Sena Cruise

Sena has sixteen cabins, and every one of them has a private balcony. She is run by Swan Cruises, boards at Lot 25 in Tuan Chau Harbour, and spends the night in Lan Ha Bay. The two doubles you can choose between are $24 apart. On the halongbaytours.com listing read on 6 August 2026, the cheapest cabin for two was $286 for the night: from $143 per person, two sharing.

Agencies date her to 2019 and describe a steel boat. A Korean guest in May 2020 counted sixteen rooms and called the vessel newly launched. Massage is available on request at extra cost. Wifi reaches the restaurant and bar, and the operator calls it limited. How many people on board explains what sixteen cabins means on deck.

What does the extra $24 buy?

A flight of stairs. The Balcony Deluxe and the Balcony Executive are both about 25 m², with a double or twin bed, a sea view and a balcony. The Deluxe is on the first deck, the Executive on the second. A French guest writing in May 2026, critical of most of the trip, called the better cabins very pleasant.

These are prices for one cabin, the highest rate the halongbaytours.com listing showed for each grade on 6 August 2026. Sizes, counts and decks are from the operator’s room pages.

The other four cabins are two connecting pairs, each about 50 m² for four adults and a child under five: one pair of Deluxes on the first deck, one of Executives on the second, priced on request. What your cabin gets you sets these sizes against the rest of the fleet.

Under the operator’s terms one child per cabin gets a child rate: under five free sharing a bed, five to eleven at 75%, twelve and over as adults. An extra bed is charged at the adult rate.

What does the fare include?

The cabin, an English-speaking guide, every meal on the programme, two bottles of water per cabin, entrance fees, kayaking and the cooking demonstration. Drinks, massage, tips and the road from Hanoi are extra, and Christmas, New Year and Tet carry surcharges. The operator’s shuttle from the Old Quarter costs $30 a head for the round trip. A guest in October 2025 found ten per cent of tax added to the drinks at settlement. What is not included has the rest.

The operator’s own cancellation terms, for one to five cabins: free more than fifteen days out, 50% from seven to fourteen days, the full fare inside a week. Agencies selling the boat use their own scales, so read the one on your booking. If the bay is closed before your arrival day you are refunded in full.

What is the evening like?

Sociable. Karaoke runs through the reviews from 2022 to 2026, and half of the ten guests who mention it gave five stars. Two credit the guide Kent for making the singing fun. A guest in October 2025 found their sailing had no takers for the microphone. A guest in June 2025 was told before booking that this was not a party boat, then spent the evening under loud singing from a drunk group and watched a light fitting come out of the ceiling.

The complaint and the praise are about the same feature. Several reviews put dinner on the partially covered top deck, and a four-star adds an indoor dining room and a covered outdoor dining area, so there is other seating. The June 2025 guest’s point is that the noise took the whole boat, top deck and balcony. Ask what is scheduled after dinner; what to expect on board has the usual shape.

Where does Sena go?

Out of Tuan Chau and into Lan Ha. Arrive between 11:30 and 12:00; the tender takes you out at noon and the welcome briefing comes before the cabins. The afternoon stop is Dark and Bright Cave, which you go through in a sampan or a kayak, followed by a sunset party and a cooking class. The second morning starts with tai chi, then a kayak and a swim around Tra Bau, where the operator says Kong: Skull Island was filmed. Cabins are cleared at 09:30 and you are ashore between 11:30 and noon. Guests heading on to Cat Ba can ask to be dropped at Gia Luan instead.

Guests disagree about the water. Several, between 2023 and 2026, describe up to twenty ships at the overnight anchorage and ten to twenty at every stop. Others, among them a French five-star in April 2025, found Lan Ha calm. The quietest bay puts numbers on the three bays.

The two-night trip adds a day on a smaller boat: a bike or a tram ride through Viet Hai village on Cat Ba, lunch, a swim and a kayak, and Da Chong Islet. Two guests, in September 2025 and January 2026, felt the extra day did not take them anywhere new; one was pooled on a day boat with other ships’ guests. Weigh two days or three against that fare. Cat Ba itself is the favourite part of the trip for at least one guest; Cat Ba and Ha Long City says what is on it.

Is Sena worn or rushed?

Sometimes both. Many reviews call the cabins or the boat clean, but a handful push back between September 2025 and March 2026: a run-down boat, a dirty broken minibar, a hull older-looking than its online pictures, dirty sheets and a flooded bathroom.

A September 2025 guest says the schedule is packed with almost no downtime, kayaking is called at eight, and lunch on day two was at a quarter to eleven. The French guest from May 2026 was woken at six and left at eleven. Plan the second morning as a short one. Some guests also report rubbish or an oil slick in the water, which no operator here controls; kayaking has more on that.

A guest in December 2025 says their young son fell through a high chair that gave way and hit his head. Anyone travelling with a small child should read the low reviews, and what guests complain about separates the grievances that recur on every boat from the one-off ones.

Against all that, the crew is praised far more than anything else on board, and the guide Sunday is named in thirteen reviews.

Who it suits

Two people or a small party who want sixteen cabins rather than forty, who will pay the $24 for the upper deck, and who would rather join the evening than hide from it. Hence her place on the small boats, under best value, and among the Lan Ha boats.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone who wants the second night to take them somewhere new, and anyone booking for quiet water or a quiet evening. Give your driver the full name, Tuan Chau Harbour, Lot 25; which harbour you leave from explains why that matters.

Where these facts come from

The pier, the times, both programmes, the cabin sizes, counts and decks, the inclusions, the shuttle fare and the cancellation, child and weather terms come from senacruises.com, read on 14 October 2026; halongbaytours.com and besthalongcruises.com name the same pier. The launch year and hull are from three agencies. Prices are from the halongbaytours.com listing read on 6 August 2026 and move with season, so confirm yours on the quote. Guest remarks are from reviews we collected.