Peregrina651

United 835 leaves Chicago at 10:23A and arrives 1:55P (14.5 hours--Boeing 777 configured 3-3-3 in both directions)

United 850 leaves Beijing at 4:10 and arrives 4:21P (13 hours)

There were a lot of Viking passengers on our flight.

I agree with Turtles; the travel time is long enough without stopping along the way. The less time you spend in transit the less tired you will be when you arrive.

Don't go too crazy with your research. Remember that Viking's special price on airfare does not apply to every possible itinerary. Custom air does not mean that you get your choice of any itinerary; it means that you get to choose from what Viking is offering at that price versus taking what you are assigned.

If you want a particular airline (to get airline miles) or want to use airline miles to upgrade to business class, it will cost you more. The class of ticket that Viking provides at its special pricing cannot be upgraded using miles.

If you are going to give up the special price on the airfare, then it is helpful to know what the airlines are charging for flights so that you know if it would be cheaper to just book on your own.

With custom air you should be able to select from any flights Viking has arrangements with,especially this far in advance. There shouldn't be any additional costs beyond custom air. We were originally routed from Chicago through Toronto to Beijing. At that point we discovered custom air, a well kept secret, paid the $50 and requested non-stop flights both ways. We were ready to cancel if we couldn't get a non-stop flight. Viking came through with new flights. Going to Beijing we left late and arrived late, about 1am. But due to this late arrival they scheduled an extra day zero, completely open to give us time to acclimate before the real touring began on Day 1 of the itinerary. Apparently last year a lot of the flights Viking booked had very late arrivals Worked out,since we had an entire day on our own to explore. Our return flight from Shanghai was late afternoon and we preferred not rushing that morning. Viking arranged a late checkout so we had the hotel room until we left. Both flights worked out well

Yes, last year Viking had a lot of problems with too many late arriving flights into Beijing and for that reason added an extra day to the itinerary for those who would be arriving on those late night flights AT NO COST to the passengers rather than deal with the complaints. I haven't heard any talk yet about it for this year. This was only for itineraries starting in Beijing.

BTW, that extra day did not include meals (just as arrival day for anyone does not include meals).

I plan to go through my travel agent soon (she had suggested February) to set up our flights for our November Cultural Delights trip. I don't plan on spending any more than the amount set by Viking, but I do plan on spending the additional $50 pp for custom. I have a feeling that I will not get the non-stop flight from Chicago to Shanghai without shelling out a lot of extra $$. So I am at peace with this and will accept a connecting flight, if necessary!

 

So my questions are kind of basic:

 

1. What time of day should I try to be getting into Shanghai at?

 

2. What time of day should I plan to leave Bejing on the return flight?

 

I think that I should be OK, if I know these times.

 

Thanks all!

I know that things change from year to year but we were on the non-stop United flights in and out of Chicago and it did not cost us anything extra, other than the custom air fee. In fact, we even arranged to fly from Boston to ORD the day before the flight without incurring any additional fee. Moreover, we didn't opt into custom air until like January before a May flight. Of course this is no guarantee but at least it isn't a horror story. The United flight to Shanghai leaves around 11am and gets in around 2pm. The flight home left at 4pm and arrived in ORD at 4:13pm--and we all remember that because we joked about the 13 minute flight.

Do however, allow three hours for check in at ORD; the place is a zoo and it seemed like everything is on the other side of the airport.

I found this link to a blog on Viking's Facebook page.

And I found this link as well.

Sorry if these are repeats.

This trip has been on the back burner for a while.

Right now I am starting to ponder what to pack and I have been thinking about what drugs I need to bring along. I usually make sure to get a prescription for Cipro in case of gastrointestinal problems (and I usually throw it out at the end of the trip completely unused, but at least I have it if needed).

For those of you who have taken this trip, is there anything else that you suggest bringing because you really found that you needed it? Is there anything that you brought that you found that you didn't really need--and neither did anyone else??

I cancelled my Viking Air in November with my Viking agent. It was quite easy as I had not been ticketed yet (I go on the April 22nd Imperial Jewels cruise.) The Viking agent did all the work. She told me it could take up to 30 days for the refund to be credited to my credit card. That was Nov. 28 and a credit has still not been posted. As i made my own flight reservations using that same credit card, I am getting concerned. Also my Viking agent has not answered the last 2 e-mails I sent her about this. Anyone else had a problem like this?

Did you check your junk mail folder for the responses? That happens sometimes.

Thank you, Kodismom, for all of the valuable information. We are going on the Roof of the World tour October 8...leaving a couple of days early. Planning on making reservations at Black Sesame Kitchen...have read lots of good things about it. Did you have problems with baggage with the intraChina flights? Just one bag plus a carry-on for each person or did you have more than one bag? We are also taking the extended trip to Hong Kong. Thanks again for all of the information.

