Emperor Cruise

Emperor Cruise is a ten-suite boat, and from October 2026 it sails Bai Tu Long Bay, north-east of Ha Long, boarding at Tuan Chau as before. The smallest suite listed is 35 square metres. On the two-night programme the middle day leaves the ship altogether, by day boat, for Thay Cave and the Cong Dam area.

All 97 reviews we hold were posted before the move. We lean on them for the ship, the suites, the crew and the food. The few that talk about stops or pacing describe the old Ha Long route, and we say so where they appear.

Ten cabins, and the arithmetic closes

Ten cabins, verified across sources. Among the 14 boats we list in Bai Tu Long Bay, the median is 16 cabins and only three carry fewer than Emperor (our ship records, 11 October 2026). The grade breakdown comes from one listing, halongbaycruises.com, and it adds up to exactly ten: two Hanoi/Saigon suites of 35 square metres on the upper deck, two Signature suites of 43 on the main deck, four State suites of 50 split across the main and upper decks, and two Royal suites of 70 up top. A second listing agrees on the 35 and 43. The operator’s own page groups those two sizes together as four Signature suites, so the grade name you are quoted may change with the seller.

That also explains an apparent contradiction. The summary data for this ship records four different cabin sizes, and they are not rival accounts of one room. They are four grades, listed above. A square-metre figure in a listing means nothing until you know which door it belongs to.

One four-star guest complicates the picture. They describe comfortable cabins with a decent bed and a tiny bathroom, which is hard to square with a smallest grade of 35 square metres. We cannot reconcile those two, so we are showing you both.

Launch year 2017, a steel hull and departure from Tuan Chau: the listings repeat these, and none of them is independently confirmed. The operator group’s site, luxcruisesgroup.com, read on 9 October 2026, gives a length of 58 metres, three decks and a maximum of 24 guests. The operator’s own pages also say three decks; the length and the guest figure we found nowhere else. A jacuzzi, a spa, a gym, kayaking and balconies are each confirmed by at least two sources. No source we checked mentions a pool. The company’s other ship has one, so if a listing shows you a pool on Emperor, they have the wrong boat open.

What the cabins cost

The rate table was read on 6 August 2026, and the basis recorded against it is the highest published rate we could find in a listing rather than an operator tariff. Per cabin for two on the one-night trip: Signature suite $380, State suite $450, Royal suite $520, and $730, $860 and $1,020 over two nights. Treat those as the top of the range. That reading predates the route change, so ask whether the figures still stand.

Those three names match the grade breakdown above, so on that listing’s figures the $380 buys a 43 m² Signature suite on the main deck and the $520 a 70 m² Royal suite on the upper one. The two 35 m² Hanoi/Saigon suites carry no price on the sheet. If the smallest room is the one you want, ask for it by name, and get the deck and the room number in writing when you book.

Halved, the $380 Signature suite is $190 each for two sharing. Plan against the cabin table and the date on it.

What guests say when they are unhappy

We collected 97 reviews and read them, 47 in English, all posted between June 2023 and June 2026 about the Ha Long route. Seventy-three are five-star. Four carry a one-star rating and none is a two, so four per cent sat at the bottom. For a boat at this fare that is a low figure, and we should say so plainly. Only one of those four says more than a word.

That one is the most instructive review of the boat. Posted in April 2026, it comes from a guest who booked Emperor for a honeymoon, saved for months, and got about two hours on board before a storm stopped the port issuing sailing permits. Everybody was moved onto Heritage Cruise, the same company’s other ship.

The three-star reviews carry the rest of the criticism. A group of ten on the old Ha Long three-day trip found the range of activities thin for the length of the booking, and had difficulty following their guides in English, while describing the staff as keen and attentive in the same breath. Another guest calls the Vietnamese seafood lunch exceptional and the Western dinner weak, which suggests ordering off the local end of the menu. One five-star guest found the old one-night programme a little packed. Whether the Bai Tu Long schedule feels the same, no guest has written about it yet.

We have no way of knowing how often the weather transfer happens, and the move does not change who decides. In Quang Ninh the provincial agriculture and environment department recommends a suspension, the maritime port authority decides whether to issue sailing permits, and that decision covers Bai Tu Long as much as Ha Long. Our own notes on the bay rate it the more exposed of the two and the one that tends to close first. The operator does not publish what it does with guests on a closed day now. Ask before you pay, particularly for July through September.

What the good reviews say about the room is specific. Two guests describe a bath positioned for the view, and one writes about seeing the bay from the bed through the big glass window. One mentions being lent traditional clothes for dinner. The dining room in our photographs has white tablecloths, and the sun deck carries orange sails above the loungers.

Where does Emperor sail from October 2026?

Bai Tu Long Bay. The operator announced on 22 September 2026 that the boat would move there from October, and frames it as a return to what it calls the first bay of the company’s story. Boarding stays at Tuan Chau, through the Emperor lounge at 28B Tuan Chau International Marina, where guests gather between 11:00 and 11:30 to board at 12:30.

On the one-night programme the afternoon goes to Thien Canh Son, a cave set on top of a limestone mountain, visited from about 15:00 and followed by kayaking. Early next morning, at 07:15, a tender or day boat takes you out to Vung Vieng. Local fishermen then row you round the floating village in their bamboo boats. You are back on the ship by 08:15.

The two-night programme keeps both, with the village row on the final morning, and spends the middle day off the ship on a day boat: Thay Cave from 08:30, which the operator calls one of the largest in the bay, then the Cong Dam and Hon Xep nature area before lunch, eaten on the day boat between 12:30 and 15:00. Neither stop appears on the one-night trip, and that is now our reason to take three days. The old argument rested on Viet Hai village, which the new route does not visit. Our two days or three guide covers the cost side of that choice.

On 9 October 2026 the operator’s own website was still selling the old Ha Long packages next to the new ones. Ask whoever sells you the trip which route runs on your date, and get it in writing. Tripadvisor already lists the boat as Emperor Cruises Legacy Fai Tsi Long, while many older reviews sit under Emperor Cruises Legacy Halong.

Who it suits

Couples on an occasion, on two nights, buying a specific room on a specific deck from a boat with nine other cabins on it. It sits properly among the small boats and in the luxury bracket, and it also appears on our best-value page. For the rest of the fleet on this bay, see our Bai Tu Long cruise guide. If the bay itself is still an open question, start with the three-bay comparison.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone travelling between July and September on fixed dates. A permit suspension keeps every suite in port, and the operator publishes no plan for those days. Families wanting a pool should also look elsewhere; no source we checked lists one on Emperor.