Viking China

[Murphey]

Did I understand you correctly that the weather is still quite warm??

[land lover]

The booklet I just received from Viking says "don't use Tap water to shave if you use a razor". I guess i'll have to buy an electic razor. I would appreciate hearing from any men that have taken this China trip as to what their experiance was. (Cultural Delights Tour - Leaving LA 9/22 for Shangai)

 

My husband used hot h20 to shave with in hotels and on ship, so far no problem.

[land lover]

Did I understand you correctly that the weather is still quite warm??

 

What was forecasted was different then what we encountered. It was cooler than expected but humidity was bad when it was hot. There was lots of smog, fog and haze. Sun did appear for us a few days and on the Gorges we were lucky enough to have blue sky.

[land lover]

Adding to Cynthia's sugggestions/observations.

 

If you like chocolate bring your own...the Chinese and ship didn't do dessert well.

 

Expect to get sick, we were fine on the trip but the last day my DH caught a cold and is still battling it. Now I have it. Over half our group became ill enough to miss excursions, bad colds and stomach cramps.

 

Drink lots of H20 and less alcohol. Go to the bar they will give you a glass of bottled h20 with lemon and ice.

 

There are many steep inclines and steps, take care.....one of the older ladies in our group fell twice.

 

A conditioning shampoo was provided on the ship, but no conditioner. I brought my own...but I have long hair.

 

Food was average on the ship and sometimes below average on the excursions...but you won't go hungry, breakfast the best meal in my opinion.

 

Staff on the ship, hard working and efficient. Be prepared for high pitched voices, except for Howard the Director, but he can put you to sleep.:)

 

Massages were great and inexpensive have one.

 

Avearage age on the ship 65-70. We at 48 and 50 were some of the youngest. 2 men in our group were 82 and the life of the party. We really had fun.

 

Marlene went on the Hong Kong ext., Cin and I did not.

 

10pm evening snack is one item like meatballs and sauce. Not worth your time.

 

Even with 250 people on board few stayed up late or rised early.

 

Tai Chi was fun, every morning at 7am, I never missed a class about 5 of us attended them all.

 

China was interesting, I would like to return, my DH says once is enough.

 

You will have a wonderful time, China is a unique experience. I probably enjoyed bargining with the steet vendors the most, others found it annoying. I mean here we are on a Pedy cab and they are riding bikes next to you trying to sell products and avoid on coming traffic. What a kick.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

My husband used hot h20 to shave with in hotels and on ship, so far no problem.

 

So did mine, no problems. I did bring Bactine and we used it on any minor cuts or scrapes.

[Murphey]

Again, thank you for both of yoru perspectives...it really is helpful! I am surprised that so many get sick!!! Also surprised at your comment about more water, less alcohol. I would think drinks would be very expensive and not that appealing? i.e. sounds like we can consume ice on the ship?

 

Oaky......questions for both of you!! What didn't you have with you that you wish you had and what did you bring that wasn't necessary.

[land lover]

Again, thank you for both of yoru perspectives...it really is helpful! I am surprised that so many get sick!!! Also surprised at your comment about more water, less alcohol. I would think drinks would be very expensive and not that appealing? i.e. sounds like we can consume ice on the ship?

 

Oaky......questions for both of you!! What didn't you have with you that you wish you had and what did you bring that wasn't necessary.

 

Re: cost of mixed drinks I thought they were on par or less than bars in our area, beer was cheaper. Cynthia could answer you regarding wine as we did not consume any.

 

We were told ice is from bottled H20.

 

Could have taken less clothes, I took old and inexpensive items that I just left, but still did not use them all. Less shoes. The dress is very casual even for the shows, some did dress up...but who noticed...very different from an ocean cruise.

 

Take neosporine for cuts, one lady in our group scraped her shin the first day on the bus steps and it became infected even though she treated it finally got antibiotics from the doc. on the ship, it was ugly....

 

The best thing I brought was my own king size down pillow, I had never done this before on a long flight and let me tell you it was great not only on the airplane but in the hotel and on the ship, I slept much better.

