Asia choices for July 2006?

[Bruin Steve]

Pat,

I E-mailed you per your request...

But, for everyone else, basically, I got my best confirmation from my TA who called Princess directly...They are doing back to back to back Bangkok to Beijing to Bangkok to Beijing 16 nighters June/July 2006...just as they are doing them this year...

 

The Princess website has not yet been updated...it shows cruises only until the ship is sent over to P&O Australia...and the P&O Australia website only shows the Pacific Princess scheduled there through April 2006...

 

Bookings for Summer 2006 should be available after June 13...

[NDRB]

<<I've heard that Viking River Cruises and Victoria Cruises (i think they are called) that do river cruises up and down the Yangtze River in China are not the greatest. I just came back from an excellent land tour of China. They have so many options, one included a 5 day river boat tour. Anyhow, we were thinking of possibly going back to China to do that tour, but one of the couples on our tour had already done the river cruise previously about 2.5 years ago and they said they hated it. The accomodations were horrible. It was dirty and the bathrooms were to be avoided at all cost. she said she wouldn't recommend it at all. She felt that it was 1 star accomodations.>>

 

We spent 8 days on the Yangtse on the Victoria Rose last July with Uniworld tours, and I think the above opinion of the river cruise is a little harsh. However, if you are expecting such accommodations and food as you would find on a traditional cruise line, you will be VERY disappointed. The rooms and bathroom were certainly clean enough (can't say the same for most onshore toilets!!), even if the shower arrangement is a little odd (no shower stall- you just pull a curtain around you and whole floor gets wet!). The beds were good enough and the rooms all had nice picture windows.

 

The food was plentiful (though on the greasy side, as is most food there) and decent enough, but forget about traditional American desserts- fruit (lots of watermelon) is about it.

 

The fumes in the game/gathering room on the back of the ship were a bit too intense for me- the exercise room is minute and very hot. But, the shows and seminars put on by the ship were quite good, and the included land tours were generally excellent.

 

The Yangtse is utterly filthy and often very disgusting (we saw several dead pigs floating by- at least they weren't baby girls, as has been the horrible case in the past!).

 

You have to realize this is China and not expect everything to be as it is in the U.S.! Go with the flow and not expect much and just be grateful to have the chance to experience such a fascinating country!

 

Just hope the intense heat (in July) and all that greasy food won't eventually take its tool on you as it did with 11 out of our Uniworld group of 18! My mother and I were horribly ill the day we had to leave Xi'an and fly to Beijing- they almost wouldn't let my mother on the plane, as she passed out cold in the Xi'an airport! Plastic bags became a very valuable commodity amongst our group (yuck!)- our poor Chinese tour guide said that he heard another tour group of largely British people was faring much the same as we unfortunate Americans were...

 

Seeing China definitely was one of the most worthwhile trips we've taken, despite getting so sick at the end. I would highly recommend it and the especially the river cruise and the towns and Dam along the way. (The U.S. did look so fabulous upon our return, though- it makes you appreciate all that we are so lucky to have here!)

 

Nina

[zoomom]

All I can say about this was WOW! My husband and I were on the July 10 sailing of the Pacific Princess and we were very impressed. It was our first cruise, but we are experienced world travelers. We felt that cruise was wonderful, but even better was the treatment on the cruisetour portion. Our last land tour was with Abercrombie and Kent in Egypt, and we wondered how this would measure up. It was every bit as good as A&K. In fact, we saw A&K tours at the same spots we were. The hotel in Beijing was first class (Beijing Hotel) and the hotel in Xian was nice (Sheraton) although not to the level of the Beijing Hotel. From our vantage point, Xian hotels did not appear to be as sophisticated as Beijing. As for the food, we hoped we would lose weight after the tour while on the landtour portion. Alas, that was not to be. There were evening banquets most nights, and the lunches were great too. I was surprised at how good the food was, given the logistics of traveling from one sight to another. It is a bit of a whirlwind.

 

I'd be happy to answer any additional questions you might have regarding our recent experience.