China Tour Reviews from Australia Customers
Mr. Steven Cooke 's China Tour Review
Dear Tracy,
Thank you for a professionally organised trip. Here is the evaluation document and the comments to questions you have provided:
1. In general I considered the guide services as very good. All guides had an excellent knowledge of the history of the particular attraction I was viewing. In some cases it was quite interesting talking to the guides concerning other matters regarding China in general, such as the education system, technical development and politics. They were quite pleasant company at times. I was given notice regarding most stops at factories and souvenir shops. Some more information regarding these types of visits should be given before the event. I however was not pressured into doing shopping.
2. All drivers were very experienced and the vehicles were clean and tidy. I especially liked the driver in Beijing who should be considered for Formula One racing after managing to drive around under traffic conditions like that.
3. One of the highlights of my trip to China was the food. I had no problems with it at all. The variety of dishes supplied on the trip gave me a better insight into Chinese cuisine. The quality and volume of food on the boat trip down the Yangtze was excellent.
4. Bottled water was provided on all occasions however I preferred the local beers and Chinese wine ?
My comments can be displayed on your web site as a reference.
Best regards,
Steven Cooke
Customer's information:
Name: Mr. Steven Cooke
Nationality: Australia
Itinerary: 14 Days China Discovery Tour with Yangtze Cruise
Updated: Thursday,Nov 25,2010
Mr. Cockman's China Tour Review
Dear Tracy & Ivy,
It was lovely seeing you both in Xian and thanks for the photos.
Generally the guides were excellent, they were all very polite and nice to our family. The best guide was in Guilin, closely followed by Steven in Xian. Jack in Beijing was very nice. He felt sick so we had a different guide on the last Beijing day.
The restaurants were all very good, we really liked the hotpot, dumpling dinner and Beijing duck. These stand out because they were different, a lot of the other places were all very similar, maybe a bit more variety would be better.
The drivers and their vehicles were all excellent.
The hotels were all great and would recommend them all.
All the guides gave us water.
I would love to be a reference for your first rate travel agency. I was a bit concerned about the holiday as I paid a large amount of money for something I was not entirely sure about. If I could help you out in any way I will. I will send some photos through shortly.
Thanks for organizing a great trip to China.
Kind Regards
Jeff, Fiona, Sophie, Nathan and Brendan Cockman
Customer's information:
Name: Mr. Cockman
Nationality: Australia
Itinerary: 18 Days Memories Tour with Yangtze River Cruise
Updated: Wednesday,Nov 03,2010
Lori and Charlton Riley's China Tour Review
Dear Tracy,
My apologies for the delay in replying to your email, but we have been out and about enjoying Shanghai.
We very much enjoyed meeting you in Xian and thank you for the photos of our brief time together.
We have replied with our comments to the headings listed in your email below and also attach the completed evaluation form for Guilin.
We found all guides in particular Lena and Freddie outstanding, knowledgeable and very polite. We did not feel pressed to do shopping and stops to factories and shopping areas were in keeping with the context of what we were visiting.
Drivers excellent and attentive with clean air-conditioned vehicles. In particular Mr. Wong in Xian was most polite.
All meals were adequate, however the lunch on the Li River boat cruise was not a good meal and in our opinion was below standard.
Guilin Bravo was our favourite and excellent.Prime in Beijing was well located and we enjoyed our stay there. Grand New World Xian was not the best location because of the heavy traffic in Xian it took too long to reach the central area. Something more central near the Bell Tower would have made for more pleasant walking and shopping in our free time.
Overall we found ChinaTourOnline.com and in particular all that you arranged for us first class. Your attention to detail, efficiency and accommodating our needs was always met with courtesy and promptness. We would certainly use your company again on any future visits to China and have no hesitation in recommending you to our friends.
With kind regards and best wishes
Lori and Charlton Riley
Customer's information:
Name: Lori and Charlton Riley
Nationality: Australia
Itinerary: 17 Days tour of Beijing/Xian/Guilin/Shanghai
Updated: Saturday,Aug 21,2010
Mr. Michael 's China Tour Review
Dear Ivy and Tracy,
Thank you so much for organizing our wonderful trip to China. The guide service was excellent. Their English was outstanding – sometimes had to ask them to repeat what they said and then we told them how to say it properly. They all liked us to correct their speech and we all had a good laugh. We really loved Cindy in Beijing. She was just like our own daughters. She shared her life and family experiences with us which was really special for us. We were sad to say goodbye to her. All the guides were very knowledgeable not just about their own city but past and current China and neighbouring countries as well. Nick in Chongqing stands out in our mind too. He talked about his own son and his love of Australian animals and how he has started to teach his 5 year old son English. All the guides took us to the places we wanted to see even if they had to arrange their planned schedule eg. In Guilin, because of the heat we did not go on bicycle tour but went to Tea University instead. We loved this excursion and bought some good tea. We have been to many factories over the years in Asia so we have seen so many factories already. The guides never forced us to go any shops but they did suggest them to us.
All the drivers were very nice and helpful with our luggage and opening and closing doors. Their English was not very good but they conversed well with the guides so we did not have to speak with them very much anyhow. All the vehicles were comfortable and very clean and air con was always on for us when we returned to car. Water was available for us in the vehicles as well.
Everything was very well organized. Restaurants were good. Even though we love Chinese food and go to a Beijing restaurant in Brisbane, we are not used to so much Chinese food however. We might eat it once a week at home but certainly not twice a day. This is why we enjoyed going to the dumpling restaurant in Beijing because it was different food. Most of the dishes served to us were the same in each city. We would have enjoyed a hot pot meal if it had been offered to us. We understand that meals are difficult to order because of the language barrier, but would be nice to have experienced a greater variety. The meals were very large as well. We would not normally eat so much especially for lunch and we were embarrassed to leave so much on the table uneaten.
