foodpolice

On 12/8/2019 at 5:14 AM, notamermaid said:

Deck the halls with boughs of holly and see if "de Niggelaus" has left some sweets and nuts in your boot...

 

Oh yes, I am a shameless mixer of traditions. Grin. "Falalalala lalalala" is going round in my head and I have given gifts of chocolate to loved ones on 6 December. I have eaten Lebkuchen (gingerbread) but the mince pies are lying ready to be devoured. But one thing I refuse to accept: that Saint Nicholas has a red fur coat and white beard with a cloth hat, no that is the American Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas wears a mitre! Full Stop. Smile.

 

By the way, Saint Nicholas uses all modes of transport these days which can get him in sticky situations sometimes... But to fullfil his mission - which is getting ever more complicated these days, seeing that he also goes under water these days, not just visiting the crews on Rhine ships - he is allowed to bend the rules a bit. Apart from defying the laws of physics.

 

Here is a little photo gallery (you may notice that it is republished from last year): https://m.dw.com/en/saint-nicholas-one-man-one-mission/g-18874923 

 

notamermaid

 

P.S.: Water levels looking good, rain this coming week will push them over the mean, but as of now no flooding is indicated.

 

notamermaid

You're a guardian angel!  Thanks for all the helpful Rhine updates. 

Hope you & yours and all the Cruise Critic family have a very Merry Christmas & Happy 2020.

Safe travelling folks.

Further to my last post, the castle names are as follows:  1st picture is of Reichenstein, 2nd is Sterrenburg & Liebenstein or the hostile brothers castles, 3rd is Gutenfels, 4th is Nollig ruins, 5th is Schonburg & the 6th is Stahleck.

Regards.

On 9/7/2019 at 2:11 AM, notamermaid said:

Old stones again...

 

Deutsche Welle on the occasion of the "Tag des offenen Denkmals" brings us a photo gallery of castles along the Rhine river. It includes the well-known ones but also a lesser known one. Here is their top ten of castles: https://m.dw.com/en/knights-and-kings-the-loveliest-castles-and-palaces-on-the-rhine/g-50322998

 

notamermaid

 

notamermaid,

Thanks for the constant updates repecting the level of the Rhine River.

Further to notamermaid's link to a photo gallery of castles along the Rhine, I like to share 6 pictures of castles not included on said link, I'd took pictures of during my recent trip.  The Sterrenberg & Liebenstein castles are also known as the "hostile brothers" castle.  Don't know if you can see the wall inbetween them.

Enjoy.

We were on the Avalon Vista in April/19 for its first tulip time cruise of the year.  On our cruise, Keukenhof was offerred as a full day excursion OR a 1/2 day excursion in the afternoon with visiting Gouda in the morning.  I don't consider myself a flower person, but wow, Keukenhof was impressive.

Enjoy.

We arrived to Koblenz on August 8 as "set ups" were underway for the festival.  However, the fortress looked great in the evening.  We would have a fantastic view of the fireworks from the ship.  

Learned from one of the Emerald Sun's officers that the prognosis for the Rhine River will be good to the end of the season.  Last nite, while at Mannheim, the river level was approximately a little above 3+ metres.  The weather has been pretty good so far, albeit, we had a thunder shower during our dinner hour in Rastatt, the day before. Yesterday, while in Heidelberg during our day excursion, we had sporadic rain.  Today, we're in Koblenz, with high clouds.  We're suppose to get around 80*C today.  Picture, while docked in Mannheim.

Last year in August our Rhine River cruise was cancelled.  Fast forward to August 2019...We left Basel on Saturday, currently in Strasbourg & enroute to Baden Baden tonight.  The weather so far had been hot, hot, hot!  Lots of water & smooth sailing so far.  I understand they may be some showers enroute, but with continued hot weather.  I'll post later, should I learn anything from the crew respecting water level for the next few weeks.

Hi Michelle,

We were on the tulip time river cruise this March & the Keukenhof tour was an inclusive excursion. We had a choice of a full day at Keukenhof or 1/2 day in Gouda in the morning & 1/2 day in Keukenhof in the afternoon.

Enjoy.

2 hours ago, oneadam12 said:

A group of us are doing an Avalon Rhine cruise this fall.  Question, should we book our included shore excursion ahead of time or wait until we board the boat?  Also, does Avalon ever cancel included excursions for reasons other than weather or political unrest?

Forgot to answer your second question...we've been on 3 Avalon trips & have not experienced any cancellations.  Perhaps, if not enough people participating, they may cancel the excursions. 

No need to do so.  Just board the ship, relax & enjoy!

4 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

They do look lovely. Thanks G.M.T. .