Pillows on the ship were hard in my opinion.

[land lover]

Regarding my comment about Water vs. Alcohol or soda for that matter,

is that they dehydrate...if you want to improve your chances of staying well, stay hydrated on this trip...drink lots and lots of H20...the tour makes plenty of restroom stops.

[Murphey]

Tai Chi sounds great......barefoot??? So, I assume you have time to take the class, shower and have breakfast before morning tours head out..... It won't be pilates, but better than nothing. I am assuming that there is enough walking on this trip that I don't have to worry about my workouts!

[land lover]

Tai Chi sounds great......barefoot??? I did it barefoot but most did it with tennies including the instructor. So, I assume you have time to take the class, shower and have breakfast before morning tours head out.....no, you don't, I showered the night before, but then again I don't sweat:rolleyes: Breakfast starts at 7 most excursions before 9 ... at 6am they do have fruit, coffee, juice, tea and muffins. This is probaably why few continue with the class most thought it was to early.It won't be pilates, but better than nothing. I am assuming that there is enough walking on this trip that I don't have to worry about my workouts!

 

Yes, there is plenty of walking, but my DH still used the bikes in the "gym."

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Again, thank you for both of yoru perspectives...it really is helpful! I am surprised that so many get sick!!! Also surprised at your comment about more water, less alcohol. I would think drinks would be very expensive and not that appealing? i.e. sounds like we can consume ice on the ship?

 

Oaky......questions for both of you!! What didn't you have with you that you wish you had and what did you bring that wasn't necessary.

 

I was wishing for some Halls. I got a cold too and it started with sore throat. The is an ice bucket in your cabin but you must ask to have it filled. If you buy a bottle of wine at dinner, they write your cabin number on it and you can finish it the next night.

[land lover]

I was wishing for some Halls. I got a cold too and it started with sore throat. The is an ice bucket in your cabin but you must ask to have it filled. If you buy a bottle of wine at dinner, they write your cabin number on it and you can finish it the next night.

 

Cynthia..wish I would have known about the Hallls I brought a whole pack home with me. I really think the smog did a number on us. So are you settling back in? I will e-mail you.....Marlene should be home by now.

[Murphey]

Funny you should mention about cough drops. I just received an email message from our TA advising masks and cough drops for Beijing. He said he had a couple just return and they said the smog was so bad you couldn't see across the street :eek:

 

So, I've added that to my list......I think the mask thing is a little overboard, don't you????

 

Did you run into any easily accessible internet cafes along the way?? I know it's available on the ship, but expensive and not very dependable.

[land lover]

Funny you should mention about cough drops. I just received an email message from our TA advising masks and cough drops for Beijing. He said he had a couple just return and they said the smog was so bad you couldn't see across the street :eek: Well that might be a streech of the imagination, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was dust from a construction zone. Lets put it this way I took photos of the sun during the daylight to show how muted the rays were from haze and smog. But actually in Bejing one day we did have some blue sky at least that is what my photos show. Our local guide at the damn told us haze and fog or should I say smog who knows, was typical for their daily weather. It really became smoggy, foggy and misty as we made our way to Shanghai on the boat. But, when you think about photos and paintings of China you always see mist, now smog has just enter the picture from all the coal burning.

 

So, I've added that to my list......I think the mask thing is a little overboard, don't you???? Believe it or not I did bring masks, but never felt the need to wear them. No one did. However I did see a few Chinese people on bikes wearing them in morning traffic as we were making our way to Shanghai.

 

Did you run into any easily accessible internet cafes along the way?? I know it's available on the ship, but expensive and not very dependable.

Out of country, out of mind.........Cin and Marlene can better answer this question.

[MarbellaSD]

Hi, everyone--the board quieted down because Lori, Cynthia, and I were in China on the 8/25 Cultural Delights tour! They returned Sep. 9 and I stayed on for the Guilin and Hong Kong extension. I returned yesterday and am not up to speed yet—LOL!!! But I will try to provide my thoughts and add to what they have reported, as well as answer specific questions.

