at_nyc

We are booking the China Jewels and are trying to decide between mid-April or mid-October. Can anyone who has taken either give us an idea of temperatures they experienced? Several have written nice, but nice short sleeves type, or nice with jacket? Were flowers blooming in April, or still green in October, or fall foliage? I know weather is a variable any year, but still would be helpful. This will be our 4th Viking cruise and have loved them all, but they were all in Europe. This will be first trip this part of the world, and have really enjoyed reading all 65 pages of this thread!

Six in one vs half a dozen.

Since it's the 2nd half of the 2 months you're asking... Nice in jackets late October and getting colder as you go. Nice in short sleeve in late April and getting warmer as you go. October is USUALLY drier than April, but no guarantees.

There's fall foliage but it's not what you see in VT that's all over the mountain on the road side. There's only a few isolated area that has that kind of hardwood. Your tour may or may not go by those places at all.

You might have better luck with flowers.

We were there in November. It's an old palace. Heating was inadequate so most people kept their coats on. The chairs were also not that comfortable.

Music was classical, played by moonlighting professional musicians. The music was far from "professional quality" for two reasons I could see: 1) the acustics in the hall was poor, 2) while skills of individual musiciens were not in question, they clearly didn't practice together.

The "dance" was purely for the tourist. They were ballet dancers but there's no story nor complete (or even segments) of any ballet.

Basically, nothing to write home about.

Unless you don't get much chance for mediocra quality classical music at home, my opinion the time would be much better spend walking around the city of Vienna, which is charming.

I've had people ask me to take their photo with a camera that requires a lengthy explanation to be able to push the button.

LOL!

I learned that quickly. Since I travel alone a lot, and still want myself in the picture, I insist on a camera that can lock focus. It's impossible to explain to someone who only has limited understanding of English that I want them to first point to me to focus then shift to place me 2/3 off center! Heck, it's difficult to grasp even if English is their native language! So I lock the focus and exposure, then just ask them to point and shoot, with me off center to the left (or right). Works like a charm even with language barrier (ok, sometimes it takes a second shot. Thank god for digital camera so I can immediately see the picture! Doing it in Japan, with only hand gestures, was interesting AND often successful!)

How can we be polite and respectful without saying 'please' and 'thank you'? It doesn't feel right.

Just say lots and lots of "xie-xie". :)

About the only way that works very well is observe how the Chinese interact with each other and with you. Do as the Romans... as the saying goes.

- If a Chinese hand you something using both hands, receive it with both hands!

- If your Chinese guide is tapping the table when tea is being poured, you can tap the table too. But if they're saying "xie-xie", you say "xie-xie"!

At least you're not in India, where you take off your shoes in one little room (a temple) and cover your hair at another (a mosque)!

That's the beauty of travelling to different countries, the culture!

To those more experienced....

 

I was reading somewhere about a hand gesture of tapping the table with 2 fingers as a "thank you" gesture after being served tea. Is this something you witnessed or learned?

 

Thanks,

 

Karl

I see a lot of Chinese in US uses that gesture. The custom came from Hong Kong. So I'm not certain it's a nation-wide standard in China.

And a bit of clarification, you do that after someone POUR you some tea. You don't do that when they hand you a tea cup!

Confused? Easier to just say a quick "thank you", which is ALWAYS right!

at nyc, I think that one look at my face was a dead give-away that I was a tourist. They didn't even have to look at what I was wearing.

I know. But the person asking the question was mostly only concern about not dressing too out of place for the venue.

As you pointed out, it's tourist contraction rather than a proper "opera". So there's no dress code. (well, even proper opera don't have dress code anyway). When I was travelling around in China (not by cruise), I just noticed most Chinese dress rather formally, except tourists (forign or local).

We both agree it really doesn't matter. :)

For those who like to go beyond Xiexie and Buxie...thank you and welcome. Please is qing pronounced ching with a lowering then increasing inflection…since the Chinese don’t use please as often as we do, the staff on the Emerald will be pleasantly surprised when you say Kafei Qing (cafe ching…coffee please).

Actually "buxie" is not welcome, it's "you're welcome" after someone said "thank you" (xiexie). It's literally "no thanks" (xie is thanks, buxie is no thanks, short of no need to thank).

"Welcome" is a different word.

And adding the "please (qing)" behind an order would simply puzzle the hell out of your chinese servant! "Kafei Qing" means "please have some of my coffee"!!!

"Chinese do say please, but it's not "qing"...

Check the pronunciation of a word like qing with all 4 intonations to gain an appreciation as to why you may receive a puzzled look when you speak Chinese.

Unfortunately, majority of western language don't have inflections so a lot of people's brain just don't register the inflection of the the word.

