Thinking of China-Need Help

[Peregrina651]

My friend who went said the cruise part was not to be missed because of the scenery but I also see the point of not extending the cruise into the less scenic areas.

 

I must admit that I thought the lower river was fascinating and I am very glad that we took the time to see it. For those who are looking for cultural and history, there was plenty to be had on the lower river. The cities all started to look alike after a while and now that the Gorges have been flooded, I regret not having gotten there sooner. The Gorges were beautiful but filled me with sadness.

 

Has anyone done the Viking Top of the World Tour that includes Tibet?

From what I'm reading, each of their tours contains the basic sights we want to see and the scenic gorge part of the cruise. Now to choose from the rest while my knee gets better.

 

 

You are right. Roof of the World is Imperial Jewels plus the side trip to Tibet. The Tibet portion isn't popular enough to fill a whole ship so they have designed it to mesh with Jewels. That way they can offer it frequently during the year.

[Barrheadlass]

Peregrina, I've just whiled away quite a bit of the evening reading your travelpod blog on China...it was terrific...also enjoyed your trip to Montreal.

We spent a long weekend in Quebec City shortly after you were in Montreal and enjoyed that too.

[Peregrina651]

Peregrina, I've just whiled away quite a bit of the evening reading your travelpod blog on China...it was terrific...also enjoyed your trip to Montreal.

We spent a long weekend in Quebec City shortly after you were in Montreal and enjoyed that too.

 

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now maybe I should finish some of the other blogs I started. :rolleyes:

[rcoty2012]

With personal knowledge of the local realities...

Straight answers:

 

 

1) Are all the boats chartered or is there any company who owns and operates their own boats?

 

 

In fact Viking is the only foreign company in China with its own (leased from local partner company, due to Chinese laws) vessel. Viking operates the ship for the season's time (check dates of cruises on their website) and then the ship is used by the owner-company for local passengers in winter time (I read one review describing cruising with Viking in China in December - impossible - the Viking logo stays on the ship in winter, so they were mislead by this). On Victoria ships cabins are shared by passengers from various companies at the same time and it's usually 80% local Chinese tourists to 20% foreign ones. This gives Viking maximum possible control over the ship. All passengers are Viking passengers. All announcements you hear on the ship are only in English language.

 

Hi everyone,

 

2) With the land portions, how difficult is it to keep moving from place to place? Are there a lot of buses? Does the staff handle the logistics well?

 

 

During land portion before and after the ship buses are arranged to bring you to and from every excursion, as the site are often located far from the hotels. You don't need to worry about anything here.

 

Hi everyone,

 

3) I read somewhere that the owners of the ships will not permit any US voltage adapters to be plugged in. My DH has a Bi-pap machine. Will he be able to use it on the boat?

 

 

For any electric appliances you can get adapters or converters from the Front Desk free of charge for the whole cruise. Bi-pap machine are sometimes brought by passengers - no problem for that.

 

Hi everyone,

 

4) Will we be able to enjoy meals without rice and lots of salty sauces on the ship and on the land portion of the package?

 

 

If asked to pick up one thing to make Viking different from other competitors on the Yangtze, I would say it's the food. Viking employs great foreign chefs and meals are just great. On Victoria ships you are served Chinese food for all meals (it's not, that it's bad, but some diversity is nice).

Highly unlikely any other vessel on the Yangtze can serve you choice of fish/meat/vegetarian dish every meal.

 

Hi everyone,

 

5) Are the meals on the land portions planned? I hate having to find my own food in places where I don't speak the language. I don't mind paying for them, but I'd want recommendations from the staff at least.

 

 

Just like about transportation - all meals are taken care of by the company. You never need to worry about it.

 

Hi everyone,

 

6) Finally and most important: What time of the year is best to go. Don't want extreme heat and I can't really take the cold. Looking for temps between 60 and 85 in the day time.

 

 

April-May and September-October

 

Hope you'll find it helpful. Will be happy to answer any questions.

[at_nyc]

First post...

With personal knowledge of the local realities...

 

April-May and September-October

April is mansoon season...

[rcoty2012]

First post...

 

 

 

April is mansoon season...

 

mOnsoons can hardly affect RIVER cruises deep in land part of China. After 7 years of life here I can not complain about bad weather in April. If you look at the price charts of river cruises in China - spring and autumn are high seasons. One of the reasons for that is favorable weather conditions - not too cold, not too hot. Water in the Yangtze is not muddy. In summer it'll be extremely hot - at time over 40 centigrade, with almost 100% humidity. Silt will turn the Yangtze in brown stream full of trash washed to river by rains.

