“Happy goes Lucky” Alova Gold Cruises Halong

My first day experience gave me some reservation about the condition of the 2D1N Halong Bay Tour. So when our tour guide LUCKY turned up at our hotel to pick us up, we were looking to a so-so type of expectation.

 When all the fellow travellers were picked up and made our way to Halong Bay, we found the bus to be comfortable with cool air conditioning and everybody had a seat without squeezing.

Lucky did a excellent introduction and get all of us to introduce ourself to get to know each other. He has the right attributes to be in this tour guide career - outspoken, friendly, jovial, attentive, and look after us well.

I was very delighted when I stepped from the small boat onto the Alova Gold. The deck was neat and clean and in my mind, I thought it was value for money. We got our accommodation assigned shortly and were impressed with the room interior and facility. It was small, no doubt, but the essential things were there and functioning.

The only catch was that the room air-con would only be turned on in the evening. So the room is good for suana in the afternoon - it is hot! but it was'nt a concern for me as our intention was to stay in the common area to mingle.

The food was good and the portion & variety more than enough for us. After lunch, we had a rest/chat session among the travellers before we went for kayaking to see the monkeys and later to a panoramic view of Halong on top of a hill-island & a swim. The beach was ok but the sea water was a little murky with a slight mud smell.

In the evening, I found that our boat was moored together with another boat. Lucky told me that boat was also from the same company. A stand-alone boat would give better privacy and a feel of exclusivity to enjoy the night. We had to draw the curtain on during bed time. This is something that the management need to consider.

Generally, only the bartender was on deck serving the guests. The rest of the crews were below deck working. It was fine with us.

LuckY showed us all the places as in the itinerary and also returned us to all the hotels to close the tour. All tickets to attractions were included in the price.

Only drinks(including water) & beverages need to be paid.
Coffee/Tea for breakfast was complimentary.

For those who are looking for value for money, you can consider Alova Gold Cruise and ask for LuckY.

Bon Voyage

Visited May 2012 review on tripadvisor.com

More at: www.alovacruises.com

 

Brand new boat, immaculate with friendly staff -Alova Gold Cruises

Brand new boat, immaculate with friendly staff

Reviewed December 29, 2011

Laura R. From United Kingdom, From Agoda

The boat was brand new, very clean and the food was fantastic

We were really pleased with choosing Alova. The boat was brand new and had extremely friendly staff. The food was fantastic and we learnt to make spring rolls at a cooking class. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, but we still had a fantastic experience. We enjoyed an hour of kayaking, a walk up a hill overlooking Halong Bay and squid fishing, as well as visiting the Amazing Cave. The tour was well planned and organized.

Feature Tip: Alova is a personal, small boat with lovely features and great food and cocktails.

Very nice accommodation and excellent meals - alovacruises.com

“Very nice accommodation and excellent meals”

Reviewed March 31, 2012

LeighRosslandBC, Visited March 2012, Reviewer of Trip Advisor

Our Hanoi travel consultant at Madam Moon's in Hanoi booked us on a two day cruise of Ha Long Bay on the Alova Gold.

The Alova Gold is a newer, immaculately clean boat which accommodates up to 12 passengers, (which we found to be a nice number). Our room was not cramped and had a picture window. The bathroom was clean and modern and had a separate shower with lots of hot water.

The meals were really good with more food than we could comfortably finish.

The weather was cool and rainy, but in some ways that added to the mystique, as the dramatic landforms loomed out of the mist.

The first afternoon we went kayaking into caves which were very interesting. As cool as the air was, the water must be fairly warm, as some of our party finished up with a swim.

Then it was on to happy hour; we recommend the passion fruit Martinis.

The next morning we walked through an extensive and dramatic cave system before returning to Ha Long bay for a so-so lunch on shore.

This is really a 24 hour cruise and when the weather is nicer, it might be nice to do a two night cruise, but this trip suited us very well. The price was very reasonable in fact I would say cheap) considering the high level of accommodation and the quality of the meals. Highly recommended.

www.goasiatravel.com and www.alovacruises.com

Perfect Halong Alova Gold Cruises

“Perfect Halong”

Reviewed March 26, 2012

Sergey and Elena from Rusia -Senior Reviewer of Trip Advisor

We had an unbelievable experience in Ha Long bay with Goasia Travel. Our hotel was far from old quarter and we arrived to their office, from where we have started.

The shuttle bus is nice, pretty, clean and spacious, also the luggage is traveling with you, but has the best place in the front.

Road is a bit long time and some of its parts are damaged, that is why speed is not that fast.

First impression of the boat is nice, cabin is big and clean. Unexpected amount and quality of the amenities, and as everywhere in Vietnam - special slippers.

the f&b part is a little tricky, the quality and choice of food is good, but there are no drinks included, but the price is adequate, and during the Happy hour you can get 2 nice Long Island ice tea for about 6 us dollars.

