Viking China (Part 2)

[magnumtravel]

After reading this post I contacted sunflower tours for our October 2014 trip. Sunflower tours will pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel. We will have two full days with Sunflower Lee including the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Cost for airport pick up, 8 hour tour guide first day, 8 hour driver and tour guide second day is $524.00 total. We placed 50% down through paypal and pay the rest when we meet. She was very quick to respond and I felt so comfortable with her we are having her plan our Hong Kong tour since we want to see so many additional things that the cruise tour does not offer. Her tour company is given great ratings on trip advisor. The only extras you pay for on the tour are transportation fees, entrance fees and lunch. Thank you Turtles06 for posting the highlights of your trip. It was a big help:)

 

 

 

Yes indeed. Back in 2011, we used Sunflower Lee for two days of guided touring in Beijing (and to go out to the Great Wall at Mutianyu). She was wonderful; it was like seeing the city with an old friend. She really went above and beyond for us. It's actually not that hard to get around Beijing, but you can cover a lot more ground with someone who knows where she's going. (I can't recall what we paid, but it was pretty inexpensive by American standards.)

 

http://www.sunflowertourschina.com/index.htm

 

In case it's helpful to you in planning, here's a link to the summary that I posted of what we did in Beijing before the Viking tour started; we tried not to duplicate what we'd be seeing with Viking. Beijing is wonderful; we had a great time, and I'm sure you will too.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=29264391&postcount=4680

 

Edited to add: Sunflower's prices are on her web site. Duh! :-)

[Turtles06]

Thanks magnum, happy to help!

 

One tip about Sunflower Lee. She's quite a good photographer and will gladly use your camera to get photos of you. In fact, there were places where she thought there were some good photo ops that I wasn't even focused on (no pun intended).

 

I hope you enjoy your time with her as much as we did.

[Dan7857]

Hi everyone! Thank you for all the wonderful answers to all the repeated questions haha! It is great to read this thread and hear all of your stories.

 

My wife and I booked the Imperials Jewels for June 25, 2014. We booked our own airfare with miles to save some money. Our trip cannot come soon enough.

 

And yes, Peregrina, I will make a roll call :-)

 

My wife and I are 29 but really love the way this trip is built and everything we have heard makes me sure we made a good choice. We know we will be on the younger side of the group but we are not worried about that. We are going for the experience and to learn about China.

 

Thanks again for all the information. I am sure I will be checking back before we go to get my fix!

[Carol From California]

Our travel documents came today! We leave April 14, Imperial Jewels. Getting excited!

[Bruin Steve]

Our travel documents came today! We leave April 14, Imperial Jewels. Getting excited!

 

Congrats, Carol...

Time to start packing...must be exciting...

[Carol From California]

Yes, time to start packing! Steve....contact me off the board. My email address is below. Noticed you are in Calabasas. I am in Encino.

[Peregrina651]

 

And yes, Peregrina, I will make a roll call :-)

 

 

Okay, but don't be upset if I don't add it immediately; I'll be read only for the next few weeks. In the meantime, just make sure that you post a link here in Viking China so that folks will know where to find you.

[Peregrina651]

New roll call

July 27 Delights

[Carol From California]

We had reservations for BSK at the end of April. We just received this email from them:

 

From: Black Sesame Kitchen [mailto:reservations@blacksesamekitchen.com]

Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 8:07 PM

Cc: Black Sesame Kitchen Reservations; Michelle Tang

 

Subject: Cooking Class and Dinner Reservations at Black Sesame Kitchen - CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

 

Dear Friends of Black Sesame Kitchen –

This situation has happened out of the blue and has come to a shock to everyone at Black Sesame Kitchen.

It is with

sadness,

we must inform you due to irresolvable issues with our landlord,

after 5 years

Black Sesame Kitchen is unable to operate in our current space and will be moving to a new location.

Black Sesame Kitchen is closed until further notice.

• Dinner and cooking class reservations made with Black Sesame Kitchen for the rest of March 2014 and for April 2014 are now cancelled until further notice.

