Ritz Tour Beijing Yangtze Shanghai - economical choice
Written: Oct 23 '03 (Updated Oct 31 '03)
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Pros: many sites, good value,decent food,relatively all inclusive
Cons: large group,little free time at tour sites,pollution
The Bottom Line: I would say this tour is not for everyone but if you read my review first and its your style, go for it!
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| scippy88's Full Review: Ritz Tours |
I just returned from the 11 day Yangtze River trip by Ritz Tours. For $1299 + $80 visa fee, it is difficult to complain about too much especially when this fee includes air fare, ground transport, 3 nights on the Yangtze, practically all meals, admission fees, and tour guides. Total tips per person are approximately $100 additional and they are pretty much mandatory unless you are completely dissatisfied.
I was told this exact same trip was $999 in Aug '03 and will again drop to this price in Nov '03 but I cannot be sure. The timing for the decreases in price makes sense given the recent SARS scare and the potentially miserable weather November may have.
I chose this trip through Ritz Tours mainly because I have always wanted to see China and the price seemed too good to pass up and the timing of trip fit my vacation schedule. Now for a long winded review. If you don't like detailed descriptions of things, skip this one.
The trip started in Beijing and 4 nights were spent there. One thing to keep in mind is that although the trip is promoted as 11 days, you really are only on the ground for sightseeing for 8 of those days. In addition, this trip had two early morning domestic flights which wiped out two half days as well. More on that later.
The first two days in Beijing were amazing. The first day included Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and a Chinese Acrobat Show. The second day was the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall with a Peking Duck dinner (the dinner was nothing fancy if you have had this in the States before). If this makes sense, everything seen in these two days probably would have been worth the trip had they been stretched out over a week. The only drawback is the break neck pace and trying to herd a group of 40 tourists around all these attractions. Moving on... the third day was an open day and probably 3/4 of the group opted to pay $50/person for a 5 hour tour of the old historical neighborhoods (Hutong). As far as getting a feel for the Chinese culture and way of life, this was probably as close as we we able to get. While it may not be for everyone, those who stayed in the hotel that day missed out. And for those who wanted to see the city on their own, we still had a half day left once we returned.
The next part of the trip was three nights and two full days on the Yangtze. For a handful of the group, this was actually the highlight and what they were looking forward to seeing. There are a few things to consider about taking a river cruise like this, especially this one. One very important change is that the Chinese government is flooding the Yangtze River to create a dam. This is a huge $28 billion dollar project which will eventually displace 1.2 million inhabitants along the Yangtze. In China, while everything you hear about it on the trip paints a rosy picture some of the non-Chinese commentaries are much less flattering. Nevertheless, it is a done deal. What this means to tourists like us is that the face of the most scenic part of the Yangtze (the Three Gorges)has already begun to change forever and will continue to change until its completion in 2009. Eventually, the water level is to be raised 525 feet (175 meters). Already I believe it has been raised about half of that. I think it will still be scenic and still be beautiful, but of course it will not look the way it has for hundreds or thousands of years. Anyhow, from the airport to the river boat we had to take a 4 hour bus ride. I am still not sure the logistics of this but for some reason the river boats were not picking up passengers in the airport city. At least not at the time of our trip. The river boat was through Victoria Cruises which was pretty top notch for a boat with a passenger capacity of 200 and crew of 110. Nobody should expect entertainment or amenities like the huge luxury cruise ships but the rooms were comfortable, the bathrooms cleaner than any of the hotels we stayed in, and the ship was pretty much spotless. Whether this was because the boat had just been renovated 2 months prior or this is standard on all Victoria Cruise boats I do not know. The food was quite good and they made an obvious attempt to "Westernize" many of the dishes. Probably this was catered based on the preferences of the many visitors before us. While this was true throughout the trip, it was even more so on the boat. Each of the two days on the trip had a 2 to 3 hour excursion. One was a simple transfer to a smaller boat to see one of the smaller rivers feeding into the Yangtze and the other excursion was to visit the actual dam site. The rest of the time on the river boat was pretty much down time to sit back and relax. The crew provided some simple entertainment and activities but it was basic things like kite flying or mini lectures about the Yangtze.
After the river trip, we disembarked in Wuhan for a half day tour and spent one night there before waking up very early (5:30 am) the next morning for a 9 am flight to Shanghai. Once landing in Shanghai, we immediately toured the city with the main focus on The Bund. Some time was also spent on a trip to a government sponsored silk factory. That's another part of these trips: At least twice we went to stores that were strictly geared for tourists. Prices were marked up perhaps two to three times what you had to bargain for and even then you might see the same merchandise on the streets for less the next day. Who knows if the government, the tour groups, or the tour guides profit from this but as long as you go in with this understanding, you should not feel ripped off if you still buy something. As a matter of fact, many people in our group bought something at these places but said they didn't mind the inflated prices after seeing what poverty much of the country was living in.
One major negative of China in general is the pollution. Smog in the States is nothing compared to what we saw in Shanghai or the Yangtze port city of Chongqing. For some reason, Beijing was not as bad despite what I had been told to expect. In Chongqing, the air pollution was thick enough to make a sunny day seem overcast. It was that thick. And many parts of the Yangtze were heavily polluted. It was even more amazing when we learned it is still the source of drinking water for many of the farmers along its banks.
Other than the rooms on the river boat, the hotels in this package were all 4 star. They ranged from decent Holiday Inns to one night in a horrid hotel which had mold in the bathtubs. However, we knew to expect 4 star accommodations and in China, we knew not to expect much.
Now despite all the negatives listed, I would still have to say it is a good value. If the price dropped to $999 and you could still have the 8 rain free days we had, then it would definitely be worth it. But that is not as likely during some of the upcoming months. So check into seasonal weather patterns before you book.
Good luck!
Addendum (10/31/03):
A few suggestions prompted me to add a little more information about the tour company itself.
Ritz Tours seems relatively well organized. Everything provided was pretty much as described in their descriptions on the web site. We had a guide who stayed with us the whole time from Beijing to Shanghai. That guide would sometimes turn us over to local guides (for example for Beijing or Wuhan) and the quality of those guides varied from perfect English with over 20 years of experience giving tours to barely decipherable. One guide was a plethora of information and very engaging while some others had a little difficulty understanding our questions due to language problems. Overall it was a little hit and miss.
One knock I have heard about Ritz Tours and some other tour companies is the number of "factory" stores the groups are forced to go to. I have to admit that these stores took up 2-3 hours on three separate days which can be a lot, depending on how you look at it. I chose not to buy too much and used them more as a rest period. What is interesting is our group seemed to have quite a few parties who were very interested in buying what seemed like everything! Our guide actually seemed to be scolding (in a nice, paternal way) our group telling us we should not be focusing on shopping so much as absorbing the culture. I could not have agreed more.
So once again, to reinforce my original review of this whole trip, I would say this is not like the top rate tour companies but I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for (but should not get less) and that is what I got out of this particular trip.
Happy Travels!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Tour type: Group
Tour format: Various
Tour length: Over a Week
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Epinions.com ID:
scippy88
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Reviews written: 6
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