 

I am slowly getting back on track after the long trip home, so this will be rather rambling and in no particular order. I conked out on the short flight from San Fran to San Diego because I was so tired! Then slept 12 hours last night. Now it’s almost 11:30, and I’d better call it a day. So consider this part 1 of who knows how many!!:confused:

 

First of all, we had a great time. It is a great trip overall. Yes, there will be some things that don’t meet your expectations, and others that exceed them. Remember that China is a developing nation—and you will see that from the moment you land!—and it is really amazing.:D

 

Do read back through the posts on this board. There is lots of excellent information. The three of us were the best prepared on the trip, IMHO, thanks to the Cruise Critic boards. Irv54’s August 12th post gave us an overview that helped tremendously. However, each trip is different, especially with regard to weather, so you never know what to expect.

 

(I gathered info and advice from numerous posts buy copying and pasting into Word docs by broad topics—shopping, sightseeing, general, etc. If anyone wants them—understanding that they may be repetitious and are based on what I wanted to know, email me at the same user name at AOL.

 

We had about 270 on our trip—8 busloads—and I think this was the fullest the Century Sun as been. There were a few glitches in terms of timing of food service. For example, at dinner the first two courses came out very quickly and then on several nights we had to wait a long time for the entrees out. This bothered other people, such as my husband Don, more than it did me.

 

I didn’t have problems with the food for the most part. I like Chinese food, and on the “lazy susan” meals, served family style, there were usually several very good dishes each time. And there were typically 6-8 different dishes plus appetizers, so we had plenty of options. The first or second day’s lunch was the only exception. The dinners on board ship were Ok to good. Breakfasts were terrific in both the hotels and on the ship—huge buffets. Lunch on the ship had both an extensive soup/salad/sandwich buffet and a main course. Some days I just had the buffet.

 

As Lori mentioned, the age range was mostly 60s and 70s. We were among the younger set on board—and I am 57! Most people kept up quite well, though. The pace is pretty hectic, especially in the cities. Lots of walking and steps, as others have commented. Some people used canes, and you can get wheelchairs if required, as someone recently posted.

 

The guides were fantastic. Everyone I talked to in all the groups loved their guide. Viking assigns you to a group, and you meet your guide at either the airport during pickup or at the hotel. You stay with the same group the whole time. Usually two to three groups stay in each hotel.

 

Weather: yes, take an umbrella, and a light rain jacket, especially now. We had the extremes in weather—from waqrm but not as hot as we expected in Beijing to 100+ and lots of humidity in Wuhan to cool and light rain in Chizhou/Mt. Jiu Hua. We had quite a bit of rain in Shanghai on the last day and also the last day in Hong Kong.

 

Shaving and water: my husband used tapwater to shave and had no problems. You should only drink bottled water even in teh hotels--including Hong Kong. You gt 2 bottles a day at the hotels and on the ship, can buy more from teh bus drivers. All the water/ice served at the ship's bar and restaurant are safe to drink.

 

OK, that’s it for now. More over the next few days. I'd better get to bed--I'nm up way too late, but this is my normal bed time, and you are supposed to get back on your usual schedule quickly...but I'd hoped to change it and not be up so late once i returned! Oh, well, old habits die hard...;)

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Welcome home, Marlene! So how was Guilin and Hong Kong? Did you manage to stay healthy? I'm still battling my cold. How are you doing, Lori? Matt got a cold too but he's better now.

My silk rug came yesterday. I love it. I guess I'll never know if I paid too much for it. Since it took one and half years to make, I can't complain.

More later.

Cynthia

[Murphey]

Marlene...welcome home!!!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time and yes I am starting to feel quite prepared. I have my cough drops, kleenex packets, wet wipes, purell, band aids, you name it! I am usually a "pack the night before and deal with it" type. DH thinks it's funny.....he said you look like you've never traveled anywhere before!!! Found the weather very interesting....a little bit of everything! Please chime in with any other thoughts you may have as you complete your "re-entry":)

 

Lori......did you really carry a king size pillow through the airports with you????

