LH-32 · Lan Ha Bay
Orchid Luxury Cruise
Cabins 14
Launched 2026
From$240per person, two sharingread 6 Aug 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →LH-21 · Lan Ha Bay
Orchid Premium Cruise
Small boat · 5 cabins against a bay median of 22
Orchid Premium is a steel boat of five suites, and the smallest of them is 45 m² with a private terrace. Two to a suite, ten guests fill her, so a private charter is a realistic thing to ask about, and the operator promises a butler on call around the clock. On the halongbaytours.com listing read on 6 August 2026, the Terrace Suite for two was $580 for one night: from $290 per person, two sharing.
She is one of four boats Orchid Cruises, part of the Pelican group, sells under nearly the same name, alongside the Classic, the Trendy and the Luxury. Listings date her to 2019. She sails from the Orchid lounge at Lot 32, Tuan Chau Marina, into Lan Ha.
Which suite should you book?
Two Terrace Suites on the first deck are 45 m². Two Premium Terrace Suites on the second deck are 48 m², for $50 more a night. The single Orchid Premium Exclusive Suite, also on the second deck, is 65 m². Families can take two Terrace Suites joined together, 90 m², or two Premium Terrace Suites at 96 m². The cabins sit on two decks, with a sundeck and a jacuzzi above and a lower deck below.
What does Orchid Premium cost?
The halongbaytours.com sheet read on 6 August 2026 prices each cabin for two on the one-night trip: Terrace Suite $580, Premium Terrace Suite $630, Orchid Premium Exclusive Suite $830. Two nights, priced for the whole stay, run from $1,140 to $1,660. Two people sharing the Terrace Suite pay $290 each for one night. For a charter, add the five cabins together and ask the operator for a whole-boat price in writing.
The fare covers meals, an English-speaking guide, the cooking demonstration, tai chi, squid fishing, a welcome drink, insurance, sightseeing fees and VAT. Drinks, massage and the road from Hanoi are extra; the operator’s shared limousine is $45 a person for the round trip. Card payments carry a surcharge.
Where does Orchid Premium go?
The same one-night programme as the Orchid Classic. She leaves Tuan Chau after an 11:00 to 11:30 check-in, serves lunch from 12:45, and spends the afternoon at Ao Ech, the lagoon the operator calls Frog Pond. She anchors at Tra Bau. The next morning a bus takes you from the jetty to Trung Trang Cave on Cat Ba, brunch follows, and you are back at Tuan Chau between 11:00 and 11:30. The two-night trip is sold on request, so ask whether it runs as a charter for your dates.
The route stays on the Lan Ha and Cat Ba side and does not visit Ha Long’s best-known caves. If you are choosing between quiet water and the famous water, the difference between the three bays is worth reading before you spend $580 a night on the wrong one.
What do guests complain about?
Organisation. A group who chartered the whole Premium called it a three-star experience at a five-star price and put the blame on organisation, not the boat. Booking confusion recurs across the wider Orchid name: guests who thought they had booked one boat and sailed on another, and one who was unclear whether they had bought one night or two. Read the one- and two-star reviews yourself, and check which Orchid boat each one is about. What guests complain about sets these against the rest of the fleet.
The operator’s own terms, read on 14 October 2026, apply to every Orchid booking. For up to three rooms, cancelling 30 days or more ahead is free, from 29 to 15 days costs 50%, from 14 to 7 days 70%, and inside a week the full fare. Book four rooms or more and the free window starts at 45 days; a whole-boat charter is free to cancel only 60 days out. Our cancellation guide explains what to ask.
Who it suits
A party of eight or ten who want the boat to themselves, who will pin the itinerary down in writing before paying, and who can absorb a badly run transfer or a muddled arrival without the holiday turning on it. See the rest of the small boats for the alternatives, and the family list for boats with connecting rooms.
