Viking China

[caribill]

Our flight left at 6:25 PM. Although most people left on earlier flights, we were able to arrange through our guide for a late check out which worked out fine. We left about 2:30 PM for the airport.

 

Thanks. They are trying to put us on a 7:55 AM flight which would mean leaving the hotel about 3:30 AM.

[PINEY10]

A few had to leave early--gets you home earlier-but really makes it much more complicated for the last night on the trip. We enjoyed it--gave us more time at the Silk Market!

[wallygator]

Wine is offered to EVERYONE at dinner and it flows freely. If you want a different wine or if you want beer, you can buy it. I can't comment on the wine that was served. I never saw the label and I don't know much about wine. Maybe someone else will give some more details.

 

Our cruise/tour just ended with a flight from Hong Kong on May 16th we had the free wine booking and I will tell you I had at least four beers each night NO CHARGE onboard with dinner and thats a fact. The included wines were enjoyed by all with no limit

 

That you can take to the bank. :)

[XFed2001]

Expo is included only as a pre- or post option for those that have a true interest in seeing it. Their regular itinerary is pretty well set to include the highlights of Shanghai and it is beautifully coordinated so that all of the buses are not all arriving at the same venue at the same time.

 

Wine is offered to EVERYONE at dinner and it flows freely. If you want a different wine or if you want beer, you can buy it. I can't comment on the wine that was served. I never saw the label and I don't know much about wine. Maybe someone else will give some more details.

 

Our 17 days are drawing to a close; we spent today at the Great Wall and tomorrow we finish our visit with Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. I cannot believe that 17 days have all but finished. It seems as if we have just arrived. Our escort, Larry, has been fantastic.

 

Thank goodness that I have been keeping a diary because everything is running together in my mind. It has been an eye-opening experience.

 

Peregrina: I apologize if the question has been asked elsewhere but when you went to the Great Wall, were there elevators to get you to the top? I had heard that at some points, elevators were available for those physically challenged. Thanks in advance to anyone who might have the answer.

[XFed2001]

We had two sisters with their traveling companions who managed to check in 5 suitcases each while on the inter China flights. As far as the rest of the bus knew they never paid for any excess luggage costs. By the time you added the companions 1 large bag plus their carry on you can just imagine the luggage. Mind you they flew first class home so they managed to get all of their luggage home from China. These people were shopaholics and the rest of the bus was invariably waiting for them to come back to the bus so we could go back to the ship or continue on with the tour. We packed an extra suitcase inside of our suitcases when we flew over and used it when we came home. We ended up with 4 checked bags for the two of us as well as our carry on.

 

If I might ask, was there a first class section on the intra-China flights? If so, could you upgrade your package/tour air tickets by paying additional yuans/dollars? Thanks. P.S. If there was first class, did you have a larger baggage allowance by flying first?

[PINEY10]

I did not see any elevators where we were taken at the Great Wall.

 

First class on intra-china flights: there was a first class cabin but no one in our group was in those seats. That may be something you want to ask Viking about but I am assuming they buy tickets in bulk and do not make arrangements for first class but I would ask.

 

Wine: I am not a wine aficionado but I thought the wine was fine. I thought the red was a little bit better than the white. Beer was freely offered.

[Romeosc]

Peregrina: I apologize if the question has been asked elsewhere but when you went to the Great Wall, were there elevators to get you to the top? I had heard that at some points, elevators were available for those physically challenged. Thanks in advance to anyone who might have the answer.

 

There were no elevators where we were, but you can make arrangements for porter with your Viking guide.

 

One lady on our bus used a scooter and they carried it up steps at several venues. At several sites, people approached us and offered to carry you and your luggage up the steps, etc,

[Maddle]

A few had to leave early--gets you home earlier.

 

...and the hits just keep on coming.

 

I discovered my flight has been changed from a comfortable 1 pm to about 9 am....and no, I'm afraid it does not get me home earlier, because my connecting flight stays the same....so instead of having a few morning hours in Beijing to collect myself, I'll be cooling my heels in Seattle. I suppose it is good to have some extra time to get through customs, but how many hours do you need? It frosts me that no notice was made - I only found out by checking my seating assignment a second time, looking to see if anything better opened up. Imagine my surprise!