• Dinner reservations made after 1st May and beyond, we have a record of your reservations and if we are able to quickly resolve this situation in finding a temporary or permanent location to hold your event, we will notify you as soon as possible.

• For guests with cooking class reservations in April and May, we are busy securing a temporary location and we will update you with the details in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, if you would like to be updated about any future reservations you have, or if you would like to hire our staff for off-site private dinners or cooking classes, please contact us at reservations@blacksesamekitchen.com or +86-136-9147-4408.

Thank for your support, patience and understanding.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

[Bruin Steve]

We had reservations for BSK at the end of April. We just received this email from them:

 

From: Black Sesame Kitchen [mailto:reservations@blacksesamekitchen.com]

Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 8:07 PM

Cc: Black Sesame Kitchen Reservations; Michelle Tang

 

Subject: Cooking Class and Dinner Reservations at Black Sesame Kitchen - CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

 

...Black Sesame Kitchen is closed until further notice...

 

I'm so sorry to hear that...

Hopefully, you can find an alternative place to eat...

And, of course, there is so much more to look forward to...

[Mark_T]

We had reservations for BSK at the end of April. We just received this email from them:...

 

That is disappointing, I'm sure we all hope that BSK are able to quickly find a new home.

 

Although there are plenty of other places to eat in Beijing, BSK has received so many recommendations and has become a part of the experience for this trip as a result.

 

We are not traveling until October so I'm hopeful that this will not impact on our plans, but I am sorry to hear it is going to affect some on this thread, and of course the staff and owners BSK as well ...

[Turtles06]

We had reservations for BSK at the end of April. We just received this email from them:

 

From: Black Sesame Kitchen [mailto:reservations@blacksesamekitchen.com]

Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 8:07 PM

Cc: Black Sesame Kitchen Reservations; Michelle Tang

 

Subject: Cooking Class and Dinner Reservations at Black Sesame Kitchen - CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

 

....

 

Thank for your support, patience and understanding.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

 

Well, that's very sad for the good folks at Black Sesame Kitchen (and their fans and future diners). It's the sort of thing that happens with landlords so often here in the U.S.; I guess it's a little amazing to find that it happens in China too.

 

As the person who started the Black Sesame Kitchen "trend" here on CC back in 2011, I'm particularly saddened. I hope they find a new home soon, and that future travelers also get to enjoy the wonderful experience that we enjoyed.

[Lola911]

HELP! I did find 3 reviews for Uniworld 'Century Legend'. Where do I go to find more reviews on Uniworld's China tours or are they just too new in China to be reviewed? Would you all suggest we just do a Viking? We want to include Tibet.

[Travelthoman]

Hi

This is my first post and am still unfamiliar with this system and logistics. I will have to keep studying it. I hope I am doing this correctly, but will learn, I am sure. We are looking at booking a cruise/tour to China in 2015, and looking at this Viking one in September. Said best times are April-May and Sept-Oct. We have decided on them over Uniworld at this point. Also looking at the Vantage World Travel trips that use the Century river cruises. Any thoughts from you seasoned travelers would be appreciated. :)

[Turtles06]

Hello and welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

If you look down the main page of the River Cruising forum (where you posted this thread), you will see a thread called "Viking China (Part 2)". This is a very active thread dealing with Viking's trips to China. You'll find all the thoughts from "seasoned travelers" you can imagine, and then some. But if there's something specific you can't find, just ask!

 

Your new thread will likely be merged into the existing Viking China thread to avoid confusion and duplication.

 

Imperial Jewels is a great trip!

[Happy Tourista]

HELP! I did find 3 reviews for Uniworld 'Century Legend'. Where do I go to find more reviews on Uniworld's China tours or are they just too new in China to be reviewed? Would you all suggest we just do a Viking? We want to include Tibet.

 

Lola911 - I can't help you with information on Uniworld but I can tell you that Viking has a tour called Roof of the World, which includes 3 nights in Lhasa, Tibet. We're scheduled to leave in late May for this tour. The stops in China include Beijing, Xian, Chongqing (where we board a riverboat for 5 days on the Yantze), Wuhan and Shanghai. There are several reviews of Roof of the World on Cruise Critic.

