about
About halongbaycruise.info, an independent Halong Bay guide
halongbaycruise.info is an independent guide to Halong Bay, Vietnam (Vịnh Hạ Long), and its neighbors Lan Ha Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay and Cat Ba Island, for people choosing a cruise or planning the trip. Rainer Lang edits it. The pages are built from what the Ha Long Bay Management Board, the Quang Ninh and Hai Phong authorities, cruise operators, travel advisories and published records state, plus partner listings with the date they were read. The guide earns a commission when you book through some of its links; no operator, agency or hotel pays to be listed.
Who runs this guide
Rainer Lang runs halongbaycruise.info as an independent guide. He publishes and edits it, decides what goes on the pages and is responsible for them. The guide is not run by the Ha Long Bay Management Board, the Quang Ninh or Hai Phong authorities, or any cruise operator, travel agency or hotel, and none of them stands behind it.
Visited Halong Bay in 2022. Rainer Lang, editor
The pages describe the bays from what the bodies in charge, the operators and published records state. Where a rule, a fee or a route is set by someone, the page names who sets it and links to them, and their word is the one that counts.
- Publisher and editor
- Rainer Lang
- Contact
- info@halongbaycruise.info, or see the contact page.
- Paid for by
- Commission from partner links to GetYourGuide, Viator, Klook, TourRadar and Booking.com (through Stay22). No ads, no paid listings.
- Not
- A cruise operator, a booking site or an official site.
method
How the guide is made
Each figure on the pages sits in one list, with the body that states it and the date it was last read there. A fee prints with the resolution and the council that sets it; a transfer time is the operator's stated range; a cruise price is the partner's listed price on the day named beside it. The sources of each page are listed at its foot, folded shut until you open them.
Maps on the guide are drawn from OpenStreetMap data. Every photograph names its photographer and license under the picture, and all of them are listed on the photo credits page. The tables behind the pages, from the storm stop log to the official routes, can be downloaded from the Halong Bay data page.
How often the pages change
Every page shows the date its content last changed. Fees, routes, advisories and partner prices go back to their source on a schedule, and sooner when a body announces a change.
Some things change faster than any schedule. Cruises stop when the port authority orders it in a storm, a route can be closed and a fee can rise with a new resolution. Where that is likely, the page says who announces it and where to look on the day.
What the guide is not
- Not an official site. Routes, fees and closures are set by the bodies the pages name.
- Not a cruise operator or a booking site. A booking happens on the partner's or the operator's site, never here.
- Not a price setter. A cruise price on the guide is the partner's listed price on a stated day.
The terms for using the guide are on the terms of use page.
money
How the guide is paid for
When you book a cruise, a tour or a room through a partner link and the booking goes ahead, the partner may pay the guide a commission. The partner sets the price, and the commission comes out of its side, so you pay nothing extra. The partners today are GetYourGuide, Viator, Klook, TourRadar and Booking.com (through Stay22); which links earn, and how to tell them apart, is set out in the affiliate disclosure.
No operator, hotel or agency pays to be listed or placed higher, and no partner sees a page before it goes live. Official sites, free sights and public bodies are linked without any commission.
The site sets no cookies. What happens when you click a partner link is on the privacy page, and the way to reach the editor with a correction is on the contact page.
Photographs
- Wide Halong Bay seascape with karst islands. Photo: Helenakfronczak / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0