Customer's information:
Name: Mr. James Seid
Nationality: United States
Itinerary: 11 Days Beijing-Xian-Chongqing-Yangtze River Cruise-Yichang-Shanghai
Dear Tracy & Ivy,

Thank you for setting up the arrangements for the tour making it easy and working smoothly.

In general the tour was enjoyable and exciting. All of the guides were friendly and fun to be with. Cindy on Shanghai was most knowledgeable and informative. Some of her English hard to understand because spoke fast with Chinese accent. Loved her enthusiasm and she constantly offer to take photos of us together. This is most memorable, where other guides we had to ask. Cindy’s energy and enthusiasm made the Shanghai visit exciting and desire to go back.

Lisa has the best English and we really liked being with her. All of the guides were very helpful with our fight arrival and departures, making the transfers easy and smooth. Shopping was an ok experience. The guides stood back and let the shop guide explain the process. It was hard to know what is a good price and would appreciate the tour guide giving some guidance before.

We looked forward to amazing Chinese cuisine, but felt except for a couple times the meals fell way short. A suggestion would be to offer all meals as a la carte with an allowance and people can choose to pay extra. We actually did not pay more than 40 yuan above the allowance when a la carte was offered. Also, in hindsight I would forego the cruise and take a flight from Xian to Shanghai, spending more time in Shanghai. The Changyu champaigne at the Captain’s welcome party was very good comparable to some of the best California sparkling wines. Also the Snowy Jade Caves were worthwhile.The cruise was also late 1 hour in arriving at Yichang which forced us to have a very quick lunch in order to make the flight to Shanghai.Our guide good at taking short cut to restaurant and arranging to have meal ready on arrival at restaurant. Eat fast, although the guide said not to rush. So arrived at airport with plenty of time.

All of the hotels had quite nice rooms. The best breakfast was at the Lexington, Shanghai. That is best taste and Chinese variety. Good western food, but no eggs. Had to ask to fry. Marriott had the worse breakfast,however, they had fresh grown coffee. Appreciated the free wifi as Marriot Rewards member. Sheraton also had free wifi.

I recognize that some people want a very structured tour where they are unfamiliar with the culture and location, but we would like the option of including a free day in each city to explore. Also thanks for the hotel and flight upgrades.

We were very luck that the weather was nice in all cities without being too hot. This made the walking and site seeing quite comfortable.
May 20, 2011

Customer's information:
Name: Mrs. Jill Schiebel
Nationality: United States
Itinerary: 13 Days Shanghai-Guilin-Chengdu-Xian-Beijing Tour
Dear Tracy,

We have had a very memorable trip with you, and thanks for make our trip so smooth.

The guides were great overall. Favorites were Lisa, Juliet and Freddy. Esther was great, but had a more difficult time understanding her sometime, however, she was very sweet to our daughter, Savannah. Lisa has a great personality and Juliet was so accommodating to what we wanted to do. The souvenier shops and factories was just fine. Never any pressure. Our Chengdu guide needed to know more about the Pandas and slow down at times. He would get way ahead of us at times when touring. He also was the least accommodating.

All the vehicles and drivers are great, except being picked-up by a car in Beijing instead of a van was not so good, because we were cramped with our luggage.

The least equipped was Shanghai and the defroster was not working properly, so we could not see out the windows at times.

The meals all good except the one night in Shanghai, there was confusion with the restaurant and Esther. I think you needed to pre-order for us and you did not and we were limited as to what we could get to eat and it took a while to get the food. Also, we did not like going to a brazilian restaurant in Beijing, we preferred to eat chinese every meal. The breakfast at the Howard Johnson was outstanding and all the Sheraton’s were great too. The Marriott was not as good and too many people eating at the same time. The dumpling banquet was great, but we arrived too early and had a long wait before the show in Xi’an. The Peking Duck and restaurant where we had the hot pot were both great in Beijing.

The Howard Johnson was the nicest and it is a lower end chain in the USA and I was not expecting it to be so nice. The Sheraton in Chengdu was having repair done in the lobby, which wasn’t appealing. We loved the Yangshou Mountain Retreat, the view is outstanding and a nice break from the standard hotel. All the hotels were much better than I expected.

Of course, we are more than happy to recommend CT to others and serve as a reference.
May 03, 2011