Athena Luxury for private events.
The longest public review history of any ship on this list, sailing the classic Ha Long route since 2017. Twenty-one cabins for 42 adults, a 50-seat restaurant with a projector already installed, and a sundeck the operator rates for events of fifty — which is the whole ship, on one deck.
Same vessel. Two very different days.
For weddings
Wedding and honeymoon packages the operator already runs, with set-ups on the sundeck, in the restaurant or in-cabin, booked in advance rather than improvised.
See wedding packagesFor corporate retreats
A 50-seat restaurant with a projector built in, so a session, a slideshow or an awards segment runs without hiring kit and shipping it out to the bay.
See retreat planningWhy this ship rather than the newer ones.
It is the oldest and smallest hull on this list, so the case for it is not the fit-out. It is the length of the public record, and the fact that the operator runs a defined event service on it rather than doing you a favour.
Sailing since July 2017 and trading as plain “Athena Cruise” as well, it has accumulated more public reviews than any other ship here — more than Aspira. If a couple wants the reassurance of a long public record rather than a new hull, this is the one.
Fifty seats on the second deck at the front of the ship, with an open kitchen, its own bar and a projector already installed. A slideshow, a speech or a deck of results does not need hired kit brought aboard.
Their factsheet says it plainly: the sundeck holds events of up to fifty — weddings, anniversaries, team building. With 42 adult berths, that means the whole ship fits on one deck at once, which is rarer than it sounds.
Honeymoon, wedding, birthday and anniversary packages are bookable in advance, with set-ups in the restaurant, on the sundeck or in-cabin, and decoration pre-arranged. You are not asking a cruise operator to improvise a wedding.
Twenty-one cabins, five grades.
From the operator's factsheet rather than an agent listing — the agent pages have these sizes wrong. Note the connecting cabin: at 45m² sleeping four adults and two children, it is the one that solves a family travelling together.
| Grade | Cabins | Deck | Size | Sleeps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deluxe Balcony | 10 | 1st deck | 25m² | 2 adults + 1 child |
| Elegance Balcony | 6 | 2nd deck | 28m² | 2 adults + 1 child |
| Elegance Connecting | 1 | 2nd deck | 45m² | 4 adults + 2 children |
| Premium Terrace | 2 | 2nd deck | 30m² | 2 adults + 1 child |
| Family Triple | 2 | 1st deck | 30m² | 3 adults + 1 child |
The factsheet counts Elegance Balcony as seven cabins; six are the 28m² rooms and the seventh is the 45m² connecting pair, which is why they are listed separately here. Every cabin has a private balcony except the connecting one's second room.
The ship, in numbers that matter.
Logistics rather than adjectives. These are the figures that decide whether a plan is possible, taken from the operator's July 2024 factsheet.
Facts and figures
- Opened: 1 July 2017
- Length and beam: 60m × 13m, three decks
- Cabins: 21, for 42 adults and 8 children
- Crew: 30
- Port: Ha Long International Port, Ha Long City
- From Hanoi: 169km, about 2h45m by road
- From Cat Bi airport, Hai Phong: 65km
- Embark / disembark: 12:00 / 10:45
Spaces you can actually use
- Restaurant on the 2nd deck, 50 seats, with an open kitchen, its own bar and a projector
- Rooftop sundeck with an outdoor bar and a jacuzzi — rated by the operator for events of up to 50
- Coffee lounge on the sundeck level, linked to the outdoor bar, serving through the day
- Spa offering facial, body and foot treatments. Sauna is available on request rather than always on
- A library on the top floor, and morning Tai Chi held on the sundeck
Getting there
- A shuttle bus departs daily at 07:30; limousine, private car and even helicopter or seaplane are on request
- The 15-seat limousine bus picks up in Hanoi's Old Quarter and runs to Ha Long International Port, with water, wi-fi and USB charging
- Cash, Visa, Mastercard and JCB accepted on board. Crew speak Vietnamese and English
Comparing it with the rest of the fleet? Athena Royal is its sister ship on the quieter Bai Tu Long route, and Aspira includes the Hanoi transfer in the fare.
Two programmes, and what changes between them.
The operator's own itineraries. This ship runs the famous sights — Sung Sot, Ti Top, Luon — where its sister Athena Royal leads with the quieter Bai Tu Long. The 17:00 snack and the evening after dinner are the two gaps a ceremony or a team session drops into without fighting the schedule.
