Lyra Grandeur Cruise

Lyra Grandeur went into service in August 2025 and sails Lan Ha Bay out of Tuan Chau, with 33 suites on three cabin decks, every one of them with a balcony or a terrace. The cheapest, a first-deck suite of 32 m², was $390 a night for two on the halongbaytours.com rate sheet read on 28 October 2026: from $195 per person, two sharing.

She comes from Viet Star Cruise, the company behind Capella. One guest who had stayed on both rated the service on each highly and singled out some of the Lyra crew as exceptional, the guide Tyler among them.

What are you booking?

Mostly, a crew. Guests name staff again and again, Tyler and Teddy most of all.

After the crew, guests write about the things to do. The operator sells a heated pool with a jacuzzi beside it on the first deck, a floating pool in the sea and an eight-metre inflatable waterslide. One guest in November found the pool warm. Guests also mention the tai chi session on deck at sunrise, the kayaking and a cooking demonstration. The operator’s own programme adds squid fishing and a film with popcorn after dinner. The Sea Memory Spa, an outdoor Nordic sauna and a fitness room are on board, though guests barely bring them up.

Which suite should you book?

Twenty-three of the 33 suites are 32 m², sold under three names by deck: ten on the first, six Harmony Suites on the second and the Sky Suites on the third. The higher deck costs more. Above those the floor area climbs in steps: the first-deck family suite at 44 m², the Sky Terrace Suites at 45, the Harmony Family at 48, the Sky Terrace Family at 53, La Suite de Lyra at 57, the Duplex Family at 64 over two levels, and the Owner Suite at 92. Put the square metres against the class name on your invoice before you pay a deposit, because listings quote whichever class suits their headline.

Drinks are extra, and breakfast ends at 7:30

Three reviews give it fewer than five stars. The first to read before you book is from January 2026: that guest found breakfast closing at 7:30 on the dot and no drinks included, soft drinks among them. Two guests writing in Hebrew, in September and October 2026, say the set dinner left little for anyone who does not eat seafood, and one of them also found the service poor. Two five-star guests mention smaller snags: a confirmation email that arrived under the Capella name, and a shower that is visible from outside unless you draw the curtain.

The breakfast time is built into the timetable. One listing runs a light breakfast from 6:15 to 7:30, overlapping a cave trip that starts at 6:45, so if you skip tai chi, set an alarm anyway.

The operator runs a buy-two-get-one happy hour on the sundeck at sunset, and every drink goes on your bill. So do spa treatments, the stand-up paddleboards and the Sea Melody mini-theatre. Get the drinks policy in writing before you board, and see what is not included for the rest of what a cruise bill can pick up.

How do the two days run?

Check-in is at the operator’s lounge at Tuan Chau International Port, Lot 20B, from about 11:30, and a tender takes you out to the boat. Lunch runs from about 13:00 to 14:30, and she anchors at Ao Ech, which the operator calls Frog Lagoon, around 15:00. You then get an hour and a half there to kayak or swim. Happy hour starts at 17:00, the cooking class follows it, and dinner is at 19:00. How the bays differ covers the longer sail.

Day two starts early. Tai chi is at sunrise. From 6:45 you are in a kayak or a rowed bamboo boat heading into the Dark and Bright Cave. The operator clears cabins between 9:00 and 9:30, so pack before you go out. Brunch follows on board and you are back at Tuan Chau by about 11:00. The operator’s D-Car limousine collects from Old Quarter hotels between 8:00 and 8:30 on the way out and leaves Tuan Chau around 11:45 on the way back; agencies sell it at $35 to $53 a person for the round trip. Which harbour you leave from covers the other departure points if you are arranging your own car.

The three-day trip spends much of its middle day away from Lyra. A fast support boat drops you at Viet Hai at 8am, and you go round the village by bicycle or electric car; Three Peaches Beach and a tea ceremony are on the same day. Viet Hai is the stop that turns up on more boats’ routes than any other in our data, 32 of the 76 boats that list their stops (our count, 14 October 2026). One German guest on that trip spent a night on each of two boats, moved across during the Cat Ba day because a boat was full. Ask which boat both of your nights are on. The operator also sells a four-day trip that adds Trung Trang Cave.

What does Lyra Grandeur cost?

The halongbaytours.com rate sheet read on 28 October 2026 prices this boat by the cabin. One night for two starts at $390 on the first deck, $430 in a Harmony, $470 in a Sky. From there it steps up hard: $690 for a Sky Terrace Suite, $890 for La Suite de Lyra. Family rooms are priced for the room, so $760 takes the 44 m² family suite with four in it and $1,020 the Harmony Family with five, and the Duplex Family tops the one-night sheet at $1,070. The operator’s own site, read on 10 August 2026, starts at $490 a cabin for two, so an agency quote can come in well under the direct price.

The two-night sheet quotes the whole trip in a single figure: $780 for the cheapest cabin, $950 for a Sky, $2,120 at the top. Divide those out and the second night costs almost exactly what the first one cost, a ratio of 1.98 across all nine rows. Across the 57 boats where we hold both sheets the median is 1.95 (measured 8 October 2026), so Lyra sits close to the norm. Two days or three is the longer version of that argument.

The operator asks for full payment once the booking is confirmed, and no later than 60 days before sailing. Children up to four go free on existing bedding, children from five to eleven pay a surcharge, and from twelve they pay as adults. The operator’s terms allow two adults and a child in a suite; the family rooms on the halongbaytours.com sheet are sold for four or five. If the bay authority stops sailings, the operator’s terms say a trip you have partly used does not qualify for a refund, so read the terms before you pay.

Who it suits

Couples who want a balcony on a boat in her second season. Families too: five of the classes are sold as family rooms, one of them sleeps five, and they run from 44 to 64 m². The family boats category has the alternatives if the dates do not work.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone who books on a track record. A boat with one full year behind her has had little time to show how she handles a bad day. Capella, from the same operator, has a much longer record, and the Lan Ha Bay page lists everything else sailing the same water. If a new boat is the point, our new boats category collects the other recent launches.

This page draws on lyracruises.com (read 10 August 2026) and the halongbaytours.com, halongbaycruises.com, besthalongcruises.com and originvietnam.com listings read on 6 August 2026.