4
Ocean view
Family
56 m²
Lan Ha Bay
Launched in 2017
20 Cabin
Stepping into Lan Ha Bay with Azalea Cruise has a very different to feel to doing the same with Halong Bay cruises. It looks the same, but there are much fewer boats. That’s because Azalea Cruise takes you to places you won’t have heard of, all the hidden gems of a bay that is consistently overlooked, stemming from the years of knowledge that Azalea Cruise has in the region.
Our beautiful vessel is the best way to see the unknown majesty of Lan Ha Bay, with its 20 luxury cabins fitted with beautiful décor, bathrooms, balconies and the most modern amenities available. Our gleaming dining room bespeaks pure opulence, and our sundeck provides excellent views over the karst mountains of Lan Ha Bay.
Our well-trained, English-speaking staff will help you in every way they can, providing you with a wonderful level of service throughout your cruise. They understand your needs for both companionship and privacy and are very welcoming and respectful of both.
Azalea is a trailblazer in Lan Ha Bay, and we want to show you its majesty.
Download this cruise’s PDF brochure and start cruise planning offline
09.10 We pick you up in your hotel in Hanoi and transfer you to the Azalea Lounge in Hai Phong City, where a welcome drink will be awaiting you before you board your cruise.
12.15 Checking into the Azalea Cruise, you will enjoy another welcome drink as we begin sailing past Lan Ha Bay’s famous islets, one being Da Chong Islet, home to a 100-year old French lighthouse.
12.40 Lunch is served on board in our beautifully sleek dining room.
15.00 Ba Trai Dao Beach is a good first stop for us as it showcases Lan Ha Bay at its natural best. We will spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing on its white sands or in its shimmering waters.
18.30 Happy Hour is in effect back on board the Azalea Cruise. Our master chef will put on a cooking demonstration on the top deck to show you some interesting aspects of Vietnamese cuisine.
The spa opens up for its massage service. Bookings need to be made directly with the cruise manager.
19.30 The dining room provides the perfect amount of romance as we dine on a wonderfully indulgent dinner of local food.
21.30 Evening time is your time on the Azalea Cruise. You can join in any activities with the crew or other guests, including board games, card games and nighttime squid fishing. Alternatively, head back to your cabin for a relaxing evening with the wide expanse of Lan Ha Bay through the window.
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
06.00 A light breakfast will be served upstairs after a Tai Chi session on the sundeck, designed to give you an energy boost for your day. The Dark and Bright Caves await us across the water; these are two wet cave systems with two distinctive differences.
10.00 A beautiful brunch awaits us back on board the Azalea Cruise, after which we will check out of our cabins as we begin the cruise back to the mainland.
10.30 You have the opportunity to learn about Vietnamese tea culture with a traditional tea ceremony on board.
11.35 Bidding farewell to your crew, you will board the luxurious shuttle bus and head back to the capital, where we anticipate arriving at about 14.15 – 14.30.
14.15 – 14.30 Arrive at your hotel in Hanoi.
Azalea Cruise is proud to have you on board our luxury cruise liner in Halong & Lan Ha Bay. We trust you had a fantastic time and we sincerely hope to see you again in the future.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
09.10 You will be picked up at your hotel lobby in Hanoi Old Quarter or Hanoi Opera House and driven towards the city of Hai Phong. A warm welcome will greet you at the Azalea Lounge with a welcome drink.
12.15 Check in once we board the Azalea Cruise, enjoying another welcome drink as we begin our path past Da Chong Islet, the location of a 100-year old lighthouse built by the French.
12.40 Lunch will be served on board as we skim the perfect waters of Lan Ha Bay.
15.00 Around the gigantic cliffs towering above us, we find Ba Trai Dao, an island with a perfectly curled white sand beach. Relaxing, swimming and kayaking are popular and you can do all three on the beach and in its shimmering waters.
18.00 We will try a liquor known around this province as ‘Ba Kich’. This is a strong purple liquor with a sweet taste.
18.30 It is time for Happy Hour back aboard your cruise, where you can get great deals across our wide range of drinks. The traditional cooking class on board will dissolve some of the mysteries of Vietnamese food culture and the preparation of certain dishes.
From this point, a massage from our spa is available at an extra cost. Please contact our Cruise Manager directly to book one.
