GCT Tour?

We had decided to do the Viking Cultural Delights land/cruise in China next year, unfortunately Viking are dropping this trip in 2016.

We do have a slight chance of doing this cruise this year, but in the mail just this week I received a GCT offer which was very similar to Vikings Cultural Delights trip, theirs was considerably cheaper, it even included free airfare.

We are not experienced river cruise travellers and wondered why there is such a considerable difference between the Viking trip and the much cheaper GCT trip?

Am I missing something?

Have not done Viking yet but have done several on GCT. Also have used their sister company OAT numerous times and never had an issue. Alcohol is not included on GCT except for dinner. Hopefully someone will chime In with more info.

We did a China trip/cruise with Vantage back in 2007 and it was fantastic. Owners of Vantage and Grand Circle are brothers. Check out Vantage for their China trip. We have signed up with Vantage for their French Waterways leaving June 2nd. Willard

I traveled to China with GCT in 2009 and it was one of my favorite trips with the company. Their groups were small and the guide was one of the best ever.

One of the reasons they are cheaper is because they do not use travel agents and do not need to pay their fees.

We used OAT for China and GCT for Russia. Both are great. Used Vantage for Portugal, the trip was great but dealing with Vantage was a nightmare to deal with in Boston. It felt like once they got your money they didn't care. we had a group of 8 and all paper work said 7, all had paid in full. Told it was a typo and not to worry. We got to Portugal and the 8th person was not an any list they had. It worked out ok. That was 5 years ago so maybe they got better.

We had decided to do the Viking Cultural Delights land/cruise in China next year, unfortunately Viking are dropping this trip in 2016.

We do have a slight chance of doing this cruise this year, but in the mail just this week I received a GCT offer which was very similar to Vikings Cultural Delights trip, theirs was considerably cheaper, it even included free airfare.

We are not experienced river cruise travellers and wondered why there is such a considerable difference between the Viking trip and the much cheaper GCT trip?

 

Am I missing something?

WHAT!!!!!! :eek: They are dropping Cultural Delights????:eek: What a shame.:(

We did the itinerary in 2010 and loved it. We didn't even consider the shorter itinerary--not enough time cruising. The additional visits to the sacred Mt. Jiuha, the Yueyang Tower, The Porcelain History Center and the city of Fengdu were fabulous. The standard tour these days seems to Shanghai, a cruise through the dam and gorges, Xi'an and Beijing. The added stops took the ordinary tour to extraordinary because we went to places that most tours don't go to.

I would love to help you compare the two itineraries to see what the difference are. Maybe reading my blog would help you figure out some of the differences--or you can e-mail me and we can chat. Links to my blog and my e-mail are in my signature file. Looking forward to hearing from you.

We did a China trip/cruise with Vantage back in 2007 and it was fantastic. Owners of Vantage and Grand Circle are brothers. Check out Vantage for their China trip. We have signed up with Vantage for their French Waterways leaving June 2nd. Willard

Willard, We did the French Waterways with Vantage a few years ago on the Rembrandt. They now have a larger ship doing the cruise. Here is the link to our story and pictures

http://stevekathytravels.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/burgundy2012.pdf

We enjoyed it thoroughly.

We had decided to do the Viking Cultural Delights land/cruise in China next year, unfortunately Viking are dropping this trip in 2016.

 

We do have a slight chance of doing this cruise this year, but in the mail just this week I received a GCT offer which was very similar to Vikings Cultural Delights trip, theirs was considerably cheaper, it even included free airfare.

 

We are not experienced river cruise travellers and wondered why there is such a considerable difference between the Viking trip and the much cheaper GCT trip?

 

 

 

Am I missing something?

I've done 3 GCT river cruises. They have exceptionally good tour guides. The ships are not as elegant as Viking and the food is good, not gourmet. The staff is very pleasant and eager to help. Cabins are small, but you are not in often. I enjoyed the trips immensely. I did the Danube, Rhine and Volga.

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Hello Talisker 92 - Steve, Just read your great report on your Vantage French Waterways. Good stuff. We are looking forward to our June trip. As a retired news photographer I will be taking a bunch of memory cards with me. Will sample all the wines but not buying at their high prices. Willard