bettybc

Didn't mean to sound overly negative. Just thought I should let people know some of the negatives that don't seem to be mentioned too often on this forum. i too am not a fussy eater and even tried every type of dumpling at the dumpling supper (despite some of my fellow travellers' cringing). Just think Viking (for the price you pay for this trip could have done better with the meal planning on shore - on the Emerald the meals were all good.

Have fun and be prepared by the end to be exhausted - jet lag is always worse for us coming home than going so we plan our extra time at the end of every trip :-)

Yes, I took the diamox but think it aggravated my arthritis in my foot (known to aggravate gout so it makes sense). Just found that if I exerted myself at all my pulse went up so thought it best to be fairly inactive - no climb to the top of the Potella for me. But hubbie did the climb and his pics were amazing.

I was surprised that I had trouble but as pointed out when I got home we live about 4500 feet above sea level - nowhere's near the 12500 feet of altitude of the trip. Of course, it would have helped if I was fitter and not quite so heavy - LOL :-(

If you have any questions my email address is b.downey@shaw.ca :-)

We did the 3 week cruise tour with Viking River Cruises in late April/early May of this year. The experience was exhausting but in a good way - it was a good way to see to much of China and Tibet in a very short time.

Our group of 66 was divided into to two groups of 34 and 32 people with each group having their own guide throughout the tour as well as having 'local' guides at every stop. We had great access to many of the museums and temples. The highlights for us were the Terra Cotta Soldiers and Tibet. The other highlight was a rural school in China that Viking River cruises supports through donations. The children there were the same as everywhere and as most on the cruise were grandparents, a great time was had by all.

Luggage was never an issue - porters took care of all the larger bags and once we arrived in China, our responsibility was to have the larger suitcases packed and outside our hotel rooms by the designated times. Weight was only an issue flying out of Tibet. But be aware that you are not allowed to carry previously opened liquor in your larger suitcase. Dear hubbie had his Crown Royal confiscated and one of our fellow travellers lost his expensive scotch.

This is not a tour for the faint of heart - it's go, go, go with very little down time, even when you get on the river cruise part of the trip. There is a lot of walking involved, much on uneven ground and with many steps up and down the various museums as well as to and from the river boat. Personally, I suffered from mild altitude sickness when in Tibet so my participation there was somewhat limited to level ground, slow walking. My husband was able to fully participate and for him, the highlight was the climb up the Potela (the winter palace of the Dali Lama).

The positives were the hotels we stayed at, the guides and the staff while on the Emerald. They were great. Once they knew your name and your preferences in the bars and dining room - these were not forgotten while on board the Emerald. Special kudos to "Lois", the bar manager, whose memory for names and preferences astounded us.

The down side - the food - we had read some negative comments about this previously but took it with a grain of salt. However, the ongoing 'family style' meals in local 'restaurants' got old very, very fast. This meant round tables with lazy susan delivery of various dishes of unknown origin to be shared - nothing wrong with the concept but the food was not inspired and seemed to be the same at every meal. Considering what was paid for the tour, I would have expected better food and restaurant choices than Viking provided. Our best 'local meal' was on our own in Shanghai where we went into a local establishment and ordered by pointing at the menu. Food was good, service was fast and polite, despite the language barrier.

As well, many of the stops involve what we jokingly refer to as the 'jewellery factory' - a compulsory factory shop. While I don't mind shopping, I prefer to shop in the markets and buy from local artisans in the local market places. On the discussion board I had read that the tailor on the Emerald would make anything you asked for if you asked early. I took a pattern with me and asked - No, was the answer. Only willing to make traditional clothes - no variation from what was being displayed.

That being said, breakfasts in the hotels were good (we were put up at two Fairmonts, a St Regis in Lhasa and a Hilton in Xi'an). Best supper (other than on the Emerald) had to be the fixed menu supper at the Fairmont Peace in Shanghai. The worst meal - well, we didn't go but stayed back at the hotel and had a very nice supper in the dining room at the St Regis - sorry, but I wasn't feeling well and the last thing I wanted to face was another 'interesting' (our guide's word not mine :-) )meal.

