Oriental Sails

Oriental Sails is an eighteen-cabin wooden boat on the classic Ha Long round: the climb at Ti Top and the Sung Sot chambers on the first afternoon, Luon Cave by sampan the next morning. She boards at the international cruise port on the Bai Chay side. On the halongbaytours.com listing read on 6 August 2026, her single grade, the Deluxe, was $220 for two on the one-night trip and $430 for two nights: from $110 per person, two sharing. How much does a Ha Long cruise cost explains what else goes on the bill.

How old is Oriental Sails, and what is she like?

Listings date her to 2009, with a refit in 2014. The operator gives her as 39.8 metres long and 7.55 wide, on two decks, with eighteen cabins for up to 40 guests and a crew of twelve. Three guests say the same thing and all three still gave five stars: two Germans in March 2024, and a guest in September 2024 who put it as the ship being old and smaller than the others before saying the service made up for it.

Every cabin is a Deluxe of 14 m², with a double or twin beds; ten are on the lower deck and eight on the upper. Photographs of the cabins show the detail: one looks out of a large window at a karst with waterfront buildings across the water, orange life jackets are stowed in a wooden cupboard beside the bathroom, and another cabin has a round porthole beside a glass shower. Wooden hull or steel and how old is your boat set out what upkeep on a wooden boat of this age involves.

Where does Oriental Sails go?

Round the central islands of Ha Long Bay, on the operator’s timetable. You leave Hanoi between 08:00 and 08:30, wait in the lounge at the port, and board between 12:00 and 12:30. She anchors in the Ti Top area. At 15:00 you walk through Sung Sot Cave, and at 16:00 you climb Ti Top Island and swim off its beach. Happy hour, a cooking demonstration and squid fishing or karaoke fill the evening.

The second morning starts with tai chi. At 08:00 a local rower takes you by sampan into Luon Cave. Cabins are cleared at 09:30, lunch is at 10:50 as she sails back towards the Bai Chay bridge, and you are ashore between 11:30 and 11:45, in Hanoi around 16:30.

The two-night trip adds a day boat to Lan Ha: the Dark and Bright caves, lunch on board, a swim at Ba Trai Dao (Three Peaches) and, at 14:45, the pearl farm museum, before you rejoin the ship at Ti Top. Our guides to Sung Sot Cave and caves and islands describe the stops.

The cost of the mainstream round is company. A five-star guest found the fifteen minutes spent floating under a cave dull, and a one-star guest counted fifty other boats at the stops. The three-star guest from May 2023 says the programme covers everything there is to do out there.

What do guests complain about?

The bar, and it comes from guests who otherwise liked the trip. A five-star guest in September 2024 puts beer at 69,000 and 79,000 dong a can and notes a happy hour that gives you four for the price of three. A four-star guest in March 2024 was told by their guide that the drinks bill could be settled at the end, then found it was cash only and had to borrow from someone in their group. A three-star guest in June 2024 paid 50,000 dong for a small can of water at meals, although the operator lists free water, so ask which applies. What is not included carries the rest of that list.

Food splits the guests. A Portuguese couple, both vegetarian, gave five stars and say the kitchen looked after them; a German guest found the set menu average but generous. A three-star guest in May 2023 calls the portions small and the standard mediocre while still saying the trip was worth the budget.

The single one-star came from an Italian guest in March 2026. They call the boat itself fairly well kept, then list stained table linen, a paper clip in one glass, staff they found unwilling, cocktails they describe as dirty water, stops shared with fifty other boats, a ten-metre beach that smelt of fuel, and a tip envelope brought to the table.

What is included?

The operator’s fare covers the port lounge, a welcome drink, meals, tai chi, entrance fees, the cooking class, the sampan or kayak at Luon Cave, swimming at Ti Top, squid fishing and internet. Drinks, the transfer from Hanoi and travel insurance are extra; a private dinner carries a $12 service charge per person. Children up to five go free and children from six to eleven pay a child rate. The operator also publishes its own per-person fares in dong, and its summer offer for August and September 2026 started at 2,390,000 dong a person for one night.

Who it suits

First-timers on a budget who want the famous stops and will treat the cabin as somewhere to sleep. It sits on the small boats list and under best value, and both are fair.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone for whom the room is half the holiday; 14 m² is small. And anyone after quiet water is on the wrong boat: this itinerary is built from the busiest stops in Ha Long. Give your driver the port’s full name, because the harbours here are easy to confuse.

Facts on this page come from orientalsails.com (read 14 October 2026) and the halongbaytours.com, besthalongcruises.com and originvietnam.com listings read on 6 August 2026.