Captiveguru

1 hour ago, Got2Cruise said:

Just to clarify, we ask for the Golden Round Trip at the Lucerne train station? 

I do not know if you can buy GRT tickets at the rail station.  We bought ours at our Lucerne hotel.

More here:  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g188064-d267683-Reviews-Mount_Pilatus-Lucerne.html

Hi! I'm on the AMAVida sailing the Duoro now. Most men are wearing long pants and collared shirts for dinner. However, we have a group of men from California that are wearing shorts, tee shirts and flip flops at dinner. Guess they think they are still at the beach! Not sure when AMA started allowing this. Never saw this on our previous cruises with AMA. Husband is furious I told him no shorts per AMA description.

I think AMA has lost control over the dining room. While the food was good, the general lack of decorum from our fellow passengers and the complicity of the crew has us wondering if we will ever cruise on AMA again.

See this thread for more: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2673125&highlight=open+seating

This is a no-brainer. You definitely want to fly out of Zurich.

1. The trains from Lucerne to Basel and Zurich each take 75 to 75 minutes, but the Zurich train puts you within a 5 minute walk to the ticket counter. Basel train requires taking a cab or Uber from the rail station.

2. More and better flight options from Zurich.

You might want to search this board for DIY info on Lucerne.

I assume you were aware of rafting?

That is true for ocean cruises. It is not true for river cruises. Because passengers are flying to Russia they have to have individual Russian visas. It has nothing to do with shore excursions.

My point was that it was very clear that anyone entering Russia needs a visa.

Best to assume a visa is required until you can confirm otherwise. Again, a good TA is indispensable.

The real problem was at dinner. It was a real scrum which the staff were frankly unable to control. It seemed to be lead by more experienced river cruisers who had decided that that table was theirs what ever. They found various ways of securing their table ahead of the main scrum!!

What strategies did the experienced river cruisers use?

We visited St. Petersburg while on an ocean cruise with Costa three years ago. Costa "warned" us that the cost of thier shore excursions included the necessary Russian visa. Through our research we learned that all licensed tour operators can and will issue the necessary visas.

I have since decided that a good travel agent is the best strategy. The cost of going direct vs using a TA is the same.

Based on your preferences you will not like AmaWaterways. Breakfast and lunch are buffets, but there are no tables for two, except for some booths which are actually designed for four. Also, you could do "light lunch" in the lounge, and sit alone there. Same food.

Dinner is open seating. Tables for four and six.

Not sure very many want to read about the pros and cons of various statistical tools on this forum, but...

I agree, the median is a better tool when extreme values can have a significant impact. But when the range of ages is limited either tool will do. Example: Assume a ship with 150 people and an average age of 65. Swap four 65 year-olds for four 100 year-olds and the mean (aka average), will increase to 66.

I am a terrible judge of ages, but my wife says the average age on our recent trip on AmaStella was 55 to 60 years old. Just one data point...

We were on Crystal Mozart in July & I was told by the Customer Service Manager that the average age for that sailing was 58. Since it’s still school holiday, there were some babies, toddlers, children & teenagers on board. I would say at least 10% so it brought down the average age quite a bit. They didn’t tell us the median, just the average age.

I think the average age would be a better indicator than the median, at least for this purpose.

Better would be the percentage of passengers in various age groups:

50 to 55

56 to 60

61 to 65

etc...

I have Hotel Schweizerhof on my list for Lucerne, already.. ;)

We stayed at the Hotel Ameron in Lucene. A four-minute walk to the rail station. Has AC and a great staff.

While for you not being sure about your arrival time you waited to book the train, the OP knows what time they need to be at the airport. I would definitely pre-book, so that you know you have a ticket on the correct train.

Not sure if it is possible to reserve seats on short runs like Lucerne to Zurich. SBB Mobile does not allow it. You can buy tickets in advance, but they are good for the designated day of travel on any train going from your departure point to your destination. You might have been planning on taking the 0700 departure, but if you over-sleep you can get on the 0730 or 0745 or ???? Or you can take an earlier train on the day of the ticket, if you get up early.

I think the only way to reserve seats on a specific train would be to go to the ticket counter.

The app does have a cool feature that shows the expected occupancy for each class of service (low, high or very high), on each train.

We were spending thousands on our river cruise, so it was easy to justify the upgrade to 1st Class. On our two trains (Zurich to Lucerne and Lucerne to Basel), there were only 3 or 4 other passengers. That made getting on and off the train with luggage very easy. And on the Lucerne to Basel train they had "table service." It was great to have someone bring a beer to my seat.

We flew into Zurich last month and took the train to Lucerne. We had no checked luggage, but still had to go through immigration and customs. Still, we were on the train platform within 30 minutes of stepping off the airplane.

I would definitely spend the night before in Lucerne.

BTW - There are trains that do direct to the airport and ones that require a change. You should download the SBB Mobile app before you leave and check out the train options. You can also set up an account and then be able to use the app to buy your tickets. I used the app to buy our tickets while walking through customs...

We took the train from Zurich to Lucerne and spent two days there before taking the train from Lucerne to Basel. Train travel in Switzerland is low-stress.

another factor to kick in ... when we did our last river (8 days Budapest to Nurem') we compared airfare to QM2 and guess what

 

a balcony on QM2 was less than business class air ....