2 days, 1 night — Sung Sot, Ti Top and Luon Cave
The short programme, and the one most groups take.
Day one
- 11:30 Departure. Transfer to the ship at Ha Long International Cruise Port
- Lunch in the restaurant as the ship leaves for the bay
- Sung Sot Cave — the Surprising Cave, the largest in Ha Long Bay, on a guided tour
- Ti Top Island — swim from the beach, or climb the steps to the lookout at the top
- 17:00 Back aboard for a snack. Sunset party on deck, or a Vietnamese cooking class instead
- Dinner, a fusion set menu. Squid fishing, karaoke or the sundeck afterwards
Day two
- Tai Chi on the sundeck, then a light breakfast in the restaurant
- Luon Cave by kayak, guided. Back aboard, and cabin check-out
- Brunch in the restaurant while the ship heads back to the harbour
- 11:00 Return to Ha Long International Cruise Port
3 days, 2 nights — a day boat, the Maze Cave and a pearl farm
The second day leaves the ship entirely, which is what makes this more than the 2D1N with an extra night on the end.
Day one
- 11:30 Departure. Welcome drink while the captain runs the briefing
- Lunch in the restaurant as the ship leaves for the bay
- Sung Sot Cave, then Ti Top Island
- Back aboard — the outdoor jacuzzi, the sundeck and happy hour, or the cooking class
- Dinner, a fusion set menu. Film, mini-games and squid fishing after. Overnight aboard
Day two
- Thirty minutes of Tai Chi on the sundeck, then a light breakfast
- Transfer to a day boat for Me Cung Cave — the Maze Cave
- Tung Sau — the pearl farm, and kayaking from the boat
- Lunch on the day boat, a Vietnamese set, then a tea break and the tea ceremony
- Back aboard Athena Luxury for happy hour and the cooking class
- Dinner, a fusion set menu. Free evening, overnight aboard
Day three
- Tai Chi on the sundeck, then a light breakfast
- Hang Luon — Luon Cave — and back aboard
- Brunch while the ship returns to the harbour
- 11:00 Return to Ha Long International Cruise Port
The operator's own caveat, and a fair one: the schedule can move with the weather and with traffic on the way to the port. Cave visits in particular are ticketed and shared with every other boat in the bay, so treat the sequence as firm and the clock as approximate. If your run of show depends on a time, tell us and we will hold it against the ship rather than against this page.
They already do this, which is not true everywhere.
Most cruise operators in the bay will accommodate an event. This one publishes it as a service, which changes the conversation from asking a favour to booking a product.
Bookable in advance
- Weddings, honeymoons, birthdays, anniversaries, private dinners, meetings and team building — all named packages rather than ad-hoc arrangements
- Set-ups in the restaurant, on the sundeck or in-cabin, depending on what is free that sailing
- Decoration — backdrops, balloons, a dressed table — pre-booked rather than sourced on the day
- Cabin set-ups for a special occasion, arranged with notice and charged on top of the package
Onboard, without organising anything
- A Vietnamese cooking class making rice paper and pho rolls, which guests then eat
- Night squid fishing, with whatever is caught steamed by the kitchen straight after
- Kayaking at Luon Cave, where macaques sit on the limestone above the water
- Sunrise Tai Chi on the sundeck, and sunset cocktails from the outdoor bar
Set-up charges sit on top of the cabin rate and vary by package. Tell us what the day has to look like and we will get it priced properly rather than guessing from here.
4.9 / 5 from 314 reviews, and three more listings.
Read off the live listings on 18 September 2026. This ship spent a long time on our site with no score at all, because the obvious one belonged to its operator rather than to it — that is still true, and the number below is a different listing. Cards are ordered by how many reviews they rest on.
Which TripAdvisor listing this is, and which it is not. The score above comes
from (Official) Athena Luxury Cruise — 02 days 01 night program, and its
breakdown adds up exactly: 301 excellent, 9 good, 2 average, none poor and 2 terrible,
which is 314. That is why it is quoted precisely where other ships on this site carry
a rounded-down figure.
You will also find a much larger Athena score of 4.9 from about 2,687 reviews, linked
from the Operator tab of that very page. We do not publish it. It is an
operator listing: it sells Signature Cruise and Aphrodite Cruise trips alongside the
Athena product, page one of its reviews includes a sailing aboard Athena Royal, and its
older reviews are titled Athena Elegance Cruise. The score covers several boats, and
attributing it to this hull would be exactly the mistake this site exists to avoid —
the operator's own website already makes it.
