Big Promotion for Halong Cruises 2012

The Summer is coming and let’s get more excited with our Cruise Summer Promotion. Full benefits at amazing rates, applied for all cruises showing in VietnamCruiseTrips.com. Check the best highlights of Promotion are of Halong cruises and stay tuned for next post with bigger deals in Mekong River Cruises:

Paradise Peak Halong cruise - top 5 stars: now at 465US$/pp vs regular 539US$/pp
Paradise Peak is Paradise Cruises’ latest masterpiece, a sumptuous floating hotel that has redefined the boundaries of Five Star cruising by providing a supreme level of luxury to its prestigious passengers. Similar to our Paradise Luxury vessels in appearance, Paradise Peak Halong offers in total 8 stately suites for an infinite comfort and care. All facilities have been designed with the utmost elegance and the crew composed to ensure a guest service worthy of the most remarkable grand hotels. Designed to offer you exceptional services, Paradise Peak Halong features the most spacious spa facilities and the very first and only library and fitness room among Ha Long cruises.

Paradise Peak Halong on the bay

Paradise Luxury Halong - 5 stars: now at 205US$/pp vs regular 228US$/pp
Cruising with Paradise Halong Fleet is like HEAVEN ON EARTH. By choosing a unique design and the finest natural materials --precious dark wood, creamy silk, crispy white linen, sea-blue taffeta, fine textured marble, delicate china and silver accessories—we have blended contemporary comforts with the richness of Vietnamese design. Lounge on a heavenly-soft bed with wide open view to Halong Bay. Each of Paradise Cruises’ 17 cabins delivers the ultimate in luxury and comfort, with an attention to detail and hints of local colour.

Violet Halong junk - top 5 stars: now at 265US$/pp vs regular 320US$/pp
Launched on November 2009, our five star junk - the Halong Violet junk - fitted out in the 1930’s Indochine style. It featured a boutique dinning room, library & lounge, Spa & Gym and 6 individual theme cabins with marble bathroom, Jacuzzi & balcony. The junk also cruise its own way away from the crowd to untouched areas of the bay. Halong Violet is the ideal place for honeymooners, small family or couples of friends who want to discover an exotic areas while still enjoy the elegant comfort.

Halong Violet junk - Suite cabin

Indochina Sails - best 4 stars: now at 150US$/pp vs regular 170US$/pp
Sail the mysterious Halong Bay in a deluxe Chinese styled Indochina Sails Junks that has been designed in the tradition of Le Tonkin.
With more than 10 years participating in the tourism trade at Ha Long Bay with an experienced group of ships, Indochina is a reliable trademark. Up to now, 6 more deluxe ships namely Indochina Sails 1, 2, 3, Indo Premium and 02 luxury cruise named Valentine and Valentine Premium come into use, increasing the number of customers served many times higher then before.

The discount for 3 days programs and much more offers, check out at http://www.vietnamcruisetrips.com/Cruising_Halong_bay/

*All discounts is for 2 days 1 night program, valid for bookings from 1May till 30 Sep 2012 and exclude Hanoi – Halong – Hanoi transfer.

How to choose the best Mekong cruises???

The Mekong Cruises is much different than Halong bay cruise depending on the natural fact. The cruise programs in Halong bay run as a circle meaning embark and disembark in at the same pier. The cruises on Mekong sail along the flow of the river then they only go up or down the stream which means they embark and disembark in another pier.


For short cruises in Mekong, the most popular piers are Cai be and Can tho so almost programs embarks or disembarks there. The reputing fleet on these short trips must be Bassac cruises. They have 03 cruises in their fleet then they can rotate the cruises to ensure that there is a cruise embarking daily. Previously, The Bassac offered trips access to Chau Doc, or Sa Dec but recently, these programs have been suspended due to low request volume. The only way to sailing to these places is charter the cruise. But in case of chartering, the best choice moves to Song Xanh sampans

For the longer trips, mostly running from Sai gon to Siem reap, the cruise companies has fixed embarking schedule. Each program often lasts in 8 days up and down the Mekong River. Each cruise company has 2-3 cruises in the fleet. The difficulty of booking is firstly to find out the suitable embarking date, secondly when finding an embark, to get the availability on board. Today, there are only about 10 cruises running such long trips with about 10-42 cabins each while the demand is much higher. That’s why the passengers are advised to make reservation at least few months earlier to get desired cabins and even an Early bird discount.


Some most popular cruises for the long trips are RV Jayavarman, RV Jahan, RV Pandaw, RV La Marguerite, RV Amalotus cruise. It is hard to choose which one is the best among them. Actually, they can be used as an alternative for others. Now, RV Jayavarma and RV Jahan launched Promotion on Summer with discount upto 15%: RV Jayavarman (For embark on 16 June and 04 Aug 2012) and RV Jahan cruise (for embark on 14 July 2012) + 01 Voucher of Private Candle Light Dinner value for 02 persons

How to find a Halong junk best fit you?

