Reviews of Yangtze River Cruise

Judy,

We had a wonderful tour.

But mostly, I want to thank you for all of your help and advice beyond the tour. You really helped make our vacation a huge success.

Pamela A. Weaver Ph.D.

Ian, we arrived in Hong Kong last evening, and we would like to thank you very much for all the hard work you have done for us, for this trip.

We have had a wonderful experience of China, seen so many places and things of interest, and we have found the Chinese people so very friendly, children who would come up to Lindsay especially ( a big "foreigner"), and say hello, no doubt trying out their English!. This pleased us greatly, and we had many photos taken!

So please do accept our thanks

Kind regards

Lesley and Lindsay

Dear Bruce,

We are back from a very enjoyable holiday in China and I just wanted to thank you and your excellent team and all the arrangements that you put in place for this itinerary.

The only part of the itinerary which was not good was Day 1 of the cruise when we were taken to " Fairy Mountain". We had to sit in a coach for 2.5 hours each way ( 5 hours total) to get to Fairy Mountain and when we got there was not much to see for foreign tourists but we appreciate that this may have great significance for the Chinese tourists. However overall the itinerary was very good.

Please convey our especial thanks to your tour guides who were all very professional and looked after us very well. So please send thanks to:
Lisa in Beijing
Ernest in Xian
Oliver in Chongqing
Fay in Yichang (very brief time with her)
Helen in Shanghai

Kind Regards

Cedric

Hi May,

We have already Made the cruise and the Yellow mountains with a very good guide Steve that help us on a full day of heavy rain, now we are in Guilin, where i'm come back for show Li River to my wife.

We have seen on tv that in Chengdu there was a overcast, it's all ok for you? Not always it's possible use wifi in China, but at Sheraton we can, so i write you.

Sincerely,

Piero

Hi Judy,

I'm sorry for the late reply to your email (I have been quite busy since returning). We had a wonderful time, all the tour arrangements worked well and the guides and accommodation were first class. From the point of view of Australians travelling I think we would have preferred to have our guide's tips included in the price (maybe two prices could be listed), as some of our guides we had for a shorter time and it was a little difficult to work out what we should pay.

All in all, the tours and arrangements were great and I am only too happy to recommend your company to your future clients. Thank you Judy, for all your good work.

Kindest Regards Ian Smith and Rodney Ward

Dear May,

Thank you very very much! Everything was great. We had a fantastic journey. The ship was wonderfull, staff great, good food, excursions was great. And also weather was great.

We are planning already our next trip to China....

Best Regards

Riina & Annina

Hi Ian,

We had the most wonderful holiday. We would certainly recommend your company to our friends.

We loved the tour and our guides were fantastic, all helped to share their part of China with us and gave us more than we expected. We really enjoyed the Great Wall and the other sights of Beijing. Sophia was very pleasant and helpful and put in some long days with us to make sure we saw everything, her english was excellent.

David was also terrific and we had a great day in Xian seeing the Terracotta Warriors and we enjoyed our bike ride around the city wall and the other sights.

We really enyoyed cruising the Yangtze River on the Century Legend. The boat was absolutely beautiful, so new and fresh. We also enjoyed the shore excursions, especially the sampan ride and the vibrant Kitty Meow, the guide for our group. The staff on the boat were friendly and looked after us so well and the food was hen hao.

We finished our tour with a terrific tour of Shanghai and our guide Caroline was excellent, a lot of fun and she looked after us really well. The hotels were all top class and the breakfasts excellent. All the hotels were in good locations and the included meals were very nice.

We booked the Yangtze River Tour using the internet and I must admit that we didn't really know much about your company and the Travel Agent in Australia told us to be careful as the standard may not be what we would expect, however, the tour exceeded our expectations by far and we would recommend a private tour by Yangtzi River Cruises for visitors to China.

Thankyou Ian very much for a wonderful experience.

Xiexie

Janne and Jeff Griffith

Good evening May,

I wanted to let you know that we really enjoy our time in China and that you have a very beautiful country. Also I would like to thank you for all of your help to organise the trip. You did a great job.

Last but not least, I would like to tell you that all the people at the cruise were very nice and helpful to us. Food was great and they made us to have a great time aboard and on tour.

Thank you very much for everything. I will recommend you to all my friends who plan to visit China in the foreseeable future.

Kind regards,

Francisco and Valeria

PS: I have attached a couple of pictures as promised.

Hi Judy,

We are having a great time on our tour. Everything has been well organized and the accommodation, tour guides and drivers have been first rate!

Kindest Regards

Ian and Rod

Hi May,

We have arrived back home to England from our trip to China.

We very much enjoyed our Yangtze cruise that was organised by yourself. We were a little disappointed that you didn’t inform us that the cruise wouldn’t start from Chongqing though. We had to call the boat and speak to Penny to find out that we needed to get a bus to where the boat actually was docked. It could have saved some stress if we had known.

We would like to say a massive thank you to your colleague Fay in Yichang. She was extremely helpful when our flight was cancelled from Yichang. She took us to some of the local tourist sites, for dinner and then booked us a hotel when we knew our flight was finally cancelled. She also made sure we were able to get the train to Shanghai the next morning.

If I know anyone who is planning to travel to China I shall be sure to recommend your services.

Thanks

Matthew

Thankyou Ian.

Our guide has told us of the change in flights. We are having a wonderful holiday and our guide Sophia is terrific, we are very pleased to have her show us around. We have enjoyed Beijing and look forward to the rest of the tour.

Regards

Janne

Hello May,

ni hao ma? I do hope you are well.

