Amour Cruise
From$143per person, two sharingread 6 Aug 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →Verdure Lotus Classic is the Lan Ha boat of Verdure Lotus Cruises, and its pitch is space. The operator puts its smallest cabin at 35 m² and gives every cabin a private balcony. In August 2026 one booking site listed the cheapest of them at $286 for two for one night, which works out at $143 a person.
Lan Ha is the bay off Cat Ba Island, which the operator calls less crowded than Ha Long. The Classic’s route stays there: an afternoon in the Tra Bau lagoon by kayak or swimming, and the Dark and Bright caves by rowed bamboo boat the next morning. More boats for this side of the water are in our Lan Ha Bay cruises list.
No. The same company runs the Verdure Lotus Grandeur, a larger boat (the operator’s cabin list adds up to 26) that stays in Ha Long Bay. The two leave from different lots at Tuan Chau: the operator gives Lot 28A for the Classic and Lot 15A for the Grandeur.
Big on paper, with a balcony each. These are the operator’s figures, read on 10 October 2026:
| Cabin | Size | Count | Floor | Bathroom | Sleeps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deluxe with Balcony | 35 m² | 6 | First | Shower | 3 adults with extra bed |
| Executive with Balcony | 35 m² | 6 | Second | Shower | 3 adults with extra bed |
| Suite with Balcony | 55 m² | 4 | Second | Bathtub | 3 adults with extra bed |
| Family Connecting | 70 m² | 2 | not stated | Shower | up to 6 adults |
Deluxe and Executive are the same size a floor apart, with king or twin beds. The Family Connecting cabin is two rooms joined by an inside door; our family cruises page explains why few boats on the bay offer one. “Pool accessible” is among the operator’s highlights for the boat.
You check in on Tuan Chau Island and a tender takes you out at noon; you are back ashore by about 11:15 the next day. Times are the operator’s Lan Ha programme, read on 10 October 2026.
| Time | Day 1 |
|---|---|
| 07:30–08:10 | Hotel pick-up in Hanoi’s Old Quarter or at Tam Coc in Ninh Binh, if you bought the transfer |
| 11:30 | The company’s waiting lounge on Tuan Chau Island |
| 12:00 | Tender to the boat, welcome drink, safety briefing |
| 13:00 | Buffet lunch under way |
| 15:00 | Tra Bau lagoon: kayak or swim |
| 17:00 | Happy hour at the bar (third drink free); spring-roll class with sunset snacks at 18:00 |
| 19:00 | Set dinner; karaoke at the outdoor bar and squid fishing from 20:00 |
| Time | Day 2 |
|---|---|
| 06:00 | Tai Chi on the sundeck |
| 06:15 | Light breakfast |
| 06:45 | Dark and Bright caves by bamboo boat, with a local rower |
| 09:00–09:30 | Check out; bags go outside the cabin door |
| 09:45 | Brunch on the way in |
| 10:30 | Tender back to Tuan Chau, ashore 11:00–11:15 |
The operator can also collect you at Gia Luan on Cat Ba, which suits anyone already on the island. One guest found the bamboo boat dull after similar trips elsewhere; another, in March 2026, found one of the two caves closed and saw only a short tunnel.
It can be, in hot weather. A Verdure Lotus Classic guest who sailed in May 2026 describes a small, crowded terminal, about an hour waiting outside in the heat, then a crowded shuttle boat with no air conditioning, and the same again on the way back to the bus at Tuan Chau. Once on board, the same guest found the crew warm and the dietary requests handled. If you travel in summer, ask what time the tender leaves and where you wait for it. Our page on which harbour you leave from covers Tuan Chau.
From $143 per person, two sharing, for one night, on originvietnam.com’s table read on 6 August 2026, inside what that site calls low season (1 May to 31 August). High season runs from 1 September and we hold no rate for it, so ask us to quote your date. The $143 is half the Deluxe cabin price. Per cabin, on that table:
| Cabin | One night | Three days, whole trip |
|---|---|---|
| Deluxe with Balcony | $286 | $572 |
| Executive with Balcony | $316 | $632 |
| Suite with Balcony | $356 | $713 |
| Family Connecting, four adults | $572 | $1,144 |
The three-day price is twice the one-night price, to within a dollar, so the second night earns no discount on this table. Ask for a quote for your date and season.
The operator’s list covers all meals on the programme, kayaking and swimming at Tra Bau, the bamboo boat, the cooking class, Tai Chi, squid fishing, karaoke, the welcome drink, water and tea in the cabin, an English-speaking guide and insurance. The transfer from Hanoi or Ninh Binh is extra, as are bar drinks (with 10% VAT added), spa treatments and a 3.5% fee on card payments. See what is not included.
Off the boat. On the second morning you move to a separate day boat for Viet Hai, a village on Cat Ba, lunch aboard, then a swim or a paddle at Ba Trai Dao beach, back on the Classic by 15:30. Our pages on Viet Hai village and two days or three help you decide whether that is worth a night.
