China

[S&LS]

We Are Considering A China River Cruise And Tour For 2008. We Have Cruised Alot But Never On A River Cruise.

 

If Anyone Has Had A Good China Experience, We Would Appreciate Their Comments, Thoughts And Suggestion For The Correct/best River Cruise Line To Check Out. We Are In Our Mid Sixties

 

Thanks

 

Lynn & Steve

[WarEagle76]

Steve and Lynn, if you want to start reading up on your own, here is a suggestion. Use the search tool (the one under the Cruise Critic Banner between New Posts and Quick Links). Once the search screen comes up, go to Search by Key Word (upper left on screen) and type in China. Then go to bottom right where it says Select One or More Forums to Search and click on River Cruises. Then click the Search Now button. This will give you all of the threads for you to look through where China is mentioned. Some will be more applicable than others. You might want to check to see if there is a good travel agent in your area that specializes in River Cruises. They would be able to ask you questions and determine which trip/company might best fit what you are looking for.

 

We went to China two years ago on Viking River and had a great experience. I’m sure you’ll see positive comments for other companies as well. In a nutshell with Viking the hotels were great, our tour guide was excellent, food was good and they have new modern ships (rooms have balconies). Also, on the land portion, when you were ready to leave your hotel and fly to the next city, they took your luggage and it miraculously appeared in your room at the next hotel (same applied to boat). Also, Viking has some great offers every now and then offering discounts on cabin, air or sometimes both. I’m sure the other tour companies do too. One other thing to keep in mind is that the Summer Olympics are in Beijing in 2008 so more visitors to China next year and the country is expected to be quite crowded before, after and during that time.

 

 

Steve

[WarEagle76]

Ironically, in checking my email tonight I received this from Viking River which gives you some examples of special deals they offer from time to time. The China dates are for this year and appears they are trying to unload some inventory.

 

http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/offers/28echo/imje/index.html?sssdmh=dm24.103720

 

http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/offers/28echo/cude/?sssdmh=dm24.103720

[S&LS]

Steve

 

Thanks For The Info. We Are Planning Next Year And We Know To Avoid 8/8/08 And Before And After. We Like To Cruise In Late April/early May And Think The Timming Should Be Ok

 

We Will Deffinitely Keep A Watch Out For Some Viking Specials

 

Thanks Again

 

Steve

[WarEagle76]

You are welcome. We went in May (2005) and had pretty decent weather. Not too hot, not too cool and no rain. One other idea on cruise critic is to also check under Cruise Lines - Other and you can perform searches there as well.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=218

 

There is usually some information on China there as well.

 

Steve

[WIT]

Steve

 

Thanks For The Info. We Are Planning Next Year And We Know To Avoid 8/8/08 And Before And After. We Like To Cruise In Late April/early May And Think The Timming Should Be Ok

 

We Will Deffinitely Keep A Watch Out For Some Viking Specials

 

Thanks Again

 

Steve

 

Steve - I second WarEagle76's suggestion about searching "Other Cruise Lines". After you click the address he supplied just Search within that forum for "China". The result "Viking China" contains two years of discussion on every conceivable China travel topic.

 

I suggest you consider April or October as summer is very hot and humid.

 

We start our Viking China Cultural Delights w/Hong Kong extension on 4/11/07.

 

WIT

[BCHappyGal]

Dear S & LS

 

We too are planning a Yangtze River cruise in April or May of 2008.

 

I want to sail from Chongquin to Shanghai for 7 nights on the ship. Thus I have the choice between Viking and Victoria cruise lines. Viking ship is newer and thus has an elevator. However Victoria cruise lines will let me purchase just the cruise portion and I can thus customize my China land tour whereas with Viking I have to go with their land tour without any changes.

 

Most of the Yangtze River cruises are only 4 nights and you fly from the drop off point to Shanghai.

 

Which are you looking at.

[M&T]

We are going on the Victoria Anna early June this year. It looks like a fantastic ship. I'll let you know. Marlyne

[rollingstone]

We are going on this trip in Oct of this year. I am looking forward to hearing what you think

Nancy