Also, word of warning regarding the flight to Lhasa - you have to be up by 4:30 AM to get your breakfast and catch your early morning flight!

I did enjoy this tour but think people should made aware that there are things Viking could do to improve things - more free time in the cities visited and less structured time, better restaurant picks and better flight times to Lhasa (0430 wake up call - UGH!!!). And if this is a trip you're considering, start exercising now. Lots of walking, lots of steps (uneven in many parts). Great trip but exhausting.

Just posted my review on the Cruise Critic Review board - I won't repost here (partially because I forgot to copy it - LOL.)

Should be posted soon - once posted I'll let everyone know - it was a great trip but there are some pitfalls to the Roof of the World trip that you need to be aware of. Talk later.

I'm sitting in my hotel room at the St. Regis in Lhasa while writing this. I'll post a full review when I get home. so far the trip has been go, go go and not for the faint of heart. Due to mild altitude illness I begged off the Patella experience.

The breakfasts have been fine but the lunch and suppers have been not great - and I'm not a fussy eater. But you can only face so many meals of 'mystery meats' with fat and sauces before you say enough is enough. Twice here in Lhasa we have opted to eat in (not a cheap option) and have not regret doing that.

So just be warned. And if your expectations are low, you won't be disappointed. We've been to China before and eaten well and chepaply so not sure why Viking would have chosen these restaurants. There's a rumour that the restaurants are chosen for them :p

All for now. More to come when we get home.

Have you tried calling and have a live AC agent enter this for you?

No as I don't feel like being put on hold for an eternity. Find it just as east to do this at the airport. But I might yet try that - two more days to go :-)

We are also flying with Air Canada and had our seat assignment from day 1 of the booking. Did you do your flights through Viking Air? They've been efficient and helpful. The only thing is I can't get into the Air Canada system to add our Aeroplan so will do that at the airport customer service booth. No biggie :-) Have a great trip. Three days to take off for us.

We flew to China two years ago with AC and to be honest, the international AC is very good service and comfort wise (nothing like the domestic). You'll have a good flight.

SteadyAT,

Enjoy your write-up. Thanks! We are on the Viking China Explorer Sept 15th with the Hong Kong extension. We have seats with Air Canada assigned but, similar to your experience, no tickets booked as yet. How did you find the flight with AC?

We are also flying with Air Canada and had our seat assignment from day 1 of the booking. Did you do your flights through Viking Air? They've been efficient and helpful. The only thing is I can't get into the Air Canada system to add our Aeroplan so will do that at the airport customer service booth. No biggie :-) Have a great trip. Three days to take off for us.

Have a great trip - we leave a week today and are very excited.

They must have finally figured out what they wanted in the blank that asked for your personal id card #. I think in Canada they told them their social security # (or equivalent) and I sweated it while my visa went through (used a company that my TA recommended). At least it is clear now. Hope everyone sees your post!

I live in BC, Canada and was able to use my driver's license number in the personal ID section - we didn't' need to use our SIN. :-)

IMHO, Cruise Critic is a great place to ask questions and share information BUT there are times when this just isn't the right place to be asking a question because it just doesn't matter what we have to say; we aren't in charge and we don't have sufficient knowledge to give you an answer. If you run into trouble with any advice that we give you on this matter, it isn't going to help you to tell the authorities, "But they told me Cruise Critic..."

 

You have a legitimate problem for which you need a very precise, reliable answer. Go straight to the source. Call Viking and talk to them directly. They will tell you what you have to do, what papers you need to have with you, what precautions you need to take, etc. They can talk with the China office and ask how this should be handled and they can insure that you get all of the information that you need to make your trip safe and worry free.

 

From the website: contact Viking River Cruises, Inc., at 1-877-668-4546 (1-877-66VIKING). Ask to talk to someone about special medical needs. .

As a Diabetes Nurse Educator, I always recommend that you have in your documentation a letter from your doctor explaining that your insulin must be with you at all times as you have diabetes. Any prescription medication should be in your carry on with proper documentation and in the original packaging, regardless. Hope that's helpful.