 

You will recall from my earlier posts that I was not happy with this air arrangement to begin with. This makes the 12 day trip a true 10 day tour, as I arrive very late at the begining and now leave early at the end. Bummer. Guess I will have to make the most of it!

 

Maddle

[PINEY10]

Maddie

 

It may be worth to ask if you could use custom air and how much more it would be. If they make you pay before you enter upon this "venture," contact the Viking representative and see what they can do for you in light of these changes.

[caribill]

...and the hits just keep on coming.

 

I discovered my flight has been changed from a comfortable 1 pm to about 9 am....and no, I'm afraid it does not get me home earlier, because my connecting flight stays the same....so instead of having a few morning hours in Beijing to collect myself, I'll be cooling my heels in Seattle.

 

Contact the airline. Since they changed the first flight, they will be willing to change the 2nd flight to an earlier one if one exists.

[Maddle]

Well - I am pleasantly surprised! Great idea!

 

I did take your advice, and called Viking Custom Air. I told him what had happened, and he checked all the flights without charging me (probably because there had been such a miserable change to the schedule, or maybe he was a nice guy.) First he tried to improve the connecting flight out of Seattle. All sold out. Then he tried other airlines - no dice. All sold out. Then I said, "not this one? not that one? can't you split me between airlines coming and going." Nope, sorry - all sold out. "not even Air Canada?" He gave that a try - and sure enough there were available contract seats from LAX to China and back again.

 

He was surprised, and said normally they don't have seats on Air Canada from the west coast because they go through Toronto - these flights are going through Vancouver, a new scheduling option he had not considered.

 

Whoo-hoo. The schedule is better, the seats are better, and I can get points on one of my preferred airlines, instead of wasting the miles on my nemesis. I arrive within half an hour of my east coast friends, and we depart with 30 minutes of each other from Beijing at a much more reasonable time, the travel time is less overall....and he only charged me the $50 custom air. Money well spent, in my opinion.

 

Thanks for your encouragement. This trip has taken on a new shine with these new flight assignments.

 

Maddle

[Turtles06]

A question for those who have been in China with Viking during May, when it may be hot enough out that you'd want air conditioning on in your hotel room...

 

I've heard that in some hotels in Chinese cities (possibly not of the class that Viking uses, but I'm not sure), the a/c is not on at night, possibly by government fiat, unless it's really really hot outside, even though it's so warm in your room that you really need a/c. (This would not be an issue during the true summer months when it's very very hot out, and the a/c is on at night.)

 

Has anyone experienced any problems with not having a/c at night in the hotels used by Viking?

 

Thanks in advance for any info!

[Peregrina651]

Just got in an hour ago. I should be in bed.

 

Viking uses five star hotels. A/C is not an issue; it will run all night and rooms are individually controlled. But, when you are not in your room, all the electricity in the room is turned off until you return and put your room key into the slot. A/C was an issue on the ship where the a/c is just not enough to get the constant moisture out of the air or keep it cool enough at night for some of us. Mold and mildew smells are a big problem on the ship and I wonder if it is the ship more than the local pollution that causes the problems that many on this board have mentioned.

 

Our Shanghai and Beijing Shangri-La hotels were fantastic. The Golden Flower was a few steps below. If you are a non-smoker and can not handle the smell of stale smoke, talk with your tour escort early on and arrange for non-smoking rooms, especially in Xi'an.

 

If you have dietary issues (allergies, vegetarian, etc.) there are two people to talk to: your tour escort and the maitre'd on the ship. Vegetarians will be happy to know that there vegetarian choices for each course served on the ship and that your escort will arrange for vegetable dishes for you while on the road.

 

Every morning I checked the menu for the evening meal on the ship. If I felt that there just wasn't a dish I could eat or if I had a question about what was in a particular dish, I spoke with the maitre'd and arranged for an alternative main course when necessary. Steak and plain chicken are always available but are best ordered in advance. There were a couple of nights when I ordered steak. This 'deal with it before it is a problem approach' worked very well for me and the only meal I was dissatisfied with was the one meal I told myself when I ordered it that I would be sorry.

 

We also found that the dining room staff had difficulty handling special orders and that it was easier to handle special orders and changes through the maitre'd. He is extremely accommodating.

