Diamond Princess transfer from Tianjin port (Beijing) to Beijing airport

[cheru]

What is the cost of the transfer from the ship to the Beijing airport? We are wondering if it is cheaper to book our own rather than take the ship's transfer?

[Rickey 88]

You should address this question directly with Princess....

 

However, generally speaking, ship's transfers are considerably more expensive that booking directly, unless you're thinking about limo service.

[maryann ns]

If you do a search on Trip Advisor you will find a lot of information. There is also a discussion of this on the Azamara March 17 Roll Call.

 

The fastest and least expensive is the train. It avoids traffic jams. From Beijing you will need a taxi to the airport.

[MsDolly]

My TA is giving these to us as a perk, but she did show us their value and it was $29/pp

[Angsa]

There is a high-speed train between Tianjin and Beijing, you should check it out. If you take bus it is a 3 hour ride. The train does it in 1 hour.

[Ahfook]

What is the cost of the transfer from the ship to the Beijing airport? We are wondering if it is cheaper to book our own rather than take the ship's transfer?

Cost between RMB 120 p/p by bus to RMB 1,600 for private transport. Just back from the Diamond Nov. 19 run. Princess now use the new port call International Cruises Home Port so if you decided to use private make sure they know the new port. To use the bus, ask the taxi driver take you to Tanggu Bus Depot, it should cost about RMB 80. From there you can take the Airport shuttle to Beijing Airport. It cost RMB 80 p/p and 3 hrs if the traffic is smooth.(This is the web site for the airport, www.en.bcia.com.cn select traffic then airport shuttle, scroll to the bottom you will see provincial bus to Tanggu, click on the line will show you the time table leaving Tanggu.) The bus is a little old but its run by the state.(?) Using High Speed Train is another option only if you have one piece of luggage. Dragging luggage throught a crowded train station and stairs is not easy. I did not see checked luggage area and the space between seats are tight. Train will take 1 hour to Beijing South Station, from there you can change to subway or airport express bus. Chech the airport Wed site. Sharing a private van is not bad, but make sure they have INSURANCE and LICENCED. Now you know why Princess charge you so much and still a lot of people using it, it's the easiest way.

Edited January 6, 2011 by Ahfook

[chloe kitty]

We did the opposite trip, from Beijing South Station to Tanggu. We intend to do the same thing from Tanggu to Beijing South on our next cruise. The ride was very smooth and very nice. We had 4 pieces of luggage on spinner wheels. The only problem that we had, was trying to communicate with the taxi driver in Tanggu. We finally got our point across. So, if you are going to do this, have someone on the ship write the name of the station on a piece of paper for you.

 

chloe kitty

[j2ink]

The only problem that we had, was trying to communicate with the taxi driver in Tanggu. We finally got our point across. So, if you are going to do this, have someone on the ship write the name of the station on a piece of paper for you.

 

chloe kitty

 

Take this precaution seriously. The taxi drivers cannot speak English, and most of them cannot even understand destination names written in English. It is best if you have all of your destinations written in Chinese characters, including the name of your hotel.

 

Regarding the train, each car in the high-speed trains has quite a bit of room for luggage at the rear of each car. (This is an open space--no lifting-- simply roll your luggage into the space, and then find your seat.) We had quite a bit of luggage, and had no problem. If you can roll your luggage, yourself, you shouldn't have a problem finding a place for it on the train.

[ooops]

What is the cost of the transfer from the ship to the Beijing airport? We are wondering if it is cheaper to book our own rather than take the ship's transfer?

 

I believe the Princess bus transfer from the ship to Beijing airport (or city centre) is $79. If you're booked, you should be able to log into your cruise personalizer and find out. It's definitely cheaper to do it on your own (I have friends who did it last April), but a bit of a hassle if you've got luggage to deal with and if you don't speak Mandarin.

 

 

From I know so far, it seems that the train is not the best choice, as the new Tianjin port, International Cruise Home Port is still 25km far away from the nearest train station in tanggu. If there are many luggage, to rent a vehicle is the only way. Besides, it's also not convenient to get on/off train. I know a company,www.itourbeijing.com/china-tour/xingang-port/.They have coach transfer from Tianjin port to Beijing. Probably it can help.

