Century Diamond cruise ship

Has anyone ever cruised the Yangtze River on the Centrury Diamond cruise ship? Wanting to know what amenities were on board in the cabin. And what was provided on the ship. Taking a 11 day cruise in Nov; down the Yangtze River. Curious.

We are going up the Yangtze on Nov 25th on the Century Diamond. Wish we were on the same trip. There is no traffic on the riverboat cruise roll calls, there are NO roll calls! I have no idea what amenities are onboard. It looks like a very comfortable cruise. I have watched tons of youtube videos both commercial and private of Diamond cruises and activities and think it will be really nice.

I have read or seen video that they supply 2 bottles of water daily. that there is beer and wine with meals, that dinners are assigned seating with family style service, that breakfast and lunch are buffet style. There is an extra pay a la carte restaurant available for western style dinners for 2. I have no proof of any of this!

Good luck in your quest! I will keep an eye on this post for updates. Hopefully there is someone that can answer some questions for us.

Luck!

Lori and Patrick

http://centuryrivercruises.com/fleet-diamond-info.html

Found this link about the Diamond, thought you might like to see it.

Lori

Had a blast. My email is my name at aol dot com.

We have just returned from a 9 day Impression of China tour booked through Sinorama, that included one night in Wuhan, 5 nights on the Century Diamond Cruise upstream on the Yangtze River and one night in Beijing. Overall a great time and I would recommend this trip. Of course there are pros and cons to every tour, so I will try to list as many as I can. As a bit of background, we have previously toured 2 times with other agencies (Affordable Asia and ChinaTours.com). Pricing was very similar to the others (about $1000 pp including air fare from LAX). With this price it's hard to say no to the tour!

Sinorama is apparently based in Canada - we dealt with their Vancouver office. Emails were responded to quickly, however, versus the other tours felt that the tour information details were not as forth coming. For example, we never got any email itinerary about the inter-China flights (flights to/from Beijing to Wuhan and Chongqing). Only after emailing several times was I given information on which airlines, flight numbers and times. Never any confirmation number. Would have been nice to have. Also you cannot prebook your seats on Air Canada without paying for them. This was different than the other tours (which used Air China).

Air Canada - plane from Vancouver was a 777 - nice plane, personal video screens for each seat - had 2 meals and a snack on way out and 2 meals on the way home. Beverages, including wine and beer, all included. Staff was nice and plane was nice. Flew from LAX to Vancouver via Air Canada Rouge on a 737 - horrible tight plane - do NOT upgrade to 1st class - not worth it as seats are still 3 and 3 and TIGHT. Thankfully only a 2 hour and 40 minute flight. Staff was great but plane is uncomfortable. Air Canada rep was wonderful that I talked to as I had to order a special meal. He spent 30 minutes with me going over my flight, information on the customs/immigration, plane, etc. However, be warned there is at least a 30 minute hold/wait time to talk to an Air Canada rep.

Arriving in Wuhan - it was late at night. About 9pm I believe. Drive from airport took about 1 hour. Stayed at the HOward Johnson Oriental Pearl Hotel right on the river. Next morning, left about 9am. We did have time for an early morning stroll through the river park (recommended) and bought some water and wine from nearby convenience store to take on the ship. We then left for a museum tour - which was interesting. Then lunch at a restaurant that was actually very good. All these tours seat you at large round tables of 8-10 people and the food is served on a lazy susan. Food was good - probably the best we have had on the tours we have been on. You do have to share and don't get to order off the menu. Oddly they give like one large bottle of beer and small glasses for everyone to share. You can order more drinks for a separate fee.

I actually think they could have given us more time to explore Wuhan - either by ourselves or via a group tour. We then went directly to the ship after lunch - quick drive - back past the hotel. Boarded easily and were assigned cabins, with luggage delivered shortly thereafter.

We had Cabin 338 - all cabins have balconies. It was a decent size - very typical to the standard mega cruise ship size, decent shower - with awesome shower head/pressure! Cabin was very clean. Cabin steward was Lillian - who was very friendly, limited English, but kept our cabin nice and clean. The cabin is cleaned 2x per day. Nice large towels and amenities in the bathroom, robes and slippers in the cabin. 2 bottled waters per day. There is also a purified drinking tap in the bathroom. Only thing lacking was a mini fridge, which would have been nice. Cabin steward will bring you ice daily. Smallish flat screen TV - had lots of choices of channels including CNN international and HBO. My DH was able to watch NBA final games on the TV as well, though the announcing was in Chinese. Balcony is smallish, with 2 chairs (no table), Be careful, our friends had their chair collapse (and he is NOT a large man) and he injured his foot. Bed was more firm than I prefer, but fine. Small sofa/love seat and coffee table. Cabin was amazingly quite! Slept great! There is also a small safe for valuables.

Ship has about 200 passengers. 6 decks. Deck 2 is the lobby/registration area with a nice atrium that is open to the top deck. Restaurant for dining is on Deck 2 - all meals, with exception of the last dinner is buffet style. Wine/beer (local) are included in the lunch and dinner unlimited. Other than that there is a bar on Deck 5, which also has a large lounge and dance floor area. Nice, but prices were a bit steep, though several nights they had a HH from 5 to 7 with 20% off, except for wines. Wines by the bottle were a better deal and you could keep what you didn't drink for the next meal or have delivered to the dining room.

