The boat is an ideal size, not too big with something like 20 cabins, so there is plenty of room to move about without feeling like you are on a large ferry or cruise ship. The food was well presented with a good selection to suit most tastes. The organisation of events was seamless and credit must go to all the staff involved, particularly Huy and Tracy who seemed to be everywhere at exactly the right time. The trip was booked online some five months before our trip to Vietnam and the communication from the M'Gloria company was very timely throughout. There are two options to choose from, we chose the 3 days +2 nights option. Day 1 - We were picked up in Hanoi Old Town and the bus arrived bang on time to take us on the 3 hour journey to Tuan Chau. Huy (Hill) told us exactly what would happen next and after a journey of approximately 1 hour to join the M'Gloria cruise boat, we were greeted by the crew, shown to our cabins and then sat down for a welcome lunch. We sailed for a few hours taking in the spectacular views of the many small islands that are the feature of Ha Long Bay and, after a good buffet dinner, we enjoyed drinks on the terrace deck and watched the sunset. Day 2 - We went to Cat Ba island, where we took the lazy option of the electric car ride to the Viet Hai village rather than the more strenuous option of riding bicycles. Next came kayaking and some brave souls took a fast ride on the banana boat.We returned to M'Gloria for dinner and evening drinks, joining in with the cooking demonstration and learning how to make spring rolls. Day 3 - Up for an early start to enjoy a traditional boat trip through the Dark & Bright caves rowed by a local to a hidden bay where we were lucky to see a group of the monkeys that live on Cat Ba island hopping across the rocks.

Overall, the trip was very enjoyable and ended too soon so it is hard to identify something I didn't like without considerable thought. The only thing I can come up with is how every time we moored small boats would appear with a selection of items for sale and a person repeatedly shouting "buy something" at us even after we had said no. I appreciate that this is their livelihood and part of the overall experience so I should have embraced it but nonetheless I found it slightly annoying after the first few times. This is only my personal opinion and other people may have a different view.

The food was delicious, fresh and safe for travellers. The staff were kind, attentive and helpful. The lunch on the first day of arrival was my favourite meal - delicious 9 course set meal. All other meals were buffet style with oodles of options for all dietary/preferences and food was constantly replenished. Two nights was a perfect stay as we visited a small village on Cat Ba Island as an optional activity on the second day.

Though I extremely enjoyed my time on M’Gloria and would highly recommend to everyone, I didn’t appreciate some guests acting as if they were above others on a private boat and extremely rude and demanding of the kind staff who would still go above and beyond. Please be kind to the staff and other guests.

We really enjoyed our 3D2N stay on the M'Gloria Cruise. We were a family of 5 traveling with 2 teenagers and their grandma so we had 3 rooms. Genie was assigned to take care of her and she was amazing! She was so sweet and always checking to see if we had everything we needed. You go on the same boat whether doing 2D1N or 3D2N but they have a great system so you do not repeat a day. We had a hard time finding information about how this would work but it was great. 1 night people do the same excursion 2 night people do on their 3rd day. But 1 night people don't get to do the big excursion day which was about favorite. On the 2nd day you join up with the 2 night people on 2 other boats and go off on an adventure. We were taken really good care of (Genie even came with us) and were served an amazing lunch on that other ship. We had a day of biking on Cat Ba Island, jumping off the boat and swimming, and exploring deeper in Lan Ha Bay. Things you would not get to do if only doing 1 night. The rooms were really nice. Each room has a private balcony which was amazing to sit out and have a coffee or beer. We did morning sunrise Tai Chi both mornings. Huge turn out for that (at least on our ship). We really enjoyed our cruise and our time with Genie!!

Nothing

The boat is nice and Halong Bay is a beautiful place to spend some time in. Food was overall very nice except on the day activity boat. Staff was generally friendly and helpful. The room was nice, not 5* but with the amazing views it got compensated.

The overall experience is not equivalent to a 5* luxury experience as it is promoted, so adjust expectations here. Staff is quick to promote you to buy drinks at European prices which can become a bit annoying when you want to just relax. The gym is an outdoor area against a wall with 2 treadmills (1 broken) and a bench press, no ventilation. The activities can take up a lot of time, so be prepared for that. Beware of the transfer to Halong Bay, the bus stops at a pearl sales shop for 45min which is only 10min away from the embarkment location. Once at the embarkment location we had to wait another 1h20min. Knowing this, I would have preferred to just take a private transfer and leave Hanoi 2 hours later instead of rushing in the morning.

The food and drink service was great, although the cruise ran out of ice, so some drinks werent available the second day. Friendly and helpful staff. Kayaking was fun and we enjoyed the row boat ride through bright cave. The room was comfortable and the balcony was great.

I saw a bug on the dining table, and it crawled under my dinner plate. Also, we had trouble finding the departure location. The address we used took us to a big marina, but the actual departure point was on the other side of the harbor about 5 minutes away by taxi. We had to pay extra for the cab. There was a minor issue when booking, and they assigned us a junior suite instead of a senior suite. The staff were able to fix this promptly. Pretty good communication through email, booking.com, and zalo.

Fantastic stay here! The cruise is absolutely gorgeous and the itinerary was well worked out and great. You also don't have to do everything if you don't want to so we enjoyed relaxing and taking part in some activities. Drink prices were fine not that expensive and the food was lush! 100% recommend this cruise and visiting Ha Long! Tracy our host was also fantastic and took care of any dietary requirements too she was so lovely!

The stay was perfect! Better than anything we expected! The staff was great and very professional, especially Jasmine was a very kind, sweet, and helpful girl. We loved the food, and the activities were great! Wish we could get more time there!

Everything was fine! It would be nice if the staff had better working conditions, as when the customers were not in the restaurant the air conditioning was turned off and we felt bad for the staff having to work in the heat. Apart from that, everyone was very kind and nice.

The jacuzzi The food The views

It rained quite a bit and if made the steps slippery. I slipped down the steps and gashed my arm. There were no warnings at all about how danderouscrhey would be. The cut was deep and really needed stitches. Although we were pretty remote, M’Gloria had a totally inadequate first aid kit. I’m fact, our was better so my husband dressed the wound. I would also have expected some kind of good will gesture - such as waiving the bar bill - but they did not.

Boat was great, very comfortable, easy to walk around. All activities were punctual and properly planned.

Not related to the hotel directly, but we noticed lot of trash / waste / rubbish during the cruise. It would be great if all boats / cruises in that area could collectively organize cleaning, trash removal to keep the area clean, It was a pity see area with so much trash floating. My family and I when kayaking, removed several plastic on our way and brought them to the boat. Maybe they could give some nets to tourists when kayaking to as a way to educate, bring environment awareness to people.

the rooms was perfect as was the set up for a family it was very nice and neat and a lot of fun. be sure to do two night one is not enough to get a real feel and have a bit more time to relax and have fun.

To be honest only one small thing that didn’t impact the over all review. In the shower we accidentally broke a ceramic shampoo container (slippery container in a wet space not the smartest or safest) anyhow we were charged for it which I can understand but when you pay $2000 for a two night cruise charging for a $2 shampoo bottle seemed a bit much and threatening to change the poor host was a bit much. just. the level or service you’d expect from a classy outfit. A high end hotel would not do such a thing. the money wasn’t the issue it was the idea.