The ship was amazing. An older style renovated cruise with a lovely nostalgic atmosphere. It had much more character and charm than the newer style cruise liners. Everything was clean and comfortable with sizeable balconies in all rooms to watch the beautiful scenery. A lovely spa and a large top deck to watch the sunrise and sunset with cocktails. The food was great, nice and fresh and a good variety of Western and Vietnamese options. I stayed for two nights which I recommend. The full day spent on an excursion on the second day was fabulous, with bike riding, kayaking and also swimming in a secluded location were we could jump off the deck of the boat and swim to a lovely beach with no other boats. This is not an option if you only stay for one night. The staff were brilliant! So attentive to every need and also made adaptions for allergies/intolerances. Huong (Brian) was fantastic and took care of our every need over the 3 days. Thank you Huong!

I loved everything.

Comfortable bed and well organised

Doris cruise left a review on their own Booking page on our behalf without our permission. We were going to leave a positive review anyway but the fact they impersonated us has soured the stay a bit. How many other reviews have been left like that?

We did a 2 day 1 night trip with Doris Cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The pickup with the limousine bus was smooth and the bus was indeed comfortable. We were then transferred to the cruise via a tender boat. The main boat itself was lovely. Clean, spacious and had a great ambience. The service provided by the staff was deserving of high praise. Jessica, Nicky and the rest of the team do go all out to make our stay a memorable one. The views of Halong Bay rendered us speechless. This should really be on your bucket list. It is also really worth waking up early in the morning before the sun rises just to soak in the view. The food was nice - we had a full course meal for lunch and a buffet BBQ dinner. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style as well. All rather pleasant. There were lots of activities which I think is pretty standard no matter which cruise line you choose. We had kayaking and swimming the first day. Be aware that the currents can be quite strong and can go unnoticed as it looked calm from the surface. We loved the sunset party where there were happy hour drinks (pretty reasonable prices). Snacks were provided and this was a hit (absolutely loved the warm sweet/salty peanuts, cream puffs, prawn crackers and fruits). The squid fishing was just a little bit of a show as I don’t think there were any chance we were going to catch squids. The morning adventure to the caves via locally rowed boats were another chance to soak in the view from up close. A good trip all round and if you were to head to Halong Bay (and you should), do give Doris cruise a try.

The rooms are very spacious and the view is amazing—even from the bathroom! Each family is assigned a personal waiter, which was incredibly helpful for us because our daughter has allergies. Our waiter, Jessica, was fantastic and very supportive. Overall, we loved all the staff—everyone was so kind and attentive. The food was delicious, with options for meat, chicken, fish, and even vegetarian dishes. We also went kayaking and had so much fun—our kids absolutely loved it!

Transfer from Hanoi is quite pricey and not mentioned anywhere on Booking.com Drinks are not included and they're about 2x-3x compared to Hotels, Bars around.

We had a great time on Doris Cruise. The staff are very hospitable and try to make your stay the best it could be - which is all we could ask for! Our cruise director Tom was great - he would always check in during meals to make sure we were okay and happy with everything. He would go through the itinerary with everyone to make sure they were where they needed to be if there were certain things they wanted to do. The bed and room were comfortable, and we enjoyed taking a bath with a view! Ha Long / Lan Ha bay is truly spectacular and beautiful, not much to complain about when you have a view like that. DAY 1 - Eat Lunch upon arrival and check in. The lunch was tasty and a TON of food. This is a sit down meal where they serve you. After lunch you head back to your room and chill out or go kayaking. Then there is a sun set party with 2 for 1 drink deals before dinner, and finally a buffet dinner around 7pm. The buffet was fine - they had different options i.e Vietnamese traditional food, as well as french fries. If you don't go in expecting a fine dining experience, (the food is perfectly good BTW, I saw complaints about it on reviews) you will be happy! DAY 2 - Day trip to Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba Island. I have to mention our AMAZING guide Long, He was so insightful, and a pleasure to be around. He made sure we were safe at all times when riding the bike around Cat Ba since there was construction going on (Still a very fun excursion, construction was a very minimal part of the ride..). He also told us all about the island, and what wild life we could see there. He would check in with us to make sure we were having a good time, and was overall just a 10/10 guide, and we really enjoyed the day overall with the activities. If you have any complaints at all - just take it to the staff and they will take care of you .. and they tell you this!

