Halong bay, Halong Bay tours, halong bay boat tour, halong bay overnight on boat

Since 1994, Griswald's Vietnamese Vacations TM & the REAL Kangaroo Café TM in Ha Noi, have been the leaders in genuine, small group & private charter tours to Ha Long Bay & Cat Ba Island.


The good news is - here's our new 2 day boat - Maximum - 14 people. The bad news is - there isn't any - just more good news - 2 triple rooms which are ideal for families or odd number groups.

With the REAL Kangaroo Café, you'll get - transportation, meals, air con room with private en suite, entrance fees & an English speaking guide that's not in your face all day, all for $79 USD P/person, twin share, full price, no hidden extras. And yes, $79 USD is all you have to pay for a genuine 1st class (2 day) tour when you go with the tour operator & not going via all the all nuts who are all putting their cut on top of it as well. (Check out the other boat pics further down the page)

With the REAL Kangaroo Café, you won't get - over the top drink prices, the never ending buy our tee shirts, postcards, thongs & junk jewellery show/scam or a tour guide with all kinds of sad stories about sick buffalos, ducks, tortoises & non existent family members.

Unlike 95% of our competitors we're the tour operator & not someone who buys a ticket around the corner, adds 50 to 200% onto it & then flogs it to you with a stupid grin on their face. That's the sort of thing that goes on all the time in Viet Nam and if you deal with the actual tour operator, you'll see all the difference in price, quality & service ! Beware of the many, nasty crooks that continue to copy us ! And remember with us, *tipping is always appreciated but NEVER, EVER* 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 sharpen their pencils & knock out a jingle for all the grubby tour company bosses out there. Something like this .."The boss pays the wages, the customers never do, la la la" (& repeat) 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 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 & 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 & everyone we met along the way. 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 16 people & that's that ! From the 2008/9 Rough Guide, Sth East Asia book. You'll see lots of real pics of the tours that we operate further down the page too ! No monkey business about 3 or 4 different groups sharing the 1 boat, no squeezing 35, 50 or 80 + people onto a boat & no doctored pics on our site either, makes for a nice change we think. Another recent & very strange rave is the one being pushed by the authors of one of the guide books & they say that if the tour company cancels because they reckon there's bad weather, "you probably won't get" more than a "handful of dollars back" because "the boat trip is only a small portion of the cost of the journey" ???????? Do these so called authors expect us to believe that the 3 hour bus trip up to the bay & back is the big portion of the costs ??? Yeah sure .......... Time share in the Sydney Opera House anyone ??? In the last 15 or so years we've had to cancel a number of trips because of the weather but we've always given our customers a full refund & so we should, anything less is a scam, no more no less ! The cabins on our boats are of a very generous size (but it's still a boat don't forget) & have all night, reverse cycle, air conditioning, our beds have clean cotton sheets, & all our rooms have private en-suite bathrooms. The en-suites have Euro style toilets (well the starting blocks just aren't going to get a start with us), wash basins & shower units with hot & cold running water.

Griswalds & the REAL Kangaroo Café make the whole thing of booking your trip, getting there & back again easy, simple & enjoyable but these days, unfortunately, there's any number of dodgy buggers (usually the boofhead at your hotel) who try their hardest to convey this incredible sense of urgency in order to sign you up & get your money over the net, before you get to Viet Nam &/or see their boats & group sizes.

They employ the corniest of old lines like ....... it's all gotta go, Ha Long bay is closing down, selling out fast, this is a 1 time offer, the worlds ending soon, this time of year it really busy, it's going to be hard to get a spot etc, bla, bla .........

These nuts are using some of the oldest & most stupid lines as if we haven't heard any of them before. We have no idea who's doing the sales courses in Viet Nam but we think it could be that bloke with the crook teeth & spandex fetish from the late night tele at home in Oz.

The main reason they want you to book now is because they're terrified you'll find out what's really on offer & in our case, a better boat, at a much better price & with a much, much smaller group size.

The nastiest thing of all about this fake urgency to book is that they charge prices that are through the roof & of course if you fall for this scam, you'll pay & not just a few dollars more but usually 50 - 200% more for a trip that's not even close to the quality of ours.

So last, but not least, relax & take your time & it's no busier in Ha Long now than it's ever been so please check the bona fides of any tour mob very carefully before parting with any of your hard earned money.

In the past, tourists had to go back to Ha Long town for the night and venture out again the next day because the boats weren't properly equipped to cater for overnight stays.

Never mind the rave you see in some of the guide books or on various travel forums, if you end up stuck on one of those tubs with 35 - 100 other people just imagine trying to get some quiet time to yourselves or what meal times will be like.

It's supposed to be a relaxing trip to the World Heritage listed Ha Long Bay not a remake of Ben Hur or like that running with the bulls thing in Spain !!!!

In the lounge/recreation areas we have CD music & DVD systems, so feel free to bring along your favourite music &/or films. There's always plenty of room to get away, if you wish, or join in the fun with the other guests, it's up to you.

When we started our small group tours to Ha Long Bay we realised that the small group concept was very important not just to our guests, but to the integrity of Ha Long Bay itself !

Sure we'd make a lot more money taking the 35, 40, 60 & 80 + people out into the bay but it's not fair to the environment, to our customers or the Vietnamese people who's country has been brutalised by foreign invaders more than any other country in the world.

When considering a tour to Ha Long please be very careful that you check on just exactly how many others will be on the boat with you.

Our groups are up to a maximum of up to 14 people & that's that !

We have private charter available too so if you'd like a fabulous Junk style boat for yourself, your family or a group of friends please let us know & we'll give you our very best price.

One of the most pathetic scams is the mob that promises the group size will be 12 & then takes nearly 40 people on their tub. When fronted about it (which is on every trip) they come back with the old ............... "Oh didn't we tell you ...... there's 3 groups on the boat".

What's next, 10 groups of 4 or 20 groups of 2 on the 1 boat ? We think the worst part of scams like this is the being treated like an idiot bit.

Before you decide who to go with it's essential that you do your homework.

Try to find out EXACTLY how much you'll be forced to tip the driver, guide, crew & the nutter flogging the aluminium jewellery on the boat & how often will you have to tip them.

With us tipping is always appreciated but NEVER, EVER compulsory.

Our commitment to your safety as well as your fun is 100%. Our boats are fitted with life jackets, maritime radios, fire extinguishers & 1st aid kits just in case.

After the success we've had with our Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island Tour we didn't just sit back and think how clever we were. The tourism industry isn't like that & as an independent tour operator, we don't have the luxury of being part of one of the big state owned companies to take care of us.

We've got 2 boats leaving nearly every day & our guests couldn't be happier with them. Our guides & crews are great & the food they cook on board is fan-tas-tic ! The prawns, squid and fresh fish are delicious but we even have vegetarian food too.

Below are some pics from our Ha Long tour. There's pics of the trip up there, the Agent Orange Victims workshop where we stop along the way & even where we have lunch in Ha Long city before we get on the boat.

Some pics of our NEW 2 day, 14 person boat & it really is a beaut !

Some recent pics of 3 Day boat & it too, is 1st class all the way !

Some dinner pics !

Various other Ha long Bay pics. Some recent & some from many years ago.

We often wonder why the other companies use the old generic boat shots or the heavily altered pics number & why they aren't willing to put photos of their own boats on their web sites ?

Our sleep on the boat tours are all about having fun & the lilo's (inflatable air beds) have been a big hit with our guests too. Of course the real attraction is the bay itself and one of our nicest ever guests, Larry the lawyer, said this on returning:

"Nothing really could have prepared me for the magnificence of Ha Long" . Well put, we thought.