Gate 1 China including Yangtze River Cruise--review

[Pasadena_Pollywog]

I think it will be cold when I go (Nov 20-30th), so I plan on packing items that can be layered. Good idea on the detergent! I think I will bring some as well.

 

Did you have issues getting a non-smoking room? I put in the request, but am not sure if it will be honored.

 

Also, what is there to do on the boat?

[cabinluvn]

I never saw signs on rooms that stated they were non smoking. It is a high percentage of smokers population. Hotel hallways and elevators smelled like smoke. We never had an issue with rank smelling rooms except for Beijing, where is smelled strange. I don't know if it was from the smog that was heavy in the city or something they used to cover up the smoke. I am very sensitive to cigarette smoke and was not bothered other than in the hallways, etc. I know we were in a smoking room in one of the hotels had a cigarette burn in one of the chairs.

 

 

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[Pasadena_Pollywog]

Joan, Do you know if there are any special vaccinations that are required?

[cabinluvn]

You can go on cdc.gov and get the recommendations for travel to China. They recommend typhoid(only the pill is available), hepatitis A, and flu shot. We got all those, but some fellow travelers did not get any vaccinations. We felt it was better to be safe from illness that could affect you for the rest of your life. We also took along antibiotics for traveler's diarrhea, but did not need them. We followed the pepto protocol(google it) and prevented problems that occur when you are first introduced to unfamiliar foods. Without the pepto we both would have had problems. My husband did have one day where he had to miss the tour in Tibet because of intestinal problems, but it only lasted one day and he was not running a fever so he did not start the antibiotics. There were some fellow travelers that had difficulty and missed more than one day. I would not want to be on a bus with no facilities and have diarrhea. The stops were few and the public bathrooms were generally nasty. No way could I have used a squatty potty if I was having problems. I got generic pepto at Walmart and it was a cheap and effective way to handle what could have been a big problem.

 

 

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[Pasadena_Pollywog]

Oh no, the review I wrote got deleted before I was able to finish it and submit it. :(

 

Just a brief recap then:

 

I just got back from the November trip to China. Loved it. It was everything you said and more. I bought the cruise DVD (200 yuan) and small souvenirs.

 

I also bought a freshwater pearl ring from the pearl factory they took us to. Love it. I thought about getting the silk rug at the silk shop as well, but decided not to for now. Maybe one day I will go back to China. I wouldn't count it out!

 

The tour guides were wonderful. The Gate 1 Service was really very good. I would recommend it to anyone.

 

I would also recommend the Chinese Acrobatic Show and Dinner. It cost me $29 USD, and that show was phenomenal. The value package would easily cost $100 in the US.

 

I made a ton of friends on the trip. We exchanged email addresses and hope to stay in touch!

[cabinluvn]

Glad you loved your trip! I look forward to a longer review...I want to relive my wonderful trip through you! Welcome home!

 

 

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[CupKayke]

After changing our minds a couple of times :o we are now booked to leave on an 11-day trip with Gate 1 to China which includes a 4-day upstream river cruise with Victoria Cruises. We leave in ~4 months.

 

I do have a question or two if anyone wants to answer...

 

Is ice is readily available on the cruise ship and if so, is it filtered?

What about in the restaurants or hotels?

 

Did anyone fly on Air China LAX to Beijing and back for the main long-haul flight?? We took the basic air and I can't help but think it's going to be a looooong flight. Does China Air have seatback entertainment monitors? Not knowing how we will be seating is terrible for me. We usually get to pick our seats and we pay the small upgrade fee for "Economy Comfort" or something along those lines so I get a window & he's next to me in an aisle seat. When I looked at flyertalk.com it showed Air China has a 3-3 configuration on their flights.... which guarantees me an middle seat for 13 hours. Eh.

[june1]

I can answer some of your questions as I went on the same trip in March. Air China was fine. We had individual seat back monitors with very nice mapping and movies, etc. Plane was quite new. Food was fair and Chinese. I sat with friends and had the aisle seat. Plane was full although it showed lots of available seats even the day before. I can't remember about ice.

 

The dinners served all Chinese food, Coke, Sprite, beer, water, cold but no ice. Food was fine and lots and lots of it. No dessert except maybe watermelon. Everyone raved about the watermelon, but I couldn't wait for chocolate when I returned home. We brought snacks such as peanut butter crackers, cereal bars, trail mix, nuts, and ate it all.

 

Our guide, Stone, was fabulous. He was organized, fun, respectful.

