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Since 1994, our Genuine, small group tours to Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island have made Griswald's Vietnamese Vacations ™ & our REAL Kangaroo Café ™ names you can trust.
The Kangaroo Cafe * Note - Doing business with companies over the internet still makes some people, understandably, nervous. Only Licensed Australian Travel Agents, like us, are eligible to be members of the Travel Compensation Fund. It's run by the Government Dept of Fair Trading & is something only real travel agents can offer. Check to see if who you're thinking of dealing with is actually licensed & if they're not .... ask them why not ? Some very recent changes have taken place up in the bay & for us ...... The Viet Nam Maritime Authority's new guideline is that all tour boats Ha Long Bay are painted WHITE ! It's a further attempt to increase the safety in the bay which we like.Here's some very good news about our Ha Long Bay Tours ........... Our Two, 8 room boats are just back from a refit & they're just lovely too ! Our 8 room, 16 Person Boat
Check out our competitors prices (ours are below) & especially look to see how lousy they are where kids are concerned ! Wouldn't spend Xmas day I can hear my dear old Dad saying ..... Wouldn't shout if a shark etc !With the REAL Kangaroo Cafe ™ ........ Kids under 10 (sharing a room with their parents) are FREE !!! Kids under 12 (staying in their own room) pay only 50% too !!! We like kids & instead of just talking about it we thought, as we always do, we should show it ! Lots more new pics further down the page of our Boats, our Hotel on Cat Ba & some others too ! These days with the self promotion & paid for, but so called independent reviews (???) on the various travel forums it's very difficult to work out just who's who in the zoo !!! Travel Fish is an interesting web site & they have a mobile phone app too. As a leading internet travel resource, they take their responsibilities more seriously than most & monitor their site for suspicious, malicious or clearly just promotional posts. You won't see the usual suspects (hotels, tour companies, professional posters etc) trolling & spamming on their site & if they continue they'll be outed on the site as well. The tone on Travel Fish is more mature too & without the very personal attacks & often unbelievable posts !!!Take a look at the companies they've already banned for continually trolling & spamming. It's a very surprising list & says quite a bit about the validity & integrity of some of these other, so called, independent travel sites.
For some real info about us written by real people please have a look at our Testimonials page & also a couple of really good You tube posts from former customers with real names & faces. Click on Amy & Ken's You tube clip of their trip with us ! (thanks so much you two)And (Click) - A Canadian family who are decent, kind & thoughtful (read their blog to see more about them) Unlike the curious 1 time only posters &/or the Tourists without cameras - AKA our nasty competitors, the posts above are from normal people who wrote honestly about their time with us. Over the last 16 or so years we've had literally thousands of people choose us for their tours. Time & again our customers & some for their 2nd, 3rd & 4th trip have said they chose us because they wanted to go with the tour operator & not just another ticket seller. That's how we know - We're not like everybody else ! And it makes all the difference in price, quality, service & Safety ! Beware of the many, nasty crooks that continue to copy us ! This just might be the page you've been looking for ! |
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For those of you feeling the ridiculous pressure from the book now, book now or you'll miss out rave ..... the answer is simply this, PLEASE DON'T. Don't book now, don't send any money - you simply DON'T have to ! In our case you'll get more in terms of overall quality AND for much less in terms of price & again, please, Please don't fall for the urgent buy now, bla, bla stuff - It's just not true !!! And remember with us, tipping is appreciated but it's NEVER, compulsory ! Holiday makers you'll be delighted to know that Maxie is in the throes of approaching Rick & Rob (a couple of his mates in the song writing caper) to knock out a jingle for all the grubby tour company bosses out there. It goes like ...."The boss pays the wages, the customers never do, la la la" (& repeat ... over & over & over ......)
