New Viking Oceans China escorted tours.

[Jim Avery]

Just emailed about these new tours from Viking.  Seems to be fully escorted and hit all the high spots.  Part of the China funding of a few years ago as the ship being used is the Viking Yi Dun.  I believe this is the original Viking Sun which was returned to China during the covid shutdown.  This ship is a fave of ours as we were onboard her for two world cruises.  And also interesting that the upcoming World Cruise has no China stops showing at all.

[SantaFe1]

This was our WC Ship too.  It will be interesting to see what transpires.

[SantaFe1]

Just got an email from Viking on this.  I watched the video and they identify the ship as the former Viking Sun.  Too bad we are booked out for 2024.  Hopefully they will extend these cruises into 2025 and beyond.  

[deec]

watched the video this morning too.  I thought when the Sun went to China much of the interior had been changed...I guess I had misinformation.  This 20 day tour looks great...our Yangze

River Cruise was a victim of Covid and I want to see the Terracotta Warriors

[Jim Avery]

I suspect dear old Viking Sun has more than a few modifications.  Also all Chinese crew.  Not saying it will be a bad experience, just different.🍸

[SantaFe1]

19 minutes ago, deec said:

I want to see the Terracotta Warriors

I saw some of them in Los Angeles (well, Santa Ana, at the Bowers museum) about a dozen years ago.  They were fabulous!

[SantaFe1]

9 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

I suspect dear old Viking Sun has more than a few modifications.  Also all Chinese crew.  Not saying it will be a bad experience, just different.🍸

We talked about this last night and decided to wait for the second round of cruises to see how people like this product.  They are quite inexpensive if they are indeed fully curated, that is, all excursions are included.  

[deec]

I am anxious to see interior of ship photos.

[Zippeedee]

They sent around an invitation to participate in a focus group discussing these new itineraries two weeks ago on the Star. Not personally excited about flying that long so I didn’t volunteer. Interested to see how they turn out.

[SJD117]

50 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

I saw some of them in Los Angeles (well, Santa Ana, at the Bowers museum) about a dozen years ago.  They were fabulous!

I saw the warriors on-site (in Xian) back in 1983. They were a highlight of my six weeks in China.

[Jim Avery]

On 12/15/2023 at 12:45 PM, deec said:

I am anxious to see interior of ship photos.

Brush up on your Mandarin Dee.

[Clay Clayton]

I find it interesting that there is no (or not that I can find) description of the land portions. Meals? Tours?

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

I find it interesting that there is no (or not that I can find) description of the land portions. Meals? Tours?

You eat what they tell you and you will like it!!!

[deec]

Jim....plus SSP won't be available on Land Portion :)!  I am so concerned about moving 900 passengers on/off ships and onto planes going to same place UNLESS they are chartering planes.  Unlike our Inaugural World Cruise I think Pat and I will wait and see how they will handle the logistics.  My mandarin is not good!  Maybe the River Cruise will be started again too.

[Mandalay1903]

We just booked the 15-day Classic China & Coast version + extension for October 2024 using the $25pp deposit promo. We were cancelled out of a China cruise on a different line in March 2020, so we are excited to get this opportunity. The itinerary looks a lot better than what we had originally booked back then. We'll keep an eye on the situation and see how the excursions look when they're released.  Logistics, too.  We have flexibility on this and our other bookings for next fall and we have a few months to finalize before any substantial payments are due.

[Reaniel]

 

On 12/15/2023 at 2:00 PM, Zippeedee said:

They sent around an invitation to participate in a focus group discussing these new itineraries two weeks ago on the Star. Not personally excited about flying that long so I didn’t volunteer. Interested to see how they turn out.

 

They had something like this on Saturn as well, but with the land portion so heavy on flying, it's a hard-no for us.

 

It would be REALLY interesting if they would restart the River itineraries and do some sort of River + Ocean combo like they do for Europe.

[Jim Avery]

Not going to happen with the tensions in the region.  Escorted or nothing.

[puffy]

It is very long flight with stopover, you are looking at min 19 hours flight time if you not fly from west coast .900 guest fly from all over state and maybe from other country. I don't think viking will use charter flight , it is not like expedition cruise .  We decide to book 10 days china classic on board to take advantage the benefits. Even with air deviation fee, the air cost 1399 is very good bargain. $50 deposit and no payment til May. We get $400 discount /pp plus $ 200 on board credit to use on our current cruise. 

