Uniword Tour to China

Just returned from Uniworld’s “Classic China” tour. First, I need to point out that this is only a land tour. Due to time constraints, we had to choose between a tour with a cruise on the Yangtze or doing Hong Kong, and for reasons I won’t get into, we chose Hong Kong. I realize that this is a cruise site, but since this itinerary is part of every Uniworld tour in China and since there is very little on here about Uniworld in China, I thought I would post. So, if you’re looking for specific information about the Yangtze, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. But if you’re considering a tour to China, then maybe some of the info will be useful.

Overall, we were pleased with the tour. Uniworld provides complimentary transfers if you arrive/depart on the scheduled tour start/end days. We actually arrived a day early, so we had to arrange our own arrival transfer - a taxi that only cost us around $9.50. All of the sightseeing and meals are included as well (the meals on your arrival day are not). We’re not the “organized tour” types, but since we weren’t sure what to expect in China, we figured this was the best option. Now that we’ve been there, I think if we were to go back to China, we would do it on our own.

TOURS: The tours were a mixed bag: some of the included tours were very good; others were slow with too much time spent on giving out information. Some of the tours, such as the Great Wall and Terra Cotta Warriors excursion, we were basically given a brief description, then shown our meeting place, given our meeting time, and let loose - these types, we enjoyed. Others, such as the Forbidden City and Summer Palace, we spent so much time on the outside being lectured that we didn’t see much, if any, of the interior. Our tour director, while very capable and very knowledgable, did tend to get long winded. Sometimes after standing and listening to the descriptions, we only had about 10 minutes to take pictures. These types, we didn’t enjoy as much. For example, we spent nearly 3 hours at the Forbidden City and 90% of that time was spent standing in the courtyards listening to our tour director - we did not see the interior of any of the halls, one of which contained a replica of the Emperor’s throne; the only interiors that we saw were the quadrangle living quarters through plexiglass of Empress Cixi’s quarters and then entered into two rooms of another quadrangle (one a communications room and the other a dining area - nothing very elaborate). At the Summer Palace, we took a boat ride across the lake and then walked to the bottom of the hill that the Palace sat on, but did not go in; we then walked back and saw the marble boat, then left. It was a big disappointment. We prefer to see as much as possible instead of standing in one spot being inundated with tons of information.

Usually every day, there was also a “shopping opportunity” - a pearl store, a cloisonné store, a silk carpet store, a tea store (actually enjoyed this one - included a tea ceremony), a jade store, and a silk store. All were VERY expensive; the tea store and the silk store were the most affordable ones. The tours do run all day long. The first tour day, we left the hotel at 8am and didn’t get back till 10pm - we were thankful to have arrived a day early at the end of it. Some days, we did get to go to the hotel to freshen up before going to dinner. There were also shows included in the tour: a Kung Fu show in Beijing, a Tang Dynasty dinner show in Xi’an, and an acrobat show in Shanghai. I could have done without the Kung Fu show, but maybe that was partly due to exhaustion and some leftover jet lag.

MEALS: The food itself was actually good. We mostly ate at local restaurants that had been government “approved” to serve foreign tourists. Supposedly, these “approved” restaurants were held to higher hygiene standards than non-approved restaurants. All lunches and dinners were served family style; basically, several dishes were brought out and placed on a lazy susan and you sampled some of each. I say sampled, because I felt the portions brought out were not enough - you won’t go hungry, but you’re not going to get full either. I didn’t find the food much different than what you would find at PF Changs or any of your local Chinese restaurants, so not sure if this was true authentic Chinese cuisine or had been altered to suit a Western palate. Again, the food was tasty and I’m not aware of anyone experiencing any GI issues. There were 3 dinners that were not served this way. One, was at the Tang Dynasty dinner show, in which everyone was given an individual 5 course meal. Our first night in Shanghai, we had dinner on our own at our hotel - it was a buffet. The other one, was a meal served on the flight from Beijing to Xi’an. We were very upset with this, as was most of our group. According to the tour description, that was the night we were to have our “gourmet dumpling dinner,” but we didn’t leave Beijing until 6pm and didn’t arrive in Xi’an until 8:30pm, so we were told that we wouldn’t have time to eat at any restaurant since it would be about a 45 minute ride to our hotel from the airport and we were “highly encouraged” to eat on the plane. Most of us felt that this was a “cop-out” considering what we were supposed to have had according to the tour itinerary and considering what we paid for this tour. Breakfasts were served in the hotel and were all pretty good with a wide variety of items.

