Pacific Delight Tours compared to Avalon and Viking: China/Yangtze

We are new to river cruising and i have just started to research tour companies. We are interested in the China tours/Yangtze River cruise. I have found 3 tour companies that do what we are looking for in our price range. I have read a lot about Viking, a little about Avalon, but have not seen any info on these boards on The Pacific Delight Tours. Does anyone know how they compare with the other two?

I think we are considering:

The Pacific Delight Tour: Scenic China with the Yangtze River Silver Experience w/ 3 day cruise (17 days w/ Hong Kong)

The Avalon tour: Magical China w/ 3 day river cruise (14 days w/ Hong Kong) or

The Viking Tour: Imperial Jewels Tour w/ 3 day cruise (17 days w/ Hong Kong).

Any opinions about these tours?? Especially want to hear more about the Pacific Delight one.

The Viking Tour: Imperial Jewels Tour w/ 3 day cruise (17 days w/ Hong Kong).

 

Viking's Imperial Jewels Tour has five nights on the Yangtze ....

Viking's Imperial Jewels Tour has five nights on the Yangtze ....

Thank you for letting me know that. I am working with 2 other couples and they thought it was only 3 nights. Looking it over myself, I think they all are 4-5 nights on the river.

Uniworld also has a China tour worth looking into,

Check for the river portion what ship you will sail on. I am not sure that all the major companies do not use the same group of ships (the physical boat itself -- look for the name of the ship). When looking at the ship deck plans, it seems to me they are the same. I would also try Uniworld. We have done European river cruises with Viking and Uniworld and Amazon River cruise with International Expeditions. Different from ocean cruising but really nice. There are many companies both Asian travel agencies and US that sell very nice packages. Like any travel product try to get real reviews here on CC or Trip Advisor. So far no one has given me false information on these 2 sites and I have used them heavily for my own travel planning.

Several years ago we did a 17 tour of China through Pacific Delights. We were extremely satisfied with our tour. The Yangtze River portion was on a ship operated by the Regal Line. I am not sure what riverboat company Pacific Delight uses now.

There were several other tour groups on on our riverboat. The schedule was almost identical, the hotels about the same, and our cost was significantly less than the other tours. We are thinking about doing a China trip next year since the Three Gorges Dam was not completely finished the last time. We will start our planning with Pacific Delight.

Enjoy

Sent a letter to the company president on 10/31/11 and received no reply. So here you go....

1. Hotels: All the hotels were rated "good" except for Shanghaiwhich was "fair." We had to change rooms because carpets weren't vacuumed and counter tops were not clean in the bathroom or bar area. Changing rooms resulted in the same conditions.

2. Meals: All meals were rated "fair" except for the cruise which was "excellent." The food was rated in this manner because no input was allowed by us. One tour member was a vegetarian and every meal it was an issue providing food for her to eat. Every meal, except in Lhasa, was ordered by the guide. We were only allowed one drink in a small glass and no dessert unless we paid an additional cost.

3. Tours: All tours were rated "good" except for Chongquing and Shanghai which were "fair." These could have been rated "poor" due to the limited time in each area and the required stops for the shops attempting to sell tourists the upgraded costs of merchandise. Too many of these required shopping stops were also in each of the other cities.

4. Tour Guides: All guides were rated "good" except Yangtze River (excellent) and Xi'an/Shanghai (poor). The Tibetan guide was very patient with the group about the acclimatization process with the altitude. The two "poor" rated guides would not answer tourist questions, hurried us through each of the itinerary sites making us feel as though they were attempting to "check the block" and get rid of us. They would also not listen to questions being asked and would interrupt and talk over our group.

These are additional comments concerning areas not directly addressed on the evaluation form:

5. Initial purchase of our trip: We dealt with Branka from theNew York office. Between December 2010, when booking the trip, and July of 2011 when submitting passports, we were on the verge of cancelling the trip. When purchasing the trip, submitting email questions, or attempting to get visas completed, it was extremely difficult to get responses to our questions. The lack of timely responses or the actual responses received left us in doubt of the actual execution of the trip. My parents also went on this trip and were as equally frustrated by the poor customer service of our contact. The sole reason we did not cancel was the recommendation from a friend of my parents who had just returned from a PDT tour and had glowing comments about the experience. The other two women in our group had similar complaints.

6. Yangtze River Cruise: When we purchased our trip prior to the end of 2010, an upgrade was issued for the river cruise. Upon embarkation my parents received their upgrade but we did not. There was no confirmation that we had an upgrade even though we provided the trip itinerary indicating so as my parents did. Though it took two days for the ship to receive confirmation we were moved to the upgrade deck with the explanation that should confirmation not be received we would have to move back down to the original cabin. Having to check back with the front desk several times added undue concern when returning from shore excursions.

7. Air Travel: Our group was stranded at the Lhasa airport for over an hour waiting for the tour guide to arrive. We had to attempt to communicate with a non-English speaking Chinese man and get him to use his cell phone to call the contact number in Beijing provided by the company. Once the guide arrived he showed us the paperwork provided by the company showing our group arriving on a flight 2+ hours later than our actual arrival. Arriving in the Shanghai airport after the cruise, again the tour guide was not present. We had to contact the local airport tour desk in an effort to contact the company. After 20-30 minutes a guide who was standing outside baggage claim when we arrived with an Air China sign approached and asked us if we just flew in from a Yangtze River cruise. The guide turned out to be ours but had no arrival flight information for the Shanghai Air we took, the name of the PDT tour or any member's names. To happen once to a paying tour group was unexplainable but twice, absolutely, completely unacceptable.

Along with the great sightseeing and a tour cost we considered very good for all the items provided, the trip would have been exceptional if the "poor" things had not happened. Even some of those could have been overlooked had Branka been much better in the purchase/information of the tour. Again, the overall tour experience we had with your company was well below the expected norm compared to other tour operators we have used. These issues may seem minor to you but, from travelers who elected to spend their hard earned dollars with your company, we were extremely disappointed and would not recommend your company to fellow travelers.

Thank you for letting me know that. I am working with 2 other couples and they thought it was only 3 nights. Looking it over myself, I think they all are 4-5 nights on the river.

We are also looking at a China trip for next Sept (2013) Waiting for a quote for Avalon and have a good idea what Viking charges. The forum is fabulous. Good reviews. We will fly out of Toronto Ontario and will likely add the flight to our trip. China Explorer looks great for 2013 with a Giulin/Hong Kong extension. We used Avalon for our Prague to Bucharest trip Sept 2009 and loved it.