3 Day Cruise Tour Throughout LanHa-HaLong Bay

Posted By : Dante311311
The pictures look much better than in real. The rooms are clean, but clearly have suffered for some years - maybe when the ship was not used during Covid?

Route: We went to lan ha bay, some guests thought the tour is ha long bay. The boat didn’t move a lot and we very quickly reached the anchor points, but I guess most boats are doing this.
The last day was supposed to include a cave, we couldn’t enter because of the water levels. They didn’t tell us and still put us on the bamboo boats to be occupied.

Service: excellent

Food: for a „luxury“ tour was unfortunately only average.

If we would do lan ha bay again, we would go to cat ba and do a day tour instead.
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Posted On : 2024-05-17 12:21:50

Posted By : 249madeleineh
The whole thing was amazing! The boat and room were immaculate and we had panoramic views across the bay. The food was incredible, the atmosphere was ace. All the staff were attentive, polite and helpful always. Leo was an excellent server, nothing was too much trouble. Peter was very good to chat to and told us a lot of interesting things about the area and local traditions. The day trips were great! Weather was warm but cloudy so visibility wasn’t perfect but still beautiful and obviously nothing that can be done about the weather!!
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Posted On : 2024-03-09 22:16:59

Posted By : MARSHAM803

On my Vietnam “5Hs” trip, heading north to south, I was eager after the manic throb of Hanoi, to relax and enjoy my Halong Bay cruise. After vigorous research on booking.com I chose Le Theatre Cruises. I chose this company because it cruised Lan Ha Bay as well as Halong and because the boat looked rather grand with a (dare I say) Titanic style, glamorous staircase giving into the dining-salon.

I decided to pay extra for transfers which was well worth the cost as these were three-hour journeys and it was stress-free to be picked up from my Hanoi hotel and dropped at the airport after the cruise for my flight to Hue.

I had absorbed those reviews regretting booking only one night so of course I booked two. The email communication from Le Theatre Cruises prior to departure was excellent, providing quick responses and comprehensive information.

It was so exciting arriving at Halong Bay, joining my fellow Le Theatre “cruisers” and being warmly welcomed by the accomplished Manager Tom who was a charismatic and engaging Showman – perfect for a company called “Le Theatre Cruises.”

Although a solo traveller and not celebrating anything other than the joy of my Vietnam Odyssey, my request for an upgrade was granted and I was given a third-floor room with better view and less engine noise.

I reckon all the rooms save the Panorama Suite must be pretty much the same offering a glamorous level of comfort and luxury with lots of space, huge windows and a lovely, big balcony. Well… it is all about the awe-inspiring views of surreal Halong Bay!

As expected, the boat was “faded glory” rather than a spic and span transatlantic liner, but that is why I chose it. The facilities were still excellent with lots of different decks, bars and openair views. (Nota bene! The swimming pool is only decorative.)

This is not really a relaxing, lolling around escape if you want to go on the boat trips from the Le Theatre mothership. They are of course not mandatory, but well worth doing. I could never quite distinguish whether we were in Halong Bay or Lan Ha Bay and I think our hugely enthusiastic, lovely guide Peter took us around Cat Ba Island. I’d not bothered to check the itinerary in detail, but just jumped on tour; the day tour on day two and the morning tour on day three and enjoyed every minute!

I met fabulous people on the cruise and they kindly absorbed me into their family group which greatly enhanced my travels.

You see lots of other cruise ships as you travel around the bays, but this adds to the panorama and excitement. It is not overcrowded and at night the twinkling lights of the other ships are magical.

The staff on Le Theatre Cruises were wonderful and their fun and kindness added to the adventure. The Vietnamese style of hospitality is impressive. The smiles and charm of Thai people, but with extra Va! Va! Vroom! and fantastic attention to detail.
My Le Theatre Cruise around other-wordly Halong Bay was one of the most fabulous and memorable parts of my Vietnam itinerary.