[franski]

rcoty2012 -

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic - and thanks for taking the time to post in!!

 

What about travelling end of March?

 

Fran

[travelfirst]

rcoty2012 -

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic - and thanks for taking the time to post in!!

 

What about travelling end of March?

 

Fran

 

I went on the Viking Imperial Jewels of China on April 6, 2010. It was a great time to go as it wasn't too hot. It was just nice for walking around.

I wouldn't want to be there in the summer.

[balanceok]

We just returned from a 21-day trip to China and Bali with the Fun for Less Tour Company. A portion of our time in China included a 5-day cruise on the Yangtzee on the Century Sun ship. Though I might share my thoughts of this adventure.

 

First of all, this was our 22nd cruise and our first river cruise. For those of you expecting a cruise experience similar to what you've experienced on HAL, Princess, RCI, etc, forget it. This is more of an adventure cruise and not your typical cruise experience. We expected this, but still hoped for better.

 

The service is fine, the accommodations are fine and the food is very, very poor. These judgements are relative to our experiences on other cruises, so they should be taken in this context. My biggest disappointment was the food. Our cabin was on Deck 3 all the way aft. We were several decks above the engine room, but often it seemed like we were on a jeep trail and there were deisel fumes in port. The ship was sold out, so there was nothing that coule be done. And the cooling system on the ship must be water based which in this humid environment makes everything wet. Your clothes are damp, the sheets are damp. Everything is damp. All the time.

 

But more importantly, if we had to do it over again, we would have skipped the cruise all together and spent that money and those days exploring other cities in China. The scenery on the river is interesting. The dam is interesting and the impact of everything is more a story of Chinese social change and economic progress that one of beauty. No one should compare cruising the Yangtzee to the Inward Passage. The physical and natural beauty is just not there. It is all about Chinese history and change. And in my opinion, you can get that by watching a good documentary.

 

Don't get me wrong, there is great beauty in China and the trip was absolutely unforgettable. But knowing what I know now, I would have preferred more time in Xi'an, Guilin, Hong Kong and Beijing and would have gladly given up those days on the cruise. Obviously, this is hindsight and I'm glad I've at least witnessed the Yangtzee River. Note that the best day was a day trip cruise up the Lesser Gorges. This is the most beautiful part of the river and the remaining 3 gorges are disappointing at best.

 

If you take this cruise, see it as part of an adventure. And enjoy China. It is a beautiful country full of beautiful and fascinating sights and people. And if you want an unforgettable cruise in China, go to Guilin and cruise the Li River. Now this is a beautiful river and our day there was unforgettable. The beauty here does rival the Inward Passage.

[Kellie Poodle]

Thanks. River cruising is very different from ocean liners. We are taking a celebrity cruise that will.give us time near Beijing and accommodate for sh medical needs

 

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2

[beverlyjack]

We traveled with Grand Circle's China & the Yangtze and everything that pjtraveler said about Uniworld also appllies to Grand Circle and probably others, except that there was no problem with using voltage converters on the ship and, even in Hong Kong, all meals were provided. Some people ate independently out of choice, but there was no need to. I did a blog on the trip that would probably apply to other operators. It is http://jackthetravelingman-china.blogspot.com

[franski]

Just wondering about the weather in June for travelling in China.

 

Doing some research - and time may be a challenge for some of the family members. First option was mid-March (ie: start around March 15th) - which may be a bit cool for Beijing, but nice for the Yangzte and Shanghai.

 

Now, Mid-june is being discussed. I am concerned about the heat, as I am worried that this is getting into summer weather.

 

Can someone comment?

 

Thanks so much.

 

Fran

[ras619]

Fran:

 

I too have been investigating the China itinerary. We are June-July travelers, but after the study thus far it appears to me that the optimum time for China is May & if into June make it very very early June. The temps in Beijing are in high 80's and 90's today with this coming Sunday being 100F. Shanghai appears around 10 degrees cooler, but stays pretty warm also. Based on this I am trying to figure a way we can adjust schedules - had enough 100+ temps at home last year & near that already this year.

[beverlyjack]

We were there in early April, and it was very hot then. The latitude range is Philadelphia to Havana. You are best to avoid China from June through September, unless you like it very warm.

[balanceok]

We were there late May and early June. It was very warm and humid, but I think we got lucky as it is normally much warmer. Weather was actually decent in Beijing.

 

Air pollution may be a big factor for some. We rarely saw blue sky in any portion of China. They like to call it mist and some of it may be natural inversion, but it is clearly a pollution problem.

