Garden Bay Cruise 3 days/ 2 nights

We stayed 2 nights 3 days on board the garden bay 2.. what a fantastic time we had. It was a fablous experience cruising through Halong Bay and the weather was great. We had the most friendly host Chung, he was a happy freindly guy , and informed us thoroughly of every day planned.. The crew were very friendly too. The food was beautiful on board very authentic... The cooking demo by Chung was great fun.. we learned how to make springrolls then they were cooked and served with our bbq. The day trip was fantastic exploring the floating fisherman's village, and on the 2nd day we went fishing on a smaller boat kayaking through limestone caves and had the most amazing lunch.. Nam was hosting the day boat cruise.. very friendly guy too. Overall it was an amazing experience with garden bay.. Rooms were very clean and bed comfy.. boat is a little old and could do with a bit of maintenance.. paint ect.. but the experience overall over shadows that. I would recommend upgrading to balcony view as it's the most amazing opening that door in the morning and sitting out on your deck chair while cursing through to the next stop.. The only thing I would suggest garden bay have is some entertainment after bbq/dinner.. music / games ect.. Thank your Chung & crew for making our trip so memorable.. also chung is a great photographer.. he was very happy to take photos and took some amazing ones too.

I am writing this review as i was a bit apprehensive leading up to my tour due to some of the comments regarding the condition of the boat and rooms. I was on the Garden Bay cruise for 3 days/2 nights. I was quite pleasantly surprised with how clean, comfortable and functional our room was, based on previous reviews. The staff were fantastic, especially Happy, our bartender and Tai Chi instructor, couldn't have been more helpful and accommodating. Only reason i didnt give 5 stars was that for the 3 day tour i thought the 2nd day was a bit lacking in activities. The first and last days are the same as the 2 day tour, but for that middle day you are sent to a 'day boat'. We thought we would be kayaking for 2-3hrs but it was only around 40 minutes. If you do the 3 day tour, make sure you bring your book, cards or some form of entertainment with you on the day boat.

This was my second cruise with Garden Bay and everything from the exceptional staff, to the food, to the accommodation, and the cruise program was perfect. My brother and his wife were visiting Vietnam for the first time from Australia so I had flown across from Bangkok to be their guide. Mr Lan, our cruise director immediately recognized me from my earlier trip with one of my sons and his family in January this year. Mr Lan and his mainly young crew go out of their way to ensure that every moment you spend on board is memorable. As it happened, it was my sister-in-law's birthday but we had not previously notified Mr Lan. Nonplussed, the kitchen came up with the most original birthday cake we have ever seen, a small cheesecake surrounded by a colourful and dramatic mountain of carved vegetables. (See attached photograph). PS: Mr Lan and his crew work very hard, but we noticed that we were the only group that put a gratuity into the envelopes that are placed on the table at the final lunch. If you have had a good time, don't be mean. Remember the average Vietnamese wage is only about $US 300 a month.

We did the 3 days/2 nights cruise with the boat Garden Bay 2. We had an overall really good time. We arrived on the first day around 12:30pm and had lunch and then went kayaking at a fishing village and visiting a pearl farm. Second day, in my opinion was a bit light. We went on another boat (while the main boat goes back to the harbour to take new passengers) to a further area of the bay, swimming and kayaking. Swimming was amazing and our guide for the day was really nice, lunch was delicious as well. After that we went on a fishing boat to learn about fishing techniques. We returned to the boat around 3pm. Day 3 is the visite of a cave, which is good but not exceptional, and then early lunch before to come back to the harbour. The cruise manager “Cuong” (not sure of the spelling sorry) was really nice, and the staff in general was really professional. We asked for vergetarian food and we’ve been treated really well, with excellent food different for both diners ! We recommend this cruise that goes to Bai Tu long Bay Area, which is way less crowded than Ha Long Bay.

We booked 3D2N. We were picked up from the hotel in time in the most luxurious van! We did pay a bit more than ‘normal’ to feel like royals and the start was there. Kevin was our guide and told us everything about Hanoi and was interactive during the bus trip. When we arrived (6 course!!!!) lunch was served and the staff treated us so well. They are so polite and helpful and really try and make an effort to remember your name. The dinner buffet was amazing too and there was more than enough food for everyone (they kept refilling everything). Same as breakfast, amazing! Kevin informed us about everything and was very helpful and active during our activities too. He was always there to answer any question we had. The second day Kevin left to take the other (2D1N) tourists to shore and we had another tour guide who didn’t even introduce himself, nor was he involved in any of the activities. Before Kevin left he gave us more information about food recommendations in Hanoi which we tried and really enjoyed. Some we would’ve never tried ourselves. All in all a really good trip and value for money and we felt like royals for 3 days. (Most luxurious thing we have ever done whilst travelling Asia). Totally recommend the extra night as the 2nd day we had part of the bay to ourselves.