Vietnam has two places that passengers can take cruise: Halong bay and Mekong River. Both of those names are very popular in geographical aspect, and so is cruising destination. This post is going to discuss some general ideas to pick a cruise best fitting interests and budgets

Halong bay, yes it is, the most well-known place of Vietnam for all travelers. Many things making this fame can be listed but the most widely known is twice recognized as Natural World Heritage. And best activity in Halong bay must be sailing. Recent years, cruising trips in Halong widely extend to overnight trip on-board. Today, there is hundreds of cruises (actually wooden junks) operating their business in Halong bay. Due to the rapidly increasing number of Halong junks, the competition has been becoming tougher and tougher which eventually help customers enjoy many benefits. Cruising in Halong bay has never been that easy and cheap

The passengers should know that cruising route here is nearly similar for all junks. Cruise companies just adjust the itinerary a little to best fit to junks’ size and piers then reorder the visiting sites making it sound different. Moreover, the itinerary runs as a circle meaning embark and disembark at the same pier. Each company often has some junks in their fleet then cruises in Halong bay actually can embark everyday. With overnight trips, there are two typical programs: 2 days and 3 days. For longer trips, the passengers are expected to charter the cruise. So when choosing a Halong junk, two features only should be taken into account: boat size (length, width, how many cabins? How many passengers max onboard? ect) and price. This feature is very much different from Mekong cruises which will be told in next post

There is a general rule: the bigger the junk is, the lower privacy it can offer. The junks in Halong today widely differ in size from: very private 01-02 cabin per boat (like Princess cruise), to small ones 5-6 cabins (like Violet and Valentine) up to 14-17 cabins per boat (most popular like: Jasmine, Indochina Sails) and even 32 cabins (like Victory Star cruise). The services on board is various too, from standard ones (as famous, long-standing Bait ho junks), to deluxe and affordable (like Dragon Pearl, Emotion, Oriental Sails), or luxury ones (like Indochina Sails, Ginger, Jasmine) or beyond-your-imagination services of which Violet and Paradise are most typical. Thanks to that, price for a trip here can widely range from about 120$ per person up to 400US$ person for 1 night trip. With longer trip and/or some additional services, the price is more. To sum up, passengers pick a suitable cruise very much depending on the expected privacy and budget. Great news is almost Vietnam cruise agents offering price including all service charges and taxes, then you do not have to pay any extra for taxes.

Based on our own experience (VietnamCruiseTrips.com and HolidayIndochina.com/cruises) and our customers’ feedbacks: the best luxury cruise in Halong bay now is Violet. The luxury services but most affordable cruise is Indochina Sails. The top picked cruises are Jasmine junk and Indochina Sails. The best standard cruise is Bait ho junks

Let it rain! Travelling in South East Asia's wet season

I got up this morning and found my mood so down due to rainy, stormy weather outside. Today, a day in early of October in Hanoi, should a wonderful autumn day with cool breeze, yellow sunshine and extremely comfortable. Riding on my motor bike under cold rain to office, I just thought about travellers who by chance now here in Hanoi. How disappointed they might find because of this unfavorable weather, I thought??? Taking bad mood to office, opened my computer, started surfing Internet for some work then this post appeared in my eyes. Interesting post!!! Happen perfectly match my situation. Yes, it is!!! It's rainy, then ... What's up! Let it rain, we enjoy in our own way!!!

"It’s the rainy season in Southeast Asia. Don’t worry, it probably won’t rain all the time – probably just in the afternoon (admittedly, rather a lot). Even though the rainy season gets a bad reputation, chances are you’ll get sunny, dry mornings and some unexpected bonuses:

Cooler temperatures: in a lot of Asia, the rain drops the mercury and provides some sweet relief from the heat. You may get wet, but you won’t melt.

Fewer tourists: you don’t often get a chance to feel alone in Asia. If getting a bit of space is what you’re after, the rainy season is your best bet.

Lower prices: more splashing of the water, less splashing of the cash. Fewer travellers and lighter demand on accommodation and services means lower prices.

Greener greenery: every cliché you’ve ever heard about the lush greens of the tropics is true. You really haven’t seen green till you’ve seen green in the tropical wet season.

Easier storm-chasing: There’s actually no chasing to be done. Just hunker down somewhere dry with a view (bars are good for this) and watch nature work her magic. Watching tropical storms roll in is pretty spectacular.

Better photos: lightning, dramatic colour changes, dark storm clouds - these are the ingredients of photos way cooler than the blue-skies-and-fluffy-white-clouds kind.

