2019 Customer Reviews
- Clients: May G-Mei Shackleton
- Country: USA
- Clients: Ros Plowright in Hong Kong
- Clients: Anne and Ron Hosking
- Country: Australia
- Clients: Joelyne p
- Country: US
- Clients: David and Drina Jones
- Country: Australia
- Clients: Brant H
In assessing how my experience transpired with your company, I - first of all - feel that it would only be fair to say that my goal in traveling throughout the country was to have a chance to integrate myself - as best as possible in the short time I had - with the people and culture of each place I went to in the country, so that I could experience the truth of what the country is really about. I am an adventure seeker and was expecting your company to assist me in that. That said, I will say that my experience with you folks was excellent. All of the guides were helpful and insightful regarding their respective cities. I had a particular fondness of John in Beijing, Rachael on the Yangtze River Cruise, and the young man in Xian (I feel silly that I cant remember his name at the moment). That is not to discredit the efforts of any of the others, but those folks really held good memories for me on my trip.
The hotels and meals were all of excellent caliber as well. Additionally, they were all in excellent locations in every city (your crew couldn't have picked better spots), and were easy to cab or walk from to get to points of interest. Believe it or not, the hotels were actually a little too nice for me. I was really looking for something a little more rugged, but safe. About all I need is a good lock on the door and fresh water for drinking, which is easily solved by buying some water on the street. As noted, the meals were very good as well. I enjoyed the buffet Chinese breakfasts in the hotels and restaurants particularly well, as my dietary habits and tastes are very similar to those of the Chinese culture. I am a very health conscious eater, and the Chinese menus accommodated that excellently. Additionally, the guides were sensitive to that, and I appreciated it. Thank you! The restaurants were all fantastic, with wonderful service.
The condition of the cars was excellent in each location, and service attitude of the driver in each city was good as well. I particularly enjoyed the drivers that would go above and beyond what was expected of them (for example: enjoy a meal with me or involve him/herself with the tour and my experience). Of particular note, once again- is the gentlemen in Beijing. Excellent service.
Another thing about the guides was their willingness to allow for photos (I took many of them). They were all very patient and accommodating. The guide who was kind enough to pick me up at the airport in Chongqing even bought me some water before I got on the cruise, thus saving me money instead of having to purchase the water on the ship. Additionally, she explained much of the city in great detail, even though I only spent about 30 minutes with her.
Additionally, each city offered some sort of show to go to, which I gladly did, almost every night. The guides were very accommodating to this, as well, and always had good ideas for shows to go see. We had a pleasant tour experience. Thank you.
- Clients: Leonard Bambridge
- Country: Australia
We considered the meals provided were exceptional. With the hotel breakfasts and the lunches we found a small snack in the evenings was sufficient for our needs.
The hotels were first class, all had coffee and tea making facilities, TV with a few English channels, and excellent facilities.
Our guides were all great, knowledgeable, friendly and inclusive of all group members.
The tours were well organised and generally the time allocated to each location was adequate. Our tour included three separate museums and all had similar displays, so, in my opinion this could be reduced. In my opinion the museum in Shanghai was the pick of the ones we visited.
Our drivers were generally very good, however the bus drivers should wait for everyone to be seated before starting to move. On more than one occasion passengers were thrown off balance. The traffic being so different to our usual experience was a little concerning at times. All vehicles, including busses were clean and comfortable.
Our tour included a three night two day Yangtze River Cruise which we enjoyed, however the not-included tours were both in the morning and by the time the included tour were started it was late afternoon. We were fortunate to be in one of the first groups to start these tours so we started in daylight but finished in the dark while the later groups actually started in the dark and I heard some complaints about this. Not good.
Thank you Travelchinaguide for a well organised and enjoyable trip.
- Clients: Liuba Beauvais & Louise Scott
- Country: United States of America
In Xian, our Guide Judy & Driver Mr. Chang, also met us at the airport-ensuring a smooth and calm tranfer to our Hotel. Judy's command of the English language was clearly obvious and enabled us to truly appreciate her detailed presentations/explanations of historical facts for each of our "daily adventures" in Xian. Judy also provided us with "first-hand" insight of China's current economic changes and impact on it's citizens.
In Shanghai, our Guide Sean & Driver Mr Chen were also attentive and informative, providing us with a different perspective of Shanghai-a Chinese City which has more "western flavor". Sean also arranged for an additional side trip to Zhouzhuang, "the Venice of China", on our free afternoon.