 

This is also a good one, coming up in August: https://www.rhein-in-flammen.com/spay-koblenz-gb/spay-koblenz-gb.html

 

notamermaid

 

Our ship will be in Koblenz on the 8th, just missed it by 2 days!

On 5/4/2019 at 9:22 AM, Joebandy said:

Question: Not sure if has been asked before.

We have cruised with Viking, Disney, Norwegian, + Celebrity.

Why do Cruise lines like Viking, require advanced payment in full well in advance of actual cruise date, as opposed to Disney who required a reasonable booking deposit with full payment due closer to actual cruise date?

Are there any other cruise lines, specifically river cruise companies comparable to Viking who do not?

Thanks in advance

I had a recent conversation with Emerald respecting a potential cruise with them.  The representative indicated that we had to put down a non-refundable deposit with the balance due 90 days prior to departure.  Sorry I'd can't remember how much the deposit was (I think it was less than $500 pp), but the rep also said that you can buy cancellation insurance for the deposit (just in case).  Again, I can't remember how much the insurance was, but think it was something in the $100 range pp.

notamermaid,

Thanks for you're continual reporting respecting the Rhine River.  We were one of many who had their late August Rhine cruise cancelled last year.  We are cautiously optimistic that our Rhine cruise for the 1st week of this August will come to fruition.

I remembered that you had mentioned in your previous posts the critical "number" for the Kaub area before the "unmentionable" may happen.  What was that dreaded number?

Thanks again.  

kwerb12,

Just reminiscing our July 2016 Danube trip where we went from Budapest to Praque.  We had a great time, hope you enjoy yours!  We were on the Avalon Luminary, which was about half full.  Here's a sneak preview of the Durnstein shoreline, where we had a land tour & bought some hasen pemmerl (chocolate coated apricot filled balls, pretty tasty) & unique gift for someone at home.

The picture that I'd included on my post from the Vista, is that of the dock, not a lock, as you can see a bus parked on the above left corner of the picture.  We were in room 211 on the Vista & 210 on the Luminary & at no time during these 2 trips, did we hear any engine noise.

Enjoy your trip.

You would require a visa upon arrival into Vietnam.  We got ours through the Consulate General of Vietnam in Vancouver.  You can also get the Vietnamese Visa on Arrival (VOA), which is considerably cheaper.  When you use the "VOA", you pick up the visa prior to clearing Customs/Immigration.  When we entered Cambodia on our river cruise, the ship obtained them for us.  Check on-line (photo requirements, etc.) to see which works best for you in obtaining your visa.

Shorts are fine, but upon entering some temples, there are some requirements to cover up.  

13 hours ago, VT Hokie Cruiser said:

For anyone who has done this excursion in Prague, can you share some thoughts about the food, the show and the overall experience? Would you recommend it? Thank you.

We did the Blue Danube Discovery in 2016 & had 3 nights in Prague post cruise.  On one of these evenings in Prague, a group of us went to the Dinner & Forklore Show (Eur 64/person).  It was a set 3 coarse menu with free flowing wine.  There were several other tour groups there with us. It was a very lively atmosphere.  As we were early, our group was seated close to the performance.  I would rate this over experience to be good.

4 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Any hotel will store your luggage for you. Spend the morning touring, have some lunch, come back and pick up the luggage and either walk (if the ship is moored close by) or take a tram or taxi to the ship.

 

That is actually simpler than the alternative of dropping your bags at the ship and going back to tour (as long as your hotel is centrally located).

My fellow Canadian is right. 

Also, just to let you know as I'd mention in a previous post, Avalon wanted everybody out of their rooms at 9 AM.  As such, when we were waiting in the lounge area to disembark & transportation to the airport, we saw new passengers being checked in & their luggages being stored in another section of the lounge from ours.  However, they could not access their cabins as they were cleaned.  

When we arrived for our trip, we accessed our cabins immediately, as our trip was Avalon's first tulip sailing of the season.  They also mentioned to us when we checked in that they would be serving a light buffet lunch at around 1 PM, but we chose not to stay, went back out & did our own thing.

In any event, enjoy. 

18 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

We have booked the same. Half day at Keukenhof, half day to Gouda. I’m sure the gardens will be spectacular but my daughter really wanted to see Gouda so we decided to do just what you all did, so glad to know you enjoyed both tours. I’m just hoping that there are still lots of flowers when we get there. 

Well, here's a sneak preview of Gouda & Keukenhof.

Enjoy.

On 3/24/2019 at 5:09 AM, marie&rick said:

We are doing the “cruise only” portion of a land + cruise Avalon Danube river cruise in June. What time will we be able to board the ship on the first day?

 

We did a Paris to Normandy cruise with Avalon in 2016 & were dropped off at a meeting place hotel, prior to embarkation. 

