Cruising Ha Long Bay solo: what a single cabin costs

Travel alone on a Ha Long cruise and you pay for a cabin that was priced for two. How much of that price you carry depends entirely on the operator. On the 13 boats where an operator’s own terms let us do the sum for a two-day trip, one guest pays between about 65% and 100% of what a couple pays for the same cabin. The three boats at the bottom of that range, around 65%, all print a separate single rate. At the top is Orchid, whose terms quote one rate per room for one guest or two, so a solo guest pays the whole cabin.

How much does one person pay for a Ha Long cabin?

Roughly two thirds of the couple’s price on three boats, and the full price on four others. The table takes the lowest cabin class each operator prices for one guest, works out what a solo traveller pays, and sets it against the price of the same cabin for two. Dates are the day we read each operator’s single-guest terms.

Boat	How the operator charges one guest	One guest pays	Two sharing pay	Solo as a share	Read on
Stellar of the Seas	Single-cabin rate	$477	$732	65%	14 Oct 2026
Elite of the Seas	Single-cabin rate	$523	$803	65%	14 Oct 2026
Starlight	Single per-person rate	$289	$438	66%	10 Oct 2026
Aqua of the Seas	Single-cabin rate	$350	$410	85%	11 Aug 2026
Cozy Bay Grand	Sharing rate plus $60	$199	$278	72%	11 Oct 2026
Venezia	Sharing rate plus $50	$175	$250	70%	10 Oct 2026
Unicharm	Sharing rate plus $95	$250	$310	81%	10 Oct 2026
Doria	Sharing rate plus $122	$267	$290	92%	10 Aug 2026
Ginger	Sharing rate plus 50%	$634.50	$846	75%	14 Oct 2026
Orchid Trendy, Orchid, Orchid Luxury, Orchid Premium	Whole cabin, no supplement	$330 to $580	$330 to $580	100%	14 Oct 2026

All of these are two days and one night, in US dollars. The “two sharing” column is the cabin price shown on each boat’s page; for the four Orchid boats that price was read on a listing site (6 August to 8 October 2026), and Orchid’s own rule says a single guest pays it in full. In dollars, the cheapest night alone here is Venezia at $175 if you board from Cat Ba, then Cozy Bay Grand at $199 from Ha Long or $208 with the operator’s bus from Hanoi (read 15 October 2026); Unicharm’s $250 also includes the Hanoi bus.

How do Ha Long operators charge a solo guest?

In one of four ways: a separate single-cabin rate, a fixed surcharge, a percentage on the sharing rate, or the whole cabin.

A separate single-cabin rate

Starlight, Aqua of the Seas, Elite of the Seas and Stellar each have an operator tariff with a single column printed beside the double one. On Stellar of the Seas the two-day Junior Suite is $477 for one and $732 for two (operator tariff, read 14 October 2026). Elite of the Seas runs from $523 for one in a Junior Suite to $1,643 in the President Suite, against $803 and $2,527 for two, and the ratio barely moves across the classes. Starlight prices per head, at $289 alone or $219 each for two in a Deluxe cabin; its Suite is $345 against $269.

Aqua of the Seas charges a solo guest a bigger share than Starlight, Elite of the Seas and Stellar do. Its Junior Suite is $350 for one and $410 for two from October 2026 to April 2027, and $330 against $360 between May and September 2026. In summer, then, a solo guest on Aqua pays 92% of the couple’s price.

A fixed surcharge on top of the per-person price

Five operators add a set dollar amount to the price one person would pay when sharing. Venezia adds $50 to a two-day trip and $50 a night on the three-day one. Cozy Bay Grand adds $60 in every class, so a Deluxe Sea View cabin from Ha Long costs $199 alone against $139 each for two. Unicharm adds $95 on its two-day and three-day trips; its $155 per-person two-day price already includes the bus from Hanoi. Calypso adds $400 a cabin to the whole three-day trip.

Doria’s surcharge varies by class: $122 in a Junior Suite, $130 in a Senior Suite and $171 in the Honeymoon Suite, with $233, $247 and $327 on the three-day trip. Doria’s $122 Junior Suite supplement is 84% of the $145 per-person price, so one guest ends up paying $267 for a Junior Suite that costs two people $290, or 92%.

A percentage of the sharing rate

Heritage Line’s terms apply a percentage. On Ginger, a cruise-only booking for one guest pays the per-adult rate plus 50% in a Junior or Signature Suite, and plus 75% in the Regent Suite. With Ginger’s Junior Suite at $423 per adult for October to December 2026, a solo guest pays $634.50. In the Regent Suite, at $660 per adult, the figure is $1,155 against $1,320 for two, or 87.5%. Violet, Heritage Line’s six-suite boat in Bai Tu Long, uses the same steps: 50% in a Junior Suite, 75% in an Imperial Suite.

