Maglev

[rollingstone]

We are interested in riding the Maglev while in Shanghai. Is there a ship shuttle to take us into town? Do we need to take a cab from there? Is there a ticket machine like on a subway? Is it cash only, credit card, or will we need local currency? What is the cost? We have been to Shanghai before but did not do this. It is the only tour that my husband has said he wanted to do and I hate to have to go through the ship.

Nancy

[Cruising Retired Army SGM]

I was on the Diamond Princess last Nov 4 when we stopped in Shanghai. I I just checked all the ships shore excursion for Shanghai and they had no shore excursions that take you on the Maglev. I would suggest you set up a private shore excursion like we did and arrange for a side trip to the Maglev.

 

While I was on this cruise I was send out a daily cruise newsletter and I will cut and paste the part where we rode the Maglev:

 

The last thing we did was to ride the Maga Lev train. This is the only train in the world that travels on magnets and we were going up to 433 kilometers an hour. It only took us 8 minutes to ride from where we got on to the airport and we got off and got right back on to ride back to our bus. I had planned on doing this on Sunday night when we flew back into Shanghai. I have not had a chance to look but I do not believe any of the ships shore excursions takes you on the Maga Lev train. We arrived back at 9:15 and we had to be back at 9:30 so you see we were very close. I was the last one of our group when we boarded the ship and I asked if we were the last and I was told there were 7 more passengers still out. All in all we all think this was the best shore excursion that was had during our cruise.

[cruiseri]

Easy-take the ship shuttle into town (no charge), from there take the subway to the MAGLEV station in Pudong. Subways signs are in English also and are clearly marked. MAGLEV station is maybe 6 or so stations after Nanking stops. Go up the escalator to the MAGLEV station. Buy a ticket from the machine (I think there is a manned station where you can pay also). Almost positive they take a credit card as well as RMBs. The trip from there to the airport takes about 7 minutes (obviously you're traveling pretty fast, with no sensation of the actual speed other than the speedometer at each end of the train. . Once at the airport you can turn-around and come back to Pudong, retracing your steps (not sure if you'll need to purchase a new ticket or if can just stay on the train without needing to pay the return fare).

 

SAS

[newfarmers]

We are interested in riding the Maglev while in Shanghai. Is there a ship shuttle to take us into town? Do we need to take a cab from there? Is there a ticket machine like on a subway? Is it cash only, credit card, or will we need local currency? What is the cost? We have been to Shanghai before but did not do this. It is the only tour that my husband has said he wanted to do and I hate to have to go through the ship.

Nancy

 

hi, we caught the maglev and then the subway to nanjing road (where we were staying) in Feb of this year. it was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I would imagine you might be able to pay by cc but we paid in rmb/yuan. Didn't notice a machine, but there was a ticket counter where you are given a credit card sized token that you hand to staff before you go down on to the platform. we splurged and sat in the vip seats - you get a yellow (gold?) card and are ushered down your own set of steps. hilarious! just us and a couple of chinese. between certain times in the middle of the day it is only supposed to do 300kmh and I was very disappointed but it got up to 432kmh and I was stoked. think it cost us AUD50, about USD40 for the two of us. normal seats are half that price. would imagne you can get a shuttle to the city, then get a cab to the station or just get the subway, tochscreen pas used to buy the subway tickets. As another poster has said, the subway station you need to go to is on the pudong side of the city. you kind of leave the station and then just outside you'll see the maglev station up above you and you just go up the escalators. I think you'll have to get off but who knows if you've bought a return ticket.

 

pete

[Miss Jolly]

When are you going? We are in the midst of moving house so do not have the details with me right now. It may take me a week or two (have to get internet put on to the new house and we will be out of here any day now). My computer has gone so I have jumped onto DH's whilst he is not here - I needed a break from packing boxes so revisiting my cruise memories makes a great escape! Anyway, we did this very recently on our bangkok to Alaska cruise. We took the free ship's shuttle into Shanghai (Diamond Princess) and walked to the train station. We caught the train to the Maglev station ($AUD4) which was about 6 stations away. We did have some trouble buying this ticket because of our lack of Chinese and their lack of English. Eventually, someone with English came to help. After the very crowded train journey we then exited that station and rode the escalators (beside McDonalds's) up to the top of the maglev station where we bought our ticket for the Maglev Train. ($AUD7or8). We bought the tickets at a window with a real person selling tickets. There are English speaking hostesses to help you at the top and down on the [llatform. You are given a plastic card which is your ticket and you need to put this through the turnstyle to enter the actual station. My husband had a faulty ticket so needed help. There is not much English around at all so this did take some time.We reached speeds up to 431kms. A kind person suggested that we stand near the speedometer at the end of the carriage so he could take a photo for us. We hadn't thought of this and are now very pleased with the photo. The train is slower on the return journey (300kph) so get the photo on the first trip. You MUST exit the train and exit the platform before the returm journey. They will not allow any passengers to remain on the train. New passengers may only board the train once it is completely empty. It was very exciting and well worth doing. Easy and inexpensive. By the way, the Bund is having alot of building work at the moment.

