Thansfers port to Beijing

[Hawaiidan]

any sources or ideas.....

 

 

O is offering, an included 3 day tour with the cruise...but dosent give any details of what is included. I assume Transfer, hotels and tours for 3 days.

Id prefer doing my own hotels with Marriott points for no charge, but read the transfer to Beijing costs about $300 for a private transfer.

 

I have looked at the O site, which tells nothing on what included and or any real detailed description... Is it worth it to stick with O or take the $700 pp credit the offer?

 

Any suggestion or prior experience......

[Noxequifans]

We did the reverse ... starting in Beijing. We did not want O tours but changed our minds when we got there. They were excellent and well worth the cost.

 

A caution about the port of Tianjin .... not all cabs/private limos are licensed to operate on the port grounds.

[Hawaiidan]

We did the reverse ... starting in Beijing. We did not want O tours but changed our minds when we got there. They were excellent and well worth the cost.

 

A caution about the port of Tianjin .... not all cabs/private limos are licensed to operate on the port grounds.

 

 

Could you elaborate on the tour....hotels meals included, I know the great wall...which section, forbidden city etc.... Not being familiar with china I am somewhat unsure about doing it on my own... lots of potential pitfalls.

[Kamloops50]

In China your always better off using cruise line's transfers and hotels.

[rallydave]

Dan, used a company based in New York called Explorient with our contact, kervin.yu@explorient.com We had an included overnight in Beijing with the cruise line that was a disaster even if it was "free" but, really included. Can't be sure but, most probably Kervin will arrange pickup at the Port.

 

Ours was a private tour, just DW and I and Kervin arranged wonderful guides in Beijing as well as Xian for the Terra Cotta Warriors which are not to be missed.

 

They arranged just what we wanted while also making suggestions which were great. Our own driver and English speaking guide. And, in response to previous poster who stated that better to use Cruise Lines tours and transfers, only if you want to pay double or more. Our costs were extremely competitive with great guides and private car transfers, almost half what the cruise line wanted for a big bus tour and at least 30 people.

 

Give them a try, nothing to lose and you determine what and where you want to go and do and don't have to wait for the inevitable late passenger.

[sunnies]

We were on Nautica in March and stayed in Beijing before the cruise. Four of us together with all our cases were collected at our hotel by a driver and guide and taken for a tour of The Great Wall followed by lunch and then onto Tianjin around 4 pm. You could do it in reverse. We used Tour Beijing. A fantastic day only marred by the fact there was no ship waiting for us at the port as fog had prevented docking!

[corpkid]

We stayed at the Renaissance Wangfujing 3 nights prior to our cruise. I work for Marriott so it cost us about $24 / night and it's a fantastic hotel. We upgraded to the club for an additional $20 a night and it was worth it for breakfast and evening canapés and cocktails plus the "view" (smog based) of the forbidden city... Location is pretty great - highly recommend this hotel especially if you want to use Marriott points.

 

We used Catherine Lu tours for two days and saw all the highlights privately and had a great driver and guide. HIGHLY recommend this outfit. All said we paid about 5000 CNY (about $750) for two great touring days including the wall and all the sights as well as a transfer from PEK to the hotel and a transfer from the hotel to the Tianjin port. They are very flexible and again, highly recommended.

 

If you do stay at this hotel, and you enjoy cooking, try to make time to do the Beijing Cooking school. A total blast and I'll share the details if interested. The house you cook in is right around the corner from the hotel.

[Hawaiidan]

Well thats good news....I am a Marriott platinum and total Marriott junkie with more points than I can count... same with UAL so air and hotels wont cost a dime.... ( its good to have saved em)

 

Yes I am hip to the club level... they are fantastic... The JW in Chicago and Grovsner Square in UK being at the top of the list.... Didnt want to leave to go out for meals it was that good with comp foods and wines.....are you kidding

 

I will try your contacts and it make me feel a whole lot better. I will try Kevin first.....

 

I do love cooking and have taken Pro-schools in Napa and Paris the idea of chinese cuisine is exciting in its own right.. Love to get a contact and details if you can....

 

You guys are great

[aquidneck1]

Hawaii Dan, We used the ship accommodations and tours in Beijing following a Crystal Cruise and we were very happy. I would get more details from Oceania before you eliminate that option.

 

Re Catherine Lu, we stayed on in Beijing and used her for 1 day to see some other locations including some art galleries. We found her to be okay, but not comfortable or knowledgeable outside of the usual tourist spots and a bit irreverent. She was our least favorite guide and we had arranged our own tours in several other areas of China. She seemed a bit more interested in getting a good review than in giving a good tour. I know she is rated very highly but just did not meet our needs that well. She may be fine for you but wanted to give you a heads up.

 

Also highly recommend the Black Sesame Kitchen for an amazing dining experience. http://blacksesamekitchen.com/ They have a cooking school but we did not take advantage.

Edited April 11, 2016 by aquidneck1

[corpkid]

Hawaii Dan, We used the ship accommodations and tours in Beijing following a Crystal Cruise and we were very happy. I would get more details from Oceania before you eliminate that option.

