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I did it and i loved it. It was a wee bit tiring as we left at 8 in them morning and returned at 8 at night

Posted from within Vietnam.

Hello everybody!!

I'm in Hanoi now and I would like to go to Halong Bay. I have already read all forums regarding this place but still have some questions:

a) has anybody went to halong bay recently? How was the experience? which company?

b) as far as I could see here, many agencies offers 2 days/1n itinerary for usd 30 or usd 50 but when I check on the websites of Sinh Tourist or Ocean Tour their cost are higher. I'm trying to check on Tropical-Sails but they don't have their prices on web (I'll will go to their office tomorrow).

c) I met one guy recently who had paid usd 60 for 2days / 1n but once on the boat he realiced that many others had paid less for the same services. After that he recommend to find the cheapest but reading the forum I'm not quite sure of doing that.

So, to sum up: Should I expect to pay more than usd 60 for a good service on Halong Bay or it is possible to get a cheaper price and a good service anyway?

Thanks a lot!
Best regards!

Hi everybody! Sorry for this late report but I didn't have too much internet access.

The tour to halong bay (2 days 1 night) with Sinh tourist was ok. Nothing exceptional but correct and we didn't have problems or bad sorprices.
They pick us up at 8am with a van for 20 people and 2 guides. Part of the group and 1 guide did the 2 days / 1 night trip and the others + the other guide 3days / 2 nights. At midday we arrived to the port and they splited the groups in 2. On the boat we meet others people but it was ok and the boat and meal both ok. After lunch they took us to a grave so we went off the boat and visited the grave. Then we went into another boat were we mixed with other people. We arrived to Cat Ba near 5pm and our guide (who was always with the group) took us to a van to get to the city and our hotels. Some stayed at a 3-stars hotel (and don't remember the name) and we stay at the 2-star hotel Sea&Sun. It was clean, not much english but ready to help you and the food (dinner and breakfast) were very good. At 8am of the second day our guide met us and with the van an the group we went to Cat Ba pier to take the boat to Ha long city. We arrived there at 11.15 and the guide took us to a restaurant but, fortunately, lunch was served at 11.50 so we didn't have lunch so earlier as we had previously supposed. Lunch was ok and then back to the city on the van,.

In general nothing except Halong bay was exceptional but services were ok and our guide (ANH) was very knowledge and has a good sense of humor. During the boat trip we had 2 boats but that was not a problem for us.

Anyway, and after this experience, if I had to choose a company to do the 2 days and 1 night sleeping on a boat I would choose one of the most exclusive providers like Tropical Sails or Ocean Tourist or something like that.

Thanks a lot and best regards,
Scormick.

thank you for sharing your experience
I will be in Vietnam in a few weeks and the information I've founded here will be very useful

Regards

Laura