Vivien Li - Our Best Yangtze Cruise Specialist

Dear Vivien,

Now our vacation is over again. It was a very nice three weeks in China, but it was also very tiring because of the heat. The trip with the Victoria Jenna was excellent. Everything was well organized, the care from the staff and tour guides, the cabin and the food were impeccable.

We are very positively impressed by China and its development.

We wish you and your child the best of health.

Kind regards

Ursula and Dieter

Hi Vivien,

We are on the train and all good so far. We love the ship and our rooms. We had a great trip thank you.

Jen

Dear Vivien,

Just wanted to thank for all the patience and attention you had with me.

Cruise was great, i was even upgraded.

Thank you once again!

Delyan

Hello Vivien,

Thank you for helping to arrange our trip.We had a great time!

Kind Regards,

Jonathan

Hi Vivien,

Luckily the weather cleared a bit and we were able to set sail around 11AM on Friday.

The crew was really helpful, so please extend our thanks to them.
Also thank you for your excellent customer service.

Jarno

Hi Vivien Thanks for you help. We had a great time. A very different type of trip. Saw some interesting sites. 

Vivien,

We have arrived in Sanya and are on the way to our resort. Thank you for arranging the very helpful guide and driver this morning. They were professional and prompt.

I must tell you, the cruise was amazing! I have never felt so much like a queen as I did on the cruise. The staff was unbelievable, the accommodations were excellent by my western-standards, and the activities were splendid! Nobody wanted to leave the cruise!!

The two boys enjoyed the unlimited “mocktails” drink package and flying kites on the sundeck. The two girls enjoyed the “mocktails” and the variety of relaxing spaces on the ship. Sometimes they wanted to relax in the Executive Lounge, sometimes they wanted to do karaoke. It was wonderful that the children had easy access to any place ln board that they might have an interest.

As you know, we already recommended you to my friend Sylbeth. We will continue to recommend your services. If we have time for one more vacation before leaving China, we will definitely arrange it through you.

Thank you,
Wendy

Hi Vivien,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for everything. The cruise was amazing the staff were very welcoming and the birthday surprise was so special. Thank you!!!!!!

Most Appreciatively,

Tracy Edwards

(The following picture was shared by Tracy)

Tristan and His Family from America had a great Birthday Party on April 4, 2021, tour tailor made by Vivien

Hi Vivien,

We really enjoyed the river cruise and all of the help you were able to provide us. The trips were very good. We thought that breakfast was too early every morning and if you do not attend breakfast we should have the option to get some food somewhere else on board.

Kind regards,

Hannah Marshall

Hi Vivian,

In general we were very satisfied with the service as everyone from staff was very kind.

The scenery was beautiful and we liked specially the Wu gorge.

Thanks for your support!

Best regards,

Rafael

Hi Vivi,

Thank you so much for arranging it for us.

Darrol David Martin

Thank you Vivien! This is very kind of you. I have passed along this information to my friends and family, and am taking serious precautions myself. I am glad to hear that things are getting better in China, and hopefully things will get better soon here too. I have fond memories of my time in China, and am glad I got to visit before the spread of COVID-19. Take care!

Peter

Hello Vivien,

Thank you for your email, our family is well. Canadian cities are now under lockdown except for essential workers. Canada is a country with only 33 millions people spreading across a vast land mass. We have a good public healthcare system but it cannot handle a spike in COVID-19 cases. In order to keep the hospital available to the seriously ill people we all stay home to practice social distancing.  

In light of all the bad news around the world it is unlikely we’ll come to China anytime soon. Please keep yourself safe and keep in touch.

Regards,

Alona 

Thankyou Vivien and the team

My mum and I are in Spain where I live and we have been in total lockdown for 11 days now and have at least another 19 days, we have to stay at home other than going to supermarket for essentials or pharmacy.

We loved our cruise and I actually wrote a blog about our whole trip so other people can do it and I added a link to your company

I am glad to hear it is improving in China and hope this passes quickly so next year we can come back to your lovely country

Saludos

Hello Vivien,

Thank you very much for your warm wishes and for sending this information. It is an interesting read and it does very much agree with the advice we are getting here in the UK. Yes, we are well but as we are in the early stages of the pandemic here in UK it remains a worrying time.

