Help needed for Yangtze Cruise with escorted land

[ew1111]

Planning escorted trip for October 2007 and want it to include Beijingm, Shanghai, Xian Hong Kong and Yangtze Cruise. Any suggestions? There is so much out there on the internet that I am getting dizzy. Anyone deal with Ritz tours or ChinaPlus travel? Any help appreciated. Thanks. :o

[Spikesgirl]

Have you checked with Viking? They do a Yangtze cruise and include all the cities that you listed.

 

 

Charlie

[ew1111]

Thanks Charlie I will look into Viking. Have you ever taken this trip. Also wondering if going to Guilin is a highlight. Looking at one tour that does not go there and have read mixed reviews on line about the Reed Caves . Would love to hear from folks that have been. Thanks.

[greatam]

dup post

[greatam]

Hi,

 

I have taken the Yangtze cruise twice. The first time I booked through China Highlights. http://www.chinahighlights.com/

 

They provided very good service. All done by email and fax. Everything went off without a hitch. Their driver picked me up at the airport in Chongqing, took us to the zoo and a short tour of town (had to see the GIANT Wal Mart, right across from the zoo), then for a pre-board night on the ship. I chose Regal cruises as they were one of the few that went to Wuhan. Most stop in Yichang and you are bussed to Wuhan.

 

The cruise was very good. The cabins were pretty small I thought, but they offered an upgrade to a suite upon boarding. I think the upgrade was $600.00 (it was $900.00 difference if you booked the suite initially). The extra space was worth it for me. The food was pretty good-even the 'western' food. The captain's cocktail party was a hoot-the Captain didn't speak much English and everyone was trying to talk to him. The ship pax were primarily Westerners. I had a fantastic time.

 

The second time I booked directly with Victoria out of NYC. The ship was more upscale, but because it was more "cruise ship" like, I thought something was lost in the "upscaleness". It just didn't seem as friendly and happy nor as close to the actual China as the Regal cruises. I also HATED the bus ride to Wuhan.

 

China Highlights also took care of my trip to Chengdu for pandas in the wild and Lhasa. I did the research, told them what I wanted to see and where I wanted to stay, and they booked it and provided logistics support. No problems at all. They took care of everything except the bill. I was very pleased. They also have "tours" which I was not interested in. I did Beijing, Shanghai and Xian on my own.

 

If I can help further, please post.

[ew1111]

Thanks Greatam. I will look into China Hightlights and Regal Cruise. What time of year did you go? I'm planning on October as that seems to be fairly temperate weather. When you saw the Pandas was that at the research center or Zoo? Any chance of "getting real close" to them. Would love it. Thanks for all your advice. Appreciate it .

[greatam]

Thanks Greatam. I will look into China Hightlights and Regal Cruise. What time of year did you go? I'm planning on October as that seems to be fairly temperate weather. When you saw the Pandas was that at the research center or Zoo? Any chance of "getting real close" to them. Would love it. Thanks for all your advice. Appreciate it .

 

The first trip to China-October-for the same reason as you

 

I have since been back to China three times-February was DARN cold in Beijing last year. But I go to China mostly to get to Vietnam/Cambodia for business.

 

I went to the research/breeding center in Chengdu. Very close-got to hold one of the babies. I also went into the Highlands to Wolong for 2 days and actually saw one in the wild. I also saw panda at the Chengdu and Chongqing zoo. Here is a whole list of panda tours. I picked out what I wanted, then had China Highlights book everything. http://www.chinagiantpanda.com/.

 

I spent a lot of time looking at pandas and cruising the Yangtze. The pandas are almost extinct and the first time I went on the Yangtze, they had not finished the dam, so the water level had not started to rise. The second time, they had closed off the dam and had risen the water to stage one. Some of the stuff I saw the first time was gone the second time.

