Renaissance Tianjin Hotel

[Smiles3usa]

Will someone who travelled on Princess and embarked at Xingang (for Beijing)please share with us your check-in procedures? It seems our group is getting conflicting information from our TAs--and ultimately Princess. I have heard everyone must check-in at the hotel, as well as, the hotel check-in is just for folks not staying in Beijing pre-cruise. Both things seem a bit far fetched to me. What I'd like to know is whether Princess actually had 3200 folks go to a hotel in Tiajin to check in and then proceed to the pier in Xingang to board the ship? Did everyone have to call the Princess "handler" in Beijin to schedule when to arrive at the hotel? To say this is a bit confusing is an understatement.

 

Thanks for any help!

[stingraynz]

Hi I hope I can help you. First thing we were on Princess' cruise tour post cruise in Beijing.

 

Beijing to Tianjin was about 120KM drive, if I can remember about 2 hours. Many people (like our tour guide) commute to Beijing From Tianjin and he said it was a 3 hour train ride. I hope that gives a good idea about the distance.

 

Before we left, there was a lot of fellow cruisers posting on CC their disapointment in Princess having everyone check in at the Renaissance hotel. I can honestly give kudos to princess for doing so.

 

Tianjin which is the second largest port after Shanghai, the city appeared fairly modern.

 

The check-in was one of smoothest I have been through - having nothing to do with the cruisetour.

 

The hotel was nice and the check in was done in a huge ballroom. We did not even have to use platinum check in because there were so many check in lines available. We arrived about 3pm - 4pm so if you are not on the cruisetour you will know when the buses descend - but I would not be worried about it as I said above, there are tons of lines.

 

If you are going by taxi - just make your taxi wait. However, if the line up happens to be large when you arrive let the taxi go and have the doorman call you a new one.

 

The port is a huge industrial port and has no facilities to check in. When I saw it I was really thankful to Princess that they had arranged the Renaissance. I mean it - out front of the princess ship was just the few security

 

The port where the ship is docked vs. the hotel is just down the street but a taxi ride - not a walk. The taxi are unbelievably affordable so enjoy you check in and the cruise.

[Dorinda]

Hi kids! Remember us? Thanks for the info. We'll be boarding the Diamond in a couple of weeks. Wish we were cruising together again!

 

Cheers,

Dee and John

[Rodt]

We cannot share the experience of stingraynz:

 

We have been on Diamond Princess embarking at the Renaissance Hotel Tianjin on 23 October 2005 having arranged our own transfer from Beijing to the port of Xingang/Tianjin. In September we received an email from Princess:

 

"[...] Passengers who have purchased a Princess Cruisetour, Cruise Plus® hotel stay or Transfer in Beijing, will be transferred to this location to complete cruise check-in and then transferred to the port to embark

Diamond Princess.

Passengers who have made independent arrangements for transfers to the port should arrange for their transportation to make a brief stop at the following location to check-in before continuing to Xingang port. [..., following the address of the Renaissance Hotel Tianjin]"

 

So everybody had to check in at this hotel respectively at the Conference Center which is connected to the hotel. Two days before embarkation we contacted the Princess Ground Handler by phone as adviced in the email. We only were told to check-in at the Renaissance Hotel. We do not know, for what reason I had to call the Handler?!!

 

After we passed the entrance hall of the Conference Center we got to the check-in (located in the ballroom) were we got our cruise cards. Then we proceeded back to an seperated area (blocked with chairs and security staff) of the entrance hall. There we were told that we cannot take our own transfer to the port, but have to take the (free) shuttle bus from Princess.

 

First nobody was interested in the fact that we had arranged own transfer, that the driver of our van was waiting for over an hour at this time outside the center and that we had paid for this "brief stop" (see email above) an extra amount of US$. We also were not able to leave this blocked area to say our driver that we do not need him anymore.

