Yangtze River Cruise with teenagers

[jvalastro]

Hi everyone. We are looking at potentially doing a Yangtze River cruise/land tour June or July 2016. Most likely the 10-12 day itinerary from Beijing to Shanghai or vice versa. We looked at the Viking 11 say option which looked great but would be open to options. Now the real question, we have two teenage children, a 13 year old daughter and a 16 year old son. They are very well behaved and generally are able to entertain themselves and don't need other children to be with. If we do this, will they be the only children on board? They enjoy traveling and would love China, but would prefer not to be surrounded by only 50+ aged people or even all 30+ aged people. Also, are the excursions provided by the cruise lines relatively fast paced and interesting, that would keep teenagers interested, or are they slower maybe with more bus rides? Any information would be of great help and thanks in advance!

Edited July 6, 2015 by jvalastro

[pacmom]

Can only tell you about our Viking cruise---no teens or anyone under the age of 50. Do they really want to go to China? If I were going to take teens and we do take our grandchildren after high school graduation--it would be a land tour of the country of their choice. Five years ago it was Greece with 2 of them and next year it is England and France for Futnol stadiums. River cruising in general does not appeal to teens. Uniworld has a few ships that have movie theaters at nite, but otherwise there is only very low key entertainment on board. Take a look at AMA's work with Disney Vacation--those look like a wonderful way for kids to see Europe. Just search this board for AMA ans Disney. Good luck. Pat

[4774Papa]

Hi everyone. We are looking at potentially doing a Yangtze River cruise/land tour June or July 2016. Most likely the 10-12 day itinerary from Beijing to Shanghai or vice versa. We looked at the Viking 11 say option which looked great but would be open to options. Now the real question, we have two teenage children, a 13 year old daughter and a 16 year old son. They are very well behaved and generally are able to entertain themselves and don't need other children to be with. If we do this, will they be the only children on board? They enjoy traveling and would love China, but would prefer not to be surrounded by only 50+ aged people or even all 30+ aged people. Also, are the excursions provided by the cruise lines relatively fast paced and interesting, that would keep teenagers interested, or are they slower maybe with more bus rides? Any information would be of great help and thanks in advance!

 

Regarding having teens on tour for primarily historical sites, I had a lot of success with my two children as well as two step-children.

 

We lived overseas and took the kids to all the major European cities as well as some in Asia and Egypt.

 

All four of my kids are interested in history and culture and loved going to such places. In some places, they were in awe of what they saw.

 

We did a three week tour with 4 day river cruise of China with Vantage and it was the best trip we have ever taken.

 

Here is my review of the cruise.

 

I highly recommend Vantage. We met some Viking people on our flight into Hong Kong at the end of the trip and they discovered that they paid a fair amount more for their trip than we did for ours.

 

Also, some China Yangzee river cruises are more than four day. Ours was four days and takes place in the three gorges. If you take a longer river cruise, the extra part is not so awesome.

 

Make sure your tour goes to Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Chunking (has a new name today) and especially Gullen with the Li river day cruise (that is wonderful)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1718320

 

 

[Floridiana]

If we do this, will they be the only children on board?

 

We did this with ChinaFocus on a very good ship with only 40 westerners, all of them over 50 and lots of Chinese, most of them over 40, all of us able bodied. It was the 4 day Yangtze River cruise in the middle of our extensive land tour. I recommend this company because they individualize the itinerary! Our core group was 3 retired couples with an additional couple one week at a time because they were all still working. They had jobs and teenagers at home. After all it was May and the kids were in school. I am glad we did not go with one of the large companies that advertise everywhere.

 

I thought that many of the places we saw on the land trip would have been great for teenagers. Lots of excursion variety with rental bikes available on the city wall of Chian, hikes up the Great Wall, the Panda zoo in Chendung, the huge sand dunes in Dunhuang on the silk road. You can climb them or take a camel ride.

 

Back to the river: One Yangtze excursion was by small boat into a side canyon and on a narrow foot path. Other excursions were on foot, up the hill and steps. You can walk a fast as you want to. Only the excursion to the dam was a short bus ride to the site, then we walked.

[Di Princess]

Originally Posted by jvalastro: If we do this, will they be the only children on board?

 

Who cares? Our first cruise with my GrandBabies was when they were 9 and 11 to the Med. Jen, Steven, Cici (my DD) and me. They were Never interested in finding other kids but wanted to stick with me and Mum for Trivia, swimming, dining room, and are still interested in History, architecture, culture, and art. Jen is now 24 in Medical school in Chicago (starts this month). Steven received his Bar Card in November and starts his new law job this month. However, he now vacations with his wife of 2 years. She is a nurse.

