Attraction/Accommodation - 2Days-1Night Halong Bay Luxury Genesis Regal Cruises Review
- Michael
- Dec 6, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: May 27, 2020
A memorable experience
4*
For the price we payed, I'd say this cruise is relatively good value for money. The most important aspect when deciding upon a cruise for us however, was to book with a company that we knew would be reliable and would not have as worrying leading up to, or during the cruise; I can confirm Regal satisfied this.
We booked through Premier Travel Vietnam who sorted all the payment and information transfer, and were picked up from our hotel right on time from the Old Quarter. The 'luxury limo' is as described, offering good wifi and comfortable seats.
The first drawback of the trip did occur on the journey to the port however - firstly, in their itinerary there is supposed to be a tour guide that provides information on Vietnam, Halong Bay etc. One Vietnamese man did randomly get on the bus about 30 minutes into the journey but proceeded to sit on his phone, only announcing the stop at the Pearl Farm, for the entire trip, and then got off about 100m down the road from where we did at the port without saying another word? The aforementioned Pearl Farm was also, in my opinion, a slight waste of time as it isn't really that interesting and it's not what you're paying to see. Finally, when we arrived, there seemed to be a lot of confusion about where to go and who was who, alas we did make it onto the ferry across to the main cruise ship eventually.
From said point onwards it was a great experience, the crew welcome you very warmly and there are drinks as you step on board. The lunch, as with the dinner, is a large set course menu with plenty to fill you up, and all well prepared and tasty. We were given our room keys and upon exploring our cabin we weren't disappointed; the bed was large, there was a TV (though I couldn't manage to work it), safe, fridge, and the bathroom even had a bath per the cruise pictures. The balcony offered nice views and respite. Two negative aspects room/service-wise were that the bed, despite being large, was a bit uncomfortable, and they didn't offer free water anywhere on board which either forces you to buy it, or become dehydrated... We managed to purchase some off a local seller who docks up beside the ship and offers products by hoisting them in a net to you in exchange for money; our water was about 30k VND which was still cheaper than the cruise prices.
As people have mentioned, the itinerary does leave little time to chill, but I appreciated this as I find doing nothing a waste of time and money. Hence we were quickly onto kayaking which was awe inspiring, seeing the limestone karsts, and to top it off, we saw the extremely rare Cat Ba Langur monkey (I have film if you don't believe me haha). When we returned there was welcome drinks again, and then time for swimming which we utilised, the water is somewhat dirty unfortunately, but not deadly.
A pre-dinner show was arranged on the top deck which was thoroughly entertaining, and dinner again was a feast of delicious dishes. After dinner I did some squid fishing, and despite no one landing one, I did manage to hook a squid but it escaped... I do wonder how many people have actually caught one however, as even the supervisor left half way through, probably expecting that no one would ever catch one!
In the morning I attended Tai Chi which was fantastic coupled with the view of the sunrise. The breakfast was self serve and plentiful, and we visited a floating house which was interesting but also sketchy for those wary travellers; there were a few animals on board the floating house, not least a big and loud dog, and the house itself wasn't in the greatest condition with loose planks etc. After this we checked out and had brunch. Again another issue was that they claimed we had a drinks charge of two beers from the mini fridge which we certainly didn't, and after 'checking' again they scrapped the charge (not really sure how they missed the beers in the first place seeing as there were only a few items in there all together...). The boat back and minivan were quick and efficient and capped off a rather brilliant experience at Ha Long Bay!
Heard my friend say, "A decoration is not a thing, it's a memory." It struck a chord. When she was going through a tough time, I decided to give her something small but meaningful. I didn't want to take a typical one, like in regular shopping malls. Looking through websites, I settled on https://jewellers-boutique.com/necklaces/diamond-necklaces - a cozy atmosphere, and you can see that they do it with soul. The gift turned out just as I intended: quiet, but warm.