Try to think of singing rather than talking. So your brain can register the tones.

When the staff no longer looks at you as just a passenger, but as a friend they will start making physical contact to feel a closeness with you.

That's a good warning. There's nothing unusual to physically touch someone, even between men. But it's usually rare to physically touch cross genders though.

Chinese are also a lot "closer" physically, which can be a bit of a surprise to Americans who're used to a lot of space around our body.

Also starting to think about what clothes we will need - we don't usually go to the "opera" while on vacation, so we're thinking the usual shorts/jeans might not cut it lol.

Chinese dress rather formally when attention any sort of function. So whatever you wear, it'll be pretty obvious you're with a tour group. ;)

That said, there's no dress code as long as you're dressed. :D

Oh, and the other question is whether I would have to do something to my sim card for it to work overseas even if just on wi-fi. Then, if I can use just the wi-fi, can I set up Skype? (Heck, why didn't I ask these questions when I was in the phone store the other day??)

Sim card has to do with making and receiving calls. If you don't plan to use it as a phone, you don't even need a sim card.

My provider says I need an international plan if I want to use my phone overseas for data.

You can't do mobile data without the phone plan. However, you can use your phone as a (poor man's) laptop by connecting to wi-fi when it's available. Just keep in mind it's a lot slower than a proper laptop.

Am I missing something here? Can I just use the wi-fi and therefore circumvent the mobile data charges? I don't want to make phone calls but if I can send messages home via wi-fi, that would be all I need.

You can always use your phone as a computer and nothing more. But since you're already carrying a laptop, you'll be better off just use that instead. Phones are a poor substitute for computer. Sometimes I don't take my laptop with me and use my phone as a computer. Always find it frustratingly slow.

If one of the Chinese parrots your Chinese phrase directly back to you they are trying to correct your pronunciation....

Quite right! :)

And try to pick up the inflection they use. Chinese is a tone language.

(actually, they're not correcting your pronounciantion. They're just going through all the different "tones" in their head to find one that makes sense. When they found the one -- like Nihao is for "how are you" -- they just mutter it out! They do that even for other Chinese who speak with dialects or bad accents)

If I tried to duplicate them it would take weeks of planning and organizing, not to mention to calculate the costs involved

If you don't want to spend the time of planning, you can duplicate that by taking a bus tour that covers the similar itinerary.

You'll find it cost considerably less. (And you'll typically have a much larger room in a nice hotel).

Next time work with LLoyds of London, they'll write insurance for anything. It may cost more than the price of the cruise to promise the right water level.

Tell that to Viking!!!

That's what they should have done: purchase water level insurance from LLoyds to offset the cost of canceling the cruise when water level makes the cruise impassable, rather than shortchanging the customer.

It won't cost more than the price of the cruise. Unless, of course, there're so many claims... (we were constantly told these are RARE occurrence!!! :rolleyes:)

On that note, anyone considering Viking can actually work around this issue the same way: buy the cancel-at-your-whimp insurance. AND watch carefully of the water level prior to departure! That way, you can cancel if the water level disrupt your RIVER CRUISE. When the water is right, it could be a nice experience. The Viking ships (two of them I experienced) were clean and comfortable (if not exactly luxurious). So it could be a good experience, as long as you do your own homework.

Ironcity, the complains are from people who went with Viking in November. They got no advance notice, no onboard cash. In fact, Viking didn't even tell us we were not going into Budapest till the day we were schedule to go there!

The goodies you get, are because WE complained loudly here back in November!

(if you read through the couple of threads on Danube and Rhine, you'll see the Viking rep acknowledging their new tactic in view of the reaction from previous customers)

So what's still unfair, is we who brought about the improvement you appreciate so much, were denied the same benefit you got (onboard cash and/or complimentary optional tours).

I was on the 3rd week of the affected trip. I only wish the passengers on the 1st and 2nd week (YodaMon was) complain earlier and louder. I might have had the same benefit you had at a later cruise!

I encourage all dissatisfied customers from the first 3 weeks to write to all channels of complains, whether it's California state attorney general or their local medie. So future customers will be spared any such ill treatments.

If you have a facebook account, Viking has a page there. When I didn't get my phone calls answered, I posted there and they reacted. That would be your quickest way of making contact.

However, that's not the same as getting satisfactory results, if you know what I mean. They may sound sympathetic. But their offers are clearly disingenuous.

Viking has an office in California. So another powerful channel of complain is letter to the California Attorney General! I've already done my part. And I'm urging everyone who got shafted to do the same. If they got enough complain, they might open an investigation. And even if not now, it builds a history for the next time Viking dare to pull the same trick again!