How to pick up Halong Bay Cruise Trip from Travel Agents in The Old Quarter

How to pick up Halong Bay Cruise Trip from Travel Agents in The Old Quarter

When visiting Vietnam, you must go Halong Bay. It is very easy to book Overnight Cruise through Tourist Websites or Travel Agents. Of course, Tourists look for cheap and good trip around place where they visit. The Old Quarter - Tourism Center in Hanoi, where meet their demand (accommodation, restaurant, bar, travel agent...). There is a problem surrounding Halong Bay overnight cruise is that: it  does not correct the boat chosen, overprice, scam trips...
Let's go to have a look! There are lots of reviews on Tripadvisor complaining about travel agency in The Old Quarter. Some one is such as:

“Nothing like the pictures” 
April, 2012
Writer: lmpappy
Did the overnight cruise and found that the junk was nothing like the pictures. The crew could not speak English at all and the drink prices on board were expensive. Lunch and dinner was just ok but the breakfast was terrible every 21 of us on board were disgusted in the cold eggs, bread not toasted and a spam like meat that was suppose to be bacon YUCK!!!. The crew were disinterested in us and played cards in the front cabin. Overall I would give this a miss as Halong Bay waters are polluted and brown with rubbish flowing down the bay. I was expecting crystal clear waters but Halong Bay is far from that. I would not let my dog swin in the bay let alone my family. I will give this tour a miss in the future. Oh and ALL JUNK's are now painted completly WHITE nothing like in the pictures, they look terrible. 

"Good or bad depending on the price"
Visited October 2013 

Writer: Ian R
 

It goes directly from A to B rather than a cruise around Halong Bay. (Most cruises do as they are forced to cut costs to compete) So you get close to less than 10 of the 2000 islands.
The food portions are small, you need to count the number of people on your table to determine how much you can take. The Food quality is quite good.
The problem isn't the boat, the problem is the travel agent you book through and the price you are charged and the expectations they let you have, or even the false pictures they show you. Travel agents will show pictures of huge luxury hotel rooms and say that's on the Elizabeth. For the Price the Owners of the boat charge the travel agents, the quality is very good
Some people get charged 5 times more than others since they simply go to the first travel agent they see and they get a bad travel agent. Some people book one boat and get the Elizabeth instead. That's not the Elizabeth's fault. The problem is the travel agents and dumb tourists. Reputable travel agents are great. Over 98% of travel agents in Hanoi aren't reputable and booking through your hotel is a silly mistake. The industry needs a massive shake up and they need to license the travel agents. There really needs to be a comparison chart for all the cruise boats and there's over 500 boats.
The rooms are OK and the Showers are OK. With all cruises on Halong Bay: "Buyer beware"
The Government needs a wakeup call as the industry is ready to implode and collapse from the rot the travel agents are creating

“A must do but expensive” 

October, 2013
Perth, Australia
We did the two day one night cruise on the Galaxy Premium boat which we got for the price of the standard boat through our hotel. The boat and quality of food was perfect -I would of preferred less seafood and a proper dessert instead of just fruit but that is all just personal. What I didn't like was that you had to pay $1US (25000 dong) for 500ml of water as apart from the small bottle next to your bed and the small bottle on the bus it is not complimentary. Local beer is $2.50US (40000dong). I'm pretty sure all boats are the same so our suggestion is bring water with you!!!! The bus ride is LONG and bumpy -bring a book, music or tablet with movies. The scenery after the first hour is repetitive and not pretty. Our tour guide was very strict with time and almost a bit regimented BUT this meant we got to every attraction before all the other boats so don't let this put you off -they are like that so you have a better experience. I would recommend Galaxy -the negatives im sure are on every tour so you might as well go on a boat that has excellent facilities and a damn good bathroom and shower

“A cruise that could potentially be much better” 

Visited October, 2013
Kelowna, Canada

We did a 2 day, 1 night cruise & whilst the cabin was very nice & there was plenty of food, we felt disappointed by the experience.