[caribill]

HELP! I did find 3 reviews for Uniworld 'Century Legend'. Where do I go to find more reviews on Uniworld's China tours or are they just too new in China to be reviewed? Would you all suggest we just do a Viking? We want to include Tibet.

 

I have no experience or opinion with Uniworld.

 

My experience with Viking tells me that maybe others can do it just as well, but I doubt anybody can take care of you better than Viking in China.

[suspaul]

We too did the Imperial Jewels trip with Viking in May of 2011, it was a fantastic trip and Viking handled everything perfectly. This was our first time with Viking, have done 2 other river cruises with them since and have Paris & Normandy booked with Viking this December. Happy trails.

 

 

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[didicruiser]

HELP! I did find 3 reviews for Uniworld 'Century Legend'. Where do I go to find more reviews on Uniworld's China tours or are they just too new in China to be reviewed? Would you all suggest we just do a Viking? We want to include Tibet.

 

While I am enjoying and learning a lot reading this thread, I am booked in Uniworld for China/Tibet in September. I can let you know when I get back. :)

[Bruin Steve]

Perhaps one of the experienced China cruisers can correct me if I am wrong, but...

My understanding is that no outside companies can own and operate river ships in China. Century Cruises is a Chinese River Cruise company that operates five ships. They contract with the better known international tour providers for space on these ships. Viking is the largest outside provider, and they have contracted for an Entire ship--the Emerald...actually owned by Century Cruises. If you go with Viking, the entire ship is filled with Viking groups. If you go with another provider, they will fill only a portion of the ship...

 

Correct?

[RachelG]

We are just off the Yangzi Explorer today. Will post about that on another thread, but in regards to the century ships, we saw several and actually walked through one on the way to and from shore. Not so nice. I was plenty happy we were on explorer.

[didicruiser]

Perhaps one of the experienced China cruisers can correct me if I am wrong, but...

My understanding is that no outside companies can own and operate river ships in China. Century Cruises is a Chinese River Cruise company that operates five ships. They contract with the better known international tour providers for space on these ships. Viking is the largest outside provider, and they have contracted for an Entire ship--the Emerald...actually owned by Century Cruises. If you go with Viking, the entire ship is filled with Viking groups. If you go with another provider, they will fill only a portion of the ship...

 

Correct?

 

This is my understanding also.

[Happy Tourista]

I recently spoke to my Australian friend (who lives in Australia) about DH and my upcoming trip in May on Viking's Roof of the World (China & Tibet) tour and she expressed interest in possibly joining us. I checked the Viking website geared to Australians and there was no offering of this tour. She called Viking in Australia and was advised that the tour was not open to Australians! At first, I though it must be a Tibetian Visa issue but my subsequnt research did not show that Tibet automatically denies visas to Australians (as they do for citizens of some other countries). I even called Viking in the US today to make inquiries but the agent had no information to share -- he just confirmed that the tour was not offered on the Australian Viking site. Any thoughts or theories? Better yet, care to pipe in, Viking representative? You're losing a possible sale here.

[Turtles06]

I recently spoke to my Australian friend (who lives in Australia) about DH and my upcoming trip in May on Viking's Roof of the World (China & Tibet) tour and she expressed interest in possibly joining us. I checked the Viking website geared to Australians and there was no offering of this tour. She called Viking in Australia and was advised that the tour was not open to Australians! At first, I though it must be a Tibetian Visa issue but my subsequnt research did not show that Tibet automatically denies visas to Australians (as they do for citizens of some other countries). I even called Viking in the US today to make inquiries but the agent had no information to share -- he just confirmed that the tour was not offered on the Australian Viking site. Any thoughts or theories? Better yet, care to pipe in, Viking representative? You're losing a possible sale here.

 

Did she ask why not? That would have been my question.

[Happy Tourista]

I don't know if she asked Viking specifically. All she wrote in her email to me is that Viking told her that they weren't releasing the tour to the Australian public. (The 5 exclamation points she added to the end of her sentence seem to convey as sense of surprise :-)

 

 

 

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