19.30 The dining room provides the perfect amount of romance as we dine on a wonderfully indulgent dinner of local food.
21.30 The rest of the night will be spent on the Azalea Cruise at your leisure. Feel free to play board games with the crew or join them for squid fishing in a small boat. Alternatively, you can opt for a few drinks at the bar and some good company.
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
06.00 Start the day the Asian way, with energising Tai Chi on the sundeck run by our onboard Tai Chi master. Afterwards, there will be a western breakfast of pastries and hot beverages served downstairs.
08.30 Once we have transferred into our speedy day boat, we head to Viet Hai Village on Cat Ba Island, a wonderful commune of ancient houses with neighbouring rice paddies, rainforests and tunnels. We will take a few hours to explore this area by bicycle before heading into Viet Hai and speaking to the locals.
We can provide an electric buggy for anyone incapable of cycling, this is an additional service with a small, extra cost.
13.30 Lunch will be served back on the day boat before we head over to Ba Ham Lake, an area of incredible natural beauty; a courtesy provided by the way that the many limestone spires rise out of the water, encircling the lake completely. We are free to kayak and swim around here.
16.00 Back upon the Azalea Cruise, our chef will be back out, showing you how to prepare spring rolls, one of Vietnam’s classic foods. Happy Hour returns at the bar as the fading light of Lan Ha Bay dips further beyond the horizon.
19.30 Another splendid dinner will be served to you in the sleek dining room, after which you are free to head back to the bar, indulge in Movie Night at the restaurant, or relax in your cabin to the slow swaying of the Azalea Cruise on the waves.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06.00 Another invigorating Tai Chi session on the sundeck precedes a beautiful light breakfast as the pink dawn greets Lan Ha Bay. We head out early in a local rowing boat in order to explore the Dark and Bright caves, two contrasting cave systems existing next to each other.
10.00 Back on board the Azalea Cruise for the last time, we check out and enjoy a filling brunch.
10h30 Join us at the tea ceremony to learn more about Vietnam’s deep-rooted tea culture and the traditional style in which our ancestors served this sacred brew.
11.35 Disembark the Azalea Cruise at the harbour, waving goodbye to your crew and boarding the luxurious shuttle bus to go back to Hanoi, where we will arrive at about 14.15, signalling the end of your 3 day in Halong Bay with luxury cruise.
Azalea Cruise would like to extend our utmost thanks to you for choosing us as your luxury cruise provider in Lan Ha Bay. We trust you had a fantastic time and are looking forward to the chance to serve you again.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Download this cruise’s PDF brochure and start cruise planning offline
Alexandra F
AustraliaMe and my two friends booked a triple cabin for our 3 days and 2 nights in Halong Bay and were not left disappointed at any point! The first of our many surprises was the limo van that came to pick us up from the hotel. It was so much more spacious and luxurious than we had expected! And that continued once we had stepped onto the boat and saw our cabin for the first time. It was very spacious and impeccably clean. The massive windows meant that we spent a lot of time in here, enjoying each others’ company with the most beautiful backdrop imaginable! Everyone working on the boat is very good in their roles and catered perfectly for us. My friend is a vegetarian but this was no problem for the chef. Our other friend unfortunately missed her flight and was worried she had missed her chance to enjoy the bay, but Azalea Cruise had arranged for an airport pick-up to bring her from Hanoi to enjoy the second night with us, which was at least something nice for her! I would highly recommend the Azalea Cruise, it really was outstanding and we hope to be back soon!
helenfO6025PV
AustraliaThis cruise was everything we had wanted and so much more! It was a short trip from Hanoi to the port, which was a very comfortable and professional job in the breezy minivans that they have! We had the pleasure of beautiful, attentive staff the whole time. The director of the cruise was a man from France, who is running a very tight ship! He was very friendly and made a conscious effort to talk to all of the guests and give them personal attention.We couldn’t fault the views at all! You can watch the limestone mountains from anywhere on the boat, but we opted mostly from our cabin’s gorgeous balcony, and I personally spent a lot of time in the luxurious bathtub, soaking in the suds and soaking up the views! The food was delicious and gave us a lot of choice – all fresh ad cooked and presented to a very, very high standard! This is the perfect break from the city for a few days, I highly recommend Azalea Cruise to take you there.