Who should look elsewhere
Light sleepers eyeing the Exclusive Suite. A guest who paid for it in April 2026 found the engine exhaust ran under its terrace and a generator below the bathroom ran all night. Ask which suite sits furthest from the engine before you pay. If the money is the point, the best-value list has boats under $200 a head, two sharing.
Facts on this page come from orchidcruises.com (read 10 August and 14 October 2026) and the halongbaytours.com, besthalongcruises.com and halongbaycruises.com listings read on 6 August 2026.
Why people book Orchid Premium
Book it if
- You want a five-suite boat with almost nobody else aboard, from $290 per person, two sharing, on a listing read on 6 August 2026
- You are pricing a full charter for eight or ten people, where a five-suite boat starts to make arithmetic sense
- A slow drift around the Lan Ha islands, with a morning at Trung Trang Cave on Cat Ba, is the trip you want
The decisions either side of it
Orchid Luxury Cruisethe cheaper option−$50
Hull 2026 against 2019
14 cabins against 5
Stellar of the Seas Cruisethe step up+$76
Hull 2018 against 2019
22 cabins against 5
Chosen by price proximity within the same bay, computed from our dataset — not by commission. We add no booking fee to any of them.
Our read
Orchid Premium is five large terrace suites and a butler on the Cat Ba side. Guests who name her mostly rate her five stars; the two low reviews are a 2022 charter that blamed the organisation and a 2026 guest kept awake by the generator under the Exclusive Suite. Book her as a charter, and get the itinerary and the boat name in writing.
Choose your cabin
Terrace Suite
45 m², double/twin, sea view, private balcony, on the 1.
45 m²Double/twinSea viewBalcony ✓1
In the room
Air ConditioningTelephoneBottled WaterIn Room SafeHair DryerBathrobesBalcony
Premium Terrace Suite
48 m², double/twin, sea view, private balcony, on the 2.
48 m²Double/twinSea viewBalcony ✓2
In the room
Air ConditioningTelephoneBottled WaterIn Room SafeHair DryerBathrobesBalcony
Orchid Premium Exclusive Suite
65 m², double, sea view, private balcony, on the 2.
65 m²DoubleSea viewBalcony ✓2
In the room
Air ConditioningTelephoneBottled WaterIn Room SafeHair DryerBathrobesBalcony
Family Premium Terrace Suite
96 m², double/twin, ocean view, private balcony, on the 2.
96 m²Double/twinOcean viewBalcony ✓2
In the room
Air ConditioningTelephoneBottled WaterIn Room SafeHair DryerBathrobesBalcony
Rates are the highest fare each listing published per cabin (rack rate, double occupancy unless marked) — treat them as the ceiling, not the floor.
What guests say
9.9/10
listings' average
from 237
reviews we read
reviews we read
2.7× the median review countOnly 1 boats score higher
This is not our score. It is the aggregate across the listings we track, and shows where Orchid Premium Cruise sits against the 108 boats we can score: a median of9.5 on 87 reviews. Scores in this bay cluster near the top (8–9.9), which is why we show you the review count as well.
That number is what we collected and read. The score beside it is the average the listings publish, computed on 131.
What's in the fare — and what isn't
In the fare
- Cabin
- All meals on the programme
- Kayaking
- Cooking demonstration
- Tai Chi
- Swimming (weather permitting)
- Squid fishing
- English-speaking guide
- Onboard service fee
- Welcome drink
- Two bottles of water in the cabin
- Onboard insurance
- Sightseeing fees
- VAT
- Wi-Fi (unstable at sea)
Not in the fare
- Massage
- Drinks other than breakfast and cabin water
- Personal expenses
- Card payment surcharge
From the operator's own published terms, read 14 Oct 2026.
