FuelScience

Playtennis,

 

Are you sailing the Rhone/Saone northbound or southbound. If you're headed northbound (Arles to St. Jean de Losne), I can point you to the dailies from our 2017 cruise. That would give you an idea of port times, assuming that Avalon hasn't made major changes.

I noticed that the ships making the Amsterdam to Berlin cruises (CroisiEurope and Nicko) are all 83 meters or less. Does anyone know if larger ships can travel this route?

I can't say definitively, but my impression is that most of the sailing is done on canals and waterways which the Dutch control effectively. I figure that if they can keep Amsterdam from flooding--it's 6 feet below sea level--then they can keep things under control.

Notamermaid,

Your post got my attention. I would love to take a northbound trip on the Elbe. I took a look and for this year none of Nicko’s Elbe cruises from Berlin to Hamburg (or Amsterdam) are set to accommodate English speakers. They do, however have an 8-day cruise—Stralsund-Baltic Islands-Potsdam, that will have a cruise featuring English tours and translation on one sailing in each direction. So an Oder cruise is an option for us English speakers. The most attractive for me would be the Berlin to Amsterdam cruise. Maybe next year they'll add a sailing date for English speakers.

https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/expose/dreams-of-the-baltic-sea/

I don't know if they still are, but Viking could be flexible. When we were finishing up a tulip time cruise back in 2014 we were in the ship's lounge waiting for our 9:00 a.m. ride to the airport. A couple showed up having just arrived with a Viking transfer to the ship. After sitting in the lounge for about 30 minutes someone from housekeeping showed up and told them that their room was ready and they could go ahead and move in!

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

"Where do they all - not just the two - go?", I wondered. So I had a look at Cologne Niehl harbour on marinetraffic. I had guessed right. Many river cruise ships are docked there, a few excursions boats as well. There are at least 34 ships docked, including 18(!) Viking ships if I counted right. It is almost a bit scary how many ships there are on the rivers now... 8 years ago the majority of those 34 ships had not even been built.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks Notamermaid. I was thinking about making a similar posting. The other places where I’ve found a lot of river ships are Linz (I think that I counted over 35!) and Vienna (21 Viking Longships by my count).

I've really enjoyed the blog. Thanks for sharing!

36 minutes ago, etravel said:

We are actually flying in and doing our own air, and then staying in Munich for a night to visit the Beer Halls! Lol...So the next day when we train over that's when we will have a little time before the River cruise departs..but thought if we have big luggage, just may have to get it to the ship first! If that makes sense...

That may not work. Avalon seems to be different in that they really do seem to want to get everyone--including those who book their on air--together at a meeting point and then transfer everyone to the ship at once. You should check with Avalon directly and see what they say.

You should probably post this question on the main River Cruise board rather than the Ports board. Also, there are 59 reviews at the URL below if you haven't looked there already.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=1213

Most lines don't list port times due to uncertainty associated with getting through locks and other variables. What river are you sailing, and what direction are you traveling? If it's a common route like Amsterdam-Basel, there's a good chance that someone might have scanned the daily schedule sheets from the cruise, and you could at least see what the times were on a previous cruise. They shouldn't change that much. 

Has anyone taken a look at the River Cruise App for Android and iPhone? It appears to be an audio guide for various rivers. There are audio descriptions of the river you’re on that are indexed by kilometer markings. You can download the app and river samples (typically two points of interest on the river) for free. The individual guides I looked at cost $3.99 each. The web site lists six areas of interest that the use can select: urban development, nautical water management, 20^th century conflicts, legends and history, personal recommendations, and nature. There are also guides for the bike trails along the Rhine, Danube, and Main.

The app includes a GPS autoplay feature, which I assume will automatically play the proper guide selection when you near the location.

Rivers included:

• Rhine: 5 guides, 3 covering Basel to Spyck, and the other 2 use the Netherlands guides.
• Danube: 8 guides, 3 are currently available, Kelheim to Passau, Passau to Vienna, and Vienna to Budapest. 2 guides covering Budapest to Vidin should be available sometime in 2019.
• Netherlands Belgium Delta (4 guides, only one, Lobith/Millingen to Amsterdam is currently available, the others, Namur to Rotterdam, Arnhem to Antwerp, and Maastricht to Ghent should be available sometime in 2019.
• Main: 2 guides, Mainz to Lohr am Main and Lohr am Main to Bamberg
• Main Danube Canal: 1 part Bamberg to Kelheim, available spring, 2019
• Moselle: 2 guides, Koblenz to Bernkastel and Bernkastel to Schengen.