[rollingstone]

Thank you all so much for the info. This seem very doable on our own. I just HATED the thought of paying $89 to Princess for this excursion!

Nancy

[Bufrenee]

Hi Miss Jolly,

I see you are back from your cruise. Hope you had a nice time and was able to see all the sites and do the things that you wanted to do in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

[Miss Jolly]

Hi Miss Jolly,

I see you are back from your cruise. Hope you had a nice time and was able to see all the sites and do the things that you wanted to do in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

 

 

Thank you. Yes we had a great time and managed to almost see all that we had planned. Thank you for your fantastic help in my planning. It was very beneficial.:)

[Bufrenee]

Hi Miss Jolly,

Glad you had a good time. Happy to have been of assistance.

[SACruiser2010]

Thank you. Yes we had a great time and managed to almost see all that we had planned. Thank you for your fantastic help in my planning. It was very beneficial.:)

 

Hi Miss Jolly

 

We are going on a Diamond Princess cruise from Beijing to Bangkok in April this year and I have been reading your posts regarding your ports of call planning with great interest!

 

The information that you got regarding Shanghai is just about exactly what I'd like to do. Did you run your plan according to the recommendations from Bufrenee: Catch cab to YuYuan, then walk to Bund, Nanjing, tunnel to Pudong, cab to Mag Lev etc ? What did you find worked best for you ?

 

I was thinking of doing it slightly differently: cab to YuYuan, walk to Bund, tunnel to Pudong, MRT to Maglev station, to airport and back, MRT to Nanjing Rd, walk Nanjing Rd to People's Square and meet shuttle again.

 

Should I have enough time for all that?

 

Thanks for all your (and everyone's) input on these boards. I have found them more than helpful!!

[Bufrenee]

Hi SAcruiser,

You should have plenty of time to do that but watch the time that you spend at YuYuan if you decide to go into the garden. the saving grace is that you can go direvtly yo People's square by metro and may have to skip the walk up Nanjing rd. if you run out of time.

[SACruiser2010]

Hi SAcruiser,

You should have plenty of time to do that but watch the time that you spend at YuYuan if you decide to go into the garden. the saving grace is that you can go direvtly yo People's square by metro and may have to skip the walk up Nanjing rd. if you run out of time.

 

Hi Bufrenee

 

Thanks so much for your response. What do you think is a reasonable amount of time to spend at YuYuan? I don't want to just whizz past, but at the same time I don't need to spend hours in the garden either! We'd like to take a 'quick' walk through the garden (if that's possible) and spend a bit of time looking around the bazaar area before making our way to the Bund.

 

Thanks, Taryn.

[Bufrenee]

Hi SACruiser,

I would say between 1/2 and 3/4 of an hour in the garden and another hout or so around the shops if you do not intend to do any shoppimg or dumpling eating there.

[SACruiser2010]

Hi SACruiser,

I would say between 1/2 and 3/4 of an hour in the garden and another hout or so around the shops if you do not intend to do any shoppimg or dumpling eating there.

 

Oh, I've read about the dumpling queues... is there anywhere else you can suggest we try dumplings in Asia, if we're battling for time at YuYuan?

 

How is this for an approximate timing of events:

We arrive at 7am and leave at 6pm, giving us 11 hours...but 9 hours if we'd like to get back to the drop off at 4.

 

2 hours to get from the ship to the drop off point

2 hours to visit YuYuan and surrounding

1/2 hour (?) to walk up the Bund to the pedestrian tunnel

2 1/2 hours once we've got across the river to get to the nearest metro and catch the train to the Maglev station, catch the maglev and back, and return to the Bund

1 1/2 hours to walk down Nanjing road, making our way back to the shuttle drop-off by 4pm.

 

Is this cutting it too close ?

[Bufrenee]

I Think you should be OK on that schedule. The trip from ship to drop off point is about 1 hr at most so when you say 2 hours I am assuming that you have included the time to disembark and catch the shuttle. You can still have dumplings at Yu yuan if not at the one with the long lineups. If you are there early there may not be any lineup to buy some and eat them whilst looking around. Make sure that you do not waste any time and just cab it to YuYuan from the drop off point. This will take at least 20 minutes dependant on the rush hour traffic.

Again 1 1/2 hours to walk up Nanjing road is ample if you are not shopping. It is just a street with half of it being a walking street with all sorts of shops. It is pretty at night with all the lights on but nothing much during the day.

[SACruiser2010]

I Think you should be OK on that schedule.

 

Thanks for all your help :)

[SACruiser2010]

Hi Bufrenee

 

With all your experience in Shanghai, I wondered if you had any tips/hints/ideas for Taipei ?

