China with Viking River Cruises

My wife and I took our first river cruise, the 17-day “China’s Cultural Delights,” Oct. 9-25, 2009 (excluding Japan stopover), with Viking River Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 800/304-9616). Although I abhor tours, this seemed like the way to go in China and I was correct.

We paid $14,650 for the two of us, but this was a cruise exchange (value, $1,200) using one week’s points from my Hyatt Vacation Club timeshare. Included were international airfare from Orlando, Florida; five days in Japan (not part of the cruise package); all land tours, and local transportation.

Our ship, Viking Century Sun, was fantastic.

The leader of our subgroup, Nancy, was great. Her English and vocabulary were very good and she was very attentive and detail-oriented. An excellent tour guide with loads of information on the sights, she was a joy to be with.

The sights were spectacular, including the terra-cotta soldiers in Xi’an, the Three Gorges Dam project and the numerous temples and shrines. This is the way to see China.

Did you know that Beijing and Shanghai are not the largest cities in China? Chongqing is almost double their size. (Editor's note: see clarification published May '10, pg. 51)

I am now a river cruises believer. It’s a great way to travel, especially in a country where English speaking is a rarity. In this case, tours were arranged from every port. The meals were great, and all were provided. No time was wasted. We saw and did a lot in a short period of time. This was a no-brainer.

The entire experience was so great that I signed up with Viking for a 12-day cruise-tour in Egypt in March ’10.

RONALD REED

Melbourne, FL