Ha Long Bay - cruise company and number of nights
We are doing the Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand tour in January (25) 2019. We plan to do a pre-tour excursion to Ha Long Bay. I have read on this forum and other travel sites that both Ginger Cruise Line (Violet or Jasmine ships) and Paradise (Elegance or Luxury) are excellent options. The Tauck tour that includes Laos does a one night Ha Long Bay tour using the Paradise Elegance - which is a new 31 cabin steel boat. The Paradise Luxury is a 15-cabin wooden boat. The Ginger Cruise Line boats are smaller wood junks. Can anyone comment about their experiences with these companies and these boats? We might be inclined to use the Paradise Elegance only because Tauck chose it for one of their tours. However, it does seems like it could be good to go on a smaller wood boat for a more authentic experience.
We are also still considering whether to do the 2D/1N or 3D/2N (with use of smaller day boat on second day) options. Any comments? Thanks.