Ruthlynn, word is that unlike the other China itineraries, the baggage restrictions are strictly enforced on the Tibet itinerary because of the airport in Tibet. So, while many of us have reported no problems with carrying multiple carry-ons on the intra-China flights, it is because we were not going to Tibet. We would hate for you to follow the advice of those of us who have not been to Tibet only to find that the restrictions are strictly enforced. That would really ruin your trip.

Perhaps someone who has done the Tibet itinerary could chime in about baggage restrictions.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Hey, Ray. Glad you have joined us. It is going to be slow here for a while until more people find us. I guess we are just going to have to be patient.

 

There is an old thread with some comments about the ship and a couple of links to reviews.

 

Look for Robert Bacon's blog on Facebook (wish I could remember where I copied it from but probably from the Discussions). Also, earlier on this thread, there is a link to a review by 'coasters.' They are the only two blog/review/journals that i have found so far for this trip.

Oh, and Old Pete, also did a review of the trip as well.

Hey, Ray. Glad you have joined us. It is going to be slow here for a while until more people find us. I guess we are just going to have to be patient.

There is an old thread with some comments about the ship and a couple of links to reviews.

Look for Robert Bacon's blog on Facebook (wish I could remember where I copied it from but probably from the Discussions). Also, earlier on this thread, there is a link to a review by 'coasters.' They are the only two blog/review/journals that i have found so far for this trip.

Someone on another thread mentioned this magazine article in Virtuoso Life. I read the first page of it and decided to share the link.

It is a long time until we are on our China trip. But I like to obsess early!

 

I'm with you, Recyclelady, early and often!! Thank heaven for Cruise Critic.

I'm a big fan of Custom Air. We would have been routed through Hong Kong to Shanghai if we had not done Custom Air--and it didn't cost us any extra (guess we lucked out on that).

BTW, allow more like three hours to check in at ORD (O'Hare). The lines are long and there is a lot of ground to cover between security and the gates themselves. Boarding starts about 40 minutes before departure. IMHO, better to sit waiting at the gate than do an OJ through the airport.

I just want to remind new readers that you are reading PART TWO of the Viking China thread. PART ONE was started in 2005 and became so popular/successful that the servers could not handle the size of it. The moderators closed part one and opened up part two where the conversation now continues.

However, part one still contains a lot of very helpful information. You don't need to start at the very beginning because 1) a lot of information is repeated from year to year and 2) Viking is constantly fine-tuning the product, making some information obsolete.

Here is a link that will bring you to posts from February, 2011.

If you have questions about what you read in part one, just ask it here.

I'm still working on finding guidebooks to help plan all the free time that we have in Odesa, Sevastopol and Yalta. I'm thinking about hiring guides for half day tours in those cities but before I start looking for a guide, I'd like to have an idea of what I would like to see. (Yes, I know that I am answering my own questions, but there are so few of us following this thread at this point that I am not waiting for answers; I'm just plowing ahead and sharing what I find. It's one way to keep us at the top of the list ;-) )

Frommer, Fodor and D-K don't have guides for Ukraine. Insight Guides lumps Russia, Belarus and Ukraine into one guide and there are less than 50 pages covering both countries. I was able to check out the table of contents on Amazon and decided not to buy the book because there can't be anymore there than is in the Lonely Plant title that I already have. I also saw a couple of titles available on Kindle.

I did find one book on the customs and culture of Ukraine. It's quick read--but I won't know if it is helpful until we get back. It's called Culture Smart Ukraine and it's written by Anna Shevchenko.

National Geographic's Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe has about 40 pages dedicated to Ukraine and includes a list of websites and a short bibliography.

Next step: finding helpful websites

Just giving this a nudge so it doesn't go to archives. Can hardly believe that 2012 will be the year for us to travel to China. DH gets his new knee at the end of Jan. Looking forward to our trip on Oct 20th. Pat

:D:D I was just thinking of doing the same thing!

It looks like we are in the holiday doldrums--well doldrums here, not in the rest of our lives. But if we can just hang in there, the pace will pick up here after the first of the year as the first 2012 sailing gets closer.

Wishing your hubby a smooth surgery and a speedy recover.

I found the Lonely Planet guide book for Ukraine at the bookstore. Are there any other current guidebooks for the country?

Hello, Sheila and Herb --

Welcome to the conversation! Sorry we won't be on the same cruise but I promise to post when I get back.

There are a number of threads with information for this cruise.

I have found these to be the most helpful so far:

1. This thread includes links to pictures and a review.
   
2. This thread was set up in the roll call section as one roll call for all sail dates.
   

Also, don't forget Trip Advisor for information about guides.

This has actually been the case on United for a good long while now. Used to be, you could book the cheapest economy fare you could find, and use miles to upgrade. But for some time now, FFM upgrades from economy to first or business class have only been available when you pay full fare economy or some similarly high price for your ticket.

