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A close aerial view of a white four-deck cruise boat with a dark hull band and hull number QN-9386 on the bow, sailing on calm green water in Ha Long Bay.
A close aerial view of a white four-deck cruise boat with a dark hull band and hull number QN-9386 on the bow, sailing on calm green water in Ha Long Bay.
A white multi-deck cruise boat with guests on the upper deck, seen from the water at golden hour with limestone karst islands behind it.
A white multi-deck cruise boat with guests on the upper deck, seen from the water at golden hour with limestone karst islands behind it.
A white four-deck cruise boat sailing across calm water in front of forested limestone islands under a clear sky.
A white four-deck cruise boat sailing across calm water in front of forested limestone islands under a clear sky.
An open-air dining deck at sunset with tables set with white linen and red napkins, string lights and a view of limestone islands.
An open-air dining deck at sunset with tables set with white linen and red napkins, string lights and a view of limestone islands.
An indoor restaurant with tables set with napkins and glasses, a patterned tile floor, curtains and large windows onto the bay.
An indoor restaurant with tables set with napkins and glasses, a patterned tile floor, curtains and large windows onto the bay.
A lounge corner with a tufted brown leather banquette, a marble-top table and fresh flowers beside floor-to-ceiling windows on the bay.
A lounge corner with a tufted brown leather banquette, a marble-top table and fresh flowers beside floor-to-ceiling windows on the bay.
A jacuzzi with water jets on the sundeck, with a wood-panelled railing and a view across the bay to limestone islands.
A jacuzzi with water jets on the sundeck, with a wood-panelled railing and a view across the bay to limestone islands.
A wood-floored outdoor walkway along the side of the boat with a white railing, looking out over the bay at sunset.
A wood-floored outdoor walkway along the side of the boat with a white railing, looking out over the bay at sunset.
A cabin with two twin beds in white linen, teal cushions, bedside lamps and a window with limestone islands outside.
A cabin with two twin beds in white linen, teal cushions, bedside lamps and a window with limestone islands outside.
Twin beds with white linen and teal cushions beside a large window with curtains, with limestone islands outside.
Twin beds with white linen and teal cushions beside a large window with curtains, with limestone islands outside.
A cabin with a large window facing the bay between brown curtains, with white beds, a wall lamp and a framed painting.
A cabin with a large window facing the bay between brown curtains, with white beds, a wall lamp and a framed painting.
A cabin with a double bed in white linen and a teal cushion, a tray ceiling with warm lighting, a framed painting and a bay-view window.
A cabin with a double bed in white linen and a teal cushion, a tray ceiling with warm lighting, a framed painting and a bay-view window.
A double bed with a teal cushion facing a wide window with a view of the bay, with a tray ceiling and a framed painting.
A double bed with a teal cushion facing a wide window with a view of the bay, with a tray ceiling and a framed painting.
A cabin window seat with orange cushions beside a large window with curtains and a bay view, with the foot of the bed in front.
A cabin window seat with orange cushions beside a large window with curtains and a bay view, with the foot of the bed in front.
A top-down aerial view of a white cruise boat with a green sundeck and white parasols on dark green water.
A top-down aerial view of a white cruise boat with a green sundeck and white parasols on dark green water.
HL-36 · Ha Long Bay

Secret Halong Cruise

2 days · 1 night · 12 cabins · launched 2025 · Cross-checked 12 Oct 2026 ↓

Price on request
Check availability
Newer hull than 26 of 29

Secret Halong Cruise puts a new boat on the classic one-night route through Ha Long Bay. Its operator, Bien Ngoc Cruises, gives June 2025 as the launch date and lists a jacuzzi, a sauna, two bars and a 130 m² restaurant aboard. You board at Tuan Chau at noon, see Me Cung Cave and paddle at a pearl farm that afternoon, and swim or climb at Titop Island the next morning.

What are you booking on Secret Halong?