Of course, we have also been watching the situation in China and are pleased that things seem to be moving back towards normal. Our daughter Stephanie who works in Fuzhou was at home in the UK for a month following the outbreak and the closure of public schools in China after the New Year celebrations. She intended visiting for just one week but while she was home the outbreak spread around China and so she remained here. Her school have started teaching on-line and she has been able to do that.

Hearing that the situation was starting to get better in China, she was anxious to return and so she left home on the 15th of March. Unfortunately, she arrived in Haikou, en-route from Hong Kong to Fuzhou, and was caught by the 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving in China that started last Monday. She is now one week into her enforced stay before she will be allowed to fly to Fuzhou. However, although obviously a bit lonely, she is well and quite comfortable in the hotel, and is able to continue her on-line teaching. She is due to continue her travel next Tuesday, 31 March, and is now looking forward to re-joining her colleagues. And it does seem that she left here just in time as we are now starting a period of lockdown.

We do still have flights booked for a future visit to China in May but we have not made any plans yet because we do not know if we will be able to travel. If we can travel then we will contact you nearer the time to help with bookings – no doubt it has been a very quiet time for you recently. 

It is a very difficult time for everybody. We are doing our best to heed the advice, as no doubt you have done. Thank you again for your message and we send you our very best wishes for the future.

Sincerely,

Chris & Jude

Dear Vivien,

Thank you so much for your consideration for our well-being. 

We are glad to hear, and very reassured, that you are well and that life is starting to return to normal. It gives us hope, when we are at the early stages, that we can get through this. My partner and I are retired so it is not difficult for us to stay at home and we are well just now. But it is more difficult for people who are losing jobs and are struggling financially.

Thank you for the information. China has learnt so much and it helps to share information. We are following the guidance to prevent transmission and can only hope that everyone else is, too. So far there are only a few known cases in Scotland. Most are in London but I expect that will change over the coming days.

Keep well and safe and thanks again for your kind consideration.

Yours

Doris

Hi Vivien,

Arrived in Yangon! We had a great trip in China. Thanks for everything!!!

Catherine

Hi Vivien,

It was a great trip. Candy was a wonderful guide. The van was extremely comfortable and made the one day trip very easy for my family. We would definitely use her again in the future and recommend her to others.

Thank you once again for helping set up a memorable trip.

Ryan

Hello Vivien,

I’m back in the UK, suitcase unpacked, washing and ironing done, and I’m beginning to return to UK time as well!

The cruise was excellent!  It was certainly worth paying the extra for the Yangtze Explorer, the service was superb and the excursions both interesting and enjoyable. Thank you too for the transfer drivers.  I’m always a bit ‘on edge’ wondering if a driver will appear (I was let down a couple of years ago) but both men were waiting with a clear sign of my name, and a warm smile when I appeared!

I initially contacted 4 agencies about this cruise but your quick response and personal touch made me choose you - what a good decision that was!!!  Thank you so much for your attention to detail and helpful approach, I will happily recommend you to any other travellers to China.

Best wishes 

Hilary

Hello Vivien,

First ...many thanks to my amazing travel consultant Vivien Li. Actually this was my third times joint her arrangements’ tour , she always available to help us during times of trouble and attentive to our demands. I applaud her for her quickness in finding routes and alternative destination. She also are quick to respond & responsibly ,if there is a problem or anything that incovenience us as a grouble.

I would like to also say that despite our large group size of 20 people and the majority of them are eldery tourist Vivian aptly provided them with access to convinient wheelchairs as well as arranging the easiest possible routes for the eldery. I commend Vivian for her great job because our group is difficult to manage and she made our trip enjoyable and convinient. 

We also like to thank you Moon (Kunming)and Nyama (Shangrila) our tour guides for helping the tour going smoothly and make it less stressful for our tour members. Thank you for the clear and concise explanation of the landmark and famous place of the tours. We also like to thank you to Mr. Deng our driver who take us safely to our destination despite the difficult terrain also his friendly & helpful attitude.  

