Took our breakfast at ocean view cafe. The chicken porridge was so good I took two servings! The noodle was good too. Hubby loved the grilled fat sausage and cinnamon roll. The coffee was too diluted. Nice seating outside the cafe. Vast open sea with occasional cargo ships passing by.
Sail-in experience into Halong Bay for the suite guests at the helipad at 9.30 am. Sparkling wine and orange juice were served again.
Beautiful sail-in viewed from the Helipad on Celebrity Solstice.
360 view on the Helipad
Moved to deck 12 and took a video from beside the pool. Awesome view too through the windows.
Waited at Michael's club to be escorted down the ship. Going to move from the big ship Celebrity Solstice to the small ship Victory Star for an overnight stay in Halong Bay. I had coffee and hubby had Earl Grey while waiting.
The ship docked at Halong Bay International cruise terminal. Though Victory Star is also parked here, we would have to go to the terminal centre to check-in. Our concierge says there will be a golf cart to shuttle us to the terminal centre but at the end we walked as the golf cart is so small and there were too many guests wanting to go to the terminal centre. The buses picking up those on the ship's excursion were allowed to park next to the ship.
Finally met our guide Hui (Anthony) at the terminal centre. We walked from the shop as the shutte golf cart are so packed
Going for an overnight stay in Halong bay on Victory Star!
Needed to take a small boat to Victory Star cruise. There are 2 boats tagged to each Victory Star cruise.
There are a total of 33 cabins. On my level, there are 3 suites plus a presidential suite. They are still using the physical key system. The key was issued personally by Scott.
Briefing on the programme for the day. Scott also passed us the key to our room.
Love the suite room with the jacuzzi. Had a good soak at night in the jacuzzi and peeked through the window for an awesome view of the bay. Toothbrush, razors, shower cap and comb are provided in the toilet. There is a hair dryer too. Shower gel and shampoo are also provided. There is a safe box, a mini fridge and kettle provided. You can make coffee from the sachets provided. Two bottles of drinking water and a basket of fruits were also in the room.
There is a vase of flower and a fruit platter by the bedside.
Love the jacuzzi. It's like water massage while you can peep through the window the very serene and picturesque Halong Bay.
Shower gel and shampoo provided at the shower area.
Full set of toiletries provided. 2 toothbrush, 2 combs, 2 razors, 2 shower caps. A hand wash next to the sink.
We saw Celebrity Solstice from our balcony on Victory Star.
Lunch on Victory Star. Spicy and sour seafood soup is not spicy at all . Yummy. Mixed vegetable salad with fried salted egg prawns was yummy too. Love the fresh and sweet stir fried squid though I don't fancy green peppers. Seafood spring roll, grilled skewer rolls. Vietnamese Grilled pork vermicelli were all so tasty. Simply awesome.
Some photos around Victory star.
First activity from Victory Star. Took a boat to the Sung Sot cave. It is amazingly huge and did not expect so much climbing. I have never climbed as much and won't be able to do that again as we are really getting old. Saw a number of visitors panting and exhausted from the climb too.
It was so crowded and the steps are so steep.
The steps are really steep and there were so many visitors. Honeypot tourism.
Breathtaking view from the top.
The tag boat took us back to Victory Star cruise.
Took another boat ride to Ti Top island. The sun set from Ti Top island was mesmerising.
The beach was so crowded.
Sun setting early at 5pm.
There are stalls selling beverages and food. Fed a dog some of the cake and sausage as it looked so pitifully at us. The cake was nice. Just don't buy the coffee here as it is so diluted, worse than McDonald's.
Many visitors are swimming. There is a locker which you can rent nearby. Shower facilities are provided. Hui gave the Victory Star guests a towel each for those who want to swim. Don't worry if you forgot your swimwear as there are vendors selling it there too.
Some chose to hike the hill. I took a few steps up and realised I could not climb anymore so I went down back to the pier.
Saw a sea plane flew over Halong Bay. There are some guests from Celebrity Solstice who had booked the flight to see the Halong Bay. I did not have the courage to do that.
Back to Victory Star. Some photos taken from our balcony and the decks.
Happy hours before the cooking class and dinner.
Buy 2 cocktails and get one free.
Cooking session on how to make a summer roll.
There is a small souvenir corner in the restaurant. I bought a pair of black pearl earrings and a stone necklace at USD 50.
Dinner at Victory Star. Pumpkin soup and buttered bread as well as Snow white salad for appetizer. Fried green rice squid patties, pan seared seabass with lemon butter sauce and stir fried vegetables. Beef with green peppercorn sauce and 5 colour rice. Love the rice squid patties and seabass most!
Squid fishing after dinner. No luck catching one but good experience.
The reason for staying overnight on Halong bay. The tranquility and beauty at night. Slept early to catch the sun rise at 6.15 am.
I must say the service at Victory Star was top notch. Requested for extra pillows and they put 2 more in the cabin for us. Scott loaned us two adaptors as well.
Day 11
6.15am sun rise.
Tai chi class in the morning
Light breakfast
The tag boat brought us to Luon cave for a boat ride or kayaking.
Row boat at Luon cave. Spectacular view and tranquility before the crowd.
There were many monkeys on the cliff.
Some chose kayaking. Individual or pair.
We checked out our cabin at 9.15am as they had to prepare for the next batch of guests checking in at 1pm
Buffet brunch. Love love the baked oysters which were so fresh and juicy. The fried rice vermicelli was fabulous too. The soup noodle pales against the squid noodle we had at Vung Tau.
Love the oyster. So fresh and juicy!
11am back to the cruise terminal and saw our ship again.
Took a taxi to a massage parlour
Flowers massage was closed so we want to another one which pales.
Late seafood lunch at Hang 86. The lobster was so big at 1kg. The squid patties were also nice. The vegetable with beef not as nice though as the beef was tough. Also ordered their local beer.
Shopped at Vincom plaza and hubby bought some shirts.
Back onboard 3.40pm. The walk from the terminal to the ship was so long.
The sunset from the ship was so beautiful.
Had dinner at Blu today. it was my lobster day cos there was lobster tail on the menu at Bu too. I had that while hubby had Angus beef pasta. The tomato bisque was nice but not so for the crispy crab cake. We had cream Brulee and Alaskan cake for dessert. Love it.
Amazing performance by Bryony and James Humphreys.
Last 2nd night. We would miss the curry chicke so i went up to the ocean view cafe to get the curry chicken, brinjal, chickpeas with rice again. The apple was very big.
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