Gliding Through Ha Long Bay’s Emerald Waters in Luxury

Legend has it that Ha long Bay, which name means “Descending Dragon”, is named after the myth that dragons once protected Vietnam by spitting out jade and emerald, which became the islands. The islands in Ha Long Bay, which are actually limestone karsts, are scattered about in a poetic beauty, with mist often surrounding the karsts - viewing it looks like a dream, especially if you’re viewing it from a luxury cruise. 

Just to be clear, this is not a paid blog post: I simply had an incredible time during our 2 day, 1 night stay on Heritage Cruises: Binh Chuan Cat Ba Archipelago. If you are interested in checking out their site, here it is: https://heritagecruises.com. Overall, it is definitely the nicest cruise accommodation I’ve ever been in, but take that with a grain of salt, I hate cruises because my body simply stays in a swaying/rocking mode for days after leaving a cruise. It is called Mal de Débarquement Syndrome. That said, I thought this one would be worth the risk; which is definitely was. 

We went in December of 2022. According to the locals, the cruises are slow this time around, because Chinese tourists love to flock on Ha Long Bay during the holidays; apparently we got “lucky” having the cruise on the quieter side, before China allowed for travels post-covid again. The reason I mention this is because we are currently in 2025 and I have no idea how the crowds are nowadays. Something I want to note about December in Vietnam: it is warm in the south (Saigon) but cool up north (Hanoi, including Ha Long Bay). I was definitely surprised by the stark difference in weather and came semi-unprepared for how chilly it was. Check the weather in all locations you are visiting when you come to Vietnam, because I made the mistake of only checking Saigon’s. But no worries - we had some warm weather clothes that we brought for our long layover through snowy Seoul. 

Heritage cruises arranged for pickup in our hotel via WhatsApp. It was about a 2.5 hour drive to Ha Long Bay. The van was very nice and comfortable, extremely spacious, especially considering that it was half empty. You could stay in Ha Long Bay instead of getting a pick up service in Hanoi, but after seeing the hotels and amount of things to do in the area, I’m glad we stayed in Hanoi as our primary spot apart from the cruise as everything seems pretty bland outside of the cruises. 

Once we were checked in and finally boarded the cruise, the fun finally starts. The boat is absolutely gorgeous. The flooring has shiny wooden floors and the furniture were tastefully chosen. There is even an art gallery with what I thought looked like high end art. We were escorted to our room, the “Ocean Suite”, which was on the second deck, supposedly had a “superior view”. Honestly after being on the boat and bathing in the tubs with the grand sized windows overlooking the limestone karts, I’m not sure there would be an inferior view even on the first floor. 

Oh yes, there is a tub. The tub is an instagrammers dream, because while it looks incredible in photos, it’s not really that practical in person. The windows are so huge everyone on the water approaching you can probably see you bathing in the tub, I know that because when a floating hawker boat (tàu bán hàng rong in Vietnamese) approached our side to sell us snacks on the cruise, we locked in eye contact and I immediately sank myself deeper into the tub in awkwardness. Thankfully they have a curtain to pull down, but that kind of defeats the purpose no? 

Back to the rest of the room; I know we jumped right into the epic tub. Overall, I thought the room was very nice. It definitely looked like the pictures. The bed was overlooking a grand window, the balcony was incredible to drink our morning coffee in, and everything was just so photogenic. I was blown away by the visuals from every corner of the room.

My only gripe is that so many things looked like they were worn or simply did not work. For example, our phone to call room service didn’t work. Did not present much of an issue since the boat itself is small and it was easy to flag someone down, but that wasn’t what I paid for. Secondly, the piece in the tub that fills water came off; again, not a big deal, it still technically worked if you don’t pull it out, but that is definitely something they should have fixed well before having another person stay in this room. Finally, they provide these traditional Vietnamese outfits we could opt to wear to the fancy dinner. I usually would love to wear outfits for funsies but these guys looked so faded and had ripped seams everywhere. If you cannot provide a nice outfit in a supposedly luxury experience, just don’t give out outfits. It cheapened the experience. 

