Beijing (Tianjin), China Shore Excursion Question

[halfapair]

Hello,

 

I am looking at the shore excursions for Beijing (Tianjin), China (Insignia cruise in 2020). There is one that goes to the Great Wall. I realize I may not be able to see all the shore excursions that Oceania has for Beijing, but do they have one that would go to the Forbidden City and other places in Beijing?

 

The cruise itinerary says that they stay in Tianjin for 2 days. Has anyone taken an Oceania cruise that stops in Beijing and who could comment on what types of shore excursions were available?

 

Thank you,

Susan

[Waynetor]

If you are on the 2020 world cruise there is an overland tour starting in Shanghai and end in Beijing - The tour includes the famed Terracotta Warrior Museum, time at the GreatWall at Balding and historic Tiananmen Square plus the UNESCO World HeritageForbidden City.

From Tianjin to the Great Wall is a full day tour.

Tianjinis home to the Tianjin International Cruise Home Port, and is the gateway toBeijing. A 130km (92mi) long expresswaylinks the 2 cities. Although Insignia is in port 2 days, the first day is a bit late arriving ad the second day a bit early leaving. To get the most out of trip to Beijing an overnight tour would be recommended. I would expect O to offer some but not sure what they will include

[Paulchili]

If you are on the 2020 world cruise there is an overland tour starting in Shanghai and end in Beijing - The tour includes the famed Terracotta Warrior Museum, time at the GreatWall at Balding and historic Tiananmen Square plus the UNESCO World HeritageForbidden City.

From Tianjin to the Great Wall is a full day tour.

 

Tianjinis home to the Tianjin International Cruise Home Port, and is the gateway toBeijing. A 130km (92mi) long expresswaylinks the 2 cities. Although Insignia is in port 2 days, the first day is a bit late arriving ad the second day a bit early leaving. To get the most out of trip to Beijing an overnight tour would be recommended. I would expect O to offer some but not sure what they will include

 

+1

In addition, the traffic between the 2 cities can be horrendous - losing precious time fighting the traffic.

[cbb]

do as Wayne says....the Overland on Insignia is wonderful and the guides are some of the best we have ever had.

 

let O handle all of the transportation stuff to get you to Xian and Beijing. One of our best decisions ever, plus if the Chinese govt pulls the plug on the overnight in Beijing port as they did with us on ATW16, you're already in country and can get back to the ship on the day she is in port. (something about intervening ports....and Taiwan port in '19 may cause change in itinerary as well)

 

the overnight in Beijing allowed us the opportunity to leave the hotel and walk to the Night Market....an amazing thing to see. Do the Overland!

[cruiseaholic78]

If you are on the 2020 world cruise there is an overland tour starting in Shanghai and end in Beijing - The tour includes the famed Terracotta Warrior Museum, time at the GreatWall at Balding and historic Tiananmen Square plus the UNESCO World HeritageForbidden City.

From Tianjin to the Great Wall is a full day tour.

 

Tianjinis home to the Tianjin International Cruise Home Port, and is the gateway toBeijing. A 130km (92mi) long expresswaylinks the 2 cities. Although Insignia is in port 2 days, the first day is a bit late arriving ad the second day a bit early leaving. To get the most out of trip to Beijing an overnight tour would be recommended. I would expect O to offer some but not sure what they will

Hi, I have seen that a similar tour is offered on the 2019 cruise and said to DH I would love to do that on our segment Tokyo-S.F.2020. Where have you found this excursion? Maybe the full RTW’ers get this earlier? If you have a link please can you send it. I know its a long way away but hey planning is always part of the fun.

Rosalyn

[cbb]

cruiseaholic78-

on the webpage for the cruise you want is a series of blue tabs running horizontally across the page.

 

1st one is "itinerary" followed by others; the 4th one says "hotels and land", click on that one.

 

then you'll see "pre cruise" "post cruise" "overland" and on the left you'll see several titles. So far, 5 are listed for the ATW20 cruise but we expect more....ie, an overnight in Bagan & Mandalay and an overnight safari among others.

 

Look for "ancient capitals of china" and that is the Beijing/Xian one. Every cruise is organized like this. When you click on this one there is a long description of what you'll see and if you scroll down there is a timetable--almost to the hour--of what you will do/see.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/around-the-world-cruises/miami-to-san-francisco-INS200108H/hotels/overland/#land-program-094

[cruiseaholic78]

cruiseaholic78-

on the webpage for the cruise you want is a series of blue tabs running horizontally across the page.