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Posted On : 2024-01-06 12:59:58

Posted By : Andrea_F
Amazing tour on beautiful cruise ship. Food and service all perfect. Only small critic is that it would have been nice to get some free time on the island tour.
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Posted On : 2023-12-24 00:38:59

Posted By : Roland_F
The area of Ha Long bay is an otherworldly beautiful place.
I was reminded of the movie Avatar.
We stayed two nights on the boat, which gave us also the chance to have a guided bike tour on Cat Bay island, which is also fantastic.
We had wonderful service by always friendly boat and tour stuff, which made us feel very comfortable all the way,
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Posted On : 2023-12-01 06:05:52

Posted By : cf999
Very disappointing.
On the plus side: Staff very nice, fantastic location, top deck great.
Junior suite..was just a room and with issues.
Provided feedback on departure that was recognised by the company, apologies and refund of part of the drinks bill.
Provided lots of photos and feedback to the agency who recommended La Theatre.
Had done the same trip on a 4 star boat before and that was far superior.
Would not recommend.
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Posted On : 2023-11-21 17:07:41

Posted By : Jacqueline1109
It took me a lot of work to rate this review, if I had to rate our experience with the staff I would give it 5 stars, everyone was very friendly and helpful, Tom is very friendly, he gave us all the necessary information and told us several very interesting things about the bay , loves to talk to people, he talked to all the guests on the ship during the deck party, Anna and Jack were our waiters and they were exceptional. Always with a smile and his service was impeccable.
We were celebrating our honeymoon, we started the tour on Monday so there weren't that many people, they gave us a room upgrade which we were very grateful for and they left us a nice honeymoon detail.
The food in the restaurant was very good, I am a vegetarian and the truth is that I did not struggle to eat, they tried very hard and put a lot of effort into always having options on the menu, I really appreciate that. One night Tom prepared a nice table for us on the deck and it was beautiful to dine outdoors with the sea wind.
The only thing I have to say about the food is that the breakfast leaves a lot to be desired, there is not much variety and the other and this is personal perception, is that the portions are gigantic, they gave us a set menu with like 6 different things and it was At one point we asked that they not bring us more food and my husband usually eats a lot. Everything was very delicious but in our opinion it was a lot of food, I think this is something general in Vietnam, the portions are very large but since it is a set menu with so many options we thought they would be smaller portions.
The place is really beautiful, I have never seen anything like it, a beauty, it is true that they take you in a small boat to the cruise and the next day's activities you go on another boat that is not the cruise but it is still worth it. My husband and I enjoyed it very much.
The negative part or what we didn't like so much, as many people already mentioned, is the garbage, the amount of garbage in the water is really sad, we understand that not everything is the fault of the cruise ships but there is a large part of responsibility, a That night my husband left the room and saw one of the staff guys throw a cigarette butt into the water. Regarding the plastic, what we were told was that a few days ago a fishing village had been flooded and the water had washed away the rubbish, we didn't believe it since it's been a problem for years. Let's be responsible tourists and take care of these beauties as much as we can.
The boat… it is a nice boat but we honestly expected more, the photos on the website are too retouched or were taken when the boat was new, there are many areas of opportunity, paint is missing on the walls, the carpets in the hallways are squares and were always moved giving a neglected appearance, in our room although it was nice the same thing happened with the floor, they were strips of wood but I don't know if any were missing because the others moved and the
The floor looked incomplete, the shower door didn't close, and we didn't use the tub with the beautiful view because even though it was clean, it looked dirty because of the scratches it had.
In the comment sheet they gave us I mentioned the paint and Tom told us that the boat was about to stop service for a few days for maintenance, we hope so, because with the service they have, if the boat is 100% aesthetically it would be incredible.
Thanks Tom, Anna and Jack
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Posted On : 2023-09-14 09:13:36

Posted By : 876libbym
Loved everything about this trip. Stayed 2 nights 3 days and would highly recommend. Jack & Tom were especially good 👍
Spectacular scenery, good and decor and bed were wonderful.
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Posted On : 2023-08-05 21:23:12

Posted By : E6427LPcharliec
Getting on the cruise was great. Quick transfer, nice staff, pretty boat, pretty room. But it ended there.

We were given 6 main courses straight away and felt really bad we couldn't finish them. Not an exaggeration...

That night I was awake with a serious infection; not just a funny tummy/food poisoning. Hot and cold sweats, fever, headache, shivering, and no less than 13 trips to the toilet over the next 24 hours. Staff didn't seem to care much but did offer me "some pills" which I politely declined.

I spent the entire second day in bed near the toilet and missed all the activities.

