Itinerary:
We spent 8 days in Vietnam, 3 on board the Victory Star Cruise (which costs us a total of US$713 [xmas period, paid 20% extra for the gala dinner I suppose] - for both of us including transport to and fro our hotels), and the rest of the days in Hanoi City.
Also went for 2 day trips, one to Perfume Pagoda, the other to Tam Coc (aka Halong Bay on land). Our itinerary was pretty packed, and after the trip, the 8 days there felt just right... enough to see 80-90% of Hanoi, check out 2 tourists popular destinations and to be awed by the highly anticipated beauty of Ha Long Bay.
It was unfortunate we couldn't squeeze time to also check out Sa Pa, but the train ride there alone (from Hanoi) takes up around 9-hours, and unless we sacrificed forgoing much of our planned itinerary, Sa Pa (top priority) has to wait for our next trip, if we ever are going back to Vietnam again.
We took Tiger Airways there and our return trip was via Jetstar. I calculated the round trip air ticket for Tiger Airways and it costs more than if I were to book them separately, partly because the return air ticket was charged in dong for Jetstar. First time I tried different airlines for the way there and back but the cost savings and better timings were well worth it.
Day 1 (afternoon): Hanoi City (Hua Lo Prison, Temple of Literature, dunno-whats-the-name-of-the-park across Temple of Literature)
Day 2: Hanoi City (Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh Minh's House, One Pillar Pagoda, Tran Quoc Pagoda @ West Lake/Truc Bach Lake, Flag Tower, Doan Mon Gate, Hoan Kiem Lake)
Day 3: Perfume Pagoda (Huong Tich Mountains/Caves) and Hanoi City (Water Puppets Show)
Day 4: Ha Long Bay (Vung Vieng Fishing Village, Swimming, Gala Dinner on board Victory Star Cruise)
Day 5: Ha Long Bay (Sun Sot Cave [Surprise Cave], Kayaking at Light & Dark Cave Area, Cat Ba Island, Soi Sim Islet [Beach/Hill])
Day 6: Ha Long Bay (Luon Cave) & Hanoi City (French Quarter)
Day 7: Hoa Lu - Tam Coc & Hanoi City (St. Joseph's Cathedral)
Day 8: Hanoi City (St. Joseph's Cathedral, Woman Museum, Ngoc Son Temple @ Hoan Kiem Lake)
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Accommodation:
All prices are in USD.
1. Holiday Gold Hotel (21/12 - 24/12)
Standard Room - $23/night (breakfast provided)
Ratings: 10/10
Service was excellent, with friendly staff (Tina, Mina and Minh) who were able to converse in English very well. The bellboy (whose name i forgot), could even speak Chinese! Had a free upgrade of our room (possibly cos I told the staff we were on our honeymoon), very spacious with 2 double-sized beds.We were given a pleasant surprise on the first night with rose petals laid out as double hearts, a vase of roses (16 stalks!), heart-shaped balloons on one of our beds and an entire chocolate cake with the words "Happy Honeymoon".
Staff were well-versed, and very helpful. Booked our day trips there, as well as the water puppet show.
Though I didn't like the amenities there, especially the packet shampoos (which were difficult to tear, and they didn't have shower foams, only provided mini-sized soaps) and the terribly bad quality toothbrushes and non-foaming tooth pastes, the hospitality we received during our stay there was first class.
There's wifi provided and a couple of shared computers at the lobby there as well. Hairdryers were provided, but the sockets were all very loose. So we had to be very careful with moving the hairdryers, heck I actually put the hairdyer stationary and moved my head to dry my hair!
Still, it was 100% well worth the price we paid, and the hotel also had a very good location for sightseeing in Hanoi (located at Hang Manh). 5-10 mins walk to Hoan Kiem Lake depending on skill of crossing roads, traffic is always bad, and it's relatively in the middle of all the main attractions.
Highly recommended, not just from me but from TripAdvisor as well. Now I know why the hotel won the Traveller's Choice, and it's only deserving they do.