Finally I would say that this tour is great and beautiful. It worth your every penny to go to Yangtze River cruise , Zhang Jia Jie and also Kunming , Dali , Lijiang & Shangrila.

Ilona 

Hi Vivien,

I was very impressed by the cruise director and all the staff who were very friendly and helpful throughout the voyage. The accommodation, facilities and meals were all of a very high standard and the cruise was a very enjoyable experience.

Thanks

Peter

The followings are photos shared by Peter.

Dear Vivien,

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. Thank you so much.

Anthony

Hi Vivi,

We just want to thank you so very much for organising our trip. We are now back in Shanghai all safe and sound.

Everything went so well. We really didn’t understand the Beijing busyness but honestly the trip was a success and we have you to thank. We hope you have an amazing golden week and we look forward to keeping in touch for future trips. Thanks again.

Stevo

Hey Vivien,

Sorry I have done it right after our tour but it seemed there was a problem and it didnt show up. now i did it again (in german) and it showed up.

Thanks for caring for us we will recommend you to our friends.

Best regards 

Thomas

Hey Vivien,

We arrived in chongqing today, we really liked the cruise. now we thought that it would be better to have a guide to do some sightseeing in chongqing. Do you think it would be possible for us to book a tourguide over your office for tomorrow 10.00 am? we stay at the glenview itc hotel. Thank you for your help!

Best Regards 

Simona

Hi Vivien, 

Thanks for all of your help during our cruise it was very enjoyable and the crew were amazing.

We are now on the train to Zhangjiajie. The driver was great.

Thanks again for all of your help you have made it very easy for us.

Stevo

Hi vivien,

Like I wrote in the evaluation form, this day trip fulfills our needs and we enjoyed it a lot. Coffee was very kind and supportive. Thanks for your patient, responsiveness to all my emails and suggestions. 

Johanne

Dear Vivien,

We had really a great time during the cruise. The boat is really comfortable and we were impressed by the staff kindness and efficiency. 

The meal was excellent and the cleanliness perfect!

Sylvie

Hello Vivien,

Greetings from Xian. The train journey was fabulous and easy to navigate. Thank you for arranging the tickets for us.

Best wishes

Dear Vivien,

Of course I'm more than happy to write a review on yourself and your company.  You've done a very excellent job. 

Thanks

Kim

Hi Vivien,

We had a wonderful cruise with your company. The service from the crew and staff was just perfect, very friendly and helpful at all times. We loved the ship 🚢, the scenery, the people of China. And the food 🥘.  We recommend this cruise to everyone and would do the same again ourselves.

(The following picture was shared by Alan)

Broad View on the Deck

Hi vivien,

Thank you for organizing our cruise everything went very good I have been telling all my friends about the cruise and if you want to go contact vivien, many thank you and merry Christmas from all of us in Australia.

David

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for your information. I am glad to say I and my wife satisfied this travel to China. From your plan and all arrangement and implementation, we feel very good. I'd like to recommend your agent to my friends and introduce your all service. Also I'd like to connect with you for my next travel plan.

Thanks for your help and all guides and related people.

Deyan

Hello Vivien,

We did enjoy our cruise very much and all the arrangements both made worked perfectly.

I will certainly make a review about it when we get home.

(I always review our travels on trip advisor also)

Again Many thanks & all the best!

Maria

Hi Wing! Yes—-I received your email. Everything was great on our cruise, and I would recommend to my friends.

Thank you,

Donna

Hi Vivien,

I'm still in China until mid-June. So no time for photos etc. right now.

Everything was perfect.

Best regards,

Michael Doessegger

Vivien,

Not back till Monday . The trip you organised for us was excellent 

Will give more feedback when home.

Brian

Hi Vivien, 

We had a lovely time on our Yangtze cruise. Thanks for all your help.

We have had 2 nights in Wuhan and are now on our way to Guelin. Could you recommend any Yulong River day cruises?

