Cozy Bay Cruises - Best Boutique Cruise in Halong Bay 2D/1N Tour

Our tour guide was Tim. We had a wonderful time. He was very informative and knowledgeable about Ha long bay and the places we went to. It was extremely early get up times which was saddening when you wanted to enjoy the evening on the boat. The boat was very old and dated. But the rooms were ok. The staff were extremely friendly, and made you feel like family. The prices of drinks and snacks were extortionate! Over all it was ok and not too bad. Not sure if I would recommend though.

Our guide (Bang) and the crew were friendly and helpful and we’d recommend this experience to anyone who wants to see Halong Bay. We picked the two-day, one-night cruise with pickup from our hotel in Old Town Hanoi. We were one of the first pickups so it took an hour to drive around Hanoi to fill the mid-sized bus and then about 3 hours (with two stops along the way) to get to the dock where our boat was moored. Once on board, we headed toward the two site-seeing excursions on the trip: Hang Sung Sot Cave and Titop Island. If it were possible to skip one or both, I would. The cave itself was impressive, but there were thousands of people in the cave at once with no crowd control. We essentially got in line at the beginning of the steps up to the cave and then kept walking, lock-sync with the people in front of us, all the way to the end. Titop Island boasts the highest manmade vantage point in the area. But it’s a strenuous 400+ steps straight up the mountain to get there. And again, the path was over-crowded. Back on the boat, we had a wonderful time with the crew and our fellow passengers. The meals were tasty and the serving sizes were very generous. Meals were definitely Vietnamese inspired, with lots of fish and vegetable dishes, noodles and rice. The cabins were small but cozy and well kept. Bang lead a spring roll making class on the sun deck that was easy and fun. The bar was well stocked and reasonably priced. The next morning we were taken to a secluded cove for kayaking (both one- and two-person kayaks were available). We had breakfast and brunch on board (our third and fourth meals) before the boat returned to the harbor and we bussed back to Hanoi.