 

As for meals on the road while touring, there is always steamed or fried rice--and there were a couple of days when that is all I ate. Honest talk here about what to expect made it a lot easier to cope (yes, I can get princess-y when not fed). Do not expect to get steak or chicken in this catering venues; they are not set up for catering to American tastes.

 

No elevators at the Wall. But I can tell you where to get a pass for the swimming pool at the high school. Conjecture:There are a number of places for visiting the Great Wall and perhaps the rumor of an elevator started because one of those other locations does have an elevator but there is no such thing at Badaling where Viking takes its tours. BTW, while not easy, the climb was not as difficult as I had expected. It is steep and slippery in places but there were handrails to help me down.

 

Okay. Enough for now. I am finally unwound enough to sleep and maybe it has finally cooled off upstairs. It was a fantastic trip. Our seventeen days flew by and our escort Larry was far and beyond excellent. Don't let all this talk about negative things fool you. They were minor compared to the over-all experience and a bit of advanced warning can make them go away.

[Turtles06]

Welcome back Peregrina! Sounds like you had a great time! Thank you for answering my questions and for all the other info you have posted. I am pretty sure we will be going next spring, and very excited about it!

 

(PS: Viking will be using a different river boat then, the Emerald. Perhaps the a/c will be working better. One can hope! :))

[Maddle]

Peregrina - you are AMAZING. Thanks for all of the detailed information. Your posts have been very enlightening. Thanks.

 

Maddle

[Peregrina651]

Welcome back Peregrina! Sounds like you had a great time! Thank you for answering my questions and for all the other info you have posted. I am pretty sure we will be going next spring, and very excited about it!

 

(PS: Viking will be using a different river boat then, the Emerald. Perhaps the a/c will be working better. One can hope! :))

And the dining room as well!!

 

This is just one of those trips that you take in spite of the accommodations and food not because of them. This is not a Caribbean cruise where the ship is your destination.

 

IMHO (and you know the humble part is just a joke), Viking has done an amazing job of organizing all the details. Everything takes place on time and without a hitch because the eight or so escorts spend a lot of time behind the scenes micro-managing. All eight buses are never in the same place at the same time. Departure times are staggered so as not to overwhelm the providers. The local guides are excellent. Not only do they know their towns and topics well but their English is also very good.

 

To those still in the planning stages, I truly think that the 5 extra days on the river from Nanjing to Wuhan are well worth it. While the gorges were beautiful I found them sad at the same time because I kept thinking of what was destroyed by the dam and I am sorry that I did not get to see the gorges before they were flooded. I thought that the trips to the Buddhist temples on Mt Jiuhua, the porcelain factory (think National Historic Park) in Jingdezhen, the new city of Fengdu and the silk rug factory in Suzhou (on the way to or from Nanjing) were among the highlights of the trip and very much added to my understanding of the country and its history. The Imperial stuff was cool (the Wall, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors) but the introduction to the arts and the people was an added dimension

 

Maddle, thank you. Enlighten perhaps but hopefully not taking away the joy of discovering for yourselves.

[coasters]

Just got in an hour ago. I should be in bed.

So happy to hear that you enjoyed so much of what Viking puts together!

They really deserve much praise for a job well done.

Jerry

[Peregrina651]

So happy to hear that you enjoyed so much of what Viking puts together!

They really deserve much praise for a job well done.

Jerry

 

Jerry, you are so right. Things don't run so smoothly without a lot work and a lot of advanced preparation.

 

However, as much as I loved the tour, I think that part of what helped me to just ignore some of the less well executed parts of the trip-- and the complaining that goes with them--was having heard them discussed here, before I went and before I had to listen to the same people making the same complaints over and over again.

[PINEY10]

A trick we learned to keep the electricity on in the room while out (including the AC), was to keep your hotel cards. Any of those cards fit in the slot and worked for us. I did find that even in the top 5 star hotels, the AC was not as cool at night (but part of that could be me). Don't look at this as a "foodie" fest--the sights are more interesting.

 

I may differ with Peregrina on the dam--when you saw how high the water used to go on the river the dam is really a boon to these people. Nothing in this world will ever be perfect but in the long run, it is a good concept and will be good for the people whose homes are along the river. The relocation sites are lovely and the people got great benefits. It is not easy to change and there certainly are questions of ancestral homes, burial sites, etc. but truly, it is a marvel what the Chinese to construct the dam, prevent devastating flooding in the area which, too, caused deaths. Just my opinion but overall it seems like a good thing!