A newer boat under an older name: Secret Halong today is the boat its operator says began sailing in June 2025. The operator’s own photos show a white hull with a green sundeck, “Bien Ngoc” lettered on the bow and the registration QN-9386 beside it. If a photo you are sent shows a wooden hull and a red sail, it is the boat that carried the name before.

The operator calls the trip a boutique journey and does not give the boat a star rating, so we file it with new boats and small boats and keep it off our luxury list. The dining room has wide glass windows on the bay. Rooms come in two classes, Standard and Superior, and the operator’s Vietnamese page says the air conditioning in each heats as well as cools, which counts on a January night.

How does the two-day trip run?

Secret Halong boards at 12:00 and docks at 11:00 the next day, with three stops between. These are the times on the operator’s own itinerary.

Time What happens
12:00 Board at Tuan Chau International Harbour
13:00 Lunch in the restaurant
15:00 Me Cung Cave; the operator points out sea shells fixed to the walls and traces of prehistoric life
16:30 The boat moves to a pearl farm area, where you can take a kayak out
17:30 Sundeck time, and a spring-roll cooking class
19:00 Dinner, with fresh seafood
20:00 Music in the bar, or night fishing off the boat
06:00 Thirty minutes of Tai Chi on the sundeck
07:00 Pastries, coffee and tea
08:00 Titop Island: swim, stay on the beach, or climb the steps to the summit viewpoint
09:00 Back on board
09:30 Check out of your cabin
09:30 onward Brunch while the boat sails back past Fighting Cock and Stone Dog islets
11:00 Off the boat at Tuan Chau Marina

The weak point of the Secret Halong programme is the second morning. Titop is the one stop, you leave your cabin at 09:30, and the last ninety minutes are brunch on the move. The kayak outing on day one is an hour at most before the cooking class starts; our kayaking in Ha Long guide covers what a pearl farm paddle is like. The itinerary names Tuan Chau International Harbour for boarding and Tuan Chau Marina for the return; both point to Tuan Chau’s passenger port, so ask which gate your driver should use. Our guide to which harbour you leave from explains the Tuan Chau options.

Which Secret Halong cabin should you ask for?

The Superior, if you want a balcony you can count on. Both sources agree it has one; for the Standard they disagree.

Cabin Where Size Beds Window Balcony
Standard not stated 12 m² (one reseller) twin (reseller); operator: various panoramic, sea view operator yes, reseller no
Superior upper floor (operator) 12 m² (one reseller) double (reseller); operator: various panoramic, sea view yes

The operator’s room list gives both classes their own air conditioning and power sockets. The 12 m² figure comes from halongbaycruisedeals.com alone, and it is the same for both classes. For how these sizes sit against the rest of the fleet, see what your cabin gets you.

What does a night on Secret Halong cost, and what is included?

Price on request. The operator’s site has a reservation form and no rates, and the one reseller we found that lists the 2025 boat showed no price when we read it on 12 October 2026. Ask for the total per cabin for your date, with the cabin class named. Our guide to what a Ha Long cruise costs shows the two-day rates other boats publish.

The operator prints no list of what the fare covers. Its itinerary lists lunch, dinner and the morning meals, the kayaks at the pearl farm, the cooking class and the visits to Me Cung Cave and Titop, and the reseller lists kayaking as complimentary. Ask in writing whether cave and island tickets, drinks and the road from Hanoi are in the price; our guide to what is not included lists the usual extras.

Is Secret Halong right for a first Ha Long trip?

Yes, for couples. They get the classic stops on a small boat, with a sauna and a jacuzzi for a cool evening and sundeck time set aside after the kayaks. You are back on the quay by 11:00.

Who should book a different boat?

Anyone who needs a price on the table first, or a stack of reviews about this boat. Anyone after a second night: the operator publishes no three-day programme. Families of four should look elsewhere too; the operator describes no family cabin, and both classes are 12 m² by the reseller’s figure.

What can’t we confirm about Secret Halong?

