China

[Bob]

Help my wife convince me that a cruise to China next October is going to be a great trip. If we go it will be on the Diamond, which having read the post most people say it's a great ship. So any past cruisers to China please give me your opinions. Thanks

[michka]

Sorry you're not getting much feedback on China. There's only a few Princess itineraries to China per year, Aprilish and Octoberish. You migh get more responses in October.

I have a Beijing to Osaka booked for April 05, and I'm just it will be a great exotic destination;)

[UK Cruiser]

Bob - I'll be interested in any answers to this question as we have booked the Diamond in November '05 - Bangkok to Beijing.

 

I will be checking the weather conditions this year to give us some idea of what to expect.

[relevart]

When I got back from the 30 day Bangkok to Venice on the Star I was telling my cardiologist about it and he looked at me rather jealously and said he had just gotten back from China. He said a ship is really the way to do it you can soak in the sights and culture during the day and get back to the clean ship to bathe, eat and sleep!

 

I remember years ago being on a train in China, it was full of little roaches. When we got to the hotel we put all of our clothes in a bag and sent them to the laundry.

[MichTraveler]

I would love to do China by cruise. I did a land tour in 97 and it was wonderful. I usually travel alone or with small group without guides, but did China with a group from BYU. We wasted so much time at airport waiting for luggage, travel to hotel, checking into/out of hotels, etc. A cruise allows such a better way to experience the sights of China without those delays and frustrations. But I have some of the best travel memories from that trip. Our group of 40 did 2 weeks in Toyko, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Cambodia on that trip. A smaller group of 10 of us added another 4 days to go back into China and see Beijing. I just couldn't be in that part of the world and not see the Great Wall or other Beijing sights. I am a picky eater, so it would have been wonderful to have my evening meals on the ship. You must convince him to go!

[PescadoAmarillo]

I did a land tour to China this past spring, and loved every minute of it. The hotels we stayed at were very modern and clean; in fact, in Beijing we were upgraded to a two story, two bedroom, two bath suite for just myself and my friend, by far the nicest room I've ever had in ANY country. I think they are really gearing up for the Olympics.

 

China is so culturally different from what we are used to, I think it's a wonderful destination for either land or cruise travel. Most of the cities we visited were near the ocean, so we could have done them by ship. I would definitely add on a Yangtze River cruise before the Three Rivers Gorge is dammed up, and a land tour to Xian to see the terra cotta warriors.

 

The only issue we had was with the food. Every meal we had was a feast, I'm sure, but it was very different from what we're used to. Don't get me wrong...we are travelers, and immerse ourselves as best we can into the local culture, but I just can't eat certain things, soup made from animal blood and anything with an eye staring at me being among them. Thank goodness we had American breakfasts every morning, and sustained ourselves on those, rice and the watermelon they serve for dessert at every meal. That would be another advantage to cruise travel...you would recognize your dinner every night!

[ALM]

We did Hong Kong to Bejing 2 years ago on the Regal. We did the pre and post cruise tour offered by Princess and would highly recommend it. We were treated like gold. Plently of sight seeing but also plenty of time on your own to shop and sight see. On the cruise we went to places we probably never would have seen, South Korea, Osaka, Hiroshama. I would highly recommend a cruise to any exotic place as the way to go. Let's you experience a foreign country but go back to the ship every night. If there is something we really like we figure we will go back on our own on another trip.

Hope that helps

Allison

[rkacruiser]

I visited China as part of the 2002 Volendam Asia Pacific Cruise. I participated in several shore excursions operated by the ship and believe that is an excellent way to sample the culture and still be able to return to the creature comforts that one is used to. We visited Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, and Xiamen as well as Hong Kong. I really enjoyed all and wish I had had more time in each city.

 

Every Chinese citizen I met was friendly and pleasant. Tour guides were excellent and spoke better English than the guides I experienced in Japan.

 

I was greatly impressed with the antiquity of their culture. Europe was still trying to decide if the world was flat when China's culture was near its zenith.

 

As to the cuisine, there are so many courses served at a typical Chinese dinner that one is certain to find many things that would be enjoyable to eat. Part of the fun of traveling is the chance of trying new dishes. If you have not tried it before, be certain to partake of dim sum everywhere it is served. The different regions of China seem to serve their own form of this delight.

 

I strongly suggest viewing the movie "The Last Emporer" before going to China. The movie was filmed in part in the Forbidden City, so you get a preview of that fantastic site. Plus, you will learn a bit of recent Chinese history.

 

I look forward to a return visit to China! I hope you will enjoy your visit, too.

[rothsix]

Plus, Our October sailing on the Diamond has a GREAT group on our roll-call. It is going to be a blast. Hope to see you come along!

 

Derrick

[Hlitner]

We did a 16 day Pacific Princess ..Bangkok to Beijing cruise this past June/July. When we disembarked in China, we also did a 9 day land tour. We loved every minute of the cruise and land trip and we did have a few other posts on this board when we were actually aboard the ship. China (and most of Asia) is a fascinating place with diverse culture and food. China is particularly interesting if you travel in the country with an open mind, and realize that they have come very far in just the past 15 years. Yes, they have far to go, but it truly is one of the most interesting countries in the world.

