Ritz tours
 

Has anyone used Ritz tours lately? We are thinking of taking the 16 day tour which includes a 6 day downstream cruise on the Yangtze River in July. The tour ends in Shanghai, so we could add a few days there, and then go to Guilin. Do you get to visit all the sites they list? Comments from Ritz users would be most helpful. Thank you

Did you go on the ritz tour? Am thinking about the 10 or 15 day tour.

Our trip to China is scheduled for July 2004. We are not going Ritz because they sent canned answers to my e-mail questions--couldn't be bothered answering my particular questions? Also, they had several bad reports here and on Frommers boards. We are using another company.

We used Ritz for a 19 day China tour in 2002. They could not have been better and we are a bit picky I must say. Hotels were top of the line. Our tour guide Simon was fantastic. Most everyone double tipped him. Everything ran like clock work. No delays - ever. Only one bad restaurant in nearly 50 meals. It was near an airport though and could probably not be helped. We were reluctant to go with them, primarily because they were priced considerably lower than ALL of the others. But, by coincidence we meet two different people who highly recommended them and they were right. The only draw back I had, was there were too many shopping activities. Our tour guide called himself a non-shopper and that is what I consider myself as well. But I have to tell you there were 19 in our group and everyone there wanted more shopping - so I was a minority. I did not converse by email, but rather by phone and had no trouble. There were 6 in our party. Hope this helps. P.S. Don't miss Guilin. It was actually part of our tour. The Li River, visiting family farms and unbelievable $10.00 massage was a highlight and great memory!

Check out www.absoluteasia.com

they are great at planning trips in asia and are highly responsive and friendly to work with.

Just returned from a Ritz tour.. I really have no complaints other than their lack of information they send you. I have taken about 20 organized tours and I recieved less information from them than any other company i have ever used. We were insecure about being picked up and had virtually no information on what was included in our city stays. But everything worked out and I feel it was a good value. One thing not mentioned is paying departure taxes in every China airport. 50 yaun for domestic flights and 90 for international..