Anyone Been On A Riverboat Cruise?

[movingforward]

Typically when I travel to a foreign country I enjoy going on my own, setting my own schedule, etc.  I have never had much of an interest in doing a cruise in a foreign country; however, I would like to go to China and I have been looking into a riverboat cruise.  I must say I am intrigued.  It looks a lot different than a typical cruise and you actually stay in some of the cities for a few days, as opposed to your typical dock here from 9 - 5 kind of thing with a regular cruise ship.  The idea of being able to unpack just once and travel around China sounds extremely nice to me.  Has anyone experienced a river boat cruise?  What company?  It looks a bit costly so I don't think this would happen until at least 2016.   

[Gardening Grandma]

We did it in 2010. Spent 5 days cruising the Yangtze from Chongking to Shanghai. We used an American company (Victoria). Loved the trip. We are planning another river cruise next year from St Petersburg to Moscow.

Most people only do the Yangtze for 3 days getting off after the Three Gorges portion, but we chose to stay all the way to Shanghai (instead of flying).

It's different than regular cruises. There was one sitting each meal, about 200 passengers total, we sat at a table for eight and had the same tablemates for the duration. They were funny and enjoyable.

What questions do you have? I can't tell you the cost of the cruise alone as we did it as part of a 3 week itinerary. If you want a recommendation for a travel agent, you can PM me.

[Deleted]

Try cruisecritic.com, too. You may be able to get reviews of the cruise you're considering.

DH and I did a small-ship cruise twice, in Alaska, and loved it. Not a river cruise, but definitely a smaller ship with one meal seating. We preferred it to the traditional giant ships.

[Plain Old Petunia]

I did a Viking trip to China in 2008.    The trip was flawless, everything was well organized.   I would definitely travel with Viking again.

The trip I chose was about half river boat, half town to town via plane and/or bus.

[movingforward]

Aug 8, 2014 12:12:14 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

I did a Viking trip to China in 2008.    The trip was flawless, everything was well organized.   I would definitely travel with Viking again.

The trip I chose was about half river boat, half town to town via plane and/or bus.

I was looking at Viking last night and saw something similar to what you did.  I liked the itinerary a lot. 

[Deleted]

I've done lots of them since my Grandfather was the captain of the Delta Queen and my uncle the captain of the American Queen.

That's only the Mississippi though, so I don't really have any advice. 

[Gardening Grandma]

I want to do one on the Mississippi as well.

[movingforward]

The flight to China looks like a killer though - the shortest one I found is 23 hrs. 

[yogiii]

Viking River Cruises look awesome from the commercials

[Gardening Grandma]

Aug 8, 2014 12:51:40 GMT -5 movingforward said:

The flight to China looks like a killer though - the shortest one I found is 23 hrs. 

Beijing was about 13 hours from Seattle.  Shanghai was about a 2 hr flight from Beijing.

We flew Hainan and the seats were very uncomfortable...

[movingforward]

Thanks GG!  I will check out Hainan Airline

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2014 12:49:59 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

I want to do one on the Mississippi as well.

They rarely come this far north anymore.  It's sad.  I grew up on the river and the huge steamboats going through was always a big occasion and so fun to watch.  Our town still has Steamboat Days.  Just no steamboats. 

[Bonny]

We floated UP the Nile. It was great as the boat accommodated 75 passengers but there were only 3 other couples + our guide and their guide. Most people want to float down the Nile but since the view is the same it didn't matter to us.

Nothing like having a whole crew only service 8 couples!

[Gardening Grandma]

Bonny,
Was that on a felucca? I think that sounds wonderful.

[Chocolate Lover]

Aug 8, 2014 12:52:18 GMT -5 yogiii said:

Viking River Cruises look awesome from the commercials

I immediately thought of them, I guess "sponsoring" something on PBS does work!

[sapphire12]

I did a Yangtze River cruise in 2012. The views are awesome.
I did a Nile River cruise in 2008.
The Viking River cruise commercials look more upscale than either of my trips.
Beijing is 13 hours from either San Francisco or Chicago.
Ask me how I know from experience how long it is from San Francisco to Beijing even though I live on the opposite coast?

[resolution]

I went on a Uniworld cruise down the Neva river from St. Petersburg to Moscow. We had three days in each city at the start and end of the cruise. I really enjoyed the relaxed pace and watching the countryside flow by. We had a ton of time off the ship and never felt like we were on a constricted schedule.

