FuelScience

The port is usually crowded in April when everyone is doing tulip time cruises. If you check the site below a few days before your cruise, you should be able to find where your ship will be docked.

https://www.portofamsterdam.com/en/shipping/rivercruise/berth-reservations-river-cruise

8 hours ago, tracymac48 said:

does anyone have a referral code for Teeming river cruise line?

I've not seen anything on their web site or anywhere else that would indicate that Teeming has a referral discount. They're a low-price provider to start with, so they may not offer discounts.

2 hours ago, macaws2 said:

There isn't a simple way like when doing on ocean cruise because the river cruise companies aren't presented the same where you can easily locate your roll call, so I locate the roll call that says rivers cruises and just posted with putting in the cruise line,ship and date,will I get much activity, I doubt it but its there, don't understand why cruise critic doesn't have the river cruises set up like the ocean cruises. 

Gladys 

I wouldn't expect a lot of activity. Remember that the largest river cruise ships hold 200 people or fewer, so the potential for finding someone on your sailing is very small. I've been on 7 river cruises now, and I've posted roll calls for each one, but I've never contacted anyone who was going to be on my cruise. I hope that you'll have better luck.

I'm enjoying the blog. It's brought back a lot of fond memories. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

Fleetmon also shows it near Dettelbach, but it says that the signal is 2 days old. marinetraffic says that its signal from Frankfurt is 2 minutes old, so I'd trust it.

On 11/30/2018 at 7:26 AM, Mkripke said:

I know it is preference, but which one, Avalon or Viking?

We've sailed Avalon (twice) and Viking (3 times), and we prefer Avalon, primarily due to the better cabins on Avalon. Food and other arrangements are similar with both lines. They are both what I would consider higher mid-range lines. Wine, beer and soft drinks included with lunch and dinner, but no open bar all day long. Avalon does have a half-price happy hour every afternoon.

Higher price lines like Uniworld, Scenic, or Tauck offer free drinks, included tips, and a few other perks. If you're spreadsheet friendly, you can quickly compare total costs and see if the extra benefits are worth it to you.

10 hours ago, pully8 said:

There was 1 report of someone walking 3 miles to see the Arnhem open museum but it was closed/under construction, only the garden was open?

The cruise director told them they should have checked on the internet 1st, unfortunately they said they had no access? 

 

I have a couple of thoughts about this. I think that it's inexcusable for the CD not to know that a major attraction like the Open Air Museum is closed--especially when it's listed on their app. Second, when you take a do-it-yourself line like Teeming, you should do lots of research before you leave home. So I see some fault on both sides.

On 11/30/2018 at 8:20 AM, FuelScience said:

I see from marinetraffic.com that you've made it through the Rhine gorge. Congrats! Did you do the full cruise from Budapest? If so, how did Teeming handle things before boarding the ship at Regensburg? It would also be interesting if you could post a word or two on how Teeming has compared to other river cruises you've done.

I found a review of Teeming's recent Amsterdam-Budapest cruise on another site, and it looks like Teeming did not bus people to Budapest, but kept everyone on the ship in Regensburg for 5 days until the final day when they bused cruisers to Budapest so that they could fly home (they did a stop at a Christmas market in Vienna). The reviewer seemed pleased with the decision to stay on the ship in Regensburg. 

https://www.tourradar.com/teeming-river-cruises

On 11/28/2018 at 4:33 AM, sjde said:

The Johann Strauss, 135 m , I believe. 

Rudesheim tomorrow. Maybe they don't want to say anything yet, hoping for rain. 

I see from marinetraffic.com that you've made it through the Rhine gorge. Congrats! Did you do the full cruise from Budapest? If so, how did Teeming handle things before boarding the ship at Regensburg? It would also be interesting if you could post a word or two on how Teeming has compared to other river cruises you've done.

7 hours ago, westcoastcruiser said:

My only addition to the existing comments is Avalon’s use of Trip Mate as their claims administrator.  I purchased two different policies not knowing, at the time, that Trip Mate did the claims processing.  In my opinion, they are extremely challenging to work with.  In the trip insurance section on CC you may want to do a search and read past comments..a couple of which may be mine.

 

i had to file two significant claims with them and it was gruelling with the process lasting longer than 3 months.  There is no way to contact them by phone; it is done only by email and that is never with the person handling your claim.  Multiple repeat requests for information previously submitted were made.  I could go on and on.

 

maybe others have had better experiences with them but I vowed to never purchase a policy that includes them.

 

 

I recently submitted a claim with Trip Mate. They weren't extremely fast, but they did pay in full. I actually preferred contact by email since I had records of all the "conversations."