Thanks.

Chris

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for all your help in arranging the transportation and tours! It worked out very well. We are on our train to Zhangjiajie now. The cruise was very good and exceeded our expectation. Is it possible to give me a receipt of some sort for Chongqing and Yichang transport? It can be a combined receipt or separate. If you can indicate my name, date and transportation, that would be great.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Minah

Hi Vivien,

We all enjoyed the cruise. The girls loved the meals and their cabin.

The crew were very kind and helpful. Jack the cruise manager always had time to explain things to us.

Thank you once again for your help planning our trip.

Regards Bryan,Margaret,Ashlei and Marlee.

(The following pictures were shared by Bryan)

Bryan's Group with the Cruise Captain and Managers

Bryan's Group Enjoyed Dinner Onboard

Bryan's Group Visited Shennv Stream

Dear Vivien,

Happy New Year to you as well.

Our entire trip to Chengdu, Chongqing and the 4-day cruise through the 3-Gorges was very well planned and coordinated. Your tour guides were all very knowledgeable and tentative, and I greatly appreciate the fact that I was always able to reach you whenever there was a problem. even your tour guide in Yichang was very patient and pleasant, and was a big help when we were checking in at the Yichang airport, and there was a problem with our identity card at the airline counter. Please thank both Sophia and the Yichang tour guide for us.

The 3-Gorges cruise was enjoyable. We paid to upgrade our son’s room to deluxe suite. The food was mediocre (and could definitely use some improvement). the highlight was the boat ride through the canyons on the 3rd day, which seemed like to ride back to a timeless nature.

I am very impressed with the service of your agency, and will definitely recommend you to TripAdviser and to my frineds.

Best Wishes,

Joe

Hello Vivien,

Thank you very much! Very good. May group really had a good time.

Rich and I thoroughly enjoyed our 14 days in China. Each of our guides was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and made our tour very enjoyable.

We absolutely would recommend China Discovery to anyone wanting a private tour through China!

Special thanks go to: Laura, Diana, Eben, Grace and Echo, who made each city memorable and of course the drivers who managed to safely deliver us to our destinations!

thank you again.

Rosalie and Rich

(The following pictures were shared by Rosalie and Rich)

Rosalie and Rich Visiting Xian Ancient City with China Yangtze Cruise

Rosalie and Rich Visiting Beijing Great Wall

Rosalie and Rich Yangtze River Cruise

Dear Vivien,

Thank you for your email.

We had the most wonderful time on board Century Sky, in fact it was my favourite part of our tour. Everything about the cruise was just brilliant and the cruise staff were superb.

However, I must also thank you for helping me arrange the cruise and all the extra information you gave us before travelling to China. It was a little daunting planning the trip ourselves but with your help made it so much easier and for that we can’t thank you enough.

With kind regards,

Sarah

Dear Vivian,

We are back from our 31 days visit to China. It was wonderful and we are very impressed with the progress made since I was last in China (about 20 years ago). The cruise was wonderful in all respects. The room was very beautiful and we were surprised that the executive suite included the VIP treatment. The excursions were very well organized and interesting. Also, you coordinated well with the guide that was picking us up in Chongqing. I can recommend this cruise wholeheartedly.

All the best,

Jan and Pierre

Vivien,

Unforgetable 7 days amazing private tour Wuhan, Yangtze cruise, Chongqing, Chengdu

Thank you so much to our trip consultant Vivien Li, she’s very friendly, fast response to many changes in our itineraries on email, professional to organise at the tour’s plan.

All tour guides are also very friendly & helpful, well educated & talented as a guides. The drivers are helpful & careful driving also always punctual to pick up at the start of each day. Hotels are convenient to stay and located near shopping area. The cruise was great, the ship is beautiful & clean,Meals are definately delicious. The tour was running as scheduled in the itinearary, everything was well arranged from the start. I would strongly recommend China Discovery Tours & Vivien for everyone who wants to travel to China.

Ilona

Dear Vivien,

Firstly thank you for making all the arrangements they worked well and we were more than happy with the organisation from your office.

