Yangtze River and China
 

Can anyone share their experiences on this cruise/trip? Thinking about a Uniworld offer for 17 days combined cruise and land tour. It seems to be a very small ship. We're also concerned about SARS. Thanks.

Uniworld uses several ships. Exactly which does your cruise use? We were on the Victoria 2, which was good. You can see my report, "Road to Hong Kong." ;;)

My sister took a Yangtez river cruise last year and love it. You will not expect to have cruise line like RRCL, Princess quality in China, but they do use the better/newer ships for foreigners. About SARS, nobody really knows. It seems to be under control now. Spend a few days in HOng Kong, you will love it.

Didn't I hear yesterday, that they just found another case of SARS?

I'd love to take the Yangtze cruise someday soon (before the dam destroys some of the beauty).

In 2001 we took the Yangtze River trip with Grand Circle Travel( same trip as Uniworld but $500.00 less !!) - All the tour companies use the same Chinese Lines - Victoria or Regal - the ships are fine, the food good and the shore excursions are great. ( One trouble there are long flights of stairs to climb from the water lever to the start of the excursions)

Our tour also took in Xi'an and the Li river as well as Beijian and Shanghia. :-B

We took a Yanzee river cruise on the Victoria Queen in November and it was tops. 5 star all the way. Victoria's ships are new now. We want to go back, and if we do I will take that Uniworld trip-just got their brochure and it looks great. Don't miss a China trip.

Hey du:
What is the latest timetable on the dam project flooding the valley there?
Did they mention when the cruises would cease?
Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip.
Thanks!

I am a Flight Attendant and travel to China frequently. In Sept 2003, my friends and I booked a cruise on the Presidente from Wuhan to Chongqing. (this is the most scenic part). The boat was very nice. The only problem was that our boat (an many other boats we found out later) all overbook. Even though you are prepaid and it is non refundable. We were not on a tour and had taken the overnight first class train from Beijing to Wuhan. (It was surprisingly very nice.) We arrived at the boat and discovered that several other parties were also "bumped". The cruise line does this EVERY week. They figure that they have you and you will accept anything. They showed us a room with only massage tables to sleep on, no windows and a "health club" bathroom down the hall and offered us free beverages. They showed us a crew room which was disgusting. They had different people negociating with each of the parties involved. Eventually, everyone took on of these offers. We bargained with them for 9 hours. Eventually, they closed off the entire library for us which was the entire bow of the boat including the bow of the ship balcony. They brought us beds and we got the free drinks. It was an incredible cruise!!! The rest of the boat and regular rooms were lovely. Decent food and nice events throught the day. I am 41 and we were the youngest on the cruise. Most were on a tour. Keep in mind that it may look like a western cruise, but if there are problems....bargain, bargain, bargain. ( If you are also going to Beijing, keep your shopping nickels for there. Even Hong Kong or Shangai are better than the very high prices at the cruise stops. We did buy a few things, but had to bargain about a 10th of the price. Advantage of the Presidente is that one day you disembark and they put you in small 12 people "canoes" and you go up a tributary to the Yangtze. It was the highlight of the trip. Most boats do not stop here. You may email me if you have questions. Have a great time.

Oh, you can email me a [email protected]

Have you looked into the tours from Viking River cruises? They just started Yangtze cruises this year on a new ship Century Star. All of the cabins on board are supposed to have balconies. But they only offer a 7 night cruise versus 3 or 4 nights like the other lines.

I've heard positive comments about Orient Royal cruises (East King & East Queen) but don't know which tour companies use them. Most seem to use either Victoria or Regal.

Yangtze River cruises are set up for tour groups. Individuals and family groups are not in their mainstream. When we took the cruise we were part of a tour group so we had no problem. We were asked and agreed to allow a few individual travelers to go on our buses for shore excursions or they could not go. China is the one place we have been to where being on a tour is an advantage.