Has anyone been on a Ritz Tour to: Beijing, Xian, 4 day River Cruise and Shanghai. I'd like some fedback on what you thought. Was it well organized? Any problems? Was the boat ok? Any info you can share I'd appreciate. Thanks in advance.

TTT

Our trip with Ritz was excellent. Everyone double tipped our guide. Excellent hotels, boat was fine, not one problem in 20 days. Click on my name and some of my others posts on Ritz will come up. We were worried because they are so much more economical than other companies, but by coincidence met two couples about the time we were deciding to book, who had great experiences with them too. You won't be disappointed.

Hi Connette,
About Ritz tours. Are the travelers mostly Asian or Caucasian, or it is a mix? Are the tour guides English speaking. Friends of ours went on a tour that was mostly Asian. Had a good time, but thought we should look into.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Annie

Sorry for the delay in response. I have been out of the country. There were only Americans. I think that is their market base. There were some of Asian decent (our friends for one) but there are from Reno. All spoke very good English and were easy to understand.

Thanks for responding. I am still looking through several brochures of different companies. Will likely take a Ritz tour, because they seem to be well priced, and have had positive feedback on this forum. Other considerations are: China Focus, Pacific Delight (their least expensive category-as we are interested in the sights not the wining and dining of tours like Tauck), Globus. There are so many to pick from, it becomes overwhelming to decide what to see, how long to go for, etc. Your post, was one of the reasons I looked at Ritz!
Thanks

A couple more things that just came to mind. I think they are very organized and quite competent as we were never delayed. Not once in 3 weeks. Maybe just lucky too?? We had 9 flights in country and many more logistics too of course. Another pleasant thing was out of all of our meals - we only had 1 bad one. I think it could not be avoided though, because we had to eat at a hotel very near an airport because of the days schedule. I found that remarkable. Hotels were top notch as well. China is so wonderful. We reminisce all of the time. Even last night a we watched a documentary on the Great Wall. We usually never take organized tours (only 2 ever to Egypt and China) but was just not comfortable going it alone there.

Thanks so much for your response, Connette - I'd seen (in posts made in 2002)that Ritz spend too much time on "shopping" and not enough time sightseeing. Your response was much more positive. Perhaps they have cut back on wasted shopping time. We're planning to go in June - Hope it won't be too hot then! Any other info you or anyone else can share would be greatly appreciated. We always travel independently - so it's hard imagining how a tour will go. Thanks again.

I should mention that there was too much shopping. I am a non-shopper, so any shopping is too much shopping. Our family was the only ones who did not want to shop. Many people love it. I think that is one of the biggest drawbacks to tours. In Cairo our trip to probably the most famous museum in the world was cut short to go shopping. It drives me nuts.

Whitewing and Connette
Me and DH would like to go in June. Whitewing. have you chosen Ritz? If so, which trip? I'm sure the weather will be warm to hot, and muggy.
As to the shopping, I hate it too. From everything I've read, all tours do it. Clearly, the tour companies get kickbacks. Just something that comes with the territory, unfortunately. Connette, reading your remarks about Ritz, is helping us make the decision. Thanks for the input regarding food, hotels, etc. I get more excited with each passing day! I am indecisive, DH is out of town (coming back today). We have five brochures. RItz and China Focus have the best deals. We are familiar with Globus. Have a brochure from Laurus and Orient and China Flexipax. They are higher priced. Also have info from Pacific Delight.THey have three levels of trips.
If anyone wants to weigh in the discussion, please do! Given the fact that I want to go in June, need to make a decision relatively soon.
Thanks
Annie

I would suggest searching this site for Ritz Tours. I thought I had read some poor reviews a while back....

I'm going on the Viking River Cruise tour with your exact itinerary in 9 days. If you can wait, I'll give a review.

Hi Annieskes, We have chosen the Ritz Golden Yangtze Discovery - 14 days by Ritz. We chose upstream to eliminate another change of hotel for 1 night. We are going June 26th.
We checked them price for price and tour for tour what was included etc. Seemed to meet our needs. Looking forward to it very much.

Hi Whitewing,
Good point about the upstream tour vs the downstream. hadn't looked at it that way. Less packing/unpacking sounds good. That tour is on my list. I will make a decision about which tour company, over the weekend. Ritz is up there, but have not ruled out China Focus, or Pacific Delight-their superior value class, either.

Hi Connette, Understand you've traveled with Ritz Tours and had a good experience. I read a review in Epinions for the same 14 day trip were considering and it seemed to be a disaster. The writer objected to the hassle regarding tipping and the frequent shopping stops (he referred to being held hostage until someone purchased something). Worst of all, he found the guide uninformed and not very helpful. Is there a way one can request a better guide? This will be our first trip to China and we're looking foreward to it. The above comments are definitely spoilers.

Dear Sailor7,
Boy, not sure what to say here. We did not have any type of experience that you describe. I don't quite understand the tip thing? We tipped the host guide at the end and the local guides as we went. Same as any tour. It was discretionary. We had great guides everywhere so felt very good about tipping. I don't recall any restaurant tipping? Maybe you could call Ritz and talk to them about your concerns. Our guides name was Simon if that helps. He was beyond helpful. He could not have been better. I don't want to talk someone into using a company if they don't feel right about it. I can only tell you about the experience the 6 of us had. No one on our tour was disappointed. I think we had about 18 people or so.