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.

Extremely happy with the services provided by Yvonne and the Global Journeys team. The trip to China was great, the small group [12] got along with everyone, the accommodation was premium and very comfortable and clean, the food was very delicious with lots of variety and plenty of food. The Yangtze River Cruise was great, having our meals at the Executive Lounge was a great idea with a choice of European or Chinese food. It was nice to have tea, coffee, juices, soft drinks and cookies all day ...read more at the Executive Lounge on level 6. The cabin was very nice and clean. All the excursions were very interesting, lots of walking though but it was worth it. Travelmarvel provided bottled water with every excursion. Fred the tour director was very nice and helpful, the local tour guides were very good too. Some of the restaurant staff at the hotels did not speak English very well but using Google translate helped. Overall we really enjoyed this trip and we highly recommend Travelmarvel to our family and friends. Optional tours we highly recommend include the Summer Palace in Beijing and the river cruise in Shanghai. For souvenir shopping we would recommend to do it in Beijing and Xian as in Shanghai it is very limited.

Thank you Yvonne and Travelmarvel for organising this fantastic trip for me. I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The included activities were great and were at a good pace. We travelled a great distance and saw a lot. All the hotels were excellent and centrally located. There were only 12 people in my group and everyone got along really well. I was a solo traveller but never felt alone thanks to the lovely people in my group. Weather wise it was a good time to travel in September as it wasn't hot at ...read more all. The only negative for me was the farewell dinner in Shanghai. I think the tour director should take a bit more care for people with special dietary requirements. However I do like to say that the food was really good in other places.