5 stars - Stunning everything, the excursion and our guide in no good great. But cruise, cruise room and bathroom, cruise food, and staff attention, all 5 stars

High level of service by this company and my contact person, Rosie. - i booked this trip through Secret Escapes, an English company with lousy service. However, as the whole roundtrip in Vietnam was organised bij Realistic Asia, i decided to contact this company whenever i had questions. My contacts were through Rosie and she was great. I encountered a number of problems during my trip, but none of them was caused bij Realistic Asia. My flight from Europe to Vietnam was cancelled due to wheather conditions. I arrived 7 hours too late in Hanoi and my luggage was dropped off in Bangkok. Rosie was fantastic in helping solve my problems. Two days later i got my luggage and her role was very positive. Whenever i contacted Rosie via WhatsApp, even weekend or evening, she responded within 15 minutes. Everything during my trip was organised perfectly and she verified regularly if everything was oke. I stayed in very good hotels and guides and driver were always there at the right time. The weather in the north was not too good, but obviously that is not the fault of Realistid Asia. I am very satisfied with the service of Realistic Asia and her golden girl Rosie. Highly recommended.

Great way to see both locations - Really enjoyed the Ninh Binh hikes, water excursion down the river, and in particular the Eco Lodge. It was amazing! Next Day, picked up and off to Ha Long. All transfers were handled seamlessly. (More than 15 min in the AM second day to have breakfast before pickup would be appreciated.) The cruise in the bay was very nice and lots of activities which we didn't avail ourselves with, just sat back and enjoyed the views.) Drinks INCLUDING COFFEE were pricy! Note to management, maybe drop the price, u will sell MORE and the fisherman will go back to fishing! Staff were very professional and helpful. Kudos to all their hard work.

Excellent experience - We were very happy with our tour organized by Johnny Pham - Hanoi - Ninh Binh - Aspira Cruise on Lan Ha Bay and Lavender Elegance Cruise on HaLong Bay. As this was not a standard itinerary, but customized per our request, there were a number of transfers. Johnny organized this extremely well, the tours were great and every transfer worked out perfectly. We did a couple tours in Ninh Binh and Trang An, then stayed at the Trang An Ecolodge. They were all wonderful, as well as both of the cruises on Lan Ha Bay and HaLong Bay! Thank you Johnny and all the tour guides!

2 nights is the way to go - We opted to do a 2 night tour instead of the 1 night that many go for. Our 2nd day of the tour was the best of the tour and was filled with activities that others doing the 1 night did not get to attend. Worth the extra stay - wish I packed my camera for day 2 where we had a beach to ourselves, a long kayaking tour, beautiful tour inside a fairy cave and visited a pearl farm. These pics are just from our last day.

Great experience in a beautiful place - We had a great cruise. Saw lots of amazing places and had a fun time with the others on our boat. We were very well fed and enjoyed activities. There were a few inconsistencies between the email communication and actual experience but didn't take away from the adventure. 3 day was good, saw more than 2 days and was more relaxed. Thanks Lavender

Trip with lavender cruise and bobby and thung - Basically Ha Long Bay is a must visit. We have chose 3d2n from hanoi and enjoyed every moment! Itinerary is great including relaxing time. Plenty and delicious food. We have started with 3 stars boat with ocean view room which was amazing with hot water and very good water pressure. Tour guide was Thung with average english. Visited titop island one hour before sunset and stayed till sunset came (wow view!) Second day we moved to daily boat visiting caves and pearl farm with kayaking, daily boat was lil old without sun cover at the top floor and broken toilet (don’t know if there are variety of boats or this is only one) this need to be improved. Tour guide was Lam with great english and knowledge. Promoted to elegance boat 4 stars at night with ocean view room, it is just amazing!. 3rd day we visited surprising cave. Tour guide was fun Bobby with excellent english, knowledge and responsibility!. Plenty and delicious food in all boats. Booked through their website by Annie Lee, she was very helpful and responsible. Thank you lavender, tour guides and Annie.