Regarding the Hotels, we were not disappointed-but very pleased with each selection:
In Beijing, the Pentahotel Beijing was not only beautiful, but the service was impeccable. The location was ideal and allowed us the opportunity to walk to shops and the "famous" Night Market, to see the various "unusual food items" being sold.
In Xian, the Holiday Inn Xi'an Big Goose Pagoda was conveniently located, giving us a "taste" of Old World Xian.
Regarding the food/restaurants included in our package, please note the following:
All 3 Hotel buffet breakfasts, provided unlimited Western & Chinese breakfast choices in foods and were all outstanding.
In Beijing, our favorite restaurant was on day 2 for lunch, on our way to the Temple of Heaven. The atmosphere was amazing (just what a "tourist" would hope that a Chinese dining experience would be)! There was even entertainment during our meal!
In Xian, our family lunch was a new and interesting experience where Abbey met us (a very nice personal touch), was also memorable.
In Shanghai, our most memorable dinner was at the hotel. It was an elegant sampling of Chinese dining.
Overall, we must be honest that we found the food to be "somewhat different" than what we are used to in the United States. We found them to be "cultural differences", to which we quickly adapted on our second day.
In each city:
Beijing-the KungFu show; Xian-the Tang Dynasty Dinner & Show and in Shanghai- the Acrobatic Show were all wonderful! Each provided a bit of diversity and added to our many wonderful memories of our visit to China.
We sincerely wish to extend to you our thanks for preparing an outstanding itinerary for our memorable trip to China!
- Clients: Joan Hirsch
- Country: United States of America
All the guides were all very good, prompt, courteous and pleasant.
1.) They were all contentious and their service was very good.
2.) Their command of English was excellent. The communications were very good. We were all impressed with their language skills.
John in Shanghai was excellent. His sense of humor was very good. He was prompt, courteous and a delight to be with everyday.
Lily in Xian was very good, she was ill with a cold, but did not neglect her duties in anyway. She took very good care of our group.
Tony in Guilin was fun and very knowledgeable. He loves his city and shows it off very well.
Rocky in Beijing was very good. He was understanding when we changed our minds and changed plans. He arranged a particularly wonderful peking duck lunch for our group, at our request. His English was very good.
Knowledge of history and culture of China, was excellent in all the guides. They have all studied and learned their lesson well.
Cars and Drivers: All very good, the cars were clean and well maintained. The drivers were all very helpful and pleasant. They stayed with the cars and protected any personal items that we left in the cars.
The meals that were arranged were a cross section of the various cuisines of China and were varied, delicious and well prepared. The amount of dishes were more than we could eat at most meals.
Thank Travel China Guide, on behalf of my fellow travelers, for making our China tour so memorable.
- Clients: Bernard van Marle
- Country: Netherlands
1. Meals: In general the meals arranged (lunches and a few dinners) were of a very good quality and plentiful. We seldom managed to eat all the food that was served.
2. Guides: The guides knowledge of the English language was very good. They were all very knowledgeable about their city and the various sites we visited. Not only that but they took great care of us from the moment they met us on arrival in the airport until departure. They were with us every moment of the day and kept us well informed of all that was of interest and tried to assist in any possible way. Most of them were very likeable persons and it was great to be in their company. They were not just robots but persons one could discuss all kinds of subjects with. We felt very comfortable with the guides and considered them as friends by the time we had to leave for the next city.
- Linda in Beijing. She was a very nice and likeable person and we got on with her very well. When we had to leave Beijing we almost felt sorry for losing a close friend.
- Lily in Xian. She was also very nice and a lovely gentle personality.
- Oliver in Shanghai. A calm and very friendly person. A pleasure to talk with.
As to the specific items:
1) All the guides were assertive in offering relevant knowledge about the sites we visited (and often more than that). If we had any questions left they never remained unanswered.
2) All the guides had a thorough knowledge of the English language and at no time did we have any communication problems.
3) All the guides had an admirable knowledge of their city and sites we visited.
3. Drivers & Cars: The service attitude of all the drivers was excellent. In general they were also very good and safe drivers considering the often very busy roads and chaotic traffic. The most courteous of all the drivers was the one in Beijing. All the cars were kept clean. The car in Xian was the best of all: brand new and spacious and very comfortable. The car in Shanghai was noisy and I believe the shock absorbers need to be replaced.
4. Hotels: The hotels were generally of a very good standard. Hotel service and room hygiene was satisfactory. Breakfast was good. Before coming to China we were warned that the beds in the hotels are often very hard but we had no problems all beds with just one exception were comfortable.
Overall, EXCELLENT tour. PERFECT organization.