As soon as we settled in, we checked out the top deck, where they were serving drinks and food. I bet the top deck is a lot more pleasant to hang out in on a beautiful, warm day, because it is definitely not the spot to be in that day. It was windy and cold, and though it was the perfect place to have a Birds Eye view of the bay, it wasn’t the spot I wanna sit and relax in. So photos, in and out. I then went to the dining area where a chef was teaching people how to cook Vietnamese pancakes. After you pour the pancake batter and add in all the toppings, you basically have to carefully fold it in a precise manner. She asked if anyone wants to try, so I volunteered just to blow her away with my cooking abilities. I loved how my confidence encouraged the rest of the group to do it too though - I have to admit that I tend to make cooking look easier than it is. 

We approached the Tra Bay Area because the weather wasn’t good enough for us to land on the beach. They offered for us to kayak around the cruise ship, but I didn’t think that was nearly as fun as watching people from above kayak around the cruise ship. So Mike and I decided to enjoy our room, walk around and admire the art, and even did a few games of chess until dinnertime. 

As I mentioned before, the outfits they provided us were worn and ripped, so we opted to wear our own black-tie dinner clothes. The dinner room was gorgeous and the food was fantastic, but unfortunately at this point I have triggered my seasickness and was unable to eat much. Mike loved it though. 

After dinner, we had booked a private couples massage. Of course, the massage room was also gorgeous, but the massage itself was meh-at-best. I believe it was due to the fact that they only had so many masseuses and we booked a night time massage, which means their hands are already pretty tired at this point. I would complain more about the quality we received if we had to pay the USD premiums, but fortunately, they either forgot to charge us for it, or realized it wasn't one to charge for. 

The next morning we had a breakfast buffet. I still remember that I thought the choices were fantastic, especially for a cruise ship. We immediately prepared for my most anticipated activity: the kayaking experience in Lan Ha Bay. Before we were able to hop onto our kayaks, we had to get on this small boat for 10-15 mins that takes us to the floating villages that rent out kayaks. It was a little annoying at first because this large Indian group kept vaping in this tiny, crammed, and enclosed boat, but I soon alleviated that situation by being a Karen and asking them kindly to stop blowing vape smoke into my face. They definitely said some stuff about me in their own language, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that was thankful they stopped doing that. I didn’t like the crammed boat, felt anti-luxe, but that is fine. 

When we got to the floating villages (it was more like a giant dock in the middle of the islands) there were hundreds of kayaks available to rent. I bet this place does get crowded! Because there a lot of unused kayaks. We chose to do a one hour rental that allowed us to cruise through the Dark & Bright Cave (Hang Sáng Tối). It didn’t look like a lot of people opted to do the self-kayak tour, because kayaking for a whole hour does take a solid amount of energy, but if you are into active holidays I would definitely recommend it for the freedom of pace and being able to go and do whatever you want while in the area. Alternatively, you could opt to hire someone to take you on their bamboo boat rides, most of the people from our cruise chose this option.  

The experience of kayaking through the emerald waters in the bay is out of this world. We kayaked through the limestone caves and passed through ceilings of stalactites and flowstone formations that look like frozen waterfalls. When we are not inside of the caves, birds are flying above us and monkeys are climbing the trees. We are surrounded by limestone karts covered in lush greenery. Added the fact that Mike did most of the work paddling on our 2-person kayak, it was definitely a romantic experience. 

After we returned, we showered, packed, and checked out, while the cruise ship heads back to port. I am glad that we only did a 2 day, 1 night trip, because honestly I didn’t think my body would like it very much if we stayed another night. But this was definitely worth it, as it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

So would I recommended splurging on a luxury cruise in Ha Long Bay if it is in the budget? Absolutely. We spent about USD $600 which I thought was extremely reasonable for the transport, accommodations, foods, and activities. The boat itself, despite my complaints, was gorgeous, and it was probably one of the best ones available. Coming from a high-cost place like Hawai’i, this is actually a steal. 

That said, cảm ơn Vịnh Hạ Long (thank you Ha Long Bay), you have been so good to us. We won't be back anytime soon, but we are glad to have experienced the beauty in person.