Related Video: Romantic Halong Bay Cruise
When we planned our cruise in Ha Long Bay, I figured that the main event of the trip would be experiencing the scenery of one of the former 7 wonders of the world. While I was enchanted by the islands, I was almost more impressed with the service we received on the cruise ship!
This is not a sponsored post, but I couldn’t share the story of our Ha Long Bay trip without going into detail about the extravagant experience we had on Flamingo Cruises. When we booked the trip I honestly didn’t look much into the accommodations and just kind of went with it. My expectations were not that high since I figured it would be like any other tourist attraction: rushed, crowded, and overpriced. Boy was I wrong.
When we arrived at the port we met one of the tour guides who would be staying with us on the ship. He gathered up everyone who was coming on our boat and we all got onto a small boat to be transported to the ship. I figured there was probably at least 2 small boats for transporting people out since our boat didn’t have that many people on it, but it turns out that our group was only 15 people.
When we got out to the ship we all went to the dining room to have a seat and get our keys to our rooms. They were preparing to serve lunch which was going to be a full-on 5 course meal. I was NOT expecting this at all. I figured there would be a little buffet or something but oh no no, the crew went wayyyy above and beyond my expectations with the food.
Before I get too far ahead of myself, the room. We unlocked the door and honestly, I thought maybe they had made a mistake because our room had a huge beautiful window overlooking the bay from the bed and a private balcony. It turns out that this was just a normal room for this ship. All I could think in that moment as I was admiring the view from the bed was: I’m jealous of myself. The tour had hardly begun and I was already in heaven! (I didn’t take any pictures of the room but you can check out my vlog to see the room!)
Before lunch the guide gave us the itinerary for the rest of the day. He spoke English which made sense since there were people from Australia, South Korea, and France with us on the cruise. The guide was entertaining and witty which I appreciated.
Lunch. This was just amazing. The first course started with seafood soup. Now I personally hate seafood (which is a shame since I went to one of the best places for seafood) but the soup wasn’t really fishy at all. It was my favorite thing though so I didn’t even take a picture of it. But then came the mango salad with prawn. It was light, crunchy and refreshing. The third course was a fresh spring roll which was pretty good. The rice paper was really thin compared to the one we normally use to make spring rolls so it was a new texture that I really liked.
Next up was a fish dish that I couldn’t eat because the I didn’t like the flavor of the fish but I ate the veggies and rice. Lastly for the dessert course was some fresh watermelon, apple and a flan. After all 5 courses I was so shook because I knew that dinner was also going to be 5 courses and I was feeling a lil too spoiled. I even had a mock-tail to celebrate my recent promotion at work.
After lunch we took a break and enjoyed the scenes from the upper deck. They had plenty of different types of seating areas around the boat so we had no issue finding a place to relax that was somewhat private. The views of the bay were so stunning. We learned that the bay is home to nearly 2,000 islands, which is something I didn’t know before coming. Every time I thought about the bay I imagined it was a place close to the land with around 3 big rocks and a cave. I had no idea I was in for such a relaxing and unforgettable experience.
I’m the type of person that is often very busy in my daily life but when I’m on vacation I’m looking to relax. I don’t want to have to worry about what to do and where to eat and all that. I just want to be able to enjoy the time I have wherever I may be. That’s why booking a trip like this was so perfect. We had plenty of time to relax but we also had some pretty awesome scheduled activities.
About 2 hours into the cruise we reached the location for the first activity: kayaking. Huy and I shared one kayak and had the best time. He was being a little turd trying to row the boat backwards when I was going forward but in the end we worked out our issues and explored the little cove. Being on the ship is great but being in the kayak and getting up close to the huge island rocks was even more breathtaking. I felt so lucky to be in the bay.
After kayaking we took a short break and then went to the next activity which was a beach with a short mountain hike at Ti Top Island. Was I prepared for the beach? Oh yes, I had my brand new bikini ready for some fun in the sun. Was I ready for the hike? No. No I was not. When we arrived the guide told us that if we went to hike up to the top to get the beautiful view that it was only a 425 stairs climb to get the top. Me being the gym-goer I am thought that that almost sounded too easy. Huy was surprised to see that I wanted to do the hike but up we went.
We walked up about 40 (or maybe 20) strairs and the regret started to sink in. Only 400 more to go. Come on Audrey, you’re young and fit, you can do this. Look at all the oldies going up without breaking a sweat! Of course it didn’t help the situation that I was wearing wedge sandals, so basically high heels, and the stairs were uneven, steep and in some areas did not have a handrail. I’m afraid of heights so I was like oh no. Oh no no no. I looked down. I looked up. Both were bad ideas. When we got half-way up I considered turning back since the view was okay from there. But Huy was like bruh. And I was like ok fine. So we kept on climing.
At one point it was getting really steep. I saw some people ahead of me climbing on all 4s so I did the same thing. Huy was so embarrassed by me. He said I looked like a crazy person. I laughed and laughed. Who cares? I don’t know these people. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
I must say that the hike was worth it because the view from the top was the iconic view you see in all the pictures. Seeing it in person was a lot more impressive.
We took our photos and then were ready to go back down to spend some time at the beach. Going down wasn’t easy and I was going so slow. At one point I had to let people pass me by. I tried to even take off my shoes and climb down but that was worse so I put them back on. When we got to the bottom I was seeing people who were just starting the climb and were already tired. My legs were jelly when we finished the climb. But what an amazing workout. After that I was ready to enjoy a swim.
