The typical caving adventure involves a headlamp and a rain slicker. In Halong Bay this month, they're eschewing the usual trappings for candlelight and black ties for an event that may rate as the most exquisite caving experience in the world.

It's all part of Emeraude Classic Cruises' ever-popular annual Wine & Dine trip. Launched in 2005 as a two-day trip of unapologetic glamour, the clamour for tickets is at a crescendo as the event grows in stature.

The high spot is the gala cave dinner. This is no potholing picnic - it's fine dining in a stunning location, complete with starched white linen, polished silverware and sparkling wines glasses, in addition to a four-course dinner that mixes the best of local produce and traditions with international cuisine, served by formally attired waiters.

Beyond the grotto, the Wine & Dine cruise journeys by Halong Bay's limestone karsts and fishing villages, an experience made all the more seductive by the Emeraude itself, a vessel specifically designed to replicate colonial paddle ship steamers of a century earlier.

"We've always had a desire to evoke nostalgia for days gone by," said Kurt Walter, general manager of Emeraude Classic Cruises. "With dinner jackets and ball gowns we've also worked in an element of time travelling. That sense of magic and surrealism is enhanced by candlelight at dinner in Drum Cave."

ABOUT EMERAUDE CLASSIC CRUISES

Since its maiden voyage in late 2004, the Emeraude www.emeraude-cruises.com  has set the standard for upscale passage on Halong Bay. Modelled on a paddle steamer of the same name that cruised Halong Bay from 1906-1937, the Emeraude accommodates 74 passengers in 12 superior cabins, 24 deluxe cabins and three suites.

The vessel evokes the romance of the nautical age with classic architecture, polished wooden floors, beadboard wainscoting and brass fixtures. The Restaurant specializes in western fare and freshly caught seafood. Each cabin features outdoor seating, as does the sun-deck up top where the crew screens a movie nightly.

Emeraude Classic Cruises is owned and operated by The Apple Tree Group, a French-owned, Ho Chi Minh City-based company with interests in tourism and hospitality, real estate and construction and import and distribution all over Southeast Asia. Its hospitality properties also include La Residence Hotel & Spa in Hue and the Press Club in Hanoi, as well as the Kamu Lodge on the Mekong River near Luang Prabang and the Villa Maly, a boutique hotel in Luang Prabang.

more information: http://www.emeraude-cruises.com/