We've stayed at misc eatdrinksleep in Amsterdam and will be staying there again this spring. It's an old canal house with only six rooms. A great breakfast is included and Pepijn and Rachel will treat you right. It's right off Nieuwmarkt Square--about a 10 minute walk from Centraal Station.

On 11/22/2018 at 8:18 AM, notamermaid said:

Next serious contestant for the locals' revolt against river cruisers in particular is Heidelberg. But that is for another day.

 

notamermaid

 

Our Nicko cruise in April will dock in Heidelberg around 1:00 p.m. and remain in town until 10:00 p.m. I'm hoping that the crowds will clear out somewhat by the evening, and we can have a leisurely stroll around the old town.

Booked on Teeming through the Netherlands in March/April. Given the water control in the Netherlands, that one seems safe. Then in April we'll be going from Saarbrucken to Stuttgart on Nicko's Casanova. It's a 103 meter ship with a 1.3 meter draft, so we're hoping that it'll make it through even is there is low water.

Another factor to consider is the fact that the sun deck of many ships is not accessible by elevator. When rafted next to another ship, one may be required to climb to the sun deck, cross over to the the sun deck of another ship and then walk down another set of stairs en order to disembark.

I find that the more I have to drink at dinner, the less noise the ship makes when going through the locks!!  😋

7 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Those darn doctors...if only they weren't so busy playing around on CruiseCritic.com, they would have had more time to fill out your forms correctly! 😉 😁 🤣

 

All kidding aside, glad to hear about the positive outcomes, for both your medical and financial health, from this undoubtedly scary ordeal. Hope you're back to cruising soon!

Hey, I'm not complaining, the forms got filled out, and I got my $$!! As long as they provide the great care they did, they can take as long as they want on the paperwork. Cruising late March and early April with Teeming and Nicko should be an adventure. 

I just wanted to post a positive note and mention the fact that Trip Mate paid our claim in full for early termination of our Vantage Douro cruise. It took me several months to file due to not getting the doctors involved to fill out the paperwork promptly, but once I got that done I filed the full claim and Trip Mate processed and paid it within a reasonable time.

I'm cruising with German firm Nicko in the spring, and they attached the following describing passenger rights. I'm assuming that these rights apply to me even though I'm not a resident of the EU. Given the "business-friendly" atmosphere in the US right now, it's highly unlikely that we'd get similar protections. I think that all US residents can hope for is some sort of industry standard that cruise lines might be pressured into accepting for fear of losing customers if they weren't pledged to abide by the standard. The full text of the law can be found at the link at the bottom of the message (scroll down to section 651).

FuelScience

-----------------------------------------------

The travel services we are offering you constitute a package tour in the sense of the (EU) Directive 2015/2302. This means that you can claim all the EU rights that apply to package tours. The company, nicko cruises Schiffsreisen GmbH, Mittlerer Pfad 2, 70499 Stuttgart, Germany bears full responsibility for the entire package tour. Also, nicko cruises Schiffsreisen GmbH, Mittlerer Pfad 2, 70499 Stuttgart, Germany has the legally required hedging protection for the reimbursement of your payments and, if transport is included in your package tour, to ensure that your return transport is secured in the event of its insolvency.

