Need help deciding

[halbfl2]

We are looking at the Diamond Princess cruise sailing from Beijing to Bangkok in March '10. The port times seem very short. Would appreciate anyone that has done this cruise to respond to this.

[anchorage1977]

Oh my, IMHO that is a poorly built itinerary. You can not do Shanghai in a day, Nagasaki in 6 hours etc. They crammed in too many ports and not enough overnights or multiday calls.

 

It looks like HAL has not yet published their spring 2010 itineraries, but Azamara has an interesting choice starting at $1999 March 6, 2010 on the Quest. It sails Hong Kong to Shanghai with overnights in port at Hong Kong, Tianjin(Beijing) and Shanghai. The other port times also feel more reasonable.

 

I like Princess, but I'd pass on that particular itinerary if it was me.

[newfarmers]

We are looking at the Diamond Princess cruise sailing from Beijing to Bangkok in March '10. The port times seem very short. Would appreciate anyone that has done this cruise to respond to this.

 

 

We have just got back from Legend feb 14 sailing from Shanghai to Singapore. We enjoyed itinerary and saw enough for us to go back and do it by land next time/s. Link to my travel log is below.

[anchorage1977]

We have just got back from Legend feb 14 sailing from Shanghai to Singapore. We enjoyed itinerary and saw enough for us to go back and do it by land next time/s. Link to my travel log is below.

 

Folks, your travel blog was fascinating! I dropped by to check it out and ended up spending an hour reading. Thanks for putting so much into it.

 

Happy Travels!

[newfarmers]

Folks, your travel blog was fascinating! I dropped by to check it out and ended up spending an hour reading. Thanks for putting so much into it.

 

Happy Travels!

 

 

now we've just got to work through the photos and get them posted....

[Spikesgirl]

We did the Bnagkok/Beijing cruise on the Pacific Princess and had a ball. True you are not in these cities long enough to really get to see everything, but that's usually the case on most cruises - it's more of a appetizer party than a banquet. We also added a land tour onto either end and really enjoyed the time we spent in China and Thailand. We did all ship's tours, mostly due to the various language situations, and foudn our guides knowledgeable and funny. Only place we had a problem with our guide was Nagasaki and that's because he was so soft spoken that even with the mic, you couldn't hear him.

 

I did an extensive travel diary as well. if you'd like to read it, drop me a line at charliekirby@comcast.net and I'll be happy to send it to you.

 

This is still rated our best cruise ever and we will do it again.

[halbfl2]

We did the Bnagkok/Beijing cruise on the Pacific Princess and had a ball. True you are not in these cities long enough to really get to see everything, but that's usually the case on most cruises - it's more of a appetizer party than a banquet. We also added a land tour onto either end and really enjoyed the time we spent in China and Thailand. We did all ship's tours, mostly due to the various language situations, and foudn our guides knowledgeable and funny. Only place we had a problem with our guide was Nagasaki and that's because he was so soft spoken that even with the mic, you couldn't hear him.

 

I did an extensive travel diary as well. if you'd like to read it, drop me a line at charliekirby@comcast.net and I'll be happy to send it to you.

 

This is still rated our best cruise ever and we will do it again.

 

Thanks for all the replies. We have looked at other cruises, but selected this one due to it's beginning in Beijing where we have someone to visit, and liked the idea of going all the way to Bangkok. The BIL would be with us and he was stationed in Na Trang, so wants to see it again.