These aren't complaints - just further notes because booking.com cut me off ^^^ - The jacuzzi was warm (Not Hot), but I honestly preferred it this way. - You have to pay for EVERYTHING (Water, booze, juice, tea, coffee) - just be prepared for that.. I Wouldn't go as far as to say its expensive, but it adds up quickly. If you can bring some of your own snacks and drinks, I would recommend that (though you have to pay for a corking fee). Thanks for a great stay.

Views from room were amazing. Decent variety of food and activities were well organised. Staff were particularly lovely and always willing to help, thank you Jaytee for looking after us :)

We got a massage on the cruise, and wish the room was warmer given how cold it was this time of the year. It would be nice if tissues and were included in each room as well. Wifi is poor (we had better luck with data) but we were informed of this at the start.

We booked honeymoon suite, SUPER beautiful view, spacious balcony and room, very HAPPY with the roses, wine and decorations they prepared! Cruise manager Tom, assistant James and other crew members are all very warm-welcoming, smiling, polite and helpful all the time. Cleaning team super efficient too! Fun interesting activities, especially the last day of visiting the gorgeous caves with rafting boat, a lovely experience for us!

Good variety of food choices, although some meats are overcooked a bit and tough to chew, haha. But buffet options are great, happy that the team cherish feedback and always strive to improve. If we have free water/coffee/tea section throughout the day to drink anytime we want, that would be perfect!

Firstly, Jennie, Michael, Cherry and James (Dat) are rockstars! They made every effort to ensure all guests felt valued, heard and seen throughout the entire cruise. Special shout out to Jennie who spoiled us during meal times by reserving the best and most scenic views for our family. If you join Doris, do yourself a favor and ask for Jennie! I loved that the cruise had so many activities on offer but none of the pressure to join. We had the luxury to spend time relaxing on our own or engaging in the cooking demos, squid fishing, karaoke parties, etc if you so inclined. They understand the concept of a holiday and gave us time, space and options - what more can you ask for? Though, I would highly recommend doing the "caves" tour on the 2nd morning of the cruise - be sure to bring some cash to tip the rower. Though there were a few other cruises around, we did not feel overcrowded at all. I've been on previous Ha Long Bay cruises and it felt quite overwhelming with hoards of people. Tranquil, serene and relaxing! The transfer service through Doris will set you back $35 USD return trip but it's very well worth it. They pick you up and drop you off wherever you are in the Old Quarters. The reclining luxury leather chairs on the "bus" were super comfortable and with the blasting aircon with scorching 40C/95F heat outside, don't opt for any other mode of transport. Communicating with Anna post booking.com confirmation was seamless and straightforward. WhatsApp #FTW Overall, fantastic time!

Though I booked the tour via booking.com with a confirmed price/rate, do note that payment is still handled directly by Doris Cruise. As such, they will send you an email confirming with a link to pay online which will increase your total amount by 3.5% for processing fees. Otherwise, you can pay once you arrive at the marina before boarding the transfer boat to pay a 2.4% credit card fee upcharge. This was not well communicated as I was going through the booking,com process so did not feel great when these hidden fees came out of nowhere. NOT an issue had this been clear upfront. Anna was wonderful in her communications and was able to help rectify the gap in transparency.

Beautiful room

Beautiful room and ship. Chose the honeymoon suite for obvious reasons. Beautiful room, great size. Had everything we needed and more! The personal touches of cake and wine for us were lovely and so appreciated. Staff were so friendly and spoke very good English. Good activities on board and saw beautiful parts of the heritage site. Highly recommend this cruise.

Didn't realise that you have to get a small boat to the main cruise ship, which was approximately 1 hour on top, so keep this in mind when booking and arranging plans. You have to vacate your room by 10am and the boat by 11:30am if you are staying 1 night. We were unaware of this and booked a late afternoon transfer. Not much around the points where you board the ships/boats so waiting around was a bit rubbish.