"Yangtze River Cruise" a China Travel Page by geekgrrl

From Xian we flew to Chongqing to board the Victoria Cruise Line MS Katarina for a 3 night cruise down the Yangtze River. This was all part of our tour from General Tours.

We did not know what to expect since the 3 Gorges Dam had started to fill a year ago. The expected height will be 177 meters in 2009. At this time, the water was up to about 140 meters. The next phase in 2006 will be 156 meters. We were pleasantly surprised at how wonderful this trip was. We surmise that even when the last phase is completed, this will still be an amazing trip. We had more rain than we would have liked, but that did not dampen our experience.

The MS Katarina is only 5 months old, and this ship rivaled any cruise ship we have been on. The ship will hold 266 people, but there were only 110 on board. The staff was incredibly attentive. There was a staff member on every deck to anticipate any need. One day I returned to my cabin and could not find my key. I had my backpack on the floor along with my purse trying to find my key. Instantly a staff member appeared and let me in. We ordered hot water, and it was there in 5 minutes. Same with ice. Each room had a balcony from which we watched for hours.

The landscape was pretty impressive, too. Each of the three gorges was beautiful. The side trip up the Danning River was incredibly breath-taking. The number of various boats/ships/ferries/hydrofoils that we passed was always interesting. Along the shore and up the sometimes very steep hillsides were many terraced farms with workers in traditional Chinese garb along with their water buffalo.

We had three side trips on the cruise. In Wanzhou we boarded a bus to see a museum, a children's acrobatic performance, and a general tour of Wanzhou. In Wushan we boarded a smaller boat and went up the Danning River through smaller gorges. At the dam we were taken to the visitors center for a closer look at the dam.

This cruise was truly a highlight of our China trip. But because it is a cruise, there will not be many tips. Instead I have created Yangtze photo albums to try and share the magnificence of this trip (even in the rain!)

We normally travel independently, but because this was China, and there would be many challenges, we decided to go with a tour company. We ended up with General Tours - http://www.generaltours.com/ - and could not have been more satisfied.

This was the third part of our China trip. The others are:

Beijing Part 1
Xian Part 2
Hong Kong Part 3
Guilin Part 4

The MS Katarina seen from the road in Chongqing.

The huge set of stairs that we had to descend to get to the Katarina. Luckily we had porters to carry our suitcases.