China - Yangtze River - Best Length

[taxjam]

We are choosing a Yangtze River cruise for this September. We are interested in everyone's thoughts on the best length. Specifically, we are considering a Uniworld 7 night cruise, but one of our friends thought that might be too long?

 

Thanks

[pjtraveler]

We did China with Uniworld in October 2008 and loved it. We chose to do a shorter cruise with them in order to add other places to our itinerary. It very much depends on what you want to see in China.

[franski]

We are looking at China - perhaps next year - and have been discussing this exact issue... We are leaning towards the longer cruise as we would like to see more of the Yangtze. Also - I think that the trip will be quite "busy" - so wouldn't mind a bit of time to relax...

 

Hope that others chime in here - as I am interested in hearing from those who have done both the short and long cruise --> with pros/cons after they have done them!!

[eldercruser]

A few years ago we started in Wuhan and sailed upriver to Chonqking (sp?), about four days as I recall which was about right and includes the most scenic part of the river. Going upriver you travel against the river current which makes the trip more leisiurely.

 

I would think 7 days a bit much - better to spend time seeing other parts of China.

[cartervan]

If you are going all the way to China I think you should see more of China than just the Yangtze. We went with Grand Circle two years ago with a four day (was supposed to be five, but that's another story) river cruise as the "centerpiece". The days on the river were a wonderful respite from the rest of the tour, but we wouldn't have wanted to miss The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, The Terra Cotta Soldiers, etc., etc. All in all I wouldn't have missed any part of it. We spent 21 days in all, and it just flew by.

[franski]

We are looking at the longer cruise tied in to either the 16 day Beijing/Shanghai cruise, or the 18 day Shanghai/Beijing route (the extra days as a result of cruising up-river, which is slower). I was looking at others that include Tibet or Hong Kong - but am not thrilled with the thought of all the extra in-country flights (ie: 3 to 5). I can deal with 2 extra flights, but would sooner spend my time other ways if possible. We would get to see the Great Wall, Terra Cotta warriers etc - but still would also see Huangshan mountain, and an extra day just cruising the river.

 

I am still looking into options (ie: other companies) but the number of flights in China is a significant issue for me.

[leavingocalaagain]

I also took the Grand Circle tour that included the river cruise from Wuhan to Chongqing (5 nights). The tour did include extra flights since it also went to Guillin and Hong Kong. I had been to Hong Kong a few times before so was not overly interested in that local, but I'm very glad I was able to go to Guillin. The Li river cruise was one of the highlights of the trip. In fact, I probably enjoyed my visits to Xi'an and Guillin as much as the other parts of the trip.

 

5 Nights on the Yangtze was more than enough.

 

On Grand Circle they also had an optional day tour from Shanghai to Suzhou which was very nice.

[Been There, Planning That]

About 4 years ago we did a four day cruise as part of independent travels and while we enjoyed the experience the pollution was horrid. They were still burning coal and wood in villages along the river. At one point we were walking the deck and decided the pollution would do more damage than the exercise would do good.

 

That said, it's a not to miss experience.

[franski]

Which cruise line/boat did you travel with??

[Been There, Planning That]

Fran, it was in the fall of 2005 that we made the trip. From your pictures I think that you two travel in grander style than do we.

 

Our boat was good -- catering to the foreign market but by no means upscale.

 

I have no record of the boat's name. We had a local Hong Kong agent plan our 3 weeks in China which was part of a six week visit to Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. He sold our plans to 3 other couples (my husband did incredible research and planned everything with precision) so we were a group of 8 for China.

 

If you're interested I could send you a Word file of our impressions -- Emails sent home. It's too long to paste here.

 

Bob had been to China as a journalist in the 70s so knew exactly what he wanted to see or revisit. We regret not adding in Vietnam.

 

ruthdouglasatrogersdotcom.

[Been There, Planning That]

I just found the name of the boat -- built in Germany, I believe for the Russians, in 1993. It's classified as 5* but I'd think that's a generous ranking. The one on the Nile was also 5* and superior to the Princess Sheena.

 

It was by no means luxurious but we still enjoyed our time on board. The meals were good, the rooms clean and the staff friendly.

[franski]

The Princess Sheena is actually rated the same as the Victoria Cruise ships - which is what we are looking at...

 

We don't tend to travel in grand style... We are certainly not as travelled as the Preismans - who have posted extensively on the website that I gave the link to.

 

The Sheena looks quite reasonable, but we tend to favour pre-set itineraries and rely on people who have travelled there before. Clean sheets, edible food and our own bathroom tend to be our greatest priorities.

[no fuss travel]

We did Viking in China and would do it again. We sailed 5 days I believe and each day you were at a different city or village so you got to see something different. The cruise part slowed down the pace of the trip which was great. Going to China, you need to arrive at least a day earlier to adjust to the time change. We found that the second night in China while at the Chinese Opera in Beijing we could hardly stay awake due to jet lag. You are on the go from early in the morning until quite late at night while you are in most of the cities. Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Tang Dynasty Show, the Acrobat show were all fantastic. With Viking we flew from Beijing to Xian, Xian to Chong Ching and that was the end of internal flying. The longer cruise meant that we did not have to fly from Wuhan to Shanghai. The internal flights in China are actually better than a lot of the flights you take in North America now.

[cwind]

I,m new here still a bit confused.Myself and my wife are going to Beijing in July and are looking for any info that would help us along the way.What kind of shots we should get and what kind of meds we should take just in case. Still can,t believe we are going Thanks John from Burlington,Ontario,Canada

[franski]

John - Did you book with a travel agent?? I would think that they should be able to assist with your questions if you don't get a response here.

 

Sorry that I can't help - just looking into doing China... Not actually booked yet. Good luck with your "quest".

[Been There, Planning That]

John, we go to a local trave medicine clinic for advice for travelling to more exotic destinations. It's not covered under OHIP but well worth the extra cost. For our last trip to the Middle East all our shots were up to date so we just had our family doctor prescribe emergency prescriptions.

 

We're not loyal to any one agent except for cruising and tend to go to a local agency specializing in the place we wish to visit. The places are often scruffy in appearance but we sure get expert advice and planning.

[cwind]

Thanks for your reply,we have so many questions,don,t know where to start.I booked directly from Viking.Thanks again