 

The Terra Cotta Warriors, the Forbidden Palace, Great Wall, etc. will be there for another 1000 years-the pandas and the Yangtze in its present state will not. In Beijing, the only thing I positively know that will be gone is most of the Hutongs (old time neighborhoods). The Chinese are demolishing them to put on a "better face" for the Olympics in 2008. And be prepared for pollution in most of China. It is worse in Beijing than it was in 1970's LA (I was born and raised in Los Angeles). Enjoy!!!

[BCHappyGal]

Dear Greatam

 

I am planning a trip to China in spring 2008. Have looked at booking thru Viking River Cruises as they do a 9 day Yantze River cruise that takes us almost to Shanghai and include tours of Beijing, the Great Wall, Xian and the Terracotta Figures and the Yangtze River and Shanghai.

 

However all of my other trips I have planned myself as we prefer to tour in a small group of max 10 people. Should I go with Viking and be a "Sheep" or be independant and do this on my own???

 

Any and all advice will be appreciated.

 

Did you use private guides or can you speak the language?

 

What are costs like for good hotels, guides, transportation etc.

[greatam]

Dear Greatam

 

I am planning a trip to China in spring 2008. Have looked at booking thru Viking River Cruises as they do a 9 day Yantze River cruise that takes us almost to Shanghai and include tours of Beijing, the Great Wall, Xian and the Terracotta Figures and the Yangtze River and Shanghai.

 

However all of my other trips I have planned myself as we prefer to tour in a small group of max 10 people. Should I go with Viking and be a "Sheep" or be independant and do this on my own???

 

Any and all advice will be appreciated.

 

Did you use private guides or can you speak the language?

 

What are costs like for good hotels, guides, transportation etc.

 

 

First trip to China-October 2005

 

Planned the trip totally myself. Then I had China Highlights book things that either needed permits (LLhasa), special logistics (travel to the Panda Reserve in Wolong), or the Yangtze cruise (Regal cruises will not book direct and through a US travel agent, the price was about 1/2 more than booking through China Highlights.)

 

I booked almost all hotels through AsiaRooms.com. It was kind of confusing at first because some hotels require a copy of your credit card FAXED to China, some pre pay the reservation and some only guarantee a room. It all worked out really well and I have continued to use AsiaRooms for my travels to the Orient (business). The Sheraton in Chengdu I booked on Starwood points through Starwood and the NanHai in Shenzhen I booked off their website.

 

When in Beijing, I have stayed at the Beijing Hotel. AsiaRooms has a package-3 nights, meet and greet and transfer FROM the airport, breakfast every day-$700.00 (about) in an Executive room (with small french balcony overlooking the main drag) in the main bldg. The hotel is in an ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT location. Please see my post in the "hotels in Beijing and Bangkok" thread. It is walking distance to Tiannamen Sq and Forbidden City.

 

I wanted to go to the Great Wall. The concierge in the hotel had the standard "package" tours available. No, I wanted to hire just a driver and wander around up there. NO tour guide needed-I bought the Lonely Planet China guide. The concierge didn't or couldn't arrange it. The hotel has their own cars but it was really more of a language problem than anything, I believe.

 

So I walked outside, asked the valet parking guy (who spoke pretty good English) if he had a friend who could drive me to the Great Wall. He did-$75.00 for the entire day-I could have the car and driver take me anyplace I wanted from 8-5. Next morning, my driver was there. He didn't speak much English (and I speak NO Chinese), but through the valet parking guy, we communicated that I wanted to go to the Great Wall, then drive around Beijing, go to the Hutongs and any other interesting things they could think of. I am SOOOO glad I did this.

 

When I originally planned the trip, little did I know that the day I arrived (October 4) was the start of the largest Chinese holiday. The Great Wall was PACKED. Tour buses were lined up to get to the parking lot 10 deep. The driver zipped around the buses and got me to the entrance at least an hour before all the buses. I stayed up on the Wall about 3 hours-just kind of wandering around, climbing around, being out of breath (I smoke and the stairs are VERY steep in some places) but I had a ball.