I'm not sure but last time we flew home, I had epi-pens in my purse (never go anywhere without them :-( ). In Hong Kong, they did do a second security check at the gate and had to call in the head of security for me to speak to. They were not going to let me on the plane - yup, I know I had a letter from my Doctor but lost it in the travels - YIKES! It took me 10 minutes to convince them that I had to have these with me.

What the security officer told me was as the flight I was going on was going through to the US they had to be extra vigilant, even though I was getting off in Vancouver.

So not surprised to hear about the bottled water issue.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. With other companies, we've often found the 'tours' are, as stated, something put on only for the tourists and actually not really much for the money paid. We've never done a river cruise before but from the cruise ship perspective, we'd rather do our own thing much of the time :).

Guess it depends on what you want from the experience - LOL.

Hi there

We just got our package from Viking and are getting really excited. Looking over the materials, we were wondering whether the Peking duck dinner and the extra excursion in Xian worth the extra cost?

I tested the links after you commented the first time I posted the links and couldn't figure out what you were talking about. I read it very carefully; it said 4/4/2013. I tested it 5 more times this evening and each time I read 4/4/2013. It took 5 times before I realized that it did actually say 4/14/2013. I apologize for whatever glitch was going on in my brain.

 

I cannot go back and change what has already been posted but I can post a corrected list here and try to get the powers that be to delete the posts with the wrong information; no guarantees.

 

Links to Roll Calls--the place to meet up with folks who will be on your cruisetour and get to to know one another before you leave.

March 3 Jewels

March 27 Cultural Delights

March 29 Explorer

April 4 Jewels

CORRECTED

April 14 Jewels

April 20 Roof

(sharing cruise with April 21 Jewels)

April 21 Jewels

May 18 Explorer

June 20 Jewels

June 30 Jewels

July 7 Explorer

July 20 Roof (Tibet)

August 2 Jewels

September 8 Jewels

thanks for posting this list - I didn't know how to make the link either and you've made it so easy for anyone to see the roll calls. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Betty

Don't confuse the food you eat on the tour with the normal Chinese cuisine. On the tour you will eat "Westernised" versions of Chinese dishes which are very toned down for the Viking guests. If your experience is the same you will find the Tour Guide does not eat this food, but eats different dishes separately with the local guide and (sometimes) restaurant staff. In my numerous travels back to China I have had the opportunity to try a whole range of authentic dishes. I have spent a significant amount of time in Chongqing and have never before eaten food so spicy (numb lips!) and full of flavour as you will find there

 

Sean :)

We were told by our Beijing guide (two years ago) that she wasn't allowed to eat with us when we offered to buy her lunch and have her eat with us. apparently the guides can get in serious trouble for mingling with the western tourists during meal times in a social setting. However, she was super attentive and constantly leaving her meal (downstairs from us) to check and make sure we were getting what she had ordered for us.

Hi there

Ok, all our papers are in order and now we just wait for the documents to arrive from Viking. I've dealt directly with them - stopped using a TA a few years back as I was doing all the ground work and then paying someone else to do the booking ;) I think as long as you're dealing with a reputable tour company such as Viking and using VISA to pay you're relatively safe.

Anyhoo, I was wondering if anyone else is flying out of Vancouver to Beijing on April 18,2013. If so, maybe we could meet up at YVR for a coffee or snack before the flight? Sort of a blind date - LOL.

We're headed off to the Roof of the World and getting pretty excited about the whole experience.

Oh, one more quick question - we're going to beg of the first day (Forbidden Palace etc) as we were there independently 2 years ago and would like to explore Beijing a little on our own that day - joining up with the group the next day. I asked Viking and they said to just let our guide know our plans. Has anyone else done this? Any issues?

Thanks

Just to update my "extra day in Shanghai" post, Viking told our TA yesterday that an additional day in our hotel (Fairmont Peace) would cost $407 and that Viking would charge $100 per person to change our return flight by one day. In addition we would loose our hotel/airport transfer and our guide's help at the airport. Finally, Viking could not guarantee us the same flight one day later - all understandable.

Viking issued our tickets yesterday (six plus weeks prior to our departure) and our reservations show up as "confirmed" on United's web site. So we have been able to change our seats.

