Doris Cruise

Doris is a steel boat of 24 cabins on Lan Ha Bay, launched in June 2022, and every cabin has a private balcony. You do not board her at the quay. You check in at the Doris waiting area at Dock 35, Tuan Chau Harbour, and a tender takes you out between 12:00 and 12:30. Guests put that leg at 45 minutes to an hour; the operator’s own timetable gives the return 45 minutes, from 10:45 at the ship to 11:30 on the quay. Budget the day around it.

There is a naming problem to settle too. The same company sells a newer ship, Doris Grand, through doriacruise.com, and halongbaytours.com now titles its Doris listing “Metta Cruise”, with the same Dock 35. A separate boat called Doria runs on the same bay from Lot 36. One guest booked Doria through an agent and says they were told to move to this older ship or lose the booking. Have the ship’s name typed onto your confirmation, and say in the same email that you will not accept a substitution.

Where does Doris go?

Out of Tuan Chau and south into Lan Ha, through the rocks of Ha Long on the way. Lunch is served at about one as she passes Con Vit, the Duck islet, and the Thumb, then runs by the harbour at Gia Luan on Cat Ba. In the afternoon she stops for a swim at Tra Bau or Ba Trai Dao. Kayaking is included, and so is the bamboo boat. The evening is a sunset party and a cooking class.

On the second morning tai chi is at 06:30, and at eight you go into Dark and Bright Cave by bamboo boat. Check-out is at 09:30, brunch at ten, and the tender leaves at 10:45. The operator’s bus has you back in Hanoi at about three.

The two-night trip gives the first afternoon to Tra Bau, from 15:30 to 17:00, with the jacuzzi on deck three for anyone who would rather stay aboard. On the middle day a day boat leaves at 08:45 for Viet Hai village, and from 10:30 to noon you get round the village by bicycle, or by electric car if you prefer. After lunch you reach the beaches of Ba Trai Dao at three and are back on Doris by five. Dark and Bright Cave moves to the final morning. How the three bays differ is worth reading if Lan Ha is not yet settled.

Where do you board, and how do you get there?

At Dock 35, Tuan Chau Harbour. The operator, besthalongcruises.com and halongbaytours.com name the same dock, and the operator asks you to be there between 11:30 and noon. Drivers mix up the harbours here, so give them the dock number and read which harbour you leave from before the day.

The Hanoi transfer is not in the fare. The shared shuttle collects from the Old Quarter between 08:00 and 08:30, and halongbaytours.com’s answers to guests in 2025 and 2026 put it at $30 a person for the round trip.

Which cabin should you book?

There are four classes, on the counts halongbaycruises.com gives: ten Junior cabins on the first deck, ten Senior cabins on the second, two Executive suites with a terrace on the second and two Honeymoon suites on the third. besthalongcruises.com and halongbaytours.com list the Junior and Senior at 35 m², the Executive at 45 and the Honeymoon at 60. Two of the Junior and Senior rooms take three, with a queen and a single, and a double and a twin connect by a door to make a family room. The sundeck and sky bar are on the fourth deck, and the jacuzzi pool sits at the bow of deck three.

Prices for Doris come by quote. Get one in writing for a named cabin on a named date, and ask which deck it is on.

The fare covers your meals, two lunches, a dinner and a breakfast on the one-night trip, along with a welcome drink, entrance fees, the kayaks and bamboo boat, an English-speaking guide, tai chi, the cooking class, fishing gear, cabin Wi-Fi with satellite TV, and on-board insurance. Drinks, tips and the transfer are extra. Agencies apply their own cancellation and child terms, so read the ones on your quote, and see how cancellation works here.

What do guests say about the cabins?

They disagree, and the split follows the room you were given. One guest describes rooms that felt very new and impeccably clean. A two-star guest on the same ship reports stained walls, linen that had not been changed and a bathtub nobody had cleaned. Another at two stars describes a persistent damp smell and trouble with the air conditioning, and says the ship looked appealing in photographs and tired in person. For a boat launched in 2022, that is a lot of wear, so ask for recent photos of the cabin you are offered.

The rest of the low reviews are specific and worth having. The guest who scored every category gave the Wi-Fi a straight fail. Food is the commonest complaint: one guest called it bland and tasteless, and another, who rated the breakfast buffet highly, says there is no fine dining on board whatever the listing suggests. Space is tight at the evening event, where a guest says they had to stand. One guest says the staff let inconsiderate passengers do as they pleased.

The good reviews are consistent about the crew, the balcony views and the jacuzzi. One guest who liked everything else notes that the dressing gowns and flip-flops were cut too short for a tall person.

Who is Doris for?

Travellers who want the quieter side of the archipelago and a programme that takes in Viet Hai and Dark and Bright Cave, who are happy to enquire for a price, and who will not be upset by a tender at each end. She is on the Lan Ha list.

Look elsewhere if you want to compare cabin prices side by side before you enquire; the best-value list shows a dated cabin figure for each boat. The same goes if a worn cabin would spoil the trip for you.

Where these facts come from

The dock, the times, both programmes, the inclusions and the cabin type names come from doriscruise.com, read on 10 August 2026. Cabin counts and decks are from halongbaycruises.com, sizes from besthalongcruises.com and halongbaytours.com, and the launch year and hull from those three agencies, all read on 6 August 2026. The shuttle fare is from halongbaytours.com’s answers to guests. Guest remarks are from Google reviews.