The One 'Private Island' Escape

Except for the island manager and the small guy serving the food bar. The rest is just average. I stay for 5 nights and already messaged before that it will be my birthday and if they can arrange something special but they only get back to me after I already checked out for 2 weeks???
You must find the harbor to the island yourself since the I can not contact them by phone number or booking app at all. Even though they have a lot of staff.

The staff was pretty much lazy and smoking in front and behind the counter, they didn’t know how to communicate in English, the breakfast is basically an omelette with fruit left surrounded by flies and for the other meals the choice is very limited as they run out of ingredients and don’t go shopping for days so it can get boring after a couple of days.
The bed was very hard as it had wood tiles instead of bed springs underneath and the bathroom can stink quite a bit as the drainage system is of course what you find on an island.
The beach was mostly dirty and the sun beds are not in good condition as they are left under all weather conditions and there are no umbrellas to find some shade to keep you from getting burned under the super hot sun.
Initially it seemed pretty convenient but if you sum up the food and drinks you buy from them it can get more expensive than average prices in Vietnam.

Leider war die Unterkunft heruntergekommen und dreckig:
- verknüllter Strand und dreckiges Meer
- Kakerlaken und Ameisen (sowohl tot als auch lebendig) im Bad und Zimmer
- Schimmel an der Decke
- unmotiviertes Personal
- dreckiger Pool
- Möbel und Wege kaputt und dreckig/unaufgeräumt

C’est sale ! Un truc de fou (mais de mon expérience à Ha Long c’est malheureusement la norme).
Personnel incompétent malheureusement.
Parfait si vous avez 20 ans.

Some stuffs are inaccessible but it’s fine because it’s an isolated island. But definitely take note of that. My boyfriend got a really bad sea sick but when I came to the staffs asking for medicine they said they ran out. Staffs were doing their job but not exactly friendly. Wifi only available in the main area but that’s really understandable because the island is powered by a generator and I was outside playing almost all the time. The bathroom on the private room smells, but it’s relatively clean.

I ain’t like when staff playing billiards all day and guest ain’t have the chance to try it but was cool

Staff need to be trained to service and to be aware of customers needs, most of the staff were playing on the pool table for 90% of the time we were there. As it was raining while we were there, our roof leaked next to our bed, when we reported this, reception said “this is an island” as if that was the reason for non maintenance. Breakfast choices were poor and no coffee was offered, only tea, needed to purchase coffee from the bar. In general, staff were indifferent except for Alex who was friendly and helpful.

dirty beach, shells, no free bbq

Honestly, nothing major.

Room floor was dirty (with a lot of sand) when I entered but that could be the 'beach life'. Communication wasn't great- as others have mentioned, Alex (and some other staff) were too busy getting drunk or being hungover to assist at times. Unprofessional. Also, they tried to bill me extra drinks at the end which I didn't purchase so beware!

So they do provide breakfast, but this is not on booking.com... they also don't tell you that if you bring outside food onto the island it's a 500000vnd fine (about £14). It's very isolated, so don't come if you want to explore any of cat ba, and it's quite tricky to get too via their boat (the harbour is quite a distance from the city on cat ba.). The food is fairly average compared to other food we've had in Vietnam.

The bungalows are fairly comfortable but the beds are rock solid, and the electricity is turned off twice per day for 2 hours, so you may wake up in the sweltering heat with no air con at 5am.

Overall, if you're looking for a getaway with some relaxation this is great, but not for exploring.

That it was a one day trip for us!!