Cruise Warnings
Shipboard satellite telephone service costs about $16 or so a minute
plus 15% startling from the time you dial! You should wait you get on
shore to phone, or ask for someone's mobile. Zigui and Fengdu CITS have
long-distance telephone service near the quay.
Porters in Chongqing have been so obnoxious, I've had to call the police once. They will grad your bag. Two have seized a tiny woman tourist and carried her and her bags protesting down the stairs. You might want to wave at your ship and hope it will send its own bell man. Help is nearby at your ship. Officers there will tell you what a fair tip is . But before that, learn to say, "Wu bu yao," or "I don't want to."
Stops usually necessitate climbing a lot of stairs, part of the Yangtze lifestyle. Chongqing has an elevator at Chaotianmen from the ship to the street above. Ship personnel should be able to arrange for a sedan chair to take wheelchair-confined travelers up and down stairs and through the streets in some but not all places on shore. Ships themselves also require climbing. Most ships have four or five storys and none have elvators. Wheelchair travelers have difficulties unless they travel with help or make some such arrangments beforehand.
Sailing the Gorges
We have never heard of anyone getting seasick on this river and it is safe. Between Wuhan and Chongqing, it is under three km wide and in some places only 100 meters. River traffic controllers are strict. Ships have fire alarms, smoke detectors, life boats and jackets. Traffic is heavy so if there is trouble, help is close by. Ships have radar and captains are in radio contact with control towers along the way.
