Tuan Chau Island hotels & places to stay

A great experience, more than I expected, alisa staff are very enthusiastic and professional, they take care of their customers are very thoughtful, food on cruise so excellent, delicious, diverse, rich. My room has a large balcony with nice view of the sea. In the room there is a Jacuzzi bathtub, it is very comfortable when you soak in the cool water in summer heat, the rooms are tastefully designed, harmonious and cozy. . the room very clean, all facilities are brand new. They arrange an exciting journey, enough to make you feel the beauty of Halong, I really like the time to take kayaking around small moutain rock, I think this is the best time with me to visit Halong bay, thanks to professional and knowledgeable of tour guide, he is a good man and helpful. Alisa has a luxury car service, it’s Limousine dcar line, good one and best ever. I think alisa is the best 5 star cruise on Halong Bay. I highly recommend for every people…thanks Alisa so much…

Despite all the horrifying tales happening to the boats (Don't cheap out on this one. It's safety we're talking abt), we enjoy our trip a lot. As Aphrodite is on regular maintenance, we were upgraded to Hera and had a spacious room (50 sq m) with a huge balcony. The food was exquisitely plated and tasted good in general. The room was spotless and the staff was friendly and helpful. Actually, it feels great to be on the cruise, but the excursions to the Sung Sot Cave, Titop island and Luon Cave are slightly less pleasant because of the huge crowds, sometimes with no manner whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, those sites are beautiful and very interesting. I just think the government should really control the number of boats that go in the vicinity every day, and the number of people landing on each island each hour to preserve the nature and make it a pleasant experience for everyone.

We did the 2 night Cruise on the Pelican - the staff were all lovely. The food was excellent, it was amazing the quality of the food they could produce on the boat. we paid extra and had one of the bigger rooms on the top deck which I think was worth the money - their was fruit and a complementary bottle of wine in our room. We were there is January so the weather wasn't great, we chose not to swim as it wasn't that warm, however we did go kayaking and stopped off at Ti Top island and walked the steps to the top to experience the view - which is really worth it by the way. They put both the one day guests and 2 day guests on the same boat - which is not explained at the start. on day 2 - the 2 day guests transfer to a smaller day boat and go out for the day on that - its more kayaking and a trip to a pearl farm and a trip round a fishing village. on day 2 you have lunch on board the day boat - to be honest this lunch was a bit disappointing after the lovely food on board the main boat - but it was ok. There is a gala dinner each night - it follows the same routine each night - however if you are a 2 night guest you are provided with a different meal - which is good. Its a big meal by the way!! You probably don't experience a lot more by staying for the extra night however if your trip isn't too tight for time, I would recommend it as it makes the whole experience more relaxing - the 4 hour mini bus trip is a LONG trip on a bumpy road with one 20min stop halfway. The roads are crazy and watching out the front window is not for the faint hearted, therefore I would recommend staying for the 2 nights to have a more relaxed trip. Halong bay was fantastic, it really is breathtaking and the junket trip is fun to experience. If you are going to Vietnam - make sure you squeeze in a trip to Halong Bay.

Everything was so nice. The cabin was too clean and the cruise facility was too good. All employees were kind. Especially, Duy was one of the best crew in the cruise He always provided service with a smiling face. And when he gave me the shrimp It was really impressed Because he had a great skill to peel shrimp. It's so great that I can't record it!! ^0^ I recommend Alisa Cruise if you are planning to use cruise in Halong Bay. If there's one thing I'd like to do, I'd like to do kayaking in a zone where I can play between islands and islands. (For example, In the area where I can pass through the caves underneath or through the island.) And... While a kayaking, the ship slowly sank, but the crew was lucky to be nearby. (If we sank down in the middle of the sea far away from the crew, it could have been very dangerous..;;;;;) Next time, I hope you perform the proper maintenance of the kayak. If I have a chance, I want to use Alisa Cruis with my family. Alisa Cruise was the best choice for a pleasant trip.

