24 Hours in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is an absolutely gorgeous destination that we unfortunately only had one night to experience. We stayed on the Elite of the Seas cruise ship for Christina’s birthday and the ship, like the area around it, was packed full of beauty and amazing experiences.

The Elite of the Seas

The Elite of the Seas is not a huge cruise liner, it has about 5 floors, a pool, a large dining room, a gym, a mini golf course and several very comfortable lounge areas. Our room was on the top floor near the captain’s quarters and had a balcony with a very nice view, a beautiful bath tub, and the room was very clean and barely fely like it was on a ship.

Some activities we were able to participate in were: kayaking, swimming in the pool, making spring rolls, mini golf, drone flying, and massages. The staff was incredibly friendly and accomodating thoughout the less than 24 hours that we were on board. The food was also phenomenal, our dinner was a 10 course meal that left us so full that after our massage that night we immediately passed out (and Sean may have fallen asleep on the table).

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO world heritage site and is now protected but we had heard rumors that pollution ran rampant so they are taking steps to clean it up. However, where we were on the ship, the water was perfectly clean despite there being several ships around us that could have been producing garbage.

In the morning, we visited a fishing village and some of the caves in the area. It was interesting that this was one of the only seven remaining fishing villages in the area when there used to be many. We imagine this is to prevent over fishing or maybe a shift in the industry to be more tourism focused. They did seem to retain a lot of aspects of their culture and lived in floating wooden houses with technology seemingly not being prevalent as it is in many other areas of Vietnam.

We Recommend!

If you’re ever in Vietnam and have the opportunity to visit Ha Long Bay, you absolutely should. There is a lot to learn about the culture and there is a lot of fun to be had whether you’re do a day trip, stay for a few days or just one. If you’d like to learn more about Ha Long Bay, you can also check out the video on our YouTube Channel for our full experience. Enjoy!