I love China! I had a wonderful time. And you were the person who created it for me. I cannot thank you enough.

However, I want to try. Please, if you can, send me a private address in order that I can send you a small present as a way of showing you how much I am grateful to you for making my trip so good.

I was very happy to say 'thank you' to my drivers and guides but it was you who did the most for me.

I am thinking of having another holiday in China in October. Maybe Xian (the terracotta warriors). I thought I might combine that with a visit to your town (travel by train to see a bit more of China) There, I would very much like to meet you and show you how much Chinese I have learnt!

If I came for a total of 8-10 days, maybe you could advise how best to spend my time in China again.

I am certainly planning to return next year, with - I hope - some of my family; this time for around three weeks - visit Tibet perhaps, but still have another river trip as well!

Please please, allow me to keep in contact with you. you are my incentive to learn Chinese and to learn Chinese history and culture - I am already reading the history and learning the characters.

We have never met I have never seen you yet I think of you as a friend and I never like to lose friends, they are too precious.

I took lots of pictures - which impressed my wife and daughter. I send you some. I also took lots of video which had better results. Again, if you allow me a private address I will send you a DVD of the results.

Whatever happens, always take care May,do look after yourself!

Geoff

Hi Bruce,

Yes - returned home safely. It has been rather hectic. You have just beaten me to it - I was going to email a thank you to you today.

"We had a fantastic private tour which was very professionally planned and executed by you and your appointed guides and drivers. We had many internal flights, pickups and guided tours which all went smoothly and on time. At no time did we have to look for our guide. It was a lovely balanced tour which, as we requested, included a few days with the accent on wildlife and birdwatching on the Tibetan Plateau area near Xining. At our request we wanted to slightly alter the itinerary for this section which was done with flexibility and ease by our guide Chris Pei, who was excellent and knowlegable about wildlife sites in  this area. Many thanks again for all your efforts pre and during our wonderful tour. We certainly recommend you and your company to future customers".

If you wish you have our permission to include this recommendation on your website. Do you operate in other countries in the China region?

Best wishes

Roger & Julia

Hi Judy

We finally reached home after flying tirelessly on a midnight flight from Chengdu to KL and transit back to my hometown Sandakan.

Thank You once again to have made our trip in Sichuan and the Yangtze River Cruise a success and a pleasant holidays for us.

1. The Cruise Ship Anna is satisfactory both comfort, meals and entertainments.
2. The purchasing of the High speed train tickets from Guangzhou to Wuhan and from Chongqing to Chengdu were well arranged.
3. The transports in Wuhan to Yichang / Chongqing and Chengdu are acceptable.
4. The most friendly driver and helpful is Mr. Shim from Chongqing whom we appreciate.
5. The driver Mr. Liang from Wuhan to Yichang is acceptable.

Our holidays in China may not have been fun, satisfactory and a success without your corporation in all the arrangement and bookings.

I am looking forward to working with you for more of our trips and holidays arrangement in China in due course.

Regards

Philip Wu   

Hi Shirley,

Just to let you know how much I enjoyed my recent Yangtze River cruise on the 'President Prime'.

The boat was really excellent - fantastic staff - and the all the other arrangements that you made, i.e. flight, transport and guides, Yichang hotel and train back to Shanghai worked out very well.

I found the guides to be essential as there were a number of changes made, particularly the boat departing from Feng Du instead of Chongqing.

I really could not have done this trip without you, especially at such short notice, so thanks very much for your efforts in making this possible.

Sincerely,

Laurence

Hi Bruce,

I am in Yichang airport waiting for the flight back to Beijing. Fantastic cruise and all went well with no problems after the change in embarkation locations. And that gave me the opportunity to meet some great people from New Zealand on the bus. Many thanks and look for my review on Trip Advisor.

Hi Ian,

Just wanted to follow up with you and say what a wonderful cruise the Yangtze was. The boat was beautiful and my fears were allayed when we got to our room and we had our own bathroom and balcony (as you said we would). Being a new ship everything was lovely. Some of the scenery through the gorges was spectacular.

Also we managed to make our train/plane connections following the cruise.

Thanks again for your assistance in arranging this trip for us at short notice.

Kind regards

Gaynor

Hello Bruce,

Although Ellen and I never had the pleasure of meeting you, please know that you made our trip to China most enjoyable and we will certainly recommend you to any of our friends who may be traveling to China.

Thank you again,

Alex and Ellen Tuyahov

Hi Bruce,

Lucy and I also have the highest praise for you and the quality of your network. Your ability to adjust to the events that occurred were excellent and kept us on track. Also all your support and flexibility during the planning process was as exceptional as the execution of the trip. We will also recommend you when the opportunity arises.

Cheers

Andrew and Lucy

Hi Bruce,

As we discussed in Chengdu, please add the endorsement of Arlene and I to that of Renier and Millene. You smoothed the way for us throughout our China visit.

Many thanks,

Jim and Arlene

Good afternoon Bruce,

We are back in South Africa after a most enjoyable trip to China, everything went without a hitch. Thank you for your contribution and all the support at various stages, we will most definitely recommend you to all our friends and associates and again make use of you, if we have the good fortune of returning again.

Thank you again, your service and response was top class!!

Renier and Millene

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for all your help in making our arrangements. Having a great time. Liu is a very good guide and a nice guy. Off to Great Wall tomorrow. 

Best wishes

Roger & Julia

Hello May,

Greetings from France. Thank You for your mail. Here are just a few photos - we have plenty!

Yes - we really enjoyed the Cruise and your Country China - we may consider a trip to Tibet?

