To cruise or not to cruise?
 

I have never been to China and am considering a trip next June for 13-16 days to Shanghai, Beijing and Xian. I see where the various companies offer trips with and without cruises on the Yangtze River. My wife and I are in our mid 40s. For those of you who have been to China, would you recommend a 4 day cruise or would we get more out of our trip if we skipped it? Thank you.

Dave,<BR>For a first trip to China, I'd skip the cruise. While I disagree with Peter that the cruise is a waste of time, I do agree that there are many more interesting things to see, especially on your first trip, and 4 days is a lot of time that could be better spent.

I say take the cruise. I found it to be fascinating - both for the beauty of the gorges and the opportunity to see the "working river" (barges loaded with everything from logs to watermelons making their way down the river). You will see high-rise cities, small villages, and farms along the river. It is one of the world's major rivers (third longest, I think, after the Nile and the Amazon)and so important in Chinese history and to Chinese life today that I think it would be a shame to go all that way and miss it. For a great book about the river, read The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time, by Simon Winchester.

Assuming I'm the Peter referred to above (and apologies if I'm not), my view is in fact is that the cruise is highly overrated, that most people who mention it on this site have paid far too much (in some cases '$800 for an upgrade' for instance, spectacularly so), and that there's a general hysteria about its supposed disappearance as a travel experience which is based on inaccurate assumptions, and would have been more appropriate nearly a century ago when most important changes to the river took place.<BR><BR>It's a pleasant enough trip, but largely invented (especially the tour guides' narratives) to please tourists, and while it acts as a pleasant respite for those on a relentless schedule (tour guides tend to like it for that reason), it's not the best way to spend four days out of a limited holiday when there are so many other more spectacular and truly Chinese things to do.<BR><BR>Whether it would be worth choosing an organised tour without the cruise over one with it would partly depend on what the substitution would be. Perhaps davidcdavis could tell us?<BR><BR>Peter N-H<BR>http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html<BR>

We are just back from a 17 day tour of China which included Beijing, Xian, Yangtze cruise, Hangzhou, Suizhau and Shanghai. I would say that one of the highlights of the trip was the Yangtze cruise which I believe would be a mistake to miss. The scenery was geat along the way, very busy river so lots to see. Every morning we sat outside on the deck with our coffee and at night also. We were seldom in our room which wasn't great on our cruise ship (MS Serenity) but well geared for viewing with lots of windows and outdoor space. We took in the 3 gorges as well which maybe every ship does. It was great as well.<BR><BR>Laurie

I would DEFINATELY do the Yangtze cruise. We did the upstrean with Regal China Cruise Line. It was GREAT, the facilities, meals and guides were excellent. The boats are rated as a 5 star hotel, and it shows. There are side trips at two or three ports included. We did upgrade to the suite, lots more room. Go to http://www.regalchinacruises.com/ to check out the cruises.

We just returned from the Regal cruise/China tour last week. <BR><BR>I think you should do one. It was a great break in a 17 day tour and gave us time to rest, relax and meet our fellow travelers. The cabins on our ship were tiny....real tiny, but we were never in them. The service was great and we made friends with some of the staff. You do see a lot of China. I do not know if I could have done those same 5 days on bus tours.<BR><BR>My recommendation: Book the cruise. If you are in doubt do the 3 day downstream instead of 5 day upstream. Some of the "experts" on this forum give bad advice for first time travelers.