After discussing with Princess staff and other passengers who had the same problem, we were told we would be "in Transit" now, because we do not have our passports, which we had given to Princess staff at check-in. We were not allowed to leave this area and we had to take shuttle from Princess. A staff member of Princess informed our driver after a long dicussion with us, that he could leave.

Then our and three more shuttle busses were escorted by police to the port of Xingang.

 

Summary:

This was the worst embarkation we ever had. Pre-cruise information from Princess was not correct, so that we paid for our private transfer to the port, which we did not need. No apology from Princess. Furthermore: Why should we call Princess Ground Handler, when we will get the same information as mentioned in the email??

 

If Princess had informed us prior to the cruise by email that we had to take their shuttle, we had no complaints at all. But in our opinion this is not the way to treat customers.

[Sandy R]

After reading your reports, I'm getting a bit concerned...

 

We will be on the Sapphire next October, doing a similar cruise. DH and I will neither be embarking or disembarking in Xingang. We will have boarded in Whittier, going through to Osaka. I wonder if they expect us to go to the hotel even though we're not checking-in, merely returning to the ship.

 

Perhaps someone can tell me if they saw any passengers pulling up to the ship in a private car. We're planning to take a private day tour that will pick us up at Xingang and return us to Xingang. Since there was little security, was anyone stopped who wasn't riding on a Princess shuttle? Is there some sort of gate that the Princess shuttle entered, before stopping alongside the Sapphire?

[Smiles3usa]

I understand how different people might come to different conclusions regarding their experiences on a particular cruise; afterall, different folks like different things. It is amazing to me, however, that different folks can experience different check-in procedures on the same cruise--but it does happen. For those interested, here is my perspective on our 10/23/2005 Xingang to Bangkok embarkment procedures.

 

First, a group of 18 of us from our roll call agreed to share a bus from Beijing to the hotel for check-in and then to the port. I was in charge of arranging the transfer and used http://www.beijinglimo.com. We had a 33 seat passenger bus with a (supposedly) separate luggage compartment. Note, the bus cost us $300 (with several negotiation sessions or approximately $33 per couple). The 33 seat bus holds at maximum 20 folks and luggage. The luggage compartment was full from the first hotel and all the other luggage had to go in the seats. So if you are planning a group to travel to the pier, please take into consideration that the seats are smaller than most american buses...and the luggage compartment might not be that big. Anyway, the bus made four stops in Beijing--at four different hotels beginning at 8:30 and the last pick-up was at 9:25. (Note, 2 couples from our group had to take separate transportation to meet us with us because we were only given 4 (free) stops in Beijing. If you are planning a group, try to see which hotels are together, so as to maximize your stops. For example, for us the Novotel was across the street from the Pennisula. We could have used that as 1 stop and used an alternative hotel as the other stop.)

 

At 11:20 we pulled into the Rennaissance Tianjin Hotel. The check-in was not at the hotel but at the adjacent convention center. When we pulled in an "official" boarded our bus, presented us with a hand-out and indicated to us to leave our luggage, etc. on the bus and proceed to check-in. We did so. The convention center was a bit crowded, but not that bad considering the size of the ship. We filled out a few forms, got in a line to get our cruise cards, got in another line to have a picture of our passport taken (why Princess did not suggest to bring an extra copy of your passport and thereby greatly increase the efficiency of check-in still escapes me) after having the passsport photocopied, we proceed to yet another line for "immigration" (huh, obviously we were already in the country--and not departing until we departed by ship, but as bob (my hubby) says I tend to be too "technical." Anyway, after the immigration, we pass through 2 ship officiers who gave us a hand-out indicating that they are taking our passports since we are now considered to have left China. (?) Okay, no big deal right? WRONG. We were not allowed to go back to our bus to retrieve our stuff--including my pocketbook--I don't know what I was thinking.

 

As you might imagine 18 folks without their luggage can make a lot of noise. 3 different Princess officials were sent to talk to us. We were not interested in taking a "free" Princess transfer to the ship--all our luggage and some personal things were still on our paid bus. (Besides, we paid extra to go to the pier.--it is cheaper to take bus to Tinajin). After several folks complained alot, Princess allowed our bus to take us and our luggage to the pier. I was aboard ship at @1:30. When we came back from lunch, @2:15, our luggage had arrived.

