Viking China "Extend your cruise"

[wallygator]

Just wondering from anyone that has taken a Viking China cruise tour and opted for the extend your cruise option. I understand that the hotels on the basic tour are very opulent. Has anyone done the extend your cruise? What are your thoughts? Thanking you in advance.:)

[no fuss travel]

We did. We went to Bangkok and Siem Reap after our China tour. The hotels were fantastic. I don't believe Viking offers that tour anymore. A shame. Friends that we met on the tour did the Guilin-Hong Kong extension and raved about the hotels there as well. The only thing they said was not up to par was the river cruise at Guilin.

[coasters]

Just wondering from anyone that has taken a Viking China cruise tour and opted for the extend your cruise option. I understand that the hotels on the basic tour are very opulent. Has anyone done the extend your cruise? What are your thoughts? Thanking you in advance.:)

 

Wallygator,

You will find hundreds of pages and a great deal of info. specific to Cultural Delights and other packages at the Viking River CHINA Cruise Critic Board site. (Looks like you found it)!

We did the extension and had a wonderful time. One of the very best cruises and tours we ever had. Fabulous venues and every hotel Viking used for was 5 star!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=252201

Jerry

[pjtraveler]

I don't know whether you have definitely decided on Viking for your China trip or not. You may want to look at some of the other companies and compare the trips that they offer that include the extension city (-ies) you want to visit. We traveled in China with Uniworld in 2008 and were considering an extension to Hong Kong but decided instead on a tour that included the city.

 

We chose Uniworld because we did not want to spend as many days on the Yangtze but preferred to spend more time seeing some of the other sights in China. I checked both Viking's and Uniworld's websites today and notice that Uniworld is not offering the exact tour that we did in 2008 but they still have one that ends in Hong Kong. You could probably add an extra day or two's stay at the same hotel for a reasonable cost and still have the half-day tour of Hong Kong.

 

Unlike the earlier post, one of the reasons we chose this tour was precisely because of the half-day cruise on the Li River out of Guilin. This area is famous for its karsts (finger-like mountains), and the scenery was wonderful.

 

We considered doing a tour with Tibet but decided against it because of the possibility of altitude sickness and the short time for adjustment to it.

 

Whatever you decide, you will really love China--so much to see and marvel at!:)

[jcrandle]

We did our own "extend your cruise" for our Viking Cultural Delights cruise. To break up the long flight to China, and also reduce the effect of jet lag, we did stopovers in Hawaii to and from China. The airfare priced out at a reasonable delta over straight flights, and we booked condos thru their owners at reasonable prices, did many of our own meals. We were very happy with the results, though the downside is that we did not spend extra time in another culture (though for us, Hawaii is another culture!).

[wallygator]

I don't know whether you have definitely decided on Viking for your China trip or not. You may want to look at some of the other companies and compare the trips that they offer that include the extension city (-ies) you want to visit. We traveled in China with Uniworld in 2008 and were considering an extension to Hong Kong but decided instead on a tour that included the city.

 

We chose Uniworld because we did not want to spend as many days on the Yangtze but preferred to spend more time seeing some of the other sights in China. I checked both Viking's and Uniworld's websites today and notice that Uniworld is not offering the exact tour that we did in 2008 but they still have one that ends in Hong Kong. You could probably add an extra day or two's stay at the same hotel for a reasonable cost and still have the half-day tour of Hong Kong.

 

Unlike the earlier post, one of the reasons we chose this tour was precisely because of the half-day cruise on the Li River out of Guilin. This area is famous for its karsts (finger-like mountains), and the scenery was wonderful.

 

We considered doing a tour with Tibet but decided against it because of the possibility of altitude sickness and the short time for adjustment to it.

 

Whatever you decide, you will really love China--so much to see and marvel at!:)

 

Thank you we will be going to Gullin. I have never been to China and honesty just want to enjoy it all with no distractions. I can't phantom the long flight over to China and all the inter-China flights but I'm geared up and ready, so I figured I'm so near I'll go to Hong Kong and enjoy.

 

We did our own "extend your cruise" for our Viking Cultural Delights cruise. To break up the long flight to China, and also reduce the effect of jet lag, we did stopovers in Hawaii to and from China. The airfare priced out at a reasonable delta over straight flights, and we booked condos thru their owners at reasonable prices, did many of our own meals. We were very happy with the results, though the downside is that we did not spend extra time in another culture (though for us, Hawaii is another culture!).

 

 

I have heard, read, talked to many people that say "WOW". In fact I work with many people now back in China or here in the US from China express this is very special.