Sanctuary Retreats

River Cruises

Asia River

Average

Very Good

Sanctuary Ananda

Sanctuary Yangzi Explorer

This cruise was part of a 15 day tour of China with a luxury tour company.  The accommodations on this ship were by far the worst of the tour.

I have been on several river cruises in Europe and the Yangzi Explorer simply fails every comparison test.

My room was dirty and stunk of Urine. There were mosquitos and flies everywhere.  No screens on the windows.  A/C did not work well at all.  WiFi was a joke.  Management seemed not to care and just gave excuses.

The bar on deck six is nice, but the staff needs to be trained better in making cocktails.  Service in the bar was friendly but staff seemed overwhelmed if the request was anything that varied off of the mundane.

The resturant was nice and the food was good.  Breakfasts were excellent with lots of variety.

The cruise itinterary was okay.  The guide on the boat who commented on what we were seeing was annoying.  Talked constantly about nothing at all.

If you have been to Norway or New Zealand, the scenery in the Three Gorges will not impress that much.  It is pretty and others on the trip found it amazing.  I was constantly saddened by the amount of trash I saw floating down the river. 

As this cruise is often part of larger itineraries, many visitors to China will end up on this boat.  If someone had the choice of taking this cruise or not on a visit to China, I would probably say "Don't Bother".  

The spa is mediocre at best. I booked three treatments.  Cancelled the third after the underwhelming experience with the first two.  

Since this is supposed to be the nicest boat on the river, I do wonder what the others are like.  I am also shocked that Sanctuary considers this boat to meet its standards.  There is also NO WAY this boat was refurbished in 2017.  If it was, Sanctuary needs to complain to the company that did the refurbishment.

Not up to global standards

This cruise was a 4 day part of a 22 day scenic tour of china so not exactly sure what part of the total tour cost this was.

WE were fortunate that we were upgraded to a suite (see below) though weren't entitled to the benefits that came with it..ie laundry as one of our fellow tour members found out.

Ship: was a large "best available" vessel on the Yangtze river decorated in true Chinese style with an adequate theatre ,gym, well appointed lounge looking out onto a front deck area.

This area had movable seating though wasn't under cover but was an excellent viewing area when going through the three gorges area which had towering cliffs on both sides of the boat.

Activities: early morning ti chi ,several Chinese medical lectures, painting and off boat tour briefing added a lot to the trip.

We chose to visit an under ground never completed nuke facility "site 816" ,a food market where we were ( 20 or so Aussies westerners) the topic of conversation.The locals stopped their shopping/trading to look at us /interact...not many of our kind seen around these parts id say

We also were treated to a small boat cruise paddled , pulled & sang too by traditional Hubei boat people ( no longer naked- google it u will see)

Food: this is an area I traditionally struggle with.Breakfast my favourite time as I can partake of the things I like.Both western & Chinese fare was available & this theme continued into lunch.I was able to satisfy my particular pallet though dinner was a choice of two items per  entrée/main/dessert and I struggled.

Whilst I don't drink alcohol my tour partners indicated the list was acceptable but not extensive.All has to be imported so while included wasn't free flowing.......

Now just be aware that that getting off the boat to get to shore excursions or disembarking is not for the faint hearted.At times 100 or so steps straight up with only embarkation having a lift.The poor guys carrying our cases 2 at a time on a pole across their shoulders was a sight.

The other issue was that we thought we would go through the 3 G Dam via a new ship elevator.Promotional information from our tour company indicated this but we started on the wrong side of the dam wall and headed up river.

All said it was another good & different river cruise our 6th in a row.

chris

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