The most important rights according to (EU) Directive 2015/2302

• Travellers shall receive all essential information before the conclusion of the package tour agreement.
• One company shall always be responsible for the proper provision of all the tour services contained in the agreement.
• Travellers shall receive an emergency telephone number or information about a contact point with which they can get in touch with the tour organiser or the travel agency.
• Travellers can transfer the tour – within a suitable period of notice and in certain circumstances with additional costs – to another person.
• The price of the package tour may only be increased if certain costs (for example fuel costs) increase and if this is explicitly provided for in the agreement, and in all cases, these changes cannot take place within 20 days of the start of the cruise. If the price increase exceeds 8 % of the package tour price, the traveller may withdraw from the agreement. In the same way a tour operator reserves the right to increase the price, the traveller has the right to a reduction in price if the corresponding costs decrease.
• Travellers can withdraw from the agreement without paying a withdrawal fee and shall receive full reimbursement for all payments if one of the essential elements of the package tour, with the exception of the price, is changed. If the company responsible for the package tour cancels the tour before the tour starts, the travellers shall have the right to claim repayment of costs and under certain circumstances to compensation.
• If exceptional circumstances arise before the start of the package tour, the travellers may withdraw from the tour without payment of a withdrawal fee, if for example there are serious security problems at the destination that could be expected to have a negative effect on the tour.
• In addition, travellers can withdraw from the agreement at any stage before the start of the tour, by paying an appropriate and reasonable withdrawal fee.
• If after the start of the package tour essential elements of the package tour cannot be carried out according to the agreement, the traveller shall be offered appropriate alternative arrangements without additional costs. The traveller may withdraw from the agreement without payment of a withdrawal fee (in the Federal Republic of Germany this right is known as "termination") if services are not provided according to the agreement and this has considerable effects on the provision of the contractual tour services, and the tour organiser has omitted to find a remedy.
• The traveller has a claim to a reduction in price and/or compensation if the tour services are not provided or not provided properly.
• The tour organiser shall assist the traveller if the traveller finds him or herself in difficulties.
• In the event of insolvency of the tour organiser or – in some member states – the travel agency, payments are reimbursed. If the insolvency of the tour organiser or, if relevant, the travel agency occurs after the start of the package tour and if transport is part of the tour, return transport of the travellers is guaranteed. nicko cruises Schiffsreisen GmbH, Mittlerer Pfad 2, 70499 Stuttgart, Germany has agreed to an insolvency hedging with Zurich Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft. The travellers may contact the Zurich Beteiligungsaktiengesellschaft (Platz der Einheit 2, 60327 Frankfurt am Main; Tel: +49 (0)69 7115-0; Fax: +49 (0)69 7115-3358; E-mail: service@zurich.de), if they are refused services due to the insolvency of nicko cruises Schiffsreisen GmbH, Mittlerer Pfad 2, 70499 Stuttgart, Germany.

Website on which the regularly updated translated version of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) is to be found:
http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_bgb/

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I saw this article on the website yesterday and thought this might be worth starting a new thread with as it is about more than just the Rhine. As it is getting distribution and some more attention that way I think I will give it a go.

 

notamermaid

 

If you start a "River Cruiser's Bill or Rights," I'll post the "rights" that were spelled out in my documents I received from Nicko. They specifically come from EU Directive 2015/2302.

The CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) River Conf 18 is occurring this week, and there are several predictions that private equity firms and ocean cruise lines will buy river cruise companies and form "superfleets."

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/clia-river-conf-18-consolidation-could-fuel-creation-of-super-fleets-16088

7 hours ago, ural guy said:

Does anyone have any ideas for what we can do in the Schweich area tomorrow?  The options I can think of are heading out for a bike ride, or bus to Trier.  Understand that there is also a small Roman Villa you can visit about 2 kms outside of Schweich, just not sure about access it being a Monday.

 

If you're a fan of Roman history, you have to choose between the villa and the Landesmuseum in Trier. It's a great museum with tons of Roman artifacts and the fabulous Roman gold hoard of over 2,500 gold coins discovered in 1993. If they have multiple buses to Trier you might be able to do one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

On 10/26/2018 at 8:01 AM, cole said:

Have not had time to read all of the responses, but we just returned from the Douro cruise with Vantage and have done it before with Uniworld.  The Uniworld was a Porto to Porto and Vantage began in Madrid with a couple of days in that area and ended in Lisbon with another couple of days there.  The Uniworld cruise showed us that this was a very special country and we decided to return two years later and cruise during the Harvesting Time.  We would highly recommend this if you really want to experience Portugal and get a little taste of Spain. We have no negative comments regarding the Vantage cruise other than - you better be ready for a busy, interesting cruise because they don't waste a moment showing the passengers this beautiful country.  If anyone has any questions, I will be glad to answer. 

Cole

Cole,

Glad you had a good cruise. Just a couple of questions. Was Eleuterio your CD? He did a great job on our cruise and took good care of us when my health issue came up. Also, did you do any of the optional excursions from Madrid or Lisbon, and what was your opinion of them?

Thanks!

6 hours ago, ural guy said:

Yesterday afternoon's cruise up the Mosel was great.  Spent 4 hours on the sundeck (really the cloud deck, so no pictures...hoping to catch some sun on the way back down for that).   Bundled with blankets and a bottle of Bailey's to battle the chilly wind.  This is why we love the river, and after 7 days of no sailing, 5 of them in hotel, we wanted to savor the moment.  Jazz coming from the laptop just added to the afternoon.  (BTW, a 750ml bottle of Baileys was 10E in a grocery,  compared to about 23E back in US.  Great for morning coffee, doesn't need refrigeration).

 

Ural Guy,

Again thanks for the pics of this gorgeous river. The beautiful Moselle, top deck, Bailey's, and jazz. Doesn't get much better!

Looks like Teeming's leased Johann Strauss (110 m) made it through the gorge going south. Marinetraffic.com shows her approaching Mainz.

Ural Guy,

Thanks for these gorgeous photos. I'll be on the Moselle in April, and they make me even more eager to be there!