[Peregrina651]

I figure that what Viking is doing is taking their river cruisetour and replacing the river portion with an ocean portion.  That means that they already have the land portion down pat and they are building on it.   

 

We did our first Viking cruise on the Yangtze and it has been our golden standard for management and organization ever since.  

Edited December 22, 2023 by Peregrina651

[deec]

but how will they have accommodations for 900 folks on the land portion or the flights? Everyone will arrive at once, unless they are going to divide the ship's passengers into separate groups.   Guess I will ask our cruise consultant next month!

[Mandalay1903]

18 minutes ago, deec said:

but how will they have accommodations for 900 folks on the land portion or the flights? Everyone will arrive at once, unless they are going to divide the ship's passengers into separate groups.   Guess I will ask our cruise consultant next month!

There are three flavors of this cruise: China Discovery (ocean cruise only), Classic China & the Coast (ocean cruise preceded or followed by Xian & Beijing) and Wonders of China (ocean cruise preceded by Beijing and followed by Lhasa, Xian & Beijing). The ship departs on weekly sailings between Shanghai and Hong Kong (Shenzhen) every Saturday.

 

All three flavors of the cruise are resident on each weekly sailing. So, every week there will be a combination of guests who are only onboard for the ocean-only itinerary plus guests onboard for the itineraries with land portions and possibly pre- or post-cruise extensions. I am sure that Viking will limit the guest counts for the Classic China & the Coast and the Wonders of China itineraries (with the land portions) and the pre- or post-cruise extensions based on hotel, train and [charter] plane capacities. The remainder of the 900 folks on the ship will not have the land features and will transfer from or to the local airports.

[Reaniel]

That makes much more sense logistically speaking.  Still a pretty hefty undertaking, but probably much easier than moving 900 people to the same places at the same time.

[Peregrina651]

2 minutes ago, Mandalay1903 said:

All three flavors of the cruise are resident on each weekly sailing.

 

THANK YOU!!! That is exactly what I was sitting down to write -- and you have said it so much better than I was doing, too. N.B., the 20 day cruise is only being offered on those sailings departing from Shanghai -- so southbound 3 flavors, northbound only 2.

 

If they are simply repeating the old routines from the river days, then the land portions will be fully escorted and include all meals. Breakfast in the hotels was a huge buffet. Lunches were usually family style Chinese cuisine served on huge lazy-suzans. No trouble getting vegetarian.  Dinners were either buffet or family-style -- with no ability to predict in advance what it would be.

 

2 minutes ago, Reaniel said:

That makes much more sense logistically speaking.  Still a pretty hefty undertaking, but probably much easier than moving 900 people to the same places at the same time.

 

Prior to Covid, the China river cruises did almost exactly what is being proposed here. The river ships turned around every five days. There were at least two sailings in country most days -- the pax on the ship, the pax who just disembarked and then almost simultaneously the pax about to dismbark and this does not include folks doing pre- and post-cruise extensions..To a certain extent, this will be easier because a new group arrives every 10 days. To a certain extent, it won't be because there will be so many people.

 

However, the Viking staff in China is amazingly well trained and the hardest working I have ever seen.They dragged us around China by day and organized the next day by evening. It was rare that two buses were ever at the same venue at the same time; that takes preparation.

 

However, we don't know what the Viking staff did during Covid and no idea how quickly they will be back in rhythm again.

 

 

10 hours ago, puffy said:

It is very long flight with stopover, you are looking at min 19 hours flight time if you not fly from west coast .

 

There are very few flight plans for North American pax that don't involve some sort of connection to get to China. Flights out of Chicago fly a polar route and some pax on the east coast may fly east bound.

[Mandalay1903]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you for your additional insights and comments @Peregrina651. You were GREAT in commenting earlier this year on the 2023 Viking Pharaohs & Pyramids river cruise we completed last month--you really helped. I'm glad to see you chiming in here as well!

[Jim Avery]

Right you are Mike.  From what I can gather from other sources is that Viking has a marketing function but the operation is being run by agents of the CCP.  On the Inaugural WC we had several days in China including three in Shanghai. Cruising the South China Sea we had a Royal Navy Ret. officer speak to China's ambitions in the region and elsewhere.  He had satellite images of before and after locations in the South China Sea including the Spratley Islands and other disputed areas.  It was shocking to see images of sandbars on small reefs that have been transformed into full military bases with long runways and deepwater ports.  All created by blasting reefs and dredging deepwater to create the landfill.  No environmental protests there.  We live in rapidly changing times.