Great excuses: there’s nothing like a bit of torrential rain for an excuse to just do nothing. Lie in bed and listen to the rain. Sit under a deck and watch it. Read. Play cards. Be on holiday. Don’t feel guilty about not exploring that cave or climbing that mountain.

Funnier sights: sit back and watch those who don’t let the rain ruin their parade – plastic-poncho-clad school kids balancing umbrellas on bicycles; hundreds of brollie-wielding pedestrians passing one another in the street without causing injury (more photo opps).

More excuses: if you get caught out, and get stuck at a shelter or a bar (oops) while the storm hits, chances are you won’t be alone, and if ever there were a legitimate time to engage in a conversation with a stranger (maybe start with the weather)…

Try out a trip in the wet season. You’ll be in for a treat. So, where will you watch the rain from?

By Louise Clarke - Lonely Planet Author"

Posted by Liz - Holiday Indochina

Tags: travel information, Vietnam weather, travel tips, best photos holiday, Vietnam holiday in wet season, Indochina holiday in wet season, Indochina holiday guide

Tips for best Vietnam Cooking holiday

Have you ever seen Master Chef US or Australian? I see this program regularly and admire the passion and talent of all candidates. However when I saw 2 judges introducing the cooking method of Pho - Vietnamese traditional noddle - I hardly recognized our country's specialty. I don't try to decry the judges (in fact I loved them and their humor), but the cooking's changed much after being introduced to a non-original culture then that'll always be best to learn a traditional cooking in its homeland country. Luckily, I found an writer of Lonely Planet also sharing the same idea with me through one of her post.

Here is her experience while enjoying and tasting Vietnamese cuisines in a Cooking Class at Hoi an Ancient town - one of Vietnam Cultural world Heritage. Hope you can find good information here:

"One of the best travel souvenirs you can bring home is the ability to cook some of the local dishes you sampled on your journey. Cooking courses are becoming more and more popular as a travel activity, so we asked Lonely Planet staffer Ellie some questions about her culinary experience in Hoi An, Vietnam.

What made you decide to do a cooking course?

I’ve always been a bit intimidated by cooking Asian food, so wanted to learn more about it – and where better than in the birthplace of the cuisine itself? I also didn’t want to spend my whole Vietnam trip just travelling from place to place – it was important to me to stop in places and get involved in local culture and activities.

How did you find your course and why did you choose that particular one?

I did a bit of online research before I went, but I ended up asking travellers when I got to Hoi An. I ended up finding the Red Bridge school purely by through word of mouth. I wanted to do a course with some depth to it, so went for the full day course.

What was the general framework of the course?

The course ran from 8am to 3pm and involved a range of different activities. We went to a market first thing in the morning to buy our produce for the day, and we were then were taken to see an organic herb farm run by a local family. The cooking itself took about four hours, and we got to participate in pretty much everything – from making rice noodles for the pho to barbecuing to pickling vegetables and even making decorations out of food. We made four Vietnamese dishes from scratch during the day, including grilled chicken and banana flower salad, and claypot fish with dill, all of which we got to eat at the end. The ‘kitchen’ was set up outside next to a swimming pool which we could use during the day, and the course ended with us being taken back to Ho Chi Minh City by boat.

What sort of people did it attract?

There were only three of us on the course – the other two being a young Australian couple – which meant that we got to have a go at pretty much everything, which was fantastic. There was a half-day course running alongside which was much busier.

What was the tastiest thing you made?

It was all amazingly tasty, but the dish I was proudest of making was the pho – Hanoi beef and rice noodle soup. We made both the stock and the rice noodles from scratch, which was something I never thought I would do!

Have you put those cooking skills to use at home?

Errrrm… I had every intention of doing so and kept the recipe booklet they provided us with, but to be honest haven’t made anything. I guess with so many Vietnamese restaurants near where I live there hasn’t been much need!

Has it inspired you to do more courses?

Spending the day out of busy HCMC and learning new skills was definitely a highlight of my trip to Vietnam and something I will always remember. I’ll definitely do another cooking course on my next trip, wherever that might be.

What advice would you give someone looking to do a cooking course in Hoi An?

If you’re going to do it, do it properly. There’s not much point in signing up for a two-hour or half-day course, you won’t get to do or see much. I’d commit to at least a day and find a course that not only shows you how to cook but other aspects of local life too. " - By Ellie Cobb/ Lonely Planet Author

Enjoy your Cooking ^^!

Tags: Vietnam cuisine and food, Pho Vietnam, Vietnam gourmet adventure, Vietnam culinary, Cooking class Vietnam trips, Vietnam holiday to reveal cuisine, cooking and homestay Vietnam holidays, Vietnam cruise and cooking, Vietnam homestay holiday, food & culture viet nam holiday, Vietnam tasty holiday, Vietnam holidays;