Our itinerary for Halong Bay was the 3 days 2 nights cruise on Victory Star.
Even though the itinerary was such that the first half of the day was jam packed with sight-seeing and activities, there wasn't much for one to do at night. So in theory, the activities only took up about 1.5 days in total.
It was a 4 hours drive to Hon Gai International harbor, and we made a stop at yet another souvenir shop on the way there. We had checked out from Holiday Gold Hotel and were out of our comfort zone, not knowing what to expect from the service and cruise we had paid a bomb for.
When we reached the harbor, we were greeted by this super friendly guide by the name of Sunny. He had this beach boyish vibe, full of energy and genuinosity. We were told to hang on, and waited around 30 mins at the receiving cafe, Victory Cafe before we could finally take a boat ride to the the cruise ship itself. Everyone had to put on lifejackets, which we took off just before entering this welcoming side entrance of Victory Star. I understand it's for safety reasons, but thought it was unnecessary since the transport boat was very stable and hardy. I guess protocol is protocol.
Dear's first reaction when we stepped foot onto the ship was "WOW", especially after climbing up the stairs to the dining area, where the host, Vinh, welcomed the tourists on board. The dining area looked posh and the parquet flooring and overall woody feel of the ship undoubtedly made my dear's day. It made mine too. Becos' it felt classy, and was glad that the bomb was well spent.
When we entered our room, which was a Suite (not sure if they upgraded us or it was meant to be our room), both of us were like energizer-bunny-like "sua gus" gasping at how gorgeous our Suite was... which it was!
Though not as spacious as Holiday Gold, there was a cosy feel about the room, and our bathroom was just awesome. A two-way sliding door was right smack in front of our bed, partitioning the toilet from where we slept. Apart from a rain shower, we also had a Jacuzzi bathtub!! That, was the dealbreaker! Bathtubs, clean bathtubs would always put a smile on my face whenever I travelled because ever since I went to Japan and experienced their hot tubs, I was addicted to hot baths.
There was also a balcony attached to the room (there's a balcony attached to every room), and even though it was rather cramped, it added more bonus points!
We got our act together and proceeded to the dining area for our lunch, and where we were briefed on he safetyy and the itinerary for our next few days. There wasn't much safety issues especially since main ship wasn't travelling that fast and the waters were very calm in Halong Bay.
On each of our tables, were our country flags, a nice touch by the staff... which gave us (and the staff) a better sensing of the nationalities of the tourists on board. We were seated beside a couple from France, and the guy looked like Hugh Jackman, according to my dear. I think she was probably deprived of good looking caucasian guys or something, but even though I didn't see a striking resemblance, found excuses to take shots of him... tactfully of course.
It was a pampering 7-course seafood lunch (only 3 dishes were seafood, which tasted of the sea) and we had a waiter peeling our shelled prawns for us. Even though it was a very catered for meal, I didn't like how the waiter pressured us into buying a drink (cos they only provided 2 puny bottles of mineral water in our room), especially an alcoholic one which wasn't cheap. Even the juices and plain bottled water were expensive. We had rejected the menu, but the waiter pretended to act blur, so we said we'll look at it again, but in the end, decided not to succumb under pressure and "pushed" the menu back to them.
There was also another group of tourists from Singapore, and of all the tables, only the Singaporean tables didn't order drinks. ^^
We took a quick sightseeing of Halong Bay at the deck in the middle of our meal, because unlike most of the other tourists, we were more awed by Halong Bay, than being on Halong Bay.
Our very first activity was to check out Vung Vieng Fishing village, which the transport boat took us to a floating ticket centre cum assembly point. For most of the time, Victory Star would be docked somewhere, and the transport boat would bring us to our sightseeing drop off points.
There were several possible checkout spots at the fishing village, one being the school, but our boat ride was a budget one... no stops, just keep rowing, just keep rowing, just keep... stop. It was just a boat ride around the fishing village and back to the centre. However, along the way, we got upclose to the limestone karsts (a chim word to describe the area of limestone terrane [rock formation] there), floating houses and experienced some local activities such as fishing, swinging on a hammock, drying foods and family bonding.
Their houses came in interesting bright colors, which made our experience a whole lot more colorful.
After the tour, there wasn't much time to do anything else so we went back to our "mothership". We were told that we could do a few things, either kayak or swim, both of which wasn't practical cos we had to pay for kayaking (only our next day's kayak was inclusive of the cruise) and there was no way we were swimming in the freakkkkinnnggg colddd waters of Halong Bay... Or not.
Both of us were so desperately in need of doing crazy s*** that we decided to go for the swim, in almost freezing-like cold water! Without life jackets! And in our sexy swimwear! And and... bottomline was, it was one chilling experience I would never forget.
No one else swam that day... we changed into our swimming attire, put a bathrobe on, and headed to the supposed swimming area... only to find no one there. We spoke to the staff about swimming, and they directed us to the swimming point (rear of the boat, which by then the ship had anchored). They (around 3 guys) took towels for us and stools to watch over us... or maybe they were intrigued by how silly some Asian couples were and wanted to watch us make a fool of ourselves.
