Nov 4, 2024 Ha Long Bay day tour
My husband and I are traveling on the November 4, 2024 departure of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. We arrive late on November 3rd. We have arranged a day trip to Ha Long Bay through the concierge at our hotel with a 10am pickup. The tour is typically back a the hotel by 630, but because it will be a private tour, we can arrange to be back by 530 in time for our welcome dinner. If there is anyone else traveling on the tour that is interested in joining us, please message me. I can adjust the reservation by contacting the concierge. I’ll attach the information the concierge sent me.
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We did that same tour of Ha Long Bay earlier this year. You can see what we did at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-1Vietnam-01.htm#HaLongBay. We're older so there were some things we didn't do that they offered on the day tour, such as kayaking.
Oh, take the standard boat. It looked to me that they were all the same, anyhow. And the standard boat was very nice. And if you get a choice, our guide, Hung Nguyen, was very good.
I would recommend leaving the hotel earlier than 10am. It's a long ride to Ha Long Bay (and back). We started a bit before 8am. 7 or 7:30am might even be better.
And if you want to see a preview of the whole Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand trip, go to https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-1Vietnam-01.htm
Your blog was very helpful. Thank you. That's where I got the idea to just email the hotel concierge and let them work out the details. They were very helpful.
We did ask about leaving earlier, but were told the 10am departure is because of the scheduled cruise time. Maybe someone else has already booked an earlier cruise with the company. As we don't get in until after 11pm, we went back and forth about trying to do the day tour at all, but everyone we've talk to said you have to try to go.
I did a private tour so we had more choices. You may be on one of the big boats with other people, some who may be Vietnamese.
Ours is private too. Right now, it’s just my husband and I.
You might push back if you want to go earlier. The tour company wanted to meet us at 7am, but we had set up a departure for 8am. Leaving earlier will give you more time at Ha Long Bay.
If you're like me, I always wake up very early on the first morning of a tour.
Thanks to all for the tips regarding Ha Long Bay. I am arriving a couple of days early in Hanoi for the January 3, 2025 tour departure and have decided to book a full day Ha Long Bay tour leaving at 7a from the hotel, as it is my understanding that it takes awhile to get to the boats. I just didn't want to go all the way to Vietnam and not experience this beautiful area that is not part of the Tauck Tour.
I am going on south east asia tour on Jan 13 2025, I have a full free day on the 12th,I am traveling by myself. On this bay tour, is the guide with you the entire time? I will have a private tour since I am 1 person,will the company add other tauck guests? Please post your experience when you come back.
Contact the concierge at the hotel and they will make the arrangements and give you the details. If you're setting up a private tour, it's generally just you (and anyone in your party). Tauck is not involved in those private tours.
From the information I received from the hotel concierge, your guide is with you the entire day. The information sheet the hotel sent me is included in the original post up above. The concierge team was very prompt in response to my original inquiry as well as follow up questions.
It seems crazy to me that Tauck does not include Halong Bay on this tour, especially as they no longer do the other tour that included Laos and an overnight in Halong Bay. So much extra work for people to do this on there own and probably more money than Tauck could negotiation for. We really enjoyed the overnight, seeing the caves and monkeys and meeting the people at the fishing village.
British - It’s likely Tauck thinks that the tour would become too long. They can only include so much and keep the length within their “sweet” spot from a selling perspective. It already includes a large geographic area with three stop areas in Vietnam, one in Cambodia, and two in Thailand.
In addition, lots of people might find having a long bus ride day right at the start of a tour to be unappealing. The way it is allows those who want to, to take on the long bus ride day on their own without encumbering the entire tour.
There has to be some demand for longer tours especially as airfares are so expensive these days
Back to Back tours seem popular too. Maybe it’s something else Tauck could try.
At a minimum tauck could/should build it as an extra add on. I think A and K does that on some of the tours.
There are a number of "I can't believe they didn't include..." on the tours.
Off the top of my head, besides Ha Long Bay,
The Coliseum
Alhambra
They don't have to include Ha Long Bay as part of the tour. They can make it a pre-tour option, like the cruise companies do. That way, only the people interested have to come early, and Tauck doesn't have to change the price of the tour, itself.
After all, that's what's happening now - but each of us has to make the arrangements on our own. It would be much nicer if Tauck would take that on for us.