Years ago I had Yangtze River Cruises from Chongqing to Yichang on Victoria Jenna, one of the plush Victoria Cruises. This was my third cruise on Yangtze River Tour.
I’d like to do a brief trip report on my recent Yangtze River Cruises. Hopefully my report will be useful for those who are going to make a life-long cruise along Yangtze River, especially on Victoria ships. Much of my report is based on the daily schedule leaflet sent to my room by the deck attendant.
Brief introduction to the cruise staff Victoria Jenna as below:
Captain: Li Long Hai
Cruise Director: Dick Caroentier Operations Mgrs: Sarah / Samson Yang
Dining Room Supervisor: Jack Ding/Oscar Yang Housekeeping Supervisor: Aaron Li
Sunday
6:00 PM This was the official boring time. The first evening dinner was not included. You may grab a bit in the city of Chongqing after your Chongqing Tour before boarding. If you don’t mind the high prices of the food on the ship, you can have easy dinner on the deck 2 of Victoria Jenna.
Getting to the pier, I paid a porter RMB10 to carry my suitcase to the ship simply because it was still a long walk to the boat. First I had to descend dozens of steps to the bank of the river, then crossed rickety platforms suspended over the water to my boat.
After check-in, passengers were welcomed to the Yangtze Club on Deck 5 and met the staff and tested their skills. We tried one of the evening specials:”Victoria Vista” and “Slow Boat to China” – 28RMB a glass!We were also told to gather here on the deck 5 the next morning to have the briefing on the staff, ship and services.
Victoria Jenna was scheduled to depart Chongqing the next morning around 05:30am
Returning to my own room, we found the daily schedule leaflet the desk. The first day’s leaflet was focused on the rules and regulations relative to “passenger health and safety”, “Strict smoking policy”, “Chit payment method”, “in case of fire or evacuation”…
As a light smoker, I was happy to learn that smokers still had some social status on the ship – smoking allowed on the outer decks. I asked the cabin attendant for an ashtray. If your roommate dislikes smoking, you still have way out by smoking in the smoking room on the deck 5.
I was lucky to travel alone in an executive room – Room 519 on the 5th deck. The room was elegantly furnished according to a 5-star luxury hotel with a spacious balcony as well as a huge window because it was located in the corner of the stern.
The term “Tai Chi” refers to the yin-yang principle of the interplay between two opposite forces in nature. Tai Chi is famous for its smooth movements and explosive strikes.
It is composed of eight primary postures (including warding off, rolling back, squeezing, pressing, splitting, pulling, elbowing-striking and shoulder-striking) and five steps (including advance, retreating, leftward steps rightward steps and steps when body being erect).
9:15 AM “Ancient Waters, the timeless Yangtze” – an informative introduction to the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges by River Guide Daniel Li Yangtze Deck 5
Daniel Li was mainly responsible for the guide service on the ship for the whole trip. He spoke fluent English with a sense of humor.
1:45 PM Shore Excursion: The Victoria Jenna is docked at Fengdu. All passengers go ashore to the city of “City of Ghosts”. The temple area on top of Ming Mountain. People pay tribute to the “King of the Underworld”. This was a walking tour excursion. There were many steps from the dock the road.
We were divided by the ship management into several groups escorted by the tour guides from the local Fengdu CITS. We took the green car to the cable car station where we were requested to pay the cable car to the top of the mountain.
The crew modeled a variety of Chinese traditional costumes and from all regions and periods of Chinese history with a surprise of two!
10:00 AM Victoria Jenna approached the entrance to the first gorge, the Qutang Gorge. Of all the Three Gorges, Qutang Gorge is the shortest, but the most majestic.
4:50 PM Victoria Jenna approached the entrance to the second of the three gorges – Wu Gorge. Wu Gorge(巫峡), one of the Three Gorges between Qutang Gorge and Xiling Gorge.
Wu Gorge is the most famous and beautiful gorge of the three, with a total length of over 40 km starting from the mouth of the Daning River( the Little Three Gorges ) of the riverside town of Wushan to the Guandukou Town of Batong( Guandukou is 17km west of the riverside town of Badong County ). See more information on Wu Gorge which I wrote when I was on the cruise.
12:45 PM Victoria Jenna arrives at the dock of the port of Yichang, our final destination.
Any questions, just drop a line.