Which guest reviews belong to this boat, how many cabins it has and how big it is. Before the 2025 launch, a wooden boat with a red sail sold as Secret Halong from Lot 27 at Tuan Chau, on a website that no longer loads. The Google reviews we collected under the name were written before June 2025, bar one rating with no text, so they describe that older boat; the Google listing still links to the dead website. Tripadvisor is mixed. The operator’s site links to a Tripadvisor listing whose award badges date from 2020, before this boat sailed. Its 2026 pages include overnight guests, one of whom, in January, called the boat brand new; the listing itself goes back to the older boat, as those badges show. We hold none of those reviews ourselves, so this page carries no guest quotes and no rating.

The cabin count is unsettled, and nobody publishes how many cabins of each class there are. The operator gives no total; halongbaycruisedeals.com says 12 and a vietpowertravel.com blog says 11, and we cannot tell you which is right. Nobody publishes the guest capacity, the length, the number of decks or what the hull is built from. We also do not know whether the older boat still sails under the same name, which is one more reason to get the registration, QN-9386, on your confirmation. For what a launch year tells you, see our guide to how old your boat is. The operator’s site publishes no cancellation terms; get them in writing before you pay, and see our cancellation policies guide for what to ask.

Why people book Secret Halong

Book it if

  • You want a boat in its first seasons: Bien Ngoc Cruises gives June 2025 as this Secret Halong's launch date, and lists a jacuzzi, a sauna and two bars aboard
  • You want one night on the classic Ha Long loop from Tuan Chau: Me Cung Cave, kayaking at a pearl farm, then Titop Island after an early breakfast
  • You like a small boat; the one reseller we found that lists the 2025 boat counts 12 cabins
Our read

Secret Halong is a small Ha Long boat that its operator says was launched in June 2025, with a sauna, a jacuzzi and the standard Tuan Chau loop of Me Cung Cave, a pearl farm and Titop. Nobody publishes its price. We would book it only on a written quote that names the boat by its registration, QN-9386, and says whether a Standard cabin has a balcony.

Choose your cabin

Standard Room

12 m², ocean view, private balcony.

12 m²Ocean viewBalcony ✓
no published ratewe will get you a numberunknownAsk for a quote
Superior Room

12 m², ocean view, private balcony, on the upper floor.

12 m²Ocean viewBalcony ✓Upper floor
no published ratewe will get you a numberunknownAsk for a quote
Rates are the highest published fare per cabin we found (rack rate, double occupancy unless marked) — treat them as the ceiling, not the floor. Seen on one listing only; the operator publishes no rate card we can cite.

Good to know

Who should look at something else
  • You need a price before you enquire; neither the operator nor the reseller we read on 12 October 2026 showed one
  • You choose by guest reviews; the Google reviews we collected under this name predate the 2025 boat, and the Tripadvisor listing mixes the older boat, the new one and day trips
  • You want a bigger cabin; the only published size is 12 m² for both classes, from a single reseller
What to ask before you pay
9
9 questions, each one tied to something this boat does not publish. Almost none of the cruise pages we surveyed tells you what to ask. Take this list to whoever quotes you.

The moneyWhere the spread hides

Which cabin class does this price cover, and how big is it?
Rates are published for only some classes. Ask for floor area, deck and class name on the quote.
What is the single-occupancy supplement?
Not published by any source we read. Common on this coast and often +50% or more.
Is using the jacuzzi extra?
Jacuzzi confirmed aboard, but no source we read says whether use is in the fare.
Child and infant rates?
Not published for this boat by any source we read — the child tables we found are the sellers’ own, identical across every boat they list. Ask for the age bands, not just the discount.

The logisticsThe mistakes that cost a morning

Confirm it is Tuan Chau Marina.
Named by one source only. The piers serving these bays are roughly twenty minutes apart and drivers do occasionally go to the wrong one.
What time is check-in, and what time is cabin checkout?
No source we read publishes either for this boat. Confirm both when you book, especially if you have a flight on the last day.

