Starlight Cruise

Every one of Starlight’s 32 cabins has a jacuzzi tub, the owner says, and that tub is the reason to pick this 58-metre Oriental Sails ship. It keeps to the old Ha Long loop out of Bai Chay: Sung Sot Cave and Titop Island on the first afternoon, Luon Cave by bamboo boat or kayak the next morning.

What are you booking on Starlight?

A large classic boat of 32 cabins, above the median of 22 across the 91 published boats whose cabin count we hold (counted 14 October 2026). The owner gives the boat as 58 metres long and 11 wide, and the group site orientalsails.com gives her 65 guests and a crew of 30. Three booking sites list the hull as steel. The owner’s history page dates the launch to 2013, which makes Starlight 13 years old this year; how old is your boat covers what that does and does not tell you.

Starlight is an Oriental Sails Co. ship, its history page says, and a post on the owner’s site lists the Oriental Sails boat in the same fleet. The owner lists a library, two lounges, a wine cellar, a gift shop, a spa and the restaurant, plus a sundeck bar it calls the Uranus Bar and a mini-golf course on the top deck. Its spa page describes a sauna and a steam room.

The owner’s cabin page says each cabin has a jacuzzi bathroom, and both itinerary pages repeat the bath-tub jacuzzi in their inclusions.

Do any Starlight cabins have a balcony?

Two do. Thirty of the 32 cabins have no balcony, and the cheaper two classes are the same size on different decks, so most of what the extra money buys is height.

These are the owner’s undated published rates for the one-night trip, read on 10 October 2026. The owner prices per person; the cabin column is our doubling for two sharing. On this site that makes Starlight from $219 per person, two sharing.

A booking site prints much lower numbers. On 6 August 2026 halongbaytours.com listed the same three cabins at a maximum of $265, $280 and $290 a night for two, which puts the Deluxe at about $133 per person. The owner’s Deluxe figure is 1.65 times that. Get both quoted before you choose a seller.

The Deluxe and the Executive both measure 4.4 by 5 metres on the owner’s table. The Executive’s $40 per cabin buys the second deck and nothing else the table shows. The Suite is 5 by 10 metres on the third deck with its own balcony. With only two of them on the boat, ask for one at the moment you book, and treat a Deluxe as the fallback. What your cabin gets you compares cabin grades across the fleet.

Single travellers pay $289, $309 or $345 per person by class. An extra bed is $190 in the two smaller classes and $215 in the Suite.

What does the one-night Starlight trip look like, hour by hour?

The owner’s timetable starts with a pickup in Hanoi between 8:00 and 8:30, and that transfer is extra. You wait in a lounge in Bai Chay, at Ha Long International Cruise Port, and board between noon and 12:30. Lunch is at 13:15 while the boat sails out and anchors near Titop.

At 15:00 a guide takes you through Sung Sot Cave. From 16:00 you climb the steps to the Titop viewpoint, then swim off its beach. You are back aboard at 17:20 for happy hour, which runs until dinner on a buy-two, get-one-free basis. At 18:00 there is a cooking demonstration with the chef or mini-golf up top. Dinner runs from 19:00 to 21:00, and squid fishing or karaoke fill the hour after.

The second day starts early. Tai chi is at 6:30 and breakfast at 7:00. Between 8:00 and 9:00 you go into Luon Cave, either in a shared bamboo boat that a local boatman rows or in a kayak of your own. Cabins are handed back at 9:30 while the boat heads for Bai Chay bridge. Lunch comes at 10:50, which is very early, and you step off between 11:30 and 11:45. The owner puts you back at your Hanoi hotel around 16:30.

Is the three-day Starlight trip worth it?

Only if the middle day appeals, because the second night is only about a tenth cheaper. On 6 August 2026 halongbaytours.com listed the whole three-day trip at $500, $530 and $550 a cabin for two, so the extra night costs 89 to 90 per cent of that site’s one-night price. The owner’s three-day page starts from $330 per person. Ask for the cabin rate in writing.

The middle day is the reason to go. The boat moves to the east of the bay for a morning kayak to the Virgin Grotto, a short cave walk among stalactites. After lunch a tender takes you to a pearl farm near Cua Van at 14:00, then you swim at Soi Sim beach at 15:00. Happy hour on the sundeck runs from 17:00, and the second evening ends with squid fishing or a film on board. Two days or three days sets out what the extra night costs on boats that do publish both tables.

What is included on Starlight, and what is extra?

Meals in the timetable, the port lounge, a welcome drink, entrance fees, the cooking class, tai chi, the kayak or bamboo boat, and drinking water from dispensers in the corridors are all on the owner’s inclusions list. The one-night page also lists internet on board.

Your bill will have drinks, the road transfer from Hanoi, travel insurance and food for babies under six. A private dinner, served in the wine cellar, on deck or in your cabin, carries a service charge of $12 per person. On 31 December the owner charges $30 per person for a compulsory gala dinner. What is not included covers the usual extras.

The owner arranges a shuttle or limousine from Old Quarter hotels on request and puts a private car at roughly $80 to $120 each way; halongbaytours.com sells a shuttle at $30 an adult for the round trip. Hanoi to Ha Long covers the drive. The owner takes a 30% deposit with the balance due the day before, and adds a card fee of 2 to 4%. Cancel in writing more than 30 days out and it is free; inside five days, or as a no-show, you pay the full fare.

Who is Starlight for?

Couples who want a long soak after Titop, and who are happy on the classic Sung Sot and Titop route in Ha Long Bay. Families with small children do well on the owner’s terms: one child under six, counted by year of birth, sails free when sharing with two adults, and six to eleven pay 75 per cent.

Who should look elsewhere?

Anyone who wants a balcony without paying for one of two suites. People over 80, or over 120 kg, should also read the owner’s own trip notes, which advise them against an overnight cruise. If you want a route that skips Sung Sot and Titop, the Lan Ha Bay boats are the place to start, and our luxury boats list the alternatives at this level.

Where these facts come from

The cabins, sizes, decks, timetables, inclusions, rates and terms come from the owner’s site, starlightcruises.vn, read on 10 October 2026. Its price table carries no date, so confirm your rate and departure in writing before you pay. Length, capacity and crew are from orientalsails.com, read on 14 October 2026. If the tub is why you are booking, have it written on the quote for your cabin. The agency prices are from halongbaytours.com, read on 6 August 2026. How we check explains our sources.