 

I know that in June 2010 when we were booking our flights for our May 2011 trip to China, we were told by United we could not use miles to upgrade to business class if we purchased their "cheap" economy tickets, only if we paid some crazy amount for those seats. We wound up using miles to get "free" business class tickets (not upgrades). Thankfully we had enough miles to do so....

 

But yes, this is important info for folks to have, especially for flights taking you halfway around the world!

I've never used miles for upgrading a ticket before and was looking into it before booking a trip a few weeks ago. That is when I started reading the fine print and learned that only certain fare classes are eligible. (Ultimately, I decided not to use my miles on an upgrade for the trip.)

But, for those who are hoping to upgrade, you need to know this information before you start shopping for airfare and deciding whether or not to book through Viking. It is so frustrating when you start the process with certain assumptions and then find out that that's not how things work. (Read more about FF upgrades on Viking's website.)

It was after I read some comments about upgrading on Viking's FB pages, that I decided to post a heads-up here. Upgrading with miles is not as straightforward as we would like to think and I've done my job if one less person feels less confused or misused by the process.

I posted this same info in another thread but I'm going to repeat it here because it pertains to folks on this itinerary as well.

This is a heads up. It looks like some of the airlines have changed the rules as to what class fares maybe upgraded. By class it does not mean economy, business, etc but rather the letter determining fare type such as Y, K etc. which have to more with how much was paid for a seat rather than its location.

The airlines are on to us! They know that we get cheap seats by booking through the cruise lines or consolidators and then upgrade to business or first using our points. The airlines are closing the loophole; they want their money. Star Alliance airlines for sure have changed their rules; I don't know about the others.

Whether we are booking through Viking or online, we are now going to have pay careful attention to what category fare we have if we are planning on using miles to upgrade the ticket.

This is a heads up. It looks like some of the airlines have changed the rules as to what class fares maybe upgraded. By class it does not mean economy, business, etc but rather the letter determining fare type such as Y, K etc. which have to more with how much was paid for a seat rather than its location.

The airlines are on to us! They know that we get cheap seats by booking through the cruise lines or consolidators and then upgrade to business or first using our points. The airlines are closing the loophole; they want their money. Star Alliance airlines for sure have changed their rules; I don't know about the others.

Whether we are booking through Viking or online, we are now going to have pay careful attention to what category fare we have if we are planning on using miles to upgrade the ticket.

 

We'll be leaving and returning to LAX so that should be non-stop flights, no?

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Karl

No, you could be booked through Tokyo or Hong Kong. Viking doesn't always do direct hops to China. As caribill, said, it depends on what they contract.

 

I spotted that carrier in one of your photos and wondered what kind it was. I have a Canon 40D and have been wondering how I will manage it with all the walking. The carrier looked comfortable and I'm glad you commented on it. I also have a Lumix p&s and have been toying with the idea of taking only that. I'd love to hear your comments. Going on Imperial Jewels next April. Can't wait.

IMHO, take both. At least that way you can choose day by day which camera you want to carry. I got a little camera to travel with on my last trip to Spain because I realized that if I were to carry the DSLR with me all day long for 6 days I would be miserable. Still, I took the DSLR as well because I knew that this was the camera I wanted for taking pictures at the Alhambra.

My wife and I are booked on the Imperial China tour, Sep 20, 2012, have just been talking to travel agent on flights, Detroit gateway, and Viking are trying to book us on an American Airlines filght to Beijing, one stop in Chicago.

 

If you are concerned about booking on AA, then pay the custom air fee of $50pp and ask them to book you on United 851. It leaves two hours later which would give you more time to get to Chicago in the morning.

Even better, arrange to stay overnight in Chicago before the flight. We did and it was a great way to start our journey. Not wanting to leave our house at 3 am to make a 6am flight out of Boston to connect with the non-stop to China, we opted to stay overnight in Chicago. We also did not want the tension of worrying about whether or not our first flight out would take off on time--and I was traveling with the worry-warts! We left Boston at a reasonable hour the day before our flight, stayed in the Hilton right at the airport (yes, it was expensive but it was convenient) AND had enough time to take the metro into downtown Chicago. As long as you depart Detroit, after noon, you should be able to do it without paying any extra airfare (although the hotel room will be on you). There are other hotels close to the airport that cost less.

Why pay the custom air fee? Because $100 is nothing compared to the thousand you have already spent on the trip and why not have the luxury of choosing your flight times and having a relaxing, stress-free journey.

And as caribill pointed out, you also want to avoid an early morning flight home --and the only way to ensure that is with custom air.

Allan --

Thank you for all the information. You really did answer so many of the questions that I had. Still, I have more that really aren't germaine to this discussion thread, so would you contact me using the address below? Thanks.

Andrea

Next on my to do list is to learn more about the optional tours and to start finding out about private guides in the cities where we have free time.

Viking doesn't send the optional tour info until it sends the docs, three weeks before the tour, and that is a bit late for anyone who is considering arranging private tours. I wish they would post it on their website or link to a pdf with the info as it does for some things (like laundry prices and beverage packages).