Halong Bay for delicate constitution :)

ripcord

Hi all,

Travelling to vietnam in a few weeks. I was wondering would it be worth while taking a day trip/spending overnight in Halong bay? I hear its fantastic.

The only issue is i'm pretty bad with motion sickness on planes/buses/boats. The calm ferry trip to the statue of liberty was ok. But I was as sick as a dog on a rough ride to the arann islands! :rolleyes:

So is it possible to enjoy Halong bay without going ono a boat? Or if you are on a boat, its is calm/slow enough so you wouldn't feel the waves?

Thanks!

solerina

You should have no problems....Halong Bay was flat calm when I was there and apparently its like that most of the time, You wouldnt even know the boat was moving....the 4 hour bus journey each way is probably far worse !!! (although I didnt mind it myself)

Tipperary animal lover

It's one of the high lights of north Vietnam, take some motion sickness tablets if you have to... You really can't miss Halong bay, as said before the bus ride will be worse.... The inside bay is mostly protected so water should be ok to travel on. Enjoy you'll really enjoy Vietnam.

purcela

Hi, just on Halong Bay, could people let me know who they did their tour with, how much it cost and what the overall experience was like please? I have heard that some tours can be like a booze cruise, whereas others can be an awful lot quiter.

Cheers.

Tipperary animal lover

Hi, we used ast travel 2d/1n collection from Hanoi(4hr drive!!) it was under$200 but the boat was great..... The cheaper you pay the more booze cruise you get and the boat is packed full, if you wait till you get to Hanoi and look into booking Halong bay with the tour operators(stay away from old quarter that's we're they try packing you in on the boat) you might get a good deal also you can see what suits you.

Stinicker

You can get these wrist bands, when I was younger I used to suffer terribly with motion sickness when travelling by car, but those wrist bands press on a pressure point which alleviate it alot. Last time I got motion sickness was in Australia on a boat to the great barrier reef, 2hrs of straight vomiting both ways, made the trip less enjoyable.

Tipperary animal lover

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Hi, we used ast travel 2d/1n collection from Hanoi(4hr drive!!) it was under$200 but the boat was great..... The cheaper you pay the more booze cruise you get and the boat is packed full, if you wait till you get to Hanoi and look into booking Halong bay with the tour operators(stay away from old quarter that's we're they try packing you in on the boat) you might get a good deal also you can see what suits you.

Hmm.. Ast travel is smack bang in the middle of the Old Quarter and there's only one real booze cruise and that's a very overpriced Hanoi Backpackers tour. The quieter tours are usually much cheaper.

Check these reviews OP and go from there.. http://tnhvietnam.xemzi.com/en/c/1/cat/87/travel-tourism-hanoi and this company has a good rep recently.

opinion guy

ripcord wrote: »

Hi all,

Travelling to vietnam in a few weeks. I was wondering would it be worth while taking a day trip/spending overnight in Halong bay? I hear its fantastic.

The only issue is i'm pretty bad with motion sickness on planes/buses/boats. The calm ferry trip to the statue of liberty was ok. But I was as sick as a dog on a rough ride to the arann islands! :rolleyes:

So is it possible to enjoy Halong bay without going ono a boat? Or if you are on a boat, its is calm/slow enough so you wouldn't feel the waves?

Thanks!

Do you know the trick of looking at the horizon ?

I find that very helpful against motion sickness. The idea is by looking at the horizon your eyes have a fixed point to look at and the motion sickness bothers you less. Works well for me

solerina

purcela wrote: »

Hi, just on Halong Bay, could people let me know who they did their tour with, how much it cost and what the overall experience was like please? I have heard that some tours can be like a booze cruise, whereas others can be an awful lot quiter.

Cheers.

We went with a company called Indochina Junk...they have a number of different boats to choose from...there were 19 people on our cruise and we had a great time, there was a mostly couples and one family..The food was amazing, the cabins really nice. I think you should definately book the 2 night cruise as the one night is too short (you get less than 24 hours on the boat). We paid $ 245 (US) and it was worth every penny. It certainly wasnt a booze cruise but the drink was fairly cheap so we had a good laugh.