[jcrandle]

A trick we learned to keep the electricity on in the room while out (including the AC), was to keep your hotel cards. Any of those cards fit in the slot and worked for us....clip....

 

Likely your business card will work as well. It doesn't read the mag stripe like the door lock does, it just separates a contact (opens a switch) in the card holder.

[wallygator]

Likely your business card will work as well. It doesn't read the mag stripe like the door lock does, it just separates a contact (opens a switch) in the card holder.

Business cards worked in most places. Not all. We found that AC was not affected when no card was in place mostly lights were controlled.

[Peregrina651]

 

I may differ with Peregrina on the dam--when you saw how high the water used to go on the river the dam is really a boon to these people. Nothing in this world will ever be perfect but in the long run, it is a good concept and will be good for the people whose homes are along the river. The relocation sites are lovely and the people got great benefits. It is not easy to change and there certainly are questions of ancestral homes, burial sites, etc. but truly, it is a marvel what the Chinese to construct the dam, prevent devastating flooding in the area which, too, caused deaths. Just my opinion but overall it seems like a good thing!

 

Piney, we don't really differ. We are just focusing on different aspects of a very complicated situation -- and you sum it much better than I could have. It is not a simple all good or all bad but I do agree that in the long run, between cleaner power generation, flood control and improved navigation, the dam will be a good thing for the region.

[bruinbob95]

My wife and I are part of the China's Cultural Delights tour from August 14th through 30th. We just received our airline flight schedule from Viking, and I am disappointed, to say the least. Viking has us arriving Beijing on August 14th at 11:40 PM! I'm guessing that we'll be very fortunate to arrive at our hotel by 3:00 AM on August 15th, the SECOND day of the tour.

 

I am curious to hear your opinions as to whether or not I am being unreasonable in thinking that this isn't right. I realize that August 14th is an "arrival day", but we're not "arriving" to the hotel until August 15th. The next morning, after breakfast, is a full day of touring, including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. Very challenging for us under these circumstances.

 

We're not traveling out of some god-forsaken location -- we leave out of Los Angeles!

 

Anyway, your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome. I appreciate the sage advice I have received over the years from this board.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

[wallygator]

My wife and I are part of the China's Cultural Delights tour from August 14th through 30th. We just received our airline flight schedule from Viking, and I am disappointed, to say the least. Viking has us arriving Beijing on August 14th at 11:40 PM! I'm guessing that we'll be very fortunate to arrive at our hotel by 3:00 AM on August 15th, the SECOND day of the tour.

 

I am curious to hear your opinions as to whether or not I am being unreasonable in thinking that this isn't right. I realize that August 14th is an "arrival day", but we're not "arriving" to the hotel until August 15th. The next morning, after breakfast, is a full day of touring, including Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. Very challenging for us under these circumstances.

 

We're not traveling out of some god-forsaken location -- we leave out of Los Angeles!

 

Anyway, your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome. I appreciate the sage advice I have received over the years from this board.

 

Regards,

 

Bob

 

 

We did the same in April. We left Newark on April 25th and arrived in Bejing at 3:15 PM on the 26th. We were meet at the airport by Viking giudes ours was Leo very good by the way. They took us to our hotel. There are different hotels used by the way. We were able to relex and start the next day. We missed nothing, I'd call them. Good luck. We loved our trip to China.

[caribill]

My wife and I are part of the China's Cultural Delights tour from August 14th through 30th. We just received our airline flight schedule from Viking, and I am disappointed, to say the least. Viking has us arriving Beijing on August 14th at 11:40 PM!

 

Anyway, your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome. I appreciate the sage advice I have received over the years from this board.

 

 

Good luck getting it changed.

 

Many of the flights do arrive in the late evening. Maybe you could arrage to fly in a day earlier so that you have a chance to get time adjusted. Of course you would need to pay the custom air fee and pay for the hotel that extra night.

 

We have a similar problem at the end of our tour which ends in Beijing. Flight out is before 8 in the morning, so we will need to be up and ready to leave the hotel by 4 AM to get to the airport for the flight.