THOUGHTS: As I said, overall we were pleased with the tour. The fact that Uniworld has designed an all-inclusive tour is nice, pretty much no worries. Other than the arrival day after Uniworld has taken you to the hotel, everything is planned for you and taken care of; you just follow the schedule. Our tour manager was very good and spoke excellent English, but did tend to get long winded and we felt much time was wasted standing around listening to him instead of seeing sights.

It is a very fast-paced tour. You generally go all day long with very little downtime. There is extensive walking involved, but our tour director always made sure that everyone was looked after and made sure the members of the tour who had mobility issues had someone with them. I highly recommend going a day or two early; it will help with jet lag and give you time to see some of the sites that are not included such as the Temple of Heaven or Beihai Park. The tour really could use an extra day or two added to it; more time in Beijing and Xi’an would have been nice.

 Our biggest issues with the tour were the Forbidden City and Summer Palace tours as well as the airplane meal. We were disappointed to travel all that way just to stand around looking at the outside of the buildings. The airplane meal being substituted for a restaurant meal was just inexcusable. We would have also liked more time in Xi’an since all we got to see was the Terra Cotta Warrior complex and a brief walk on a section of the city wall - we did not get to see the old city center’s bell tower or neither the Big Wild Goose Pagoda nor the Small Goose Pagoda.

Even though we did have some minor issues with the tour, we don’t regret going and we don’t regret using Uniworld. Knowing what we know now, I feel we could have done this trip on our own. While English may not be wildly spoken outside of tourist venues and Western hotels, we found China to be actually tourist friendly with many signs in English; also at no time on our own did we feel unsafe or threatened. All of the subway stops in Beijing are in pinyin and announcements are also in English. So for us, in hindsight, we felt we could have done this trip on our own. One plus of taking a tour is hassle free travel and a safety net with a Chinese tour guide. It just comes down to your own personal preferences.

As a side note, on our transfer to the airport in Shanghai, we did get to talk to a lady who had just completed the Uniworld tour that included the Yangtze River Cruise. She did say she enjoyed it very much and it provided a slower paced break from the faster pace of the land portion.

Advice: Go a day or two early if you can. Air quality is very poor, so people with allergies and/or asthma, go prepared. Bring toilet paper, especially women. Outside of hotels, Chinese restrooms generally do not provide toilet paper. Ask your tour director where a grocery store or convenient store is - bottled water is MUCH cheaper there than at the hotel (can’t drink the tap). My final piece of advice is if you are considering China, GO!! It is a fascinating place and this trip dispelled many misconceptions that I had of China.

what a great, comprehensive review. You did not get to experience Chinese food at its best for sure, and you are very right that you can tour the main areas of China on your own very easily. We spent 17 days on our own in March and had no problems getting around. We were in Hong Kong before our cruise, and Beijing, Xian, Yangtze River cruise and Shanghai after.

You have done a great job assessing the plusses and minuses of a group tour and I suggest you post a copy of this on Trip Advisor where it will reach more people. People regularly post there looking for reviews of various tour companies and comparing them to going on your own.

I'm glad you had a great time in China and I agree that it is a fascinating country.

Your review was very helpful since we're trying to decide between Uniworld and Viking for our China trip.

We have book our Vantage trip for August next year. It will be fun.

We have booked with Uniworld for Oct 2012 for the land and Yangtze tour and I agree there is little info about China and I keep looking here on CC.. We have sailed with Uniworld in Europe twice and that made our decision to go with them. Not looking forward to such long days, but know it is the only way to see everything. I hope Uniworld will see your message and perhaps change the Forbidden City/Summer Palace tours so more inside things are seen. We are arriving in Beijing off the Diamond Princess same day as the Uniworld tour starts. The timing was perfect so could not pass up the oppurtunity to see more of China as will probably not ever get to China again (just too much of the world to see!)

We have booked with Uniworld for Oct 2012 for the land and Yangtze tour and I agree there is little info about China and I keep looking here on CC.. We have sailed with Uniworld in Europe twice and that made our decision to go with them. Not looking forward to such long days, but know it is the only way to see everything. I hope Uniworld will see your message and perhaps change the Forbidden City/Summer Palace tours so more inside things are seen. We are arriving in Beijing off the Diamond Princess same day as the Uniworld tour starts. The timing was perfect so could not pass up the oppurtunity to see more of China as will probably not ever get to China again (just too much of the world to see!)

