Orchid Trendy Cruise – 2 days 1 night

Azalea Cruise Halong Bay
Very pleased to say that the whole cruise experience exceeded our expectations.
The transfer was on time and in a very comfortable 6 seater luxury mini van. The trip from Hanoi to the boat took 3 hours and included a comfort stop at a large roadside centre with western toilets, takeaway food and a small mini mart. The stop was a little too long at 30mins but we believe this may have been to delay our waiting time at the port.

On arrival at the port we were told they had to use a temporary wharf, which had no facilities. Passengers sheltered from the sun under a dirty tin shed devoid of chairs.

We transferred from the wharf to the main boat via a tender and once on board we soon forgot about the wharf! We were checked into our rooms quickly and served a delicious lunch.

The photos on the internet of the rooms are true to life. Rooms have beautiful floor to ceiling windows and a lovely private balcony. Even the bath tub has a wonderful view.

Food is a real feature of the tour starting with a large buffet style breakfast and then set menu service for lunch and dinner. My wife is vegetarian and really enjoyed her food and was well catered for. The only complaint was the volume of food – way too much.
The views as you cruise the area are stunning and the day trips are really special.

Day two you are transferred to a day boat that is comfortable but had no shade upstairs. The trip involved a 5km cycle ride to a local village and through a very pretty national park. This was followed by a short stop to Kayak and swim in a very picturesque bay. The kayaking was fun paddling around through the rock features but the water quality is not the best and we were disappointed to see how much rubbish was left behind by the tourists.
Overall a really good trip and the sunset cocktail hour and cooking demonstration was fun.

Hi I booked the 2 day 1 night on the azalea cruise. The ship was amazing so clean and looked after. My cabin was huge … deluxe but i think i was upgraded to the back cabin as was bigger. Not much time to spend in the cabin tho as always something to do. Food was 5 star and the service also 5 star. The cruise left from hai phong which was a great choice i made, as the limosine van trip is only 2 hours from hanoi, not 4 hours to ha long bay.
The orchid and azalea and a couple of other companies use the different nicer waterways to all the others in ha long bay. Check it out its worth the extra $$.
Also like thank the staff, Jayce the assistant cruise manager works hard and does a nice job looking after the guests. The bar staff… Martini a nice guy, the resturant and others i cannot remember all the names.
Thanks i had a nice time maybe next time 2 nights

– good staff and excellent services.
– sceneric and beautiful landscape
– cabin is awesome
– food is nothing short of great

Fantastic cruise. The ship, facilities and room was truly a luxurious experience. From the minute we stepped on board, we were greeted by the welcoming crew members and the wide range of food. We had enough time to enjoy the sun deck before nightfall came too.

They have a well-planned itinerary which included Kayaking, squid-fishing and cooking class.

There was supposed to be a Tai-Chi class in the early morning before breakfast but unfortunately, it did not happen and there was no explanation why.

However, other than that, we thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and if Budget is not a big concern, we highly recommend cruising either 2D1N or 3D2N with this cruise to see Halong Bay.

When arriving at the dock, we had to wait about 20-30 minutes before boarding the boat to take us to the cruise ship. Fans were on at first, but after 10 minutes the electricity seemed to go off and we were left feeling very hot and sweaty. The one night we stayed on board there was a thunderstorm, we weren’t sure what to do and as we were looking outside the boat seemed to be moving a fair amount – we felt a little worried as not had experience with this before and water was leaking in through the front foor. The reception desk we were told would be contactable 24/7, but on ringing numerous times we didn’t receive an answer. Luckily we are here to tell the story, so all is well. Probably a bit expensive for what you get, but appears competitive with other similar rooms/cruise ships.

We stayed in the room with the balcony with sunloungers – a very large room with a large bathroom and bathtub with jets. This was our honeymoon and therefore we were met by towel swans and flowers on our bed. Very comfortable stay apart from during the storm for a couple of hours. Cooking class was good, but seemed to be aimed more at children. Squid fishing was fun, but only a limited number of rods therefore we had to wait quite a while before we could get a go. Kayaking, beach time, floating village and bamboo boat were all fun. Staff all very welcoming and helpful and we received some free cocktails, thanks!