Anyone do a Yangtze River cruise?

Specifically looking for anyone that went on the Yangtze Gold 6. I am doing a 3 day cruise as part of a travel package and would love to hear other people's experiences.

Thanks in advance!

We have done it a few years ago as we are in China once a year for business and like to take side trips for pleasure. We use the Victoria Cruise as my cruise specialist advised us it is the more North American and I could see that from the other ships and the passenger mix. Ours was European North American Australian and some Middle Eastern. We departed from Chongching where we visited the panda's.

We also cruised with Victoria lines, but I booked it myself through a local agent. There were 21 tables in the dining room. Two were for foreigners. The rest were Chinese. It made for a very interesting cruise and very small English tour groups.

There were many interesting sights on the cruise, but there were some very slow times as well. We went through the locks at the Three Gorges Dam so late (wee smalls) that my husband could not stay awake.

I believe all the tour companies, even Viking, charter local ships.

We did this for years ago but it was opposite to what you described.

With Victoria we have done 7 days Shanghai to Chong Quing . Lower part of river before 3 Gorges Dam highlights include Yellow Mountain and Nanking . Then 3 Gorges Dam and its spectacular stepped locks on through the Three Gorges to end in Chong Quing . From there a couple of hours by road to Cheng Du to see the Pandas . A wonderful sevn day itinerary, and Victoria Cruise line was excellent in all regards especially the local cuisine .

We also did the Yangtze cruise twice, with Victoria. First time was from Wuhan to Chongqing, the second time from Shanghai to Chonqing. We felt the Wuhan/Chongqing cruise was too short, that was why we took the longer route the second time. Enjoyed both immensely. There's so much history and stories about the river and the towns nearby. One needs to know the backgrounds to fully enjoy the trip. Many poems were written and it was fascinating to match what we learned as kids to what we actually saw as we traveled along the river. When we took the cruise, there were 2/3 Americans/Europeans and 1/3 overseas Chinese.

There is lots to see in this city before embarkation. We visited the Panda' s right there and and an amazing court house in the round with an art school at one part. We bought a beautiful hanging that I am looking at right now.

Over the last 10 years, I have visited most areas in China. I have also visited the Three Gorge Dam area, rode up and down the river and checked out the cruise ships.

A few years ago, the Three Gorge dam was built and the water level was raised by over 100 meters. Most of the historical villages between Chongqing and Yichang (the cruise route) are now underwater. In addition, when the water level was much lower, the path was much narrower and certainly spectacular. In my opinion, now this cruise is a waste of time.

Of course this is a matter of opinion. If you are into cruising, this is probably still the only 'interesting" domestic option in China. The scenery is ok but I would not call it spectacular. I think that while there is nothing that wrong with the cruise, there are many many more interesting places to visit in China. Based on my extensive travel experience in China, I would not place this area in the top 50. For example, I think that the Three Gorge dam (see photo http://*******.com/lwn84oa ) compare to the Yangshuo area (see this photo http://*******.com/m4gvkl8 or http://*******.com/kvnlkrc )

Sorry, I tried to post links to photos using ******* but it seems that it doesn't work here.

so here are the full URL for the Three Gorge cruise: http://www.absolutechinatours.com/specialtopic/China-Luxury-Travel/images/Three-Gorges-Area.jpg

And for Yangshuo: http://www.wendyscollection.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/720x300/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/g/u/guilin-yangshuo-longji-explorer.jpg

and http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/YangshuoFromTvTower.jpg