The WiFi didn't work for the entirety of the trip, on any of our devices, including the rooms smart TV. We managed to send maybe 3 or 4 WhatsApp messages over the whole 3 days, depsite WiFi being advertised.

The air con in the room was weak and it was quite uncomfortable for the duration of the trip. They did generously provide 12 toilet rolls; but you can't flush it and it has to go in a small foot pedal bin, which wasn't really a 5 star experience. I was so happy to finally get off the cruise.

Breakfast was lacking; if you didn't want fish or noodle soup, it was bread and butter or museli - nothing else.

Dinner was a set menu that didn't end, and we again felt stressed with how much food was coming out. We just started rejecting it in the end.

The restaurant is next to the kitchen which has a glass front so you can see all the food being prepared. Chefs wore flip flops, no hair nets, no gloves, and crossed utensils across different food types - probably the only way they could get such huge volumes of food out so fast. This cross contamination between oysters, squid, fish, boned fish, and all sorts, is undoubtedly what delivered the bacteria that stayed with me for the first night.

In the cooking glass one of the assistants gave us our rice paper with bare hands having come out of the kitchen, touching the door, which was another red flag.

Salads were warm and meat was not "piping hot" as always advised in the UK.

This is a whistle stop tour aimed at churning guests through as fast as possible and getting them out for the next cohort to come in, hence the packed schedule.

We had a "sunset party" at 5pm which, in contrast to the classical music and the high class surrounds, featured very loud Chinese rave music. This was also "happy hour" 2 for 1, but we weren't able to get the staff to actually do that and settled for 3 for 1 in the end. The language barrier was quite poor across the whole cruise.

I operate a business in the UK that regularly has council food hygiene inspections and has a 5 star government rating; this cruise would struggle to pass a 2. There is seemingly no awareness or training on bacteria and safe handling.

The top deck pool is only decorative and it's unlikely you'll go up there at all; you'll notice the itinerary includes almost 0 time to relax or explore the boat.

Kayaking was ok, there is a depressing amount of trash in halong bay and we would've been better off not going. The boat cave trip was awful, there wasn't even a cave; we went to a beach then came back.

Safety isn't a priority on the cruise. There was no briefing on the transfer boat and we were told we can go swimming without wearing the life jacket as long as we "held on" to it.

The shower was fairly mouldy at the bottom but otherwise the room was clean.

The multifunction toilet was interesting but I'd rather a normal one I can put paper in.

The transfer to and from the cruise by coach was very nice and enjoyable. We did meet others onboard which helped.

I would've left early if I could, but I was trapped with no WiFi or signal at all.

Being stranded with no WiFi was not fun. Especially having to buy water constantly throughout the day despite paying a month's rent per night for the stay.

Halong bay is beautiful, but knowing what I know now I would've got a two-hour trip on a little speedboat and come back.

It's busy though. There are so many cruise ships it's like a scene from the evacuation of Dunkirk.

I would've enjoyed that better probably.

This is a blunt and matter of fact review and, of course, I strongly advise readers not to book this cruise or another cruise on halong bay. If this is one of the high end cruises, god knows the conditions on the others.

The images and descriptions are quite misleading and don't really reflect reality on the boat at all. If you are exploring the boat, you are getting in the way of staff hoovering and you are probably the only person doing it.

If you do go, do not eat food from the kitchen. Take your own. Or at least just ask for french fries; don't risk it.
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Posted On : 2023-08-03 07:00:48

Posted By : DDavidson185
This was a beautiful experience. The staff on Le Theatre Cruise was beyond excellent. Our suite had 2 fun towel origami swans with rose petals on the bed when we arrived with a complimentary bottle of wine and local fruits waiting for us. The window views were more grand than we could have hoped for. The activities were a blast and our designated tour guide gave us the perfect recommendations for us to enjoy each day to the fullest. Dining was delicious at every meal with local dishes accompanied by some more international traditional dishes so there was something for every pallette. We were surprised with a separate couples dining experience and a complimentary bottle of wine on our first dinner. I could probably give a minute by minute recount, but tou should just go and experience it! The islands are so beautiful, the staff and local citizens are so pleasant and patient with our language barrier, the weather was quite warm, but overall everything was perfect!
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Posted On : 2023-07-01 03:14:09