Food - was actually pretty good and varied. I loved the noodle soup bar. They also had an omelet bar and a egg station - took my several mornings to find out how to ask for scrambled eggs, but once I figured it out (find Chef Chen) then it was easy and good. Nice fruit selection, very tasty. Always a salad bar, which though repetitive, was good. Food had nice selection of cold, hot, veggies, soups and meat. Only bad meal was the last day lunch - ugh, not a fan, very little selection. Our waitress was Cora - awesome!!!! Last night dinner was via lazy susan - great presentation, dragon costumes, waiters dressed up - food was so-so. Still nice way to end the cruise.

One night we opted for the dining in the Deck 6 restaurant - Western Style menu - it was $298 RMB and included free WiFi for the rest of the trip ($100 value!), plus 20% off your beverages while dining. We choice menu option C and it was good. Very good service - thank you Janet! I had the fish, which I believe was Sea Bram (?) - very good presentation. Others had steak - filet and prime rib - mixed reviews. Still relaxing atmosphere and I would do it again.

Tour guide - ours was Charlie - excellent! He is originally from Beijing. Very information. Good English. Helped me with some dietary issues that Sinorama failed to convey to him. After I told him I was taken care of for the rest of the time! You have local guides at each stop/destination. All were good. We tipped them and the bus driver separately. The ship makes you pre-pay upon boarding $50 USD per person or $300 RMB total for on board tipping. Make sure you have the actual cash. Some people had trouble as they thought they would pay with credit card, which was not accepted on our trip. You did pay to settle your account at end of cruise with credit card (we used AMEX). We also tipped employees that we thought were outstanding extra, including bartenders, waitresses and cabin steward.

Funny Sinorama rep was on board (as he was introduced at Captain Party - which by the way was very nice) - however, he never came around at all during the cruise to check on us. Would have been a nice gesture to make certain we were having fun.

Entertainment - not like your Mega cruise ships - but OK. Several nights had dance parties or shows. They also had lectures, films (one movie was the Last Emperor - see it if you haven't!), cooking demonstrations. Tai Chi every morning on Deck 6 - great! Small work out room but adequate. Never used the spa - though did consider it one day - not too bad pricing. The doctor on board is Western/Eastern. Several in our party tried acupuncture and had great results.

Shore excursions - were all included except the White Empress tour which was about $40-50pp. Didn't do it, so can't comment on it. Really enjoyed the Goddess Stream Gorge excursion - amazing scenery! The 3 Gorges Dam was amazing - unfortunately had some rain that day, but didn't ruin the amazing site. Have to admit I slept while going through the locks - couldn't stay up as we went through starting about 11pm to 3am - saw pictures from the friend - looked pretty cool. The last tour was to the Temple - they talk about the walk up - not too bad - though the stairs are about like a ladder with steps. Still fun to do and to walk around. Only compliant is that they don't give you enough time there - there was a lot of shopping on the way back and we actually had to run for the ship as we were 45 minutes late from departure!

Disembarking was late (due to holding the ship for us the day before???) - and in the rain - ugh. Long walk on the pier with your carry on luggage (the check luggage had to be out the night before by 10pm and they transported that for us), then up several steep set of steps (no warning about this). there are men offering to carry your luggage (I declined) but they are aggressive and grabbed my friend's bag - then demanded $100 RMB - they need it more than us I guess. I'm sure it was negotiable as well, but we were running late for the flight.

Flight to Beijing was delayed by weather - but was on Air China (much better than the China Southern flight to Wuhan) - arrived late in Beijing, so our "free day" was cut short. We had lunch on the way to the hotel - West International Trade Hotel - a bit our of the way but super close to the subway Line 10 - highly recommend you take this - easy and cheap $2 RMB to get around - we took to Temple of Heaven and Pearl Market next morning for shopping before we returned to catch 12 Noon bus to airport for 4pm flight home. If you have time highly recommend the Pearl Market - lots of fun shopping and negotiating! Subway was easy to take - English signs and announcements.

We opted out of final dinner that was included as we wanted to do something nicer and frankly after a week of Chinese shared meals wanted sit down fine dining - so opted for Temple Restaurant Beijing - which at this writing is ranked #1 on TA for Beijing (see review). Easy to get cab to/from hotel for this.

Overall, great trip, minimal complaints as highlighted above. Great deal for the price. No "forced" shopping stops as in other tours, though I believe the people that added on the extension in Beijing had at least one (Pearl factory). If anyone has questions - would be glad to answer!

Thanks for the info on the 9 day Sinorama tour. We are taking that tour but added on Shanghai at the beginning and Beijing at the end.

I did have a question, did you go over with Chinese currency (RMB) or did you end up using an ATM over there? How much cash do you think will be needed? We don't plan on spending a lot over there. I do believe that all of the tips are included in our tour. That is what they sent with the info on our tour. It was a special offer that ended the day after we booked our trip. So I don't think we need extra money for tips. We are hoping to pick up a few items in Beijing for Christmas presents. But don't plan to purchase anything too costly. Other than that type of shopping how much did you spend on other items on your trip that you needed cash for?

Neither my husband or I can drink alcohol, me due to an allergy and hubby due to medical dietary restrictions. Was anything else served at the meals? We do best with water, but can have decaffeinated tea. Also juice is OK. Neither of us do soft drinks.

Hope you see this before we leave. The info you already posted is super appreciated.

Neither my husband or I can drink alcohol, me due to an allergy and hubby due to medical dietary restrictions. Was anything else served at the meals? We do best with water, but can have decaffeinated tea. Also juice is OK. Neither of us do soft drinks.

 

We used ChinaFocus, but saw other groups in the same restaurants. There is always bottled water (ask for mineral water or you may wind up with hot tap water) and hot green tea. Although the Chinese also drink herbal teas, it was never offered in restaurants. I don't remember juice being offered anywhere.

Appreciate this info on the beverages. Thanks for the reply.