 

1st one is "itinerary" followed by others; the 4th one says "hotels and land", click on that one.

 

then you'll see "pre cruise" "post cruise" "overland" and on the left you'll see several titles. So far, 5 are listed for the ATW20 cruise but we expect more....ie, an overnight in Bagan & Mandalay and an overnight safari among others.

 

Look for "ancient capitals of china" and that is the Beijing/Xian one. Every cruise is organized like this. When you click on this one there is a long description of what you'll see and if you scroll down there is a timetable--almost to the hour--of what you will do/see.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/around-the-world-cruises/miami-to-san-francisco-INS200108H/hotels/overland/#land-program-094

 

Thanks, in the meantime I had found the solution and thought I had posted this( its somewhere in the cloud).It seems that excursions are shown on the RTW itinerary but not on the individual legs. Looks great and one which will definately have to go on my list.

Rosalyn

[cbb]

cruiseaholic78--mention your desire for the Xian/Beijing overland to your TA--you might be able to get it reserved before it gets noticed by others!!! It is popular.

[Waynetor]

Oceania has 2 categories of "tours". These overland tours where the start/end port are different are listed in a different place as CBB noted and are available early. Regular tours/excursions that return to the originating port will be listed later and at a different place on the web.

[Jamietravelstheworld]

If you are on the 2020 world cruise there is an overland tour starting in Shanghai and end in Beijing - The tour includes the famed Terracotta Warrior Museum, time at the GreatWall at Balding and historic Tiananmen Square plus the UNESCO World HeritageForbidden City.

From Tianjin to the Great Wall is a full day tour.

 

Tianjinis home to the Tianjin International Cruise Home Port, and is the gateway toBeijing. A 130km (92mi) long expresswaylinks the 2 cities. Although Insignia is in port 2 days, the first day is a bit late arriving ad the second day a bit early leaving. To get the most out of trip to Beijing an overnight tour would be recommended. I would expect O to offer some but not sure what they will include

 

I am on the 2020 RTW. There are 2 China overland tours that really excite me, Hometown of the Giant Panda (which is Xiamen to Shanghai) and Ancient Capitals of China (Shanghai to Beijing). Which would you recommend, or would I be crazy to do both back to back?

[cbb]

we too are signed up to do the Pandas and if it was our only time to be in China for sure we'd sign up for both Overlands.

 

 

 

Go for both!

[Waynetor]

Everybody has their own "to do" bucket list so you need to look at what is in the overland tours and look at what you would be missing by staying on the ship and doing the available daily tours.

 

While the excursions for the 2020 cruise are a ways off from being listed you can look at any other O itinerary of that area that is coming up later this year or early next year to get an idea of excursions.

 

I have only been to Shanghai once -first day tour to Hangzhou, 2nd day mostly rain did nothing, 3rd day toured the new/old downtown area.

 

For Beijing (Tianjin) in 2016 I did the all day Great Wall tour from the port so did not see any of Beijing.

If the overlands excite you more than just stopping at the ports, then that is what you should do. The cruise is 180 days so missing a few nights on the ship won't be missed that much.

You would have the option in the future to do a 14 day or so cruise that touches those ports gain.

[Go-Bucks!]

(something about intervening ports....and Taiwan port in '19 may cause change in itinerary as well)

Cbb,

 

Are you meaning that there might be an itinerary change re: Taiwan on the 2019 RTW cruise? Or are you talking about some other cruise in 2019?

 

We have not been contacted by Oceania about any Taiwan itinerary change....if you're meaning the RTW cruise, please advise where you heard this. We did have an itinerary change re: South Korea, but that's all so far.

[cbb]

nope...no inside info except that the Chinese govt may suddenly decide while you are on board that they don't like the itinerary and so will change it or change the hours or even the overnight, which is what happened to us on ATW16.

 

I did see where Nagasaki has been removed as well as Seoul from your itinerary. ATW20 is to spend an overnight in Beijing but I won't be surprised if that port stop is shortened.

 

That is why so many people either did private tours from Shanghai to Beijing or scurried down to Dest Services to do the Xian-Beijing overland. That allowed us to spend the night in Beijing and see both the Wall and Forbidden City area--something that people who stayed on board did not get to do.

 

If you do the day excursion to the Wall, often there is no time to see the Forbidden City or vice versa. That's why I'm a big proponent of doing Xian to Beijing.

 

You get to see those big bucket items--the Warriors, the Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananman Square are and if you spend the night you do have that free time to wander Beijing and see things like the Night Market.

