Steve007NY

We are seriously considering taking the Victoria Prince weeklong cruise from Chongqing to Shanghai (APR 30- 6 MAY) Although there have been some negative comments about this long a cruise, my traveling companion is fairly flight phobic, so disembarking at Yichang and flying to Shanghai kills a day as he ‘detoxes’ from the meds to board the plane! (it’s one thing to recuperate after JFK-Beijing, but another to lose a day after a 90 min flight.)

It seems like the advantages beyond that are that the final 3 days includes 8 hours in Wuhan, 9 ½ hours at Yellow Mountain (Huangshan) and 12 hours in Nanjing. Also, without a flight, we can shop in Beijing and Xi’an and not worry about the low weight allowance on domestic flights.

Has anyone done this cruise? Although the ‘stops’ are widely discussed, I’ve found little information on the specifics of the itineraries for shore excursions. Is there flexibility for us to make our own shore excursions? Suggestions of specifics of where to eat, what to see in these three stops?

One more: Ideally, we would take a soft-sleeper train (T class) Xi’an to Chongqing, which arrives at 9:55 AM. Ship leaves at 11AM. Is this ‘do-able? The alternative to this is a plain, slower, numbered (all I can find is non-air-conditioned) train that gets in before 8. How bad are these (they DO offer soft-sleeper).

Our alternative is to add a day in Xi’an, take the President 1 for ¾ days to Yichang, fly Shanghai and have an extra day there as well.

ANY and all thoughts, feedback welcome….
Thanks

Steve

Kathie

Steve, my recommendation, frankly, is that your traveling companion get treated for the flight phobia. Many places have "Fear of Flying" classes or he could get individual treatment. Cognitive-behavioral treatment is pretty quick and effective and lasts a lifetime.

rkkwan

Nanjing has quite a few interesting sites and Huangshan is really worth a visit. I think if you have the time and don't mind the boring view along the river, it shouldn't be that bad of a trip.

Huangshan is very far from the Yangtze, so you basically have to take their excursions. Nanjing, if you know where you want to go, you can probably get a taxi or car/driver to gain some flexibility and save some money. I don't know specifics or contacts.

Wuhan is a large city, but not that interesting.

As for the train from Xian to Chongqing, it shouldn't be too warm at that time of the year. But the problem with the slow trains is that they stop often. I know I always wake up when the train stops.

Steve007NY

Kathie-

I'm actually chair at a medical school dept. of psychiatry. if you ARe, or have been, in a relationship, you know how 'easy' it is to get treatment for a partner! (he flunked out of the American Airlines Fear of Flying class!) Frankly, he's flown 100,000 miles... we're naturally flying to asia (actually, JFK-LAX-NRT-SIN-PEK.) Crazy route, but free First Class in Singapore. I've learned not to push my luck for short internal flights!

Steve007NY

rkkwan-

Thanks for the fedback! We;re long veterans of overnight trians in Thailand, Indonesia and such... actually, I find the rocking motion very somnorific, though might awaken for two minutes on the stops. But heck...lots of time to sleep on the cruise!

Kathie

Ok, Steve, you obviously know about the options! I completely understand what you are saying.

Elainee

Can't comment about the stops, but we did a Victoria Yangtze cruise and I was very impressed. Boat is nice, the crew could not try harder, food ok to good, lectures and entertainment much better than I expected. I loved the cruise and felt the experience gave us a different view of China. The crew gets a training course every year to learn to put on the entertainment. The crew sees their work on the ship a big step in learning Western ways and how to deal with foreigners.

Steve007NY

ttt