I had bought a water proof Olympus camera for that moment... that moment of true courage, and insanity, and had recorded most parts of our swimming experience. That definitely was one of the craziest things I've done in my life, and without much hesitation, went straight into the water after my dear. She was shouting, "Cold, cold", and not wanting to leave her to suffer by herself, I hurried into the water, only to experience a spine-chilling cold shock myself.
I was filming with one hand, and was rather steady at first, but after the cold kicked in, my strength contracted at an alarming rate. I was treading water so vigorously that I found myself "stuck" at a certain point even though I was supposed to be moving forward. That was when I panicked... but still kept my cool, I mean what other choice did I have?
I thought it was the current getting stronger, so told my dear not to venture so far out. Actually, my balls shrank so much (apologies for the literal crudeness), I, wasn't confident of venturing that far out. By then, my dear was starting to feel warmer with her body heating up from all the movement, on the contrary, my muscles seemed to be tensing and contracting even more with each stroke I made. I wanted to give up, but thanks to my innate male ego, hung on... and finally managed to "lead" my dear out of the water.
When we had gotten back to our cabin, my muscles felt as it they were a slab of frozen meat thrown onto a heated pan (quoted from the movie "Intouchables")... and even though we swam no longer than 10 mins, relativity was a bitch. That was like a near death encounter for me, and instead of cheery serotonins kicking in my blood stream like my dear, all that were circulating were freaked out epinephrine hormones.
We had to pay an extra 20% for the cruise during the festive season, but because the blur facilitator (from vietname awesome travels) hadn't informed us about the extra charge when we confirmed, he gave us a "discounted surcharge" of 15%.Through our email correspondence, the once again "sotong" faciliator wanted to overcharge us because he miscalculated the total amount... by a good $300USD!! I wasn't sure if it was intentional, or he was simply just a blur sotong, but we managed to spot it before our trip.
The tagline of the vietnam awesome travels (Victory Star's appointed travel agency) was "Your satisfaction is my reputation." But from our prior correspondence, I was rather hesitant about engaging their services... wanted to try out a more reputable company, IndoChinaSails but they weren't able to provide scheduling for the dates we wanted (24th-26th Dec cos I wanted to spend Xmas on Halong Bay).
By the way, a couple of the other big ships we saw "parked" there were "Princess" and "IndoChinaSails", as well as other Victory Star ships and Bai Tho Junks (possibly the sister company of Victory Star).
The junk ships would all raise their sails only in the morning, all of which were brown in color... adding moodiness to the already gloomy misty weather. Even though it was perpertually misty, it gave a mystical feel to the surroundings (to comfort myself for the poor weather/visbility).
Anyways, back to why we had to pay more. Even though the faciliator didn't really explain, from my other correspondence with IndoChinaSails, the higher rate was cos of the gala dinner on Xmas eve.
After my muscles recovered from the shock, we went to check out a cooking class at the dining area. However, the cooking class turned out to be a cooking demonstration, and the cook only had to add in the prepared ingredients into the frying pan.. and wa la, Vietnamese stir fried beef cubes. It was portioned out for the guests on board, and though it tasted pretty decent, I was disappointed at how short the "class" was and the class wasn't even a class! No hands on experience, we just watched, smelt, and ate a small portion. How memorable (sarcastic)...
The view of Halong Bay at night was akin to being at Vivocity/Sentosa's boardwalk. There wasn't much to see because the ship had docked and all we saw in the darkness were lights from the nearby anchored ships. There weren't blasting Xmas music or specially designed "Santa Clausy" decors on the ships... it was plain old traditional... Keep calm and stay boring.
The 6 course gala dinner was an absolute delight, which took 2 hours to complete the entire serving. Even though it was only 6 courses, the dishes were all atasifying, filling and much thought and presentation was put into each and every dish. The highlight was the intricately carved flowers, made up from vegetables (carrots & radish) and fruits (cucumbers),
One of the dishes was a rather exotic one, Ostrich meat, which my dear was quite reluctant to eat initially. Turned out Ostrich meat tasted like beef. Oiisshhii! The guests on board were treated to a pleasant surprise when "Santa Clause came onboard".
It turned out the chubby vice captain was "tekkaned" to dress up as Santa Clause and went up to every table to presented gifts to everyone. He popped a few bottles of champagne which were later given out to the guests, on the house. The crew also went around wishing the guests a Merry Xmas and even Mr French Kentucy did so too. French Kentucy? Opps, did I forget to introduce him? He's the Captain/Manager of the ship, doesn't say much or mingle with the guests, but from the vibe he emits simply by his presence alone, he's probably one of the big bosses, and he helps to ensure that every is in order.
I had read reviews on TripAdvisor about a nasty French manager, and even though I think they were referring to the same guy, I thought the reviews were inaccurately sulky. As there were other Victory Star ships around, the nasty French manager could be on board one of the other ships (I doubt so because the last day when we went back to Victory Cafe, I only saw the big daddy figure Mr French Kentucy... no one else came close to his authoritative aura.)
The young night quickly turned old cos of the draggy gala dinner and we indulged ourselves in the Jacuzzi hot tub before turning in for the night, of course waiting for the clock to strike twelve before doing so... and when it did... it was disappointingly quiet. Out of curiosity, we also unwrapped our gifts, to find ourselves each being given a unique hand-made telephone pouch, repacked in appliance boxes.
Though we didn't have much use for them, I thought it was a thoughtful and gracious move on the mangement's part.
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