Now all I have to do is figure out a way to get DW to one of the fabric stores in Shanghai since we will not be going to Suzhou.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'

I contacted the Peace Fairmont directly and as a President's club member (you can sign up on the Fairmont website) they have given us a great rate for three extra days - works out to just over $800 for the three nights and this includes the breakfast buffet - for a Fairmont, this is more than reasonable.

Email the hotel directly and see what they're willing to do.

I didn't realize that we had to send any information to Operations at Viking. What do we have to do? Does it make a difference that we are US citizens?

The sending of the info to Operations at Viking is for the Roof of the World trip only - they take care of the Tibet travel permits and to do that they need colour copies of both our passports and our visas.

If you're doing the other trips, not sure it applies.

This is the link to the CVASCs that the Chinese Embassies in Canada are diverting holders of ordinary passports to for receiving visa applications, receiving payments and returning visas. Essentially, they are a conduit to the Chinese Embassy for processing visas, but the issuing of visas is still the decision of the Chinese Embassy.

 

http://www.visaforchina.org/

 

There are currently four CVASCs in Canada - Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, & Ottawa. I believe CVASCs will be opening in the USA soon.

Also, check what the office in the closest city's policy is. While geographically we're closer to Calgary, because we live in BC we have to use the Vancouver office. Our visas were approved in two days but that office only takes direct deposit to their BMO account or a money wire so I'll probably not get my passports/visas back for another week (had to wire the money as there's also no BMO nearby :-( ).

Found the Vancouver office friendly and efficient. I'd made a couple of oops that were able to be corrected over the phone. For Roof of the World Viking wants a 12 month multiple entry but that's because that's all you can get in the States. Here in Canada, you can get a 6 month multiple entry.

Think this is mainly to cover not only Tibet also those who are doing the Hong Kong Guilin extension. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your info, I will see what Viking will do for us tomorrow, we booked directly with them so no option of a TA for help. We decided to book with Viking as we have a forced overnight stay and wanted to have the hotel and airport transfer covered. We are wanting to pay for bulk head seats, when I called AC they had everything set then told me they couldn't do it yet as the ticket hasn't been issued. We do have FF points but no status that will help. We are happy with our flights so no issue about it not being changeable. I suppose that since they haven't issued a ticket yet we could book the flight directly with AC then pay the extra night at the hotel and transfer from the airport (I checked and we can book the identical flights) or does Viking charge us for canelling out booking with them?

We're also flying with AC and to be honest, I couldn't match Viking's price out of Vancouver by booking directly with AC. We flew to China with AC a couple of years ago and found, unlike domestic AC, the service and seats were quite good. Both this trip coming up and the one two years ago, we had two seats on the side so no issue with that middle seat business that crops up on some of the larger carriers.

Also, meeting the hotel prices can be a challenge. And if you do decide to do it independently, make sure you have the name of the hotel in Chinese characters as many of the airport cabbies neither speak nor read English.

When are you heading out - we're booked on Roof of the World for April 20th.

Hi there We live in BC and used a Vancouver service (we're actually closer to Calgary but were told we 'were out their zone'. Just google visaforchina.org and then click on Vancouver. I found them very helpful and efficient. I'd made a couple of oops on the application that we were able to straighten out over the phone and two days later, received notification that our Visas are approved.

Also, we can get a 6 month multiple entry in Canada (not available in the US). We should have our passports back next week in plenty of time to send the info on to Operations at Viking - hope this is helpful.

We're booked on the April 20th 'top of the world' trip. I've had a few anxious moments regarding the visa application. it's much easier as Canadians to deal with the local visa agencies as if you've made any omissions, they straighten them out right away. There were a couple of minor issues that were immediately rectified and the visas were approved in 2 days. Should have the passports back next week.

So count down now begins!!! YAHOO!!

Hi there. Just talked to our travel nurse and she's strongly recommending anti-malaria medication for the river part of the cruise - based on her information, malaria is a real threat while on the river portion of our trip. Wondering if this is necessary - other medications and immunizations are up to date.

Any feedback would be appreciated.:)