Good to know
Who should look at something else
- Organisation matters as much as the cabin; a guest who chartered the whole boat in 2022 rated it three stars against a five-star price for exactly that reason
- You want Ha Long's headline caves; this route stays on the Lan Ha and Cat Ba side
- You are travelling alone; the operator prices each room for one or two, so a solo traveller pays the full cabin rate
Boarding times and the operator's terms
The boat's own timings
- Check-in, Orchid lounge (Lot 32, Tuan Chau Marina)
- 11:00–11:30
- Speedboat to the ship
- 11:45–12:00
- Lunch
- from 12:45
- Check-out (with brunch)
- 09:30–10:00
- Disembark, Tuan Chau Marina
- 11:00–11:30
- Back in Hanoi (if transfer booked)
- 14:30–15:00
Cancellation
Up to 3 rooms: 30 days or more before departure: free. 15–29 days: 50% of the fare. 7–14 days: 70%. 1–7 days: 100%. 4 or more rooms: free from 45 days; 30–44 days 50%; 14–29 days 70%; 1–14 days 100%. Whole-boat charters: free from 60 days; 45–59 days 25%; 30–45 days 50%; 1–30 days 100%. Bank fees are paid by the guest; no refund for no-shows.
Children
Bring a birth certificate for each child to show at check-in.
Single traveller
No separate supplement: rates are per room per night for single or double occupancy, so a solo guest pays the full cabin rate.
Weather and port closure
The authorities can postpone, shorten or cancel a trip. Cancelled before you leave Hanoi: full refund. After you reach Ha Long: services used (meals, transfer, day boat) are charged and the rest refunded. Shortened while on board: completed services are charged and the rest refunded.
Hanoi transfer
Not included in the fare. Shared limousine between the Hanoi Old Quarter and Tuan Chau port: US$45 per person return. Pick-up 07:50–08:20.
Per the operator's own terms on orchidcruises.com, read 14 Oct 2026. Rates, group sizes and booking channels can change the terms; your booking confirmation is what applies.
Which pier does Orchid Premium Cruise leave from?
Tuan Chau Marina. Drivers do occasionally go to the wrong harbour, so give the full name when you arrange your own transfer.
Before you book, read
- How much a Ha Long Bay cruise really costsThe figure in the advert is per person, and it is the cheapest cabin for two quietly halved. Across the 82 boats we publish with a two-day rate it runs from $105 to $423 per person, two sharing, and the dearest band draws bad reviews at almost the same rate as the cheapest once one boat is set aside.
- The most luxurious Ha Long Bay cruises, measuredThe stars on a listing are the boat's own word. We ranked the dearest boats on the one number the market sets, the price of the cheapest cabin, and put everything else we can check beside it.
- What a luxury Ha Long cruise actually buysPlenty of the boats we track call themselves luxury, and the word is doing less work than the price is. We split 6,838 reviews by what the cheapest cabin costs per person, and the money buys less than the bands first suggest. Most of the drop in bad trips at the top belongs to one boat.
Specifications · cross-checked 14 Oct 2026
Sheet LH-21- Cabins
- 5
- Launched
- 2019
- Hull
- Steel
- Bay
- Lan Ha Bay
- Departs from
- Tuan Chau Marina
- Decks
- 4
- Jacuzzi
- Yes
- Kayaking
- Yes
- Balcony
- Yes
Read for this boat: the operator's site, 3 independent listings. One dot per source, filled when that source publishes the figure. How we verify
Where this price sits in the bay
From$290
$100$200$300$400this boat
This boat · #39 of 42 priced on Lan Ha BayThe other 41 priced boats · median $155
We add no booking fee. The figure we show is half the cheapest cabin for two on the rate table we read, dated the day we read it.
Other boats on Lan Ha Bay
LH-02 · Lan Ha Bay
Stellar of the Seas Cruise
Cabins 22
Launched 2018
From$366per person, two sharingread 8 Oct 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →
LH-13 · Lan Ha Bay
Aqua of the Seas Cruise
Cabins 32
Launched 2023
From$205per person, two sharingread 11 Aug 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →