Yangtze River Cruise and China Tour with Gate 1 - Full Review with Photos

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for the summary!

 

This was a very interesting a well-written account of a very exotic itinerary and I liked your honesty re the sights sounds smells and tastes you encountered.

 

The hotels and cabin on the ship look rather spartan but then that's how I imagine China for the most part as they just came out of the dark ages lately. The ferry bathroom.....yikes!

 

The closest I've been to China is Chinatown in San Francisco.

 

So not one for my bucket list but I was able to cruise with you without leaving the comfort of home-which is the mark of a good review.

 

I salute your sense of adventure!

 

Norris

[CupKayke]

Thanks for the summary!

 

This was a very interesting a well-written account of a very exotic itinerary and I liked your honesty re the sights sounds smells and tastes you encountered.

 

The hotels and cabin on the ship look rather spartan but then that's how I imagine China for the most part as they just came out of the dark ages lately. The ferry bathroom.....yikes!

 

The closest I've been to China is Chinatown in San Francisco.

 

So not one for my bucket list but I was able to cruise with you without leaving the comfort of home-which is the mark of a good review.

 

I salute your sense of adventure!

 

Norris

 

Thank you and you are welcome! I'm glad I still have a sense of adventure... LOL :)

[CupKayke]

Correction!!

our Gate 1 Tour Guide for the entire trip was:

 

Jason Yin!

 

....not Jason Liu. I thought that was his name from day one but i just finished putting my entire picture album together for my husband to take to work and lo and behold... There was a letter from Jason Yin so I looked on our Gate 1 id tags where he had written his phone # and name as Jason Yin. My apologies! just wanted to get that correct because he was... Fabulous!!!

Edited December 22, 2014 by CupKayke

[TasKaz]

Thanks for such an informative and balanced review. We are hoping to travel to China later next year so I enjoyed reading this very much :D

[CupKayke]

Thanks for such an informative and balanced review. We are hoping to travel to China later next year so I enjoyed reading this very much :D

 

 

You are welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed reading my review. :) Have fun in China!

[TXGalAJ]

Really, really can't thank you enough for this review and for taking the time to answer my questions. Hope you are finally over the jet lag!

[CupKayke]

Really, really can't thank you enough for this review and for taking the time to answer my questions. Hope you are finally over the jet lag!

 

You are welcome. I don't know if it is work, the holidays or jet lag but I'm up at 3:20am again. It is much, much better now and I'm almost back to normal. :D

[Wendy The Wanderer]

First of all I want to thank you for taking us along on your trip--it really did sound like you had a fabulous time.

 

Yes, jetlag coming home from Asia is a killer--it took us more than a week to recover coming home from Singapore. Luckily we're retired, so sleeping all day and eating in the middle of the night was easy.

 

I must say from the way you described the boat, I would not want to be on it. The bathroom issues, the dining issues, everything. Perhaps it's because I've come to expect a certain amount of luxury, or just our age, it does not sound like it's for me.

 

China is not on our list right now because of politics--don't want to give our money to this regime, but if it was, I'd probably be happy to pay double to ensure a slightly more upscale experience. Again, perhaps that's a function of my age.

 

Not putting down your own experience--it sounded great. But my style would probably be closer to that of Floridiana's trip--I'm going to google that company just for fun.

 

It also would have been nice to get a review of the Chinese cuisine offered. Since you liked very little of it, you can't really be the judge of whether it was good or not--I like most types of Asian food, I know the food in China can be quite "strange" compared to what we're used to, but I am left with no sense of whether your fellow passengers were well-fed or not.

[derrick22]

Thank you for taking me along on your trip.

 

China is on my bucket list and I will look into Gate 1.

[TasKaz]

It also would have been nice to get a review of the Chinese cuisine offered. Since you liked very little of it, you can't really be the judge of whether it was good or not--I like most types of Asian food, I know the food in China can be quite "strange" compared to what we're used to, but I am left with no sense of whether your fellow passengers were well-fed or not.

