Viking China (Part 2)

Systables;

Most all of the flights from the Far East to the US depart late evening, for a early morning arrival in the US. If Viking is arranging your transfer to the airport, they typically do so for the traveler to arrive at the airport 2-3 hours before their flight. So have a leisurely morning, check your luggage with the concierge and enjoy a day of touring. With traffic expect to leave the hotel around 5:00 - 5:30 ish.

I hope you are either terminating your trip in LA or have plenty of time between your next flight. LAX is a horrible airport to transfer in, even under the best of conditions!

Do you recommend buying the beverage package?

We are taking this trip in May. Just subscribing so I can receive the posts. Good information

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Links to Rolls Calls. Here is what I have so far.

2014

Imperial Jewels--November 2, 2014

Cultural Delights--November 4, 2014

2015

March 8 -Jewels

March 18 Delights

April 7 Jewels

April 17 Jewels

May 17 Jewels

June 24 Jewels

September 12 - Roof/Tibet

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Systables;

 

Most all of the flights from the Far East to the US depart late evening, for a early morning arrival in the US. If Viking is arranging your transfer to the airport, they typically do so for the traveler to arrive at the airport 2-3 hours before their flight. So have a leisurely morning, check your luggage with the concierge and enjoy a day of touring. With traffic expect to leave the hotel around 5:00 - 5:30 ish.

 

I hope you are either terminating your trip in LA or have plenty of time between your next flight. LAX is a horrible airport to transfer in, even under the best of conditions!

That is what we wanted to know. Thanks pinotlover.

To early to choose our flight out of LAX yet. But probably will fly out to ATL the next morning.

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Systables;

 

Most all of the flights from the Far East to the US depart late evening, for a early morning arrival in the US. If Viking is arranging your transfer to the airport, they typically do so for the traveler to arrive at the airport 2-3 hours before their flight. So have a leisurely morning, check your luggage with the concierge and enjoy a day of touring. With traffic expect to leave the hotel around 5:00 - 5:30 ish.

 

I hope you are either terminating your trip in LA or have plenty of time between your next flight. LAX is a horrible airport to transfer in, even under the best of conditions!

I would agree. We leave Beijing at 9pm for an overnight flight to LAX. We arrive back in LAX at 5pm the "same" day.

Do you recommend buying the beverage package?

Good question ...

We just got back from China a few hours ago, so not going to post a lot of updates for a day or so, but to answer this one, it depends on just how heavy a drinker you are as it will take a little effort to get value out of the package over the 5 day cruise.

Certainly not impossible to make it work though, especially if you are not happy with the house wines on offer.

We worked out that you each needed to consume 3.6 G&Ts per day to break even :)

Now, if you can justify improving on the house wine then that task gets a little easier.

The 'premium' wines are decent but nothing special, and not particularly varied, but they do help make the cost a little easier to swallow :)

MUST SEE TV:

 

NOVA: Emperor's Ghost Army

 

Wednesday night, November 12 at 9PM on PBS

 

Check your local listings for time in your area.

Thanks

Did anyone else watch "The Emperor's Ghost Army" last night? What did you think?

Great show last night. Thanks for posting or I would have most likely missed it. Very informative.

Yes, thanks for posting about the show. We would have missed it as well. It was a very good show. We so loved seeing the Terra Cotta Soldiers in China on our recent visit there in April. It was one of the highlights of the trip. There is another great show you can view that we saw before we went on our trip. Here is the link to it: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/chinas-terracotta-warriors-watch-the-full-episode/844/

Yes, Peregrina, we watched - in fact, planned the evening around that show! As others, we would have missed without your alert. Thanks so much.

Yes, Peregrina, we watched - in fact, planned the evening around that show! As others, we would have missed without your alert. Thanks so much.

I just stumbled across it in THE WEEK magazine. We're all lucky that I got to the mention of the show in time to post it here. :D

I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. If anyone knows how to view it online or on demand, I hope you'll let us all know.

We went with viking imperial jewels a couple of years ago. What a trip it was!!!!

The terrocotta soldier exhibit literally brought me to tears. It was an overwhelming display in person! The museum was majestic also. Beautiful with so many floors and could take days to go thru. All that are going to China....I envy you for the first trip of a lifetime.

A big surprise today ~ we got our hotel information! I wasn't expecting it for another month or two. We're at the Kerry in Beijing, Hilton Xian, and Westin Bund in Shanghai.

Two happy and excited campers here!