 

We'll give this app a try on our upcoming cruises!

http://www.rivercruiseapp.com/

 

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

With the new season for European river cruising in 2019 coming up in nine weeks I think it is time to have another look at some unusual places on rivers and canals. Both CroisiEurope and nickocruises offer the trip from Berlin to Amsterdam this year. The stops in between the end ports need not be identical so if you would like to compare look for the CroisiEurope American website (last year's link is above). Here is the itinerary with nickocruises: https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/expose/between-the-havel-and-the-north-sea/?tx_nickotoursibe_offer[disabled]=1&cHash=af05e3f41e2c683e2a736f409d7cefe0

 

I mentioned last year that the ships are smaller than 135m on these routes. nickocruises uses the Frederic Chopin which is 83m long. See link. CroisiEurope uses the Victor Hugo and the Mona Lisa that are both 82m long.

 

Pacmom is going with CroisiEurope on this route this year and one of the stops/excursions is Hanover. Hanover is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony. Here is a video by Deutsche Welle of what you can see and do there: https://www.dw.com/en/travel-tips-for-hanover/av-19351830

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for posting this! I looked at this itinerary on Nicko's website recently, and unfortunately for us English-speakers, none of the trips have guaranteed  English-speaking tours or on-board talks. The Nicko cruises that accommodate English-speakers show small British flags by the dates on the drop-down menu to pick a date, and this itinerary doesn't show any dates for English speakers. If they did, I think that I'd book one of these cruises.

 

I think that this is a new itinerary for 2019 with Nicko, and it looks like it's a popular one. 3 of the 4 cabin classes are sold out on most of the cruises!

I think that a full day in Luxembourg would be worthwhile. Then you could skip the Avalon optional Luxembourg tour and enjoy an afternoon of sailing. Some of the sites, like the US cemetery, would require you to have a rental car to get there. You could also use the local bus service to get within 1 km of the cemetery. The other thing to consider is transportation from Luxembourg City to Remich. I would check with Avalon to see if they would provide the transfer if you booked your own stay in Luxembourg. Again, there's bus service from Luxembourg City to Remich if you're comfortable doing it on your  own.

I agree with Jazzbeau--tip based on nights on board. The only exception for me would for the Cruise Director if he/she was involved in pre- or post-cruise activities. Then I would tip the CD for those days as well.

We've done 3 Viking cruises and 2 with Avalon, and we prefer Avalon. The two lines are comparable, but Avalon's cabins are much better in my opinion. Viking's veranda cabins are nice, but the French balcony cabins are tiny--smaller than the lower deck cabins. Avalon's cabins on the two upper deck are all about 200 sq. ft. with the bed facing the windows which open wider than the French balcony windows on other lines. They've also placed the bathroom wall at an angle which makes for more room in the shower without affecting usable space that much.

 

Avalon also has a better payment policy, and if you like a cocktail before dinner, Avalon has a happy hour with drinks half price. We found the food quality to be similar for both lines. We did Mosel cruises with both lines that began with a couple of nights in Paris. With Viking we had a long bus ride to Luxembourg, whereas Avalon put us on a high speed train which was quicker and much more comfortable.

 

Hope this helps.

22 hours ago, Roz said:

Thank you, Notamermaid and Fran.  Very useful information.  When I went on their website, one thing I discovered is they offer a reasonable single supplement.

 

Roz

Roz,

You might check with Avalon. If I understand the info at the link below, they will waive the single supplement on 5 cabins per cruise on their 2019 sailings.

 

https://www.avalonwaterways.com/Specials/Solo-Traveler-Deal/

Thanks for this great review. Sounds like a wonderful Christmas/New Years!

 

One thing on my list to do if I get to Cochem again is the Bundesbank Bunker. It's a formerly secret underground bunker that served as a fallout shelter and a vault for millions of Deutsch Marks during the cold war. Tripadvisor has it as the #2 attraction in Cochem.

 

There's also an interesting mustard store on the south side of the river just by the bridge that's fun.

