Review of Halong Bay adventure with Rosa Boutique Cruise – 3 days/2 nights

We did a quick review of cruises a month before we left for the trip. There are A LOT of options to choose from, but it essentially comes down to one thing: Don’t be too cheap. You’re going to want to pay a little bit extra to ensure comfort and most importantly, safety. You also don’t want to get suckered into spending too much, because at the end of the day, all of the cruises go to the same destinations and share the space. After looking through mid-tier cruises, we landed with Rosa Cruise.

After checking out their website, we submitted an inquiry and heard back from them within a day. Here was the full itinerary they guaranteed for about $250/person. Note: The squid fishing is only available for certain parts of the year. It was out of season for us in January.

We did some comparisons and it looked like a fair price, so we went ahead and made the commitment. We pretty much forgot about it until it came time for us to leave from Hanoi.

Upgraded to Rosa Boutique Cruise

Two days before our departure, we were asked whether we’d like to be upgraded to their Rosa Boutique Cruise. It was the same itinerary but with a better boat and amenities. They offered it as we were on our honeymoon and had space for our dates. After frantic research on the difference between the two, and not really finding much other than people being disappointed with both services, we decided it couldn’t be any worse than the normal one and took them up on the ‘offer’. (Turns out, they upgraded half of the people that were on our boat. They most likely don’t book enough rooms on their Boutique service, so they promote regular guests as they see fit.) It was damn worth it though, and we’re so happy they upgraded us!

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Day 1

We were picked up right on time in front of our Airbnb in Hanoi at 7:45am. It was early, but that’s because we had to pick up around 5 other groups before we trekked off 3.5 hours towards Halong Bay. Tip: If you can afford it, pay the $25 extra per person for their luxury transport. Their regular shuttle busses are nothing special. The seats are cramped and not the most comfortable to say the least. Our friends meanwhile were lavished in luxury. Drowning in free beer and snacks along the way with wifi too. Sadly though, both stop at the tourist trap bathroom stop – where the food is overpriced and the art (while beautiful) is even higher.

Arriving towards the port city, it became clear that this was (or was becoming) a huge tourist trap. The closed down water park promoting dolphins was sad to see. Yet, block after block of hotel construction passed as our bus continued towards the boarding docks. We learned that in a few years, overnight cruises on Halong Bay will no longer be legal, which is one cause for the construction boom on the mainland. Day cruises will become the norm, and these people will need a place to sleep. While we understand that this move is a response to the amount of trash floating in the water, along with the pollution (noise & oil), increasing supply of day trips may increase the overall number of boats in the water per day and exacerbate the problem further.

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Getting to the dock, our tour guide from the bus told us to wait for the small boat where we’d board for the actual ship. Within minutes, it came and we were in the dining area of the Rosa Boutique Cruise, listening to the crew give us an introduction before passing out the room keys. Our honeymoon suite was near the dining area on the 2nd floor and beautiful. We had a clear view of the deck, our own fridge, towel swans with rose petals, a bottle of wine and a bathroom with shower. The room was clean and for a boat, pretty spacious and comfortable. Looking just outside our room preparing for our tour of the pearl farm and kayaking, the view of the majestic mountains passing by was a breathtaking experience.

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The pearl farm was definitely not a highlight of the full tour, particularly because we ended up coming here twice, but the demonstration of how they farm the pearls and remove them from the oysters was interesting to see. Although they’re oysters and it’s difficult to know how much they feel, you sort of feel bad for them.

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Kayaking on the other hand, just a short boat ride away from the pearl farm, was a blast! And we were really happy to do this on both days. The weather wasn’t the greatest during our time, cloudy and a bit foggy, but at least we didn’t have total rain. The environment, even with the floating trash about, was beautiful.

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After kayaking for about 40 minutes, we returned to the boat before dinner. Our boat mates went for a swim while we showered and relaxed. The food was mostly fried, but tasty. We recommend not booking being vegan, as their options were very limited. The group eating next to us found multiple hairs in their food too. 😳

Although karaoke was on the agenda, the crew never set it up for us. I think it was because most of the boat were families and a bit older. The younger guests stayed up on the top deck and played the guitar, drinking wine until the bar mysteriously closed up early at 9pm. Pretty tired though, we hit the hay and slept pretty soundly with the soft motor humming nearby.

Day 2

We woke up early to eat breakfast around 7:30am. Some of the boat got up as early as 6am for yoga on the top deck, which seemed enjoyable to them. Breakfast was mediocre – bread, jam, fruit, and bad ginger coffee. After we ate, we packed our day bags while the overnighters prepared to leave for the mainland. Those staying 2 nights boarded another boat with strangers for the day in the morning rain, where we shuttled to a few caves and then an island filled with Chinese tourists who found us interesting and wanted to take our picture (because the U.S. girl traveling with our group was really tall).

