General Booking Terms And Conditions

Reservation for your stay on Serenity Cruises constitutes your acknowledgement that you have read, and agree to, the General Booking Terms And Conditions presented herein. If you do not agree to any part of these terms and conditions, kindly contact us for support.

Once your booking is confirmed officially an email sent from booking@halongserenitycruises.com, Serenity Cruises will take complete responsibility of your booking and any further inquiry from you.

Check-in/out Policy:

Check in: 11:30 – 12:30
Check out: 10:00

1. Cruise rate

All prices for the cruise are generally per cabin. Our prices and fares are quoted in US dollars.

2. Payment

Deposit to secure reservation

To reserve your cabin and lock in the final price, you will be required to place a deposit (30% of total rate) on your cruise. After you have placed a deposit to secure your reservation, you will be asked to pay the remaining balance of your fare during check-in or check-out time.

Serenity Cruises accepts Visa, MasterCard, etc. for all payments. Your reservation is confirmed once deposit or the whole payment is received by Serenity Cruises Management by credit card or via bank transfers. All confirmations are generally acknowledged by return email within 24 hours.

After your request is acknowledged, you will receive an email from booking@halongserenitycruises.com. The link for payment will be attached in the email. Click on the link and follow the instruction to complete your payment.

Payment upon Arrival

Serenity Cruise accepts cash payment in US Dollars and Vietnam Dong upon arrival. Due to strict rules of banks in Vietnam regarding foreign currencies, only new clean notes of US Dollar issue from 2006 until now are accepted. Notes with red marks, dirty marks and issued before 2006 are not accepted because they are refused by banks and have no value.
Credit card payment (only Visa and MasterCard) is accepted and is subject to 3% extra for credit card fees.

3. Children and extra beds

Occupation for only 1 child under 6 is free of charge when staying in the same cabin with adults.

Children from 6 to 12 years of stay in the same cabin with adults and are charged at 75% of adult price.

Only 1 child under 12 is allowed to stay in the same cabin with adults. Extra bed is only provided upon request in advance.
If there are 2 children under 6 are going with 2 adults, the second child will be charged with 20 USD.
Two children under 12 will stay in a separate cabin and be charged at 75% of cabin price.
Children from 12 years old are charged at adult price.

Any type of extra bed or child’s cot/crib is upon request and needs to be confirmed by the cruise management.

Supplements are not calculated automatically in the total costs and will be paid separately.

4. Cancellation policy

Penalties may apply if you cancel or change your reservation. Penalties can be up to 100% of the amount paid and deposits are often non-refundable. Please check with your cruise counselor for cancellation and refund policies for Serenity Cruises.

Cancellation by guests

No-Show or from 1 to 3 days prior to sailing	100% of total amount
From 4 to 7 days prior to sailing	30% of total amount
From 8 to 30 days prior to sailing	0% of total amount
More than 30 days prior to sailing	Deposit (0% of total amount)

Cancellation by Serenity Cruises

We reserve the right to cancel your booking under some unavoidable circumstances such as: natural disasters, wars, civil strife, industrial disputes, terrorism, or under orders from the Local Authority. Serious weather conditions will also lead to cancellation in order to guarantee your safety.

The following policies will be applied for bad weather:

If the cancellation is informed to guests prior to leaving Hanoi and the guests have not used any service: 100% of the amount paid will be refunded.
If the cancellation is informed during the trip (guests have already used some services: e.g. transfer, lunch, day trip, hotel in Halong, etc): The remaining amount after subtracting all the actual fee of services used will be refunded.

Cancellation will ONLY be announced by the Halong Local Port Authority and often at short notice. Therefore, your understanding in these situations will be highly appreciated as these circumstances are entirely not under our control.

5. Refund of Unused services

Unused services such as accommodation, meals, sightseeing tours, transport and other inclusions as listed in the deal of each cabin will not be refunded or exchanged.

6. Passengers’ information

Clients are requested to submit all passenger details at least 24 hours prior to sailing including (i) Full name, (ii) Date of birth, (iii) Gender, (iv) Nationality, (v) Passport number, (vi) Vietnam visa expiry date.

All of your personal information mentioned above that we collect for process procedures during the time you travel with us will be kept confidential. Serenity Cruises retains your information fro business purposes as long as is reasonably necessary to provide you with our service, but in no longer than twenty-seven (27) months.

7. Dietary requests

All dietary restrictions should be informed at least 24 hours prior to check-in to help us to serve the guests better. It is advised that any special requirements on dietary be mentioned on the booking form.

8. Safety policies

For Serenity Cruises and parent company, Cat Ba Express, the safety of our guests and crew has always been our highest priority. Our marine safety record over our corporation’s operating history illustrates our commitment to the safety of our guests and crew who sails with us each year. The measures we take in the interest of safety are many, with our ships often exceeding what is required by regulatory authorities. It’s all part of our commitment to innovation and continuous improvement in every aspect of our business.

At the beginning of every cruise, shipboard crew members guide every one of our guests through a mandatory session, to ensure they are familiar with what to do and where to go in the unlikely event of an emergency.

In addition to the muster drill for our guests, our officers and crew conduct weekly, monthly and annual drills on every ship, and complete extensive training, certification and scenarios in preparation for the very unlikely event of an emergency, including training on ship evacuation procedures. All of our ships have sufficient lifesaving craft to accommodate every guest and crew member on board, as well as additional capacity in reserve.