Ms_Aisling
United KingdomJust returned from one night in Lan Ha Bay with the Azalea Cruise with my friend and we are already regretting not booking for two nights!The most important part of our enjoyment was definitely Rim and her wonderful staff, who looked after us so well and were thoroughly professional throughout. They had a strong focus on safety and were very relaxed and fun people to chat with!The boat is very new so it looked amazing! The cabins were massive and had very clean bathrooms. The restaurant and sundeck were both great places to eat, drink and watch the beautiful scenery fly past.We had a great transfer from the hotel to the bay. Not only was it just 2 hours instead of 4 to Halong Bay, but it was so luxurious that we felt we were already on a 5-star cruise before we had even stepped foot on board!there were lots of different activities organised by the cruise, which were generally fun but a little bit rushed at times. The kayaking and the boat trip through the ‘caves’ were both a great way to see the bay and get up close and personal with it.We were never left dissatisfied by the food, which stayed consistently amazing. We had a great buffet lunch and a good few drinks in between.We had flawless views of the Lan Ha Bay the whole time, due to its natural beauty, fewer boats and the gorgeous weather that we had during cruising. I have to agree with other reviews I read though which mentioned the piles of plastic that mounted up near the caves. It’s not great to see, and I think Azalea Cruise and the other companies of Lan Ha Bay need to clock onto this quick and cooperate with the government and the locals to get it clean. It was my first time kayaking but they had a perfect system to I felt very assured Rim lead us from the front and some other crew brought up the rear, which made sure no one go left behind.The sampan boat ride towards the caves was actually really great, but we couldn’t get through the caves themselves as it was low tide, so we had to turn back. I know the caves of Halong Bay are much more grand, but personally I think it’s worth sacrificing a cave visit for a more quiet time in Lan Ha Bay.So overall I have zero hesitation in recommending this cruise and its wonderful crew! Definitely do the 2 night cruise if you can, you are guaranteed to be in for a treat!
Arnit
I recommend this company and itinerary over anything else I have seen in Halong bay. We did the 3 Day 2 Night and it was the perfect cruise.-I have to mention the staff first as they were excellent. Rim and her fellow crew were always friendly and the smiles never left their faces. They accommodated all of our needs and looked after us properly, right down to the little details. Safety seems to be number one concern for the staff and they were very efficient at giving out life jackets.-We had a great cabin with some excellent views of all the bay, which we could see was less crowded as the Azalea Cruise goes to a different part of Halong Bay than most. The dining room and top deck had some really good seating and were beautiful areas where you can watch everything float by.-Great planning in the activities, including the kayaking, fishing for squid, cave visit, village tour, tai chi, and swimming. It was a little busy on the first day, but the second day we spent on a day boat with a much more relaxed itinerary – mainly kayaking and swimming with a visit to a village as well.Because of this, I highly recommend doing the 3 day version of the cruise as we found this to be the perfect amount of time to explore everything we wanted to see and do. My friends and the crew surprised me with a birthday cake, which the team presented, as well as singing a song and giving me a mocktail (I can’t drink alcohol), which was so lovely of them!-The food was really outstanding and the crew did an excellent job in remembering who required what, as we are an Indian group with various different dietary requirements.Billy and Jessie did some much to make this trip for special to us, and they are still fondly remembered by me and my family!
TravelEaDrink_Repeat
United StatesThe ship of the Azalea Cruise is just half a year old, so we decided to select this one to go through Halong Bay with. It has fewer rooms than the average boat, which we preferred, and went to a harbour much closer to Hanoi than the other boats that go to the bay.We were very lucky and received a free upgrade to one of the suites, despite the fact that we had booked the least expensive room. No matter what room you go for, you will get the same outstanding service from a great crew – especially from Hugo and Jennifer, but also from everyone else!We only opted for one night in the end and we really enjoyed ourselves. We had some great views to look at and some wonderful activities to do. It is a shame about the bay being so polluted in small areas, but I suppose its inevitable, given how popular Halong Bay has become. We all very much enjoyed the food, which was impressive as they had to cater to various dietary requirements in our group.I did think it was a bit strange that the sun loungers didn’t come with accompanying parasols to block the sun, so we couldn’t really use them. We booked our own transfer there, which was probably not a great idea as it wasn’t as comfortable as the company transfer we got on the way back, plus it was much more expensive!