Thanks for your help, May

Best Regards

Cheers

Tim

Dear Laura,

I have had 3 very successful days of touring in Beijing and am now in Qinhuangdao.

Best regards,

Ulick.

Dear Ms Zhou,

I just want to thank you for your help in getting us on the Victoria cruise down the Yantze river. It was a delightful trip as was interacting with you.

Sincerely,

Ernst Nilsson Ph.D.M

Hi Ian,

A very quick email – we are back in Australia, arriving home from China yesterday.

Everything was great, we all had a WONDERFUL time – thank you so much for organising things.

What is the name of the website that I can go in and comment about the service which you provided?

Many Thanks

Jan

Hi May,

We enjoyed the cruise. We are in Yangtze Island Hotel Chongqing now. Everything is fine. We go to Shanghai tomorrow. Thank you for your service. We will recommend you to our friends and family. Thanks again. Bye.

Leow Woon Kong

Hi Laura,

The cruise was very nice. We're quite happy with the experience. Thanks for all your help.

Regards,

Michael

Hi Laura,

We are fine thanks, now back in Beijing. We hope that you have not been affected by the recent earthquake.

It was lovely to meet you in Chengdu, and of course our excellent guide Jerry. We enjoyed the river cruise very much and must say that everything that you arranged for us was excellent.

Best regards,

David and Gina

Hi Jessie,

Alas, we are back in Ottawa and simply wish we were still travelling in China and Thailand where we had such a fabulous holiday!

I sent you some comments on the trip arrangements you so kindly made for the four of us. I am definitely keeping your name on file and would certainly recommend your services to anyone in the future. Would you mind very much sending me exact name of your company and website and bus email so I also have this on file?

Sincerely and all the best,

Pierrette

Dear Judy,

Thank you so much for all of the help you gave us in organising our trip to China. We had a brilliant time and would thoroughly recommend you and your agency to others.

All of the arrangements you made for us worked out. All of our flights left on time and our train tickets were at the apartment in Xi'an as planned. Our guide, Shirley, met us in Yichang. We would recommend Shirley to others too and we had a lovely afternoon in the city prior to our transfer to our cruise. If you would like me to post a review on Trip Advisor for you, I would be glad to do so, if you send me the link.

With thanks again for all of your help. Much appreciated.

Thank you.

Simon and Helen Edwards

Hi Bruce,

The cruise was good, all things considered. As you know, the ship was not able to leave from Chongqing due to low water conditions, and we had to be sent by bus to another location, which was not so convenient. Then at the other end the wind was too high for the ship to enter the locks at the dam, so we had to be bused again, which meant getting ready to leave the ship in a hurry.  Neither situation was desirable, but I understand that they were both beyond the control of the cruise company!  The cruise was otherwise good.

More important to me was the personal service you provided, which was truly excellent. You took good care of me from the beginning, with helpful information and prompt attention to my needs.  I was particularly appreciative of the train information and booking of the several trains required for my trip.  I was able to get all tickets printed out at a facility in Shanghai (as you said I could do), and it was really great to have the tickets in hand for each trip in advance.  

I would certainly recommend to anyone that they use your company for any travel plans in China.

Thank you so much for your help.

Loren Vinson 

Dear Shirley,

Thanks so much for all your help -- the Yangtze River cruise was wonderful, as was our entire trip to China!

Sincerely,

Lori

Dear May,

I would like to say a big thankyou for all your organizing for our recent Yangzi Cruise and other land tours. We were very pleased with everything and will certainly recommend you and the company to our friends.

Paul and Janefrey loved the time they spent at Xian and they said Jenny and the driver were excellent.

Many thanks once again for all your excellent planning.

Regards

Linda, Graham, Janefrey and Paul

Hi Laura,

We are back in australia. Thank you for your efficiency in dealing with our travel plans. The cruise was great - we enjoyed it.

We will certainly be in contact with you for assistance when we get back to china. We thought you were very helpful and a credit to your company. Thanks once again.

Douglas

Hi Judy,

We booked a cruise on the Century Diamond through them last November and were very satisfied. The tour operator was Judy Chen, who was highly responsive in answering questions via email in the weeks leading up to the cruise, as well as a telephone inquiry that we made while in China a few days before we boarded.

So far as I could determine all passegers on the ship received identical service, directly from the staff of the Century Diamond.

Dear May,

Thank for your great support and help, we had a wonderful trip on the Yangtze and everything worked out fine!

We will be more than happy to recommend you to friends travelling to China and looking for accommodations on a Cruise Ship along the Yangtze and in other cities!

Thanks again and best regards from Germany,

Martin

Hi Jessie,

This thank you note is long overdue. I intended to email you earlier but had been too busy ,getting caught up with work ,and the general routine of day to day living.

Thank you very much for all you did to help organise the tours for us. The trip was great and all the hotels live up to expectation. I must thank you for your kindness, helpfulness and patience, and for going out of your ways to help out especially booking the Chongqing hotel at the last minute for my older daughter. I have been talking a lot about you since our return to our friends and workmates.

I wish you all the best and may the new year brings you lots of good luck and great fortune.

Cong Xi Fa Cai

Mary Looi

Hi Ian,

We had an absolutely wonderful time in China, all the guides were amazing & we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We particularly loved our guide in Xian, her name was Winnie. She was so passionate about her knowledge of Xian & all the history it was very refreshing & lovely to have such a great person to tell us all about the Terracotta warriors etc. Me & my family would like to thank yangtze-river-cruises.com for tailoring a family vacation we will never forget.

Thank you so much!

Dear Laura,

Thank you for all your arrangements. Everything worked fine and we had a lovely time. I will be glad to recommend you to others.