This cruise was one of the highlights of my trip. Don't hesitate to book this ship. I saw many others on the sea and glad I booked this one. It is a new ship, the staff are superb and the food great. They work hard to accomodate everyones needs. I stayed in Tuan Chau for two days before because I didn't want the long drive from Hanoi and then get on the ship. So glad I did. Took a tour to Cat Ba island with Si who I booked at the hotel in Tuan Chau. Next time I will stay three days. I took the 3day 2 night cruise. You can stay the second night at the bungalows and they are in a dreamlike setting! I was supposed to go kayaking but because of shoulder problems they accomodated me, I spent the day st the bungalows, had a great trip back to catch the boat and relax in the two person Hot Tub in my room!! Absolutely everyone is friendly and super helpful. They are attentive to everyone at all times. They work really hard and totally deserve the highest rating. I was asked frequently if everything was OK. I would like to name names but then I would leave someone out and they would feel bad. Book this boat! I hope to go back next year and take the same cruise but also book time on Cat Ba island. You will not be disappointed. Karaoke is the fun of the evening but don't feel intimidated. Trying to show others that it was ok I delivered the worst performance in Karaoke history. Don't go for the cheapest boat, believe me , there are a lot of ones that the difference is significant and you can see that from looking at the outside of the boat alone. David Mark Benveniste

The boat is smaller than many of the 5 star boats...hence it is able to go into smaller channels. Fewer people on board means there is less time wasted in gathering the group for activities. This could be why we were also the first boat to arrive at the activities like kayaking, bamboo boat rides... Activities were leisurely and not rushed. The crowd is a mixture of families and singles...of different nationalities ( Europeans and Asians). Food was adequate and delicious ( not fine-dining by any means). Room was clean and comfortable with soft sheets and a king sized bed. There is air conditioning and a fan in the room. temperature was just right in the room. Bathroom is clean and spacious. A smaller boat also means a smaller and quieter generator. I like that our boat was parked at a quiet bay with fewer boats for the night and was perfectly placed for sunrise. The enthusiastic staff also prepared a count down NewYear's eve party for us... Complete with champagne , whiskey, cake, fruits, sparklers and music... All on the house. The captain also joined in the revelry. I would recommend Legacy to anyone who wants to visit both Halong/Baitulong and are there to enjoy the bays and not just the boat!. Booked with Agoda just a couple of days before the cruise and everything went seamlessly well. Halong is worth the trip despite all the bad vibes tourists give it.

Most enjoyable. Everything was thought of to make guests feel pampered and comfortable. It was fun and memorable. Activities to visit islands in the surrounds were well organised and varied. On-board activities like cooking demonstrations and tai-chi were appreciated. Only one slip-up. My booking for the massage was cancelled by mistake by the staff, resulting in me no longer be able to have a massage. This could be avoided in future by having proper booking and cancellation processes and staff training.

We did the 3 day 2 night ha long bay tour on the Royal Palace boat and it was fantastic. The boat is beautiful and clean, and the tour ran like clockwork. Our tour guide was warm, funny and knowledgeable as was Hoang the cruise leader. The staff were very good about my food allergies and prepared separate meals when I couldn't eat the main selection. Make sure you try the kayaking to get a closer look at the incredible landscape! And the karaoke with the other guests and staff was also a highlight. The second night was spent in a bungalow on the island which was super relaxing. The facilities on the island are not to the same high standard of the boat, although the bed was still comfortable and the shower was hot. It was worth doing to have some time to explore on your own.

Not sure what to expect cruising on a private charter for the first time, I now would recommend it to anyone and certainly Bhaya/Legend. We opted for the limousine transfer from Hanoi, which was a great start. Extremely comfortable, not rushed and punctual. The transfer through the cruise centre is slick and very professional. But, nothing could prepare us for the cruise itself. A brief trip to our cabin to reacquaint ourselves with the luggage we hadn't seen since the hotel and then a briefing from our Butler Mr Tien. He was genuinely interested in our likes and dislikes, from crowds to cuisines. He said from the outset that the better he knew about us, then the better he would make the experience. And how true I was. Our 5 course lunch was delicious, as were all the meals thereafter. The captain, by communicating with other vessels, guided the boat to every location minimising clashes with larger boats who were disgorging countless passengers. Fab Trip!