Halong Bay is a circus, with way too many cruise boats competing for docking space anywhere you stop. A lot of this is beyond the control of the cruise company, but there are things that they could do to improve the cruise experience. For example, the trip includes an opportunity for kayaking, but the spot that they choose to take you is overrun by boats ferrying passengers to & from the nearby caves & huge boats anchored right beside you. 10 minutes beyond the bay that we were taken to kayak, when we were sailing away, we passed a far more peaceful location that had other people enjoying their time paddling around. So yes we kayaked as we were told we would, but not in a location that was possible to enjoy.

For dinner & lunch we were served an impressive selection & quantity of food, but sadly, it didn't have the incredible Vietnamese flavour that we found in Hanoi. It seemed like everything had been tamed down for tourists, which seems unnecessary when pretty much everyone who visits Vietnam loves the food. We ate a lot of seafood, which would have been amazing, but was a little bland. Breakfast was adequate - sliced bread toasted, a fried egg, bacon & a banana. Surprisingly, the coffee was only instant - what a waste then Vietnamese coffee is so easy for them to serve.

Lastly, be prepared for the journey to Halong Bay will take an hour longer than you were told. Both on the journey there & back you will be ferried into a large warehouse style gift shop. You have no option but to leave the bus to 'relax', although you'll not find many to seats to sit in, have to walk through to meet the bus the other side & if you do look around, everything is extremely over-priced.

So if, like us, you have limited time & want to go to Halong Bay, a lot of this is unavoidable, but speaking to others traveling, it seems that you can find better companies, who will try to make the experience more enjoyable.

Let me tell you why 

The Cruise all painted WHITE

Date back from April 30th, 2013, every boats was painted compulsorily white.

The reason was Halong Bay Management Department wanna renew and decorate the bay look more beautiful, luxurious... Actually, there were many contrary suggestions about this: that is the good way to renew the bay, but tourists pay to see original Halong Bay, the boat owner said that repaint white boat spent the hundred of million dong which was not only help to improve service here but also charge more costs to repaint boat very 3 months... 20 years ago, those white boat appeared but could not stand harsh weather condition so no one painted white boat any more... The Chair man gave no comment or explains. The brief that all had to follow helplessly.

Finally, all painted white boat (white boats were considered more ugly  That is reason why no one see red-brown boat with light-brown sails any more.

Wrong Boat

It is usual problem with tourist that they booked this boat but was pushed on another one.

Firstly, it depends on what travel agent you choose. There are many fake Sinh Cafe offices in The Old Quarter offering Halong Bay tours with different price. You will be confused if jump from agent to agent to check price for nothing. What you should do is find out a believable agent to book, make sure and guaranteed service but the price is expensive a bit. You know most of agent had to pay a big amount of money for their office ($ 1000 - 1500/ month) so they are willing to sell you low price tours and push you to cheap service company to have more benefit.

Secondly, You will get right service standard what you pay for but just different boat. There are dozen of tour company in the Old Quarter, they run 1 to 3 Halong bay cruise. Sometime they have over booking in order to hire more boat for guest - the same boat standard.

Overprice Tour, Drink...

Halong bay Tours are complained that so expensive, drink is overprice, food is not much (sometime not enough for all)

The first, tour price is expensive or not depends on the agent where you booked (the same boat, service but sold with different prices in different agents because the real price is lower than public price 1-2 times)

The second, drink is over price and food is not enough... Tour company just collect standard price so every things was set up, no more. Actually, they get benefit from selling drink, the crews get bonus from revenue drink...

Travel Tips:

• Book the trip in tour company is much better than agent because you will not be charge much (Vietnamopentour.com.vn , Vietnamtour365.com - they are tour company for Halong bay tour in The Old Quarter. price for Halong overnight cruise is about $76 - 108 for 2days, $100 - 140 for 3days)
• Reference the price (for some kind of boats you expect) from tourist web and go directly to ask. Tell them about the boat you are looking for. They could offer you another one from a company which they work with.