[Terpnut]

duplicate post

[Terpnut]

Just wondering about the weather in June for travelling in China.

 

Doing some research - and time may be a challenge for some of the family members. First option was mid-March (ie: start around March 15th) - which may be a bit cool for Beijing, but nice for the Yangzte and Shanghai.

 

Now, Mid-june is being discussed. I am concerned about the heat, as I am worried that this is getting into summer weather.

 

Can someone comment?

 

Thanks so much.

 

Fran

Just returned from our trip (June 17-July 3rd), and our trip was exceedingly hot and humid the entire trip without a break. Mid to upper 90's (close to 100), and very high humidity the entire time--no matter whether it was Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, Yichang, Shanghai, Hangzhou or Yangzhou.

...

Air pollution may be a big factor for some. We rarely saw blue sky in any portion of China. They like to call it mist and some of it may be natural inversion, but it is clearly a pollution problem.

I agree that air quality was terrible too. Code purple or maroon (by US EPA AQI standards) in Beijing and Shanghai on most days. So if you don't want to be exposed to the equivalent of second hand cigarette smoke in a crowded restaurant, diligently follow the Beijing U.S. Embassy and Shanghai consulate AQI feeds, and wear your air masks as needed! In addition, most photos will have a hazy quality, not because your camera lens is dirty but because the air is so bad you can SEE it.

 

In general, whenever possible, avoid visiting China in the summer months.

[Donray]

Thank you! I really appreciate your information. Much more helpful than "cheerleaders" if you understand where I am coming from.

 

I don't begrudge "cheerleaders" and truly understand their loyalty, it's just that I wanted deeper information and you provided it.

 

Most people that get to take a China river cruse do it once, therefore I think you will find that few if any have experience multiple cruise lines.

I think it is insulting to refer to cheerleaders because they liked the only China cruse the will likely ever take.

[Kellie Poodle]

Most people that get to take a China river cruse do it once, therefore I think you will find that few if any have experience multiple cruise lines.

 

I think it is insulting to refer to cheerleaders because they liked the only China cruse the will likely ever take.

 

 

Thank you so much for your first and only post to this idle thread,. I can't help but wonder why you waited so long to chastise me:confused:

 

:)

[Donray]

Thank you so much for your first and only post to this idle thread,. I can't help but wonder why you waited so long to chastise me:confused:

 

:)

 

Because you needed it. And I don't think a thread is idle when someone has not posted for 12 hours or so.

[momilani]

I totally agree with comment #5 (a little late to the party here...)

 

Our China trip with Viking was stellar from start to finish - accommodations, guide, itinerary, even travel companions were all top notch. I recommend Viking without hesitation!

[momilani]

Having read the whole thread now, I can add:

 

If walking is an issue, you may run into difficulty with the Forbidden City/Tianamen portion (a bit of a 'long march') and the Great Wall. Depending on the river, it's a bit of a haul down to the boat in Cheonching (sp?)

 

We had a passenger with celiac in our group and the guide bent over backward to assure their dietary needs were met

 

If there are names to be called, 'cheerleader' ain't bad. I call things as I see them - for good or ill. I have noted on these boards that people with only big cruise ship experiences tend to find river cruising a disappointment . I don't . I enjoy both in different ways. To me, the biggest similarity is that your hotel goes with...which is why I cruise at all.

 

I choose to celebrate the differences and enjoy it all.

 

Bon voyage!

[Kellie Poodle]

Having read the whole thread now, I can add:

 

If walking is an issue, you may run into difficulty with the Forbidden City/Tianamen portion (a bit of a 'long march') and the Great Wall. Depending on the river, it's a bit of a haul down to the boat in Cheonching (sp?)

 

 

 

I think I have solved our problem but we won't be able to sail on a river boat in China.

 

We love river cruising and will continue to do so, but not for China.

 

We've booked passage on a Celebrity ship for April 2014. The ship puts in to a port about 2 hours from Beijing and will be there 3 days. We will arrange a private tour guide who will pick us up at the ship each day and hire a wheel chair and wheel chair pusher, if possible, in the City.

 

We will go to the Great Wall, the square and the Forbidden City. Anything else that can be fit in will be a bonus.

 

At least DH will be able to have two meals per day that we don't have to worry about on the ship. He can manage a lite lunch or snack while we sightsee.

 

I would have much preferred to do a river cruise, but we can't jeopardize his health and it would be so disappointing if he could not see the sights because of his mobility issues.

 

I am a little amazed that some people were put out by the term "cheerleader" but I was looking for specific answers and was getting "I like XYZ line" and not the answers. That was my reference to "cheerleaders".