Peregrina651

Will try again to post this. All the dinners shows seem to be optional now. Please some advice about which shouldn't be missed. Pat

Honestly, if I had to choose just one, I would choose the Acrobats in Shanghai. They were amazingly beautiful and they work very, very hard at what they do. You have to in order to deliver a flawless performance show after show. The Tang Dynasty show was fun but just didn't represent the same level of difficulty as the gravity defying acrobats. Yes, I know that is kind of a strange way to compare to performances. This is not to say that the other two shows are bad or poorly done; they are not, they are beautiful and also worth your consideration. If you can't do them all, then IMHO, don't miss the acrobats.

thanks for the tip about people walking outside your room.

 

Would have been caught"\!!!!!!

 

Onboard 6/6

Especially since you can't really hear people as they walk by, even if they are talking, so you kind of forget that they do. :eek:

WOOHOO. More boots on the ground. Looking forward to your running commentary.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a link to an article about 'iconostasis' You might find this information helpful when you visit the churches in Kyiv or if you visit any on your own. DH and I were entirely ignorant on the subject and are now reading up a bit.

Thank you so much for posting these photos.

When they said it was a really old ship we did not know what to expect but we are pleasantly surprised how it looks.

 

And those photos of the food esp the desserts.My God I better take some looser fitting clothes for plane ride home.Breads and desserts are our weakness when on a trip.

Once again thanks for all your photos and tips.

Old or otherwise, they do a good job of keeping up the ship. Cleaning is a constant ongoing process. Walls are wiped down; exterior windows are washed; metal is painted; rugs are shampooed, etc. The ship is clean smelling. We had an odor problem in the bathroom. I told the front desk about it and I did not have a problem with it for the rest of the trip. But, also, we kept the bathroom door open unless it was in use. Also, there is a vent in the cabin door which we also made sure stayed open to keep air circulating (especially since we were not planning on opening the window).

I'm still working on getting those extra pounds off!!

I finally have all my pictures of the ship posted on Shutterfly.

We also finished DH's photobook of his pictures from the trip. Mine is still in the works because I am having trouble deciding on format. I actually could do half a dozen different books which is why I am having so much trouble.

On the all river cruises roll call thread, there are some fabulous pictures from the May 12 sailing Imperial Jewels. Check them out. Pat

Here is the link to the pictures Pat is talking about. Fabulous is an understatement!

I read a review where they mentioned flying bugs-mosquitos? on outdoor decks and that the sailing can get rough on Black sea

How did previous cruisers find these on their sailing?

Mid-May: Not much trouble with bugs on the Black Sea but once we got onto the river, it was a different story. They weren't bite-y bugs but they were everywhere!! We just kept our windows closed.

While I am thinking of it, most windows open up onto the deck promenade. FYI, even with the sheers pulled, folks can see right into your room. If you insist on parading around in your undies, please pull the room darkening shades first.

So am I as I will now have more room in the suitcase for more of my stuff.

That's right!! :D:D

Just want to make sure that if my husband does not take suit he is not going to be out of place at supper or theatre/opera?

He would rather leave suit at home.

There is absolutely no reason to take a suit on this cruise. IMHO, you don't even need a sports jacket or a tie. A button down (short or long sleeved) and dockers will get you through any situation including the opera/ballet and the captain's dinners.

i will be taking the Imperial Jewels trip in September this year. We arrive in Shanghai at 2:00 and are staying at the Ritz Carlton Portman hotel. Does anyone have any ideas of what to do or see for the remaining afternoon/evening (if we're not too tired)

Is the hotel within walking distance to the Bund ?

Thanks for your help

 

Ruth

We went shopping for pearls at Pearl City on the Nanjing Road. While still not cheap, we bought three strands for the price of one at one the name brand jewelers in the mall. We were buying gifts. It was quite an experience since each necklace that we bought was custom-made, bargained for and strung while we watched.

I'm sitting here looking at our pictures from the Cossack Show and trying to find at least one of the horses and riders in motion that I can put in our album. None of them has turned out. All the horses are blurry (and not just from motion) and the focus is on the fence behind rather than the horse and rider.

One of the reasons that they are so lousy is that I really never take action shots. Maybe I should have practiced before I left but honestly I never thought of it. Shame on me!

The horses go by awfully quickly, so quickly that by the time I pushed the shutter button, they were well past me. Then there is the added shutter lag when you are using a point and shoot--another time when I regretted not having my DSLR. Even burst mode on my p&s didn't seem to help--again I should have practiced and really understood how to use the feature.

Where to sit: We moved to the left to sit down and sat in the front row. Big mistake; because at times, we were shooting--and looking-- into the sun. Sit to the right as you come in to avoid the sun. We also managed to be right in front of the 'scenery' so that all of the best shots are ruined because they have a pyramid of lances in the foreground. Best shots are to the left and right of center. Regardless of the right seat, good shots are hard to get. Those critters move right fast!

IMHO--practice doing action shots. Find a place where the cars travel relatively slowly and practice taking pictures of them.

Oh darn. It seems I am the only CC member going on this cruise. .

We are all with you in spirit even if we aren't with you in person.

