The recent cruise ship tragedy off the coast of Italy caused the tourism industry to pause and think. What safety procedures should have been in place? What are the lesson that we can take away to ensure that disasters of this scale do not happen again? Many at WildChina questioned if a similar event could occur on China’s high seas or rivers…
To begin, WildChina does not promote the cruise ship experience in China. We see the value of cruises off the coast of Alaska, where there are multiple high quality off-shore experiences per day, fresh food made from delicious ingredients and experts aboard the ship to explain the ecological history– this all sounds quite lovely and interesting. However, the experience and client feedback from packaged cruise ship experiences in China can be quite different. One small, but poignant example, is that since 2009, many of the cruise ships require clients to tip before being given their room key. This is not exactly what you would call 5-star service…
This all being said, after scouring reports in English and in Chinese for recent incidents of cruise ships accident in China, no significant search results were found. We hope that the recent tragedy will cause all cruise companies to consider their safety practices– including China.
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If you like traveling at a relaxed pace and are interested in traveling to China, we have several ideas that will interest you. Our favorite is a visit to Guilin— we have customized this trip from anyone to a family of eight with six children under the age of 12 and a 85 year old couple taking their dream vacation. Questions? Drop us a line at info@wildchina.com.
