Halong Bay was something my husband and I were looking forward to immensely cos of the sheer beauty of nature. However, we had much doubts about it as well after hearing of toneless of scams and horror stories involving several cruise operators, even the supposedly luxurious ones.
Alova cruise certainly lived up to our expectations and more and it really made our trip a fabulous one. Our tour guide from Go Asia, Mr Man, was hilarious, affable and very good-natured. He constantly apologized for any shortcomings but he really didnt have to cos there weren’t any! 🙂 The rest of the cruise crew were pleasant and had smiles all day long. Some were really talented too, like the guy who carved pretty flowers from mere vegetables! 
The food onboard was AMAZING! We had dietary concerns as we couldn’t take pork, chicken or beef but the variety was so wide with yummy seafood and tasty veggies that we didn’t feel left out at all! There were about 12 of us on board and we got along awesomely well! It was really like Club Med, only cozier!
The only grouse i guess was that the rooms, while quaint and pretty clean, could have cleaner shower areas, towels, and linen, and the bed a wee bit more softer. 
Apart from that, our trip via Alova was fantastic!! I’m missing it already!

– Reviewed by Nhudamali –