 

so we went all in .. a few extra days on either side of the river with a trip from Nur' to Hamburg then 9 days on QM2 Hamburg to NYC

We love Cunard! Sounds like you did the transatlantic round trip? How did you get to Budapest?

Inflexible dining times? What line? On our Tauck boat, we could go to dinner whenever we wanted within the timeframe during which dinner was offered.

On AmaWaterways I suppose you could show up "late," but you would most likely be joining a table where everyone had already started thier meal, unless you arranged to "reserve" a table by bribing a waiter to break the rules.

More on that that strategy here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2673125

I agree. I took a sport coat on our AmaStella cruise last month. The only time I wore it was the captain's dinner. I was in the minority. I will not take one next time.

We are planning our first river cruise for 2019. We are considering Viking and AMA Waterways so far but trying to decide whether to just do an 8 day or go for longer like the Grand European cruise that Viking offers. Given the cost of airfare, it seems to be a better option to cruise for longer. We have done numerous ocean cruises but this is our first venture into the river cruise category. Any suggestions?

Having just completed our first river cruise (AmaStella from Basel to Amsterdam), I would agree with the recommendations to limit your first trip to 8 days.

Regarding the cruise line decision: It would help to know which ocean lines you like best and why.

I have loved seeing the food pictures and menus. Again just trying to get my brain round river vs what I know on ocean. Typically how many courses a night do folks have - my husband is an appetiser, soup or salad, main and dessert guy - would those we are table sharing with frown on 4 courses being ordered?

We had all four courses nearly every night. No problems. If someone at the table did not want a particular course they waited until the next course was served.

Tip: There is an entry salad offered every night. They will bring you a smaller version as a second course as an alternate to the soup. Or in addition to the soup.

On AmaStella last month (same route), the dinner/evening attire was across the board.

AmaWaterways says to not wear shorts to dinner, but some did. The men were in jeans and slacks. Dress shirts and golf shirts. No ties.

The ladies were much more stylish.

I dunno. maybe its me, but if I have to rush every night for dinner, that kinda negates a relaxing cruise....jmho

 

baf

Agreed. But the only people who have to rush in right at 7:00 PM are those that want a specific table. We prefered to come in after the rush and sit with strangers. Every dinner conversation was great.

Regarding table saving - the doors were kept closed until 7 pm. There was always one gal who was first in line and bolted to the same table every night. A few minutes later, her husband and parents arrived. I'm sure there were others who did the same and by the last night of the cruise, when we had a congenial group of six who wished to dine together, we did send two of the husbands down to wait by the door to insure we'd have one of the few, round tables for six.

That seems sensible. It you want a particular table wait in line until the door opens. I have no problem with someone "saving" a table for those who come in later, as long as they are at the table.

We are ocean cruisers but did our first river cruise on Scenic this past June. We were surprised with the rigidity of the dining room rules - dinner at 7 sharp and if you're not there, they would send out looking for you. Apparently they didn't even want to begin dinner service unless everyone was seated. First water was served to the entire room. Then bread was delivered to the entire room. Then wine service began and finally, the waiters began to take orders for food. If one wanted a wine other than the two 'recommended bottles' that were being poured that evening, it was another long wait to get a different bottle from the cellar.

Our experience on AmaStella was significantly different. Most people came in between 7:00 and 7:15. Water and bread were on the table. Wine was served immediately. Orders taken quickly.

Wait... I just looked at what Viking includes:

2 nights in Lucerne: Radisson Blu, Lucerne (or similar) = $250 value

2 breakfasts = $40 value

Guided Walking Tour = $50

Services of a Viking host

Hotel & ship transfers = $65 (Basel to Lucerne to Zurich Airport)

With the money you save you can eat well and enjoy the Golden Round Trip.

We are leaning toward doing Lucerne ourselves post-cruise. It is my understanding that the cruise director will help us get a cab to the Basel train station--Swiss trains supposedly run like Swiss watches--spend 3days/2 nights in Lucerne, then take train from Lucerne to Zurich airport (train station at airport).

 

As expensive as Switzerland is, we've gotta be able to do this for less than the $799 pp Viking charges.

We did this ourselves last month and you are right, $799 is a crazy fee. The trains from Basel to Lucerne cost only $36. There are at least two direct trains each hour that take only 61 to 75 minutes. Nice Ride.

We splurged in Lucerne and spent $500 a night for a hotel 4 minutes from the rail station.

We spent $100 each on the Golden Round Trip which gets you to from the rail station to the summit of Mount Pilatus and back via boat (90 minutes), cog railway (45 minutes), aerial cable car (10 minutes), panoramic gondola (40 minutes) and bus (10 minutes). You can easily spend two hours on top. It was a full day.

Food is expensive (not sure if that is included in Viking's $799). You can spend $25 per meal or do what we did; buy take away from the many great places in the rail station for less than half that amount.

Your basic cost should be less than $400, before any tour costs.

It would have been a tight fit for 6 at those booths... especially people you don't know... lol

We sat in a booth for breakfast one morning. They are not designed for more than four...