Yangtze River question

[Karalk]

I get seasick on ocean cruises but was fine on the Viking European river cruise.

We have booked the Viking roof of the world trip which includes 6 days on the Yangtze river and I now hear that it can be pretty choppy!?

Is this true? We are going Sept 11th.

[TMLAalum]

We did a Yangtze cruise in April 2014 on a Chinese cruise line. No choppiness. We enjoyed the cruise which was part of a custom tour for 4 of us, but the food was not too appealing. We were so excited one lunch to see hamburgers on the menu- sadly they were limp ham sandwiches! After our tour/cruise it took me nearly 3 years before I'd eat Chinese food back home. hopefully Viking's menus will be much more palatable to western tastes.

[TravelerThom]

I experienced no choppiness on my Yangtze River trip. I’d be a lot more worried about altitude sickness flying to 12,000 feet without acclimation at intervening altitude levels. 

[deec]

Karalk,  please report about this cruise.  we will take roof of the World october 2020.  so will be interested in any information you pass on.

[mort&fran]

And we're taking Roof of the World in October of this year (2019), and so will also appreciate any info you provide. On any aspect of the cruise or land portion.

[Marjan1]

Just checked your trip map and you should be fine.    

 

Above the the three gorges dam up to Chongqing was calm when we were there 5 years ago.  We only boarded at Yichang so can’t comment on the section below that to Wuhan, but it is far up-river so should be OK.  

 

The Yangtze is very wide when enters the sea near Shanghai and that area can be subject to high winds and storms.  A tourist boat sank there a few years ago.  I would think that is the only section vulnerable to heavy weather conditions.  

[westcoastcruiser]

We experienced no choppiness when we did this river cruise.  The air pollution was memorable though as those living along the river, I am told, burn their garbage.  Still that river cruise combined with the land portion was very near perfect.  

[Peregrina651]

21 minutes ago, Marjan1 said:

The Yangtze is very wide when enters the sea near Shanghai and that area can be subject to high winds and storms.

 

Even when Viking was doing a 10 day cruise portion, it did not go this far down stream and there is no worry that the Emerald will encounter such extreme conditions.

 

OP you can expect the waters to be similar to what you have encounter on your European cruise. Still, we are talking weather and that never comes with a guarantee.

 

[Karalk]

Thanks everybody, you’ve put my mind at rest! I’ll report back on my return!

[jlparke5]

You said you are on The Roof of the World in October.  We are on The Roof of the World leaving Shanghai to Beijing on Oct 18th.  We actually arrive in Shanghai on Oct 16th for pre excursion.  Are you on this same trip?

[jlparke5]

Just now, jlparke5 said:

You said you are on The Roof of the World in October.  We are on The Roof of the World leaving Shanghai to Beijing on Oct 18th.  We actually arrive in Shanghai on Oct 16th for pre excursion.  Are you on this same trip?

We are having problems trying to figure out the wifi.  Some of the boards say we need a sim card or a chinese phone number to connect to wifi.  Have asked customer service and they don't seem to know.  If you have any information on this please let us know.  Also confusion about locks for suitcases while in china.  Some say make sure you have locks and others say they will just cut them off.

[odblnt]

No problems with WiFi in the hotels or on the boat. SIM cards would only be needed in a phone or tablet for connection to the cell network.

 

[Karalk]

Husband just found a very detailed blog about Roof of the World with Viking!

each day is listed on the right.

answered a LOT of questions!

http://myjournalofrandomthings.blogspot.com/2018/11/we-are-off-to-china.html

[Peregrina651]

WOW! Great blog. Good find!

 

Quoting from Mark's blog:  the company was enjoyable – we all raved about how Viking has everything organized and ready and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy

 

I really have to agree with Mark. Viking's China operation is, as far as I am concerned, the company's gold standard.

 

 

[suspaul]

14 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

WOW! Great blog. Good find!

 

Quoting from Mark's blog:  the company was enjoyable – we all raved about how Viking has everything organized and ready and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy

 

I really have to agree with Mark. Viking's China operation is, as far as I am concerned, the company's gold standard.

 

 

 

Agree with you Peregrina651, while we didn’t do Roof of the World, we did do imperial Jewels of China as our first trip with Viking, it was excellent and got us hooked.  As a result we’ve traveled with them 12 times since - which was 2011 and have both a river and ocean booked for 2020.

[dogs4fun]

On 8/13/2019 at 11:02 PM, westcoastcruiser said:

We experienced no choppiness when we did this river cruise.  The air pollution was memorable though as those living along the river, I am told, burn their garbage.  

Same here - we experienced no issues on the river  (quite calm) but definitely noticed the pollution. 

[jlparke5]

22 hours ago, Karalk said:

Husband just found a very detailed blog about Roof of the World with Viking!

each day is listed on the right.

answered a LOT of questions!

http://myjournalofrandomthings.blogspot.com/2018/11/we-are-off-to-china.html

 

22 hours ago, Karalk said:

Husband just found a very detailed blog about Roof of the World with Viking!

each day is listed on the right.

answered a LOT of questions!

http://myjournalofrandomthings.blogspot.com/2018/11/we-are-off-to-china.html

This was great!!  Thanks so much for forwarding!!