 

I'm not sure how detailed a review you want of the Chinese cuisine? There appear to be numerous references (and some pictures also) of the different types of food that were offered.

 

Thanks again CupKayke for such a detailed review - it's provided a lot of information regarding what I would prefer to see in China :)

Edited December 24, 2014 by TasKaz

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm not sure how detailed a review you want of the Chinese cuisine? There appear to be numerous references (and some pictures also) of the different types of food that were offered.

...

 

I was just commenting on the fact that since she obviously didn't like Chinese food, she couldn't very well tell us whether it was good or not.

[TasKaz]

I was just commenting on the fact that since she obviously didn't like Chinese food, she couldn't very well tell us whether it was good or not.

 

Oh I see your point now :) Yes I can imagine it will be quite different to what passes as Chinese cuisine in Western society.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh I see your point now :) Yes I can imagine it will be quite different to what passes as Chinese cuisine in Western society.

 

Yes. My brother, who lived in Asia for over 10 years, four of it in China, used to complain about the business banquets he had to attend, mostly the chicken feet. I also have attended banquets at home in Toronto where some of the food was quite different from the usual Chinese take-out. But mostly very good, as long as I can stay away from the chicken feet and a few other things. And when I was in Singapore this spring for a week, I haunted the hawker stands and ate all kinds of local cuisine, most of it yummy. To each his own.

[CupKayke]

Thank you for taking me along on your trip.

 

China is on my bucket list and I will look into Gate 1.

 

You are welcome

 

and thank you to anyone else who had kind things to say about my review

Edited December 25, 2014 by CupKayke

[TasKaz]

Yes. My brother, who lived in Asia for over 10 years, four of it in China, used to complain about the business banquets he had to attend, mostly the chicken feet. I also have attended banquets at home in Toronto where some of the food was quite different from the usual Chinese take-out. But mostly very good, as long as I can stay away from the chicken feet and a few other things. And when I was in Singapore this spring for a week, I haunted the hawker stands and ate all kinds of local cuisine, most of it yummy. To each his own.

 

Yes I think I would be giving the chicken feet a wide berth :D

[Rodie H]

Dear Cupkayke: I followed you on a site regarding what you were going to back and I'm so excited to find you again doing this amazing review!!!!! So glad you enjoyed the trip and I loved the photo of you and your husband at Chongghng. Ooops spelling. What a cute couple.

 

I am doing the Viking China Emerald trip in April and sure hope it's warmer than you found it! As I've been researching and reading on the China posts I know about bringing snacks, etc. Hadn't read about the empty water bottle, thanks. I will take into account the leggings. I am not planning on bringing much clothing; I've been know to do that in the past. I will take pepto bismal tablets, Tylenol, cough meds etc. Any other med. suggestions? Sounds like you had an interesting group of fellow passengers.

 

Hope you get back to see this message. And, I will check back. I feel as though I've been to China now.

[CupKayke]

Dear Cupkayke: I followed you on a site regarding what you were going to back and I'm so excited to find you again doing this amazing review!!!!! So glad you enjoyed the trip and I loved the photo of you and your husband at Chongghng. Ooops spelling. What a cute couple.

 

I am doing the Viking China Emerald trip in April and sure hope it's warmer than you found it! As I've been researching and reading on the China posts I know about bringing snacks, etc. Hadn't read about the empty water bottle, thanks. I will take into account the leggings. I am not planning on bringing much clothing; I've been know to do that in the past. I will take pepto bismal tablets, Tylenol, cough meds etc. Any other med. suggestions? Sounds like you had an interesting group of fellow passengers.

 

Hope you get back to see this message. And, I will check back. I feel as though I've been to China now.

 

Rodie ~ thank you for all your nice comments! I love the picture in Chongquing too! :) You will probably have much better weather in April!