2. Victory Star Cruise (24/12 - 26/12)
Double Deluxe Room - $310 per pax for 3 days 2 nights (inclusive of mini transport from and to hotels, kayaking, all meals, entrance fees and guide on boat)
Ratings: 7.5/10
My biggest complain, was the price we had to pay. I think we were upgraded or something because the room we got was a Suite. The main difference between the Suite and the other rooms is the spaciousness of the toilet. There's even a Jacuzzi bathtub in our bathroom!
My dear loved how the toilet door was a split door just right in front of our bed, and like most cruise cabins, the overall room size isn't that big, and I wasn't expecting it to be also.
We had a rather cramped balcony (thanks to 2 fat straw chairs) but I'm not complaining. I rather have a small balcony then none at all (I think all rooms have balconies).
The amenities were the boomz (compared to Holiday Hotel's), shower foam came in bottles, provided shampoo, and the toothbrush and toothpaste (minty and it foams!) were of good quality. The same can be said of the combs.
They provided power sockets, but we had to move some furniture to access to them, which I thought was rather inconvenient.
My 2nd biggest complain was that when our room was refreshed, the staff blardy hell (sorry for the language) threw away my dear's antistatic comb!!! How can any top class service clown not be able to differentiate between their own white plastic comb and a beige colored bigger sized comb made from bull horns?!! Tell me!! Tell me!!
Ok... I'm cool now. The thought of it always gets on my nerves, but I guess s*** happens at times.
My 3rd and last complain is how they miserly only provide 2 small bottles of mineral water each day. We had to purchase them from the food menu (which costs around 1.5 USD I think or settle for soft drinks, which costs more than 2 USD). Crap... it felt like we weren't given an option to keep ourselves hydrated for free. We had to pay that much to keep our bodies hydrated?! What a joke.
And the waiters' (opps guess there's more than 3 complains afterall ;p) service was quite bad. They gave us pressure when we rejected not buying anything from the drinks menu, gave us the disgusted look and pretended to not understand that WE ARE NOT GOING TO PAY THAT MUCH FOR A SOFT DRINK OR WERE WE GOING TO PAY FOR ALCOHOL TO FURTHER DEHYDRATE US look, which ended us having to take back the drinks menu to decorate our table tops before the first dish arrives.
Nuff with the cons, one of the biggest pros about it were the guides on the boat, Sunny and Fung. They were very nice (and Sunnily handsome) and felt like the only genuine staff on board.
Some of the activities were there for fillers, and there's not much, actually zero entertain on board except for the bar... which means you'll HAVE TO GET A DRINK! PAY PAY PAY! Even after paying so much!
Overall, the experience was more positive than negative, but thought that the cost was rather hefty.
3. Hanoi Charming Hotel (26/12 - 28/12)
Standard Room - $23/night (breakfast provided)
Ratings: 5.5/10
After our previous 2 accoms, this felt like an extreme downgrade. It's a modest sized room, with the same sucky amenities from the Holiday Hotel Group. Holiday Hotel has a few chains in Hanoi and Hue (another city in Vietnam), including Holiday Gold Hotel and Hanoi Charming Hotel. There's also charming 2, which doesn't have such a central location, but which also answers my query... why have a 2 when you already have 1?
Now I know why... (I'm sure Holiday Gold Hotel won't be having a 2 anytime soon)
Charming hotel feels old, and is located at a small/narrower street in Hanoi. It's just a stone throw's away from Holiday Gold, but the narrower street (Yen Thai St.) was much much ulu-er.
However, every morning, Yen Thai St. would turn into a bustling wet market street, selling fresh meat and seafood (there were even out-of-the-water-still-beating fishes).
The good thing about this hotel compared to Gold is that we had a personal computer in our room. They provided hairdryers as well, but was quite chui. There were also elevators there, something they didn't have in Gold Hotel (only had stairs there). As for the pocket sockets, they were also pretty inaccessible, on the ground, under a table where I had to pull out the extension cord to use them to charge our electronic devices or to use the hairdryer.
The staff were friendly, but their English wasn't that good. The hotel feels more "homely" but not really catered to giving the homely feeling to a tourist. Somehow, the staff didn't feel as genuine as Holiday Gold.
Hence, we didn't interact much with the staff but got a discount on the overall room charges on the last day.
Before I forget, the hotel was also able to call cabs for us, US$15 per trip to the airport (same price for to and fro).
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