zumaqueen

Neither Italy or Spain will accept my email address.Called O they said try a different one. So I tried two others.They didn't work either.Anyone have similar problem and how did you solve it.? Getting so frustrated.

Thanks. The ships do look amazing, thats what peaked my interest to look into cruising with them. I wouldn't say we are young, being in our 50's and all, but I am concerned about how sedate the evenings and sea days are going to be. When you say old, how old? (not trying to offend anyone...as I plan to get older too) I did read that there is a Rat Pack show as part of the entertainment, had to Google it, not sure we were born when those dudes were in vogue.[/qu

aboard the VO Sky. average age is 75. Bedtime right after the 9:15 show,

Which is usually over @10ish. Most onboard are well travelled, retired, interesting folks. The majority of the lectures are interesting, and the crew is very attentive and friendly, not stuffy. Ship beautiful, but a bit lacking in drawer space.dont bother with drink package unless you are wine experts. Soft drinks and wine and beer are included during lunch and dinner. Most drinks @ $7.00 US.

The ship hosted a great New Year Eve party last night, good music and plenty of champagne as midnight approached. Very enjoyable. Today they had a nice brunch.

We are doing this tour on the VSky in February and hoping for better tha you’ve received esp. MD and land tours. Are there any

Formal nights? How bad are the mesquitoes?

Thanks for your insights.

Thanks for the live updates. We are doing the .a

Amazon River trip in Feb. and eagerly await your input.

:cool:

Gnparend, you have a wonderful attitude!! I try to stay as positive as possible also when we travel. One of my biggest disappointments was getting to Mount Rushmore and it being fogged in. (we live on the east coast of Canada). But, we are going to try again in a couple of weeks so fingers are crossed..lol. We are going to China in October, any helpful hints to share?

If you can get to Bejing early, be brave,take your walking stick and visit the summer palace on your own.Young people will lead you to the subway and you can spend hours strolling around what are lovely gardens and pagodas.. Up hill are beautiful temples with beautiful views. Lovely, quiet place after a long plane ride.take some protein bars and avoid food at the Mongolian BBQ place(tasted good, but many of our group had adverse after effects). Be sure your camera is fully charged especially for the warriors..get to know your tour guide. This is an eye opening experience for us westerners, Enjoy.

Subway is very easy, but wait till after "rush hour" when it is very crowded. If you ever have questions we found the younger people eager to help and they speak excellent English. We used it to visit the Summer Palace gardens. You will have an amazing trip.

I haven't gotten through all the pages, but does anyone have an update on this? Thanks - leaving in less than two weeks!

We took the subway system, very easy to get there, it did take @one hour.

Steep hills to climb to the temples, but an easy walk around the lake. Young people speak good English and are helpful finding subway entrances.

Enjoy.

Hi everyone,

 

My husband and I are booked for April 15, 2016, Beijing to Shanghai. Thanks for all the great info.

 

Can anyone advise on how much (if any) free time you had in Xian? Either on arrival day - or the day after? Viking's itinerary says that after Terracotta Warriors, then lunch, we have a "free afternoon". Just wondering if this really means you had the entire afternoon free - or just a couple of hours? We'd really like to visit the Hanyangling Museum (near Xian airport) - and would like to know if we would have any free time to do this.

Do the traditional toilets have a railing to hang onto (like we have in tubs) to help with balance etc?

Sorry they don't exist. Best to stand In the long line for the ladies.

No you won't, I believe the center is farther inland away from people for max breeding. You will see pandas at the zoo. We thought the biggest attraction there tho were the adorable and beautifully dressed children ready to pose for photos. Enjoy.

Zumaqueen

The dam site has lovely views, there are interesting sculptures and murals and a small market. The school visit is quite short with the kids performing. Don't take stuff, if you wish you can make a cash donation. There is a huge difference between our schools and theirs! As a teacher you will be thankful for your stateside job. In Beijing we stayed at the Kerry and took the subway from there to the summer palace which is really a very large park with a lake, temples and shops. We appreciated our free time since this is a very active tour with lots of walking.

"free time" is a euphemism for shopping opportunity, or just sitting and having a cup of tea. Enjoy your visit.

