Imperial China & Yangtze River Cruise

Our Clients’ Reviews

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It's the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you're interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers. Any feedback collected (Good or bad) from Exodus clients is posted straight onto our website - totally unedited. Read more...

Average Review Rating: from 39 reviews.

Susan Jane Darnton

IMPERIAL CHINA & YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE

Written August 2009
Tour itinerary was very varied and allowed me to leave China with much more insight into this fascinating country than I had when I arrived.
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What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Had to be the twenty or so toddler pandas [actually one year old] fooling around in their leafy play-pen at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Sanctuary.
The Great Wall is of course an epic experience even when soggy and misty. Our Exodus group was the only climbing group that early morning: all others went up by cable-car. Typical of Exodus folk to make it!
We all went to see the total solar eclipse on 22 July- but the mist blotted out the solar disc. The 6 minutes of total extinction at the top of a high Buddhist mountain was extraordinary though. We all [about 5000 of mixed nationalities] cheered when the light returned: felt like a very primitive reaction.
What did you think of your group leader?
Excellent local knowledge and enthusiasm even in the face of some group problems. Coped very well with a medical emergancy for which a group member needed hospitalisation.
He had a budgeting/money collection problem but learned from this to record money given, and to hand out written receipts, for the second half of the trip. He so wanted to give us a real taste of China that he suggested lots of extra trips-- and so needed to collect substantial sums of money. The budget for extras was not accurate on the trip notes because of this and also because the pound sterling is weaker against the Chinaese currency at the moment. Some group members got cross becsue of this -- because they were worried really that their personal budgets might run out.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Read up before you go and just go with the flow: China is very different!
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Our guide knew that he had had illness on previous tours after the Yangtse river cruise. He thought it was change of climate. In fact, several members of our group contracted Norovirus [common on cruise ships]. This made then very sick later in the trip but most pepole recovered quickly. It did mean that some missed the odd half day though. The guides on this trip should be made aware of this problem. Extra hygiene advice should be given, though Norovirus is very infectious. I did not get the Norovirus- but did get dysentry despite being very careful, but I put it down to just one of those travelling things.
Tina Redpath

IMPERIAL CHINA & YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE

Written October 2008
Returned on 10th October. Excellent holiday, packs a lot into the three weeks but even the travelling was good fun (especailly the over night train journeys). Excellent value for money. I would be happy to recommend to anyone wanting to get a good taster of China.
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What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
The Great Wall was very challenging but well worth the effort. Seeing the pandas was definately a highlight. We even got to see the babies born in the previous couple of months. The few days we stayed in Yangshou were a delight. Trips on the Li river, dinner beside the river and watching the cormarant fishing, the stunning sound and light show and the balloon trip over the Li river and the Karsts will all long stay in my memory. (Not to mention the ballon making a bumpy landing on a dual carriageway - luckily not yet open to traffic!)
Watching hundreds of, what I can only describe as, 'mini hot air balloons' (the size of small lanterns) rising through the night sky in Chongqing City, returning to the cruise ship and four of us being able to release one ourselves. A magical sight and experience.
What did you think of your group leader?
Kent (obviously a European name adopted for his role as a group leader!) was brilliant. Excellent organisational skills, kept us all on track but in a 'low key' sort of way. He was always happy to adapt the tour when it was appropraite (ie taking into account the local weather forecasts) and went out of his way to meet any extra requirements we approached him with. (For example arranging the balloon trip for 4 of us at very short notice and at a very good price!!) On top of that he had a lovely sense of humour! Could not have wished for better.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
DO NOT, despite anything you may read on various web sites, take Travellers cheques....I found they were an absolute nightmare to change. At one hotel the receptionists didn't even know what they were !! I would advise you take cash - in the form of American dollars - or use ATM machines.
Also be aware that there are steps everywhere you visit !! The part of the Great Wall we were taken to was fabulous, very few tourists go to that section, but was quite challenging (and scary in some sections) for any one like me ie exteremely unfit !! You will be hassled by guides when you get there - use them...they are brilliant and worth every penny ! There are guides at Moon Hill too...same advice ....use them.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
What a fantastic group of people on this tour; a great delight to meet and spend time with them.
This trip was full of suprises...who would have thought we would have been learing a Spanish dance (courtesy of a fantastic Spanish lady in our group) outside the toilet on a Chinese train or watched a group of 'not so young' American ladies doing Hawaian dancing on a Chinese cruise ship during the Yangtze river cruise !!
Karen Massey

IMPERIAL CHINA & YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE

Written October 2007
A great way to see the highlights of China in a short time but to pack so much in there are lots of early starts and long journeys. Try to avoid Chinese New Year and Golden week holidays when the whole country seems to be on the move.
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What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Walking on the Great Wall and seeing the young pandas playing.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Be prepared for a full-on sight-seeing trip especially at the start where there is little time to relax or do your own thing. Choose your dates with care to avoid the main holidays. Pack light as you will be moving your bag a lot.
Christopher Claxton

IMPERIAL CHINA & YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE

Written October 2010
My lady and I had a most interesting and highly educational visit to Imperial China, but it had its negative moments.
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What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
The best part was the contrast between historical China, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Summer Palace not to mention the Yangtze Gorges, and with modern China. Vast motorways criss-cross the country with splendid overpasses and underpasses. A Maglev (magnetic levitation) train can whisk you at 300 mph out of Shanghai to its ultra-modern Pudong Arport; a bullet train carries you at 125mph to the Yangtze at Chongquin; overnight trains transport you from city to city; when they meet a mountain the railway line just goes through it with many kilometers long tunnels.
Spellbinding architecture in the cities include a 101 story high, 3rd highest in the world, Trade Centre at Shanghai; and 4th & 5th tallest at Hong Kong (our own add on to the trip), not to mention the forests of skyscrapers in these and other cities. The telephones were excellent, only the internet from and to overseas sites is a little slow, the hotels excellent.
By contrast much of the older building has to be seen to be believed.
What did you think of your group leader?
"Keith" at 32 was young, and keen. He arranged all the transfers to trains, coaches and airports well. No one got lost. However his approach often lacked maturity. He could have but did not tell us much about the astonishing history over the most recent 110 years, the invasions by foreign including British armies, the rebellions, the consequences of the terrible opium trade, the civil war, the disastrous invasion by the Japanese, the victory by the Communists in 1950, and the incredible recent advances.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Ask questions.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We went to explore with a serious interest in China. It was an expensive outing, one that we took seriously. The trip was however spoilt by the juvenile attitudes and behaviour, partly of our leader, but also by members of the Group, not least by a non-paying member of Exdous sales staff who was on a freebee. There is more to China than an endless discussion about the (typically Asian) toilets, and unscripted needs for frequent toilet stops.
Exodus Response
I would like to thank Mr Claxton for his feedback.

At Exodus we send our sales and other customer facing staff away every year on trips so that they can then answer questions from first hand experience. That is what the Exodus sales member was doing on this trip. This is an essential part of what we do and the trip was a working holiday for them.

I am glad that Mr Claxton found the trip interesting and assure customers that the quality of our leaders is very important to us.

Nick Nikolsky - Trip Manager

- Exodus Staff