Halong Bay Halal Cruises

Which Halong Bay halal cruise is right for you?

All four cruises board at Tuan Chau Marina, about 2.5–3 hours from Hanoi by expressway, and run as 2 days 1 night or 3 days 2 nights. Every cabin has a balcony or terrace. Prices below are per person for 2 days 1 night with two guests sharing the cheapest cabin; the full cabin rates are on each cruise page.

Cruise-only prices, per person, twin-share, in the cheapest cabin. Mon Cheri, Diana and Lyra Grandeur price the 1 May – 30 September green season lower; Catherine is the same all year. The shuttle or private car from Hanoi is quoted with your cabin. Send us your dates for an exact quote.

What a Halong Bay halal cruise includes, and what it does not

The price you see on this page is the cruise itself: the cabin, the meals, the activities run by the ship and the bay fees. On a 2 day 1 night programme you eat four times on board — lunch and dinner on day one, breakfast and an early brunch on day two — and every one of those meals comes out of the galley that holds the certificate. On 3 days 2 nights it is seven meals. Nothing is bought ashore and brought on, which is the part that matters: a kitchen is certified, a lunchbox is not.

Included on all four ships: the cabin with a balcony or terrace, all meals listed in the programme, a welcome drink, bottled water in the cabin, an English-speaking cruise guide, kayaking or a bamboo boat, cave and island entrance tickets, the Halong Bay sightseeing and overnight permit, on-board insurance, and the ship’s own facilities — pool, jacuzzi, sauna, gym, mini-golf and so on, which differ by ship.

Not included: the road transfer between Hanoi and the pier, which is quoted separately so you can choose a shared shuttle or a private car; drinks beyond the welcome drink and the cabin water; the spa; tips; travel insurance; and anything the ship sells as an extra, such as a private dining room or a cabin upgrade on the day.

Alcohol is sold at the bars on all four ships. None of them is a dry ship, and we would rather tell you that here than let you discover it at dinner. What the certificate covers is the kitchen and the food served to you, not the bar list of other passengers.

The halal certificates, in full

As of October 2026 these are the only four cruises in Halong Bay with a halal certificate on file. Three are current; Mon Cheri’s renewal is with the certifier at the time of writing. All four are certified by Halal Vietnam (HVN), the Halal Certification Council Vietnam, which is accredited by JAKIM (Malaysia), CICOT (Thailand), the GCC Accreditation Centre, OIC/SMIIC and the World Halal Council. You can check any certificate number yourself on +84 906 378 666 or at info@halalvietnam.vn, and we send you the current certificate before you pay.

What the standards mean: OIC/SMIIC 1:2019 is the OIC general requirements for halal food, and OIC/SMIIC 6:2019 sets the particular requirements for applying that standard to the places where halal food and drink are prepared – the galley, the cold store and the service itself. Catherine Cruise is the only one of the four certified under both.

The four ships compared in detail

The comparison table above is the short answer. This is the long one, for people who want to know what they are actually choosing between.

Catherine Cruise — the strongest paperwork and the only prayer room

Ninety metres, five decks, launched October 2023, 39 cabins and up to 117 guests. Every cabin has a private balcony and a bathtub facing the water. Entry level is the 40 m² Premier Suite, of which there are 32 including triple and connecting versions; above that sit two Royal Suites at 56 m², four Grand Suites at 85 m² and a single 200 m² Villa President Suite with its own sundeck and butler. On board: two restaurants, a 55 m² spa with separate rooms for men and women, the first Himalayan salt-rock sauna in the bay, a four-season infinity pool, two soundproofed karaoke rooms, mini-golf on the sundeck and a kids’ corner.

For Muslim travellers two details outrank all of that. Catherine is the only one of the four certified against both OIC/SMIIC 1:2019 and 6:2019 — the food standard and the premises standard — and it is the only one of the four with a dedicated prayer room on board. It also has a lift between decks, which makes it the ship we recommend without hesitation for grandparents or anyone who cannot manage stairs.

Diana Cruise — the largest, and the easiest with children

Fifty-six cabins and up to 112 guests over three decks: Diana Junior and Diana Senior at 34 m² on deck one, Diana Executive at 36 m² on deck two, Diana Premier at 38 m² on deck three, plus two 55 m² Halong Suites and two 55 m² Lan Ha Suites at the stern. Every cabin has a wide balcony and a bay-view bathroom with a separate jacuzzi tub and a walk-in shower. That 34 m² entry cabin is the largest entry-level cabin of the four ships, which matters when a family shares.