Bon Voyage!!

Thank you.

Enjoyed your postings and hope to do the same once we get there.

It seems sooooo long ago we paid.

Oh, good. We could use another point of view. So much of what we see and do is so subjective that it is really helpful to have multiple people reporting.

Yes, so long since we paid and then the two weeks goes by in a flash!

Have a wonderful, wanderful bon voyage.

We leave for our trip a week from today.

 

When you posted you went through a lot of cash, what was it for?

 

I know souvenirs, daily tips to local guides, and such are not included.

Viking optionals and on board expenses get charged, right?

 

Thanks for all the great info.

I confess to being a shopper--post cards, an occasional guide book, souvenirs (especially the hand painted plates which I fell in love with) plus we tipped our bus driver, guide and a couple of the wait staff in cash. Also, we had two nights on our own in Kiev and had to pay for lunches and dinners. (Fortunately, there is only so much space in two roll-aboard suitcases and two 'personal' items, so my shopping was severely curtailed.)

There was only one local guide that we encountered. The rest of the tours, were conducted by our regular guide who traveled with us on the ship and was tipped at the end.

Anything we purchased on the ship (optional tours, bar, gift shop) was charged to our shipboard account and then we paid using a credit card. The ship operates entirely in UAH so there is no converting back and forth from one currency to another. Your credit card will be charged in UAH and converted by the bank at the going rate (plus any fees and charges your cardholder makes for foreign transactions).

There is no purser on board the ship. You cannot exchange money on board and you cannot break larger bills.

Thank you.Did you use more USA or UAH or Euro?

Only UAH. No dollars. No euros. Some street vendors may have taken the other two currencies but we still used only UAH.

Thanks for the suggestions. Pencils are easy to pack and I'm sure I can find something more fun and crafty too. I was thinking crayons but that would not fare well in the suitcases

I think we took a combination of #2s and colored pencils.

I know I saw it somewhere but cannot find it.

Cash or can you use credit card?

TF, the answer is both.

Here is how we ended up doing it, which might be more helpful than a simple yes/no. We charged the recommended amount per day per person for the entire crew on our credit card (BTW, your cc will be charged in UAH for your shipboard purchases--and once you close your account 24 hours before disembarkation, you will have to use UAH or credit card for any further transactions).

There was a lot of confusion whether our guide was included in the crew's divvy of the pot; we really had trouble getting a straight answer and were told at one point that the information in the itinerary booklet is wrong. In the end, we reduced the amount we gave our guide in cash feeling (but not knowing) that as we had been told, the guide would be included in the ship's divvy. We also gave a cash tip to the driver (not based on the the few hours that we actually used the bus but based on the idea that he was with us 24/7 since he drove the bus from place to place as we sailed). Finally, we also gave additional cash tips to a couple of individual members of the dining room staff.

Guide, driver (not included in the crew divvy of the pot)and extras were given in UAH not USD and we had to scramble to get the cash. My advice, start thinking about tips on Day 1 so that you can start to set aside cash for tips as you go from town to town.

We went through a lot of cash on this trip, which we got from the ATMs starting at the airport. We paid for most everything with cash and rarely used our credit card.

Also, when you use the ATMs stick to the choices given on the screen. Our attempts to get more than what was shown inevitably failed.

That is the Tang Dynasty show. It appears to be her leg that is sticking out

 

:)

Wow, Sean, you are right!

What we see is the pointed toe of her left foot; her dance shoes are a dark red that look very brown in the yellowish light and she has lifted her leg to waist height.

So, I am confused again. Where was this photo taken? I thought it was the opera, but now I am not sure. Do you know what that is this is sticking out of her dress below the waist? Just curious.

Hanna -- sorry for the confusion. The picture was taken at the Tang Dynasty Show. No idea what is sticking out. I hadn't really seen it until I posted it here. I can only assume it is part of her costume.

We enjoyed both the Shanghai and Xi'an shows. We did not go to the Beijing show.

 

 

Shanghai Acrobats show (photo)

 

 

 

 

Tang Dynasty Show (photo)

 

Love the photos. The one stunt I would have like to have photographed was the woman doing the pirouette while balancing on the guy's shoulder! IMHO, that was the most amazing of all the stunts they did. Does anyone know, is it still part of the act?

 

I am very grateful for this honest and extensive review. I am really appreciate the culture of a different society, after all that's what I want to experience when travelling. So your review helped me solidify my plans of going to the opera and skipping the acrobatic show. Thank you.

I'm just piping in here to clarify. There are three shows. One included as part of the program (the acrobats in Shanghai) and two optional dinner shows that you pay for (the opera/Peking duck in Beijing and the Tang Dynasty show in Xi'an).

IMHO, the acrobats in Shanghai are not to be missed, even if you have seen such shows before.

Peregrina

This is a gorgous photo and I am sure not easy to take!

Hanna, not that difficult, more lucky than anything. We were in the front row of tables and slightly off to the side, so there was plenty of light. I tried to find a seat where I wouldn't bother the people around me with my picture taking. I had the ISO set to 1600 (the best I can do) and the performers were kind enough to hold still long enough for me to shoot. It helped that I was using a DSLR--no shutter delay. One day I will learn how to correct the color balance so it doesn't look so yellow. I love digital. I can just keep shooting and shooting and hope that maybe I get something.