I've mentioned this before, but I highly recommend the Rheinesches Landesmuseum in Trier. If you have any interest in the Roman history of Trier, it's a must. They have tons of Roman artifacts including large mosaics, the Trier Gold Hoard of over 2,500 gold coins unearthed in 1993, and a layout of what the Roman city looked like in its heyday. It's a 5 minute walk from Constantine's Basilica. Admission is 8 €, and that includes an English language audio guide.

UralGuy, yes, we'll leave Teeming on a Saturday morning in Amsterdam and catch an 8:00 a.m. train to Saarbrucken where we'll boad the Nicko Casanova for our cruise from there to Stuttgartt along the Saar, Mosel, Rhine, and Neckar. I'll try to post from both cruises.

 

Coral, it was Umbria Lover whose daughter was signed up for a Teeming cruise. I haven't seen any follow up from Umbria Lover yet.

 

Yes, Teeming is just a couple of years old. It was started by a Florida couple who also do Florida vacation rentals. They use 4 ships right now. The Royal Emerald, the Royal Crown (commissioned in 2001 as the River Cloud), and the Johann Strauss (commissioned in 2006 as the Sound of Music) are all leased from Neerlandic Shipping Group. They just added a Rhone cruise using Croisieurope’s Rhone Princess. The ships are staffed by River Advice, the same company that provides staff for Avalon, Vantage, and other lines.

 

It’s a different approach to river cruising. Instead of offering included cruises, Teeming provides a smartphone app, Vox POPGuide, with city maps, sites of interest, and walking navigation including a “get me back to the ship” button. The app works offline without requiring a data connection. I’m eager to see how it works.

 

As I mentioned earlier, there aren’t any reviews that I can find on cruisecritic.com, and I found another site with 75 reviews of recent Teeming cruises. 93% of them are 5 stars with the balance being 4 and 3 stars—no 1 or 2 star reviews. Most seem to be from 1^st time river cruisers.  

8 minutes ago, bubbulz said:

One other note: There are certain areas of the ship where passengers are not allowed while the ship is underway due to liability issues, so the dinner was scheduled for an evening while we were docked. Also, several people had wished to visit the wheelhouse earlier in the week and the captain accommodated the group by allowing them to come up for a visit while we were stationary in one of the locks.

 

We did a wheelhouse tour while underway a couple of years ago on the Rhone and the captain let one of the guests steer the ship for a little while!! Thanks for posting. Great photos and a great opportunity to tour the ship.

I received an email this morning from Teeming announcing a Flash Sale in their upcoming 10-day Netherlands cruise. You can book online between now and January 8 with the promotion code Tulip19 and receive a 20% discount. Teeming differs from most North American lines since it doesn’t offer included city tours. Right now there are cabins available for $1,301, which comes down to $1,041 with the discount. The most expensive cabins currently available are $1,949 or $1,559 with the discount.

 

We’re booked on this cruise, and we’re looking forward to sampling Teeming’s product. Although they haven’t gotten a lot of attention on CruiseCritic, they’ve gotten very good reviews on their 2018 cruises on other review sites. .

 

Jazzbeau, I hope this posting doesn’t violate the forum rules. It it does, please delete and let me know. I looked over the guidelines, and I don't think this qualifies as an ad, but I'll be happy with your decision on the matter. 

 

https://www.teemingrivercruises.com/cruises/re280319/

 

We did the Rhone on Avalon (Arles north to St. Jean de Losne) in April of 2017. We made it OK, but there's a low bridge in Lyon that can be an issue. I talked to the captain after we went under it. He's had the fuel and water tanks topped off in Lyon to make the ship sit a little deeper in the water, and we made it with 5 cm (2 inches) to spare! I posted from the trip at:

 

 

I think that you have to decide what "success" means. I suspect that it was a costly season for the cruise lines with increased expenses due to hotel bills, bus expenses, refunds and future cruise credits, etc. The low water may have also discouraged people from booking future cruises.

 

From the cruisers' viewpoint, I think that there was a lot of disappointment. As we've seen on the boards, cruisers' experiences and reactions varied depending on how the particular line handled the low water, and how prepared the cruisers were for the situation and how "forgiving" they were.

 

I think that it has to be described as a disappointing fall season.