Family cruises on Ha Long Bay
Boats with connecting cabins, a shallow end and crew used to children. Fewer of them exist than the marketing suggests.
Most boats on this bay say they welcome families. Rather fewer have cabins that actually sleep four without a rollaway wedged between the bed and the wall, and fewer still have deck railings a small child cannot get through.
Three things worth checking before you book. Ask whether the family cabin is a genuine connecting pair or one room with an extra mattress. Ask what the child rate is and at what age it stops, since five to eleven at around seventy-five per cent is common but varies. And ask whether cots exist, because on most boats they do not.
Kayaking usually carries a minimum age, often around five, and the deeper swimming stops are not suitable for weak swimmers whatever the schedule says.