Gentillesse du personnel très prévenant ( on a ete surclassé parce que c’etait notre lune de miel) , bonne organisation des activites et bonne nourriture

Lovely cabins, comfortable beds, beautifully presented food, good communication. Liked the happy hour arrangement.

The day boat needs some heat source. We spent most of the day on an excursion on the day boat and as the weather was very cold, it was quite uncomfortable on the day boat. Staff gave us some blankets but some space heaters would have been better.

The staff were charming, professional and worked well as a team. We booked our transport to the cruise with the cruise operator - this was good value for money and as the port is so busy I feel that this was a good decision. Our rooms were lovely with a small balcony. The food was beautifully presented adding to the sense of a luxury cruise. The chef catered well for our vegetarian and vegan requirements with more food than we could eat. The early morning Tai chi was very relaxing and worth the early start. On the second day the bamboo boat ride was great - we saw monkeys and setting out early before the other cruise ships made the experience so much more enjoyable.

On the first day Ha long bay was very crowded with boats and people, we chose this cruise as we were expecting the route to be less crowded so this was very disappointing. Bai Chay Beach was so crowded it was not physically possible to walk to the top of the hill and due to the number of people on the beach we asked to return to our boat and did not do any of the off boat activities due to the over crowding. This was not the fault of the staff on the cruise and they did their best to make sure everyone was happy. We did go for New Years Eve so this may be why it was so busy?

Clean and beautiful meals

I wished the ship traveled more around the bay

Such a nice place. Would really like to come back here one day - the cruise really delivered!! Amazing service-minded personal. Going to miss them!

The room was quite spacious and it was nice to have a balcony. There was ample food provided and the roof deck was nice. The activities were organised and ran on time daily. We had a really lovely tour manager Mr Morning who was super helpful during our stay!

The food was mostly western which was a little disappointing being in Vietnam. The noise from guests running and scraping chairs on the deck was very loud in our room and the club-style music was not really in keeping with the demographic on the cruise. All cruise ships seem to run on the same schedule so the Surprising Cave and beach on the first day was chaos. I would recommend staying for two nights as the second day was much calmer.

Smooth transition from hotel pickup to boarding the boat. Very well organised. Staff were friendly and attentive. Food was amazing in variety and quantity. Rooms were spotlessly clean and roomy. Excursions were well planned with knowledgeable tour guides. Plenty of activities, great day spa and happy hour. A big thankyou to Linh, An and Chin, you made our cruise the highlight of our Vietnam holiday.

That our cruise ended.

Linh was our tour guide and was great at explaining each spot we traveled to. I loved that they had multiple activities planned for us throughout the trip. One thing to note is that each location has a good amount of other tourists traveling there as well, but Athena/Linh did a good job of getting us there early enough to beat some of the traffic and take some gorgeous photos. My favorite part was the kayak trip. Bonus - I saw a tourist try to give Linh a direct tip and she told them to put it into the shared tip box instead (to share with the crew and staff). I appreciated that.

Not related to Athena - but Vietnam doesn't let you take plastic water bottles onto the boat, at least any that are visible. So don't buy 6 large water bottles like we did and carry them in a clear plastic bag while walking to the boat.