Hue: VIP Dragon Boat Dinner Cruise on the Perfume River

Far below expectations

A very tacky excursion; they should remove the word VIP from the title. Simple and cheap food; we were able to see a guy arrive with a bag of food, I suppose and understand that there is no kitchen on the boat. The choir became somewhat tedious; a crew member was handling cash with the singers in front of all the diners. To top it off, they charged us 500,000 dongs for 2 glasses of terrible wine. At the exchange rate that is 17€, not even in a good restaurant in Spain do they charge you this, an abuse!!!

via Viator (translated)

Lovely experience of Hue and traditional culture.

Sadly it was a very wet evening and we were soaked before we arrived. The service and show on the boat were all fantastic and the story behind the performance was given to us in English to enable us to follow. We didn’t have the meal just drinks as we had eaten earlier. The performance lasted 45mins and was a good insight into the Hue Vietnamese tradition.

Response from the operator: Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience with us. We are truly happy to hear that you enjoyed the traditional performance on board and appreciated the English explanation provided by our team. We always want international guests to be able to understand not only the performance itself, but also the cultural stories and meaning behind it. We are sorry that the weather was so wet on the evening of your visit. Hue can sometimes experience sudden and very heavy rainfall, especially during the rainy season, and unfortunately this is something beyond our control. Despite the weather, we are delighted that you still had a lovely experience and were able to enjoy the atmosphere, service and traditional culture on the Perfume River. Thank you again for joining us and for your kind feedback. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you back to Hue one day, hopefully with beautiful weather next time!

via Tripadvisor

Find your own way home!

The boat and dinner were good. It was warm on the boat as they only ran fans. They picked us up at hotel and drove us to boat but when we went to get off were told need to find own way back. Made my 85+ year old inlaws walk in pouring down rain. That sucked!!!

Response from the operator: Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are pleased to know that you enjoyed the boat and dinner, and we are very sorry that the transportation situation after the cruise caused inconvenience to you and your family. We would just like to clarify one important point for future guests reading this review. The package booked for this experience included hotel pickup before the cruise, but a return transfer to the hotel after the cruise was not included in the booking. On the evening of your experience, Hue experienced exceptionally heavy rainfall. After the cruise, our staff understood that travelling back to your hotel would be difficult, especially as you were travelling with elderly family members, so our team made every effort to assist you in finding transportation. Our staff repeatedly tried to arrange a taxi on your behalf. Unfortunately, due to the extremely heavy rain and high demand at that time, we were unable to find an available driver willing to accept the trip. This was an unusual situation caused by the severe weather conditions rather than the normal operation of the experience. We fully understand how uncomfortable and frustrating this must have been, particularly for your elderly family members, and we sincerely regret that we could not secure transportation for you despite our efforts. Although the return transfer was not part of the package purchased, our team still tried their best to assist until it became clear that no taxis were available because of the weather conditions. We appreciate your feedback and will continue to look at ways we can better advise and assist guests during periods of extreme weather. We sincerely hope that, aside from this unexpected transportation difficulty, you were still able to enjoy the dinner cruise and your evening on the Perfume River.

via Viator

Great performances and...

Great performances and exciting to be on the river even though the boat doesn’t go very far. A great evening activity in Hue!

Response from the operator: Thank you very much for your wonderful review and for spending your evening with us on the Perfume River. We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed the performances and found the experience exciting and entertaining. Our aim is to give visitors an opportunity to experience a different side of Hue in the evening by combining a relaxing journey along the Perfume River with elements of traditional local culture and entertainment. Although the cruise route itself is not very long, the experience is designed around the atmosphere on board, the river at night, the performances and the opportunity to enjoy Hue from a different perspective. We are very happy that you had a great evening and appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with other travellers. Thank you again for joining us. We hope to welcome you back to Hue and the Perfume River in the future!

via Viator

Good but not great

Service is superb!! Food medium quality. Unfortunately there was a very loud group in my cruise and that made it less interesting and zen.

via Viator