How do the tours provided by "General Tours" compare in substance and
val to "Grand Circle" travel. I realize that one company caters to
the"mature" travel but I am more interested in what you actually get
for the buck?? I am particularly interested in both companies China &
Yangtze packages. ( Grand Circle =21 days and General Tours = 19 days"

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Request for Question Clarification by mother-ga on 27 Jun 2002 17:56 PDT

Bruce,

Are you looking for personal insight with either or both companies, or
just a side-by-side comparison "on paper" of the accomodations and
features offered in the particular package you mention?

Thanks,
mother-ga

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Clarification of Question by brucer-ga on 28 Jun 2002 05:35 PDT

I am looking for more "personel" input. I find very little said about
both of the groups mentioned in any newsgroups, etc concerning quality
of offered tours.
As far as accomodations, most tour companies stay in the same general
catergory of Hotel. I would also like an analysis of the trips
intineraries to see which company offers more places to see, etc.

Dear Bruce,
	I compiled the following table so that you could better understand
the itinerary of the two trips in comparison. Activities that are
unique to that trip, are *.

Grand Circle					General Tours 
Day 1: Fly						fly
Day 2: hotel						hotel
Day 3: Beijing						Beijing			*Chairman Mao’s Portrait			Tiananmen
Square
	*Great Hall of the People 			Forbidden City
	Tiananmen Square				Summer Place
                                                        Whispering
Wall
	Forbidden City
	Pecking Dinner
Day 4: Summer Place 					Great Wall
	*Cloisonné factory				Pecking Duck
	*Beijing Hidden Lanes			        Ming Tombs
	*Peking Opera
Day 5: Great Wall					*experience city life
	Ming Tombs					*fly to Xian
Day 6: *Temple of Heaven				*Ancient Ming City Wall
	*Fly to Shanghai				*Jade Buddha Temple				                       
*fly to Chengdu
	*Acrobatic show                                 *museum
If you would like me to outline the rest of the trip in the same
manner, please tell me. However, itineraries can be found for Grand
Circle at:
http://www.gct.com/destinations/daily.asp?tripID=55
and General Tours at: 	
http://www.generaltours.com/display_tour.cgi?tour_seq=412&sessionid=

I, a fairly experienced traveler, would choose General Tours. Although
their tour is more expensive and shorter, I believe it provides a
better learning experience. I have heard many negative comments about
Grand Circle.

Grand Circle is cheaper, at $3195, while General Tours has a starting
price of $3,499.
Both include breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I spoke with various tourists that came back from the Grand Circle
tour. The Hotels are three and four stars. Some are unrated, not first
class as they claim on their site.
General Tours takes you to Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Lhasa, Fengdu or
Wanxian, Chonqing, Wushan, Zigui, Three Gorges Dam, Wuhan, Guilin and
Hong Kong.




Comments from travelers after General Tours:


We found the tour to be fascinating and want to commend you...Brian
Thistle, the guide who directed our whole trip and accompanied us, was
superb."
P. Ridinger - Tucson, AZ 
A great trip! Hotels and food were very good; guides were
knowledgeable and the cruise was GREAT!
W. Shank - Bristol, Virginia 

Key words Used:

“Grand Circle China”
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=Grand+Circle+China&btnG=Google+Search

General Tours to China
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=General+Tours+to+China&btnG=Google+Search

If you would like me to finish the outline of the itinerary, or would
like me to add more details, please contact me. Unfortunately, I have
no more time to research at this second. I would stick with General
Tours. From past experiences, companies such as Grand Circle tend to
offer less adventures for your money. Thank you for your question.

Sincerely,

ukiguy

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Clarification of Answer by ukiguy-ga on 28 Jun 2002 09:21 PDT

Sorry, the chart got messed up. If you would like me to fix it, please notify.

The information provided actually confirmed the independent research I
did on my own. Thanks!