Six hours on the water, home the same night
No cabins, no overnight crew, no dinner service — which makes a day charter roughly a third of the cost of an overnight programme. The trade you are making is five hours of coach for six hours of bay.
Who this is right for
- Client hospitality. A day with customers who cannot leave the room is worth more than three lunches. Best single use of this format.
- Partner and dealer days. A forty-minute address and then hospitality. Works well and is easy to approve internally.
- Team offsites with a working morning. Session in Hanoi 08:00–10:00, coach, sail. Compressed but it works.
- Groups that cannot get an overnight approved. Which is more of them than the industry admits.
It is not right for incentive programmes or awards evenings. The whole value of a bay incentive is the sunset and the dinner, and a day charter is back alongside before either happens.
Indicative rates
Per guest, VAT included, including the return coach transfer from central Hanoi, lunch on board, bay fees, a coordinator and the standard activity set.
| Guests | Per guest (USD) | Vessels |
|---|---|---|
| 20 – 29 | 85 – 140 | One |
| 30 – 44 | 78 – 128 | One |
| 45 – 69 | 72 – 118 | Two |
| 70 – 119 | 68 – 112 | Two to three |
| 120 – 199 | 66 – 108 | Three to five |
Excluded: alcohol beyond the welcome service, production and AV beyond a basic PA, photography, and any shore programme before or after.
A day charter has no cabins, but it still has a licensed passenger capacity and a deck. A Premium hull carries more people on a day sailing than it sleeps — but the deck still seats what the deck seats, and the second vessel still appears somewhere in the forties. Do not assume a day charter escapes the staircase.
The honest arithmetic on coach time
Central Hanoi to the port is two and a half hours each way on a good day. A day charter is therefore a twelve-hour day for your guests, of which six are on the water and five are on a road.
| Departure city | One-way transfer | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Central Hanoi | 2h30 | Workable. Long but standard, and most groups accept it. |
| Hanoi airport area | 2h15 | Slightly better. Worth staging an inbound group here. |
| Hai Phong | 1h15 | Comfortable. If your group is already in Hai Phong, sail from that side. |
| Van Don airport | 50 min | Best of all for international groups. Removes the road leg almost entirely. |
| Ha Long city | 20 – 40 min | Ideal. If the group is staying on the bay already, a day charter is an easy add. |
If your group is coming from Ho Chi Minh City for the day, do not. Fly in the night before and take the overnight programme — the maths does not work otherwise.
Questions we are asked most often
Can we have dinner on a day charter?
An early dinner alongside is possible, before the coaches leave. It puts you into central Hanoi around 22:00. For most groups it is not worth the extra two hours, and if the dinner matters, take the overnight.
Can we do team building on a day charter?
One block, about ninety minutes, at the anchorage. The cave and kayak formats both fit. Two blocks does not fit — lunch and the sailing take the rest of the day.
Is the vessel the same as the overnight one?
Yes, the same hulls. On a day sailing the cabins are simply not in use, which is what removes most of the cost.
What happens if the port closes?
Same as an overnight: nobody sails. For a day charter the shore alternative is normally a Ha Long city venue with lunch, and it is contracted in advance. See port closure policy.
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.