My husband and I, w/our adult son want very much to take the Emeraude 2 day/1 night Cruise but am wondering if there is any place to book it that might be less than $625??? We'll be in Hanoi on the 30th and thought that would be a nice place to spend New Year's Eve but the price is staggering. Any suggestions? Also, the only hotel we could find (thru AsiaRooms)is the Heritage (in Hanoi). Does anyone have any experience with them?

Is there any reason you are limiting yourself to asiarooms.com? And what is your budget for Hanoi? I do know that the Hilton Hanoi Opera has rooms for $135.00/night - we had multiple trips in the planning stages until last week, so did a fair bit of research on Hanoi. The Sofitel and De Syloia were also of interest to us. Hanoi has lots and lots of hotels in every price range, I don't think you'll have any trouble.

I've seen the Emeraude Cruise offered through different agencies at prices ranging from $150.00 per person (double occ) to $190.00 per person (double occ). I would thing shopping around would be a good idea. There aree also lots of boats doing the same itinerary, so if you are flexible as to which boat you go on, you could wait until you get to Hanoi and book then.

I am in Vietnam right now and took the cruise last week. It was great. What a wonderful thing it is to wake up and watch the sunrise in Halong Bay. Met many wonderful people. I booked through Esstimo (SIC) or something like that. You are only on the boat for 18 hours or so. It is by far the best boat out there as the others look more touristy. Book without transportation and then ask about transportation for all 3 of you.

Another comment----The food is wonderful !!!!!!

Try making an inquiry for both hotel and cruise at vietnamstay.com. We booked all our hotels and a Mekong Delta trip through them and were very pleased with service, price, and quality. I think they are based in Hanoi.