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Overall the day tour on the boat was fun, as we got to kayak and enjoy being around a new group of tourists. The crew was pretty funny too. One bad thing however is that we felt cheated at the end of the day. The drinks and smoothies which the captain and his mate were serving seemed to be free and part of the tour, but as we left they gave us a pretty expensive bill. Coercion is never a good feeling to have while traveling, especially when they leave you stranded on an island filled with tourists hiking up a mountain.

After waiting an hour on the island, our shuttle arrived at the pier to take us to the main ship where our new shipmates for the night were coming back from their day 1 activities of swimming and kayaking. We showered and had dinner – more fried food.

Fortunately on this second night, we had a younger group of college students on the boat, which livened the atmosphere a bit from the first. Karaoke was played, and we drank our bottle of wine and a few beers to inspire our own rockstar fantasies with these new strangers. It was a lot of fun, and tired us out for bed.

Day 3 – Back

We awoke for another early breakfast at 7am, where we were informed to pack our bags and get ready for a hike through Sung Sot cave and to a view on top the mountain.

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The cave was a bit crowded, and difficult to hear our guide entirely, but from the bits and pieces we gathered – the main theme was that people are shitty. Tourists have come to these caves, believing that the crystals contain healing energy. As a result, they’ve destroyed the integrity of the caves and ecosystem. There was a carving from a French man all the way from the early 1900s, forever there. Touching the crystal has caused the surface to blacken as well.

After our hike, we shuttled back to the main boat for lunch. We were given a cooking demonstration on how to make spring rolls, and then we got to enjoy them ourselves as we headed back to the mainland where we took the 3-hour bus back to Hanoi.

All in all, we’d give our tour experience with Rosa Boutique Cruise 3.5 stars out of 5. The area itself is a wonder and shouldn’t be skipped. If you’re looking for a safe and reasonably-priced service, we recommend Rosa Boutique. You may want to avoid it however if you prefer a more relaxed agenda and healthier food.

Off to Hanoi for an overnight, and then Tam Coc!

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Getting into Vietnam was a breeze with our visas already in hand. Before we left the US, we made sure to get our visa in advance, so we wouldn’t have to do it upon arrival and go through the hassle at the airport. Since we live close to the consulate in San Francisco, it only took a little waiting there to give them our passports and pay, and 3 days later they were ready for pick up. We opted to pay a bit more for the 3-month visa as we heard nothing but great things about Vietnam, and we didn’t want to be forced to leave sooner than we wanted. The Hanoi airport was modern and clean, and except for the line of people waiting for immigration, it was pretty easy getting into the country.

The Airbnb we booked had a free airport pick up service. As soon as we were out of immigration and picked up our bags, the driver was there waiting for us. It was night time and we noticed it was much colder than our days in lovely Luang Prabang. So cold in fact, the little blanket our Airbnb had just wasn’t cutting it, even with the space heater in the apartment. Fortunately the host gave us another blanket, but it’s a good thing to know that Vietnam is pretty cold in the north, especially in the winter time (December-February).

Hanoi Kids Tour

Our actual days in Hanoi would be few, as most of the time we booked a 3-day/2-night cruise on Ha Long Bay. We got really lucky though emailing a wonderful organization Veronica found, Hanoi Kids, a month before we arrived. They are a collection of local college students who give free private tours around Hanoi. They are so popular that even though we emailed over a month before our arrival, we were told they were booked for our dates, but happy to put us on their waiting list. Luckily, a day before we arrived to Hanoi, they said they had space!

We met our guides, Hannah and Quang at 2pm in front of our Airbnb. Immediately we felt at ease with them, as they introduced themselves and gave us a rough itinerary as a suggestion (if you’d like, you can change it and ask to go to other places). We opted to take taxi’s from place to place, as the idea of being on the back of a motorbike with all of Hanoi’s traffic seemed overwhelming. The Grab app for taxis worked wonderfully for getting around Hanoi, much better than within Bangkok. For a fairly affordable price, we paid for all 4 of us to taxi around to the places below. Here’s what we did with them!

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Arriving to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, it was apparent right away how much reverence the Vietnamese people have for him. Our guides educated us on the history of Ho Chi Minh as a leader and the reasons for him being so important to the country. Although he never got to live to see the unification of Vietnam after the war (called the American or French wars in Vietnam), he’s seen as the single leader with a vision for a unified Vietnam. His wish upon death was to have his ashes scattered in the North, Central, and South parts of Vietnam, as a sign of brining the country together, but instead his body is preserved in within the mausoleum. The reasons for this according to our guides was that many Vietnamese people never got to say their goodbyes to the leader before his death, so they preserve him to allow people to pay their respects. People come far and wide to see the leader, and it’s so popular that lines often wrap all around the mausoleum building. Unfortunately we never got to go inside, as it was closed the day we were there.

