Has anyone done the "Undiscovered China" Viking cruise tour?

This may be a new itinerary for 2019...but not sure. It looks great, being 19 days from Shanghai to Beijing. Only 7 days are spent river cruising (which includes the usual Three Gorges Dam), and then the rest of the trip is basically land tour. China is definitely high on my list, and so this trip looks interesting.

If you search “Viking China” you’ll find hundreds of comments, most good as I recall.

Viking has the China experience down pat! We did China's Cultural Delights (no longer offered) in 2010 and it was perhaps the best organized, best run tour we have ever been on, worth every penny we spent. All subsequent cruises have been compared to but never equaled our 17 days in China with Viking.

Check this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1495597

There is a ton of Viking China info in there. Most is from the Imperial Jewels section of the trip, but you might find some Undiscovered in there, too

Some insight into the China river cruises: The Viking Emerald sails back and forth between Wuhan and Chongqing, five nights upstream and then 5 nights back down. They have been doing this for 10 years or more now, since with the building of the Three Gorges Dam this portion of the river has actually become navigable. (Try and find a description of life on the river before the dam was built so that you can really understand the impact of the new dam).

Viking's three China itineraries all feed into this 5 day cruise portion and once on the ship, you may be with guests who are doing any of the three itineraries. Most people do the basic Shanghai-River-Xi'an-Beijing, or vice versa, cruise. The other two itineraries extend the core itinerary with the addition of more stops. Undiscovered China is the newest and they have been doing it for a few years now. Hopefully, people who have done this itinerary will share their experiences.

You will be assigned an escort/tourguide and you will travel with the same group of people every day. Your escort is a trained tour-guide. This is the career that they studied once they left high school. Their English is very good and their knowledge is very broad. In some locations, you may also have a local guide.

Viking does not own the Emerald. Under Chinese law, they can not own the ship, they must lease it. However, Viking does run the hotel operation on board the ship and the upper management comes from headquarters.

If you don't like Chinese food, think twice about this itinerary. Chinese is the local cuisine and it is what is served in the various catering venues on land. If you venture out on your own, be warned that even the KFC menu has been adjusted to the local preferences.

The Viking China thread is fabulous but it has very sadly lost its mojo over the past couple of years. It went into hibernation one year and just never woke up. Very sad because it was one stop shopping for ALL of your questions with a large following so that there were always plenty of answers to each question and because you could see the changes that were made from year to year. Viking is always tweaking things.

Thanks for the replies and helpful information. It all sounds great.

We leave for the Undiscovered China tour on May 15th. I’ll make a point to get back here and post some info.

We leave for the Undiscovered China tour on May 15th. I’ll make a point to get back here and post some info.

We are doing this cruise in October, 2019. I look forward to your post.

Mary

We did this last August and had a fantastic time, on and off the boat.

The trips in Beijing and Xian, before the cruise and those on the cruise were memorable and tiring. It was very hot and humid when we did it.

If you have mobility or breathing issues this may not be the itinerary for you.

If you want a taste of the “entertainment “ search for me on YouTube.

Don’t take it to seriously tho lol

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Top tip...if you’re visiting the school. Don’t give cash. Instead take school stationery, pencils, rubbers, sticker books etc.

The children really love them, the joy on their faces made us wish we’d taken more.

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Top tip...if you’re visiting the school. Don’t give cash. Instead take school stationery, pencils, rubbers, sticker books etc.

The children really love them, the joy on their faces made us wish we’d taken more.

 

 

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Yes but also make sure that you put some of that loot into the collection bin so that those children who have not had the opportunity to mix with the visitors can share in that joy.

Yes but also make sure that you put some of that loot into the collection bin so that those children who have not had the opportunity to mix with the visitors can share in that joy.

All the money given we saw was put in the school bin, the kids didn’t keep it.

You don’t even have to get character based sticker books for them to be thrilled to get them.

A number of our travel pals said how much the children loved getting them and how much they loved seeing their faces.

They wished they’d done the same.

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All the money given we saw was put in the school bin, the kids didn’t keep it.

You don’t even have to get character based sticker books for them to be thrilled to get them.

A number of our travel pals said how much the children loved getting them and how much they loved seeing their faces.

They wished they’d done the same.

 

 

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Right but some of the stickers, pencils, etc. should be going into the collection bin so that those kids who don't get a chance to interact with the visitors will also get them. When we went in 2010, they were actually asking us not to give to the kids directly so that they could make sure that everything was divided fairly. I don't know if they still make the request.

We leave for the Undiscovered China tour on May 15th. I’ll make a point to get back here and post some info.

Just revisited this thread being that I just got the new Viking river brochure and am again intrigued by this Undiscovered China itinerary. How did you enjoy your trip?

I apologize for not reporting back - I couldn’t find this thread. Undiscovered China was fantastic! I would highly recommend it over the shorter Imperial Jewels tour. We went to 2 places the shorter tour didn’t - LiJiang and Chengdu. LiJiang is an absolute hidden gem at the base of a mountain- I could have spent a month there! Chengdu is a modern city that’s easy to navigate and is the home of the Panda Research Center. In between was a trip to the Dazu Rock Carvings - absolutely stunning!

