Princess Pre Cruise Tour ????

[juliejoe]

Hoping to hear from someone who has done one of the Princess cruisetours in China. We are looking at their Beijing and Terra Cotta Warrior tour, along with the Beijing to Bangkok itinerary.

 

Any information you can give us, such as size of group, hotels, guides used etc. would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Julie

[Spikesgirl]

Julie,

 

you should check out the review I did for the Pacific Princess in July. We did the Bangkok to Beijing cruise, but your pre was out post cruise. Gave all sorts of info about the land tour. It really was spectacular and well worth the money and effort we thought.

 

If you have any specific questions, feel free to e mail me at

ckirby@deltacollege.edu and I'll try to answer them.

 

Cheers!

 

Charlie

[juliejoe]

Thanks Charlie - wonderful comprehensive review!

 

Our cruisetour will be a little different as it is only 4 days with 1 overnight in Xian the rest in Beijing.

 

Julie

[Spikesgirl]

Xian is a beautiful city and we have talked about going back there for a longer visit. Truth of the matter, a few hours is not enough time to spend with the warriors. The show that you will see is interesting and borders on being a spectacular. The food is great, but beware the saki. It's very sweet and doesn't seem dangerous, but it can knock your socks off. This was told to us by our local tour guide. Apparently, he over imbided one night and really suffered the next day.

 

Enjoy your trip!

 

Charlie

[cbcruiser]

Just did the pre cruise Terra Cotta Warrior tour before the 10/26/06 cruise. We had a fantastic time. The tour director, hotels, tours etc. were fantastic. This was our first cruise tour with princess and will definitely not be the last. We went to a Ming Dynasty show in Xian and were given the front row seats. Unbelieveable show!!! Everything was 1st class. We were impressed. Did not expect quality of tour that we received. You will be happy with tour from Princess.!!!

[Donyb]

We've booked the Sapphire Princess 11/2/07 with an internet agent. Now we would like to do the Princess precruise that includes the Yangtze River. I was told we have to start a whole new res with the cruisetour included. We got a really good rate for the cruise only. Has anyone booked with someone other than Princess for a round-trip from Beijing to include Xian (terra cotta warriors) and the Yangtze River and then back to Beijing to pick up the cruise on 11/2?

[tjcox9]

Just returned from Princess cruisetour in conjunction with 11/27 Sapphire Princess Beijing - Singapore cruise. The tour was great!! Hotels were Beijing Hotel and the Mercure in Xian. Both are lovely properties.

 

Following the cruise, we had an operational overnight in Singapore due to next day flights. Originally we were to stay at the Meritus Mandarin but a few days before the end of the cruise we got word we'd be at the Ritz-Carlton!! Needless to say, we were not disappointed with that change. It was wonderful and we did not want to leave.

 

There were about 95 people on our tour (three busses). The only glitch we encountered was not the fault of the tour, but of the airline that was to return us to Beijing from Xian. The flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. They then had to break us up and get us on three different later flights. Some did not arrive back at the hotel in Beijing til 11:00 PM. We had been scheduled to be back at 4:30 PM. This evening was to be our only real free time in Beijing so that was disappointing. But, there was nothing else that could have been done.

 

The meals provided were quite nice (lots of Asian food, of course.) The breakfast buffets at both the Beijing Hotel and Mercure in Xian were great!! Overall, the tour was better than I expected. It's actually done by CITS which is a government run tour company.

[lois1112]

I also just returned from this trip and loved it. I did the terracotta warriors and Bejing post tour. LIke tcox9 we stayed at the Bejing hotel (loved it) and Mecure Remin square (we were not here long enough to evaluate..we got to the hotel at 11pm and left at 0800 the next morning)

The one thing I do disagree on was the breakfast...it was not the best. Coffe at the Mecure was undrinkable. it was bad at the Bejing hotel as well, but it was drinkable. There were 140 people off the ship on the tour. they broke us down into 4 buses for touring and we met up at night for the banquets etc. It was not really that bad. we had the best guide (Li in Bejing) I could not asked for anyone better.