The cruise was made by the scenery which is what we wanted to see and the staff on the vessel were perfect hosts.

However the vessel we felt was in need of refurbishment, completely adequate but getting worn and needed some investment to make it just a little bit special. Simple additions of umbrellas on the sun deck, more proactive drinks waitering, and better buffet food would have made it far far better with very extra little investment by the ship.

We were very happy with the guides Oliver and Nancy, both were very good and we would recommend both (particularly Nancy) to anyone in the future.

So please take away this was a very enjoyable experience which with a little extra improvement by the ship's owners could have been a great experience.

Best wishes and thank you again for your organising.

Andy

Dear Vivien,

the river cruise was definitely one of the highlights of the vacation.

Your service was very nice and friendly.

The excursion during the trip (ghost city, 3 smaller gorges and 3 gorge dam) have been very interesting.

The support by Melody was excellent. She did a great job to make us non-Asians feel comfortable.

Also the other girls that served us dinner or drinks at the bar have been very friendly and helpful.

The only point for improvement was the cocktails. I am not sure if there is a different way to make cocktails in China or if it was only on the cruise, but I was a bit disappointed about the taste.

All in all it was a really great trip!

With best regards,

H. Weitlich

(The following picture was shared by H. Weitlich)

Weitlich Visiting Yangtze Three Gorges

Vivien,

We had a wonderful trip, thank you very much for all the arrangements.

Best,

Nina

Hallo Vivien,

Here my Feedback.

The Yangtze river cruise was one of our highlights on our China tour. The Victoria Jenna was a fantastic ship, the cabin was very clean und with a high standard. The staff was very friendly and very well organized. Everbody speaks English. The tours and the onboard shows were fantastic.

When we went on board, we were not registrated and so we have had a problem to check in. But at the reception they found our booking and because the cruise was not fully booked, it was no problem to get cabins. Please check, what was missing for our registration!

So again thanks for your support!

Lg Ekhard

(The following pictures were all shared by Ekhard)

Ekhard Enjoying Scenery of Yangtze River

Ekhard's Accommodation on Victoria Jenna

Ekhard Spending Leisure Time at Shennv Stream

Ekhard Appreciating Night Shows on Victoria Jenna

Hi Vivien,

We had an amazing experience. We already gave our feedback using the ship's evaluation form. I don't know whether you have another one.

I'll share some pictures in the comming days.

Regards,

Ignacio

Hi Vivien.

The cruise has been amazing! Thank you for your work and making the arrangements for us – it is very much appreciated. The Yangtze Explorer is a fabulous river cruise ship. The staff are wonderful, the excursions are great, and the food magnificent. I would recommend the trip very highly as a must do when anyone visits China!

James

Dear Vivien

We had a wonderful time with Yangtze Explorer.

The room was clean and roomy with a nice balcony, the services was superb and the food was excellent.

We will recommend Yangtze Explorer to our friends.

Best Regards

Charunya

(The following pictures were all shared by Charunya)

Charunya Visiting Yangtze River Cruise

Charunya Enjoying Yangtze River Sightseeing

Hello Vivien

Thank you so much for your help. we like the trip/

Thanks!

Cathleen

Dear Vivien,

Soryy I am so late to write to you = am having a wonderful holiiday at my son!

Vivien, the whole trip I have had in China was simply awesome, from my self booked trip to walk the Great Wall for 5 days, (tough, but absolutely amazing!) to your booking of my trip on the Yangtzhe, it has ALL been spectacular, and I want to THANK you SO MUCH for all the trouble you took to book for me, the very good advice and everything else!

You have gone out of your way to make things absolutely great for me, and it is so much appreciated.

I hope that some time in the future I may be blessed to do another trip to China, and will certainly remember you!

Your country is simply amazing and I enjoyed absolutely everything!

Thank you again, do take care, and may you have many many more satisfied customers!

Kindest regards,

Catharine

Dear Ms. Vivian Li,

sorry for taking so long, but I'd be delighted to give you some feedback.