There wasn’t anything we didn’t like about the trip. Viking had everything so well planned out that we had nothing to worry about. The hotels we stayed in were 5 Star. The ship was very nice and the staff and food lived up to Viking’s standards.

Do you have any questions? I’d be happy to answer them.

Maria

Question-

Visas...Did you do it thru Vikings' suggested vendor or did you arrange for it yourself?

I like to do it myself and have questions about that process.

Thanks

We went through Viking’s suggested vendor - Gen Visa. You definitely have to fill out the paperwork yourself. Viking doesn’t do any of this for you. The application is lengthy and they want to know which hotels you’ll be staying at - including address and phone number. The Viking itinerary has all the info on it. Gen Visa is just a suggestion. You’re free to do what you’d like. It took 4 or 5 weeks to get ours back, but add som cushion in case you missed something and you have to resubmit it. The visa is good for 10 years.

Question-

Visas...Did you do it thru Vikings' suggested vendor or did you arrange for it yourself?

I like to do it myself and have questions about that process.

Thanks

Mikey -- When we travel there in 2010, we used the service that Viking recommended. It was cheaper than making two trips to New York city in order to deliver the visa application in person (which can be done either by the applicant or an agent) and then to pick up our passports when they were ready. It is a four ride drive and a slightly longer train or bus ride to Manhattan and a would take a whole day to do, twice. After we filled out the forms and sent them to the service, they checked them over to make sure we had provided all the correct information filled in properly, then they delivered them to the correct office and when they were done, they shipped them back to us express mail, all for less than what it would cost us in time and effort to deliver them ourselves.

If you live close to DC or one of the 5 consulates, it is no problem to deliver them in person but if you live in Maine, you have to fly to New York City or in Seattle and have to get to LA, it is a different story. Viking has been working with the same visa service for over 10 years and that says a lot. If they were getting complaints from guests about dealing with the the service, Viking would have long since dropped them. If you have a company that you already know and trust, you can use that company. Viking doesn't care as long as you have the necessary valid visa in hand before you board the plane--which you won't be permitted to do with out a valid visa.

We also used Gen-Visa. There was a Viking discount when we did it, not sure if that's still a thing or not.

We had no issues, but there were 2 groups (that we heard from directly) on our trip that had their first attempts rejected. Both were due to photo issues. One lady had on earrings in her picture (the photo requirements we saw on Gen-Visa indicated that earrings were not allowed). I don't remember what the reject reason for the second couple.

I literally used calipers to measure our pictures. I'm sure that wasn't necessary, but I wasn't taking any chances. ;)

The moral of the story is: make sure you read the requirements very carefully and allow yourself enough time for something to go wrong.

We are planning to book Viking China for a cruise in 2020.

Re: food - both of us are vegetarian (not vegan, so eggs and dairy are okay). Will there be food options for us? Thankfully this hasn't been an issue on our past Viking trips but might be a deal breaker if it is in China.

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

We are planning to book Viking China for a cruise in 2020.

 

Re: food - both of us are vegetarian (not vegan, so eggs and dairy are okay). Will there be food options for us? Thankfully this hasn't been an issue on our past Viking trips but might be a deal breaker if it is in China.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jeff

Jeff, not an issue. Let them know in advance of departure and then when you arrive, let your group escort know, so that they can confirm with each kitchen that there will be dishes that you can eat. You won't be the only one on your sailing with dietary issues and yours is relatively easy to deal with.

China is a cruise tour with more than half the time spent on land, so there will be multiple kitchens each day--hotels or catering venues. Expect to eat a lot of Chinese food on this trip--wok cooking with sauces, rice on the side, etc.

Jeff, not an issue. Let them know in advance of departure and then when you arrive, let your group escort know, so that they can confirm with each kitchen that there will be dishes that you can eat. You won't be the only one on your sailing with dietary issues and yours is relatively easy to deal with.

 

 

China is a cruise tour with more than half the time spent on land, so there will be multiple kitchens each day--hotels or catering venues. Expect to eat a lot of Chinese food on this trip--wok cooking with sauces, rice on the side, etc.

Thanks Peregrina651 for confirming what I was hoping was the case :)

Happy cruising!

Jeff

Didn't realize you need a visa to visit China. Sort of puts a damper on my enthusiasm to go there, especially if it's an extensive application procedure. When we went to Russia, having booked all the tours through a local company served as a visa waiver. I would have hoped that the same would apply with Viking. Collette also does a China tour that I've already considered, and I see that it's up to the individual clients to take care of the Visa requirements. So probably all tour companies do the same.

Just looked at the Gen-Visa site. Gotta say...the process does NOT look very user friendly. Maybe I should stick to countries that are less complicated to visit!

Viking suggests Gen Visa, which did a great job with our visas. The application has all the usual stuff on it that’s a duplicate of what’s on your passport, emergency contact, have you ever been denied a visa, etc. They do want to know where you’re staying, whether it’s on the boat or in a hotel. For the hotels, they want the name and address - Viking gives you all the info. All told, the application is 5 pages and you’re choosing answers from a list. It’s all very easy. Just follow the instructions that Gen Visa gives you and you’ll be fine. Double check everything. We had no problems. This shouldn’t be something that keeps you from traveling - plenty of countries require visas.

I think this is the only type of tourist visa they have. Being good for 10 years is a reciprocal thing between the US and China.