We are going to ask the Regent Concierge service to see if we can leave the second evening of the port call at Tianjin (for Beijing) on the Z19 deluxe train - scheduled to depart from Beijing at 20:28 and arrive Xian the next morning at 7:58. As there are no Z-class trains (express with deluxe accommodations) from Xian to Shanghai, we will plan to fly that leg. Here is the "Train travel in China - a beginner's guide" description:

This superb train has top-quality brand-new air-conditioned sleeping-cars, far superior to any flight and saves time over flying, too. This train is soft class only (no hard class) with 4-berth ordinary soft class sleepers, 2-berth deluxe soft class sleepers with private toilet, restaurant car (with menu in Chinese and English, beer a reasonable RMB15, the crispy fried prawns are recommended..!) and bar. It is reported that the on-board staff are helpful and speak some English, and the berths are even fitted with small TV screens..!

Thus, we would spend Tuesday night Oct 2 on the train, then two full days and nights in Xian, before flying from Xian to Shanghai Friday morning Oct 5 to rejoin the ship, which is scheduled to dock there at 7AM that morning.

Any other suggestions or requests, please post here or e-mail this week (address in profile); we leave for the Inaugural President’s Mediterranean and Society Summit Reunion cruises early next Monday morning!

We will post what we learn either from the ship or upon our return (>Mon, Nov 20th).