If it goes wrongNobody publishes this — get it in writing

What happens if the port closes for weather?
The provincial authority closes the port and every boat stays in. No source publishes this operator’s policy. Ask whether it is a refund or a date change, in writing.
Which cancellation ladder applies to your booking, and what deposit?
We found 7 different ladders across our sources for boats on this coast — free cancellation ends anywhere from 15 to 30 days out. It depends on who you book through, not on this boat. Get yours in writing before the deposit.
Is a cave closure refunded or substituted?
Caves close at short notice here. Substitution is normal; a refund is not. Worth knowing which you are agreeing to.
We do not host guest reviews yet, and we will not reprint a score we cannot audit. This list is what we would want in their place — take it to whoever quotes you, us included.
Boarding times and the cancellation ladder

The boat's own timings

No source we read publishes check-in or checkout times for Secret Halong Cruise. Ask when you book — on this coast checkout is usually between 09:30 and 11:00, and the difference decides whether you get a last morning on the water.

Cancellation — not a property of this boat

We checked every cancellation ladder in our sources. They differ by who you book through, not by which boat you sail: the same boat carries different terms on different listings. So we will not print one and call it Secret Halong Cruise's policy.

Across the 7 distinct ladders we found, free cancellation ends somewhere between 15 and 30 days before check-in. After that the fee climbs to 100%.

See the 7 ladders we found
  • More than 30 days ahead 0%30-11 days ahead 15%10-7 days ahead 30%Under 7 days 100%
  • More than 30 days ahead 0%29-15 days ahead 25%14-7 days ahead 50%6-3 days ahead 75%
  • More than 15 days ahead 0%15-10 days ahead 50%9-3 days ahead 75%
  • More than 15 days ahead 0%14-10 days ahead 50%9-4 days ahead 70%
  • More than 30 days ahead 0%30-7 days ahead 20%6-3 days ahead 50%Under 3 days 100%
  • More than 21 days ahead 0%7-20 days ahead 30%3-7 days ahead 50%
  • More than 30 days ahead 0%30-7 days ahead 10%6-3 days ahead 50%Under 3 days 100%

Get the ladder in writing from whoever quotes you, before you pay a deposit.

Where it goes — 4 published stops
  1. Tuan Chau Marina
  2. Me Cung Cave
  3. Pearl Farm area
  4. Titop Island

Stops as published across the sources we track. Operators reorder them with the tide and the weather, and the provincial authority can close a cave at short notice.

How many cabins does Secret Halong Cruise have?

The operator's site (read 2026-10-12) gives no cabin count. halongbaycruisedeals.com (read 2026-10-12) lists 12 cabins for the boat launched in 2025; a vietpowertravel.com blog says 11 cabins. The two sources disagree and the operator has not confirmed either. We show the most widely reported figure and recommend confirming it with the operator before you pay.

Which pier does Secret Halong Cruise leave from?

Tuan Chau Marina, according to one of the sources we read — we could not corroborate it. The piers serving these bays are roughly twenty minutes apart and drivers do occasionally go to the wrong one, so name it when you arrange your own transfer.

What do you not know about this boat?

No source we checked publishes: hull, capacity, decks, length m. A further 6 figures rest on a single source. We would rather say that than fill the gap with a guess. If the operator sends us the figures we will publish them and date them.

Specifications · cross-checked 12 Oct 2026

Sheet HL-36
Single source · 6 figuresOnly one of the sources says so — confirm before you rely on it
Launched ⓘ
2025
Bay ⓘ
Ha Long Bay
Departs from ⓘ
Tuan Chau Marina
Jacuzzi ⓘ
Yes
Sauna ⓘ
Yes
Kayaking ⓘ
Yes
More than one figure published · 1We show every value we found rather than pick one — hover the ⓘ
Cabins ⓘ
12varies
Unknown · 4 figuresNobody publishes these, and we would rather say so than guess
Hull ⓘ
Not published
Guests at capacity ⓘ
Not published
Decks ⓘ
Not published
Length overall ⓘ
Not published

Read for this boat: operator, source-1 — one dot per source, filled when that many publish the figure. 6 figures rest on a single source — confirm before relying on them. 1 figure has more than one published value — hover the ⓘ. How we verify

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