 

If you feel that this might be the only time you get to Beijing, then I'd spend the $ and see as much as you possibly can.....but that's just me.

 

We didn't know that O would be offering more ATWs in 2015 when we signed up so we saw as many things as we could.

[rallydave]

Just remember, doing ships tours are more than double that doing on your own as a private tour and in most cases much better and fewer participants. Several years ago we did a Regent cruise that ended in Tianjin/Beijing and booked a private tour, just my DW and I that gave us everything except the Great Wall in Beijing plus a flight to Xian for the Terra Cotta Warriors and then to Hong Kong where we flew home. We used the following person and company, US based and the price was extremely reasonable especially since we had a driver and a guide for much less than a ships tour and we could tell them exactly what we wanted to see or do.

 

Kervin Yu

Explorient Travel Services, Inc.

Tel: 800.785.1233 / 212.785.8100

Fax: 212.918.0732

Web: www.explorient.com

[cbb]

rallydave--good for you and I'm glad you were successful, but your cruise ended in Tianjin and ours didn't.

 

We weren't willing to depend upon anyone other than O to get us back to the ship in time. Yes, it was expensive but it was far less stressful for us and that is important when we travel.

 

we figure on ATWs we are already spending thousands so what is a few hundred more. I realize not everybody feels this way, and that's cool.

[rallydave]

rallydave--good for you and I'm glad you were successful, but your cruise ended in Tianjin and ours didn't.

 

We weren't willing to depend upon anyone other than O to get us back to the ship in time. Yes, it was expensive but it was far less stressful for us and that is important when we travel.

 

we figure on ATWs we are already spending thousands so what is a few hundred more. I realize not everybody feels this way, and that's cool.

 

Understand why you do what you do Cynthia. Just trying to help people get more bang for the buck and know there are options to the extremely expensive ships excursions no matter the cruise line. Have done several off the ship excursions leaving in one port and returning to the ship in another without issues. You do have to be careful in your choices to not miss the ship but, have never even been close. And the difference is not in hundreds of dollars, more like thousands of dollars per person less than the ships tours and more sights seen and days spent.

 

Thanks,

[Go-Bucks!]

nope...no inside info

 

Good to know!

 

I did see where Nagasaki has been removed as well as Seoul from your itinerary.

 

Yes, I was disappointed not to go to South Korea, but I'm flexible. They did add 2 additional Japanese ports.

 

If you do the day excursion to the Wall, often there is no time to see the Forbidden City or vice versa. That's why I'm a big proponent of doing Xian to Beijing.

 

We don't care about Xian, but do have a private tour that I developed from Beijing to Shanghai that I'm excited about. We'll have 4 others with us. Since the ship only has one day in Tianjin (Beijing), we've planned to go to the Great Wall that day, spend the night at a Beijing hotel, tour Beijing the next day, spend a second night at a Beijing hotel, tour another half day in Beijing then take a first class high speed train to Shanghai. Will spend that night on the ship (which will be there by that time), and tour Shanghai the whole next day. That's the end of the tour, but we'll have one more night on the ship and a half day of self-touring the next day before we leave port. For the 4 days touring, some meals, transportation, guide & driver and train ticket, it will cost about 25% of the Oceania overland tours! We do have to pay for the 2 nights in the hotel and some meals, but they're not expensive. Our tour company is rated #1 in Beijing tours by TA.

We're taking lots of O tours (OLife perk) and they all sound great. But we've also planned a few private tours to give us more time in different places. We're also spending the night in Jerusalem so we have more time to tour 2 days...there and Nazareth/Galilee.

[cbb]

our most favorite way to experience a place is to diy--by ourselves. I do the research on historic walks, things not to miss, HOHO buses, which taxis to use, and where ship's shuttles drop off/pick up. Dave loads the info into gps, i have a paper copy of maps as well and off we go.

 

 

 

Those diy have been our best memories, but we do take shorex, especially when there are long bus rides or when port safety is an issue, or because the ship can get us someplace more easily than an independent tour or a diy.

 

 

 

So....we pick and choose and have been mostly happy with our choices, and at the end of the day, back in the cabin, that's pretty much what counts in our world! Safe travels everyone.

[katomao]

Go-Bucks! can i ask which tour company rated no 1 in Beijing you are using please?  

[Go-Bucks!]

10 hours ago, katomao said:

Go-Bucks! can i ask which tour company rated no 1 in Beijing you are using please?  

 

Catherine Lu tours