Orchid Classic Cruise

Big big thank you to Orchid for this wonderful new cruise! I have been to Halong Bay many times before but had never heard about Lan Ha Bay until recently. I was told by a few different people that it was less touristy than Halong Bay, which had become noticeably worse every time I went. So this time, me and my family booked the 2 days 1 night with Orchid, going on their new route from Hai Phong Harbour.I was very impressed with the cruise manager, Thomas, as well as all of his crew that saw to our needs and treated us with respect in a friendly and personable way. The cabin was very comfortable and all of the meals were extraordinary.Though Lan Ha Bay looks exactly like Halong Bay, I have never tired of the views and will likely head back a few more times at least! I was so glad that I went with Orchid into Lan Ha Bay, they showed us the caves and helped us with kayaking and a cooking lesson.Huge thanks to the crew and a big congratulations to Orchid Cruise. It is nice to see a new cruise getting everything so right and having a truly incredible staff that seem very close and connected already! Thanks and well done!

We booked this tour through our hotel in Hanoi and was not let down at a single part of the whole experience. Mr Thomas ran a very tight ship. Everything was organised to perfection, which is certainly not our usual experience in Vietnam!We had a very big cabin with a gorgeous balcony where we ended up spending a lot of time. The rest of the room was air conditioned, had huge beds, a rain shower with free-standing tub abd cane with free fruit, tea coffee and water. The only thing they could have done with is some stuff for the bath, like salts and bombs, so bring your own if you want to chill out completely :) Dinner was a set menu with many courses, and I loved all of them! Breakfast and lunch were buffet options and the chef did a great job in giving us a bunch of different foods. One of the people we were with was a vegetarian, so they made her completely different food for dinner, rather than just taking the meat out – it was very impressive!As for the destination, we thought Lan Ha Bay was incredible, and a lot less busy than Halong Bay, which you can see just by looking across the dividing line. We went kayaking and swimming, both of which we liked, but the best thing we did was stay up at night and watch the stars; we figured we wouldn’t get much of a chance to do this again as we were staying in cities for most of our trip. We got up early to take in the sunrise, which is definitely worth it once you realise that this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.The only constructive piece of criticism is that the cocktails need quite a bit of improving. Other than that, we had a really really great time with Orchid and want to give a shout out to Mr. T and Mr. Thomas, along with all of the friendly crew, for a wonderful time in the bay, thanks guys!

Me and my husband took the Orchid Suite which was outstanding. The bay outside was a great peacefulness that really has to be experienced. We had kayaking as soon as we arrived and it was very fun, and not too long.We came back to have drinks on the sundeck, which was really magical at sunset! We got the dinner menu early in advance on day 2 so that we could mention if we didn’t like anything. The appetizer didn’t really appeal to us, so we told our waitress that we were opting to skip. Apparently skipping isn’t an option here! They replaced the appetizer with a duck dish that was out of this world, followed by the delicious set menu the rest of the time – I don’t think they ever let you go hungry at Orchid!We got up early for tai chi, which was definitely worth it. We headed out on the day boat, which was MUCH bigger than I expected. We toured around the village on bikes and it’s here that I had the aforementioned accident. We went through a fairly dark tunnel where I hit a bump and crashed into some rocks. I needed four stitches in my leg, which I got at the hospital of the village we were going to – very lucky! The doctor was great and Alice from Orchid was just lovely, she took the role of translator and comforter very well, and she continued to check on me afterwards; you could feel that her concern was genuine! We toured the village and had a beautiful lunch, after which some of the passengers went kayaking. Which I decided to skip so as not to get my newly stitched leg wet.The last day was another great breakfast and a short cave visit which you do on a bamboo boat. 

There was a lot of cruises to choose from before we booked with Orchid, but we had heard good things and wanted to experience it for ourselves. We had about 2 hours to drive to Halong Bay and had a comfortable bus to do it in. The waiting lounge is maybe a bit cramped, which means it gets very hot. The power went out while we were there, but by that time it was time to get on the cruise.Thomas, our tour leader, was really great. He was so attentive to our needs and nothing was too much of a problem for him. We mentioned that our shower curtain was broken and the crew quickly fixed it. It seems like the whole crew is friendly and helpful too! Me and my mom thought that it was a very luxurious trip and worth the price that we paid. Our cabin was very comfortable and we had a beautiful balcony outside. It was a lovely time sailing between the rocks in the bay; I just wish we’d booked the longer cruise rather than the short one. The food was fantastic and artistically prepared by the head chef. The transfer back to Hanoi was very simple and comfortable.Definitely recommend!

We’d heard lots of positive things about Orchid Cruise before heading out to Vietnam, so much so that I’d booked with them 9 months in advance! I did have a slight issue when booking as I didn’t feel comfortable paying the full amount into an account under an individual’s name, rather than a company name. This was sorted pretty quickly though and other than this, the rest of the time on the Orchid was fantastic. Everything was a real 5-star experience from start to finish. The bus that picked us up was very comfortable and had easily enough space for everyone coming on the cruise. We were greeted by the warm smiles of the crew and shown to our connecting room, with the connecting door hidden in the wardrobe, which was cool.We stayed for 3 days and did the cycling and kayaking. There is a lot of space for everyone because of the small amount of cabins on the cruise. The food was very good but I have to say that we had some slightly better on our Caribbean cruise before. The service of the whole crew was amazing and special thanks go to Alex for his friendly smiles, great conversation and wonderful hospitality throughout.