 

Granted, it was nerve wrecking, and confusing at the Convention Center. First Princess tells us to leave our stuff on the bus to check-in and later (approximately 45 minutes) they tell us we should not have left our stuff on the bus. Long story short, 2 hours after arriving at the Convention Center, we were in our shipboard rooms. Others who I talked to on the ship did not arrive at their rooms until 5 pm --even though they were at the Convention Center before noon.

 

So, here's the scoop as I see it (disclaimer--Princess may change procedures at anytime!)

 

1. You can purchase group transport to Tinajin cheaper than to the port. Princess does provide free transport from the Renaissance Tianjin Hotel to the port for all--not only those who purchase their transfers. Antedotial info indicates that those taking Princess transfers get to the ship faster than those planning on independent transport to the hotel and then free Princess transport to the ship.

 

2. If you have a group bus, at least take ALL personal things inside with you--not necessarily your luggage. You can decide for yourself if you want to do that.

 

3. Our bus followed a van that had been rented by another cruisecritic member. The van had procured a permit to proceed to the pier. I don't know much about it, but you might consider it if renting a bus/van.

 

4. Don't plan on doing ANY shopping or touring in Tianjin unless you do it before you check-in at the hotel/convention center. I had read up a bit on Tianjin and it does have some interesting markets--but we didn't see any. No passports after checkin

 

5. I did not contact the handler in Beijing. One from our group who did, conveyed to me that the handler did not know what was going on anymore than she did. Princess definitely does not have that part down of the check-in procedures.

 

6. Negotiate with the Chinese companies for bus transfers...sometime they just throw out large numbers to see if you will go for it (sort of like Princess does :) ) I do recommend beijinglimo. Mr Henry Yao, owner, was at the Tinajin hotel and asking about my experience. He did telephone my hotel early in the morning to convey his local cell phone number and gave me additional info regarding the bus (note, the bus driver did not speak english). Also note, I paid only 1/2 up front and the remainder upon my arrival in Beijing and meeting with a representative to the company. The company had asked for all monies up front. I figured since I would be in Beijing for 3 days before hand, I wanted to at least see that it was a legitimate business. (no one else had reported to cruisecritic.com of renting buses)

 

Okay....I think I covered about everything, but if there are any questions regarding checkin, I'll try to answer. BTW...a 22 seater toyota cruiser should have no more than 10 folks with luggage for transfer.

 

Have fun!

 

Sabrina

[Sandy R]

Does anyone know the address of the Renaissance Tianjin Hotel that Princess uses. Looked on expedia and there seems to be 2 hotel with similar names but with different addresses. I'm in the process of making plans and don't want to be let off at the wrong hotel.

[cruzqueen]

Does anyone know the address of the Renaissance Tianjin Hotel that Princess uses. Looked on expedia and there seems to be 2 hotel with similar names but with different addresses. I'm in the process of making plans and don't want to be let off at the wrong hotel.

 

 

Renaissance Tianjin Teda Hotel and Convention Center

29 SECOND AVE Tianjin Teda, 300457 CN

[Sandy R]

CruzQueen... you're the best. You gave me an answer to a question that Princess couldn't give me! Thank you.

[FLTXKS]

We booked a hotel room at the Renaissance Tianjin for the night before (June 29) our cruise departs on June 30, 2006. Will there be any advantage to staying in the hotel in terms of ship check-in? It appears that the check-in is done either at the Renaissance or in the Convention Center next door. I'd like to be one of the first on the ship and wanted to get all my ducks in the row to accomplish that. Any suggestions?

 

We're thinking we'll take the train from Beijing to Tianjin. Sounds like an adventure and I'd like to see some of the country side.

 

If you've been on the Pacific Princess and want to give me any tips, feel free to email me at FLTXKS@aol.com.

 

Thanks!