 

We did a two day cruise on Halong Bay and spent 5 days in Hanoi.   We really enjoyed Hanoi, although four days would have been enough.  Halong Bay was beautiful however we had spent several winters in Thailand and were familiar with the karsks.  Very nice, glad we did the Halong cruise but would not do it again.

 

I think it really comes down to personal preference.  These are two very different choices.  If you choose Hanoi I would definitely overnight in a local hotel.

[mahdnc]

For those of you that organized your own private junk tour with roll call members, can you please give me some recommendations on who to contact if I choose to do the same thing.  Also it would be helpful to know how many people you organized it for.

[terry&mike]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

For those of you that organized your own private junk tour with roll call members, can you please give me some recommendations on who to contact if I choose to do the same thing.  Also it would be helpful to know how many people you organized it for.

I have an upcoming 2 night cruise in December that I organized myself, for my husband and I. It is on Orchid Cruises, and I booked it through halongbaytours.com which is Blue Dragon Travel based in Vietnam. I did not put together a group, but booked onto a sailing that will have other guests onboard.  We are actually choosing to sail on Lan Ha Bay, which is next to HaLong Bay, just as scenic but less crowded with tour boats.