 

Have you been to the zoo there ?

 

We're trying to work out where the best place to see Panda's might be at one of our stops.

 

Thanks!

[Bufrenee]

Hi SA Cruiser,

Firstly, only spent about 8 hours in Taipei, so don't know it that well. Not a place that I returned to. Spent most of my time in China, Hong Kong (Born there),Thailand, Singapore,and Japan.

You will be lucky if you are in Shanghai in April as there will be about 10 pandas there for the Shanghai World Expo starting in May. However it means that your plans may have to change and personally I would forgo the Maglev and Pudong for the Pandas. We saw them in Beijing just after the Olympics, biggest highlight of our trip, so much so that we returned three months later. Make that your first stop as they are most active early in the morning.

[Bufrenee]

SACruiser,

Forgot to mention that the Pandas will be at the Shanghai Zoo, till June when they move to the Shanghai wildlife Zoo.

The Zoo is about a 5o yuan taxi ride from the town centre and about 1/2 hour away.

If you need any more info or help in your planning, let me know.

[SACruiser2010]

SACruiser,

Forgot to mention that the Pandas will be at the Shanghai Zoo, till June when they move to the Shanghai wildlife Zoo.

The Zoo is about a 5o yuan taxi ride from the town centre and about 1/2 hour away.

If you need any more info or help in your planning, let me know.

 

Hi there!

 

Gee, what a wealth of information you are. Thanks so much. Will look into the zoo and update our itineraries right now. If we can see the panda's there, then it saves a lot of hassle in Taipei. We're not really into seeing every museum and temple, so we'll head over to Taipei 101, maybe watch the changing of the guards, and have a general wonder with our time before heading back on the train to Keelung.

 

One more question... in Singapore we are very keen to jump off the shuttle and head straight to Jurong Bird Park. From there go see the Orchids at the Botanic Gardens, and if time, throw a Singapore Sling down the gullet.

 

Are we mad trying to do this in one day ? I did a search online today and it reckons the travel time from +/- Orchard Rd to Jurong Bird Park is 90mins and then a further 90mins to go from there to the Botanic Gardens. Is there any other route you can recommend, or should we taxi it ? We arrive in Singapore at 07:00 and leave at 16:00.

 

Would it be easier to email me at tarynv@gmail.com to chat offline?

 

Thanks once again for all your help - really appreciated.

[Bufrenee]

I think you can do all that> Go directly from the cruise terminal to the Botanic Gardens. You should be able to get there by the MRT, The gardens are big so depending on what you want to see you will have to time it so that you get to Jurong Bird Park for their opening. You can do that by MRT to Boon Lay and a bus from there. Spend a couple of hours there and go by bus and MRT to Raffles, lunch around there and go for your sling at the long bar and getting the MRT back to the cruise terminal.No problems in travel there if you watch your time. Cab when you have to, dependant on time. I all depends on what you are wanting to see.at the gardens and the bird park. For Shanghai and the Pandas get someone to write in Chinese the Shanghai Zoo which is in Hongqiao. Get there first then cab back to Yu Gardens and from there walk along the Bund to Nanjing Road. You will even have time to have see the gardens at Yu Yuan and have some dumplings at one of the restaurants.

[SACruiser2010]

I think you can do all that

 

Will we dock right in town in Singapore being on the Diamond Princess? I seem to have found differing information. It looks as if we might be in a container port some 20 minutes away.

 

Don't know why but thought it might be easier to go to Jurong first. Was that 90min estimation to Jurong from town on MRT and buses correct? We only want to see the Orchids at the Botanic Gardens and that section opens at the same time as Jurong. Can't see us spending hours there. We'd prefer to spend most of our time at Jurong. I sat down and tried to estimate timings and this is what I came up with:

Get to Jurong by 8:30 (3hours)

Get to Orchids by 12:00 (cab from Jurong ?) (1 hour)

Get to Raffles by 13:30 (cab from Gardens ?) (1 hour)

Back to boat by 3ish.

 

Is that cutting it fine ? Think we'll just have to cab it to all places...

[Bufrenee]

Yes,you could be right about the container port which is one of the largest in the world. I had assumed that you would dock at he cruise terminal opposite Sentosa island. Whichever way you want to start should be fine in terms of timing. Singapore is after all a small place and traffic is orderly. You could go bypublic transport and cabs which are plentiful. Have a nice trip!

[SACruiser2010]

Yes,you could be right about the container port which is one of the largest in the world. I had assumed that you would dock at he cruise terminal opposite Sentosa island. Whichever way you want to start should be fine in terms of timing. Singapore is after all a small place and traffic is orderly. You could go bypublic transport and cabs which are plentiful. Have a nice trip!

 

Okay, thanks very much! We shall... and mostly thanks to your brilliant advice.

 

Taryn