Yangtze River Cruises

Viking provide a very hassle free itinerary to experience the highlights of China. Accommodation and the cruise down the Yangtze were of a very high standard. The 6 day cruise was very enjoyable and you experience travelling through the locks of the Three Gorges Dam, something that I don't think other groups all do. Extra time, especially in Xian, would be good and some rail travel rather than all air connections within China would improve the itinerary. There were no hidden extras, but the inevitable ...read more shopping stops! It was our first time travelling with Viking... The group was 95% American and most were return Viking travellers. I would have liked some more free time and options to do a little independent exploring of the cities we visited.

Our tour was exceptionally organised using planes, trains, coach and boats to see the major "must see" parts of China. The local guides made each place far more meaningful even though we'd taken definitive guide books with us. The tour guide who was with us for the entire time was able to give us continuity and deal with the logistics of each day and how we were going to achieve the itinerary with regular toilet stops. We were primed the night before as to what we'd need in the way of wet weather ...read more gear by being told the local weather forecast. Anna our guide was the best that we've ever met. She was totally organised and her English was excellent and she lay down her expectations of us like being on time and where we were to meet. She called us Anna's family which gave us all a sense of belonging.

It was a great trip. So well organized. We had a few internal flights, and it was so well organized that we did not have to worry about anything. Bags were picked up from the room and arrived (just like that) at our destination.

It was a tour filled with endless attractions. The river cruise was the main attraction. Items such as the acrobatics show was out of this world. Dances that we saw were fantastic. All in all we had a jolly good time. Tour Director Charles was a friendly, helpful, caring and knowledgeable person who provided a professional service throughout the tour. The only improvement that is needed is to find a way of minimising the need for tour participants to carry heavy (main) luggage over long distances ...read more at the airports and railway stations - even through escalators. In fact a suitcase fell on me while on the escalator and I fell down on the person behind me. Luckily he was strong enough to catch me thereby preventing any injury. This is important because the majority of participants are senior citizens. Anyway it was a fantastic tour that we would recommend to anyone.