In early March, we will be taking an overnight cruise on Halong Bay on the Ginger junk. We will return to Hanoi after the cruise for another day so will leave our large bags at the hotel. Can anyone who has done this tell me what to wear during the day and what is the attire for dinner? Can we stay in our daytime clothes or are we expected to dress for dinner? Don't want to lug extra stuff if we don't have to.

You can stay in your daytime clothes. It is very casual and in good weather, I would expect there would even be shorts at the dinner table, if this is allowed. (I took the Emeraude overnight cruise in January so people wore jeans and other casual things)

Totally informal.

Wha-a-a...? You mean your cruises didn't have the formal night?

I wondered if I'd got that wrong. I felt a bit odd putting evening dress on in the middle of Halong Bay; it was hot and the tiara chafed my forehead. No matter what anybody tells you, high heels are a hassle on a junk.

Nobody else made an effort, I noticed. No style. All flip-flops and T-shirts. Pfft! Barbarians. The world is going to pieces.

dogster:

sounds like we were on the same cruise.

Dogster: In my world, a tent-like mu mu is considered dress up. So there was at least one person with a sense of decorum and style on your cruise, as I recall.

We took the Ginger in early January. Folks on our trip did seem to change for dinner, but they still were NOT dressed up. It was, however, quite chilly! We each brought one change of clothes and left our big bags at the Metropole, as you will be doing. Good plan.

I havent done an overnight, but on our day trip in April a few years back, we went in shorts and t-shirts and the wind chill factor was minus a million, We'd never been so cold!

We were booked on a different boat which enforced no dress code at all. So we dressed as long as we felt comfortable with. From what I've read so far, this sounds similar to other boats that cruise Halong bay.

Losaltos, since you were actually on the Ginger, can you tell me what it was like? What were the cabins like? Did you kayak even tho it was chilly? We are also staying at the Metropole and would love to know your experience there. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hope you carried a heavy jacket. Were there in March and it was frigid.