everything was well planned and executed without a single flaw. The staff were friendly, professional, and attentive throughout the entire journey. The food was well-prepared and delicious, offering a good variety of local and international dishes. All the excursions and activities were thoughtfully arranged and ran smoothly, without any confusion or delays. I also appreciated the choice of location for the overnight stay — it was peaceful and scenic, with not many other ships around, allowing us to enjoy the beauty of Ha Long Bay in a more tranquil setting.

That said, there were a couple of downsides. The cruise is a bit on the expensive side, but in the end, it felt worth it for the overall experience. However, the waiting time before boarding was disappointing. After arriving via the company-organized transfer from the Old Quarter, I expected to board the ship right away. Instead, we had to wait around 90 minutes — both at the start and end of the trip — which felt a bit disorganized compared to the rest of the experience.

The boat was in good state, the room (captain suite) was very comfortable and clean. The food was very good and the staff very kind and professional. We enjoyed the band performing on the boat. The logistics getting to the pier and coming back to Hanoi was very well managed.

While I have no particular criticism over the boat, accommodation and logistics and don’t regret the experience. I was disappointed about the cruise itself … there are 2000 islands in the Halong Bay area and during this “cruise” we only navigated a few miles away from Halong city, and at pretty much all points in time we could always see in the background the skyline of the nearby Halong city which was a a bit of a disappointment. I would not call this a cruise but it’s more like a boat experience. It seems pretty much all the boats are following the same itinerary.

The whole stay was generally pleasant and food was excellent. Most of the staff were friendly, helpful and attentive. Cabin was lovely with comfortable bed. However, for such pricing, I would expect a little more reasonable and elevated experience such as providing water for lunch/dinner at the restaurant instead of asking customers to retreat to room to obtain from the free bottles given. We ended up not having any drinks for the first meal due to standing by our principles, though we did order wine for the night.

1. Staff consistently reminding us to give good feedback before we could finish enjoying our last meals which seemed obligationary. 2. Some of the night programs were not presented as indicated on itinerary. For instance we were looking forward to the piano performance and lounge moments after meal but there wasn't. Also, the squid fishing wasn't in season according to staff thus there wasn't any activity to replace and netflix/TV connection weren't working so we had nothing on for the night which was a shame given the intended itinerary for what we paid for. 3. Asking customers to get free water from own rooms instead of serving at restaurant

Worth every minute we spent there. From Hanoi by truly luxury bus (which we recommend) we traveled to hotel in the port and then to the ship. We really appreciate kindness, perfect organisation, very warm welcome, smile on every crew member face. Meals were tasty and fresh. We really recommend having evening dinner on the open air - marvelous experience. The room was huge, with balcony, super clean and fresh. By the loveliest was the colonial luxury interior. The activities were facultative but I really recommend participating in all of them. It was fan, not to long, and well set up. The must have is the cave. You can't miss that one.

Excursions were fantastic, staff helped immediately if required. Only criticism would be that there was too much food!! We had to request less! Such fun, and obviously the Bay was out of this world beautiful

More 5* international hotel than Vietnamese experience. We are away for a while so it’s no problem but if you want a local experience this isn’t for you. If you want to be pampered - 5* western style, it’s perfect

Coordination between Booking dot com company and cruise company was very bad. I booked through booking dot com with my credit card but then someone from Paradise company contacted me to provide them credit card details and the whole communication took hours with us sending them various information while we were already traveling on vacation. It was very annoying experience due to poor coordination between the two companies.

The setting of Ha long Bay is incredibly beautiful. I had been worried it might have been too crowded or too commercial but it wasn’t at all. We anchored away from other boats. The rooms are luxurious and the staff are exceptional. The food was 10/10. The excursions were well a well chosen mix of caves, climbs, bamboo boats, pearl farming and floating village

Would have loved to have stayed longer

The assigned staff were all exceptional, especially our butler Sam. They kept us informed and attended to on our 3D2N stay. On the second day, we traveled in a smaller group as most people left after the first night and were able to go on more private feeling excursions.

The onboard facilities were quite limited, in that the upstairs bar was never opened due to the weather. The excursions on day 1 were extremely crowded due to visiting the popular tourist spots during peak hours.

Our night on the Paradise Elegance 2 was extremely special, and we will remember it forever. We thought it would be good, but we had no idea just how luxurious it would be. The room was amazing, the food was fantastic, Right from when we arrived, each table is introduced to their 'butler'. I have crazy dietary restrictions for medical reasons, but Aldo talked to me individually straight away, about how they had prepared ahead for this, and kept checking in with me. I appreciated his kindness without judgement a lot. The host in charge, Belle, kept checking everything was going well too. And woh, they were determined that I would have a lot of food in wide variety. I don't think my partner and I have ever been able to eat so well together at a formal dinner. The band was lots of fun and the hot-tub on the deck allowed us to watch the Halong Bay islands as the clouds passed by. We didn't see this feature on any of the other boats. For anyone going to Halng Bay, I highly recommend this particular boat and crew. The cave trip was great too.

We loved everything.

Beautiful location, wish I had done the 2 nights. Very busy agenda, but staff very friendly and helpful. Watching the sun rise during Tai Chi on the su deck in the morning was a highlight.

Would recommend booking independent transport. We used their van, bu5 return is a bit complicated as you have to wait. Other people went directly back to Hanoi, for less.