 

Re Catherine Lu, we stayed on in Beijing and used her for 1 day to see some other locations including some art galleries. We found her to be okay, but not comfortable or knowledgeable outside of the usual tourist spots and a bit irreverent. She was our least favorite guide and we had arranged our own tours in several other areas of China. She seemed a bit more interested in getting a good review than in giving a good tour. I know she is rated very highly but just did not meet our needs that well. She may be fine for you but wanted to give you a heads up.

 

Keep in mind there are different guides for Catherine Lu (which is a company). Do you remember who you had because Sophie was very accommodating and very friendly and personable...? We had her customize on the fly so we could do more "culinary" type things such as markets and street food without issue.

[aquidneck1]

We had Catherine, herself. It was just an odd experience and we have arranged our own tours all over the world. I am usually quite happy after all of the research. Definitely reliable though.

[Hawaiidan]

Hawaii Dan, We used the ship accommodations and tours in Beijing following a Crystal Cruise and we were very happy. I would get more details from Oceania before you eliminate that option.

 

Re Catherine Lu, we stayed on in Beijing and used her for 1 day to see some other locations including some art galleries. We found her to be okay, but not comfortable or knowledgeable outside of the usual tourist spots and a bit irreverent. She was our least favorite guide and we had arranged our own tours in several other areas of China. She seemed a bit more interested in getting a good review than in giving a good tour. I know she is rated very highly but just did not meet our needs that well. She may be fine for you but wanted to give you a heads up.

 

Also highly recommend the Black Sesame Kitchen for an amazing dining experience. http://blacksesamekitchen.com/ They have a cooking school but we did not take advantage.

 

Thanks for the info....I amd taking Daves guy Kevin...

[Hawaiidan]

I was seriously considering extending my time in China, To Wulong and Zhangjiajie and Guylin for the incredible Karst and caves.........Looking at inter china flights and costs...... and then looked at UAL deals on flying direct

I can get a RT to Chongqing or Shanghai for like $680 !!!! from LAX.... way cheaper than doing intra china flights and stays.... Just a simple comp was eye opening.... cheaper to do several rt from Calif. You can get for a puny 70K business class.....each way !!!! thats cheap

 

Thanks for the photo input...I have no desire to see Nam except Hylong Bay, other than a through my parallex sight in an A4D . ( VF77 )

[Silver Sweethearts]

I was seriously considering extending my time in China

 

Will you be combining your China visit with a side trip to Okinawa, as you had expressed a desire to go there? Naha is only two hours flight time from Shanghai.

[Condocat]

We were in Beijing the same time as corpkid. We stayed at the JW Marriott...excellent hotel, executive lounge a plus!

 

We too will confirm corpkid's recommendation of Catherine Lu's tours. They were the best. We had Helen foor 2 days who was fabulous.

 

For transportation to the cruise terminal we used Mark's Guide and Driver Service. It was $100US per couple for a van so we had plenty of room for luggage and our driver was guaranteed to speak English.

 

Have a great trip!

[MVPinBoynton]

Last year we started in Beijing and had 3 days of tours with another couple and a transfer on a bus with many people on our Nautica cruise who had also spent time in Beijing before the cruise. A CC'er who had used a company previously highly recommended www.beijingdiscoverytours.com . The communications were very quick and most thorough. They also arranged our flights and transfers when we went to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Warriors. We couldn't have been more pleased with the tours or service we received.

 

If you do arrange tours on your own with private tour guides, do make sure to find out if the tours include required visits to stores. Since the guides are reimbursed to bring tour groups, the tours themselves are cheaper; but you spend less time touring and too much time in stores that are more expensive, since they have to pay the guides. Beijing Discovery Tours does not do this and we really appreciated it. There are lots of photos from our tours in our website cruise review. The link is in my signature.

Edited April 12, 2016 by MVPinBoynton

[potterhill]

When we did our Beijing to Bangkok cruise 3 years ago we arranged a private driver. It's a long convoluted story.

 

We dropped our daughter at the airport at 10 and headed to Tianjin. Anyway when we got to the port at midnight, it took us 2 hours to find the ship. They had moved it and we drove all over looking for it. And the locals know nothing about cruise lines, only the ships actual name. It was a nightmare. I was thinking I had messed up the dates and we had missed the ship.

 

We made lots of memories that night and saw more of one of the largest ports in the world than I care to recall. When we finally arrived we got a very warm welcome aboard and I've never had a bed feel as good as that one did! Partly, I think, it was just the fact that I was actually in it!

 

So, all of this is to say I would book through an agency that does these transfers regularly. When the ship was moved from its original location we were not notified and apparently lots of people had trouble locating her berth. It would have been nice to get an email with the new location noted.

 

Mo

[Hawaiidan]

Will you be combining your China visit with a side trip to Okinawa, as you had expressed a desire to go there? Naha is only two hours flight time from Shanghai.

 

 

If it were me alone....no problem but with wife thats another deal. Right now with the dirt cheap air to all over china it makes uniteds new service 787's wt better than tack on this or tack on that/// Will make short focused non cruise forays to hit the holes in my map