Eighty-nine to two hundred — a fleet operation, planned as one
Three to five hulls sailing in company, a shore gala planned from the outset rather than as a fallback, and a site survey before we will quote. At this size the sailing is the daytime experience and the evening happens on land.
What a fleet operation actually involves
- Three to five hulls, sailing in company. Same route, same timings, departing within minutes of each other, anchoring together.
- A coordinator on every hull, plus a fleet supervisor who does not carry a hull and whose only job is the whole operation. From 100 guests a medic travels with the group.
- Staggered activity. Five vessels cannot all put kayaks in the water at one anchorage. Blocks are staggered by hull or split across two locations.
- Two or three coaches, staged. A hundred and sixty people do not board simultaneously; the coach schedule is built backwards from the port slot.
- A shore gala. Planned from the start. Ha Long city and the Tuan Chau area hold ballrooms at this size.
- Some hulls may not be ours. Above roughly 200 guests we charter in additional vessels, and the quote states which ships are ours and which are not. On a third-party hull we commit to the same service standard but not to the same control over the schedule.
Why the site survey is not optional
For programmes this size we will not quote from a brief alone. A survey day covers the shore venue, the tender arrangements, the coach staging at the port, and the vessels themselves.
- The shore venue. Ballroom capacity at 150 with a stage is not the same as ballroom capacity at 150 theatre style. It has to be walked.
- Tender logistics. Moving 150 people from anchored vessels to a shore venue and back at night is the single highest-risk element of a fleet programme. It needs a written schedule agreed with the port authority.
- Coach staging at the port. The passenger port has finite kerb space. Three coaches arriving together at the wrong moment costs forty minutes.
- Your production requirements against the actual power available, both on the deck and at the shore venue.
Every fleet programme that has gone wrong for us in the past went wrong on the tender schedule or the coach staging, not on the vessels. Both are solvable and both are invisible from a brief. One day resolves them.
The shape we recommend
| Day | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Hanoi | Arrivals, recovery, welcome dinner in the city. Do not put a working session here for a group flying in. |
| Day 2 am | Hanoi | Plenary and working sessions. Proper room, proper bandwidth, real breakouts. |
| Day 2 pm | Road, then bay | Staged coach departure, board, sail, anchorage, activity. |
| Day 2 evening | Ashore | Tender in, shore gala at a Ha Long venue, tender back. Or overnight ashore and board the following morning. |
| Day 3 am | Bay | Cave, kayak, brunch. No agenda. |
| Day 3 pm | Road | Return. Central Hanoi by mid-afternoon. |
The alternative shape — gala on Day 3 — breaks our rule about never placing the gala before a departure day, and for a group of 150 with morning flights it breaks it badly.
Questions we are asked most often
Can we still have any of the gala on the water?
A sunset reception across rafted decks, yes, and it is a strong opening. The seated dinner and the awards go ashore. Trying to run the ceremony afloat at this size means most of your guests cannot see it.
How far ahead do we need to commit?
Ninety days minimum, a hundred and twenty for October and November. The constraint is not the vessels — it is finding a shore venue with the right capacity on the same dates the fleet is free.
Can you handle 300 guests?
On the water, only by chartering in a significant number of third-party hulls, and we would tell you that plainly rather than presenting it as our fleet. At that size the honest answer is often a shore-based programme with a half-day bay excursion rather than a residential cruise.
What is the failure mode we should worry about?
Weather closing the port on the morning of departure with 150 people already in coaches. It is why the shore alternative for a fleet programme is contracted and held rather than identified on the day, and why the decision deadline is written into the programme document.
Where to go next
Four fields and you can send
Tell us the basics and we will come back within eight working hours with feasibility — including how many hulls your headcount actually needs — and within three working days with a detailed quote.