recyclelady

Mtlycew1: thank you so much for your details! I forwarded the whole thing along to my husband (who never reads CC, but will love this!)

One question: This is of concern to me as a female. How often did you encounter the non-Western toilets? I am not skilled at the whole-in-the-ground models!

Some dual voltage curling irons require positioning a switch to the proper voltage. Your friend may have had one of that kind and did not move the switch.

Interesting point.

I had a dual voltage hair dryer and a dual voltage curler in Italy last summer. The hair dryer requires flipping the switch between voltages and the curler does not. They both worked fine with just the adapter for the plug. I hope this is the case for China.....I'm lost without my curler!

what kind of furniture is on the balconies of the Emerald?

As noted in the previous responses, you will be able to charge your electronics (cell phones, cameras, NOOK, Kindle etc.) in your hotel room and on the ship without an adapter and/or converter. If anyone is traveling with a curling iron, however, you will need a converter. Hair dryers were provided in all of our rooms.

I have a travel curling iron that works on both voltages. I'm assuming I still would not need a converter.

I wanted to do this also because we wanted to fly American, but our TA said she was very hesitant to schedule this flight because if there is a problem with the airlines and/or the flight itself and you have to spend time in Tokoyo, one must have a visa for that country also and so we decided to go with her choice of flights direct to Beijing and direct back from Hong Kong......but I still like your idea of getting out and walking around.......

We'll hope I haven't jinxed us! I guess I would have to camp out in the Tokoyo airport!:o

Yes, you know that I (and probably Peregrina) think you are crazy. :)

 

But at least it's only on the return....:)

 

Have a great trip!

I knew you would think I am crazy...probably with good reason.

I definitely did not want to mess with the flight GOING there. I want both my luggage and the two of us to get there with the least amount of stress.

I guess I am less worried about the return trip. Again....I'll probably think of both you and Peregrina when i am hanging out in the Tokyo airport waiting for my return connection!!

We booked our flights.

Going from Chicago to Shanghai (Nov. 2) we are on a mid-morning non-stop on American Airlines.

Now this is where you are all going to say I am crazy!!! :

We booked a flight (Nov. 23) out of Hong Kong via American Airlines (operated by Japan airlines) that goes to Tokyo. Then, 3 hours later we take a flight via American Airlines from Tokyo to Chicago.

Besides being crazy, :oI did this for two reasons.

1. Somehow, getting off an airline on the return flight and walking around the airport appealed to me.

2. This combination of flights all had the 2-5-2 seating arrangement, so my husband and I could be by ourselves on a side.

I could have gotten nonstop home for the same price, but I decided I would prefer this. I might shoot myself later!!

I had asked on this board about some of the custom air options. I was in the process of trying to figure it out with my TA last week. I started to look at the dates of our return--the Monday before Thanksgiving. It occurred to me that we could do the 4-day Hong Kong extension and only miss another 2 days of work (since we both have Thanksgiving and the Friday after that off)

So--I had my TA add the extension! Now we need to talk again and see what our options are for November 2 (Chicago to Shanghai) and November 23 (Hong Kong to Chicago)

Exciting...but I am spending way too much time on Orbitz and Expedia trying to see what all the options are!

By the way, when we first thought we would be flying home after the China Cultural Delights from Beijing, I gave a few ideas to our TA. She said that Viking would not mix and match airlines. (i.e. could not take American there and United back) That did not surprise me.

But what did surprise me was that if we did American nonstop roundtrip there would be no other cost involved. To fly United nonstop roundtrip would be an additional $140 per person. Makes no sense to me.:confused:

We have booked the - 12-day Imperial China (Shanghai to Beijing) for next April, 2013.... This will be our "pre-cruise" for our Diamond Princess transpacific from Beijing to Vancouver. We had originally had an 8-day land tour with Princess to the Terra Cotta Warriors, Great Wall & Panda Bears..but discovered this 12 day river/land cruise would coordinate with the ocean cruise. What a great idea for us!! We picked up 4 extra days and the price was hardly any different. We were very pleased to see that the dates would coordinate together!!! We also wanted to cruise on Viking and have read some great things on these threads. We had previously taken a European River Cruise on Uniworld and enjoyed it alot.

