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