 

As for packing and tips, I can't think of much else. I took a small pharmacy and didn't use hardly anything. Our doctor had prescribed us a 7-day antibiotic if we needed it and we did not. My one night I needed pepto was over by the morning. There was a fellow passenger with us (a single guy) who had any medicine for anything and offered them to everyone regularly. HA Our fellow passengers were interesting and funny and nice people ~ several who had taken Viking cruises through Europe and many that were well-traveled far beyond my husband and I. We were surprised by how much we liked the group travel experience and we are now looking into another group-type trip next year.

 

As for any other tips, I can't think of anything but shoes maybe... I wish I would have taken/worn a pair of stylish boots. I tend to be a tennis shoe girl on vacation because they are comfortable and there is lots of walking. I need to try to find a pair of boots that are super comfy that I could walk in all day... if I was going in April, that's what I would look for ~ comfy boots... but style is always secondary to comfort for me when we are traveling and walking all day. That' s really the only thing popping in my head this morning.

 

Glad you enjoyed reading my review and I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Edited January 7, 2015 by CupKayke

[morry2121]

Hello Kupkayke,

I'm just starting to read your review. We are doing a tour similar to yours in Oct/Nov. Thank you so much for your review, I'm sure I will get a lot of good info....I'll post again when done reading and I'm sure I will have questions. Again, thanks for the review!!

[morry2121]

Sorry, I misspelled your name Cupkayke.

[lamchops]

I enjoyed your review as it gives me some insight as to what to expect. We are considering a similiar tour/cruise this May from Vancouver with a company called Sinorama.

 

http://www.sinoramavancouver.com/tourpage/index.php?id=ch_15d_b_en_2015&office=vancouver&theyear=2015

[CupKayke]

Mory & Lamchops... sorry it has been a while but thank you for the nice comments about my review. The longer away it is since we traveled, the more I want to redo this vacation. Ha! :D

[swlw]

My husband and I are planning on taking the 14 or 15 day cruise to China on Gate 1 this fall. I have been searching for reviews and I cant tell you how excited I was reading all about your experiences. We too plan on buying all of the excursions offered as when I added everything up it was a no brainer.

I was happy to find out about the cabin upgrade and we will definitely take that option. I wonder sometimes why people are willing to pay to go on an exotic vacation but will nickel and dime once they get there, missing out on some of the besexperience.s of a lifetime As if they plan on going there again :confused:

Again thank you so much for all the details. Fyi we love asian food and are excited for all of the new experiences.

[TXGalAJ]

My husband and I are planning on taking the 14 or 15 day cruise to China on Gate 1 this fall. I have been searching for reviews and I cant tell you how excited I was reading all about your experiences. We too plan on buying all of the excursions offered as when I added everything up it was a no brainer.

I was happy to find out about the cabin upgrade and we will definitely take that option. I wonder sometimes why people are willing to pay to go on an exotic vacation but will nickel and dime once they get there, missing out on some of the besexperience.s of a lifetime As if they plan on going there again :confused:

Again thank you so much for all the details. Fyi we love asian food and are excited for all of the new experiences.

 

I'm doing this tour on September 14. Maybe we'll be on the same one!

[Kylie]

I am excited to read this review! We leave May 28 for the 14 China trip with Gate 1 and hadn't found too many people to visit with about it.

Thanks for the great information!!

[Mark_T]

I am doing the Viking China Emerald trip in April and sure hope it's warmer than you found it!

 

You will have a great time and be assured, the ship you will be on does not suffer from the problems described in this review.

 

Thanks for the review CupKayke, I'm glad you enjoyed the trip, but I'm happy we picked Viking based on the details you've provided.

 

If you get a chance to go to China again it would be great if you could get to see the terracotta warriors in Xi'an and the pandas at the Chongqing Zoo are another not to be missed experience, it was a pity you missed the Imperial city tour in Beijing as well, but on the bright side it does mean you have plenty of reasons to go back there again some time.