A big surprise today ~ we got our hotel information! I wasn't expecting it for another month or two. We're at the Kerry in Beijing, Hilton Xian, and Westin Bund in Shanghai.

Two happy and excited campers here!

We received the same hotel assignments tonight. And our trip is not until August 25th. Surprised also but very pleased.

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We did this trip in April and received hotel assignments several months in advance, only to find that they were changed a few months before we left. We wanted to know what hotels would be assigned because we flew in one day early and left one day later (on our own) and wanted to extend those nights in the same hotels that Viking uses. So, don't count 100% on the hotels that are now assigned being the actual hotels where you will end up may not be the same. All the hotels are very nice that Viking uses, so it does not matter so much, unless you want to extend time in the hotels....then you need to know ahead of time.

We're at the Kerry in Beijing, Hilton Xian, and Westin Bund in Shanghai.

First and last were the ones we were in last month and I'm happy to confirm they are excellent.

Can't comment on the Hilton as we were in the Crown Plaza in Xi'an.

You will love the Kerry (the bathroom is spectacular) and enjoy the other two as well. Just returned from Cultural Delights Tour. Be sure to take extra camera battery and disk and very comfy walking shoes. This is a very active tour, so don't feel guilty if you take a day off of touring. Yes, you'll miss something, but there are more pagodas along the way.

You will love the Kerry (the bathroom is spectacular) and enjoy the other two as well. Just returned from Cultural Delights Tour. Be sure to take extra camera battery and disk and very comfy walking shoes. This is a very active tour, so don't feel guilty if you take a day off of touring. Yes, you'll miss something, but there are more pagodas along the way.

Good advice!

And while you are packing your camera gear, don't forget your battery charger (or the USB cord and USB to AC adapter so you can charge the battery in the camera) and any other gear you need for your camera. There is not much time on this tour to shop for a new camera if you forget essential accessories.

More camera thoughts: Before you leave home, clear off your camera disk and re-format it. Even better, go out and buy a couple of brand-new disks.

Consider bringing a spare camera, just in case.

Getting a new camera? Practice using it before you go. Most have manuals in pdf format that you can download to your smartphone (one less thing to carry).

Ditto on the shoes. If you can't go all day in them, they aren't comfy enough.

On the subject of cameras supplies. Immediately made me begin my mental preparations.

I have a Nikon D5200 and primarily use 3 lenses : for widescreen Sigma 10-20 F4-5.6, for portraits AF-S 50mm F/1.8, and telephoto use 55-300 AF-S F4.5-5.6.

Due to space considerations will probably need to limit the number of lenses brought per day or for the whole trip.

Does any one have any advice from their trip, on what type of lenses should i have with me especially on the tour days at Beijing, Shanghai and xi'an? And after getting home, can you share how many pictures you took and minutes of video, and did anyone have any regrets they had. Either more video or more stlls. Thanks

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Just to let others on our cruise know, Black Sesame Kitchen has accepted a reservation from the 4 of us for Friday April 17. We are arriving on Thursday, so this will give us a little time to recuperate before going to a 10 course dinner!

So if anyone else was looking at going to BSK, they will now accept a reservation in our time frame.

Mike

You can contact them for a reservation at...

reservations@blacksesamekitchen.com

I carried around my Canon EOS7D for years - and four lenses and filters and all manner of accessories. Three years ago I swapped 20 pounds of photography equipment for a Canon G12 and have never regretted it. The picture quality of the G12 is outstanding and any non-professional would be challenged to determine what photos were taken with which camera. I no longer live in fear someone is going to steal my camera for it's value, I cheerfully hand my G12 to a total stranger to take a photo of my wife & myself - and I don't end my day with an aching back from hauling around photo equipment on every tour. Certainly not the right choice for everyone, but for me it has made my travels so much more enjoyable.

Cruise Critic has a cruise photography forum and it might be a good place to find more like-minded travelers who like to talk cameras.

As for my experiences, I did China with a DSLR and a nominal 18-125 zoom lens. My back still hurts. The next trip I only carried a point and shoot with scenic and manual modes; back much happier. Newer sensor was much better than the old DSLR. Just recently I purchased a mirror-less with interchangeable lenses and plan on carrying both on our next trip.

If it is any help, systables, my photos on photoblog.com (the link is below in my signature) all have the EXIF data available, which will tell you what my camera settings were for each shot. Conversion factor 1.6 since I'm not shooting full frame. Just hover over the image and three icons will appear to the right of the photo.