The most amazing is entertainment - walking up the Titop Mountain, kayaking (under the rocks, and inside the cave), cooking class and hiking in Surprising cave, all is absolutely amazing. But it is not very easy for people who are not making exercises every morning (just like us)

The great words we would like to dedicate to our guide, Man) he is modest professional, who is trying his best to make his guests, friends and family happy, everywhere he was with us,always interested in conversation, always trying to help, always in jokingly and polite manner. One more thank for him for our stuff, which has been forgotten in the bus, and was given back personally by him after 10 minutes from our panic)

In general we will recommend it to everyone, who wants to take part in exploring one of the 7 nature wonders

More info at: www.alovacruises.com

 

alovacruises.com Relieved that it was a good choice

By reading the reviews of the various Halong Bay cruise operators you know that there are a lot of dodgy reviews and a fair amount of self promotion in the tripadvisor forums.

We ended up selecting the Alova Gold for a 2 day one night cruise. Once we got on board the boat we were very happy to know we had made a good choice.

We were picked up from our hotel by www.goasiatravel.com at the scheduled time and then spent the next hour doing the rounds of the other hotels around Hanoi. As you can guess 60 minutes later we drove past our hotel again on the way out of town. When going on these tours please everyone, just take an overnight bag and keep luggage to a minimum. We just packed day packs.

It is a good 4 hour drive to Halong Bay with the inevitable stop at the overpriced souvenir shop along the way. But the toilets were very clean here.

On arrival at Halong there was a little wait while the tender was brought in. Alova Gold doesn't birth at a jetty but we had to catch the tender out to the mooring. All part of the adventure.

On board, the ship is new. Launched in mid 2011. The rooms are tidy. The meals were certainly very good. Food quality was good. The all-male on board staff were polite.

The actual tours were as advertised. The kayaking was an exceptional experience.

In general, the tour operators are trying hard to make this work. We felt our tour guide was inexperienced and they could do better to have someone with a sense of humour and more engaged with us. He was probably the last person to know what was going on.

All of this being said for USD105 we had a wonderful Halong experience and would be very happy to recommend our friends.

All in alovacruises.com

Alova Gold Cruises came highly recommended

The Alova Gold cruises came highly recommended by Ms Anna of my Hotel in hanoi, where we'd stayed. Based on her recommendation, we decided to take a chance and go for the 3d/2n cruise and boy, it was the right decision! Any anxieties we had at the start (due to all the negative reviews of Halong bay cruises in general) were soon dispelled.

The entire journey (bus and boat) was handled professionally, and it was also good to know that the Dutch manager, Sidney, was onboard to supervise the cruise operations. That the boat was brand new also boosted our confidence in having chosen the right cruise. We were certainly well looked after by the friendly and polite boat staff, and Sidney ensured that everything worked smoothly. When I felt unwell, he even offered me a complimentary cup of ginger tea! As for the food, OMG, dish after dish just kept on coming. The meat dishes were tastier than their veggie dishes (average but they were fresh), but what stood out were the cocktails created specially for the cruise, inluding the passionfruit cocktail and beer cocktail (can't remember the names but you can't miss them on the menu as they're the speciality drinks)! Absolutely must-try. Did I also mention there's happy hour where you get 2 drinks for the price of 1??

As for our cabin, it was small but clean and cozy, with a comfy double bed and most importantly, a big window. Unfortunately our view was obscured by the Vietnamese flag just outside, but we ended up spending more time on the deck or the bar and restaurant, so it was fine. The only problem I really had was with the hot shower on our second day, which was barely lukewarm (not what you want during winter in Halong bay). But for the rest of the time, it worked well, so it's probably just an isolated incident. Certainly, the highlight of the cruise was not just the boat itself but also the stunning scenery surrounding us.

It's true that too many junks/boats were moored in the same area at night, and we found it incredibly crowded where we were, with junks and kayaks all over the place. That's also why we're glad we took the 3day cruise; on the second day, we boarded a smaller boat which sailed to the more remote areas of Halong bay, where we could finally soak in the amazing scenery and relax in the tranquil atmosphere. However, if I could choose the climate, I'd wish it was summer so we could enjoy swimming and kayakking too (it was simply too cold!).

Visited December 2011

Thanks to Alova Gold, we had a fantastic trip - Reviewed by Sayang11 on Tripadvisor.com

Halong bay Cruise tours

Review for Alova Gold Halong Cruise

Review for Alova Gold Halong Cruise

Welcome cocktail drink was very nice. Staffs were very friendly (they smiles all the time). The bed was so welcoming. We just got a small trouble with the cabin door in the room number 8. But in general, this is the best trip was excellent. Very relaxing trip to get away from the busy city. Room had awesome views. Will definitely recommend.

Sarah Laura
From: New Zealand / Dec. 2011
Emal: litsaheloise@hotmail.com

Review on Tripadvisor