[land lover]

Murphy, yes I did carry that pillow, it is down so it could be folded over my arm...I will bring it again.

 

Marlene, catch up on that sleep, I stayed up to and tried to get back on my normal schedule, but am finding I want to take a nap during the day, I am getting oldddddddddddddddddd:eek:

 

Cynthia, glad your rug arrived.

 

Later

[Murphey]

I've been going back through this whole thread to glean more tidbits!! One thing I read was that the Peking Opera should be skipped! Comments??

[land lover]

I wouldn't miss it if you have not seen a Chinese Opera. We were right up front and really enjoyed the costuming, but the screech voices:eek: Still I found it entertaining and would go again...I wouldn't miss anything if you are up to it...Viking does a great job of keeping you entertained.

[TGBarbie]

Thank you all for your recent posts, we're down to less than 2 weeks and your up-to-the minute info is a great help. My guest room bed is covered with hand gels, bandaids, anti-bacterial gel, cold/cough med., snacks and chocolate. Hope I have room for my clothes.

 

A question for Marlene- What did you do in Hong Kong? And will reasonably priced luggage be available there once we have finished all the intra-China flights? I'm sure our bags will be bulging at the seams with the lists of purchases friends and family have given us.

 

Thanks again, we're glad you are all back safe and sound. Oh, one other ?, was the Chinese airline security less stringent than ours? Will we be allowed hand lotion, H2O, etc?

[JJPNYC]

I've been going back through this whole thread to glean more tidbits!! One thing I read was that the Peking Opera should be skipped! Comments??

 

One thing that doesn't typically get mentioned is that Peking Opera is a style of opera rather than an actual Opera Company. So with that, you'll be seeing an opera performed in the Peking Opera style, not the actual Peking Opera Company.

 

With that though, it's definatley worth attending for the experience. The actual opera is not that long - about 45-60 minutes. It's typically after the Peking Duck dinner since it's in the same place. If you are getting bored by the Opera, you can easily exit the theater and just wait in the lobby.

[land lover]

Thank you all for your recent posts, we're down to less than 2 weeks and your up-to-the minute info is a great help. My guest room bed is covered with hand gels, bandaids, anti-bacterial gel, cold/cough med., snacks and chocolate. Hope I have room for my clothes,

 

 

LOL:D :D

[land lover]

As I mentioned before H2O was smelled and allowed on, on our first China flight.No smelling or interest on our second flight..Marlene can remark about the flight to Guillen. Coming home it was no liquid.

[MarbellaSD]

Part 2:

I'll continue addressing the recent questions, and add whatever commentary pops into my head….

 

Murphey, you are packing the right thiings. I took lemon-echinacea, orange spice, and other Ricola cough drops and they helped the scratchy throat. We all had our pharmacy kits, and people were good about sharing. I generally had advil, sudafed, pepto, immodium with me dureing the day just in case!

 

It was fun meeting each other through the boards before we left. By coincidence we were all in the same hotels. Lori and I looked diligently for Cynthia, annoying some people by asking “Are you Cynthia?” during the first breakfast” Turns out her flight from Chicago was delayed and she (and a few others) missed the first day in Beijing.

 

Lori looked very cute with her big pillow. Lori, stop your talk about getting old—Cynthia and I have several years on you and you will make us feel old! And we certainly held our own quite well.

 

You will see people flying a long string of small kites in Beijng, and you could buy them for about $1 each. We didn’t buy them, figuring that we’d see them again, but I never did. So if you want it, buy it--although there is indeed lots of the same stuff throughout.

 

Peking Opera and Peking Duck: It was one of three “acts” in a 1-hour show. The other two were folk dances rather than the opera. Certainly worth seeing, and perfect that it was a short and varied show. As Lori mentioned, we had good seats—it was open seating and the tables were pretty close to the front. Seats at all performances were good—I was in the 3rd row for the acrobats in Shanghai.

