If you’ve been reading my blog posts – sporadic though they are lately – you’d already know how I love the mountains. Or how I love to be on land, in general. Oh sure, I also love spending time in various bodies of water, but at the end of the day, I always head back to land, where I can stand and feel the strong, solid earth beneath the soles of my feet. But last year I discovered that staying on the water for longer than 12 hours can also satisfy me… as long as I’m on a boat that, even for a day, can pass for a home. Vega Travel Vietnam made that happen.
It was She’ and Rog’s idea for us to devote some time of our Vietnam trip to Halong Bay (I blame you, Running Man. Thank you.) so it was mainly up to She to arrange everything. I remember doing a half-hearted attempt at researching possible cruise providers for an overnight stay at the Bay, then gave up altogether (I know I had a valid excuse at the time). But it was for the best, because She’ did a wonderful job sorting out and booking everything.
(This is a review of sorts of our experience with Vega Travel Vietnam. For all the stuff that went down during our stay in Halong Bay, check out the posts here, here and here.)
The Package
Vega Travel has a lot of services and packages for various places in Vietnam. For this one, we availed of their “Halong Bay 24 Hours Traditional Cruise” package.
It was a little past 8am when a shuttle bus of Vega Travel came by our hotel to pick us up, then drove us at their offices in another part of the Hanoi Old Quarter for us to sign some documents and sort out all the necessary paperwork. This was also when we met our companions and our guide Liem for the cruise.
The Cruise Boat
When you arrive at the dock, you’ll see boats and boats and… more boats… of all shapes and sizes. Go further out into the bay, and you’ll see more of them. You can immediately tell the luxury ones, mostly by their sheer size… and on what the people on deck are doing (mainly drinking, from what I’ve seen, haha!).
Our cruise boat was of modest size. Definitely not large, but not the smallest I’ve seen on the Bay, either.
When we climbed aboard, it was not as unsteady or “rocky” as I thought it’d be, considering its small size. Perhaps it’s mostly down to the calm state of the water.
First impressions. It was clean. The deck, the galley… they were clean and nicely decorated. Nothing lavish, but definitely not shabby, either. It was,… just right. For me, I immediately felt comfortable.
Let us go in, shall we? This here is the dining area, where we ate all our meals, and had a “Spring Rolls Crash Course” later that evening. There was a small bar manned by a diminutive and shy young lady, who serves the drinks but can also serve up cocktails.
It is relaxing to just sit down on the deck and soak it all in. I was glad that the day was slightly overcast, not too sunny even if it’s supposed to be the middle of summer in this part of the world, so no great fear of being roasted under the sun.
After our welcome lunch, it was time to head down to our cabin below deck.
The Cabin
We were given Cabin Number 104. I didn’t have high expectations, because of mixed reviews I read online on Vega Travel Vietnam.
But when the door opened, I was pleasantly surprised.
The room was spacious, even with the three of us occupying it. My earlier misgivings was due to some reviewers online griping about how the rooms were too small or cramped, and that they weren’t cleaned or maintained well.
I had no issues with the cleanliness, because it was clean. No sign of roaches or any creepie-crawlies. As for the space…. well, I realized belatedly that those who made those complaints about the cramped area were Caucasians, with typical Caucasian builds and body frames.
We are Asians and, therefore, tiny. So the room was “true to our size”. Haha!
This is where Rachael Leigh Cook’s line on She’s All That (goodness, I feel really old now, mentioning this film) applies: “I’m not short! I’m space-efficient!”
Check out the bed. It was big and wide enough to hold three of us.
The rooms, if I’m not mistaken, are for two people supposedly. I think we were offered two rooms, since there were three of us, but we didn’t want to be separated. So we opted for just the one room, but with an additional bed for the 3rd person.
We ended up not using the additional bed, though. We just rolled it up and pushed it to the side, and used the bed instead.
There’s a bath and restroom, more like a cubicle, but with curtains, and a sink with a mirror. For an overnight stay, it had more than we need, to be honest.
The Food
Oh, I wish I was able to take more photos of the food, but mostly we ended up eating most of it before remembering to get some decent ones. 🙂
They had generous servings, and a menu with variety. I also appreciated how they served fruits, and made a lot of effort on the presentation. I’m no food critic, and I’m really not all that picky when it comes to food, so I am easily satisfied, haha!
In the evening, Liem and the rest of the boat’s lean crew set up a spread at the dining room, and it was actually a crash course and demonstration on Vietnamese Spring Rolls. Yipppee~
According to Liem, spring rolls are like a staple in Vietnam (think kimchi for South Korea and lumpia for the Philippines). It’s served everywhere – you see them in restaurant and even bar menus. The most favorite form, however, remains to be the ones made at home. Liem said that whenever he heads back to his hometown, his mother would prepare spring rolls for him.
So the ingredients are quite varied, and they were painstakingly and patiently prepared – sliced, diced and cut into thin strips. All fresh, mostly raw, and looking oh so yummy from where I was standing recording his demo on video.
What goes in there, you ask? What he and the crew prepared were carrots, cucumber, vermicelli (noodles made from rice), coriander, ground pork (ground, boiled, “packed” and sliced into strips), fried egg (omelet, sliced into thin strips), stir-fried pork with onions, ground mushroom….
And the key element: rice paper. For the wrapper of the spring roll.
Quickly: Lay the rice paper flat on the table, the smooth surface facing up. Put any or all ingredients you want on the smooth surface of the rice paper. Only small amounts, though, because the roll might become a burrito. A messy one. 🙂
Then roll it gently; otherwise the rice paper will rip.
They made a sauce for the spring roll, which was basically a mixture of fish sauce, lemon, sugar, garlic, salt, and water. I dunno what their fish sauce is, but it’s definitely different from the fish sauce we have here in the Philippines, that’s for sure. (Incidentally, I’m not a fan of our very own fish sauce. The Vietnamese one, though… YUM.)
After the demo, it was a free for all, and we made our own fresh spring rolls…. then ate whatever we prepared, haha! Soooo filling, and sooooo good!
The Service
There were only a handful of crew that we spotted while on board the boat. There was Liem, the lady behind the bar, another guy serving our meals, and another young man helping us when we have to get off the boat and on to the tender. That was it. So we did not feel like anyone was underfoot, getting in our way (or that we were getting in the crew’s way).
When we first went to our cabin and checked everything, we had trouble making the AC work. We called one of the crew members and he showed us how it’s done. And graciously too, considering how we called him away from his lunch.
Unfortunately, it did not look like they all spoke or understood English, because the whole time, we talked to Liem about our concerns, and he’d relay it to them. Not that it was a huge issue, though.
And Liem, the sweet guy, even helped us out, listing down the places that we should visit in the Old Quarter to get a taste of the best Vietnamese dishes and delicacies.
We’re satisfied and sated happy campers! Err…. cruisers….?
The Price
For the whole thing, the three of us split USD250.00. So it was around USD 85.00 per person. Which wasn’t bad at all, considering how it covered our accommodation for the 24 hours, our transportation to and from Hanoi, the guided tours around Halong Bay, and four whole hearty meals. Not bad, Vega Travel Vietnam, not bad at all.
The Verdict
I give it a 4.5 out of 5. I liked the spring rolls activity thrown in, by the way. I thought it was a good addition to the experience. I’m glad we decided to do an overnighter at Halong Bay, instead of just going on a day trip.
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