The Boys Seafood Buffet Restaurant — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

This is a review of the Ha Long and Hai Phong Bay DAY boat tour. I strongly recommend this tour for travellers looking to save time and money over an overnight cruise of the bay(s). Particularly good for couples or solo travellers who do not like to party (we saw the party boat and it was a much younger crowd with more focus on drinking). Shout out to guides Ban and Jack who made the day really special and particularly Jack's sense of humour and endless knowledge about his country.

Organization: Flawless. Hotel pickup only for further hotels (unsure if this is extra). If staying in town you walk to their office on the main road. All things stated to be included were included: water, lunch, tour guides, all necessary transportation. They even surprised us with fruit towards the end. Only comment is that no one told us to bring bug spray until we were starting the trip, however there ended up being no black flies at all (maybe a seasonal concern). Great communication from office otherwise (booked direct).

Food: Very good with substitutions for those who don't eat fish or any meat at all. Not the healthiest fare but delicious. Bring your own snacks and extra water (more than you think). Drinks were 50K VND (beer/water/soda) on board and 30K for surprisingly good coffee, which we found very reasonable.

The Boat: Very nice boat however only a few padded lounge chairs and mostly unpadded ones. Some people had to sit on plastic dining chairs which seemed uncomfortable. My biggest suggestion is to invest in better chairs as the guests spend so much time on them. Shaded section and sun section but there was competition for the shade. Has two toilets with showers (nice to rinse off after swimming). Dining room has fans but no AC.

Activities: Two separate swimming stops with option to swim to shore. Bring water shoes if you go near shore as you can cut your feet. Kayaking for about 1.5h with more experienced users being able to get ahead and explore a bit more vs novices able to go at their own pace. Finally a visit to a Vietnamese government fish farm / fish research center which is not the same thing as a floating village. Honestly could have been much shorter, and I understand the floating villages are slowly being removed by the government for various reasons post-covid as likely in the past these stops were more interesting. The information Jack gave about why the gov't is dismantling them was in depth and informative. Aside from activities and the lunch you spend the other time cruising through the bay which was my favorite part.

Clientele: Wide range of ages with a mix of couples, solo travellers, and friend groups. International yet mostly English speaking crowd. This is not a party boat, but it is also not a boring boat. Some people on board drank some beer but the focus was on the scenery and activities instead of a party. We really enjoyed the chats we had.

Accessibility: Must be able to get on and off a two story boat, however tour guides were always willing to help. An overnight cruise is likely a better choice for those with...

Originally gave a 2 star rating but i changed to 1 star after the owner came personally to my hotel room, demanded to speak with me as he was unhappy that i gave a 2 star rating & that it 'hurts his business'. The owner held my door & wanted to come into my room to talk to me. He scolded me for almost 10 mins for my 2 star review of his tour. I was alarmed & highlighted that i said nothing bad of his company or tour but gave a fair assessment of the entire tour, which i felt was not value for money as it there was a really long lull of nothing after snorkeling. I was sightly shaken by the encounter because he hunted me down soon after i submitted the initial review, scolded me loudly, demanded that i delete the review & kept insisting that i hurt his business. In retrospect, i found it alarming that his own guide said to tourists earlier during the tour that it's 'v.hard to find rude Vietnamese'. Oh wow- here was one. His very own boss.

This was my original review: Kayaking around Lan Ha Bay for the whole day tour was good, fantastic views, friendly & reliable guide. Boat journey to the site to swim,& later, snorkel, after lunch was sooo long & unnecessary! Bcoz only 3 ppl dipped in the water for 3 mins, no 1 snorkeled, & reason bc it's super cold in Dec. After kayak n lunch, there was NOTHING to do but sail in the boat till 4pm, a tour around fish farm. Lunch had plenty vegetables, little chicken, v.small shrimp, plenty fish. Actually the tours in Cat Ba are all the same. The only reason that this company has gd reviews is bcoz their staff can speak & type in Eng & are responsive.

But from this incident, i can truly see how this company sorely lacks in professionalism. The tours compete fiercely in Cat Ba ( I heard from the guide that 2 tour operators fought with 1 another). It takes an unsatisfactory review from their customer to really see how professional the company is in handling criticism.

Edit: Mr Tung, you NEVER asked me politely. U hunted me down, saw that i had rated Thu Ha hotel, came to the hotel, found my room & CONFRONTED me at my room. I felt threatened. U threatened customers...

We just got back from our 3 Days 2 Night Trip with Cat Ba Ventures! The trip was beyond perfect and we are so happy we chose this comany. The booking via eMail in advance was so easy, they answered our request immediately. Also the paying procedure was easy via Paypal. Now, about the trip... Tuan was out guide and we were a small group, just two couples on the first day and night. We started with a fantastic tour around Ha Long and Lan Ha Bay and had amazing lunch. All meals were included during the trip and some of the best food we had on our whole trip, water was provided all time. You could get extra Soda or Beer on the Boat that would cost around 30k, so still very cheap. Next was biking on Cat Ba Island, followed by Trekking. We thought Tuan was joking when he pointed out the peak we were about to climb. This trek was very steep and sometimes difficult, but the view was worth it. For the first night we stayed in Bungalows on the small island Nam Cat and it was just wonderful and very romantic. I read some bad reviews on the Resort, which surprised a lot, bc you can really have a unique experience, waking up to sunrise over the rocky sea, swimming in the morning or enjoy the view and calm atmosphere on the terace. Now drinks in the restaurant here are a bit more expensive, but 2$ for a beer is by far okay! Meals are included, and you could stay with water if you are not willing to pay extra. Also the next day was a dream. We joined another group and went for kayaking through caves and swimming in the beautiful sea. This night we spent on a boat, really spacious rooms with AC and bathrooms. Again, lunch and dinner were amazing, a lot of fresh (sea) food, but also vegetarian options. During the tour our guide Tuan always explained very interesting facts on vietnamese people and the country, tides, food, nature, sharing funny stories about language and misunderstanding and many many others. All the crew was so polite and helpful all the time. We would always choose Cat Ba Ventures again to have the tour with. Thanks so so much for this...