Went for 2 day 1 night on 18 Jan to 19 Jan. Made wrong booking on Agoda (1 person instead of 2). The sale staff (Mr. Andy Luu) was excellent in helping me to sort it out. I informed him I have special request for food and that the shuttle bus service to picked me up at Tuan Chau Hotel on 20 Jan instead of leaving for Hanoi on 19 Jan. The food on board was very excellent, and the lead steward (?) went around to make sure everyone is comfortable and to answer questions. Tai Chi session was a bit of a letdown, as the instructor does not seem to be bothered and in a world of his own. Would suggest him to stand facing the side of the boat instead of the back so that people have space to move. The staff on cruise somehow know which guests ordered the different dinner options, and even remembered my diet requirement without asking. Impressive. On 19 Jan, the lead steward insisted that I need to head back to the cruise centre for the trip back to Hanoi. I contacted Andy again who resolved the issue with the operation staff. He also help me to check with the lost and found department as I found out I lost my allergy medication after the cruise. Very excellent follow up from him.

Most memorable and without a doubt the highlight of my trip to Vietnam. From the moment we arrived at the Paradise Cruises Cafe on Tuan Chau Island for check in we were treated like royalty until the moment we left. The range of onboard activities were more than adequate and on shore excursions interesting and fun. Staff, most of whom multi tasked onboard were courteous, friendly & went out of their way to assist in any matter. Having an outside balcony was a bonus for views & privacy & dining options wine list & food top class.

This was a magical experience, the staff on the main boat are very good. This time of year is very hot . Would be even more special when it cools down a bit. The food really is 5 star, a lot of attention to detail, and good quality of drinks, good prices compared with hotel of this quality. We stayed in VIP suite, massage shower plus little private deck. Excellent experience . 2 things can improve on , some fans on top deck to cool people down , and improve Internet , The best form of free advertising is Facebook and the likes, charge everyone an extra 5er and get good WIFI. Still great cruise, very good staff.

This was the best experience i had in Hanoi & Halong bay. The stuff response to my request very fast, and give immediate assistant whenever i need, even before i reach Hanoi & Halong bay, they also willing to give all necessary & information for me. The V'spirit tour guide pick me from the hotel in Hanoi, and along the journey, they give all required information to us. The tour guide is very friendly and helpful for all request. On the cruise, i was very surprise and satisfied with the room condition. Room was very comfortable and clean. You don't face any issue with air conditional and water heater even on the cruise. The food is another impressive thing for me, i would give 5 star for the food, it was delicious and finger licking good. Most of all, Halong bay itself is the main character. It was so beautiful and fascinating that i will definitely coming here again. If you looking for a middle range pricing cruise in Halong Bay, i will definitely recommend V'Spirit as you top choice.

The food served out of the kitchen was delightful and tasty. The room was very clean had a good shower. After diner it was great to go on the top deck to drink and mingle with the other cruise people.The trip to the island ne by which included a walk to a lookout and swim was very enjoyable.The staff on the boat are friendly and can't do enough to help out.Highly recommend Glamor star cruise.

ImperiL CRUISE ,wOW, wOW... gREAT EXperience in halong bay with imperial cruise and bungalow.After searching a lot of boats in halong bay , I finally chose the imperial cruise because this one offered one night on boat and one night in bungalow on an isolated island .The first day we stayed on the boat and we were very pleased with the services on the boat .The staff including the captain were so friendly and caring.They always kept smiling and made us feel at home .The food is delicious ,the room is clean with aircondition and shower . Activities are interesting and well organised like visiting cave ,cruising,kayaking,swimming, squid fishing. The second day we took a transfer boat to Lan ha Bay , it is even more beautiful than Ha long Bay with the condensity of islands and islets.The transfer boat sailed zig zac through hundreds of islands before we reached the bungalow. Wow wow , we were so excited when we saw a beautiful island with white sandy beach .That is absolutely one of the best locations i have ever seen. We had stunning view from our room .This is an isolated island ,4 hours by boat from ha long city so it is very peaceful and quite. That is exactly i was looking for , staying with nature ,one night getting out of modern and bustling cities . There is no wifi here because of no coverage but it doesnt matter .On this remote island ,we couldnt ask for that ,internet connection is imposible. There are many choices of activities available such as kayaking,swimming,football, playing pool,..or relaxing on the beach. That was unforgetable moment on the bungalow.We wish we could have had few more days there to relax. We definitely recommend to all who are looking for a peaceful place to stay with the nature .Bungalow is the best choice