We are booked on Uniworld Wonders of China & Grand Yangtze Cruise Tour for Oct. 11/2012 on the Victoria Sophia. I haven't been able to find ANY positive reviews about this vessel, the cabins or the on-board food. Is there anyone who has firsthand information that would make us less concerned? We've taken 17 ocean cruises and many land tours throughout the world, so are flexible in our thoughts about conditions that are different than we experience in Canada or USA. Can anyone give us more information, good or bad?

Hi Oldminer

I just had to reply when I saw your post. We did the 8-day cruise from Shanghai to Chongqing on the Victoria Prince March 2010. Ours was slightly different because we booked directly with victoria cruises but once you are onboard everything is the same no matter who you book through. We just happened to be independants where most people onboard were part of a group, much like you will be. We did 5 days in Shanghai first. stayed at the Portman Ritz-Carleton and loved it. Shanghai is one of my favortie cities. I have travelled all over asia and have done about 26 ocean cruises, but this was my first river cruise.

I have been on this particular board a lot lately researching European River cruises and there is a lot to learn. As you say, there is not much on China River Cruises and I agree, as when we went on our in March 2010 we were going in blind and did not know what to expect.

I will agree ocean cruising is quite different then river cruising and I think the China river cruise will be different than european river cruising and I will try to explain.

- most rooms if not all rooms on the Yangtze boats have balconies - big plus. we spent a lot of time on ours. The scenery rolling by was fantastic and always extremely interesting as you can imagine.

- the boats are bigger so more people eating, more buses on tours but don't worry about this.

- Our room was nice and clean but in no way lavish. our boat was old though. i'm sure your will be more glamourous.

- open seating for breakfast and lunch - food was good. the baking (breads and pastries) were fantastic!

- Dinner was assigned seating and the same wait staff (more like traditional cruising) we liked this.

- yes, going to China it is Chinese food at every dinner served family style. We loved this. We love Asian food in general and this was a big plus for us. The North Americans and a few Europeans (which I think was mostly everyone) onboard complained about the fact the food was Chinese about the 3rd day on. This became absolutely annoying to us. They had no idea they were not getting American food. Two men at our table complained constantly (as they picked at thier food) and kept on referring to Chinese dishes generically as 'Dim Sum' because it was served family style, (don't get me started). there may have been some try at American dishes but they were not the good ones! If there were I probably didn't eat them I certainly don't remember them. We enjoyed the food.

- the river boats were nice but in no means upscale like they compare the European river boats to Regent. They were nice. Don't expect too much more than NCL.

- There will be a local river expert discussing what you are seeing at most times. especially when going through the locks and 3 gorges. This expert will be exc ellent.

- one thing I didn't like and had to get over is you are very much tied to the hip with the daily schedule and herded everywhere! Being independent travellers we did not like this. What I mean is, when the boat docked you immediately went on the excursion and when you returned the boat unties and leaves. You cannot break away on your own. you cannot just get off the boat when it is docked and walk around. You cannot even begin to try to figure out your own tour or get a private tour arranged like in Europe. This was difficult for us. We thought we could at least explore a bit once we came back from the daily excursion and no they are herding you to keep up & stay with the group.

We were happy we did the 8-day as the first 4 days were fairly relaxed. Once you get doing the 3-gorges, the dam project and the associated tributaries it gets very, very, exciting and busy those days. I am guessing you are doing the 3-4 day itinerary? It is very busy BUT very enjoyable. We were tired at night on those days.

One funny thing that happened to us when we were embarking and first got to the dock (remember we had no idea what we were in for due to lack of information) there was a horrific rusty barge moored at the dock. The Prince was behind this rust bucket and we couldn't see it, nor, did we know they all hooked up together at the docks. We were horrified! Then they brought us onboard and we were more horrified. We kept walking though and then got on the Prince and it was such a sigh of relief. We are still laughing at that.

We were on the Victoria Prince, which was the oldest and smallest ship in the fleet. You are on Sophia, the flagship and refurbished last year. I would conclude yours will be even nicer and better than ours and we loved the Prince. So I think the only thing you have to worry about is enjoying yourself! :)

If you have further questions feel free to email me at

stingraynz at aol dot com

I will be happy to help as I just didn't have time when I returned to do a review and I should have.

Please follow the link to my pics. there are lots of the river life and sights but I also have some of the room and some menus.

http://picasaweb.google.ca/nancy.zupancic

Hope this helps you to not have any concerns.