We sailed on the Victoria Sophia as part of a Magic of the Yangtze trip and sailed down the river from Shanghai to Chongqing staying on the boat for 8 days. A number of tours off the boat was also included in the packaged holiday cost at the various places it stopped including Nanjing, Wuhan and the three Gorges. So first of all the boat which was (according to them) 5 star but I'd put it nearer 3+, the cabins were in essence all the same (except the rather expensive suites) and were of a similar size to most big Cruise ships, functional but not over spacious. All of the areas were kept very clean and the staff were excellent as was the food (mostly buffet style) provided in the restaurant. As per most ships nearly all purchases aboard were charged to your ship board account to settle at the end, the exception being the on-board artists which preferred cash for decorated jars, paintings, engraved stones etc. As part of booking early we received a $200 on board credit to our account but we couldn't use this to pay for any optional trips, on-board artist products or the mandatory service charge (staff tips) so effectively had to use the $200 just to buy drinks. To be honest for the first 3 days we were very disappointed with the scenery down the Yangtze as it's all industrialised and sailing for some 500 miles with factories either side of the river bank and being accompanied by coal barges and container ships down the river was no fun. In general most of the tours they do from the boat are quite reasonable and do show you more of rural China but the one trip I'd recommend is an optional trip to the "Tribe of the Three Gorges" which goes to a very beautiful, peaceful and picturesque area. On board the boat there weren't many activities planned during the day with the exception of some talks presented by the boat's English speaking River Guide who was quite excellent and provide us with some Chinese history as seen by the Chinese people. On some evenings the boat's staff put on various shows (Chinese costume, culture etc.) and these were all very good. Read Less