Tianjin: Verwandlungstour – Europas Blick auf Chinas Herz

We had already stayed in Beijing prior to our cruise, so we contacted Catherine to set up a one day tour of Tianjin while our cruise ship was in port for 3 days (while many other passengers were off to Beijing). We agreed with Catherine on an itinerary which included elements of the city day tour, a food tour, and a nighttime cruise on the river. We actually emailed back and forth with Catherine several times to be sure we clarified what was included/excluded in the tour since we had customized the itinerary with Catherine. Our guide Alison came with a driver to pick us up at the cruise port in the morning and was right on time and waiting for us as we exited (actually she had arrived early to avoid any chance that traffic could cause her to be late). The drive from the cruise port to central Tianjin took about an hour and a half with the moderate traffic that morning. From the beginning, Alison was friendly and engaging and we really enjoyed our time with her. She was extremely accommodating to adjust time spent in different locations to match our level of interest between historical/cultural sights, artisan crafts, food sampling, and a bit of shopping. Alison took us to a local restaurant for our lunch early in the afternoon, so we would would still be able to enjoy some street snacks later in the day. Prior to our trip, we had focused a lot of our attention on the other cities in China that we planned to visit and really were very pleasantly surprised at how interesting this city was to visit. At the end of a day of walking we were ready for just sitting down, relaxing and enjoying the nighttime lights and the many bridges along the Haihe River. Alison said goodbye to us after buying our tickets and making sure we were safely onboard the river tour boat. While the continuous commentary on board the river boat was only provided in Mandarin, at that point in the day we were perfectly content to just enjoy the sites along the river which didn't seem to need further explanation. Alison had done a great job throughout the day of explaining the history of Tianjin as well as answering our many other questions about local lifestyle and activities. The driver was waiting for us on our return from the river cruise and the drive back late at night to the ship was only slightly longer than an hour since there was almost no traffic. Since the ship was staying in port for that night, we had no concern about the time we got back. We had started the day figuring our tour would be a decent option to spend one more day on land in China and found that Tianjin truly was a far more interesting and rewarding place to visit than we had expected.

I and my guests enjoyed a very nice day of sight-seeing in Tianjin courtesy of Alison Liu, our guide. She was very friendly, knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. She had a very nice personality and we enjoyed our time together. For those living in Beijing, you are missing something if you don't visit Tianjin. Its a beautiful city. Make it a day trip with the bullet train, and you wont regret it. The Chinese Culture Street, Market is very nice, as is the 5 Avenue areas....wont believe you are in China, it is so European.

First and foremost, I want to thank Alison for being such a great companion throughout our tour. She is friendly and very engaging. We talked like friends and we had no awkwardness. Unlike some tours, there are no hard selling through this tour. It was a lot like whatever you like to do, she will try to accommodate. My dad and I really can walk and Alison walked with us all day! We hope she wasn’t feeling too tired! Pros of the tour: - informative and Alison tries her best to answer questions - accommodative - punctual ... she was on time for the pick up - flexible - no hard selling or shops Cons: - the walking tour on the itinerary mentioned spending about 1 hour at tianjin eye and entrance fees are included ... it gave the impression that your package includes the Ferris wheel price but it doesn’t. Basically your guide just takes you around there and you take pictures around there... but since the guides are flexible, you can tell your guide that you wanna take the ride and pay for it. Just thought the itinerary should be clearer in terms of this - there is no driver in this tour. Once again we got the impression that there is driver since the clause on our booking voucher stated that recommended tip for guide is 50rmb and the driver’s is 30rmb. It gives the impression that there is a driver included. It’s good to be clear about things like that - no food tasting happened. We walked around the market but no food tasting. No one offered so we didn’t ask as well. We didn’t really felt like eating anyway but I thought at least we might be asked ? - the entrance fees included didn’t include anything. So why is it included on the booking form? I think Alison is just doing her job. But the company should state clearly the booking itinerary. Giving such clauses and not fulfilling it made us feel a little short changed. It was a pity we couldn’t go up the Tianjin eye. This tour is great but just some disappointments along the way. It’s quite pricey just for a guide who brings us around and walked with us with nothing of the promised things done. My dad and I take it as making a new friend and let it be. But do take note of all these before you book your tour.