 

Hank

[Sylvia G]

Hank, this is just the cruise that we are considering for this coming June/July. How was the weather? Was it very hot?

Did you need to take all the shore excursions, or did you do some on your own?

Do you have any cabin recommendations?

We were thinking of taking the 5 day land portion in Beijing, then the cruise, and then adding an extra day or two in Bangkok at the end.

Thanks for any info.

 

Sylvia in Philly

[ARTGRL]

we're doing Oceania in March '06 beijing-hong kong- check it out:D

[gailzangen]

Is anyone booked on this cruise?

[cruisinlivin]

When I got back from the 30 day Bangkok to Venice on the Star I was telling my cardiologist about it and he looked at me rather jealously and said he had just gotten back from China. He said a ship is really the way to do it you can soak in the sights and culture during the day and get back to the clean ship to bathe, eat and sleep!

 

I remember years ago being on a train in China, it was full of little roaches. When we got to the hotel we put all of our clothes in a bag and sent them to the laundry.

 

 

Relevart,

 

When did you take the train tour in China?

[Beehive]

try taking a cruise on Viking Rivere Cruises. We are going with them on a land/cruise tour which sounds wonderful. thread is under "Other cruises".

[Beehive]

try taking a cruise on Viking Rivere Cruises. We are going with them on a land/cruise tour which sounds wonderful. thread is under "Other cruises".

[Beehive]

try taking a cruise on Viking Rivere Cruises. We are going with them on a land/cruise tour which sounds wonderful. thread is under "Other cruises".

[Spikesgirl]

We did a 16 day cruise on the Pacific Princess this past July/August and it is easy to say that it was the cruise of a lifetime. We enjoyed the itinerary very much and had a great time in our ports of call. You can reead our review under Pacific Princess 7/06 and I will be happy to answer any questions you might have, either here or via my email at: charliekirby@comcast.net

 

For Sylvia - yes, the weather was beastly hot in June/July. The humidity was probably the worst for us, but we have relatively low humidity in the Central Valley, so that was definitely a factor for us.

 

We did mostly ship excursions, including a 10-day land tour, which included Beijing, Xi'an and a five day cruise down the Yangtze (this was particularly incredible. Princess uses Victoria instead of Viking, but it was a great little ship and the crew really works hard to make it an experience for you. We also did a four day pre cruise in Bangkok and really enjoyed that time. Again for exact details, you can read our review.

 

Because of the time we spent on the ship, we opted for the OS on the Pacific. It was a little pricy, but the huge balcony and free laundry really made up for it.

 

Hope this helps a little!

 

Charlie

[muggo11]

For the life of me I can't find a Princess cruise (or any cruise) in that time frame for China? I AM looking at Viking. Any other cruise lines I should look at. Due to work and school, my son and I can only go in July and early August.

[cruisinlivin]

For the life of me I can't find a Princess cruise (or any cruise) in that time frame for China? I AM looking at Viking. Any other cruise lines I should look at. Due to work and school, my son and I can only go in July and early August.

 

I think you are talking solely about a Yangtze River cruise, Princess doesn't cruise the Yangtze.

 

We did a 45 day tour of Asia that included a pre-cruise tour of Tokyo then China that I designed with a Chinese TA. It was wonderful. We toured entirely on our own on trains, planes, boats, and buses meeting guides in some cities and touring on our own in others. We cruised the Yangtze with Dragon cruises on the Serenity. It is a wonderful Chinese cruise line. Our cabin was beautiful natural cherry wood and quite large. The service was beyond compare. The food was delicious and the tours included with the cruise were also terrific. We toured Xi'an, Yachang, Chungching, Dazu, Guilin, Li River cruise, Yangshou, Chengdu, and Beijing before the our Princess cruise from Beijing to Bangkok. We did all private tours arranged by our CC group while on the cruise. Then we toured Seam Reap, Phuket and Bangkok on our own. Every where we went to local people were very friendly and helpful. Even though we could not communicate in their language we managed to get around easily and often be guided by with lots of pointing and hand signals. It was a lot of fun.

 

We had a great CC group for the trip. Lots of participation. Many taking the lead with different areas of interest in each location.

 

Asia is definitely a place that needs many recurring visits.

 

We tend to travel with a more local flavor than Western.

 

Enjoy your Yangtze cruise. It will be hot and humid in July/August but if that is the only time you can go make the best of it. It was raining and foggy most of our trip but even then it was beautiful. The countryside is sharp and rugged at some point and green and rolling at others. It is an amazing story as you move along the river. Watch for the water mark signs to show how the river was swamped as the dam usage was increased. Whole new cities were built very quickly to get the people on the lower banks move up hill. The Ghost City/City of the Dead will probably be flooded by now or close to it. They were building the flood wall when we were there.

 

By the way, you can get very good prices for the Yangtze cruise from some TAs better than what you see on some of the websites. I can give you the name of the one we used if you email me. Most Westerner's prefer Victoria because it is American owned. For that reason though it is more expensive than others.

 

Have a wonderful time.

[M&T]

You might want to check out tripadvisor forums for more information. It is similar to this board. You can go to forums for many different cities. Marlyne