Interesting fact: The body is sent to Russia every so often to keep up the embalming process.

Presidential Palace

Right next to the mausoleum is the Presidential Palace, which also houses where Ho Chi Minh himself lived during the war. The palace is grandiose, and rather than have that be his residence, Ho Chi Minh opted for more humble habitation. As he aged and the war progressed, he eventually moved into a home that included an attached bunker where he could hide during times of bombing. You can see the many cars that he used as well, including one that was a gift from Russia – complete with bullet proofing.

Palace of Literature

Our next stop was the Palace of Literature, which is where the mandarins went to become doctors and of the educated class. Many of the students had to travel vast distances in order to attend, and they were at risk of getting robbed along the way. Education is regarded very highly in Vietnam, and you can see this in the stelae that line the sides of the palace. These stelae contain the names and grades of students who graduated, and was displayed publicly for all to see. You can tell the time period of the classes they represented based on the style of the turtles at the base of the individual stelae.

Pho 10

We ended the tour going to the best pho restaurant in Hanoi, and probably all of Vietnam. Veronica never had pho before in her life, so it was real treat (or curse) for this to be her first experience! Hands down, this was the best pho we had across all our travels around Vietnam.

While some people claim it’s not the cleanest and complain of the crowds, this is an authentic and tasty experience you can’t miss if you’re in Hanoi! Check out Pho 10, which is in the old quarter on 10 Lý Quốc Sư.

After the pho and exchanging contact information, we walked back to the Airbnb with our incredible guides where they left their motorbikes. At the end, we offered to give them a tip for the wonderful experience, but they out right denied the offer. They said that meeting new friends and showing people around Hanoi was a gift itself, and they refused to take any money. We walked away really impressed, amazed that something so experiential could be free. Our tour with Hanoi Kids was definitely a highlight of our whole time in Vietnam.

Other places to note in Hanoi

Old Quarter and Beer Street

We went here on our last night in the city with friends we met on the Ha Long Bay cruise. It’s crowded and you get slightly harassed by people working the restaurants and stands trying to pull you in for their cheap offerings, but it’s a good place to walk around and grab a beer with friends. We sat on one of the customary small plastic chairs while vendors would offer us various things. We’d decline, and of course they’d be a bit persistent – particularly the guy trying to clean our friend’s dirty white shoes with a sole that was coming off the front. The police came through the street and we noticed that all the restaurants were hustling to pick up the chairs and tables that were on the street. We learned it’s against the law for them to be outside the restaurant and blocking right-of-way, but as soon as the police passed by the restaurant workers put everything back where they were… sort of ridiculous 😛

Beware! Someone tried to sell me drugs on the street. I noticed right around the corner from him was a police car. I’m fairly certain that this was an undercover cop running a sting operation. Be careful and never accept offers for illegal drugs on the street – anywhere.

French Quarter

Our Airbnb was near the edge of the French Quarter, which has nice french architecture around the district. You’ll notice many of the buildings are yellow, which was a sign of French power and their show of authority. One thing I noticed was that many government buildings took over the old French colonial edifices.

Hoàn Kiếm Lake

This is a large lake in the middle of Hanoi that has a little island on it. It’s beautiful at night, but during the winter too cold for us to particularly enjoy during the day. If you’re looking to get out of the bustling streets of Hanoi and enjoy a little nature, this lake is nice to visit.

Hanoi train station

It’s really easy to book tickets at the train station, and many times we saw people buying them the day of travel. We recommend going there in person and avoiding the surcharges of purchasing online. If you want to pick your specific seat or make sure you get a 1st class cabin as they sell out quickly, check out 12go.asia. They are legitimate and we purchased tickets through them a few times.

Pizza 4Ps

Best pizza in ALL of Vietnam. They have locations all across Vietnam, and we were lucky enough to have one right around the corner from our Airbnb. We loved it so much, we ended up eating at their locations in Danang and Ho Chi Minh City too!

Cong Caphe

We didn’t go here in Hanoi, but it was highly recommended by Hanoi Kids. This is a chain which you can find in Ho Chi Minh City as well, which was where we got to experience it for the first time. We highly recommend the coconut coffee!

Cafe Dinh

This other place was also recommended by Hanoi Kids. We climbed up to the top of the building (through the back), but we didn’t try it. Cafe Dinh was filled with locals smoking and drinking their coffee. Would be cool to check out!