Best Regards.

Dear Bruce,

The cruise is indeed very pleasant. The river sets its own pace, which in turn influences our own sense of time. The staffs on board are great, service minded and very attentive. The food is also very good. Several days need us to cover distance but the time passes with on board distractions and lectures which are very informative.

Good morning Laura,

I just wanted to say thank you very much for all your assistance in organising our cruise Victoria Sophia.

You were fantastic and provided us with all the information we needed. Everything you organized went according to plan. I would highly recommend you to anyone who is planning a trip to China. We are back in Shanghai today for a few days then flying home to Australia next Friday.

Again many thanks!

Hi Laura,

Well we are back and had a fantastic time especially on Yangtze Cruise. Thank you for your work and all the arrangements were excellent. All your guides were great but Joanna would be the best. She was friendly, outgoing and made us welcome at all times.

We have and will recommend your company as the one to use. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time, maybe next time.

Again thank you.

Anne and Garry Adcock

Dear Bruce,

How are you doing? Many thanks for your perfect arrangement and all the kind suggestions, the trip was fantastic! There are so many good memories and I might need more time to digest and recall… And my boss Mark would be very happy to share with you a detailed feedback according to his experience too.

Again, thanks a lot for all your excellent work & all the best for your prosperous health and future!

Keep in touch.

Jessica

Jessica's comments on Tripadvisor.com:

My husband, our son and his partner and I have just returned from a 5 week tour of China. After many e-mails back and forth to Laura we finally agreed on our private tour of China. We started our tour in Shanghai, caught an overnight train to Zhangjiajie, train up to Yichang where we started our 4 night cruise up the Yangtze River on American Victoria Jenna to Chongqing. From there we visited Chengdu, flew up to Jiuzhaigou, flight to Xian and train to Beijing. I found Laura (also Ian and Bruce helped when Laura was out of the office for a few days) to be very patient and professional as we tweeked our holiday to suit us. We booked our own hotels which gave us some control over where we stayed. We were very happy with all our guides and drivers who all presented themselves at each of our destinations. We would definitely recommend yangtze-river-cruises.com & chinadiscovery.com to organize your holiday in China.

Dear Jessie,

Sorry for the delay writing to you. 

I would like to express my thanks to you, my friend and I have a wonderful time on board. We are satisfied and happy with your arrangement and service. Just to name one, we checked in the cabin at the fifth deck of the Cruise.

Reference to the emails record, it is a surprise that you have responded to every of my mails without failed, 45 times in total, just for two tickets that worth only a few thousand RMB. That show you are professional, regardless of the quantum. Further more, You were very patience with me and had tried your best to meet my demands.

Once again, thank you for all the things you did for us.

Good night!

Aloha Ian!!

We have been telling everyone of our AMAZING time in China and how incredible and accommodating our guides were. It was completely stress-free and we enjoyed every moment of the trip!

Thank you for everything Ian!

Mahalo,

Lindsay Smith

Lindsay's comment on Tripadvisor.com:

Our trip exceeded our expectations from the moment we arrived in Beijing! Actually, our agent Ian went above and beyond for at least a month before we even arrived. He answered all of our questions promptly, and made the booking process so much easier than it could have been. In each city we were greeted by our amazing guides and drivers and taken to outstanding hotels.

Our valued guest visited us in Chengdu

We never had to lift a finger, as our guides took care of all translations and arrangements for us. They clearly reviewed each day's schedule and we could truly sit back and enjoy every minute of our trip. There was so much to see in each city, and the atmosphere was very different every time we stepped off the plane. Each guide was well-versed in the culture we were experiencing and shared a wealth of knowledge with us as we tried to take in the beauty and history of China in just 9 days. We never would have seen half of what we were able to without their help and guidance. They really made the most of our trip and we would highly recommend them to anyone interested in traveling to China. It's too hard to choose a favorite, but we have memories of China that will last a lifetime!

The romantic thing in China is climbing the Great Wall with you.

Dear Jessie,

I am writing to thank you very much for aranging such an excellent tour for us.

Firstly, our thanks to you for being so attentive to our needs, and making suggestions and alterations which made the whole experience so much better. Thank you also for keeping in touch with us during the tour and letting us know phone numbers and names of local tour guides in advance.

The ship, Victoria Katerina was better in every way than we expected. The accommadation was clean and spacious, the resturant quality was excellent, and the crew were very polite and helpful. The river guide, Luther, was knowledgeable and very entertaining. The evening activities were good fun without being extravagant, in all a very good balance.

The side trips to the Dam, Ship Locks, Little Three Gorges, Fendu Ghost City were well organised and not rushed, giving plenty of time to see everything we wanted. The scenery is spectacular.

Your local guides who met us at train stations, airports etc were all on time and very knowlegeable. They were all very good.

The visit to Xian and the Teracotta warriors is something I have wanted to do for many years and was absolutely incredible. My only problem was the large crowds, but in the middle of the Chinese summer holidays that was to be expected.

If I was to do it again, I would choose a cooler time of year. August is very high temperatures in the Gorges, which brings high humidity and poor visibility, which made good photography difficult. But it had to be August for family reasons.

Thank you Jessie for organising everything so efficiently. We would have no hesitation in reccomending your company to other people who may wish to visit the Yangtse.

Hi Judy,

Thanks, we met Jerry & have had a great day today. We all especially loved the Pandas. Have loved our first taste of China & Jerry has been a great guide!

Shame we didn't get to meet you in Chengdu but am looking forward to the rest of our trip.