One honest limit on the 314: it is a product listing for the 2D1N programme
rather than a listing for the hull, so the 3D2N sailings are not in it. It is named for
this ship and sold as official, which is as close to the vessel as TripAdvisor gets
with this operator.
The naming does not help either. The factsheet calls this ship Athena Luxury
Cruise; its marketing calls it plain Athena Cruise. Same hull, opened
1 July 2017, and a different vessel from Athena Royal and Athena Premium.
What is actually on the table.
From the operator's 2025 menus. The same kitchen serves Athena Royal — their menu PDFs are byte-identical — so the two ships eat the same. Signature Halong runs its own separate menus.
Three days, and no meal repeated
The 3D2N runs a native lunch buffet on arrival, then a Heritage set dinner. Day two is a light breakfast, a set-menu lunch, and a dinner they call Halong by Night. Day three is a light breakfast followed by a full breakfast buffet before disembarkation. Named services rather than a generic rotation, which matters on a longer sailing.
Dietary menus, already in print
Vegetarian and Indian vegetarian, each in two versions — one for individual travellers and one for groups — plus an Indian non-vegetarian set menu. These are printed menus rather than a kitchen improvising, and they are shared across Athena Royal, Athena Luxury and Signature Halong.
Festive menus for the dates people actually marry on
A New Year 2026 menu sits in both ships' folders, and a Christmas 2025 menu in Athena Royal's. If you are looking at late December, ask for those rather than the standard sheet — the ship runs something different, and it is worth knowing before a menu is signed off.
Menus move with the season and with what the kitchen can source. Tell us the dietary requirements in your group early and we will get the current sheets from the operator, and confirm how much notice they need.
What you can actually pour.
From the operator's 2025 list. The same list serves Athena Royal and Signature Halong — the three PDFs are byte-identical, so a guest choosing between the sister ships gets the same bar. Prices are left off deliberately; ask us for the current sheet before costing anything, and note the operator adds 10% government tax.
House wine, by the glass and the bottle
Whites run Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay from Chile and Victoria, plus a Terret-Vermentino from Languedoc. Reds are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and a Shiraz-Grenache. Every house wine is poured either way, which matters when half a table wants a glass and half a bottle.
Champagne and sparkling
A Blanc de Blancs Brut and a Moscato Rosé for something sweeter, alongside sweet and rosé wines and separate Italian and New Zealand sections. Note the operator excludes sparkling from the happy hour promotion.
Spirits and cocktails
Whisky, vodka and tequila by the shot or the bottle, aperitifs, and a long-drinks list. Buying by the bottle is usually the calmer arrangement for a group that is settling one bill at the end.
Beers, soft drinks and smoothies
A beer list, soft drinks and a fresh smoothie menu — the last one worth knowing about for a group with children aboard, or anyone on a dry event.
What the ship actually looks like.
Photographs of the ship in service, supplied by the operator. Nothing here is a render.
Five steps from first message to sail away.
No mystery pricing, no vendor roulette. You see the full plan before you commit to anything.
Goals, guest count, dates, and whether this is a wedding or a company retreat.
We recommend a vessel and a 2D1N or 3D2N itinerary that fits your group.
Run of show, space planning, vendor scope and transparent pricing, in writing.
Logistics, vendors, guest flow and styling, including the cruise-specific constraints.
Onboard coordination from arrival to departure. You get to be a guest.
Send these and we will tell you if it fits.
No pricing is published on this page. We quote against your actual dates, headcount and priorities.
Wedding, retreat or celebration
Including any children or elderly guests
One window, or two to three options
2D1N or 3D2N
Ceremony, dinner, speeches, after-party
Decor, photo and video, AV, MC
VIPs, couples, families
Dietary, accessibility or timing limits
Plan an event on Athena Luxury.
Tell us your dates, guest count and what the day has to look like. The operator runs event packages on this ship, so we can usually come back with something concrete rather than a maybe.
Rather just message us?
WhatsApp is the fastest way to reach the planning team. Same reply window, less typing.
WhatsApp us- Response time24 to 48 hours, Singapore business days
- Where we operateHa Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay, Vietnam
- Formats2D1N and 3D2N, cabin block or full charter
- Email[email protected]
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