Viking China (Part 2)

[rahrah50]

Just an FYI...Made in China has two time slots for dinners. 5:30 to 6:30 and 8:30 to 9:30. The Peking duck dinner needs to be preordered so be sure to contact them ahead of time.

[MrsTiggywinkle]

Thanks rahrah50 for the info about ordering the duck in advance.

 

Couple of questions (naturally)...

 

can you give me a guesstimate on the cost of a Peking Duck dinner for 2 at Made in China?

 

do you recommend making reservations thru our hotel (Ritz Carlton Financial Street) concierge or thru Made in China's own web site?

[rahrah50]

Hi MsTiggywinkle,

 

I made our reservations online at the Made in China website. They were very responsive to the emails and that was who told me we needed to preorder if we wanted the Peking Duck dinner. I don't know the cost.

[rahrah50]

I just found a picture of the menu online. It is from 2009 and the Peking duck is 238 renminbi which I believe is about $40.

[spruce1984]

My partner and I are booked on the Roof of the World tour next June and I would like to thank everyone here for all the wonderful information. It was very helpful in deciding to book this tour since we have never done a river cruise before.

 

We already booked our flights ourselves since we wanted direct flights and were able to get bulkhead seats.

 

I do have a few questions I am hoping someone can help out with. We booked our travel insurance through Viking (which I will not do again after reading some posts about this) and discovered that our airfare is not covered since it was not booked with Viking. Is it worthwhile getting insurance coverage for our flights so flight delays or lost luggage will be covered.

 

Also, we will be arriving in Beijing two days early and would like to book our hotel reservations at the same hotel where we will be staying with Viking. How soon does Viking make the hotel assignments? I believe we will also need this information for our visas.

 

Finally, how far ahead can you book a reservation at Black Sesame Kitchen? We would like to dine there the Wednesday before our tour begins.

 

Thanks.

[rahrah50]

Since I had a group of 10 I contacted BSK in May. The response was I could make reservations in July. Just email them. They are very responsive and helpful.

[id4elizabeth]

Regarding BSK - we are only a party of two. I had started trying to make reservations for our trip in October back three months ago, and have only now finally been successful. Since we are only two people, they do not open for only two people, which makes sense. So, we had to wait until someone else also requested reservations. They WILL open with only 4 people. In the meantime you have to hope nobody reserves the whole restaurant for the date you want. We had two possible dates, and one of those dates just got booked by someone who booked the whole place, but a party of 6 booked the other possible date, so we got confirmation a few days ago that our reservations were confirmed. It's never too early to start, but be aware that you may not actually get a confirmation until later if you are only a party of 2. I can see why rahrah50 got his reservation right away as he was a party of 10.

[Peregrina651]

 

Is it worthwhile getting insurance coverage for our flights so flight delays or lost luggage will be covered.

 

 

 

IMHO, get the insurance on your flights unless you can afford to lose the $3000+ should your trip get canceled. That it also covers delays and baggage is a bonus. Just read the fine print to make sure under what circumstances you can cancel and still be covered. .

[id4elizabeth]

If you used a credit card for your flights, the flight delays and lost baggage MIGHT be covered by the credit card. You'd have check with your credit card company to find out. For the flights themselves, SOME airlines will let you change your tickets to another destination and date for a "change fee" (about $300), in case you have to cancel your trip, but not cash back. You'd have to check with your airlines. We don't usually cover our airfare as we will no doubt go somewhere else within a year. The lost bags and travel interruption are covered by our Amex.

[MrsTiggywinkle]

Hi all,

 

We are 18 days out from our departure for the Imperial Jewels of China...should we be getting a final information package from Viking right about now? Had hoped to see it sooner rather than later...guess I'm just anxious to get going!!!

[rahrah50]

Hi Mrs Tiggywinkle,

 

I think we are on the same trip!!!!

[MrsTiggywinkle]

rahrah50

 

We are on the Imperial Jewels of China (Beijing to Shanghai) which goes from Oct 1 to Oct 12. Is that the trip you are on?

[rahrah50]

Yes we are on the same trip!!!!

[MrsTiggywinkle]

Hi rahrah50,

 

So is your group of 10 eating at BSK on Wednesday, October 2nd? That is when we have our reservation.

 

What hotel are you staying in? We are at the Ritz Carlton Financial Street.

[rahrah50]

We are also staying at the Ritz Carlton Financial Street hotel and our reservation at BSK on October 2nd. Small world....

[MrsTiggywinkle]

Hi rahrah50,

 

Yes it is a small world. :) We are departing the Seattle area on the evening of the 29th which gives us Oct 1st in Beijing to recover. That is the evening I have reservations for a very early dinner at Made in China.

 

Have you received any final departure package from Viking yet?

[rahrah50]

No we have not received our travel documents yet. I sure wish they would send the info out a little earlier. Our group of 10 will also be leaving the 29th and have the extra day in Beijing. I hope to go shopping for silk fabric that day.

[molymoo]

My partner and I are booked on the Roof of the World tour next June and I would like to thank everyone here for all the wonderful information. It was very helpful in deciding to book this tour since we have never done a river cruise before.