From the 2008/9 Rough Guide, Sth East Asia book. |
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Some of our 2 Day Halong Bay tour details (please email us for a comprehensive 2 Day Halong Bay tour itinerary) |
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With the REAL Kangaroo Café, you'll get - transportation, all meals, COLD drinks at reasonable prices, air con room (with private en suite bathroom), entrance fees, an English speaking guide (who's there but not in your face all day) for our All Year Discount Price of - $95 USD P/person, twin share, full price !!! And yes, $95 USD is the real price (for a genuine 1st class 2 day tour) when you go with the tour operator & not going via any/all of the other touts (the hundreds of web sites all selling the same tired old tours, road side travel agents, hotel reception staff, motor cycle drivers, failed English teachers posing as tourists, public toilet attendants etc) who are putting their really big cut on top of your tour AND, of course, keeping exactly how much they get a big secret from you !!! (Check out the other boat pics further down the page) |
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Some of our 3 Day Halong Bay tour details (please email us for a comprehensive 3 Day Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island itinerary) |
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With the REAL Kangaroo Café, you'll get - transportation, COLD drinks (at reasonable prices), all meals (except dinner on day 2 on Cat Ba island), air con room (with private en suite bathroom) on the boat (& at the hotel on Cat Ba), entrance fees, an English speaking guide (who's there but not in your face all day) for our special ........ All Year Discount Price of - $145 USD P/person, twin share, full price !!! And yes, $145 USD is the real price (for a genuine 1st class, 3 day tour) when you go with the tour operator & not going via any/all of the other touts (the hundreds of web sites all selling the same tired old tours, road side travel agents, hotel reception staff, motor cycle drivers, failed English teachers posing as tourists, public toilet attendants etc) who are putting their really big cut on top of your tour AND, of course, keeping exactly how much they get a big secret from you !!! (Check out the various boat pics further down the page) |
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Being the actual tour operator you won't have to pay for any agents, hotel staff, taxi drivers, internet booking mobs & who knows who else's fees or commissions. Our prices are stated clearly on our itineraries as are all the other details like group size, what's included, what's not included, accomm details, drink prices etc. It's all straight forward with us & any questions are easy to answer when you deal with the tour operator. Please check out the various options & prices too at ....Handspam, Phoenix, every hotel mob in Viet Nam (yawn), Ocean Tours & (now even) Ocean Star tours ???, A-Z Queen, the many Backpacker hostel mobs, (more yawn) the 300+ Sinh Cafes in Ha Noi (more yawning but with a look of bewilderment too !), TNK, Christina etc. There's even tours being flogged in dry cleaner shops & out front of the public dunnies too BUT in terms of overall quality & price, we reckon our tours are well worth a look ! |
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The Kangaroo Cafe When in Ha Noi don't forget to hop over to one of our REAL Kangaroo Cafés ™. You'll find great Vietnamese, vegetarian & western food (at local prices), the coldest beer in Viet Nam as well as the latest information for travellers. Find out what to buy, where to buy it & better still, what the fair price for it really is. Our Air Conditioned Café at 22 Bao Khanh St is a great place to stop off & the KC staff are always keen to help with all your questions. While you're in the cafe you can pick up a Free local map & the ever important - Free Stubby Holder too !!!
22 Bao Khanh St Ha Noi |
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Click on the thumbnail above to get a printable version of our Ha Noi (left) or HCM City (right) maps. Better still, drop into the REAL Kangaroo Café ™ when you get to Ha Noi for a free Ha Noi & HCM city map as well as some good, old fashioned, straight talk about who's who & what's what in Viet Nam !You may also want to read what others are saying about us in The Rough Guide & Things Asian, and now you can even see us on You Tube. We've had great reviews in the Sydney Morning Herald, the New York Times, the Boston Globe & the Singapore Airlines in-flight magazine to name just a few. Our Ha Long Bay Tour has even been featured in 2 travel shows on TV as well. The 1st one (a few years ago now) was a local Aussie travel show presented by a former home Handi Man show bloke doing a very ordinary impersonation of the late, great Steve Irwin & called Great Train Adventures. More recently (Nov 2008) we were featured in the internationally popular, UK based, Rough Guide to Far Eastern Adventures which features the very likeable, funny & popular Toby Amies. Toby & his crew were just great to work with. Unlike so many people in the film industry, they were honest, decent, funny & very kind to us, our staff & treated everyone they met along the way with integrity. We wish to thank them again most sincerely. Our boats, transportation, accommodation, safety, staff & food are of the highest standard in Ha Long Bay & perhaps even more importantly ........... Our group sizes are a maximum of 14 people & that's that !Here's some REAL reviews that we were very pleased about !
You'll see lots of real pics of the tours that we operate further down the page too ! |
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