Lyra Grandeur Cruise

Lyra Grandeur went into service in 2025 and sails Lan Ha Bay out of Tuan Chau, with 33 cabins over three decks. The reason we would put it on a shortlist is the cabins. Ten of its twelve cabin classes are listed with a balcony, and the cheapest of those was $390 a night for two when we read the rate sheet on 6 August 2026.

It comes from the company behind Capella. One guest who had stayed on both rated the service on each highly and singled out some of the Lyra crew as exceptional, the guide Tyler among them.

What you are booking

Mostly, a crew. Staff come up in 35 of the 47 reviews we have read. Nineteen reviews name somebody: Tyler in nine, Teddy in eight. Names that recur that often usually mean the same people are on board week after week, which on a boat in its first season is worth knowing.

After the crew, guests write about the things to do. Seven mention the pool, which the operator sells as a four-season pool beside the jacuzzi; one guest in November found it heated. Six mention the inflatable water slide, six the tai chi session on deck at sunrise, five the kayaking and four a cooking demonstration. The operator’s own programme adds squid fishing and a film with popcorn after dinner. The spa and gym are on four sources each, though guests barely bring them up.

The cabins are where the money goes. Twenty-three of the 33 are 32 m² and sold under three names, and the outlook is the only published difference: ten suites with no view, then six Harmony and seven Sky suites facing the sea. Above those the floor area climbs in steps. There is one family suite at 44 m², two Sky Terrace Suites at 45, a Harmony Family and a Sky Family at 48 each, a single Sky Terrace Family at 53, the Sky Duplex at 64 and the Owner Suite at 92. That accounts for 31 cabins. La Suite de Lyra and the Duplex Family appear on the rate sheet with a price and no size, bed type or count.

Drinks are extra, and breakfast ends at 7:30

The only review below five stars is the one to read before you book. That guest, in January 2026, found breakfast closing at 7:30 on the dot and no drinks included, soft drinks among them. Two five-star guests mention smaller snags: a confirmation email that arrived under the Capella name, and a shower that is visible from outside unless you draw the curtain.

The breakfast time is built into the timetable. One listing runs a light breakfast from 6:15 to 7:30, overlapping a cave trip that starts at 6:45, so if you skip tai chi, set an alarm anyway.

Drinks are the part to plan around. The operator runs a buy-two-get-one happy hour on the sundeck at sunset, which tells you drinks go on your bill, and we have no drinks price list for this boat. Get the drinks policy in writing before you board, and see what is not included for the rest of what a cruise bill can pick up.

The day, hour by hour

The operator and three listings publish times, and they do not always agree, so this follows the operator where it gives one and a range where they differ. Check-in is at the operator’s lounge at Tuan Chau International Port, Lot 20b, from about 11:30; one listing says 12:30. A tender takes you out to the boat. The road from Hanoi is the same as for any Ha Long boat leaving that harbour. What Lan Ha adds is time on the water: lunch runs from about 13:00 to 14:30, and the boat does not anchor at Ao Ech, which the operator calls Frog Lagoon, until around 15:00. You then get an hour and a half there to kayak or swim. Happy hour starts at 17:00, the cooking class follows it, and dinner is at 19:00. How the bays differ covers the longer sail.

Day two starts early. Tai chi is at sunrise. From 6:45 you are in a kayak or a rowed bamboo boat heading into the Dark and Bright Cave. The operator clears cabins between 9:00 and 9:30, so pack before you go out. Brunch follows on board, you are back on land at Tuan Chau somewhere between 10:30 and noon depending on the listing, and the van reaches Hanoi between 2 and 3pm. Which harbour you leave from covers the other departure points if you are arranging your own car.

The three-day trip spends much of its middle day away from Lyra. A fast support boat drops you at Viet Hai at 8am, the Cat Ba village that is the commonest stop in our route data, and Three Peaches Beach is on the same day’s route. One German guest on that trip spent a night on each boat, moved across during the Cat Ba day because a boat was full. Ask which boat both of your nights are on.

What it costs

The rate sheet we read on 6 August 2026 prices this boat by the cabin, and the cabin is the only basis worth comparing across boats. One night for two starts at $390 in the no-view class, $430 in a Harmony, $470 in a Sky. From there it steps up hard: $690 for a Sky Terrace Suite, $890 for La Suite de Lyra. Family rooms are priced for the room, so $760 takes the 44 m² family suite with four in it and $1,020 the Harmony Family with five, and the Duplex Family tops the one-night sheet at $1,070. The sheet records the highest rate the listing published, so treat every figure on it as a ceiling.

The three-day, two-night sheet quotes the whole trip in a single figure: $780 for the cheapest cabin, $950 for a Sky, $2,120 at the top. Divide those out and the second night costs almost exactly what the first one cost, a ratio of 1.98 across all nine rows. We have both sheets for 68 boats. The median by boat is 1.94, and only eight of the 68 charge proportionally more for the extra night than Lyra does. Two days or three is the longer version of that argument.

Who it suits

Couples who want a balcony on a boat in its first season. Families too: five of the twelve classes are sold as family rooms, one of them sleeps five, and the ones that publish a size run from 44 to 53 m². The family boats category has the alternatives if the dates do not work.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone who books on a track record should look elsewhere for this year. One season of reviews, with a single one below five stars, cannot show you how the boat handles a bad day. Capella is the same operator with 306 reviews we could read, going back to 2016, and the Lan Ha Bay page lists everything else sailing the same water. If a new boat is the point, our new boats category collects the other recent launches.

What nobody publishes

The length of this boat. Not the operator, not any of the listings we read. We have no figure, and we are not going to estimate one from a photograph.

Capacity is given as 90 guests by the operator and by one listing. The published occupancies do not get there. Put two guests in every cabin and you have 66; the three family classes that publish a maximum take four or five, nowhere near enough to add the other 24, so the 90 presumably counts extra beds. Nobody publishes what a normal sailing carries. How many people are on board covers why the two kinds of figure diverge.

Listings that quote one cabin size for this boat give different ones: 32, 44, 45 or 48 m², two sources each. They are quoting different classes. The 32 m² figure covers the three entry classes only, and the suites run to 92. Ask for the square metres written against the class name on your invoice before you pay a deposit.

Two people sharing the cheapest cabin, at $390, pay $195 each for the night, on the listing sheet read on 6 August 2026. That sheet is one listing’s highest published rate and nobody else publishes one for this boat, so ask for the cabin total in writing.

Forty-six of the 47 reviews are five stars, the first dates from September 2025, thirty are in English, and the operator has replied to 44. In our view the one four-star review deserves more weight than a one-in-47 share. The launch year and the three decks each rest on a single source.