Ha Long Travel Forum

It seems that for every agent recommended to me I can find 4or 5 people who had a terrible experience with them. Like I posted before this is making me very nervous about the whole Halong Bay cruise thing.
I have read terrible reviews of Kangaroo, ODC and Tonkin, and even someone on LP Thorn tree whose ODC boat sank, and the crew did not help him and his wife!
Can anyone recommend a company that is trustworthy?I know there are fake ones but how can I tell which are which?
thank you .If I don't get reliable answers I will give up the quest pretty soon.

Don't give up on Halong it really is a wonderful place.

My first trip I spent the day on the Bay and then got dropped off at Cat Ba Island for the night. I really liked this, only a small island but with lots of restaurants (seafood) and some nice hotels. The next day we caught a ferry across another part of the Bay to Hai Phong then a bus back to HaNoi.
There are resorts on Cat Ba too so you can have any standard of stay. A walk in the National Park is nice, there are some nice beaches and a lovely waterfront.

My next trip I stayed on a junk and this was OK too but if you don't swim or snorkel or canoe you may not find it too exciting. I did enjoy seeing the caves but we had a guide who told us all those interesting things which make a cave worthwhile. I didn't go back to the caves the second time around though.

I organised the tour from my hotel and it was fine - I can probably search out the ticket for the company when I get home in a day or so. The other thing you can do is get to Halong Bay, check out the boats then tell the ticket office which boat you want to go on - as long as it isn't a private charter you should be able to do that.

You'll see that most locals recommend the real Sinh Cafe for their reputation. The catch is to deal with the Sinh Cafe at sinhcafevn.com. There are quite a few fraudulent ones by the same name. I used them on a recent open tour bus trip from Saigon to Ha Long Bay and back. Except for one speedy bus driver the trip was quite efficiently run. I yelled at the tour guide to tell the driver to slow down and the driver did for the rest of the trip. Sinh Cafe offers all new buses and good drivers. They arranged our tour to Ha Long Bay from Ha Noi and it was a decent trip. Not luxurious but we got a good trip for the money spent. Other tourists make were the best part of the trip.

The way you find the "real" agency is to cross check their address on at least 3 different sites - it's not hard. Remember that these reviews are not 100% accurate - there are many touts, complaints due to minor problems beyond the control of the agencies (many agencies are only brokers for the tours run by others) - one has to take the whole thing with a grain of salt. Two agencies that I know are excellent are Adventure Indochina and Handspan. I know Mr. Diep at Adventure Indochina - a really nice guy (if you go to his website you will see his contact info - you can call him talk/text with Skype).

My wife and I had the best time on a cruise in Halong Bay. I was on crutches with a broken leg and everyone was so concerned and helpful.

We were cautious about which operator to use and did a lot of searching on the net before we went.

We chose Kangaroo Cafe and reckon we got a fantastic deal on the 3 day cruise. The junk we went on was in top condition, the guide had great english and a sense of humour. The food onboard was first class, cabins very clean and the day on Cat Ba island topped of the trip. The hotel there was fantastic and the choice of restraunts and bars on Cat Ba was great.

Max from Kangaroo Cafe is a wild looking character, but we were well treated and he helped us find alternative accomodation when the place we booked online turned out to be a smoke filled gambling den.

I cannot recomend them more highly, especially when I saw the poor condition of the other tour boats. I would choose them again.

Hi Ruth,
I too have heard good things about Kangaroo Cafe Halong Bay tours. Although they too have "fake" opposition, the real Kangaroo Cafe is No. 18 Bao Khanh St.

Having said that, we were on a very tight budget, and couldn't afford to go with them. We settled for a tour organsied thru our hotel, and paid $35 each for an over-night on a lovely boat, tour of the caves etc. For the price, we could not fault it at all, and the food was great. My cousin who was travelling with us opted for the "deluxe" trip also booked thru our hotel and paid $60. His boat might have looked a little nicer (potted palm tree etc) but he basically got the same deal as us, in fact we were able to wave to him a few times!

I have heard others here mention Buffalo tours as well.

Good luck, and as others have said, don't miss going to Halong Bay, it is well worth it, no matter who you go with & how much you pay, the scenery is the same - magnificent!

Use reviews as a guide only - not the alpha and omega of all things. I doubt you will find any company with a 100% proof positive ranking. In reviews, you'll get opposition agencies bad-mouthing their competition and also some clients who are just impossible to please. I know - there was just such a woman on our Halong Bay trip. No matter how much staff tried to accommodate her ridiculous whims, she was permanently displeased and made the trip hell for her family. Betcha she did not leave a good rating!

We found both Sinh Cafe and Tonkin Travel trustworthy and eager to please. Perhaps not the smooth manicured professionalism you may find elsewhere in the world, but they did not job and did it well.

Hi Ruthie..we used Sinh Cafe in Hanoi who not only organised a Halong Bay cruise but also our flights to Da Nang, pick up on to Hoi Anh, hotel accommodation and flight to Ho Chi Minh city.
At the time I had read in Lonely Planet about dodgy Sinh Cafes so we were quite nervous especially when all up it cost around $500 but everything worked. I must admit we did take photos etc of the place just to keep them honest. (you'll see the full details on my page. I did the sums and I really don't know where they made their money. We also made sure we had all the vouchers for each service.

In terms of the Halong Bay experience it was OK..it was just before a typhoon so the weather was perfect for us (not so for the travellers after)..it was also before Yangshuo and Guilin (:)). The food was Ok nothing special but having company of people from all around the world made it interesting.
Make sure that you book a room with a bathroom and airconditioning. Worst part the long bus trip (in cramped conditions) and very expensive wine. (if you can,take your own!!) On reflection I also wish I had bought more than one black pearl from the lady on the boat who took me aside. (I paid US$5-probably gone up by now)

If you have any other questions don't hesitate!!

Have you tried Sunrise Travel at: www.vietnamsunrisetravel.com?
All of my friends have good experiences with this company.

thanks I will try them