 

Then we went back into Beijing. The driver took me to a Hutong that is not very touristy and arranged a pedicab ride around the Hutong ($7.00 for two). He also took me to a regular Chinese supermarket, as well as the "street" market. We drove around the industrial area (I had requested this-my business is logistics, shipping and international trade). Then back to Tiannamen Sq where I requested he drop us off. We walked back to the hotel and ate at the Outback Steakhouse. I was "chinese fooded" out and wanted a steak.

 

Be prepared for "squat" toilets in the Orient. ALWAYS take toilet paper, Kleenex, or wet wipes. There usually is no toilet paper unless in very westernized establishments. Think about wearing long, wrap type skirts instead of pants. The few squat toilets I encountered would have been really nasty if I would have had to drop my pants on the ground.

 

I booked all internal China airline tickets (Beijing to Chongqing for Yangtze cruise, Wuhan to Chengdu for the pandas, Chengdu to Shenzhen to get to Vietnam) from a Chinese travel agent in Oklahoma City of all places. Anyplace you have a large Chinese population (like Vancouver) there will be Chinese travel agents who can get you a pretty good deal on plane tickets. I had China Highlights pick me up at the Chongqing and Chengdu airports and take me to the various hotels I had booked. In Shenzhen, I booked a package with airport transport included.

 

It really depends on how much time you want to spend researching hotels, making the arrangements for tours, etc., and making sure everything coordinates with everything else. I do global logistics planning for a living so it was pretty easy for me, but may be very difficult for others. If you don't feel totally comfortable coordinating everything in a country where you don't speak the language, you could use an agency like China Highlights for the internal China touring and make your own arrangements for hotels and to/from the USA/Canada.

 

Hope this information has been helpful. Feel free to ask any other questions and I will try to answer. BTW, the nonstop flight out of YVR to HKG on Cathay is one of the BEST Asia flights going. Cathay's Asia pass is a great bargain.

[jack_and_ann]

We are leaving four weeks from today on a escorted tour including a Yangtze cruise. We are going with Grand Circle Travel (http://www.gct.com). It is a three week trip with stays in Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guilin and Hong Kong. We have taken 6 other trips with them to various parts of he world. Although they re an American company, they use all local program directors (guides). They hold their program directors to very high standards and put much emphasis on understanding the local culture and people. They cater to an older clientelle, with most of the people over 60, so their pacing is a little more relaxed than some other companies, although this trip seems pretty busy. They also sue the Regal cruise line. We traveled in Russia for two weeks on a sister ship of the regal ships. (They were built in East Germany.) The cabins are small but not too small and there was ample common space. We will post an update when we return.

 

Jack and Ann

[slotl]

We did a lot of research about traveling thru China (and experiencing Western comforts). We decided on the 9 day-Viking tour described above.

 

Then we said: "why would we go all that way to China for a 9 day tour?" so we looked into cruises to the Orient. We chose the 16 day Pacific Princess from Beijing to Bangkok.

 

Then we noticed Princess had a 9 day pre-cruise tour (CTI - China Travel International was the "host"), it included all transfers, airfare, first class hotels, etc. It even included transfers to the ship. This was the way to go. We, too, were unsure about "independent" travel thru China, but this experience was seamless and the trip was "first-rate". There were 39 people who signed up for this pre-cruise tour and we had ready-made friends when we boarded the ship.

 

Princess also offered other pre-cruise tours which included Xian (Terra Cotta warriors) but did NOT include the Yangzee River cruise. It is your choice, but the Yangzee River cruise, in my opinion, is a DON'T MISS opportunity. The river will be totally flooded in 2010. Don't loose the opportunity to see the building, growth, and changes to the area.

 

Hope this helps!!

[ajilimojil]

We also went to China with Grand Circle and loved the experience. Actually, this was our first trip with them (having never used group tours before) and were so satisfied with their services that we have gone with them 3 more times and are planning a 4th trip to Viet Nam with them this fall.

