One of the things that was confusing when planning our trip to VN was--which junk to cruise on. Eventually, I chose Indochina Sails without knowing much about it. I booked through Handspan and we were very pleased with it. An ex-pat from Boston manages 3 Indochina Sails junks and the Valentine junk. He lives aboard the junk we were on. They are all owned by a VN family. The IS junks have 15 cabins, the V junk has 5 cabins but all were only about half occupied. They are all quite lovely when the sails are up (strictly for looks!)

The 3 meals were delicious--a 7-course lunch which included green papaya salad, a favorite of mine.
The dinner was buffet with delicious calamari among other choices.

Trips to the floating villages and caves were offered as well as kayaking.

Our cabin had twin beds which we requested, but others had queen-size beds. I was told that the cabins on the Valentine are larger but ours was adequate for the 1-night cruise. The bath was relatively large and nice amenities were included.

The trip to Halong Bay from Hanoi takes about 3 hours. Our transportation was on the Handspan bus but I noticed the Indochina Sails has its own shuttle bus. Most of the people on our junk had booked through their hotels after arriving in Hanoi. Any way you book, it is a good choice!