Thanks

Dear May,

We are back home in Riga. It is cold here- around 7C... and it is very gray and raining... we already miss China and you, too. ( we really liked our trip and I must say it wasn't long enough. We felt there very well and used only public transportation - it functions very well and people are very kind and nice... Our cruise was great - we liked it very much; and there were very nice people from around the world; we made a few new friends (from US and Australia) and they invited us to come over :-) I love water and everything related to water -this is why I picked the cruise…

I hope you will stay in touch and will consider visiting us. If you will come to see us one day, you can stay with us (also your friend)

Very warm regards,

Hi Jessie,

Home again. Have not forgotten you. As you may have heard our flight to Shanghai was a little disastrous. Because of bad storms in Shanghai we were diverted to Hangzhou where we sat in the plane on the runway for 5 hours before continuing to Shanghai; arriving just after 2:30am. We had not slept now for 26 hours. With difficulty with the language we finally got a taxi and arrived at the hotel at 4am. We later found out that Cathy had waited till about 2am for us. A short sleep till breakfast and Cathy came to pick us up at about 8am to take us to the railway station. The bullet train experience was great as we don't have them in Australia yet. It was worth adding the extra day on our tour.

To answer your questions:

1. How about your tour arrangements?

We definitely like the personal relationship with the tour guides with just the 2 of us and the flexibility. All the arrangements went pretty much as planned. Only minor changes. And were quite satisfactory. We were most impressed with the cruise ship Anna. The cabin, the meals, the entertainment, the excursions, and the friendly staff were all first class. All the hotels you arranged for us were excellent.

(On return to Guilin from Yangzhou we pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to an executive suite for the last night). All our transport was good and excellent drivers. And especially all the guides were good; good English and good education. And looked after us well.

2. Are you willing to recommend our service to those who would like to come to China?

Definitely yes. I took some 1500 photos home, and picked out 200 and put together in an album that I am showing to our friends together with the itinerary and your costing and certainly some have shown interest.

3. Your general opinion on us?

We are very happy with the service that you gave us.

Jessie you were prompt to reply to our varied requests while we developed our itinerary and with excellent suggestions. And your costings were quite fair and reasonable also. It is a pleasure communicating with you. Definitely we do not have any complaints about your service with us.

Finally, once again we would like to thank you most sincerely for your very professional service you have given us. We will certainly tell our friends this, and if we are ever to return to China we will call on you again

Kind Regards

John and Deslie

Hi Karen,

Thanks for your assistance in our travelling plans. We are now back in Perth and just writing to let you know we had a fantastic time in China.

With many thanks,

Kind regards,

Hi Karen,

Maire and I have now arrived back home in London and I have had a chance to write down some of our memories about our wonderful visit to Sichuan....I am attaching the text file and some of the photos as I promised....You can use any or all of it for your website and make any changes you like.

Thanks again for your help in making our visit so wonderful.

Best wishes

Hi Karen,

We just wanted to say thank you very much for making our trip to China such a memorable experience. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed every minute. Everything about the trip went like clockwork and this was down to your hard work and planning - so a big thank you…

You live in a remarkable country with such beautiful scenery and friendly people.

Regards!

Laura,

We are 4+ satisfied. The boat staff was great & the cleanliness far exceeded my expectations. We met some wonderful people and we will remember the trip forever.

We're now taking advantage of our privilege to use the Air China 1st class lounge and we fly back to Germany at 0150. We thank you greatly for the super trip. We will tell our friends about our good experience.

Hi Bruce,

Now back in the office after 2 fantastic weeks in China!

Just wanted to thank you very much indeed for all your assistance with the tours in Beijing, transfers and the boat cruise. All the arrangements went like clockwork and we had a great time. Can’t wait to come back and see a different part of the country!

Kind regards

Ann

Dear Bruce,

Thanks for your email which my husband received yesterday. On behalf of our family I would like to thank you very much for organizing our wonderful and very memorable trip to China. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and loved all places we visited. Your tour guides were very friendly and helpful [we miss them lot]

Give our regards to them all and thankyou once again. Food was nice but would appreciate if there was more variety for vegetarians.

Hi there!

On the day we arrived in Beijing, we were greeted so gracefully by the tour guide and were introduced to what would be a superb tour of what the city has to offer. As it was our first time visiting China, we were a bit weary about how food arrangements will be made. In a country where there is such a vast variety and with us being vegetarians made it even bigger a challenge to find the good examples of Chinese cuisine. It seemed to me like different cities had a different style of cuisine to one another. The food in Beijing was different to Xi'an and Shanghai, and we were introduced to a big platter of vegetarian food. First thing I noticed is how similar some of the flavours were to Indian food, as we eat a lot of spicy food as well! The food was fantastic..no question.

The tour itself was pretty breathtaking, visiting the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Yangtze River and various other museums, temples and palaces along the way gave us a grand insight on Chinese culture. What's more is we had the chance to watch 2 acrobatic shows, one in Beijing and another in Shanghai. Both were absolutely amazing..nothing like I've ever seen before. The guided tours around the more rural streets of China were very interesting to see. The guides were what I was impressed with most though, they were very well-spoken and caring for our needs (especially food) and all in all were very heartfelt in personality.

The Yangtze river cruise felt like an entirely new trip altogether, we sailed past some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. On the ship itself, the rooms were great and we were greeted by some great crew members. On board, I had the chance to have an acupuncture demonstration which was a very invigorating experience. I want to thank Bruce for keeping the itinerary simple and interesting, even allowing to open time for the shows I mentioned. The hotel choices were superb, in fact some of the best hotels I've been to. This trip has convinced me to visit China again in the future and I've learned a whole lot about the traditions and history that this great country has.