 

We did not know of the optional excursions from the boat until we boarded it at 10 pm and were really too tired to join the one the following day but those who did were really pleased. I can't remember the name of it but you went to lovely gardens and saw monkeys. Be sure to add on the Three Gorges excursions in one on the Yangtze. Peking duck dinner was okay. Fengdu interesting.

 

All in all it was a great trip. Highlights for me were the Great Wall, river cruise, rickshaw ride in Hutong, Old Shanghai and gardens there.

 

No one in our group of 38 got sick, hotels were very nice, food so-so. Good breakfasts.

 

I got Hepatitis A, already had had DPT, no typhoid as going in cooler weather. Took pepcid pills as recommended by others on this board.

 

You will have a great time.

[cabinluvn]

Ice is unfiltered and not drinkable for tourists. Beverages are served cold, so no need for ice. Drink only bottled water. Gate 1 provides all the water you need, including bottles to take back to your hotel room. Excursions on the cruise are great. Nothing to do on the ship if you don't take them. It is a great trip...one of a lifetime!

 

 

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[boulders]

What are the demographics of a gate 1 trip? I'm a 50 something mom with a 9 year old. I might bring my 19 year old too. Are there any younger people on the trips?

[Floridiana]

In my research of this particular trip I have read some differing reports about getting off at the port during the day. One said that you could not go off on your own to explore the port city/town without a guide and another report said you could. If anyone has first hand experiences with this, I would be interested to find out which is accurate.

 

You are talking about ports along the Yangtze River?

 

We have just come back from a Yangtze River cruise with China Focus. Our group only had 8 people and no permanent guide.

 

There were 5 opportunities for shore excursions. Each time, the ship provided an English speaking guide who picked us up on the ship. Three excursions were included, 2 were extra and we did just one of the extras.

 

Two excursions were walking tours right of the ship. If you did not want to listen to your guide, you could easily walk on your own - in the crowd of 200 other passengers from your ship. Please let your guide know. There was also plenty of free time included.

 

One excursion was by boat into an impressive side canyon. You need to stick with your group on the small boat, but you can walk without the guide farther back into the gorge.

 

One excursion was by bus to the dam and the locks. For security reasons, you need to stay with your group until you have reached the site where the guide gave us some free time before she met us again for explanations and to return to the bus. Excursion 5, which we did not do, was a bus trip to a temple with 300 steps if I remember correctly and probably had a similar arrangement as the tour to the dam.

[Floridiana]

Of course, I don't know what the guides expect that are assigned to you during the entire length of your trip throughout China. None of the 4 small western groups from 4 different countries had a permanent babysitter on our ship. ;)

[june1]

We have been on two Gate1 trips. In April 2013 we did the 19 day Eastern Europe beginning in Warsaw, a seven day river cruise, ending in Berlin. Great tour. Most everyone was 50s and 60s. The March 2014 China ages were from lately 30s to 70s but everyone was in good physical shape. There were lots of stairs in China.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

 

Keith

[CupKayke]

I can answer some of your questions as I went on the same trip in March. Air China was fine. We had individual seat back monitors with very nice mapping and movies, etc. Plane was quite new. Food was fair and Chinese. I sat with friends and had the aisle seat. Plane was full although it showed lots of available seats even the day before. I can't remember about ice.

 

The dinners served all Chinese food, Coke, Sprite, beer, water, cold but no ice. Food was fine and lots and lots of it. No dessert except maybe watermelon. Everyone raved about the watermelon, but I couldn't wait for chocolate when I returned home. We brought snacks such as peanut butter crackers, cereal bars, trail mix, nuts, and ate it all.

 

Our guide, Stone, was fabulous. He was organized, fun, respectful.

 

We did not know of the optional excursions from the boat until we boarded it at 10 pm and were really too tired to join the one the following day but those who did were really pleased. I can't remember the name of it but you went to lovely gardens and saw monkeys. Be sure to add on the Three Gorges excursions in one on the Yangtze. Peking duck dinner was okay. Fengdu interesting.

 

All in all it was a great trip. Highlights for me were the Great Wall, river cruise, rickshaw ride in Hutong, Old Shanghai and gardens there.

 

No one in our group of 38 got sick, hotels were very nice, food so-so. Good breakfasts.

 

I got Hepatitis A, already had had DPT, no typhoid as going in cooler weather. Took pepcid pills as recommended by others on this board.

 

You will have a great time.

 

Excellent Information! Thank you!