The beach was actually pretty crowded because people from all of the other tour boats were there too so it wasn’t just our small group. It wasn’t too bad though. The water was warm and relaxing and felt so good after that intense workout.
After the beach we had some free time to take a shower before another meal started. The boat bathroom wasn’t as modern as a hotel on land but we pretty incredible. They had soap and other toiletries for us to use and plenty of hot water. I highlight this because at our parent’s house in Vietnam the water is heated by solar so if you want to shower at night or in the morning you only get cold water.
The next activity was making spring rolls! Of course I’ve done this so many times but I was excited for it anyway. We made the fried version so the filling had chicken, eggs, and vegetables (traditionally pork and shrimp but I was pleased with a new variation). The guide taught everyone about the ingredients and mixed the filling. Then everyone got to take a turn rolling a spring roll. We chatted with the Australian group after making the rolls and they were super friendly. We were the youngest people on the boat so they Aussie people were in their 50s.
To start the dinner everyone got to try a spring roll. They came out really nice. Again, the rice paper was a bit thinner so it gave the roll a different texture, more crispy. This dinner blew my socks off. Not because the food was the best food I’ve ever tasted, but because the crew gave us the best service! The first course was a pumpkin soup with toast. I didn’t care for it that much but the presentation was on point. Next came the beef and banana leaf salad. This was a little bit similar to the one we had at lunch time but was still pretty good.
Suddenly the lights went out. I was like oh god we’re gonna die. Jk. There was music and I thought maybe we were going to get some kind of dance performance. What happened next? The crew came out with PINEAPPLES which were carved and had candles inside them and on the outside, they were adorned with beautiful grilled shrimps. I told you before that I don’t like seafood but I ate the shrimp and it was really nice. The flavor was sweet and tasty. Next came a kebab with curried shrimp and vegetables. The next course I didn’t care for too much, it was a stewed chicken with a side of rice and veggies. Lastly, we had more fruit and “crème Brule” for dessert which was just the same base of the lunch dessert only toasted on the top. I personally love crème brule but this one wasn’t that great. Still, the entire dinner experience was perfect thanks to the crew members. They even peeled the shrimps for us. #toospoiled
After dinner we had the option to relax or to go squid fishing but since I was still recovering from jet lag I could not stay awake. Instead I got ready for bed and enjoyed the view of the bay from my bed before falling asleep. Plus, we had to wake up early for tai chi practice at 6am.
What’s that Katy Perry song? Waking up in Vegas? Well Katy, waking up in Ha Long Bay is much much better. There was a little bit of mist in the morning and it was so calming to look out from my bed and see the islands greeting me.
We headed to the upper deck for the tai chi practice and that felt great. The air wasn’t too hot and it was overcast skies. We started tai chi with some light stretches to prepare the body. Easy. Then we moved into the 24-step routine and we were all completely lost. I took tai chi when I was studying in Beijing in 2013. I passed the class so I thought this would be fun. It was so much harder than I remembered. You have to move really slow and your arms and legs are moving in different directions at the same time. It only lasted about 20 minutes and thank goodness because I was praying for it to end as soon as it started. 😂
Breakfast was pastries, toast, cereal, fruit, and an omelet station. I was happy since I was kind of missing cereal for some reason. When we bought the cruise I thought it included only 3 meals but they ended up serving brunch later in the day. They fed us so well!
The activity for the morning was to go out to see the biggest cave in Ha Long Bay, in English called “Surprise Cave” (Hang Sửng Sốt). We had to climb some more stairs to get to the entrance of the cave but it wasn’t too bad, maybe 100 stairs or so.
The cave had 3 chambers and each chamber was bigger than the last. It was actually my first time to ever see a cave in real life so I thought it was pretty cool. But what made it really awesome was our tour guide. He made all kinds of awesome jokes while giving us information about the cave so the tour wasn’t boring at all. Let’s just say, the cave’s name, “surprise cave”, definitely was a good fit. Look at the size of that canon!
After the cave we went back to the ship and took showers again. We packed up our stuff and I was going to lay down but it was already time to check -out of the room the crew could prepare for the next group to come in. We hung out on the deck and chatted with our Aussie friend again. When we were about an hour away from the shore we had our last meal on the ship which was the brunch. Once again they fed us well. We had a seafood noodle soup followed by beef stew, bread, salad and fruit.
We reached the land around noon time and then killed some time in a local café for a few hours before getting our car to the airport in Hai Phong.
I was still so impressed with everything from the trip and was feeling so eager to recommend people to book this exact cruise. It took us a while to get home to Saigon with all of the flight delays (thunderstorms). I was so tired when we were almost home which was around 11pm. I was falling asleep in the taxi. Huy asked, “did you take your dress out of the closet?”. My eyes sprung open. My favorite brand new custom made dress was in the closet on the ship and I didn’t take it out. NO NO NO. How could this be the end to such a magical trip?!
We called our contact from the cruise and told him we forgot the dress. He said he would let the company know and take a look but I didn’t have much hope. It’s a nice dress. Why would someone actually return it? But to my surprise they confirmed that they had it and that they would mail it to us. We ended up getting it express shipped to us and it reached us just before flying out back to America. As if we weren’t already impressed with the crew and their service, the company went above and beyond to return our personal belongings.
So for 2 people to spend 1 night on a cruise in Ha Long Bay with 4 meals, drinks, and various activities we paid about $200. It was worth every penny.
If you’re interested in booking a trip like this, please check the website here for booking information.
Again, this is not a sponsored post, I was just really impressed with the service and everything and want others to know that if they are booking a trip with Flamingo Cruises that they’re gonna be in good hands.