One real note of caution. You travel from a hot area to a very cold one this time of year (or visa versa) Try not to over pack. There is lots of wonderful shopping to do. I sent my dirty clothes home from the Bejing hotel (it was overnight express...the only service they offer) it cost me $500!!!!!!! Made what I bought less a bargain..however for the cost and experience of this trip it was worth it.

I would be willing to answer any questions anyone has.

[tjcox9]

Sorry about the coffee.

 

I wasn't evaluating the coffee, just the breakfast actual food offerings. I'm an adventurous eater so loved all the options. Really don't recall the coffee quality at all. I know it was not as bad as one morning in the Horizon Court :eek: on the Sapphire when it was really undrinkable. The few mornings we had breakfast in the Horizon due to tours, it was tolerable, but that one morning UGGHHH!!!!!!

[juliejoe]

We really appreciate your posts!

 

My cousin mentioned to expect Beijing to be about the same weather as NY - so we knew to be prepared for cold at the beginning of our BIG adventure. We'll do the Beijing/Terracotta Warrior tour, cruise Beijing to Bangkok on 12/04 and then Bangkok to Sydney on 12/20. Going south, when did it get hot? I'm much happier with cold - is the heat pretty oppressive? We've been in Sydney in January before and it was not too bad.

 

Re: Shopping - What were the real bargains and where did you find them? I'd better plan to discard some clothes - NO way DH would go for me mailing any home. We'll be elite then, with free laundry, so I hope to pack smart for a change. Maybe we can buy a new suitcase somewhere along the way.

 

Would you believe we are going to try really hard to not only not gain - but to lose weight while we cruise next year? We hope to make food the least important part of our trip. (Most Asians are not as chunky as we are, so maybe we won't do much damage when we enjoy their cuisine.)

 

Julie

[lois1112]

You will love the cruise. It got cold for us...thus hot for you after Vietnam. Nagasaki was cool..60 but beautiful and sunny. I love the hot weather. Bangkok was very hot, about 90 with 100% humity.

As for the shopping Vietnam was great. I bought several real silk scares in Shanghai at the silk factory for about $40 each (I looked at Nordstroms before I left and these are really nice and would sell for about $150 here). If you don't care about quality you can get scarfs in Stanley Market (Hong Kong) 6 for about 10 dollars. (they were "silk" but I am sure they are polyester...no labels...and so so designs)

Be careful about the jade that you might buy...several places sell fake for cheap...nice, but not jade. princess did bring several beautiful piece of real jade on board.

Knock off handbags (coach, kipling, and many others ) were very cheap in Na Trang (approx $5 and were nice)

 

As for the food, I did not gain weight...I have to admit that I am plus size to start with, so not as likely to gain. The increase exercise plus the healthy asian eating were good for me. And you are right, most of the Asian's we saw were very tiny!!!

[tjcox9]

The temperature turning point seens to be Hong Kong. It was quite cold in Xian due to light rain and unfortunate circumstances for parking. Great Wall was cold and there was some snow on the ground, but sun was shining and with the exertion of the climb I ended up to be overdressed actually.

 

It seems that normally, tour buses are allowed to park really close to the Terra Cotta Warrior site. However, there was rework being done on that road and we had about a fifteen minute uphill walk in the cold light rain which was pretty uncomfortable, but not untolerable.

 

Your will find Viet Nam hot and humid. Also Malaysia and Singapore. Fortunately, it was somewhat overcast in Singapore which made it quite tolerable.

 

As for shopping, can't help a great deal there as that was not a high priority. I only bought what something when it really caught my eye and was a reasonable price. That happened to be a silk jacket in Thailand, a lacquer piece in Viet Nam, and a few joke Rolexs at about $2.50 - $3.00 each. We also picked up a few silk prints in Viet Nam and a batik print in Malaysia that are quite lovely and reasonable. Just really depends on what you're looking for, I think. All made for easy packing.

 

Others may be more able to answer shopping questions. I have no idea how some people got all the purchases home.

 

Be sure to go prepared for some Asian style rest room facilities. It's always a good idea to have some toilet tissue in your purse as it is not regularly supplied. I was prepared but many were not and were surprised by the accomodations. Lunches while on tour were always at a facility that had western style facilities.

 

Great trip and would recommend to anyone who is physically capable of a good deal of walking, stairs and not stuck to meat and potatoes as a diet. Loved it!!

