Secret Halong Cruise - The responsible excursion in Halong bay

Posted By : Danjaie
First off - the staff on board were very nice and they prepared great vegetarian food for our group separate from normal menu that others were given. Scenery was great.

I normally wouldn’t book to stay in this kind of accomodation - this was included on a “premium” intrepid tour (which didn’t turn out to be so premium). I would have booked Athena which looked great sailing past it.

I can’t comment on value for money as I don’t know the cost.

Pros:
Surprise cave was awesome and kayaking short and sweet
Staff were very nice
Big effort made to cook food and it did taste great
Deck is comfortable with nice deck chairs
Dining room comfortable with tables and chairs and places to sit while enjoying the view.
Tender boat was clean with clean life jackets

Cons:
Rooms were not clean at all or comfortable. Curtains dusty with mould spots. Bathroom grout was completely covered in pink mould - they need to use bleach. Shower head barely worked. Bed was rock hard but worse - the pillows were yellow with old age and unusable as they would make us sick so had to just lie flat on the rock hard bed. Under bed was thick with dust. No floor mat given for bathroom. Shower soap and shampoo not good - dried and old liquid in pump container (and unlabelled so not sure what was what)

It hurts to post this because the staff are so nice but they need to make changes to this boat and potential guests should be made aware. Number 1 is clean bathrooms with anti mould and fix curtains and dusty floor 2. give a floor mat for bathroom and 3. buy new pillows urgently. (Note: if you fix these things I’ll remove this review - let me know)

Will be raising to Intrepid separately why their definitions of “premium” are so low.
Rating :
Posted On : 2022-12-26 11:59:49

Posted By : dayexday
I booked this on booking.com based on reviews but the website doesn’t have the itinerary on the site so I didn’t know it in advance. Long story short, they don’t take you to one of the main attractions of Halong Bay, Surprise (sung sot) cave. Instead they take to a tiny, lame cave. They do it because they want to be away from other tourists but there's a reason everyone goes to surprise cave and no one goes to the small lame cave we went to. I was really disappointed. Other reviews here probably think that all the caves in Halong Bay are as lame as the one we went to so they then brag that they were the only ones there.

This is a good cruise if you want to be away from other tourists and you're looking for a nice boat at a decent price. It’s not a good cruise if you’re looking to see the impressive cave and experience the better kayaking (the kayaking here provided the same view and experience you get form the boat). I’d much rather see the better sites like Surprise Cave even if there are more people. The staff is nice and tries, and the food is solid (nice but not amazing or anything) but overall I was very disappointed. I really regret choosing this cruise as I’l probably never be back in Halong Bay. What a sad waste.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-19 08:29:44

Posted By : katec2290
We had a great time with Chuyen as our host. The shuttle bus to collect us was well organised and it was a smooth journey. Chuyen was waiting when we arrived. The cabins on the boat are beautifully decorated and are a good size. The food is fab, with lots of delicious vegetarian options if you ask for a special dietary requirement. Drink options are also very good. Kayaking was fun. The tai chi in the morning was relaxed and enjoyable. We enjoyed the walk to look out over the top of the bay. The only negative was having to wait 45mins for the shuttle back to our hotel, but this wasn’t a major issue. Overall, a very enjoyable experience.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-19 05:24:14

Posted By : natashaaA9963BE
Chuyen was the best guide! So professional and provided a great service. Really loved our stay on this beautiful ship. Thank you so much!
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-09 20:45:31

Posted By : srwilson
We had a good time on this cruise. The bot holds about 20 people making it one of the smaller boats out there which is great. Did a couple excursions hiking and kayaking which were good. The food was a bit disappointing, they tried to be fancy and western and I think it would have worked better if they kept it Vietnamese and simple. The cruise director was a bit hard to understand at times. The room was pretty spacious for being on a boat.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-06 22:48:13

Posted By : mickewerdergutierrez
The perfekt experience, The boat went out even if there was just the two of us, we had the perfect experience and was treated very good. Our guide Mr Chuyen was the best, and the food was great
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-02-06 21:38:51

Posted By : Dude_76125
The wife and myself joined the Secret Halong Cruise crew for an overnight stay. Brilliant. We were well looked after, food was yummy...and who could beat Halong Bay as a backdrop.

Safety and a responsible excursion was also high on the crews' agenda.

Well done and thank you for a good time
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-01-26 14:11:45

Posted By : andrewmH4654LU
Me and my two friends had a great time with our friendly and diligent host, Chuyen. There is nothing else like this place, and Secret Ha Long Cruises was the perfect peoppento facilitate the experience.
Rating :
Posted On : 2020-01-23 21:51:46

Posted By : alecanathan
Our Secret Halong Cruise, with director Chuyen was fantastic. The room was comfortable with the largest bathroom in SE Asia, and the food, wine, and activities were great. Would highly reccomend
Rating :
Posted On : 2019-12-30 05:07:36

Posted By : Uli H
This was a good excursion for our family. It’s very busy on halong bay but the boat was clean and had a great crew. Only complaint would be the smoking by crew in areas that were supposed to be non smoking. Would be nice if crew spoke a little more English as they cater to English speaking tourists.
Rating :
Posted On : 2019-11-19 22:42:19