Viking Emerald Review

China Venture

Review for Asia Cruise on Viking Emerald
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barcroft2697
10+ Cruises • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Mar 2012

Our visit to China --- traveling with a group of 8 --- was an excellent travel experience. We booked our flight through Viking, connected (from DCA) to a Continental flight from Newark nonstop to Shanghai. We flew business class and enjoyed the benefit of a terrific cabin crew.

Viking booked our land portion into mostly Shangri La Hotels, which were top notch (Five star quality). The Regent in Beijing matched the others. Shanghai and Beijing are not to be missed cities. The cruise portion on the Yangtze provided full and fulfilling days in several ports. This was our first experience with a tour guide who accompanied us the entire trip. The guide's name is Jessie Xu, and she was a winner. All of the shore excursions were learning experiences, though fewer shopping experiences would have pleased me. The local guides were very good except in Chongquin and Mt. Jiu Hua, but here Jessie, recognizing the problem, filled in the gaps. A different and refreshing stop was Jingzhou, where we visited third graders in one of the elementary schools that Viking supports.

The Viking Emerald was well-configured, and the staff were terrific. Many of the wait staff were lined up on the ramp to shore to bid us good day as we departed on excursions and again to welcome us back on board. In fact, the wait staff probably was the hardest working wait staff I've encountered in nearly 25 cruises. Several of them, together with other employees, not only performed various cultural dances and songs in addition to their regular duties but did so at near professional caliber.

Cabin Review

Sorry but I don't remember sufficient detail about our cabin to make additional comments.

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