The boat’s condition, mainly. A guest in March 2026 wrote that it looked far older than the operator claims, with a fuel smell through the boat, a sewage smell in the cabin and a very hard bed. Another, in April, also complained of smells in the cabin and left the same day. A guest who had a suite in March called the room exceptional and the staff rude, and said the power in the cabin was cut a minute after the 9:30 check-out. A guest in July 2025 praised the balcony view, the kayaking and the Indian vegetarian cooking. These are individual accounts we cannot check. Our complaints guide sets them against the fleet.
Book it if cabin size matters more to you than the boat’s finish, if you want Lan Ha’s quieter water, or if you are four and want two rooms with a door between them. Look elsewhere if a worn boat would spoil the night, or if a long wait at the pier in the heat is a deal-breaker. Our Lan Ha Bay section and Lan Ha guide list other boats on this water.
Its age, its exact size and some of its prices. Nobody agrees on the year this boat was built: two booking sites say 2017, a third says 2018 on one page and 2019 on another, and a guest quotes the company as saying 2018, renovated in 2023. The operator does not say. The hull is described as metal by one site and wooden by another. Nobody publishes the length or the number of decks. The cabin sizes come from the operator, and two booking sites repeat them. The cabin count is less settled. The operator’s room pages say 48 guests in 16 rooms, while its own cabin list adds up to 18 (6 + 6 + 4 + 2); one booking site says 18, two others 16, and one of those lists two suites instead of four.
The two Verdure boats also blur together online. They share a Tripadvisor listing whose photos all show the Grandeur, and the operator’s own photo library mixes them. The name “Verdure Lotus Luxury” is used for both: one booking site sells the Classic under it, at the same prices, and another uses it for the Grandeur. Check that the cabin list on your quote matches this boat. Two other booking sites advertised the Classic from $120 and from $124 a person on 6 August 2026, with no cabin table behind either figure. The Google listing for this boat is separate from the Grandeur’s and held 13 reviews when we read it on 11 October 2026; we report the written ones for what they describe, and give no score.
Chosen by price proximity within the same bay, computed from our dataset — not by commission. We add no booking fee to any of them.
Verdure Lotus Classic sells large cabins on a quiet Lan Ha route at a price that, on the one low-season table we hold, sits under $150 a person. The guest record is split: some found the cabins and crew a high point, others found a tired boat and a poor welcome. Ask for the cabin size, the suite count and the launch year in writing, and check recent reviews before you pay.
35 m², double or twin beds, private balcony, on the 1st floor.
35 m², double or twin beds, private balcony, on the 2nd floor.
55 m², king bed, private balcony, on the 2nd floor.
70 m², double or twin beds, private balcony.
These items appear on both lists. Sometimes that is a real disagreement; sometimes the two sources are describing different things. We show what each actually said rather than pick one.
“English-speaking Tour Guide”
“Tips for tour guide and driver”
“Meals on board: 02 lunches, 01 dinner, and 01 breakfast”
“Meals not mentioned in the program”
“Insurance on-board”
“Travel Insurance”
Assembled from the 2 sources we read for this boat, grouped by what each line is about and counted by how many sources list it. Quotes are the sources' own wording. Nothing here replaces the confirmation you get in writing when you book.
No source we read publishes check-in or checkout times for Verdure Lotus Classic 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.
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 Verdure Lotus Classic 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%.
Get the ladder in writing from whoever quotes you, before you pay a deposit.
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.
The operator's cabin list adds up to 18 (6 + 6 + 4 + 2) and halongbaycruises.com says 18; the operator's room pages, besthalongcruises.com and originvietnam.com say 16 (read 2026-08-06 and 2026-10-10). We show the most widely reported figure and recommend confirming it with the operator before you pay.
The owner gives no year. besthalongcruises "Launched in 2017" and halongbaycruises "Launched: 2017" against originvietnam "Build: 2019" (Classic page) and "Build: 2018" (Luxury page). We show the most widely reported figure and recommend confirming it with the operator before you pay.
besthalongcruises "Metal Boat" against halongbaycruises "wooden" interior copy; the owner does not state the hull (read 2026-08-06). We show the most widely reported answer and recommend confirming it with the operator before you pay.
Tuan Chau Marina. 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.
No source we checked publishes: decks, length m. A further 2 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.
Read for this boat: operator, source-1, source-2 — one dot per source, filled when that many publish the figure. 2 figures rest on a single source — confirm before relying on them. 3 figures have more than one published value — hover the ⓘ. How we verify
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.
From$143per person, two sharingread 6 Aug 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →From$143per person, two sharingread 6 Aug 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →From$143per person, two sharingread 6 Aug 2026A guide, not a quote — we confirm the live rate when you enquire.
Details →