The tour was very well organized. The cabins were in good condition and quite spacy. Even if one didn't want to go out it gave a comfortable feeling. The room-service was excellent. Mind you, we didn't see much of the room-service but we felt their presenz. Always clean and fresh. We enjoyed the self-service buffett because it meant you only get what you really wanted and how much you wanted. The service in the restaurant was excellent. Quick and friendly. As we travelled as a mixed family (chin - engl) which weren't able to speak each others language, we appreciated the occassionally help (translating) of the servants in the restaurant on deck 6 (especially Daisy and Abby). The rest of the crew was also very helpful and friendly.

Do to the low water level, going from and on bord was a challenge (especially for any handicaped people). The lift was a great help for my wife, but - why does it have to end on deck 5 when the cabin was on deck 6 :-) For reasons unknown I took part on all excursions, which was very exhausting at times. 1000 steps or more up and down to the pagoda, temple and so - but it was worth every step. As I said, a very well organized and planned tour and excursions.

Even if the excursions were timed, one never had the feeling to be in a hurry. It seemed there was, even in a tight time shedule, always time to rest in between.

With other words, I would always recommend this particular river cruise.

For the photo's, well - I'll take the time and find you some. I'll send them on a seperate email.

Best regards

Rolf

(The following pictures were all shared by Rolf)

Rolf's Family Visiting Yangtze River Cruise

Rolf Visiting the Three Gorges Dam Site

Rolf Enjoying Sightseeing at Shennv Stream

Dear Vivien,

Many thanks for your email.

The tour did indeed go well, and in all honesty we particularly liked that we were on a boat that was predominantly Chinese as opposed to having mainly westerners. I reckon there were about 300 Chinese, 30 Germans and 7 English speaking - which suited us well.

Overall we were very impressed with the food, which for dinner especially was better than we had expected.

However, the most important feedback from me was about your help to us late on the first night. We had been awake since 5am and travelling for most of the day on the train. Obviously there had been a language barrier misunderstanding about the extra bed/sofa bed - but we resolved it in the end with tour help. I think you often see best how good a travel agent/agency is not when things are going well but when there is a problem to solve. I was very relieved when you picked up your mobile phone that night and for all your assistance that followed. We cannot thank you enough.

Best wishes, Steve

Hi Vivien

Just a quick note to thankyou for all your help on the Yangtze cruise.

We had a great time and the the Century Legend was a beautiful, clean, modern ship.

The service was first class, food excellent, and our room perfect!!!

We were very happy with the booking that you did for us.

Please feel free to use us as a reference if you like.

Cheers

Michael & Vicki

(The following picture was shared by Michael & Vicki)

Vicki Spending Leisure Time in the Cabin on Century Legend

Hi Vivien

Just to say a big thank you for all your help and efficiency arranging our holiday. We had a great time, especially the day in Chengdu - the morning at the panda reserve was wonderful!

Please can you send me the link to the trip advisor website so I can write something there about our lovely holiday?

Best wishes

Heather

Vivien

Thanks a lot for your wishes.

For you and your family also the best and all your own dreams come true.

The trip was excellent, tks a lot for all of your service.

best regards

Ulf

Dear Vivien,

Your arrangements are perfect, beyond much of my expectation from a Chinese agent who I had never known of.

For the cruise, generally is fine. However, there couple of points to mention :

1. The foods throughout the trip are not to the standard comparable any luxury cruises I took before, particularly at this price.

2. The cruise should have provided dinner during the first night and lunch or at least snacks on the last day.

Besides the foods, we enjoyed the trip.

Thank you again for your arrangements. I shall not be hesitate to ask you to arrange my next trip in China.

Kind regards,

Lec

Hello Vivien

I am just writing to thank you for all your help arranging my Yangtze cruise. It was a great trip and I really enjoyed it - and all your arrangements worked out perfectly - you are a star!

I see that your office is in Chengdu so I am wondering if you could recommend an agency to help me organise a trip for myself and my daughter to Chengdu and Harbin in December? Please let me know as soon as possible.

Thanks again for all your patience, efficiency and support.

Best wishes

Heather