It’s Day 09 today, and I have a pretty big backlog of posts to write! Here’s a commentary about the cruise company we opted to go for at Halong Bay:
Our cruise was Mon Cherie Cruises and a 3D2N. We had a family connecting room, which was actually two separate rooms connected together with a locked door. Each room had its own ensuite bathroom with standing shower and bath tub, and also balcony with seating. Both rooms were pretty big, and the four of us would had been fine being in just one room if there had been sufficient bedding in it for all of us.
Our cruise host explained that Mon Cherie was one of the cruise brands owned by their parent company – Big Bay Group – and there are two boats under the brand; named Mon Cherie 1 and 2. The latter was the newer boat and what we were on, and it was launched in 2019. The rooms themselves were in a very good state with its interiors still looking very new. A few parts of the boat seemed like it needed maintenance though, and I’m not talking about the areas that are off-limits to guests. Of particular note was the common stairwell that guests used. The steps look like they needed a thorough clean and a new coat of varnishing!
The service provided by the crew themselves were nothing short of fantastic: they were always courteous and helpful, and our cruise host also knew our names by heart. And given that the boat isn’t very big, responses to our calls for service were near instant. For example, our room had a flickering light bulk. The missus gave reception a call, and within 5 seconds, someone was at our door to help! That said, there were issues with pre-cruise communication, so more on that later.
As these cruises go, it’s full-board… almost. Water was included for meals when you’re on the main boat, but – as noted in my earlier post on our blog – water on the day boat isn’t. So, if you’re on the 3D2N with an excursion to Cat Ba island, bring enough water if you do not like the idea of paying for what really should had been standard inclusions.
Lunches on the main boat were buffet styled and plentiful of food to go around. I read from another reviewer on Google that food isn’t replenished and you’re buggered if you’re late to lunch. That however wasn’t my observation: I saw items being replenished when they were low. Or maybe that feedback was taken on board by the company after it was posted. Still, I assume that you don’t want to push your luck: just be timely when it comes time for grub. Dinners were served according to a fixed menu, and items are largely western in cuisine type. The breakfast spread was a little more limited, but again of decent quality.
Meals on the main boat are in the dining room on level three, and there are splendid views possible from every table you’re on, thanks to the near full height and large windows on both sides of the dining room.
There was a constant stream of guests boarding and disembarking the boat. This wasn’t something I was aware of before setting sail: I’d initially thought that the boat would be bringing everyone onboard for the same sailing, and returning with the same group – sort of like the Spectrum of the Seas cruise we did last year in June. In reality, the boat basically has a couple of simultaneous tracks: guests onboard at any time could be on 3D2N and at different days of that cruise, or on 2D1N and likewise. I guess this arrangement makes practical sense: since it permits the boat to more or less bounce between just a few locations, and the tender boats will bring different groups to places depending on their specific itinerary. In other words, the cruise operates like a floating hotel with visitors coming and going.
As for the bits that didn’t work: the cost: we paid just over SGD2K for a 3D2N experience – a fair bit of money for a fairly short trip and you’re not really spending all your time on the luxury boat, the Cat Ba excursion is a little underwhelming, a few parts of the ship could do with maintenance, and there’s a bit of nickel and dime in the charges for water during the Cat Ba day trip .
Furthermore, there are also parts of the Halong Bay experience that wasn’t quite so good, but that isn’t in the control of the cruise company. These included that what you see of hte bay will be subject to the vagaries of weather, and you might run into that same sea of litter and leave you quite shocked. Also, there are a lot of boats operating in Halong Bay and at times it felt crowded. So, if you’re flying a drone and hope to be able to get videos where you’re the only boat in the vicinity, forget it. But I’m assuming that the ultra-premium and exclusive cruises in this area might offer that.
There is also one significant bit about the cruise company that they need to work on: their pre-cruise communication with company office staff (I assume) was awful, and a stark contrast to the actual onboard experience provided by the boat staff. Specifically, messages to them before cruising to confirm bookings and also arrange for transfers between hotel and cruise terminal took a lot of tries to elicit even a first response. And we tried multiple ways: including through the booking portal Agoda, WhatsApp, and email. If you need to contact the company, as I did to book transfers, be persistent and keep badgering for a response and confirmation. Try different contact points, and afford yourself plenty of time to make these query and confirm arrangements. Alternatively, get your hotel to do it, but this will obviously only work if you didn’t arrange your Halong Bay cruise to be the first thing you do upon arriving into Hanoi. The anxiety caused by the poor communication between company and myself before arriving into Hanoi makes me want to deduct a few stars from the otherwise almost five star experience of the cruise itself.
Lastly, a bit of logistic info about how the cruise works: the Big Bay Group cruise center terminal is a fair distance away from Hanoi: a good 149km/2 hr trip by limousine bus. Many of the cruise terminals are located at Dau Tuan Chau island and well east of Hanoi. The two way transfer costs us USD35 per person. Not exactly a small sum, but it’s a pretty far distance covered. You could of course try to arrange your own transportation to and fro if you find it a cheaper option. But for convenience’s sake, and that the cruise terminals are busy places, and Dau Tuan Chau island is fairly big, it simply made more sense for us to let the cruise company handle this part. Do note too that the limousine bus will have one stopover each during both transfers at designated rest stops. You’re not obligated to buy anything at these places, but the prices of beverages and refreshments themselves didn’t seem to have that high a mark-up. The rest stops are busy places with a large number of tour buses coming and going after their stops, so your coach driver might give you passes that identify the specific coach vehicle you’re on.
Also, if you’re also planning for a trip to Ninh Binh, do know that it’s possible to directly head to Ninh Binh from Halong. There was a Singaporean middle-aged couple who was on the cruise with us, and they did exactly that after reaching the cruise center upon return. We only realized that this was an option after running into them again when we were at Ninh Binh – quite a stunning coincidence – and they shared with us that they didn’t return to Hanoi after the cruise, as we did.
In all, the big question: do we recommend the Mon Cherie cruise company? Assuming that you’ve already taken onboard that a cruise into Halong Bay is for you and you’ve resigned yourself to paying this much, then this company is good, and give it a qualified recommendation with a few areas they could improve on.