(Also, our Egypt cruise/tour last fall with them was excellent)

 

We are leaving four weeks from today on a escorted tour including a Yangtze cruise. We are going with Grand Circle Travel (http://www.gct.com). It is a three week trip with stays in Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guilin and Hong Kong. We have taken 6 other trips with them to various parts of he world. Although they re an American company, they use all local program directors (guides). They hold their program directors to very high standards and put much emphasis on understanding the local culture and people. They cater to an older clientelle, with most of the people over 60, so their pacing is a little more relaxed than some other companies, although this trip seems pretty busy. They also sue the Regal cruise line. We traveled in Russia for two weeks on a sister ship of the regal ships. (They were built in East Germany.) The cabins are small but not too small and there was ample common space. We will post an update when we return.

 

Jack and Ann

[BCHappyGal]

Thanks for all the help.

Greatam it is encouraging to know that it is possible to do this on my own. I have planned all of our past trips myself with privagte tours to view all of the attractions we wanted to see. But I was thinking in China I would have to go with a group tour.

 

Unfortunately i would prefer to do the Viking River Cruise so that we can be on the Yangtze River all the way from Choingqin to Shanghai but they will not sell just the cruise portion - I see that Victoria cruises is now offering a 9 night trip down the Yangtze so will look into that.

 

Has anyone sailed with Victoria Cruises?

[greatam]

 

Has anyone sailed with Victoria Cruises?

 

Yes, I posted in my first post in this thread. The experience (not particularly the ship) was more upscale than Regal. It just seemed to loose some of the "Chinese-ness". Very nice ship, etc., just not the same "feeling" as Regal. Could be because it is an American owned company and most on the ship were Americans. The Regal had a lot of Europeans and Australians.

 

The Victoria schedule all the way to Shanghai is very limited-only about one trip per month. From what I understand, the river is kind of "boring" from Wuhan to Shanghai-just a river. You have already passed the spectacular scenery once you get to Wuhan.

 

Intra China plane tickets are easy to get in the US or in China (although for my piece of mind, I have tickets in hand before I hit Chinese dirt).

 

You may want to investigate taking the Regal cruise to Wuhan and then fly to Shanghai. You also should investigate AA flights FROM the USA to Shanghai. AA opened up the new route to Shanghai last year and there have been some SPECTACULAR bargains-$650.00pp total RT from the USA is just one example. So you could do something like USA/Shanghai, fly to Beijing, fly to Chonqing to board the cruise, then fly Wuhan to Shanghai, and fly home.

 

I have flown from the Wuhan airport twice. Once to Shenzhen and once to Beijing. Kind of like flying in the 80's-uncrowded, short lines, nice people.

 

Enjoy!!!!

[ROCruiser]

We did the Victoria Cruise, but only from Wuhan to Chongqing. We enjoyed that trip very much and would love to go back for a longer cruise from Shanghai to Chongqing.

[slotl]

We were on the Princess 9 day Pre-Cruise tour. Our escort was from CIT (China International Tours - I think) and our River Cruise was on one of the Victoria boats. We were a group of 39 people.

 

What we found on the river boats were "other" groups of folks. One group had done a marathon run on the Great Wall, another group was from Road Scholars, there were also some Oriental tour groups as well.

 

The accommodations were small but adequate and clean. The balcony was very nice. There is a small "souviner shop" in the lobby by the Purser's Desk and another area which had a Chinese gentleman creating hand made jewelry.

 

Most of the meals were buffet style. The food was excellent with mixes of Chinese delicacy and "Western" food. The servers were very friendly and the overall service was excellent.

 

There were daily stops and tours at interesting locations sailing down the Yangzee. We also went thru the 5 locks of the 3 Gorges Dam.

 

Overall, Victoria did a great job. I will never forget the boarding process where you needed to carry your luggage over pontoons, or "hire" someone to walk the luggage across for you. It was in the dark and it was really an experience you will NEVER forget. Loads of laughs watching others try to hop across.