I'd like to give a special shout to the tour guides Bruce from Xi'an and Sophia from Beijing, you guys are some wonderful people.

Hello Linda,

Hope you are well.

First of all, we would like to thank you very much for the organisation of our trip to China which was perfect!

However, the last day was very hard. Indeed, we have waited half the day for our plane from Huangshan to Shanghai (flight expected at 10:30 PM) and once arriving at the airport, have been informed of a delay of more than 4 hours. Our guide has been very helpful and we would like to inform you of his kindness. He has waited with us till the transfer to a hotel where we had a rest till the confirmation of our flight.

Except this last day, we have been delighted of this trip. We would like to congrat you for the professionalism of your guides and drivers and for the organisation.

We thank you in advance for your kind and prompt feedback.

Best regards,

Stéphane's Comment on Tripadvisor:

This travel agent set up for us a comprehensive tour of China. Everything was great and perfectly well organized. The guides were pretty interesting and we could deepen in the chinese culture.

They were quite reactive and made for us a great sur-mesure programe!!!

Visited August 2012

Hi Judy,

We're all ready to have a fabulous trip.

Thanks for everything.

Hi Laura,

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. The weather was good. Thank you.

Regards,

Dear Bruce,

Just a short note to express our thanks and compliment you and Yantze River Cruises for the outstanding service we received on our recent trip organised by you and Elena.

Thank you for all you have done and your efforts to help us during the flight delays and itinerary changes. In addition, you also helped us to obtain refunds for the hotel stay in Beijing and the cancellation of the flight from Beijing to Hong Kong even before the actual refund was paid to your company. This is an example of outstanding customer service which minimised the out-of-pocket expenses and disruption to our trip. Your advice and service was invaluable in assiting us during our trip.

Furthermore, every single guide and driver was punctual (even when flights were delayed), polite and professional in every respect. We were very pleased with the service provided by these staff and found them to be very knowledgeable and helpful. In Xian, the guide Jenny and driver helped take my mother to the hospital and obtain a consultation with a doctor because she needed prescription medication. We were very grateful for their compassion and helpfulness during that critical situation.

The itineary was perfectly planned and the hotels were well chosen and appropriate for our requirements. Every aspect of the holiday met and exceeded our expectations.

The visit to Xian and the Teracotta warriors is something I have wanted to do for many years and was absolutely incredible. My only problem was the large crowds, but in the middle of the Chinese summer holidays that was to be expected.

The cruise on the American Victoria Jenna was great and especially enjoyable for my parents. The staff (particularly Lance in the restaurant and Cruise Director Greg Hinton) were exceptional in their service.

We are all very impressed by the service of Yangtze River Cruises and will not hesitate to recommend you and your company to our friends and family in future. Thank you once again.

Regards,

Toronto's Comment on Tripadvisor:

"Fantastica organización, merece la pena confiar en ellos"

La verdad es que no conocíamos la agencia y nos fiamos de lo que vimos en Internet, algunos foros la recomendaban.

Al principio pagar todo de un tirón antes de ir y sin conocer a fondo la agencia nos supuso un poco de angustia, per de verdad que ha merecido la pena.... Todo ha funcionado como un reloj, bien organizado y sin la más mínima oportunidad a la improvisación. Linda fue nuestro agente de viajes y desde le principio la respuesta a nuestras dudas y preguntas fue inmediata. Los guías buenos, cada uno con sus virtudes, pero en general estupendos. Destacar no obstante a nuestra guía de Pekín, Mai, por su esfuerzo en aprender español para agradarnos. Stela, nuestra guía de Xian por su profesionalidad y conocimientos, finalmente Joanna, nuestra guía de Güillín por su sonrisa y simpatía.

En resumen, os recomiendo esta agencia para vuestros viajes a China.

Visited July 2012

Hello Judy and Linda,

We have now arrived safely in Chengdu. Thank you to all of your staff who assisted us yesterday in Chongqing. The arrangement worked out very well for us. We found the office without difficulty, and were able to use the time in the morning to visit the fantastic museum of the Three Gorges. We knew that our luggage was safe and dry in your office while we were exploring the city. Without our luggage, we were able to use the subway and to walk comfortably from place to place.

The cruise itself was a great success, and we will be recommending it to all of our Australian friends. Many of our friends, like ourselves, are very interested in travel and want to visit China again.

We will be taking the flight to Kunming on 19th, and will simply present our passports at the China Airlines counter so that our boarding passes can be printed.

Your customer services have been excellent.

With best wishes

Dear Bruce,

I just want to say THANKS TO BRUCE TANG for making our china vacation perfect, enjoyable and amazing. This was my first internet transaction and I was very uncomfortable during the booking procedure but everything turns up perfect and again thanks to Bruce.

Victoria Grace is pretty good, our cabin is always spic & span, so does all the boat facilities and the food, my goodness too much food that I can consume and its nice of the cruise director to have our dining place where everybody speaks English that is a plus to me...We enjoyed our entire trip excursion and our guides are pretty good.

Also want to thank David, who picks us up in Chongging airport and gives us narrative of the city and so does Edward from Yichang who drives us to the Airport and also provides Yichang city information.

One more to thank for is our Hotel in Shanghai w/breakfast every day, nice location and off course Autumn, she's active and always there to help my sister in law who has problem walking and took us to various interesting sites and my personal favorite is the Bund. Autumn even helped us inside the airport, packed our silk comforter, without her we have no idea/clue on how to handle it. Bruce has provided all of these and thank you so much and it’s nice to hear your voice when you called me in our hotel.