 

We are really looking forward to sailing this new ship where every room has a balcony.... Can't wait to experience China this way.

 

Will look forward to reading everyones comments about their experiences.

 

Cheers,

Carol

Wow! I'm jealous . This sounds terrific.

Thank you so much to all of you for your insight into the flight situation. I'll report back to let you know what I got in the end.

Caribill and Turtles:

You are both right! Getting aisle seats across from each other is probably the way to go. We often fly SW Airlines in the states and this is what we always do.

Thank you too for setting me straight on the nonstop VS the one-stop/connecting flight. I think I will definitely now try for the nonstop (if Viking will let me and not make me pay above and beyond the custom fee)

I'm trying to familiarize myself with the flight schedule before my TA and I work on custom air with Viking. I've been looking at the return flights from Beijing to Chicago on Nov. 19 (Monday).

There is a nonstop that day on American--leaves at 6:55 am. I don't think so!!

I've been looking at a few flights with one connection in North America. Actually getting off a flight and having a little time to walk around doesn't seem half bad (as opposed to the nonstop)

I've also been looking at the seat configurations. I really don't like the 3-3-3 seating when there are just two of us travelling. It usually means that one of us gets stuck in a middle seat.

I was looking at both Air China and Hainan Air. Both have the 2-4-2 configuration in the cabin and the times look OK. Has anyone had experience with either? Will Viking consider these for custom air? Do I have too much time on my hands this morning?:D

Thank you to everyone who has given me advice on the timing of our flights in and out of Shanghai/Bejing. My travel agent and I will work on this in early February (for our November trip). I'm encouraged to hear that some have gotten the nonstop Chicago-Shanghai flights at a cost no more than the custom air add-on.

I'll post back in February and let you know what we settled on.

Thanks, Turtles, for the reply.

I agree that nonstops would be wonderful. What time should I be shooting for getting into Shanghai (am, pm, etc) and what time should I look to leave Bejing at the end. I seem to remember some people saying that their flights returning were too early.

I plan to go through my travel agent soon (she had suggested February) to set up our flights for our November Cultural Delights trip. I don't plan on spending any more than the amount set by Viking, but I do plan on spending the additional $50 pp for custom. I have a feeling that I will not get the non-stop flight from Chicago to Shanghai without shelling out a lot of extra $$. So I am at peace with this and will accept a connecting flight, if necessary!

So my questions are kind of basic:

1. What time of day should I try to be getting into Shanghai at?

2. What time of day should I plan to leave Bejing on the return flight?

I think that I should be OK, if I know these times.

Thanks all!

It is a long time until we are on our China trip. But I like to obsess early!

We are going to most likely take the $50 pp charge for custom air. We will be flying out of Chicago for Shanghai for the November 3 Cutural Delights itninerary.

Will we be flying out on November 1 or 2? I'm going through a travel agent, but I like to know what our options are.

Many of the nonstop flights appear to be pretty expensive. Will they allow us to pick one of those or are we restricted to only a few (we don't want to pay anything additional beyond the given Viking price).

Thank you to all of you who have "been there/done that"!

just my 2 cents...

I like large print, but not as large as the original! Good compromise on the newer font:p

So, I notice that several people know what their hotels will be. We are booked for the Cultural Delights Nov.3, 2012 cruise. When or how will I learn these details?

rick steve's "europe through the back door", 2009. Includes a card to be copied or cut out to put in your wallet.

 

It states in 5 languages, "dear thief, sorry this contains so little money." "consider changing your profession."

lol!

I've posted some of my photos from our recent (October) Imperial Jewels trip from Shanghai to Beijing here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/china_oct_2011

 

Feel free to take a peek. There's no sign-in required (i.e., no emails coming your way!!) and once you pull up the gallery, you can either run a slideshow, just look at the little thumbnails, or double click on any photo that you'd like to see full-sized. I recommend the slide show!

 

I have to admit that before I went on this trip, I was a little afraid I wouldn't get great photos due to smog/fog spoiling pictures, and possibly limited time in each place to take good pictures. However, I'm very happy with my photos. China is such a colorful place, and while we didn't have a lot of the free time I love so much on normal river cruises, we DID have time to take great photos on the trip and still not hold anyone up!