My wife and I wanted a peaceful place and this was really good as it was low season, with few people. We stayed for 4 nights. The beaches were virtually empty - nice! Spacious room with panoramic view. Balcony was too narrow for a chair but that was ok. It is about 400 - 500m walk to the main marina terminal, and farther to the nice Sandy Bay restaurants so if you don't like walking use a taxi or rent a bicycle or motor scooter. There some cafes closer in the marina area. There are several areas of Tuan Chau Island that are unfinished, being developed, but this did not bother us. A GRAB taxi costs about $7.50 USD to the nearby mainland city - we went to Sunworld amusement park and had s great time. Breakfast was good except the coffee pot was too small and became empty quickly. I was hoping for a view of only the bay but actually a marina + bay view was more interesting. Large bathroom with an excellent shower. We enjoyed our stay at Moon Bay.

Ha Long Bay Cruise is a must do. Margaret Cruises have a nice boat, clean, spacious and comfortable. The meals included with the cruise were excellent. The excursions were well organized and a great way to see things. Staff did their best to accommodate to the best of their abilities. The biggest criticism I would have is in regard to beverages. Coffee, tea, juices and water are not included with most meals. As a 5 star cruise one would expect not to be nickel and dimed for such things. All in all a great experience though.

Not too close to harbor to hear boats, not too far to walk. Was nicely designed and pool os best part of hotel. Rooms are dated with little signs of maintenamce. Wss a 4 star. Rapidly approaching a 3. It is no wonder why so many visitors to Halong Bay choose to stay in Hanoi and make the 12 hour round trip/cruise. Not many good choices in Halong and 3 x the price!

We booked at 2D 1 N trip at Rosa C. An 3.5hr journey from old quarter. Lunch is well served. (Please inform the tour guide if u dont take seafood) That was the time we get to know the rest of the tourist...from all over the world. 1st stop is the 1hr kayaking, u are able to see the cliffs...next is the pearl farm... nothing much to see there...no demonstration of how they pick the pearl. Inside the farm they sells not so good quality pearls though the price is low. after is free n easy and swimming in cold water is big challenge. In the evening, they served great local delights with generous portion to make sure it last you throughout the night. Night time there's a squid fishing event..not easy to catch em. haha. Next day they bought us to the cave...the was amazing and enormous cave...much bigger than we saw at malaysia and aust. We have our lunch before departing from the ship. Overall its a wonderful trip, well organized,

the place is very clean, nice location, nice shower and had AC. However, they need to re enforce guests on not smoking in the room bc I had two rooms one room was good but one rm was filled with smoke and dirty fridge but when i told the front desk they did nothing. My other friend had to sleep in filty room with strong odor from cigarettes The next day my husband got very sick and I needed to extend our rm for 4hrs, They asked me to pay haft price which i didnt mind but their haft price is double of what i paid from Agoda. Yet not only that problem but they wanted me to pay both room since my niece had her luggage in our room. This was unecessary and they would not let me extend one room. It got very ridiculous and very frustated. They definetely need to improve on thier customer service. Not only they gave us this filty smoking room but also wanted us to pay the third person for her luggage to stay in my room