[lois1112]

We were lucky and in was a nice day (cool but nice) in Xian and we were able to park very close. This was a very memoriable day for me.

I agree about the food, I enjoyed it, but if you don't like Asian food it can be hard. (several in our group were of the meat and potato mind) I found some little rolls of charmin in plastic carry cases that really came in hand (bought at wal-mart in the "travel size" dept) I also would bring some purel and some place do not have wash up facalities. in Asia a "rest room" is just that, so don't ask for one. they commly revered to it as a Water closet or WC.

[juliejoe]

Thank you for sharing this information tjcox9 and lois1112.

Will you be posting reviews with port/excursion information?

[lois1112]

I wasn't going to post a review....if you e-mail me with any questions I would be more than happy to tell you about my experience.

lois1112@aol.com

[MLinFL]

Would like to have the full name of the hotel that Princess uses in Beijing.

 

We are doing the precruise tour on 9/27 prior to the 10/1 cruise. Although the cruise tour starts with an overnight at the hotel, our plane doesn't land until 9:30pm after 17 hours or so in the air. The next day starts the trip to Xian. Princess is saying they don't have a block of rooms and couldn't guarantee me a room until 30 days prior. Of course, this won't work, as I need to arrange for my flights before that.

 

I have seen references to "The Beijing Hotel" but when I look for a hotel by this name, I don't seem to find it. I see many hotels with the word "Beijing" in it, but not just "Beijing" hotel.

 

Thanks,

 

Mary Lou

[cruisinlivin]

Hoping to hear from someone who has done one of the Princess cruisetours in China. We are looking at their Beijing and Terra Cotta Warrior tour, along with the Beijing to Bangkok itinerary.

 

Any information you can give us, such as size of group, hotels, guides used etc. would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Julie

 

Hi,

 

If anyone is a little independant and adventursome you can do these tours on your own with guides for far less $.

 

We planned a custom 19 day tour of Tokyo and China that included 11-12 cities, transfers, planes, boats, trains, buses, hotels and guides. The tour had one glitch that was quickly resolved by an excellent guide and our IL travel agent. Resolved for the better, we got an extra day of touring that was not planned, it fit right in between the continuing agenda. All at cost far below the group tour offerings. Loved it.

 

China is easy to travel. The people are warm, friendly, helpful and inquisitive. We were welcomed and looked after everywhere we went.

 

We also did Bangkok, Siem Reap(Angkor Wat) and Phuket post cruise on our own.

[slotl]

In June, 2006 we did the Beijing to Bangkok on the Pacific Princess (690 passengers) with the 9 day pre-cruise tour of Beijing, Xian, and the 3 night river cruise.

 

There were 39 people on our tour. There were other pre-cruise tours which did not include the Yangzee River cruise. I think there were 5 buses of pre-cruise tour folks. We all met in a Beijing restaurant the night prior to the cruise. Three of the buses "got lost" trying to get from Beijing to the dock. The ship was delayed until they arrived.

 

I HIGHLY recommend the pre-cruise tour by Princess (regardless of any extra cost from independent travel). The tour was "seamless" to the cruise ship, no extra flights, hotels, taxis, etc. All food and accommodations were "first rate". We stayed at the Soffitel in Xian in an absolutely "luxury" room.

 

Princess sub-contracted the tour to China International Travel - (CTI?). It was fully escorted by the CTI representive and each location we visited had a separate experienced tour guide in addition to our host guide. The tour was well-planned, well-executed, and met or exceeded Western travel standards.

 

Beware, bring toilet paper, bacterial wipes, and toilet seat covers. Except for the hotels (and some restaurants), most restrooms contained holes and not Western toilet seats. Be ready for a disgusting experience. I don't know how China will address this problem for the 2008 Olympics.

 

Shopping: The best place was the flea market in Shanghai which I understand was "closed" July 1st of last year. I am sure it has re-opened somewhere else. We purchased so many designer purses, silk comforters, etc that we needed to purchase a 29 inch Louis Vittan suitcase ($20 in Viet Nam) to bring home all our goodies. Don't forget to have custom suits, shirts, silk dresses, etc made while you are in the Orient. The tailor will come to your hotel room and the stuff will be ready the next day.