April 8 Trip to Chongqing

Melody took us to the airport early.  We were so early, they would not check us in.  We sat and waited until the appointed hour and checked in without any problems.  I have no idea why I spent so much of my time worrying about luggage requirements.  Speaking of which, just got word from Luggage Free, my shipped suitcase is waiting for me in Singapore!!  Hooray, I will have dress clothes.

We cleared security easily and sat at our gate, waiting and waiting and waiting some more.  It was finally posted that the flight was delayed “due to company plan change”.  We never found out what that meant, but did a lot of scrambling to determine what we could do if we missed the sailing.  Once again, there were a lot of people who could not speak English.  I finally found one counter attendant who knew some English.  He said he would let me know as soon as he had word from his boss.  I was pretty worried since the flight was 90 minutes late and we were cutting it close for the 9 p.m. sailing. 

Finally the flight arrived at 7:30 p.m.  We were met by our guide, Jim.  He said not to worry, even though we had a 45 minute drive to the port, he was in constant contact with the cruise line, and they would be waiting for us.  Jim lived up to his word, because we got there right at 9 p.m. and the ship departed!! 

I wish we had stayed in Chongqing.  What a beautiful city, with a light display to rival Hong Kong.  If you go there, check out the Two Rivers hotel.  It looked really nice with a beautiful view of the “2 rivers”! 

We did have a problem when we arrived at the dock. Jimmy said we were to ignore the porters that were on the dock and not pay them the 10 Yuan they wanted.  Not knowing local customs, we followed what Jimmy said.  Then we proceeded to drag 3 large suitcases and 5 small carry-ons on to a tram that went to dock level.  No fun.  All 3 of us were pretty pooped by the time we boarded. 

Peter, the cruise director, was in the lobby waiting for us. He helped checked us in, get our cabins and then said he was having a welcoming lecture in 5 minutes on deck 5.  We barely had time to drop the luggage, freshen up and try to close our mouths after looking at the size and amenities of our suite!! 

Reception area on board

At breakfast on the first morning, we were seated at a table for 9 with a Swiss family with 2 handsome young boys and then a mother traveling with her 17 year old son.  We also learned we were the only Americans on board.  Peter told us that Americans use to come, but lately not that many.  I guess the economy in the U.S. has impacted this.