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Ha Long Bay
We are planning on taking this tour in 2025 Which companies would you recommend for overnight boat in Ha Long Bay?
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We are planning on taking this tour in 2025 Which companies would you recommend for overnight boat in Ha Long Bay?
Comments
I had contacted Indochina-Junk and they were very helpful. I could have gotten a private boat - for two - for a decent price.
But I couldn't do an overnight so I contacted the concierge at the Tauck Hanoi hotel and set up a day trip to Ha Long Bay.
We took this trip on 2019 and it was fantastic. We opted for a cruise on Ha Long Bay before the start of the tour and we were thrilled with our choice. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We used AUCO Cruises and thought they were fabulous. The ship was well maintained and the food was delicious. Highly recommend. https://aucocruises.com/
I'm on the Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand tour right now. We did a day cruise to Ha Long Bay which you can see at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-1Vietnam-01.htm#HaLongBay
I made the arrangements through the concierge at the Metropole. Incidently, the Metropole is an outstanding hotel.
Mike - Don't miss the bunker tour at the Metropole. Sign up with the concierge.
@BKMD - Already did it. We're in Saigon now. Cu Chi tunnels were a bust. I could have missed that and not missed it:-)
Mike, I really enjoyed the CuChi tunnels, after hearing about them all those years ago. And sadly, we are seeing the idea now in Gaza.
@Debi Horan My problems with the Cu Chi tunnels were that the bus ride is way too long and the tunnels are not authentic. They’re just sort of a Disney Land version of the tunnels designed for tourists. What you saw was nothing like what the tunnels were really like.
And if they’re going to do that, why not do a Cu Chi “exhibit” closer to Saigon. There’s little reason to put the exhibit in that area.
About halfway through the tunnels presentation, I was done. I was tired – we had gotten up early – and hot. And I could see that what was being presented was just an unreal exhibit.
If I had missed it, I suppose I’d wonder what I missed. But now that I’ve seen it, I sure wouldn’t go again, and I’d tell people that if you missed it, you didn’t miss much.
[There were tunnels in many places in Vietnam other than Cu Chi. When the GI's found an entrance, someone had to go down and check it out. That guy was usually the physically smallest person in the company, and he want down with a flashlight and 45 pistol. He was known as a "tunnel rat". I'm fairly sure that a couple of those guys wrote books about their experience. If you want to know that it was really like, I'd recommend reading one of those accounts. While that's images in words, I think you'll get a better appreciation of what tunnels were really like and the dangers that those tunnel rats endured.]
Google it. A photo caption in Wikipedia says, "Part of the tunnel complex at Củ Chi, this tunnel has been made wider and taller to accommodate tourists." I wouldn't enter if your respiratory system is susceptible to dust, molds, etc. or if you have claustrophobia.
The Cambodia prison was very moving for us. The guide lost most of his relatives there
Completely respect other opinions, however, for those of us who had never had any experience in Vietnam before, we found the tunnels at Cu Chi , and the exhibits on warfare there to be fascinating. We liked the bus ride because we got a good look at the countryside. Even if the tunnel was expanded for tourists, I would not go in there ( at 5’3” and relatively slim). It was really small.
For those who arrived early and did Ha long Bay overnight boat trip how did you handle logistics of checking into hotel and then out to stay overnight on boat. Or did you just bite the bucket and pay for a night at the hotel even though you slept away on the boat. It’s kinda pricey so trying to avoid doing that. Not does hopping from a less expensive hotel. Our last option is to just do the day boat trip but the overnight sounds more appealing. Travel is in 2025 but trying to figure out a few tricky logistics.
When I looked into it, I asked the Ha Long Bay people (IndoChina Junk) to arrange a car to pick me up at the airport and take us to Ha Long Bay. And take us to the hotel the next day. They were willing to do that.
But I couldn't get the flights I wanted and had to settle for a day trip.
Mike. It may end up that way. I just mapped out some logistics that may work. Our trip is 2025. We are doing India this year.
You will likely be tired from the long flight, so take that into consideration.
Mike yes trying to factor in the jet lag and most likely long layovers as there are no direct flights for us. It’s a year away but most likely we will travel thru Turkey and maybe crash at the airport hotel as there is long layover. That may help us in the end. Which boat company did you use. The hotel just sent me 3 pdfs of different companies (size of boat seems to vary along w prices) for overnight option. And they sent me one for day trip. Sure wish Tauck had built this in! A and K does but I liked Tauck’s overall itinerary better (and haven’t traveled yet w A and k). Did you add on at the end? Sure we will be exhausted but ideally I would like to hit the beaches of Thailand for a few days post trip. Doubtful we will get back to these locations as our list is long of places we still didn’t get to while we can.
I had contacted IndoChina Junk (https://www.indochina-junk.com). The guy I communicated with was Quyen. Communicated clearly in English writing. They had a small boat that only had one stateroom but we had a friend who was traveling with us so we would have had to go with a bigger boat.
I finally made arrangements through the hotel (Metropole) and they did an excellent job. I don't know what boat company they arranged with. They made the arrangements with a tour company who provided a car, driver and tour guide. The tour company had made arrangements for the boat. But remember that I did a day tour, not an overnight.
I agree that Tauck should have done this as a pre-tour option. I even called Tauck and complained that they didn't offer this. This forces each of us to research what boat company/tour company to go with and we have no fallback if there's a problem. Tauck is big enough that they can make sure that everything goes well.
If you want to see what we saw on the day trip, take a look at my blog of this trip. https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-1Vietnam-01.htm
They offered kayaking as part of the day tour but we declined due to our age.
Tauck did include an overnight Halong Bay trip when they had a Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos tour. Maybe that will be reinstated. I believe they stopped it because flights at the time were few and far between. We flew Asiana Air and it was excellent. At the time, that tour appealed to us way more than the Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand tour they do and Laos turned out to be our favorite. So I think that is why Tauck did not offer Halong Bay. Now the Pandemic emergency is over, they may start to do the tour again if flights are improved. Maybe people should express interest. It would be less trouble than re-engineering the current tour and anyway, that would make it too long for how Tauck usually offers their tours. Only a few go over two weeks.
Regarding British's comment about the tour going too long - Not everyone has to take a pre-tour excursion. And those of us who want to see Ha Long Bay are extending the tour by one day at the beginning and finding flights. There's no difference in the length of the tour - with the pre-tour excursion - just that we must create the pre-tour excursion ourselves, rather than Tauck.
Personally, I'd rather pay Tauck to do the pre-tour excursion than have to try to set it up myself with vendors that I know nothing about.
[Added note: There's little risk to Tauck. Most companies who do pre-tour excursions require you to sign up (and pay) a long time in advance so they know how many people will be on the excursion. Additionally, they put a minimum number on the excursion (and usually a maximum number) and have the right to cancel it if they don't get that minimum number of guests. At payment time they know how many people will be on the excursion.]