My wife and I chose the cruise on the basis of a friend's experience with Viking in Europe. Our trip was an 18 day tour starting in Shanghai and ending in Beijing, with a 5 night cruise down the Yangtze River and stops in various cities after that by plane. The Viking Emerald was an elegant ship, and our cabin provided wonderful amenities (including a veranda with two chairs) and enough storage space to unpack our suitcases. The food was outstanding, and the personnel (including the wonderful and hilarious hotel manager Wilhelm) were very knowledgeable and helpful. Service was wonderful. Our room steward even provided a translation of the poem on the wall in our stateroom.
The day tours while on the ship, and the tours there after had wonderful guides, and the transfers were handled very smoothly. Since we were primarily with a small group of 20 people, we got to know our fellow tourists and enjoyed conversation and visiting. The restaurants were very good. The shops (often related to the restaurants) were of high quality, once we got accustomed to Chinese bargaining and salesmanship.
I can't say enough about our guide, Tom. The local guides were also very good, but Tom was outstanding. In addition to his usual duties of accompanying us on our travels and tours, he was outstanding in emergency. One of our group took ill in Lijiang, and Tom (and the local guide Bruce) made sure that she got excellent care and that she had someone bi-lingual with her at all times. She recovered nicely and rejoined the group, but Tom and Bruce handled the emergency with great sensitivity and aplomb.