Ha Long Bay Cruise - Dora by HAG
A Panoramic View of Ha Long Bay with a Kite flying in the clouds. Image by Darren A Fielding
For the second year in a row, we travelled to Vietnam over the Chinese New Year holiday.
Working in China, we are always guaranteed vacation time during this period, and we prefer to use it to travel outside of China.
Traveling within China during the Spring Festival can be detrimental to one’s mental, emotional, and physical health. ( It is known to be the largest migration of humans over a specific period, with transport hubs filled beyond capacity.)
Hangzhou's Biggest Train Station on a regular Working Monday. Now imagine this by a factor of 1000.
We visited Phu Quoc, Da Nang, My Son & Hue prior to stopping over in Hanoi for an evening before embarking on our 2nd Ha Long Bay cruise. (You can view our travel shenanigans on our YouTube, where we’ve created video logs for all the places mentioned above & elsewhere. ) Our travel dates were from January 19th to February 8th, which is still the tail-end of winter in Vietnam.
We had hoped to be met with early spring warmth, but we had to keep delaying our cruise due to rain, and in the hopes of warmth. Eventually, though, we ran out of delay time & had to bite the bullet.
So we flew from Da Nang to Hanoi, and after a short but beautiful stay at Signature by M Village Tho Nuom, where we stopped over in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, we were on our way to Ha Long Bay.
We booked with The Dora by HAG, as we had been on her sister-cruise last year, the M’Gloria, and thoroughly enjoyed it. This year, the Dora was the best value for money option we could find.
We booked a 3-day 2-night stay on board in a Junior Double Suite with a sea view, which we find hilarious, as don’t all suites on the cruise have sea views?
It set us back VND 14,792,713, or US$ 570 for the all-inclusive cruise, which we thought was a reasonable value for money.
** The yellow Clickable links take you to an affiliate link for that stay or activity, whilst the red clickable links take you to our YouTube playlist or Video’s on that topic. The affiliate links do provide us with a small commission upon a completed stay, at no extra cost to you.**
A Boat Tuk Shop in the waters of Ha Long Bay. Image by Darren A Fielding
3-Day, 2-Night Ha Long Bay Cruise: The Dora Itinerary
This package includes three meals per full day, along with water, tea, and coffee. Other beverages, such as cocktails and alcohol, are an additional charge, though a "buy-2-get-1-free" happy hour is available nightly.
Day 1: Arrival & Evening Activities Arrive at Tuan Chau Marina, settle your cruise payment, and take a transfer boat to The Dora. After check-in and lunch with an introduction, you'll kayak in Ha Long Bay. Later, learn to make Vietnamese spring rolls in a cooking class, followed by happy hour and dinner. Evening options include karaoke, games, or squid fishing.
Day 2: Cat Ba Island Excursion Start your day with optional Tai Chi on deck and breakfast. Then, transfer to a day boat for an excursion to Viet Hai Village on Cat Ba Island. Explore the village and sample local wines before enjoying lunch on the day boat. Afterward, kayak at a nearby spot and relax at a secluded beach (weather permitting). The day boat will return you to The Dora for happy hour and the same evening activities as Day 1.
Day 3: Sea Caves & Departure Begin with optional Tai Chi and breakfast. Then, take the day boat to explore sea caves. After returning to The Dora, pack your belongings and head to lunch, where you'll settle any outstanding bills. Finally, disembark via transfer boat back to Tuan Chau Marina, where you can arrange your onward journey, potentially via a pre-booked limousine bus to Hanoi.
A Secluded Beach in the Middle of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Image by Darren A Fielding
The Boat.
The Dora is a modern medium-sized cruise ship. ( We assume, as we know nothing about the technicalities of ship sizes, etc.) The rooms are spacious & comfortable with an amazing bathroom. The boat offers ample public area in the dining & recreation hall, the deck outside on the second floor, the deck outside the captain’s cabin on the third floor & the deck & jacuzzi on the fourth floor.
It is very well-maintained, and the rooms are cleaned thoroughly. The air conditioner worked perfectly in our room, and we slept wonderfully on the bed.
Our Overall Thoughts & Suggestions.
This time around, we unfortunately didn’t have the best weather, but we still enjoyed the cruise and used the downtime to relax and spend time with each other. We had cocktails in the dining hall and played games & found the time enjoyable nonetheless.
We did prefer our overall experience the previous year in pristine early spring weather, but the itinerary was identical, So we would suggest trying to ensure you embark on the cruise during warm, dry weather. Early Spring is good (March - April ), Summer(June -August) is very hot & has typhoons sporadically making appearances, but it is the international low season, so you could find better prices.
The best time to enjoy the cruise, according to those in the know (boat staff), is October-November as the temperatures are pleasant and warm, and the weather is stable with very minimal rain.
We suggest organizing the limousine transfer bus to & from the marina, as in 2024, we took a taxi from our hotel in Hai Phong to the Marina & the Taxi dropped us off outside the Marina, saying he is not allowed in, and we had to haggle with nearby cabs to take us in to the marina & to our arrival gate.
If you have any other questions regarding the cruise, you may find it’s answered in our Vlog, or feel free to ask us.