The on-board programme is the most traditional: a rowing boat through the Dark and Bright Cave, night squid fishing, kayaking, swimming and a Dong Ho folk-painting session that will hold a seven-year-old for an hour. Every cabin includes an in-room foot soak. Diana has two lifts, the only one of the four with more than one.

Lyra Grandeur Cruise — the newest and the most to do

Thirty-three cabins from 32 to 92 m², every one with a private balcony or terrace and a bathtub facing the water. Entry level is the Oasis Suite at 32 m²; at the top are two La Suite de Lyra at 57 m² and a 92 m² Owner Suite, both with jacuzzi tubs and signature service. Lyra is the ship for a group that wants things to do: a Nordic-style sauna, a 360-degree observatory deck, complimentary drone photography when the weather allows, an inflatable water slide and a floating sea pool, a four-season infinity pool with a heated jacuzzi, a gym, a mini-golf area, a billiards and table-football room, and a movie night with popcorn. On the longer sailings Lyra also visits Viet Hai village by bicycle or electric car and the Three Peach Beach.

Mon Cheri Cruises — the original halal kitchen, and the quietest route

Two sister yachts working Halong Bay and Lan Ha Bay. Cabins start at the Ocean Suite Balcony, 35 m² on the lower deck with a walk-in shower and a private balcony, and run up through the Elegance Suite Balcony at 40 m² with a bathtub, the Mon Cheri Suite Terrace at 55 m² with a jacuzzi tub, and the President Suite Terrace at 90 m². Connecting cabins of 70 and 80 m² and a 70 m² family cabin with one double and two single beds suit two families travelling as one group. On board there is a four-season jacuzzi pool, a small golf area, a kids’ room, a spring-roll cooking class and morning tai chi.

Mon Cheri was the first cruise in the bay to build a dedicated halal kitchen. Its certificate ran to 25 September 2026 and the renewal is with Halal Vietnam at the time of writing; the ship cooks in the same kitchen with the same suppliers meanwhile. If a current certificate is a condition for your group, we will say so and move you to Catherine, Diana or Lyra Grandeur rather than let you find out on board.

If your group wants the whole ship

Mon Cheri charters at 18 or 24 cabins and Catherine from 25 cabins. A charter gives you the entire ship, the whole pool and the whole dining room, which settles every question about shared space, modest swimwear and prayer times at once. For a party of twenty or more the per-person cost is often closer to the ordinary cabin rate than people expect. Ask us for a charter quote with your group size and dates.

Halong Bay or Lan Ha Bay: which route?

This is the choice that changes the trip most, and it is decided for you the moment you pick a ship. The two bays are the same drowned limestone landscape — the border between them is administrative, not geological — but they feel different because of how many boats are on the water.

Halong Bay proper: the view you have seen in photographs

Catherine Cruise sails the classic route to Sung Sot Cave, the largest show cave in the bay, and Ti Top Island, where a stairway of a few hundred steps gives you the postcard panorama. Luon Cave is a low tunnel you pass through by bamboo boat into a hidden lagoon. This is the busiest water in the bay and in high season you will share the cave with other groups. Choose it on a first visit, when the famous sights are the point.

Lan Ha Bay: fewer boats, better swimming

Mon Cheri, Lyra Grandeur and Diana spend most of their time south of Halong Bay, in Lan Ha Bay off Cat Ba Island. The Dark and Bright Cave is rowed through by bamboo boat into a ring of cliffs; Tra Bau is a quiet cluster of lagoons good for kayaking; the Frog Lagoon is named for the shape of the rock above it. There are small beaches you can actually swim from, which Halong Bay proper largely lacks. Choose it if you have been before, if you are travelling with people who dislike crowds, or if swimming and kayaking matter more than headline caves.

One practical note for Muslim families: Lan Ha’s beaches and lagoons are quieter, which in practice means fewer onlookers if modest swimwear is part of your day. On a chartered ship the question disappears entirely — see the charter note further down.

Halal food and Muslim travel notes

On these cruises every meal on board – lunch, dinner, breakfast and brunch – is prepared halal, and vegetarian meals are available on request; tell us about dietary needs at least 48 hours before boarding. Drinks are not included and alcohol is sold separately at the bars. There is no mosque in Halong Bay: Al-Noor Mosque in Hanoi is the only mosque in all of northern Vietnam, and our guides to the mosque in Hanoi and halal restaurants in Hanoi help you plan the days before and after. Catherine Cruise has a dedicated prayer room with prayer mats.