 

As for the Peking Duck dinner—it’s way more than the duck, lots of other dishes arrive first. We get good and very authentic Chinese food here in San Diego so have had this dish many, many times. We like our SD version better; the skin was crispier. But maybe that is how the Chinese like it. The duck meat itself was good. The waitresses at our table weren’t very skilled in rolling the pancakes, it was amusing to Don and me.

 

Guilin and Hong Kong: Guilin was fantastic! If you can manage the extra time/money, do this trip! The Li River cruise was definitely a highlight of the trip—and we even had good weather with some sun—rather than seeing the “misty mountains” that artists paint, LOL.

 

As usual we felt rushed in the city itself, which was quite interesting. We didn’t arrive until quite late—we left Shanghai on a late afternoon flight and it was about 45 minutes or more to the hotel. This was the Sheraton Guilin—a typical Sheraton, perfectly adequate but not elegant like the other hotels we stayed at. But it is the best hotel in the city, and it was only for one night. We took a walk after dinner along the river. It was a Sat. night and the place was jumping! Some people who went the other way found a night market. A few others took our local guide’s advice and got foot massages—1 hour for $15—and they raved about them. If it hadn’t been so late (they didn’t get back til after 10, I believe) I’d have done it, too—and wished I had in hindsight.

 

We had a 2 hour drive from the end of the boat trip back to the airport,:( and a 5:30 flight to HK. (More on luggage below.) So it was another late arrival. We just had dinner at the hotel that night. The next day we had a tour of HK that lasted from about 8:30 to 1 or so. Our local guide was terrific and the weather cooperated while we drove up to Victoria Peak, through Aberdeen, and to Repulse Bay. No need to take the tram up the peak after the tour took us there. We returned to the hotel and set off on a shopping jaunt, walking up Mody Road to Nathan Road and down to the Peninsula, where we met friends for tea.

 

Our Viking guide arranged to meet us in the hotel lobby that evening to walk us to the best place to see the laser-light show at the harbor. I don’t know if the other guides did this. It was wonderful and lots of fun. Then 6 of us had a fantastic dinner at a very “in” fusion retaurant called Aqua, also overlooking the harbor. A late but very fun night.

 

We were delighted to sleep in the next morning. David, our guide, had offered to escort interested people to the bus stop for Stanley Market, on the other side of Hong Koong Island, at 9:30. My guidebooks said it was worth it for the bus trip itself—although it seemed to follow much the same route as our tour had. It took about an hour on double decker buses—air conditioned with comfortable seats and individual air vents!~ Don patiently accompanied me on my final shopping jaunt in the market. :rolleyes: I found it harder to get good deals there, the vendors wouldn’t come down very much at all, especially compared to Beijing (especially at the Great Wall) and in Shanghai at the Bazaar. So I walked away—and they didn’t come after me. So be it; it wasn’t a necessary purchase. We took a cab back.

 

Luggage: Although the guides kept warning us about weight, we had no problems at all until the Guilin-Hong Kong flight. As we had learned from this board, all luggage was weighed as a group—all 270 of us. So the 20 kilos/44 pounds per person wasn’t really enforced. Don and I had 3 pieces—22, 24, and 26” suitcases, as I didn’t have 2 26s and opted to use the 22” at the last minute, because I had no extra room. I was glad I did, too! My guide kept implying that I might have to pay for the 3rd piece but that never happened. (At first I had folded up a sturdy duffle bag and packed it in my luggage for the overflow. Once I added the 3rd piece I switched to a soft duffle that folds into its own pouch.) People carried on a lot of stuff.

 

Extra suitcases were readily available for low prices--$15-$30, depending where you bought them. Several people bought at the WalMart in Wuhan, otheres at the bazaars in Shanghai or in HK..

 

We were all so worried about weight that we repacked in Shanghai for the Guilin flight. I took a lot of the gift items—pillow covers, placemat sets, chopsticks, etc., and put them in a duffel bag to carry on. No need on that leg….but from Guilin to Hong Kong was a different story, as that is a quasi-international flight. I tried to load up the carry ons with heavy stuff. Either we weren’t very much over weight, or our guide and the local guide managed to sweet talk the agent when they weighed our stuff, because we were never charged. I think some of the other groups may have been charged, as one of my friends saw their guide hand over a wad of money. But I never was able to find out what happened. People decided not to worry about it. The rate was per kilo—not like US airlines where you pay a flat rate even if you are a little bit overweight.

