Beijing Cruise Reviews

--Viking's Style in China-- The interesting thing Viking does in China (don't know if their Europe river cruises are the same), is combine the concepts of the land tour with the river cruise. There are seven or eight groups of about 35 each assigned to a bus with a Viking tour escort. Each group travels together for the entire trip for all the side-tours, airport transfers (except arrival ...

We are first time cruisers on this type of boat, having done European river cruises and small boat cruising in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It is true the boarding experience in Tianjin was an absolute shambles. No information, queues going in every direction, everybody there at the one time as travel from Beijing was not co-ordinated. A really bad impression much commented on by regular cruise ...

We took the Windows of the World tour which covered China & then we went on to Tibet. Tibet was by far the most enjoyable part of the trip except for the altitude sickness & the food. Great overview of China even though some of the trip seemed canned. Our tour guide Gao was fabulous. Extremely organized! Hotel accommodations were wonderful except in Tibet. Food & wine on the ship was great! ...

We had an amazing but busy and somewhat exhausting (due to the high temperatures) time in Beijing and Xian and were ready to relax. We would recommend starting in Beijing and finishing in Shanghai. The ship was well equipped and the menu offered a good variety. The service was relaxed and a number of waitstaff crew were new but well instructed and trained by the amazing matre di "Jay". We enjoyed ...

This was out second Viking River cruise. A fair amount of time was spent ashore, so the entire "cruise" was not on the river. The three hotels that we stayed at were magnificent. The staff in the hotels as well as on-board the boat were extremely pleasant and very helpful. A lot of time was spent on buses traveling to and from out accommodations and places we were visiting. Some of the sites ...

This was our first venture into China, so we booked all air and transfers through Viking. They flew us to Beijing a day early which was appreciated. We flew Air China which offered nothing out of the ordinary regarding space or food. It got us where we needed to be both directions. We were met by a Viking representative who took us to the beautiful Kerry Hotel. The bathroom here was the talk of ...

If you are contemplating booking this cruise, I would recommend starting in Beijing and doing all the strenuous part of the tour first. Firstly the tour does involve lots of walking and steps, so it is not recommended for people with mobility issues. Our tour guide David was excellent, and kept us fully informed of timings and meeting places, and he kept us amused with tales of his childhood ...

My wife and I just completed your Ode To The Emperors cruise 3/10 to 3/31 on the Nautica. Cabin 4049. We have taken earlier cruises with Oceania and Nautica which were great experiences. Needless to say the disappointments on this 3 week cruise needed to be addressed as we are not sure all the problems were documented by the crew and staff. I don’t mean this letter to be picky as we all know ...

For starters, the main let down was the ship stunk of sewage, as you go at the back/side of the ship, it stunk really bad. In some other areas I could get whiffs of the same stench here and there. The cruise was ok. Plenty of food choices at the Windjammer. I didn't like their Main Dining food options, they stated the meat wasnt tender, very chewy, and they advised us to choose something else ...

SUMMARY Lovely ship with nice atmosphere being well managed by Captain Roger Bilton and Cruise Director, Brett, who kept everybody informed. Food was good but not up to the standards enjoyed on previous cruises on Sea Princess. Entertainment was poor, especially in the theatre, evidently due to excessive cost cutting. Well managed port calls with minimal queues and formalities handled very ...