The scenic cruising to the Three Gorges was amazing, no place else like it on earth. I especially enjoyed the Goddess Stream and listening to our guide share her living experiences on the mountain. We stayed at the Renaissance Shanghai Yu Garden Hotel on our own at the end of the tour. I would recommend that hotel over the one Viking chose--Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, because of its proximity to the Bund and other shopping areas.

Overall, the trip was fantastic and I would recommend it. We got to see a lot of sites and the river cruise was a good way to relax after a few days of running and hitting three airports. The Emerald is a little older riverboat but it was kept up well and the staff was excellent. The selection of food was pretty good and they had a very good steak/filet that was available every evening (I've been on ocean cruises where the beef was not this good unless you ate at the specialty restaurants). One negative was that you did not have any options on shore excursions, for example, if you weren't interested in the "Dam Project" you didn't have a second choice. Also, many shore excursions included a lunch followed by shopping, i.e. Jade Factory, lunch, two hours of shopping at their store. Tea Factory, sales pitch on buying their tea. Visit a house in the Hutong and have an artist try to sell you painted bottles, this just got a little old. Just wasn't always as advertised.

This trip is an excellent way to see China. Everything is planned out and you always have a tour guide who speaks the language and is able to answer questions. The attire is casual. Limited on board activities. I would strongly recommend doing the trip as we did from Shanghai to Beijing as everyday it improved and if we did it reversed it probably would not have been as enjoyable. Be prepared for the pollution as it can be overwhelming .

Very relaxing. The staff always called you by your name. They did whatever they could to accommodate our needs. The hotel director sat and talked with us. Superb

This was our first river cruise so was curious to see how it compared to ocean cruising. We loved it! Vikings sure knows how to take care of their clients. From the start to the end of our trip, we had an enjoyable time. Their excursions were well organized, worthwhile and interesting. The on-board activities were interesting and entertaining.. The food on the ship and thru out the journey was delicious. For the price we paid, we saw and did more than we expected. We flew on 3 occasions within China and stayed at luxury hotels during our land portion of the trip. I would highly recommend sailing on Vikings if you ever decide to visit China.