Prices, seasons and what moves them

Every price on this page is per person, two guests sharing the cheapest cabin on that ship, for the cruise only. Three things move it.

The cabin. This is the largest single factor. Moving from the entry cabin to a suite can add fifty per cent or more, and on Catherine the 200 m² Villa President Suite is a different order of price altogether. If budget is the constraint, stay in the entry cabin — on all four ships it still has a balcony and a bathtub or walk-in shower.

The season. From 1 May to 30 September the bay is in its green season and three of the four ships price it lower — Diana by ten per cent. Catherine charges the same all year. The Christmas and New Year period, Vietnamese public holidays and Tet carry supplements on every ship.

Group size. A single traveller pays a supplement because the rate is built on two sharing. Children are priced differently by every one of the four ships, with different age cut-offs, so we will not publish one rule we cannot honour on all of them — send us the ages with your dates. One child under five sharing a cabin and bed with two adults is free of charge on all four.

The road transfer between Hanoi and the pier is quoted separately, which is deliberate: a shared limousine shuttle and a private car are very different numbers, and bundling them hides which you are paying for.

Getting from Hanoi to the pier

All four ships board at Tuan Chau Marina in Ha Long, roughly two and a half to three hours from Hanoi on the expressway. Boarding is around noon, so a morning departure from Hanoi is the only workable plan; there is no realistic way to reach a midday boarding from an early flight into Noi Bai on the same morning.

Shared limousine shuttle. A 7 to 18 seat van that collects from hotels in and around Hanoi’s Old Quarter between 8.00 and 8.30 and drops back at the same point the following afternoon. Guests staying outside the Old Quarter are collected from the Opera House at 1 Trang Tien. This is the economical option and the one most guests take.

Private car with driver. More expensive, and it buys you your own departure time. It is worth it if you are travelling with small children, if you want to stop for prayer on the way, or if your hotel is far from the Old Quarter. On the return you can also ask to be dropped at Noi Bai Airport instead of the city.

Whichever you choose, tell us before you book rather than after: the shuttle has fixed pick-up windows and a late request can mean the only remaining seat is on a different departure from your cabin.

When to go: weather, typhoons and the green season

Northern Vietnam has a real winter and a real wet season, and Halong Bay is on the coast, which makes both more pronounced.

October to April is the dry, cool half of the year and the most reliable time to be on the water. October and November are the best weeks of all: warm enough to swim, clear enough to see the far horizon. From December to February it is genuinely cold on deck at dawn — bring a jacket — and the bay often sits under a flat white haze that photographs poorly but feels atmospheric in person. March and April warm up and the haze lifts.

May to September is hot, humid and the wet season, and it is also the green season when three of the four ships price lower. Rain in this part of Vietnam usually comes as a heavy afternoon burst rather than all-day drizzle, so a wet-season cruise is not a washout; it is a hot morning, a dramatic hour of rain and a clear evening. The real risk is typhoons, which affect the Gulf of Tonkin mainly between June and September.

What happens if a typhoon closes the bay. The Halong Bay Management Board suspends all sailings when a storm warning is issued, and no operator can overrule that. If your cruise is cancelled for weather you are not charged for a sailing that did not happen: we move you to another date if your itinerary allows, or refund the cruise portion. We will tell you the forecast honestly in the days before, including when the honest answer is that you should change dates.

Why book your Halong Bay halal cruise with us

• We are the Hanoi team of Asia Travel Expert Co., Ltd., a licensed local tour operator, and book each cruise directly – so you pay the local price, with our best price guarantee.
• We check every halal certificate before your trip and pass your dietary needs to the ship’s kitchen.
• We combine the cruise with halal-friendly days in Hanoi or Ninh Binh – see our Hanoi Muslim tour packages.
• Reply the same day, or within 48 hours at the latest, on WhatsApp or email, and support from our Hanoi office throughout your trip.

Halong Bay halal cruises – FAQs

Ready to book your halal cruise? Send us your dates or message us on WhatsApp +84 88 626 1368 and we will reply with cabin availability and a quote the same day, or within 48 hours at the latest. Only have one day? See our Hanoi Muslim day trips.