 

We already booked our flights ourselves since we wanted direct flights and were able to get bulkhead seats.

 

I do have a few questions I am hoping someone can help out with. We booked our travel insurance through Viking (which I will not do again after reading some posts about this) and discovered that our airfare is not covered since it was not booked with Viking. Is it worthwhile getting insurance coverage for our flights so flight delays or lost luggage will be covered.

 

Also, we will be arriving in Beijing two days early and would like to book our hotel reservations at the same hotel where we will be staying with Viking. How soon does Viking make the hotel assignments? I believe we will also need this information for our visas.

 

Finally, how far ahead can you book a reservation at Black Sesame Kitchen? We would like to dine there the Wednesday before our tour begins.

 

Thanks.

 

Just read your post and ???'s Spruce but did the Roof of the World trip this summer and may have some helpful information.

 

Can't help on the insurance question ... we have let Viking book everything for us so haven't had to make that decision but unless the cost is prohibitive it might be worth your while.

 

On the hotel question ... we discovered on our trip that Viking tends to book people in specific hotels in accordance with the China itinerary they were participating in. For example we were on the Shanghai to Beijing itinerary for our Roof trip. Our tour escort informed us that the Roof of the World groups were "always" booked in the Fairmont Peace Hotel (awesome by the way!), the Imperial Jewels group were in the Pudong Shangri-La and the Cultural Delights group were in another. I imagine that they do the same on the Beijing end ... we were in the Fairmont Beijing but I would give them a call and ask. We have always found the representatives to be friendly and helpful.

 

Have an awesome trip ... it was an experience of a lifetime!:D

[Peregrina651]

It is a gorgeous full moon tonight. I hope someone gets a picture of it over the Yangtze and posts it here!

[juliesaddiction]

This is the MId Autumn Holiday in China, it started on the 19th and centers around the full moon. Big Holiday there, everyone out and about.

 

JUst returned last night from our trip and it was excellent. Will do a review soon, just have to wrap my mind around everything we saw and did. If you get Terry as your tour escort you are going to be so happy..best guide in my opinion :)

 

I did get a great moon pic over the Yangtze but it wasnt full yet when we were on the river.

[dianeholly]

Greetings!

 

I've been lurking on this thread, reading every post in anticipation of my China river cruise in 3 weeks. My husband and I are actually traveling with Avalon Waterways (Magical China & The Yangtze), but I've found very little about it on CC boards--so I wanted to pop in here just to thank all of you for the VALUABLE advice and insights on this Viking thread.

 

We've been on many ocean cruises, but this is our first river cruise, and our first trip to Asia. We're' so excited and I've learned so much--especially from Peregrina651, Turtles06, caribill-- really ALL of you have been a huge help.

 

My itinerary sounds exactly like the Viking trip. We'll be on the ship Century Paragon, and staying at China World in Beijing, Golden Flower in Xian and either Fairmont Peace or the Langham in Shanghai.

 

And thanks to all of you, we're ready!

 

-Diane

[seanf]

... staying at China World in Beijing

Hope you have a fantastic time. China World is a wonderful hotel. I particularly enjoyed the large number of freshly squeezed juices in the breakfast buffet - try the honey melon one it was delicious!

 

Sean :)

[Turtles06]

Greetings!

 

I've been lurking on this thread, reading every post in anticipation of my China river cruise in 3 weeks. My husband and I are actually traveling with Avalon Waterways (Magical China & The Yangtze), but I've found very little about it on CC boards--so I wanted to pop in here just to thank all of you for the VALUABLE advice and insights on this Viking thread.

 

We've been on many ocean cruises, but this is our first river cruise, and our first trip to Asia. We're' so excited and I've learned so much--especially from Peregrina651, Turtles06, caribill-- really ALL of you have been a huge help.

 

My itinerary sounds exactly like the Viking trip. We'll be on the ship Century Paragon, and staying at China World in Beijing, Golden Flower in Xian and either Fairmont Peace or the Langham in Shanghai.

 

And thanks to all of you, we're ready!

 

-Diane

 

Diane -- I hope you have an awesome trip; come back and tell us your thoughts!

 

(And thanks so much for the kinds words.)

[Peregrina651]

China World has a huge shopping mall with an ice skating rink. It is two levels below the lobby. Very international and full of Name brands. The China World complex is a convention center. The buffet was amazingly good. Best food of the whole trip.

 

Bon Voyage, diane!

[rahrah50]

A week from now our group of 10 will be on our way to Beijing. I am hopeful Viking will rise to the occasion in China as we have had some issues. I realize Viking doesn't run the visa company but two of the people received their passports and visa's on Friday despite sending them in the last week of July. (One of the gals paid for overnight shipping on Thursday so she would not have to wait any longer) Our travel documents arrived on Thursday. Nine days before we leave. One of our group is coming from Michigan and we requested flights that would have us all meet in San Francisco and of course she is flying from Chicago to Beijing by herself. She is upset and frightened. (We did pay for custom air) I am the one who put this together and now I am feeling like I made a mistake.....