 

In addition, its always foggy on the way from tianjing to beijing. The highway is often blocked for that.so its better not to take the risk of heading for beijing airport directly. It would be much safer to stay one night in Beijing.

 

Unless my life depended on it, I would not drive in Beijing or drive to/from the pier! Traffic is chaotic.:eek: Drivers are very aggressive, don't stay in their respective lanes (at least not for long), and the shoulder is just another passing lane. We had a private tour which took us out to Beijing & back to the pier, and as a passenger, I wasn't terrified (after I got over the shock)...we even started to count how many cars we were passing.

[Birubi]

Just to add to the discussion - this is what I wrote to our TA after returning from Legend of the Seas in October 2010

BIG MISTAKE taking the ships shuttle to the airport.

We docked at 6am and had an 8.30am disembarkation time. Then the Chinese immigration got into the picture and the whole departure process was put back about an hour.

Once ashore we left our bags to be loaded onto a truck and hopped on the ships shuttle bus and waited, I kept on telling my sister that if we left by 11.30am we would be right. The truck with our bags, left at around 10am and we left closer to 11am. It is a 3 hour trip by bus with a “toilet stop” (read obligatory shopping opportunity), to the airport. 2.15pm we arrive at the airport only to find our bags would not be there for 15mins which in reality turned out to be 45mins. We were left to our own devices to find the book in counter (where we had no choice of seating because of our ultra late book in) We took the train to the departure gates area (a 10min ride) and fortunately accepted a 20Yuen electric shuttle trip to our departure gate which was a rather long way from the train - to just make the flight by the skin of our teeth.

Would seriously suggest to anyone else doing this cruise that they put out the money for a private transfer from the port to the airport.

[PaganBaby]

We are searching for the most reliable/easiest way to get from the Tianjin port to the Beijing International Hotel in downtown Beijing. It sounds like the train is the best way. How do we make all the arrangements?????????

PaganBaby

[miamos]

We are searching for the most reliable/easiest way to get from the Tianjin port to the Beijing International Hotel in downtown Beijing. It sounds like the train is the best way. How do we make all the arrangements?????????

PaganBaby

 

do you had any answer?

thanks

[Bowie MeMe]

What is the cost of the transfer from the ship to the Beijing airport? We are wondering if it is cheaper to book our own rather than take the ship's transfer?

 

It is a very long way from the port Tianjin to the airport. About 2 1/2 hours with one break at a service center (bathroom and maybe very small store). There was very little out that way a year ago. The terminal is new and fairly nice but does not have any kind of public transportation. The train is more than a half hour away by car. I did not see any cabs or taxis but it could be that busses were loaded in a different area than other transportation. I would bet that not many car services would want to make the trip out to the port to pick up -- not economically likely to make money. The bus goes directly to airport (and luggage is on bus if I remember correctly) and other busses go to a selection of hotels. We went on the Diamond just before the ship was changed to be more accommodating of Japanese passengers. It was one of my favorite cruises from Bangkok to Tianjin. Have a great time.

[miamos]

thank you.

[TravelMore&More]

It is a very long way from the port Tianjin to the airport. About 2 1/2 hours with one break at a service center (bathroom and maybe very small store). There was very little out that way a year ago. The terminal is new and fairly nice but does not have any kind of public transportation. The train is more than a half hour away by car. I did not see any cabs or taxis but it could be that busses were loaded in a different area than other transportation. I would bet that not many car services would want to make the trip out to the port to pick up -- not economically likely to make money. The bus goes directly to airport (and luggage is on bus if I remember correctly) and other busses go to a selection of hotels. We went on the Diamond just before the ship was changed to be more accommodating of Japanese passengers. It was one of my favorite cruises from Bangkok to Tianjin. Have a great time.

 

There are actually 2 trains stations in Tianjin and Tanggu station is just a few streets from the port. There are also bullet trains from there to Beijing.

However if you are going to the airport then taking the shuttle bus to the airport is more efficient as you do not need to worry about transfers. To go elsewhere in Beijing then the train makes sense.