I think we don't give kids enough credit for being interesting and interested people.

Take those teens and don't worry about any other people. You will have a great time. ;)

[JVilleGal]

Loved the 3 weeks we spent in China and the 4 days on the river (3 Gorges Dam). I think this is an excellent adventure and education for teens! They will love it and your fellow passengers will enjoy them too.

[Hoyaheel]

If you accept as a given there will be few or no younger people on a river cruise, whether or not the 13 and 16 yr old will enjoy themselves depends TOTALLY on the teens themselves. When I was that age, I would have been fine touring historic properties. And I would have been reading about them and driving everyone crazy with my "fun facts". I also grew up hanging out with my parents friends quite a bit (only child) so I was always quite comfortable in the company of "adults" - no problem making conversation at dinner, no boredom without other people my age. I'd probably prefer to sit in a corner and read some days...

[Turtles06]

Like others above, I can only answer as to our Viking land/river trip in China in 2011: definitely no teens on board, and I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone under 50. But, also like others above, whether this would matter to your kids is really dependent on your kids and family. The trip was absolutely fascinating, one of the best we've ever taken.

 

I will add one thing not mentioned by others. We did the Imperial Jewels itinerary, which had five nights on the river (Chongqing to Wuhan, then you fly to Shanghai). Frankly, that was plenty on the boat (and I *love* being on boats and water). I know there are fans of the itinerary that has more nights on the river, but we were happy with what we did. Among other things, all the dining on the Emerald is at large round tables, no opportunity to have any meal with just your spouse. I loved the people in our group, but there were some times it would have been nice to have a meal just with my spouse, and not 6 or 8 of our new friends, as wonderful as they were.

[JordanF]

We took a China trip with Gate 1 a few years ago with our two sons, who were then ages 23 and 20, so older than yours, but still younger than most on our tour (it was winter and there were only 11 people total). We also took them on a Grand Circle trip to Egypt when they were 18 and 15. They were way younger than just about everybody, as were my wife and I. Both trips included a river cruise (4 nights in China, 7 in Egypt). My kids loved both trips. They entertained themselves, hung with us, and made friends with fellow passengers. What an opportunity! You never know as they get older how their schedules will fit in with yours and the availability of certain trips. Get it while you can!

 

For the China reference, here is a link to my review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1542798

 

For the age reference, here is a link to my Egypt review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=466130

[4774Papa]

When I was a teenager, I would have been in heaven being able to go on a trip to China. When I took my 10 year old Daughter to Mexico City, I had her read a book on Mexican History. It helped

[JordanF]

We watched The Last Emperor before we went. Great movie, takes place mostly at the Forbidden City, at least at first.

[vada_9]

Have you thought of doing the China tour as a private tour. I would think that teenagers would probably hate the whole "group tour" concept. When we went to China we had a travel agent organise a private tour through a well known company (we are in Aust). Turned out the price difference between group package tour and our private tour was about the cost of the airfare. We chose the locations we wished to visit (included a Yanghtse cruise - excursions are part of the cost) had our own private guide and driver in each location

[3littlepigs]

Have you thought of doing the China tour as a private tour. I would think that teenagers would probably hate the whole "group tour" concept. When we went to China we had a travel agent organise a private tour through a well known company (we are in Aust). Turned out the price difference between group package tour and our private tour was about the cost of the airfare. We chose the locations we wished to visit (included a Yanghtse cruise - excursions are part of the cost) had our own private guide and driver in each location

 

Took the words right out of my mouth!

We've been to China twice in the last 9 months, both times on our own with private guides. I was a bit apprehensive the first time but wouldn't do it any other way now. The bullet trains are amazing and private guides give you great flexibility at a very cheap price.

 

On our second trip we took our teenage son and on our last day in China he said he couldn't believe that we did something crazy amazing every single day...he's very well travelled but was still gobsmacked by China. His highlight was hiking on the Great Wall from Jiankou to Mutianyu with our private guide.

 

Our trip with him was Hong Kong ( been there many times ) Beijing, Pingyao, Xi'An, Shanghai. Great itinerary with teenagers.

 

If you are thinking of going it alone have a look on tripadvisor for some great suggestions

Edited July 7, 2015 by 3littlepigs
Grammar

[4774Papa]

We did Vantage China. 21 days in 2012 at a total cost of $10000 for two, including airfare. Our group had 26 persons, which was a very manageable number. Our Program Manager was wonderful, as well as out guides.

 

We visited far more cities than those listed above. . Our group always had the best front row seats for any shows. Also, our PM went way out of his way to take care of a gentleman that had a stroke (arranging everything at the hospital and his flight home).