Travelsphere - Unmissable China & Yangtze Cruise May 2019 Having search the internet for reviews on this trip I find very few and the ones that are available are years old. I have just arrived back from this tour, May 2019, and wish to comment on this and perhaps give others feedback on our experience. I will try to fair and objective as possible. VISAS ….The first hurdle to cross is obtaining visas. From Nov 2018 visas can only be obtained in person from the Chinese Embassy, these are located in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast. You have to attend in person with your completed application and if you are 70years of age or below they will take your finger prints. We are both 70, although fingerprints were not required we still had to attend in person, if I remember correctly the total cost for the two of us was £357.00 that includes the cost of returning your stamped passport by post a few days later, or you could collect in person a few days later once your application has been reviewed. In our case we had to travel via three trains to Manchester at a total return cost of £96.00 and a day out. It’s something to factor in the cost of the holiday. We booked this trip in May 2018 and initially agreed to pay Travelsphere £150 each to arrange the visas for us. We had notification on the 22nd November 2018 that the visa application had changed to its current format on the 1st November and we would have to attend the application centre in person. Surely Travelsphere knew in advance this was happening but failed to tell us. If they had have told us we would have probably looked at an alternative holiday. FOOD…This was an issue for us. I still have the original brochure valid at the time of booking it states ‘10 nights full board in 4 star hotels plus one night in flight’ I did contact Travelsphere and asked if a western food option was available. I was assured it was. The new brochures have changed The hotels we stayed in were excellent, can’t fault them, and indeed they did do western food particularly at breakfast time but we did not eat all meals in the hotels, all meals midday and evening were taken at local restaurants and were all Chinese. I accept that we were in China so this should be expected. On a few occasions although we had shows booked we stayed in the hotel and had a ‘proper meal’ and chilled out in our room. These were the best nights. The days were long starting at 8am some mornings arriving back at the hotel at 6 pm to be told we need to be back in reception at 7.30pm to get back on the coach to go for our evening meal wears a bit thin after a long day. The hotels were top class but we only saw our rooms and reception we had no time to take advantage of the hotels other facilities For us we would do away with the midday meal, most people had hearty breakfasts, and have the evening meal, with option of western, in the hotel We opted for the upgrade on board ship this was excellent, a la carte menu, free wine and drinks one hour before the meal, wine with meal. Cruise ship can’t fault. Our Ship was the Victoria Anna FLIGHTS AND TRAVEL…. At the time of booking we did not have the option to fly from our local airport, we had a taxi to Heathrow. If it is possible FLY FROM YOUR LOCAL airport avoid China Eastern at all cost. The food is a disgrace and a few passengers were taken ill on the return flight. Another reason is that China Eastern only fly to London from Shanghai. On the return leg we had to fly from Beijing to Shanghai then on to Heathrow. That day we had a 3am wake up call, I think we were out of the hotel at 4.30am with a breakfast box and on the coach heading for the airport for our 07.35 am flight. We flew two hours to Shanghai then had to wait until 13.20 to board for Heathrow. By the time we boarded the plane back to Heathrow we had been on the go for 10 hours. We then proceeded to follow the same route flying back over Beijing, after 12 hours on the go we were no closer to home. By using your local airport you fly KLM to Amsterdam then onto Shanghai. Return is From Beijing to Amsterdam then on The food will be much better and the return flight time much reduced. Change of itinerary ………originally we were meant to fly between destinations in China but was changed to rail for some reason. Our first journey from Shanghai to Yiching was a nightmare, on the train at 09.30 arrive at 16.16. Travelsphere provided a Subway roll for the journey, it fact this was the case on all rail journeys. Tickets are purchased I believe by the local guide and whilst everything is done to ensure couples sit together it cannot be guaranteed. In our case I had a seat in carriage 2 my wife had a seat in carriage 6. We did manage to find another couple in a similar situation and we swapped tickets and sat together. And indeed we were together for the other rail journeys. Luggage on the train…..Porterage is provided for 1 case each passenger these were loaded onto the train for us we were told the cases were somewhere in Carriages 2 & 6. We were told to locate our luggage because when we arrive at our destination we only have a few minutes to unload the cases before the train departs. With 10 minutes to go before arriving at the station I had only located one of our cases. When the train arrived at the station it was all hands to the deck to remove all luggage with Travelsphere labels, fortunately my second case appeared on the platform. I am not aware of any luggage going missing on the train journeys but it is an anxious time and something you can do without whilst on holiday EXCURSIONS…..We opted to do all the excursions. On reflection we would have been better booking as and when. Sometimes after a long day we just wanted to rest and chill out. Local guides were very good as was our excellent Tour Manager Branwen. I have submitting a separate review earlier about Branwen to Travelsphere along the lines of:- Having just returned from your Unmissable China Tour and being somewhat jet lagged and food lagged l intend to write a more comprehensive review later but for the moment l feel l must make reference to our tour manager, Branwen Having arrived at Heathrow after a long journey we were at a loss as what to do. We eventually found the China Eastern check in not really knowing what to do. Then Branwen introduced herself and we felt instantly at ease and this continued throughout the holiday. She always seemed to appear just at the right moment to guide us on our way and answer our questions, nothing was too much trouble for her. She is knowledgeable, professional and an absolute delight to be with How she does it we do not know, she was with us all day bringing up the rear and shepherding us on our way. If Branwen is representative of your other tour managers we would consider another you holiday with Travelsphere. She is a gem. TOILETS… no problem plenty of opportunity and on a par with Uk …no problem BEST excursions, no particular order…..Shanghai by night, Shanghai Acrobats and Xian by Night. WORSE …Beijing rickshaw ride around Hutongs. Beware some of the excursions involve lots of walking and from the ship involve lots of steps. We didn’t have any problems but you might if you have mobility issues. I think I have covered most things that concerned us, would I go to China again? No. Would I travel with Travelsphere again? Probably I have tried to be fair and objective and answer some of the questions we thought about when we booked the tour To be fair to Travelsphere all the tours to China with other tour companies follow the same itinerary, use the same ships and dine in the same places. You are just as well booking with Travelsphere as any other.