Viking River Cruise
 

I am planning on taking a Viking River Cruise through China next year. Has anyone had any experiences with Viking? Travel and Leisure magazine gives them high ratings.

Viking River Cruises gave a talk at our club in June of this year.( First time we have had a tour operator speaking). Must say that they appear to be a very good outfit. I have loads of their blurb, some of which is normally not available to us mere paying customers. Ask if you want any info.

I don't have any first-hand experience of travelling with these people but my general feeling is that are at least as good as anyone doing this kind of trip.

www.leightravelclub.com

I was wondering about the number of people. Obviously, the boat holds roughly 300 people, but the land part woul be smaller. Do yo know how they handle the touring?

I have taken two 2 week Viking River cruises in Europe in the last five years and they were great. I found the company and their employees to be very competent and attentive.

I recommend them highly. My husband, who is not a great traveler, tells everyone that the Viking trips were the best trips he's ever been on.

When you were on the land for touring, did you break up into smaller groups? And were they the same groups each time you went touring??

Cannot specifically address Viking, but just returned from a river cruise in Russia (Intrav), and they broke us into smaller groups for the land tours. There were 220 passengers, and we would go on five buses with two guides on each. And then we'd split into two groups for the actual tours. Don't know if Viking does the same, but it worked well.

My husband and I just returned from a 15 day land cruise tour with Viking River cruises to China. The trip was an adventure, more than a vacation, but well worth it. Travellers are broken into small groups and each group is assigned to the same tour guide throughout the trip. The company is extremely organized but a warning that some people could not make the trip to the Great Wall or the Forbidden City due to the heat and amount of walking required. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the itinerary or what to expect.

dahling,
When you say "broken up into small groups" - do you remember approximately how many????

We also took the VRC cultural delights tour in May. We are generally not "tour people" and this was our first with any company.

I'd give the experience high marks but I would agree with the previous poster who called it an adventure, not a vacation. It is a mind-opening, sensory, overwhelming experience that really gives you great insight into the changing China.

We spent a week prior to the tour on our own and also enjoyed that. We thought it worthwhile to do a little of both: independent and tour experiences.

As to the logistics -- the company divides the group, approximately 250 of us on our May tour (a particularly large group, they said), into smaller groups of 30 or less. That group stays together for all bus tours and hotel stays. On the river cruise section, the small groups come back together for each of the daily excusions.

The tour leaders were outstanding and really were the individual point persons for each group.

Several words of advice: Don't go in the summer. It is very, very, very hot in China. We were there the last three weeks in May and it was in the 90s on many days with very high humidity. I'd go in April or October if I were to do it again.

Second, be prepared for the pollution. It so far exceeded anything I could imagine. We only saw the sun for 2 days out of the 21 days we were in China. Not rainy, just grey skies.

Finally, this is a physicially demanding tour. Lots of walking and uneven streets and paths.

You may want to check out the trip reports in the Cruise Critics boards under "other cruise lines". There's a huge Viking China thread with wonderful insights and information.

Thanks so much Dove for the info.
We will be going in Sept 08 - that's the only time we could go. And although I know it will be hot, I have no other choice.
I would imagine that breaking the toatl number of passenger into smaller groups would be necessary - but does it become cumbersome when going to museums, restaurants etc? I have been on many other group tours, but nothing quite like this and I am curious as to how it will all work out.

Lolo12 - we are headed on the Viking River Cruise "Roof of the World" tour and leaving 9/19/07 for Beijing. So far I haven't found anyone else on our particular itinerary - everyone seems to like the Culteral Delights or Imperial Jewels trip. Our trip is the one that adds Tibet. I'll post and let you know our experiences, and you're also welcome to e-mail me too to follow-up

We are also going on the Roof of the World trip, only next year. We are also takinig the Viet Nam extension.
I would love to hear all about it after you come home.

About the breakdown into small groups that LOLO12 questioned.

It's very simple. Except for the entire group being together on the boat, everything is centered around "your" small group and your individual group leader.

Viking does a very good job of "scheduling" in that each group is on its own schedule. We saw the other 9 groups (again we had 250 total)in restaurants, etc. but they did not affect our tours. the key is the group leader. Our leader, Steven, was very experienced and extremely knowledgeable and professional.

The other groups saw all the same sites but in most cases, we felt as if we were only a continguent of 25 or so. Actually, we were glad to meet some "new" people when we got on the boat. We also had two "other groups" on the boat with us: 25 from England and another 15 or so from France. They were interesting people and added to the fun of the trip.

I would emphasize again how very well run the tour was. You won't feel overwhelmed by people -- just the heat and the pollution!