China Cruise - Unique Experience.

We took the twelve day Sinorama sponsored “China Legend Yangtze River Cruise” cruising aboard the Century Diamond from Shanghai to Chongqing plus the additional two days in Shanghai, in late November early December 2014.

Sinorama staff are generally understandable in English and provided excellent information on the itinerary, Visas, currency exchange and Chinese luggage limits. Internet registration, check in, check out and provided documentation were seamless.

We were disappointed that Sinorama decided to fly us out of Toronto rather than Vancouver - a 14 ½ hour flight versus a 12 hours plus the additional 1 hour connecting flight for us.

Staff meet us at the Shanghai airport and transported us to and from a luxurious hotel; although it was some distance from downtown, near some local restaurants (including KFC) and a shopping centre. The hotel Asian and Western breakfast was awesome! Had a morning bus tour of the city highlights with a competent English speaking guide. The cruise information lead us to believe would cruise from Shanghai to Nanjing; instead we had a 4 ½ hour bus ride. We were also disappointed with our brief visit to Chongqing (left 6:00 A.M.) at the end of our cruise.

The ship, Century Diamond, has an attractive interior decor. Our room (417) was spacious (larger than some ocean cruises), clean (with the exception of one slight carpet stain), limited “bruises”, a coffee maker, reasonable storage and numerous amenities (dental supplies, tissue, comb, shower cap, drinking glasses, fridge, slippers and wonderful bath robes). Our steward kept our room in excellent order and promptly provided the items we requested. A small daily extra tip may have helped! Although the ambient temperature was in the 7 to 15 degree C range, the ship air conditioning was inadequate in our room and the dining room. Our veranda door was open nearly all the time. Our other room utilities functioned flawlessly. Staff provided a conversion for our electrical connection. They ran after us at check out, with an article we had intentionally left behind.

The meals were mostly served buffet style (twice – table service) in the attractive dining room with white table cloths. Breakfast suited our Western tastes with juices, coffee, fruit, eggs, sausage, bacon, cold and hot cereal. Lunch and dinner were of a more local flavour; mostly stir-fry or sauced entrees with at least four “meat” dishes at every meal and soup. “Meat” served - in order of frequency of service - pork, chicken, fish, beef, duck and rabbit. Meals in local restaurants, while on tour, were similar. The five spice seasoning odour and taste became tiresome. The buns was wonderful. We would have preferred pasta and tossed salad on a regular basis. Numerous deserts were served with lunch and dinner. Tiramisu is not a custard with chocolate shavings! The Jell-O was usually tasteless; however, the pastries were great. Our server, Coco, literally ran to provide us with service. Other staff keep the buffet line and area pristine. It seemed odd that at the first (welcome) dinner, guests were allowed only one beverage. All subsequent lunches and dinners were accompanied by frequently replenished glasses of local red wine or beer. White wine was at an additional cost. We enjoyed the wine and beer with the exception of two days, when the wine was flavourless. Coffee was not always available but was served during afternoon “tea”.

We were fortunate to be accompanied on shore excursions by Jeffery, easily understandable in English, considerate of the physical ability and needs of his clients. He was a “walking encyclopedia” of places visited, provided guidance on extra walking tours, shopping, utilized his personal equipment for our benefit and briefed us daily on the upcoming day’s events. The excursions were informative, interesting and sporadically scenic or amazing, some involved bus rides (the buses don’t have washrooms, in one case, the bus wasn’t to Western standards of cleanliness), are for persons able to walk for a half hour or climb a series of stairs. The local English speaking guides were at times difficult to understand. Our 60’s group found the pace appropriate. We also very much enjoyed the two day extended tour of Shanghai which included market shopping, river cruise, acrobatics show and walking the Bund. Our guide, Rocky, provided us with political and economic insights.

The evening entertainment on-board was amateurish compared to other cruises as it included a movie, masked ball, bingo, a game party, crew and passenger talent nights. There were on board presentations on traditional Chinese medicine, silk scarfs, fresh water pearls, Chinese dumplings, the game “mah-jong”. Thai Chi practice and acupuncture were available daily on board.

On board shopping included jewelry and bottles painted from the inside by an on board artist.

Hint: Avoid rooms directly below lounge as there is extensive noise carry over. Upper floor rooms give a better view. Exchange from Canadian currency to Chinese currency was most favourable on the ship. Chose an early fall travel time; little rain less fog. Take the optional tour: “Tribe of the Three Gorges”. It is for lack of better words, AWESOME!

Welcome to CC and thank-you SeeLDee for the informative review. It is very helpful. We have read other reports about the monotonous food and have held off booking twice now. Maybe third time will be lucky!

Your mention of ships noise is especially useful that only first-hand experience can provide.

Thank you for your review. We were on a shorter Yangtze River cruise on a Century ship. I loved our very Chinese experience. Just 40 westerners on board among ~ 200 Chinese.

Thank you for this detailed review which is a great help! :)

We depart Oct 15, 2015 from Toronto for the Vacances Sinorama 14 day Treasure of China & Yangtzee Tour.