Halong Bay is in northeast Vietnam about 3 hours outside of Hanoi.  When thinking about pictures of Vietnam, I’m sure one of those pictures will be of Halong Bay.  A few friends who have been to Vietnam have all gone on a cruise along the bay.  They’ve also said the cruises have excellent service (and we all know what a stickler for great service I am) and an amazing price (and we all know how…cheap/frugal I am)…so it sounded like a great option.

The cruises range from simple day trips out and back all the way up to seven days and six nights.  Since we don’t have a lot of time, we opted for a two day, one night cruise.  We opted for a cruise that will allow us to go kayaking along the limestone caves, visit a floating fishing village and take a bit of a hike to get great views of the bay. While on board we’ll have three meals, countless cocktails, do some late night squid fishing, hang out and play cards/games with other guests after dinner and a sunrise Tai Chi instructional class.

I’m not at all a guy who like a cruise.  My mom and I went on a cruise the year after my dad died and I was really tortured. She enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t my thing.  Luckily this isn’t going to be a traditional cruise — this isn’t a Carnival Cruise ship.

The cruise wasn’t as cheap as I was expecting — but it’s definitely not expensive.  We are paying $185/person – everything is included. Except for booze.  Why is that always the case?  How much booze can we really drink anyway?