Thanks

Karen, hi.

Greetings from Australia. We hope you are well.

Karen, we have arrived home in Australia from our China holiday, one month of interesting travelling. China is an amazing country and the Chinese people we met were delightful.

A special feature of our time in China was the 'Xian and Yangtze River Cruise' you organised for us. Thank you Karen.

Our time in Xian was interesting and informative. The accommodation you arranged for us at the Grand New World Hotel was excellent. The tour of the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses was fascinating and memorable and so too was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Ancient City Wall. We loved it all. The Yangtze River Cruise and Three Gorges Dam was a wonderful time and experience. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Since returning home to Australia we have told many of our friends of the Cruise you organised for us.

Karen, thank you for your interest and support in organising for us the wonderful time and experience of Xian and the Yangtze River Cruise.

Mr. Bruce,

We got back home last night. Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Bruce. You are right, Xi'an is a nice city, and Terracotta soldiers very special. Kenny was a great guide. Also did the Yangtze Cruise.

You are a very professional travel organizer, and we would gladly ask for your services again.

Dear Bruce,

I cannot sufficiently express my delight and gratitude with you and your company. I have never in my life experienced such service, ever!

You are outstanding. The fact that we did not know anything about you or the company was very scary and we took a big chance on you. People thought we were crazy and advised us against our decision. We are so glad we took the chance.

Your guides were excellent. People of high calibre and a great deal of knowledge. The best guide, with a mixture of all the necessary skills, is Anne in Guilin. We loved her. Joe in Suzhou was the next best. The very best guide is Tony from the bus tours. He was the last tour in Beijing, to the Great Wall.

All in all, THANK YOU Bruce, you were so caring, supportive and efficient, I wish every traveller could have the same wonderful experience.

With best wishes,

Kindest regards,

Gilda Galvad and Mary Barsky

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for your email. We arrived home yesterday morning. Now that I have fully recovered, I am quite delighted to answer your evaluation questions.

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

Yes, Bruce is a friendly consultant who is highly organised and replies to emails very promptly, even outside business hours. Bruce listens to our concerns very seriously and solves them with the best solution. He shows an interest in customers by contacting us before, during and after our trip.

2. How do you comment your tour arrangements?

The tour arrangements were structured and managed very well before the trip. The itinerary included the major tourist hot spots, some hotel options according to our budget and some meals. All the hard work from booking and decision-making was taken care of. The price was reasonable, but cheapest among the competitors, and payment was easy as 123.

During our stay, the tour guide at each city greeted us at the airport with no hassles. There was sufficient time to travel between places. The tour guides followed the arranged itinerary, but were quite flexible in rearranging the itinerary when we wanted to. The tour guides and drivers did not ask for tips.

3. Are you willing to recommend our service to your people who also have an interest to visit China?

Yes, would highly recommend to a friend.

4. Your general opinion on us?

Fantastic service. Had a great time in China.

Overall, we are happy with the high quality level of service from you Bruce, and we hope you are happy with the positve feedback. Thank you for looking after us. I will send some photos to you in the next few days.

(The following is her pior reviews of days in Xian)

Hi bruce,
We enjoyed xian, the night life is amazing in the city centre. The terra cotta warriors was also great.

Jessie, the person of Yangtze River Cruises we contacted, has been great to deal with and prompt with her service. She has even answered her phone on weekends or after hours when she is not at work.

You are great service, accountable, professional.

We had a wonderful trip in China. Want to thank you for everything. Keep up the good work.

In China, I went to Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chong Qing, arranged by yangtze-river-cruises.com.

My top 2 destinations in China are Beijing and the Yangtze River. All the other cities are not worth going, they are just too polluted. Once you have been to Beijing, you would have seen all the temples, palaces, gardens you need to see. There is no need to go to the other cities to see the same thing again. The scenery in the Yangtze River Gorges is very different from what you see in the cities, a very pleasant change.

I feel that we cannot compare the Yangtze River to other places in the world. But if you are going to China, then it is one of the must see destinations.

Dear yangtze-river-cruises.com,

Your company is a class act and our China experience was just about flawless. yangtze-river-cruises.com certainly lived up to its reputation for quality in all aspects. We are glad we chose you to handle our group visit.

Dear yangtze-river-cruises.com,

Sorry I have so long in thanking you for all of your help planning this trip. We enjoyed the trip, service was immediate, food was good and the scenery in some spot spectacular. We did not get to see the dam due to fog and smog. That was a bid disappointment but not much could be done.

We were treated with great care by the cruise directors and the whole staff. They are a credit to your organization. I would recommend your tour company to anyone.

Once again, thank you.

Yangtze-river-cruises.com did a very great job for us. In my opinion, Yangtze cruise is something you cannot miss in China.

From Yichang to Chongqing, we always called up water; it will take around 3 days, and opposite, called down river, shorter time. And price for the cruise is different, 4 and 5star is good for foreigners, cost between 200-300USD. And in the trip, you will see both history heritage and natural landscape, worthy for your time and money.

We are now back in Melbourne, and would like to provide you with some feedback for the Yangtze tour you arranged.

Both airline flights (Shanghai-Chongqing & Yichang-Shanghai) were one hour late in departing.

Chongqing pick-up & tour – good driver and John was an excellent guide (pandas were a highlight, and ‘hot pot’ dinner was very good).

Victoria cruise – very good, with spectacular views – off-cruise tours (Fengdu, 3 Small Gorges, Dam) were good (guides requested tips).

Yichang – since passengers disembark outside the city, taxis are not readily available. We were able to go to the airport with a couple who had a pre-arranged driver (at our cost).