We just returned from an Amsterdam cruise & were taken directly to the ship upon arrival at around 9 AM.  We were able to get into our rooms, but bear in mind, this was Avalons 1st cruise of the season.  When we disembarked yesterday around 9 AM, new passengers were checking in, although their rooms were not available.

Enjoy.

21 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

Thanks Food Police. This is very helpful. I noticed a couple of days ago on My Avalon site that they had changed our embarkation from Haarlem to Amsterdam. Kind of complicates our plans since I had made a reservation for a noon tour in Haarlem but if we are docked close to Central Station it is a quick train trip to Haarlem. Guess I’ll just have to play it by ear.

I was happy to see Avalon had added several additional optional excursions including one to Alsmeer to the huge flower auction. I have wanted to get there on several previous trips and never made it so maybe this time 😁 

We did not take any optional excursions, but heard from others that they'd really enjoyed Aalsmeer, a 6:15 AM start, with continental breakfast being available at 5:15 AM in the lounge.

In Rotterdam, as you know, there are 2 included tours, a full day at Keukenhof Gardens or first half of the day at Gouda, back to the ship for lunch & the other half day at Keukenhof.  As I am not a flower enthusiast, we took that latter excursion & thoroughly enjoyed both Gouda & Keukenhof.  Although not all the flowers were in bloom at Keukenhof, it was still very good & suffice for me.

Enjoy

21 hours ago, schda12 said:

Our Basel to Amsterdam cruise in September ends with two nights in Amsterdam.  Since the cruise is the last part of a longer trip, we decided to fly home the day the cruise ends.  To avoid a time crunch, I booked a 3pm departure on a route that connects in Zurich.

 

When should we expect to be required to leave the ship?  

 

What method of transportation to the airport do you recommend?  We did not book our flights through Avalon, so they are not providing airport transportation.  Perhaps Avalon offers (with a fee) joining fellow passengers on a bus to the airport.  

 

It looks like we might be docked within a short walk to the main train station with frequent non-stop service to the airport.

 

Thanks,

David

Hi David,

Avalon wanted everybody out of their rooms by 9 AM.  For us, the cruise director posted a schedule 2 days before disembarkation advising when to put your luggage out & when the bus will pick you up for transportation to the airport or Avalon post cruise destination.  When on board, you can make arrangements with Avalon to join others for transportion to the airport, akin to an excursion.  They can also make arrangement for a cab if you wish.  As the previous poster has said, & depending how far the ship is docked, you may/can walk over to the train station & take a train to the airport.

In any event, enjoy.

The 1 litre San Bernedetto water label states oligominerale & beneath that it had the word naturalle.  Ingredient list, 296 mg bicarbonati, 51 mg calcio, 30 mg magnesio, 9 mg nitrati, 6 mg sodio, 4 mg solfati, 32.6 mg cloruri, .0.97 mg potassio & less than 0.1 mg fluorui.

The 0.5 l excursion bottles are also San Bernedetto & its label bore the description natural mineral water.  

Both pretty bland tasting to me.  Attached photos of bottles if I can figure out how to attach the same.

We're currently on the Ghent Canal & in room 211.

You definitely need European adapters for the room plug ins.  As long as your phone or battery charger indicates the range of 100v -240v, you should be fine.

Our room also has 2 usb charger outlet by the headboard.

Our daily news letter indicates early riser continental breakfast at 6-7 AM in the panorama lounge & full breakfast buffet 7-9 AM in the restaurant.

Enjoy.

Hi,

We're currently on the Avalon Vista.  In our room, including the bathroom, there is a total of 3 available plug ins where you would require European adapters to use (the ones with 2 round prongs)

Our included in room bottle water is plain San Bernedetto water & it's not mineral water. The water from the tap is potable, but free bottle water is replenished daily or whenever you need it.

Hope this helps & enjoy.

Bug spray?

Upon arrival, we were taken directly to the ship which was docked at De Ruijterkade Oost (not sure if that's Haarlem or not).  As this was Avalon's first "tulip" trip of the season, we were able to check into our room right upon embarkation.  Otherwise, it would have been a 3 or 4 PM check in.  We were told a light buffet would be available at around 1 PM, but we ventured out & did our own thing.

We were glad that we brought warm clothing as it was around 8° C in the morning when in Amsterdam & Rotterdam and both had a high of around 10° C in the afternoon.  When walking around it was pretty cool, especially when the wind picked up.  No rain either in Amsterdam or Rotterdam.

Today we are in Antwerp & the temperature was no better, in fact a bit colder with the frequent gusts of wind the came around.  We also had a couple of rain bursts while we we walking around.

Hope this tidbit of info helps.

Enjoy