We were on the CD in November and spent a nice afternoon at the "Summer Palace" gardens. Easy subway there from the Kerry Hotel (fantastic place). We were there a day early tho. If you are doing the Forbidden city etc. that AM, you may want to rest in the afternoon. Lots of walking.

If you are into needle arts there are beautifully done embroidery pictures in the silk city, and cute cheap stuff for grandkids--we got some watches for $1.50 My rule--if it can break, don't buy it. I'm tired to hand carrying. Very nice silk things and if you go to the hutong you'll visit a lady who paints inside little bottles. Don't pack too many clothes, most people didn't even change for dinner, except to put on different shoes. I wasn't going to shop either but did. This is a great, but tiring excursion.

Thanks Mark T! $300 sounds like a reasonable amount.

 

Also, we are considering the Silver Spirits drink pkg. $30 per day (vs. approx. $9-10 per drink) sounds like a fair deal knowing our "socializing habits" :). We have a $100 cabin credit which I'm planning on spending half on laundry so I can bring less clothes. Any suggestions on how to spend the other $50 on board?

there are 2 different shopping opportunities on each deck. they offer light weight smalls like tea, silk scarves, jewelry etc. That $50 credit will be used, trust me.

We have just finished our first river cruise on Viking, to be honest I went into this trip a little concerned (in my case particularly) if I could enjoy river cruising as against ocean cruising which we have always enjoyed. Anyway to cut a long story short my wife and I had a fantastic time, and we both can't wait to do it again.

The reason for this question is that the thing I love about cruising is unpacking and then the boat becomes your home for however long the trip is. We would like to go to China and do the Roof of the World cruise on Viking, my worry is that a lot of these days in China require internal flying, different hotels, and some river cruising, not sure how others have got on knowing you have to pack your case a few times to accomodate the hotel stays and flights, was this an inconvenience, or am I making too much of it? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Yes, it is an inconvenience, but if you pack what you need for your 2 hotel nights at the top of your case you don't really need to unpack at all. the hotel are fabulously roomy, have wi fi, good food and are in safe walking areas in the evening. Enjoy.

You will love the Kerry (the bathroom is spectacular) and enjoy the other two as well. Just returned from Cultural Delights Tour. Be sure to take extra camera battery and disk and very comfy walking shoes. This is a very active tour, so don't feel guilty if you take a day off of touring. Yes, you'll miss something, but there are more pagodas along the way.

So enjoying your posts. Thank you.

This is my final report on our time with Viking in China. Thank you for all of your kind remarks. I received so much information from this forum that I felt I needed to pay back. Today was our final full day. Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 5:30 AM for the airport to come back home. It has been a great trip. Today was a free day and we choose to take the subway to Disneyland Hong Kong. It was easy to find our way there. We spent about 7 hours riding rides and going to the shows. We were going to stay for the 7:30 Disney Paint the Night Parade but we figured most of the people would be trying to leave the park after the parade and we did not want to fight the crowd. Now we are trying to figure out how to get all the souvenirs in our luggage. Viking was great, hotels were wonderful, breakfast at the hotels were good but lunch and supper were just OK. Some things I would recommend: 1) If you decide to arrive a few days early to Beijing spend extra time seeing The Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. Lama Temple was OK but you will see lots of Buddas on your tours with Viking. Also, eat at Black Sesame Kitchen and Made in China.2) If you want something of silk made to fit you do it on the ship. You are not any where else long enough to have this done. 3) Weather wise this was a great time to come to China but don,t be in any of the big cities Oct. 1-7 for their National Week. 4) Bring an extra camera battery, hat and sunglasses. I had also brought many $1.00 bills but did not use them. I tipped in local money.

Thanks so much for your insights. We leave early November and are better prepared with your info.

Steve, just read through trip advisor reviews of both the Xian Hilton and the Crown Plaza. Both seem to have problems. Your input appreciated.

Thanks

Everyone should have a small notebook to record impressions of the day. (Don't call it a journal the kids will hate that). We looked back at those our children wrote 20 years ago in Jamaica--they were bored! except the day we did an interior train ride. Beautiful memories of wonderful family times.