 

Returning to the US was no problem in terms of weight. Each bag had a 50 lb or higher limit, depending on airline.

 

The intra-China airline security was less strict; I took my cosmetic case on the plane to reduce the weight of checked luggage.

 

Internet and Cell Phones: All the hotels have business centers. Most offer free wireless, at least in the lobby, for anyone who has a laptop. The ship’s wireless was unreliable but you weren’t charged if you didn’t connect or were cut off.

 

I was unable to access AOL so used a Yahoo mail account. Tha t worked very well, and I think Google’s gmail did, too. I heard from others that Yahoo tends to be the most reliable overseas these days. So if you don’t have a Yahoo account, set one up before you leave and load it with your key addresses.

 

I didn’t see any Internet cafes along the way.

 

We activated international roaming on our Verizon digital phone and it worked beautifully except in Hong Kong. We were glad to have it as we had a major crisis at Don’s office and needed to call. Cingular also works well, I believe.

 

Drinks: Except in Beijing, where cocktails at the hotel were pretty pricey, we did not think the cost of a drink was too bad. On the ship most were about $6, and they poured a generous serving, in my opinion. They had one night with some 2 for 1 deals and a Martini Night with lower rates. I drank lots of water as well.

 

The price of wine was so–so. Chinese wine was pretty cheap, and it went up from there. Several Chilean and Australian wines were $25-30 a bottle. The price didn't stop us, LOL. Bear was reasonable, and many people brought back soda and beer from the shore excursions--it was more for a bottle of soda than for a Martini on the ship!:rolleyes:

 

Health: I did not get sick--but I was one of the few. I had some congestion and cold-like symptoms but was not all that uncomfortable compared to others. At the first sign of any digestive upset I started on Pepto Bismol tablets. My husband had a 3-hour bout of the runs; Immodium AD took care of it pretty quickly, and he had no more problems on the trip. He did have a cough though, probably from pollution. We took Claritin daily, and supplemented with Sudafed, Afrin nasal spray, and other stuff as necessary. So do take your own pharmacy kit!

 

We had an unusual number of people get pretty sick on this tour. Not sure why, as prior travelers we'd asked said mostly the problems were the typical Mao's revenge that didn’t last long. We had quite a few people with severe cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea that lasted for days. They do have a dr. on board who can provide antibiotics on board; some people brought their own but my dr. wouldn’t pre-prescribe, as she said that it’s hard to know which one will work. I’m glad I didn’t need them.

 

Clothes: Casual is fine. I wore casual skirts a lot and found them great on how days, and also for “negotiating” the Chinese-style toilets. Don wore shorts most days until Hong Kong, although other men wore shorts throughout.

 

Now that the weather is cooler, I’d definitely take some 3/4 and/or long sleeved tops or stuff to layer. I had only short sleeve and sleeveless. It was cool on the boat as the a/c worked almost too well. (As you recall, that had been one of my big concerns after hearing that on an earlier trip it wasn’t effective.)

 

I washed out my tops and underwear and that worked well; I used a travel clothesline on the ship but the hotels usually had the pull-out kind over the tub. Stuff did dry, but I only washed fairly lightwt. items. Some people had to use the hairdryer to help the drying process along. We used the boat’s laundry serviced for Don’s shirts and skirts/pants/shorts. Prices were more reasonable than the hotels—about $4-5 per item, I think.

 

To answer Murphey’s other questions:

 

We carried a small tote bag and a small purse during the day. It was enough to carry our cameras, extra batteries, water, and such.

 

Hotels provided shampoo, lotion, and toothbrushes—that was a surprise! I had my own as well.

 

This is all more than you probably needed to know;) !!!!! But hope it helps!