Thank you again for organising our memorable trip.

We will recommend you to any friends who wish to go on a Yangtze cruise.

We just returned from a ten day package tour in China. We went though www.yangtze-river-cruises.com and our contact was Bruce Tang.

We told him when we would be arriving in Beijing and that we wanted to see the Great Wall, Imperial Palace, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Tiananmen Square, etc. in Beijing, then go on to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors and finish with a Yangtze River Cruise.

They put together an amazing itinerary for us that included all the sites we wanted to see, all hotels, all flights as well as private guides and drivers in each of the four cities (Beijing, Xian, Chongqin and Yichang) we visited. They even added in extra treats such a lunch with a local family and a rickshaw ride in the old part of Beijing, a Peking duck dinner, dumpling dinner and opera in Xian and a trip to a zoo to see the Giant Pandas. All this in 10 days made possible by the 24/7 service of your private guide and driver that were all amazing and at a very reasonable price. We would highly recommend this tour company to anyone visiting China.

Hi Bruce,

We wanted to thank you for all of your help in arranging for our custom tour. We had a great time.

All of our local guides and drivers were on time, professional, very friendly and quite helpful. Of course their English skills varied somewhat. But all were proficient enough for us to understand them (most of the time).

We were especially thankful for the upgraded rooms on the cruise - this made it so much more enjoyable for us all.

I will not hestitate to contact you again for any future China trips. I will certainly recommend your company to others.

Thanks again.

Jack

Following is the review from another group member, Kathy:

Thank you for your help in putting this great trip together for us. Jack works very hard researching and getting the best people to make our experiences most pleasant. He has succeeded once again.

Hope all is well with you....and thank you again.

Hi Bruce,

I'm home again. Thanks a lot for the service. It makes travelling in China much more effective and easier. Yoyo was really good. The Beijing driver, too. I can’t say a lot really on the other guides/drivers. The ship was somehow a bit old, but still ok. But best of all was your personal help - thanks a lot for it. I sure will be your customer whenever I come to China again.

My husband and I had a wonderful Yangtze River cruise, many thanks for your help in booking it. The weather was good, the food was delicious and the co-travelers were very friendly. I can recommend your assistance to anyone considering a cruise in future.

Mr. Tsoi from Yichang was very conscientious picking us up and driving us to Yichang railway station for our train to Zhangjiajie.

We wish you another successful year in the tourism business! We will be recommending your services to other people.

Our group of four went on the Century Diamond Cruise Ship in last mid-October. I do not know how it could have been better. I am open to a variety of foods so the supper dishes had many items that I really enjoyed. The breakfast buffets were always filled with an enormous, tasty variety. The stops were always well-organized. Every guide that we had at the stops clearly spoke English and knew the material often adding little humorous touches.The staff on the ship itself could only be described as "top-notch." Everyone was so courteous. A person has to understand that the region often has a haze. (Much of the Asian art is hazy for a reason.) That haze was there sometimes, but that is part of China. I would recommend this cruise ship to anyone.

Dear yangtze-river-cruises.com,

Our Yangtze River cruise was everything I expected it to be and more. Our cruise tour, which included a pre-cruise visit to Beijing and a post-cruise stay in Shanghai, is only one of your China itineraries, all of which center around a gorgeous cruise on the Yangtze. We'll definitely recommend your service and cruise to all of our friends.

We have just come back from China, we did, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhon, Yangtze River cruise 4 nights, Chongqing, Xian, Beijing. The trip down the Yangtze was the most relaxing part of a very hectic schedule. The scenery is amazing especially through the gorges and just to see the 'small' towns 'only 5 million pop.' on the banks is an education. The passage through the Ship lock I found fascinating and the scale of the engineering has to be admired, it is immense. The level of the water is due to rise again in the next 4 weeks so more of the gorge will be flooded, but it will still be spectacular.

I think the boat I took "Dragon Cruises Emperor" was very clean and well maintained with your friendly staff. Food was good except the 2nd night dinner was so so.

Couldn't really recommend the first ghost town excursion (Just too hot). The second up with the formerly naked trekkers was very fun - maybe the highlight. The water in Shennonen is so much cleaner than the Yangtze. The locks were neat but it was like 1AM when the door shut behind us and 4 other boat. Way pasy 2 by the time we lowered and passed through the gate opening in front of us.

The little ride from the locks to Yichang may have been the most scenic...water at the "normal" level with undisplaced villages was a nice change of pace.
The excursion to the dam was weak. It was foggy and you couldn't walk across the top of it.

Victoria Cruises - highly recommended. Very modern, clean and totally geared to the comfort of her passengers.(Canadian owned)

Yes, the scenery through the 3 Gorges was spectacular, even the second time round. ( I went on the Yangtze River Cruise BEFORE its first flooding and again AFTER ) The boat trip through the Lesser 3 Gorges was equally great, but the Shennong River Cruise today, runs through some beautiful scenery too. We stopped at Shibaozhai (2nd trip) which to me, was better than Fengdu (1st trip).

We took a van from Qingtian to Wenzhou airport (1-1/2 hours), then flew from Wenzhou to Wuhan (80 minutes), and then took a van 4-1/2 hours to Yichang to catch our boat for the start of our Yangtze River 3 Gorges (Chang Jiang San Sha) cruise. We lucked out, because the holiday ended the day before and the boat was only ½ full, so the presidential suite was available.  So we upgraded ourselves to that and enjoyed a luxurious room on the boat for 4 nights as we cruised through the 3 gorges.  We spent a lot of time in our room, playing cards and mahjong.