YES! I could not view the photos from my office (they block all kinds of sites) but I finally had a chance to look at each and everyone of them this morning. Wonderful pictures. I really appreciate that you took the time to add a caption to each photo. And it is fun to see the Emerald in a shot that is NOT the stock photo on the Viking site.

I have almost exactly one year to wait now. I think it will be worth the wait!:D

I've posted some of my photos from our recent (October) Imperial Jewels trip from Shanghai to Beijing here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/china_oct_2011

 

Feel free to take a peek. There's no sign-in required (i.e., no emails coming your way!!) and once you pull up the gallery, you can either run a slideshow, just look at the little thumbnails, or double click on any photo that you'd like to see full-sized. I recommend the slide show!

 

I have to admit that before I went on this trip, I was a little afraid I wouldn't get great photos due to smog/fog spoiling pictures, and possibly limited time in each place to take good pictures. However, I'm very happy with my photos. China is such a colorful place, and while we didn't have a lot of the free time I love so much on normal river cruises, we DID have time to take great photos on the trip and still not hold anyone up!

ARRG....this is the problem with trying to look at these at work:(. The site is blocked at my office!

I'll tune in tonight from home and check out your photos!

We used Peat Taylor two years ago and plan to use him again this February. DRF is a must but my favorite was the river tubing. We were on the Liberty also and my grown children say that was their favorite excursion of the entire cruise.

Well it is true that sometimes there are connectivity problems for all users on the Ship occasionally, the problems in the Emerald's free computer room were worse.

 

It was very frustrating because you would normally expect that all computers would work or not work at the same time. That was not the case.

 

One computer would work and one next to it would not work. Never the same all the time. Folks would be happy surfing the internet and you might be stuck in front of the one machine not working. I do not recall seeing all of the machines operating well at the same time.

 

The instructions to sign on and sign off were very unclear. I think the problems stem from improperly signing on and off. No doubt an occasional reboot was probably needed.

 

Considering that number of employees on ship... it would be nice if a staff member could check in at the computer room occasionally to get a stalled machine going again.

 

Perhaps the computers should use the same technology as Hotels to sign on ( but of course be free). Moral of the story is to take your own Tablet.

 

Thanks

I'm unclear about the internet access on the Emerald.

If I DO take my own netbook, can I access the internet? From my room or a common location? Still free?

Does anyone else think it is really cool that Viking monitors these boards!!

In fairness to Westin, it's possible there was a notice about the charge when I agreed to their terms. However, I didn't read everything there, as the terms I read before i other hotels dealt mainly with the whole "you may be monitored or may not have access to all sites" thing that you have in China. Also, it's possible our tour escort mentioned there was free wifi in the lobby - not sure. In any case, I was only glad that my husband just happened to check the bill, or charge something to the bill, and discovered the charge the first day we were in Beijing. At least I then knew about it and went downstairs the next day to use my netbook!

 

I'm now back in the U.S., after the long flight from Beijing. Boy, I've found a new record for number of times being scanned, wanded, photographed, and "carry-on checked!" I didn't think I'd ever get on the plane in Beijing! I had to take my camera out as well as the netbook, and everyone was photographed twice at two security checkpoints. Then when we were on the jetway, ALL carryons had to be checked - although they did not go through every inch of every bag. They had 10 people doing inspections! It then took a very long time to get luggage in SFO - so very, very much luggage coming off of that big plane!

 

I feel so stupid - back in May I made my car, hotel and Southwest Airlines reservations for returning from SFO to Baltimore, since we wanted to spend a night in SF to break up the long travel time from Beijing to Baltimore. Back then, I didn't realize that we'd be going back in time, and made all reservations for tomorrow instead of today! What a dumbo I was! Fortunately, Southwest doesn't charge to make changes, and Hertz and the Hayes Valley Inn in SF were great about changing the reservations without charge. There's only one flight with empty seats, and it's an early one, so we're good to go.

 

China was great, but I have to admit, I'm happy to be back in a country which allows a lot more freedom. The crowds, cameras, security personnel, and traffic jams were really eye-openers to me!

But unless I am mistaken, although Southwest does not have change fees, they will charge you the difference in price for your flight (which most of the time is much higher at the last minute.)