Review of Pinta cruise from Columbus Travel

After much reading of reviews we booked the Pinta junk ship directly through the owning company, Columbus Travel. Their other ship, the Santa Maria, is currently in maintenance and so the Pinta is taking its place for the moment. Anyone who has tried to read through the reviews will know that there are many junk ships with mixed reviews and it can be difficult picking one. The only definite I could determine was that the cheap budget cruises should be avoided.

Anyway, the Pinta cruise was great. The ship holds 16 but there were only 6 of us on it during the 2 day 1 night cruise. This was good as we had more space etc. but it may have been better fun if there were more people. Don%26#39;t worry about availability - it seems the cruises can easily be booked the day before in Hanoi. The bus transport was via a new minibus with a/c and it was a comfortable commute. Our tour guide Moon was really great - fun, informative and smiley. The food was very good and there was plenty of it. The rooms, though small, were very well appointed, clean and very comfortable. The kayaking through the caves was definitely a highlight. I thought the drinks were a bit expensive and, in hindsight, I probably would have brought some of my own water and beer. Also, the pollution in Halong Bay is a real shame. For a tourist attraction that they are trying to get voted in as one of the new %26#39;7 Wonders of the Natural World%26#39;, the government and tour companies should be working to clean up the water. I personally thought it was a bit too polluted to swim in but many other people gave it a lash and had good fun.

In summary, I really enjoyed the Pinta ship and would definitely recommend booking this cruise with Columbus Travel.

Review of Pinta cruise from Columbus Travel

hi joe, mind to PM me the price for Pinta Cruise? im goin next yr as well..

how bout hotel? which hotel u stayed in hanoi?

Review of Pinta cruise from Columbus Travel

Hi Annielje,

I can%26#39;t remember the exact price but you%26#39;ll probably find it on their website at: http://www.columbustravel.com.vn/

We stayed at the Little Hanoi Hotel and I would also recommend that as it is good value, clean, central etc.

Dave

We are book for April. We understand the Santa Maria has been or will be replaced at that time. We just would like to hear from someone that has visited Halong Bay using Columbus, at some time after fall months 2008 as I understand that is when they had some problems with the Santa Maria. We want to make sure the cruise will take place on an equivalent (though I understand better) boat.

Thanks

Foo

Hi Foo,

We were on the %26#39;Pinta%26#39; cruise through Columbus travel in October 2008 and I can%26#39;t recommend it highly enough. We found Columbus to be very professional and enjoyed every minute of the cruise right from the minute we left Hanoi. We were entertained by our tour guide most of the way to Halong Bay, Hank, a very nice and funny Vietnamese guy. The boat moored away from all the other junks overnight so it was nice and quiet. The food was excellent as was the room and swimming and kayaking etc. You鈥檒l love it. I would have no hesitations booking Santa Maria.

Cheers,

C.

I am very pleased you enjoyed the Pinta cruise, also after reading the reviews we have decided to book it as well, we are going in May 09. They were kind enough to allow us a special price of $97US even after theire special ends on 15th April. Could not be helpful enough. And anyhow, what good value is this when they pick you up and drop you off at your hotel? Can%26#39;t wait to go!!

I also would like to thank unbalanced for the reply which we consider a great help.

Cheers

Hi all,

I%26#39;m also about to book Pinta Cruise for May, would you recommend give out the C.card info for booking?

Thanks

Hi, I also have booked Pinta for March after all the positive replies, and really looking forward to it, but I also was very concerned about giving my credit card details as not only did they want the numbers, there was a form that I had to fill in and scan back with a %26#39;copy%26#39; of the actual credit card and also my signature. They also wanted passport numbers, and heaps of other details.

I was pretty hesitant so I did give them the c/card numbers as most hotels etc always require that to hold bookings anyway and I have never had a problem, but said there was no way I would give them a copy of the actual card as well as my signature as that was too risky and they should be able to take a deposit on just the numbers I gave or to at least hold the booking. Anyway, they said that was ok and they were holding the booking without a deposit, and to just pay when I get there, so hopefully my booking is still there and they dont double book.

Apart from requesting a million things on the booking form/credit card deposit etc they seem really efficient and trustworthy and genuinely helpful, and always respond pretty quicky about any questions I%26#39;ve had.

I wll post on here after we get back at the end of March with all the hopefully %26#39;positive%26#39; details on our trip!

Good luck with your booking

Thanks, I will look forward to you comments end of March.

Have a wonderful trip!

We were originally booked on the Santa Maria but decided to stick with their replacement junk the Pinta Cruiser. We enjoyed ourselves the whole time and had a great tour guide named Ken. He even organised a party for us on New Years Eve. The food was excellent and we had loads of fun kayaking. We didn%26#39;t go swimming as it was not quite warm enough for us but some of the other passengers did. Our booking was made through the Elegance 2 Hotel. We would highly recommend both the Columbus cruise and the Elegance 2 Hotel. Go for it!!!