I booked Imperial in hopes of getting the free upgrade after reading the reviews. Yeah I did ! Felt like I've won a lottery (Imperial to Silversea) Thank you! Our guide Tony came to pick us up from the hotel, gave us a brief insight of the itinerary, and background information of Halong Bay~ We headed there in a 4 hr coach journey, with a pitstop at a souvenir shop (washroom/snacks/souvenirs). Arrived at the port, and checked into our cruise smoothly and was ushered to our rooms. All the facilities are clean, in working condition, aircon was the BEST! Wifi was available at certain area of the cruise. Went to an island, for beach activities and hiking to the top view. The view is phenomenal, will recommend travellers to press on , to catch a glimpse of halong bay with all the tiny islands and cruise. Beautiful sight, a little crowded though. Lunch/Dinner was a 5-course meal, a little insufficient for a glutton like myself. Day2, we opt for a stay in the bungalow. Breakfast was buffet, yeah! Visited the surprising cave, crowded but a wonderful guided experience. Pity that there's no kayaking available any longer due to the current law regulations. Was ushered to another boat to take us to the Catba island bungalow. Visited the Catba town (Cannon Fort). The facilities in the bungalow can be improved a little, overall was a pleasant stay. Food was great as well. Got transferred back to Silversea Cruise in Day 3, learned to make Vietnamese springrolls, simple learning experience :) had buffet for lunch! Food was awesome! About the drinks, Yes they are a little pricey, but given their outstanding service and sincerity and buffet-style meal, luxurious course meal, BEST aircon, friendliest tour guide. The drinks are considered very affordable in my opinion. Once again, thank you Tony and all the awesome crew members for making our trip so memorable.

The pickup was on time with a nice minibus. The 4 hour drive (with a welcome break half way) is as bad as I remember but at least they are trying to improve the road (don't hold your breathe). As soon as we arrived we were taken onboard for a fantastic lunch as we sailed out into the Bay. The weather was poor (it was mid March) cloudy, cool but dry but our guide was very friendly and spoke good English as she outlined our itinerary for the 2 day 1 night cruise. Our first stop was the Vung Vien Floating Fishing Village where we transferred to a local sanpan boat (rowed by a 66 year old man who was stronger than me). It's amazing to see people living on the water this way. We stopped at the pearl farm to see how they culture pearls, then went back to the ship and cruised to Titov Island where we climbed for a spectacular view of the islands. We then returned to the ship and had a cooking lesson in making spring rolls before some squid fishing from the back of the ship. We then had a wonderful seafood dinner. The food really was first class on the ship. After dinner we had a film night then retired. Next day we had tea and pasties for breakfast as we sailed to the Surprise Cave nearby. After that we returned to the ship and had brunch as we sailed back to Halong City. This is a standard itinerary that most cruises follow but it works well even given the poor weather. As to the ship itself - it was in very good condition with well appointed cabins (we had a deluxe seaview cabin on the 2nd deck) that were well decorated and maintained. The ensuite was lovely with a good shower with lots of hot water. Everything worked in the cabin including the aircon unit. The rest of the ship was clean and elegant too with the staff very attentive and friendly. I can wholly recommend this cruising experience with Syrena. This is a mid-price range cruise package and you can pay quite a lot more but I doubt you'll have a much better experience than we did.

A lovely cruise with helpful and friendly crew who provided great service. Appreciated that they kept us a distance from tour groups in the restaurant so that we had a quieter table. The buffet meals were quite nice, a variety and plentiful. Drinks were comparable prices with dining in city restaurants, but the happy-hour prices were great. This is not a party boat, which was great for us. Movie screened was Indochina (French with English sub-titles). At our request they screened a different movie - Kong Skull Island - on the second night. The day-boat that we were transferred to on day 2 also provided great helpful and friendly services. It was an enjoyable cruise with memories to cherish.

As we got upgraded to their Stellar boat I can't comment on the Legend however as a company Aclass staff are excellent, friendly and will try their best to make sure you have an enjoyable time. The food was good and plentiful and as my daughter and her friend were vegan they provided an excellent alternative. My biggest tip is don't go for 1 night go for 2, we did and it was the best decision you get much more from this amazing place.