The hotels were good. Some were better than others. In Beijing the hotel was a good 3 star hotel with a view over the crossroads and cathedral and located very close to subway which was excellent. Free internet using the flat screen TV was a nice bonus. We used the subway every day. The overnight train to Xi’an was very clean and cabins were small but nice. We were happy that we purchased 4 tickets so that we did not have to share cabin. I think the cabins are too small to share! There is nowhere to store your luggage. In Xi’an the hotel was a little small, old and dark with no view but had a fantastic location and free internet. The Guilin hotel was very good and perhaps our favorite. The location was fantastic and our room was large with a fine view of the bridge, streets and rivers and free internet. Maybe we were just lucky to get that room. I would have said that it was more like a 4 star hotel. The President 4 cruise boat cabin was nice too. However, we were offered an upgrade for 800 yuan to a deluxe suite so we took that. This suite was bigger (separate sitting area) with a free bottle of wine, fruit basket everyday, large balcony and free water. The towels were changed twice a day was good too. They even straightened your bed for you at the end of the day! Your laundry was collected everyday to be washed and ironed for 160 yuan for the entire cruise. The hotel in Shanghai was also very nice in a good location at the beginning of The Bund. This hotel was 4 stars but we had to pay 50 yuan for internet every day but that was okay. This hotel also had the best TV stations for overseas visitors. (HBO). We used the swimming pool as well. This was the only hotel that had a pool but you must wear a swimming cap which is foreign to us! They also have a fantastic outdoor deck and restaurant on the 26th floor with great views of Shanghai especially at night. However, the walk to the subway was a little far. We used the subway everyday and just hailed a taxi or three wheel bike to transfer to and from the hotel. It was very hot to walk but in winter I think it would be okay.
We did appreciate the water given to us during the day. Sometimes the guides gave them to us separately and sometimes all at once. We loved the guides who purchased the water cold for us during the day as we needed it. In Australia we all drink our water icy cold!!
We would love to share some of our 696 photos with you. We have many beautiful photos of China and its special places.
You have our permission to use us as a reference for future clients. You may post any of our comments on the website as well. Please feel free to change our wording if that suits your purpose. Please give our email to potential clients as well if they would like to contact us personally. We have no hesitation in recommending your travel company to any potential future clients. I have already posted excellent comments and contact details for your company on Facebook in Australia. It is a shame that you do not have this website in China. It is an excellent no cost way of advertising! I am planning to email details about your company to the Travel Editor of our major weekend Brisbane newspaper this week as well. This newspaper has a lift-out section on travel and invites people to email their travel experiences both good and bad and is very popular reading for Queenslanders.
Thank you so much for organizing the return of my wallet left in the hotel room by mistake in Shanghai. Best wishes to the cleaning staff who found my wallet and handed it in to hotel staff for safe keeping. Thank you for your phone call to Australia to let me know that the wallet was found and to confirm my forwarding address.
My husband and myself are both in our mid 50’s and have travelled the world and Asia extensively. We are fairly adventurous and normally do not travel on a tour as such. We never go on bus tours. We always travel independently. However, on good advice from my Chinese school teacher friends, we were advised to not travel China without some sort of help. This is when I decided to surf the web and find a company that offered tours with minimal intervention. www.chinatouronline.com was the answer I was looking for. The balance of private tours (driver, guide, myself and husband) and our own independent travel was perfect. China is not an easy country to travel in without some help due to the language barrier and the sheer size and population of the country. While we made our way around independently on most days, it was very nice to be given train tickets in our hands, given a map with points of interest circled on the map and the nearest subway located by the guide, being told the day before what airline to catch (E ticketing) and basically being taken from A to B. We would recommend that future travellers (on limited time) to China who ‘like to do their own thing’ travel on a private guided tour as organized by chinatouronline.com.
Best Regards,
Michael
Customer's information:
Name: Mr. Michael
Nationality: Australia
Itinerary: 14 Days China Highlights Tour with Yangtze Cruise
Updated: Tuesday,Jul 27,2010
Mr. Bill Mairs's China Tour Review
Hi Tracy Liu,
Your guide service on the whole was pretty good – but we were spoilt a bit by having Tony first as his English was very good and it would be very hard to have any guides as good as he was. The other guides only had small jobs and did them okay.
There were a few stops organised which were very nice shops and there was no hard sell– the stops generally were a good brake.
The vehicles were extremely good and very clean and the drivers were safe drivers but it could just be general for all drivers as I found their use of gears was pretty useless.Either you need automatic cars or teach your drivers when to
change gears – I hate it when a motor is stressed.
All the meals organised were very good and we really loved a Sichuan chicken dish – some meals were extremely good.
Hotels were reasonable but my wife found the beds too hard. The Shanghai Ramada was the best which was to be expected as it was one star better but it was a little out of town but had a very good shopping centre close by and we were quite happy taking the Underground. All hotels were very clean and tidy – they were 3 or 4 stars and I
would recommend them as okay.
Overall the tour worked very well and we enjoyed ourselves very much. We will be telling our friends and my Airline workers of your good service. Any comments you wish to use is okay.
Regards Bill Mairs
Customer's information:
Name: Mr. Bill Mairs
Nationality: Australia
Itinerary: 15 Days China Discovery Tour with Yangtze Cruise (Budget)
Updated: Friday,Jun 25,2010
