Suggestions needed for Beijing

[abpie56]

Will be traveling to Beijing for Oct 1st sailing of Sapphire Princess. Any suggestions on great hotels in Beijing, private tour companies and sights to see? If there is anyone on this cruise that is interested in setting up some private tours in any ports of call, I'm open to suggestions. Princess tours are traditionally overpriced and too many people. Much better to go privately. :) :) :)

[Philip217]

Go no further. You nearly found it.

Right next to your post is another post titled, "An Expat's Guide to Beijing".

It answers most of your questions very well.

As a longtime China resident - much of it in Beijing - I find the info and knowledge posted there to be very good.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I agree with Philip--that thread has great information!

 

Beijing is a great city to have a guide.

 

Our guide's name was Catherine, and she has two e-mail addresses. You can reach her at either:

snow_lxh@163.com

 

Catherine_1130@hotmail.com

If you contact her, please tell her that "Jayne from Intel" recommended her. She was great! :)

 

You can learn more about her and see some of her offerings on her blog: http://www.catherine-travelinchina.blogspot.com/

 

Catherine is 25 years old and graduated from university. She has a sweet, bubbly personality and never failed to tell us about the history of each place. She's very easy to talk to and we discussed a lot about what it was like to live in China as a young, single person and the cultural differences between China and the U.S. The day we spent with her was truly a highlight of my trip to China.

 

She was very prompt in meeting us, and she provided a driver and a van. She chose a wonderful restaurant for us to have lunch. She was very flexible--the rest my group had a meeting in the morning they had to attend so Catherine picked me up at the hotel and off we went to the Temple of Heaven. We were talking on the way and she was asking me questions about myself and my family. I happened to mention that I'm a quilter and she asked if I'd be interested in touring a silk factory. I really appreciated that she added that stop in just because she knew I'd like--no extra charge. She even went with us to the Silk Market at the end of the day and she helped me bargain for my purchases--got some great prices! We all gave her a nice tip at the end of the day.

 

Have a fabulous trip!

 

Jayne

[mindyme]

Lots of information on the different ports.

Here is a link to take you there http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=356000

 

31 pages of interesting reading. Enjoy

[novemberbravo1974]

Best Hotel in Beijing - Peninsular Beijing - Drop the extra and get a Club Room, they are very nice rooms and the Peninsular service is second to done, ( Club Floors get private check in, executive lounge etc etc ) a really nice play to stay. Also nice and close to shopping areas.

 

2nd Best Hotel in Beijing - Grand Hyatt - Lovely place to stay also, cannot fault it. Its built over a great Mall with everything you could want. The shops in the Mall are great but nothing you wont see elsewhere in Asia. Better to do you shopping in the markets and on the street side stores.

 

If you need a guide I will recommend Heidi over at Easternshine, She looked after my group off the Diamond Princess, Faultless service and she's knows her stuff like most of the good guides do and she even knows how to get to the cruise ship wharf at Xingang. I liked her service because it was seamless from the moment she picked us up till the moment we walked into the Airport to fly to Hong Kong. If she says she will be waiting at 10am in your lobbey better she will be, she's like a Japanese subway train!!!

 

You can reach on heidi on her email at heidi_xie@hotmail.com tell her Norman from Australia told you about her, She gets alot of business from cruise passengers from previous experience and alot of her business is repeat business etc. She knows all the good places plus the tourist places. Beijing rocks despite the air pollution you will have a top time. ( Make sure if you use her you go to the Hutongs, She knows all the good places to eat and drink )

 

Enjoy your Trip!!!!

 

Regards

novemberbravo1974