Indochina Junk, which runs Prince and Red Dragon, states in its own guide for solo travellers that the supplement is normally 70% to 85% of the one-person rate, which puts one guest at about 85% to 93% of what two pay.

The whole cabin, with no supplement

The four Orchid boats price by the room. Orchid’s terms set one rate for each room and night, whether one guest sleeps in it or two, so one guest pays the same as two. On Orchid Trendy that is $330 for a Deluxe Balcony cabin.

The catch with Orchid’s terms is that one guest pays 100% of the cabin, the highest share in the table: $330 alone in Orchid Trendy’s Deluxe Balcony, where Stellar’s single rate comes to 65%.

Does the Hanoi transfer cost more when you travel alone?

Only by private car. A shared shuttle is priced per seat, so one guest pays what anyone else does; a private car is priced by the vehicle, and nobody splits it with you. These are the operators’ own transfer terms for boats in this guide.

Boat	Hanoi transfer for one guest	Read on
Stellar; Elite of the Seas	Shared limousine from the Old Quarter, free (maximum nine adults); shared MPV $10 each way	14 Oct 2026; 11 Aug 2026
Unicharm	Shared bus from the Old Quarter, inside the per-person price	10 Oct 2026
Cozy Bay Grand	Shuttle bus from the Old Quarter, inside the from-Hanoi price ($9 to $15 more than making your own way)	11 Oct 2026
Prince, Red Dragon	Van transfer inside Indochina Junk’s packages	6 Aug 2026
Venezia	Limousine, $20 return	10 Oct 2026
Doria	Bus, $30 return	10 Aug 2026
Orchid (four boats)	Shared limousine to Tuan Chau, $45 return	14 Oct 2026
Starlight	Private car, about $80 to $120 each way	10 Oct 2026
Ginger	Private car on request; no shared shuttle	14 Oct 2026

Ginger is the hard case. Heritage Line runs no shared shuttle, so the whole car falls to one guest for a trip of about 150 km, on top of a cabin that already costs a solo guest $634.50. Our Hanoi to Ha Long guide covers the road.

Is a small boat better when you travel alone?

Often, if you want company: fewer cabins means fewer people at dinner, and among these boats the count runs from four cabins to 37. Prince has four. Orchid Premium has five, Violet six and Venezia ten; Red Dragon, its operator says, has eight. Elite of the Seas has 35 and Emeraude Classic 37. Our view, read off those counts: on a boat with four or five cabins you will probably know everyone by dinner, and on one with 35 or 37 it is easy to keep to yourself. Our guide to how many people are on board sets out the full fleet.

Should you book a solo cabin through a listing site?

You can, once the seller has quoted the cabin for one guest, by name and in writing. The single-guest terms in this guide are the operators’ own, and a listing site that sells the same cabin may quote a different price for one person. Emeraude Classic’s schedule page adds a twist: it says a solo surcharge applies and that bookings are for at least two guests, so put a solo booking on that boat to the operator first. Our page on cancellation terms explains why the seller’s terms are the ones that bind you, and the full guide to cruise prices shows how cabin prices are built. Twelve of the 18 boats here sail in Lan Ha Bay; our Lan Ha Bay cruises page lists the rest of that bay’s fleet.

Common questions

What is the single supplement on a Ha Long Bay cruise? It depends on the operator, and there is no standard figure. Among the 18 boats here, Heritage Line adds 50% or 75% to the per-adult rate, Indochina Junk says 70% to 85%, and Venezia, Cozy Bay Grand, Unicharm and Doria add a fixed $50 to $171. Four boats print a single-cabin rate, and Orchid charges one guest the full cabin.

Is a cruise with no single supplement a good deal for a solo traveller? Not on the boats in this guide. On the four Orchid boats it means one guest pays the whole cabin price, 100% of what a couple pays. On Starlight, Elite of the Seas and Stellar of the Seas, which do print a single rate, one guest pays about 65% of the couple’s price for the same cabin on a two-day trip.

Does the transfer from Hanoi cost more if I travel alone? Only if you take a private car. Shared shuttles are priced per seat, from free on Stellar and Elite of the Seas to $45 return on Orchid. Ginger has no shared shuttle, so a solo guest there pays for a private car alone, and Starlight’s private car runs about $80 to $120 each way.