Ha Long Bay Cruise in Vietnam - Is It Worth Your Money? (Our HONEST Experience)

We're going to show you the reality of coming to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. Is it worth your money or just another tourist trap? We're going to show you our honest experience and let you decide whether or not you should book a Ha Long Bay cruise during your trip to Vietnam. Ha Long Bay is located in the northern region of the country, about two and a half hours drive from the capital city of Hanoi. The most popular way to see Ha Long Bay is by booking an overnight cruise to sail through the Bay. We chose to go with a company named Genesis Regal for a two day, one night stay. We suggest going on to halongbaytours.com where you can pick whatever cruise you want. We were dropped off at the Regal Genesis office and boarded a boat that transported us to the cruise ship. Just the drive over here, we could see a little bit of Ha Long Bay. I'm so excited. It's going to be beautiful. The thing that I'm liking the best so far is obviously the price. It was $320 for the two of us to have this amazing experience. They pick you up, they give you food and they show you around all of Ha Long Bay. Right when we stepped onto the cruise, we were given welcome drinks and ushered to the main dining room. They had lunch waiting for us. Daniel and I are gluten free and dairy free. And so they're able to accommodate for that. So if you're someone that has some food restrictions, don't worry. They got you covered. After taking a look at the itinerary, every hour of your time is planned and well-organized. Depending on your style of travel, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. How the spring rolls. I usually don't eat this, but this is amazing. After lunch, we headed to our room. The room included a large comfy bed with a view of the bay from our balcony. The best part about the room is the balcony because you really get to experience Ha Long Bay from the comfort of your own room. I didn't know it at the time, but this lady I'm waving to, she's the equivalent of a floating 7-Eleven. Make sure you bargain with them. 30% off is a good price. Wow, this lady wants to sell us some stuff on the side of the boat. She's got sodas. She's got chips, Coca-Cola, whatever you want. She has. The hustle is real. Honestly, it's worth the hype. Look at what we're looking at. No matter what cruise you take here, you are going to have a wonderful experience. The only requisite I would suggest to you is make sure they have an AC in your room because the most important part right there. We were only able to enjoy our room for a few minutes before we were ushered to our first activity of the day. Our first excursion after lunch, we are going to Cat Ba National Park with a bamboo boat. I'm really excited. Let's see what's in store. Our first excursion was to the UNESCO recognized Cat Ba National Park. We were taken by bamboo boat through the park and were able to see the rich and unique landscape of the Ha Long Bay Islets up close. Locals bring you through the entrance at the Luan Cave, one of the smallest caves of Ha Long Bay. It was a beautiful archway. We could even hear bats. We're in the cave right now and you can actually hear the bats, if you listen, flying above us. After passing through the cave, you'll reach a small lake, which is surrounded by mountains and you can look up and admire the lush greenery around you. Gotta love the weather. Vietnam weather tends to be super hot and humid, so be prepared and wear light clothing. Also, if you do go on one of these bamboo boats, it is recommended, but not necessary to tip the local guide at the end. It was a beautiful experience though. We got to say, it did feel a bit touristy and overcrowded. Returning from the excursion, we were given some time to freshen up and then head to the rooftop deck for a happy hour and to watch the sunset. Plus we got to meet the other guests and mingle a little. This was the first time we actually got to experience the boat since every second of our day had been scheduled on the cruise. We have to say, the cruise ship itself was very luxurious and tastefully decorated with hints of Vietnamese heritage spread throughout. We kind of felt like we were on a floating five-star hotel. Considering the price we paid for a night, the value of this cruise is honestly unmatched. As the sun was setting, we got a 360 view of Ha Long Bay from the rooftop deck. The colors in the sky were incredible. As the day turned into night, it was beautiful to see the other cruise ships around us light up. Not going to lie, it actually made for a very picturesque and magical evening. Overall, this experience is amazing. Ha Long Bay at sunset is worth staying a night. This has been the perfect day at Ha Long Bay. I mean, check out this sunset. We got so lucky with the weather. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've been in Vietnam and we've seen the sun. So we got super, super lucky. Cheers to that. After sunset, we were led back to the dining room where we were served a five course dinner. They even served us lobster. A few people were celebrating their honeymoon. So the crew made it extra special for them and brought out some sparklers and cake. We have some live music back here. She's going to be playing some awesome beats I bet. One of the coolest things about this experience is that there's only about 50 guests for the entire boat. We made like five friends because it's small enough where you can make friends, but large enough where you can kind of have your own space too. My homegirl over there is playing Despacito. She is amazing. There's some squid fishing at the back of the boat after dinner. So I don't know what that's about, but we're going to check it out. The last activity of the night was to go squid fishing. So we tried our luck. Spoiler alert. We didn't catch any squid. In theory, if we did, they promised to cook it for us. My buddy Vinny said that if we catch a squid, we get a free drink. When was the last time someone caught a squid? Uh, two days ago. Two days ago. Yeah. 10 squid. 10 squid. That's like a record of our journey. So not a big fan of waking up early, but this view is totally worth it. Wow. The best moment of the entire trip was waking up to the most beautiful sunrise on Halong Bay. The colors in the sky made it worth missing a few hours of sleep. The view from our balcony was absolutely breathtaking and worth the entirety of the trip. We are starting off by doing a Tai Chi cross here. The cruise's itinerary had us going to early morning Tai Chi. Funny enough, we were basically the only ones there. Hope you guys at home enjoy the footage of us attempting to look graceful while doing Tai Chi for the first time. I don't want to do that at home. I'm getting too graceful with that practice at my home. Not at 5.30 in the morning. We had a light breakfast and some coffee before heading out to our last excursion of the trip. This morning's activity is kayaking. 7.30 in the morning. You guys do everything so early. We were brought kayaking in an area in Halong Bay with very few tourists, which we appreciated. We were given about 45 minutes to kayak around the area. From all the experiences, this one was our favorite and we highly recommend kayaking in Halong Bay. It's a chance to be by yourself and truly enjoy the scenery around you without all the noise and crowds. As always, I'm doing all the work. And I'm just a front seat passenger always. Passenger princess. Not really crowded this morning. I guess 7.30 wake up isn't too bad. I guess you get to beat the crowds. Sadly, this is the last activity of our stay here. The only thing we regret is not booking it for two nights. Like the time went by so fast. Like just seeing this. It's definitely a two night experience. One night, yes, you will get the sense of what you, how beautiful Halong Bay is. But two nights is definitely, we wish we could go back and have done it too. But it's all right. I'm so sad. We got to leave. This experience has been an absolute dream. We highly, highly, highly recommend. If you do come to Vietnam, this is probably one of the top things to do is to enjoy the beauty of Halong Bay. As always, thank you so much for watching.