This cruise was about 15 years ago, shortly after Russia opened up to American tourists, so the service was not up to the standards that one would normally expect from a cruise. For example, there was one choice of food served at every meal, which was eggplant. It was a few years before I could eat another eggplant after the trip. The crew guarded the coffee and my dad was only allowed one cup at every meal. Same thing with the pats of butter. They would have a table seating 6 and have six pats of butter on the table, and if only three people sat down, they removed three pats to prevent someone from eating extra.

I have been told that Uniworld's cruises are much nicer than what I experienced, and that the main issue was that no one in Russia had any tourism experience at the time. I still loved the trip, even though it wasn't as fancy as other cruises. 

[Sunnyday]

Aug 8, 2014 12:51:40 GMT -5 movingforward said:

The flight to China looks like a killer though - the shortest one I found is 23 hrs. 

This can't be possible. Are you including all travel time, like door to door? I don't know where you are, but from any major airport in the USA, the flight should be no longer than 14-12 hours. Don't do connecting flights. There are enough good prices to fly in direct, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2014 18:34:15 GMT -5 Sunnyday said:

Aug 8, 2014 12:51:40 GMT -5 movingforward said:

The flight to China looks like a killer though - the shortest one I found is 23 hrs. 

This can't be possible. Are you including all travel time, like door to door? I don't know where you are, but from any major airport in the USA, the flight should be no longer than 14-12 hours. Don't do connecting flights. There are enough good prices to fly in direct, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

My ex flies to China several times a year.  I don't think there are direct flights from Minneapolis because he always has to get on another flight somewhere else.  Anyhow, from Chicago it's over 15 hours.

[movingforward]

Aug 8, 2014 18:34:15 GMT -5 Sunnyday said:

Aug 8, 2014 12:51:40 GMT -5 movingforward said:

The flight to China looks like a killer though - the shortest one I found is 23 hrs. 

This can't be possible. Are you including all travel time, like door to door? I don't know where you are, but from any major airport in the USA, the flight should be no longer than 14-12 hours. Don't do connecting flights. There are enough good prices to fly in direct, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

I just used orbitz.  I live in Austin. There is no direct flight from there straight to China.  Most had two stops, one somewhere in the US and one elsewhere.  I didn't look at all the flights though. Just sort of scrolled through pretty quickly.  I will definitely look further into it once I really get serious about planning.

[Gardening Grandma]

almost40
I got an email from Delta this morning. They have direct flights from Seattle to Beijing and Shanghai. Right now the fare is $820 RT Sea/Beijing and $988 RT Seattle/Shanghai. Those are very good fares, imo. (I think the seats might be more comfortable than the Hainan seats were). Delta also has Premium Economy seating - dunno what those fares are however.

These fares are good if you book by Aug 22... btw

[Gardening Grandma]

Aug 8, 2014 20:56:30 GMT -5 movingforward said:

Aug 8, 2014 18:34:15 GMT -5 Sunnyday said:

This can't be possible. Are you including all travel time, like door to door? I don't know where you are, but from any major airport in the USA, the flight should be no longer than 14-12 hours. Don't do connecting flights. There are enough good prices to fly in direct, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

I just used orbitz.  I live in Austin. There is no direct flight from there straight to China.  Most had two stops, one somewhere in the US and one elsewhere.  I didn't look at all the flights though. Just sort of scrolled through pretty quickly.  I will definitely look further into it once I really get serious about planning.

What I like to do when making those really long trips is spend a night (or two) in the jumpoff city.  So maybe fly Austin/San Francisco.  Spend a night or two, then SF to Beijing or Shanghai.  It costs a little more in hotels/meals, but it doesn't beat me up the way continually travelling does.

[Bonny]

Aug 8, 2014 13:12:24 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Bonny,
Was that on a felucca? I think that sounds wonderful.

No I wanted to go on a Felucca but there was some reason (which I have since forgotten) that we couldn't do it. Wonderful ship, though. One of my favorite memories was spending our anniversary dinner on the boat (only passengers on the boat) directly in front of the Luxor temple.  What a gorgeous view at night!

[tcu2003]

I've done a Nile River cruise and loved it. I think there were maybe 50-ish people on the one I did. There was one dinner seating, and only the three of us girlfriends and one older gentleman (like our grandparents age) in the English speaking guide group, so we got tons of individual attention from the guide.