Pack as though you were traveling from Philadelphia to New Orleans then south of Maimi in October to give you some perspective; the latitudes of those cities are similar to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. This year the first tour experienced snow in Beijing...

 

Brace for the possibility of needing layers in Beijing; the city can be warm, but the Great Wall is at a higher elevation and subjected to some blustery winds with a noticeable wind chill. It should be much warmer on the Yangtze...we only needed jackets when it was raining in March.

The problem is figuring out 'Philadelphia' :D, which can be chilly in October or it can be experiencing 'Indian Summer' with mild temps and gorgeous sunshine. Even worse, last year's weather is no indication for what this year's will be.

In other words, as they say on those investment ads, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

Looks comfy! Is it possible that the single cabins are larger than the standard doubles? I think the website or the brochure shows them as having more square feet.

!

I just checked the website and they are basically the same size as the standard C rooms but bigger than the standard D.

Peregrina651: Just wondering -- is there a movie channel on the TV? Or just news, sports, etc.? How were the evening activities? Thanks for reminding us about the wake-up "knocks". We're bringing a small travel clock, as well as a travel coffee mug. What optional excursions did you take and were they interesting? Marsha

Marsha, I gotta tell you, I have no idea what was on the TV. We never turned it on the whole time we were there. As for a travel mug, don't bother. There is a coffee station just down the hall that is available 24/7--and you don't have to wash the mug.

Evening activities were fun. There was a 3 piece band on the ship who played most nights in one of the bars (but we never went to listen to them, mostly because we were asleep already). There was a crew talent show one night, a vodka tasting ($$), a Ukrainian music concert and maybe a lecture or two (but I don't remember off hand). In Odessa, Kyiv, Sevastopol and Yalta, you can leave the ship to check out the night life. We went to the opera in Odessa and promenaded along the strand in Yalta. But, most of the nights, we just crashed.

T'Fools, there are more pictures coming. Have your TA check as the cruise gets closer to see if any cabins have opened up in the category you wanted or at least in a higher category. You will probably have to pay for the upgrade but it is what you wanted in the first place. There are always last minute cancellations (even of full paid bookings) and it can't hurt to keep asking.

GVC, I was looking at my b-i-l's Nikon super zoom this weekend and I am definitely suffering from camera-envy. It is not a DSLR but the little I saw was, well, enviable. It is lighter than my DSLR+lens, has more zoom (to 800mm, I think he said). He reports great battery life (maybe because it doesn't have to keep retracting the lens??).

Optional excursions:

Opera in Odessa (530UAH pp) -- As opera lovers, we loved sitting through Don Giovanni--even though it was 3+ hours long. I am sure that we over-paid for back of balcony seats--and that we could have gone to the box office ourselves and gotten the tickets for much cheaper. However, we paid the Viking price to avoid the hassle of trying to buy tickets in a foreign language and to avoid having to arrange for transportation. Going with Viking, Viking took care of all the details --including finding the time to buy the tickets. On the other hand, I expected much, much better seating options from Viking so don't get me started on just how lousy our seats were. Super-titles are in Cyrillic (yes, just stating the obvious) but at least we were give a synopsis of the opera. (BTW, folks who went to the ballet the next night reported much better seating on the floor--and it wasn't as long as the opera either.)

Jewish Odessa (???UAH pp)-- Interesting tour but since it was done on a Saturday we could not go into any of the synagogues. According to the itinerary we received with our docs, that tour was scheduled for Friday afternoon but for some reason, the schedule was changed to do both included tours on Friday and the optional tours on Saturday. (Guide: local)

Chersonese (325 UAH pp) -- AMAZING but far too short. I'm a sucker for the antiquities, especially if you throw in a theater. However, we really didn't have any time to investigate the theater or to wonder off on our own. The tour includes a visit to the newly built St. Vladimir's Temple (don't ask me about it because I was too busy soaking in all the details and taking pictures to remember a word that Natasha told us about the building or why it was built in this location). The interiors are not to be missed; I wish I had a better visual memory because no pictures were allowed inside. Ladies, bring a head covering. (Guide: Natasha)

Black Sea Fleet Band (530 UAHpp) -- WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced. The dancers were the best of the lot. The singers were okay but there was no program so you had NO IDEA what they were singing about--a teaching moment gone to waste. The Russian folkloric show we saw when we were StP a few years back was much, much better. Afterwards, they were selling BSF Band CDs for $15 or $20 a pop--again, way overpriced. If you want local music, get the CD that the ship's trio sells. IMHO, don't waste your money; take a stroll along the strand or check out what is playing at the theater or check out a local bar.

Vodka Tasting (150 UAH pp) -- What a fun, fun hour and a half!! You toast, you taste, you sing and laugh out loud--and you get to sample 6 different Ukrainian vodkas. Don't eat the onions! You will be unapproachable for days.

These are the only optionals that we did. Also, go back to my earlier posts during the cruise because I may already have made other comments about the tours.