Boat & crew very good but itinerary disapointing - We loved the boat & the Lavender crew. Cabins are small but very nice & cozy and the staff extremely welcoming, helpful and friendly. Guide Arrow stole our heart & the bartender Lam made the world’s best coctails! We thought however that the route/itinerary was rather disapointing. We especially chose a 3D2N program thinking we would be sailing further into the bay and getting away from the traffic of the daytours & 2D1N cruises. BUT we stayed the 2 nights in the same spot...amongst hundred of other boats and still seeing the city lights!! During our full day (D2) we were sent out to another boat where we joined people from other cruises where as Lavender was maximising it’s capacity and finishing the program with the 2D1N passengers. The Lavender did not go to the floating villages which was also very disapointing but something we missed out when reading the description prior to the tour. Nevertheless we had a wonderful time but felt like the boat was maximising it’s capacity on the cost of the route, itinerary and exclusivity. Big hugs from Bananafamily to Guide Arrow & Bartender Lam that really made our trip!

An outstanding cruising - but lousy info and planning from the organizer Asia Fun Adventures! - A fantastic cruising - but lousy info and lousy planning from the organizer! This is not a cohesive tour, but a mix of tours. Several points in the program were dropped as a result of the organizer compromising to get the "coordination" together. For example, the program for day 2 included "Start the day early and enjoy a fantastic breakfast" - but the guide from day 1 informed us that the bus would pick us up at 07:00 which was the time the breakfast restaurant opened. He also said that we were only going to take the bus, that it wasn't that strenuous and that a little fruit for breakfast would probably be enough (!). We were three separate couples left from day 1 and we agreed to still try to get some breakfast and let the bus wait. At 07:05 we were told that the bus was waiting and that we had to come. At 07:15 we got on the bus (the two of us each had a banana and a yogurt in hand). There was no guide on the bus and the driver did not speak English. The information provided by the organizer was incredibly lacking during all three days! Guide was only available during day 1, and we also had no other contact with the organizer during the rest of the trip!! We travelers often had to ask each other. Eventually we realized we were booked on different tours and there was great confusion! Day 1: We didn't get any sightseeing or guiding about the ancient city of Hua Lo, but had a nice bike ride to a temple in the area. The boat trip on Trang Ans was nice - but a lot of time was wasted because the guide rushed off and the group split up. When it was time to go up to the Hang Mua viewpoint (or, according to the program, to alternatively visit the town of Hua Lo), we were told by the guide that we (three couples who had booked an overnight stay) would instead check into the hotel there, and then go to the top on your own. This because the rest of the group was going back to Ha Noi. We then also learned that unfortunately there was no alternative trip to Hua Lo. Due to bad knees, there was therefore neither a city tour nor a view point for us. The last thing the guide said was that during the evening we would be contacted by the next day's guide - which we never were, and that "the bus probably won't come before 07:10".! Day 2: As we described above, it all started with a hysterical breakfast and a chauffeur (as well as a number of new travelers) who were upset because they had to wait. After a confused pause along the road where no one knew how long we would stay or if there was time for breakfast, the journey continued to Tuan Chau. There it turned out that we were going on different cruising boats and the driver showed us off at different places by showing our names on his mobile (without a word of English and without us getting any tickets or other documents with us). Day 3: Upon returning to port after an outstanding 2-day cruise with La Regina Cruises (lareginacruises.com), we had received no information at all from the organizer about the transfer back to Ha Noi. As feared, we did not manage to find our bus. After 45 minutes we gave up and checked into a nearby hotel. Connected to the hotel's wifi, we then received a message (without the sender) that they couldn't find us! So very bad!!

Our worst experience in Vietnam - Our worst experience in Vietnam. Our first day was very pleasant though, our guide (Bang) was excellent and passionate. From the next day on, we were looked after by another very apathetic guide (Alex) and a cruise company that was clearly not up to scratch. It makes you wonder why the agency works with this company. The food was photogenic but tasteless. We had to pay for water at the table and were misled about poor-quality cocktail offers. The activities were tourist traps : - Cooking classes : Rolling a sheet of rice during 10 second that will be given to animals is not an activity. - Fishing : Putting a fishing rod in the water and wait for 1h because it’s not the fishing season is not an activity. As for the guide, his English was limited and we got very little information. At the end, we had to fill in a satisfaction questionnaire and the guide had the nerve to come up to us and tell us it was our fault if we weren't happy because we were French and it’s in our nature… We were then treated to a lecture on happiness after having spent 2 days putting up with his most apathetic behavior. It's worth noting that this was the second time I'd been given a lecture by the guide, who'd already done so with regard to the environment when I pointed out that the air-conditioning didn't work in our room. We’re used to travel and to do those kind of activities, we let tips and hegemonic reviews to almost all activities we do. We were looking forward to this one and are extremely disappointed.