Sea Stars Cruise

Sea Stars leaves from the Ha Long International Cruise Port, not from Tuan Chau Marina. Most boats on this site use Tuan Chau, the two piers are about twenty minutes apart, and a driver who assumes the usual one will make you late for a boat that does not wait. Only one source states the pier, so confirm it when you book, then confirm it again with whoever collects you.

What you are booking

Thirty-nine cabins, confirmed across sources. The operator dates the launch to 2023 and describes a steel hull, and nobody else corroborates either, so both are their word. They also put capacity at 118 guests, again alone. Nobody publishes the deck count or the length. There is a pool, a spa, a gym and kayaking, all verified independently; the jacuzzi rests on the operator’s claim alone, which is worth knowing if a listing is selling you one.

Cabin size is the strangest entry in our file. Four figures, each carried by exactly two sources: 30 m², 36, 44 and 70. There is no majority to report and no way to tell which grade any of them belongs to. Given that the rate sheet runs from a Deluxe room to a President suite for four people, the spread is probably real rather than an error, but we are not going to nominate one number and hope. Ask for the square metres of the specific grade you are being quoted, in writing.

The cabins and what they cost

The rate table was read on 6 August 2026 and is per cabin, for the one-night trip. Deluxe is $670 for two. Executive is $760, Premium Executive $780. The Executive Triple takes three at $1,100. Then the suites: Junior at $1,220, Captain at $1,360, Royal at $1,790, and the President suite at $5,160 for four people.

The per-person figure listings advertise is $140, taken from listings on 7 August 2026 and uncorroborated. Two people at $140 is $280. The cheapest published cabin for two people is $670, which is nearly two and a half times as much. We cannot reconcile the two, and neither can the listings, so work from the cabin table and treat $140 as advertising until an agent puts it in a confirmation. Rates here move with season and reseller. The date above matters more than the figures do.

Where it costs you

We collected 223 reviews and read them. A hundred and eighty are five-star. Fourteen are one-star and five are two-star, so nineteen guests, or roughly nine in every hundred, came off this boat unhappy enough to say so at the bottom of the scale. Our record also carries an aggregate of 9.6, but the review count attached to that average is 11, which cannot be right next to 223 collected reviews. We are not going to build an argument on a number that does not reconcile, so the distribution above is what we will stand behind.

Something else in that file matters more than the average. Only 40 of the 223 reviews are in English, and the English slice is noticeably kinder: 33 of those 40 are five-star, and just three sit at one or two. If you are reading this in English and judging the boat from reviews you can read, you are seeing the good end of the record. The bad end exists in other languages.

What the low reviews actually describe is administration rather than the ship. One guest was billed at check-out for towels that had been used, which is the sort of line that turns a good trip sour in the last ten minutes. The same review rates the views and the day’s arrangements well. Another guest found no drinking water available without paying for it, waited for transport at both ends of the trip, and found the stops crowded. A honeymooning couple from Australia were told a few days before departure that the trip might be cancelled or moved while they were partway round the Ha Giang loop and unable to replan. Their cruise went ahead and they gave it four stars. A separate guest says their booking was cancelled shortly before the date. Two accounts do not make a policy, and we are not going to describe one. If your dates cannot move, ask what happens to your booking if the sailing does not fill, and get the answer in the same email as the price.

Praise on the good reviews is specific in the way that makes it credible: a member of reception named in full, fish and steak at dinner, a lunch buffet that guests kept mentioning. Breakfast draws the one consistent complaint from otherwise happy guests, described as thin on choice, though there is a brunch service afterwards that seems to make up for it.

The route, and why one night is tight

The circuit takes in Sung Sot, the floating village at Cua Van, the climb on Ti Top island, Trinh Nu cave and a pearl farm. Cua Van is the reason to look at this itinerary rather than a cheaper one; it is a working village rather than a souvenir stop, and boats on the shorter loop often skip it. A guest who took two nights makes the point plainly, that the one-night passengers looked rushed and never sat still. We agree with that reading, and it is the single change we would make to a booking on this boat. Both lengths run, and the three-bay comparison is worth ten minutes if you have not settled on Ha Long itself yet.

Who it suits

Couples and small families buying a cabin outright, on two nights, who want a pool and a gym without paying suite money. Against the rest of the luxury list it sits low on price for what is on board, and it holds up on the best-value comparison for Ha Long Bay as well.

Who should look elsewhere

Anyone on rigid dates, and anyone who wants the whole cost known at the pier. The charges guests describe are small in money and large in irritation, and they all arrive at the end.