pontac

Anything is possible. Do you know of relatives in England?

It's hot air. I'd like an explanation of what "ultra luxury" actually means and how Scenic delivers it.

The Rudesheim Coffee also contained brandy! And that's a chocolate straw! For me coffee is black. Coffee, hot water and nothing else. Which makes me fume at coffee shops when people in front are having a zillion of ingredients in their so called coffee. I'm also grumpy because I can no longer ask for a black coffee but they insist it's an americano. Grump over: I'm going to make myself a Nescafe.

Be aware though Keukenhof is closed from Monday, May 13 Brilliant lyric!!

Well, the dike protects the polder from the Lek river, so yes it is on a river that goes through Rotterdam and that's how river boats get to it. The windmills are below the dike on the polder and pump low lying water up to a higher holding oblong pond, and from that to another before the water is pumped out into the river. The windmills aren't at the edge of the river, but at the holding ponds, so the photographs you commented on weren't showing the river. Not that the rivers have large waves either or Mrs P wouldn't go on a river cruise.

Rudesheim Coffees were given out during our Viking trips along the Middle Rhine. Can't say what they tasted like as I don't like sweet drinks or cream, but they looked very pretty.

How does one know what is to take and what is to leave?

I was agreeing with you. The drawbacks of written communication like this forum sometimes make difficulties that wouldn't occur in spoken conversation. Apologies.

They were in our cabin in 2022, and were left there when. we departed, same as we left the Nordic Walking Poles and everything else.

At the entrance to Kinderdijk is this statue showing a baby in a crib with a cat. The story Kinderdijk tells is that in a long ago flood the mill workers found the crib with a baby alongside the dike, carried there by the flood. So that incident gave the name 'kinder' to the dike. The cat was said to have prevented the crib from being sunk by moving from side to side to present the higher side to the waves.

Maybe because they're not rivers? They're holding ponds, the windmills pump water up to one, then pump up to a higher one before pumping up again, out of the polder and into the river.

In the past Scenic included chauffer driven limousine between home and airport, plus backpack. This year neither are available, and the interim OBC has also gone. That's what the very helpful lady at Scenic told me when I booked cruises this year . But they have been offering huge discounts, which I hope you got.

The public rooms on board ship are airconditioned and are at a comfortable temperature no matter what the weather is outside. (Private rooms, i.e. cabins, have temperature controls so guests can choose their own level of comfort.)

I loathe cream so don't order dishes that have cream, or if its added when serving (like whipped cream on ices) ask for it without. Maybe getting down to floor level is no problem for them. Wish it were so for us. Actually, we have no difficulty getting down to floor level. The problem (ahem) rises when we have to get up !!

Anyone know why there doesn't appear to be any river cruises on the Tagus? I'm assuming there has to be some reason, such as it not being navigable or not allowed by the Portuguese authorities, but anyone know the reason for definite? The Programme Director on our recent cruise said the Douro was Portugal's longest river, but that isn't so, it's Taguas, and Tagus is the river that Lisbon sits on so easy access for international visitors.

The cruise terminates at Trier. Guests doing the Zurich>Paris trip are bussed to Paris to spend two nights in a hotel. Similarly the cruise doesn't start in Zurich; guests spend two nights in a hotel there before being bussed to the boat moored in Basel. I did the cruise part Basel>Trier last year but all (or the majority) of the Americans were booked Zurich to Paris. The Programme Director accompanied them all the way. By the way @deec you might want to check the schedule of your Paris stay. The Viking site promises on the last day - Day 12 Take an evening illumination sail along the Seine to better explore the “City of Light. Yet on the details it says After breakfast, check out of your hotel and journey home. Can't do both. My trip report of the Basel>Trier cruise is here

Ah, that could explain the different placing of the safe. Would you, for the benefit of non-Canadians, briefly explain who these chefs are? And do they specialise in dishes that suit your dietary requirements? Since they are doing cheese tasting they're not vegan.

Since you're using a travel agent, tell them. If it's their mistake they should sort it at no cost to you. However if it's a set date you want the cruise to start it'll depend on there being vacancies on the boat that departs Amsterdam that day.

Wow - Page 4 before we board the boat! Talking of boats, I see a Viking boat in your photo but on my recent cruise Ams>Ams I never saw a Scenic boat. I saw Saga, Amadeus, Uniworld, Plantours and several other Viking boats, but no Scenic. My next cruise will be with Scenic. They promise 'Ultra Luxury' but that's not what I think of when I see squeezy dispensers fixed to the wall by the washbasin and in shower, as per your photo. I think budget hotel. Interesting the safe is at waist height on your boat, a complaint I had of the Scenic Diamond is that it was at floor level.

For you first river cruise just take the included excursion and make up your own mind; as @CDNPolar says you can bale out and do your own thing if you decide it's not for you. You say this is your first, but then say you prefer to go it alone in ports, by which I assume you have been on ocean cruises. On river cruises you are heading along an ancient trade artery and stopping in the centre of ancient towns and cities. You can leave the boat anytime, no tenders, no restrictions, and there will be time to do this. Sure you can do a walk on your own, but the supplied local guide will tell you the history of the 500 year old building you see. For me, the shallow steps I walked up in Antwerp would have been just steps without the guide telling us they were known as the 'bloody steps' because they were next to the Butchers Guild building and blood & innards flowed down the steps like a waterfall from the abattoir above. Enjoy - I expect this won't be the only river trip you'll go on. The steps, Butchers Guild building to left (I assumed it was a church)

Re hotel Parisi Udva, that was the hotel Viking used at the start of our Budapest to Bucharest cruise in June 2019. I wrote at the time: Parisi Udvar had opened only two weeks before we got there after a massive renovation. The entrance hall is magnificent, the rooms are spacious and well equipped but the restaurant was luxury priced for inexperienced, slow, inefficient non-luxury service. I assume my last comments were a result of teething problems which are now solved. The hotel isn't like standard modern hotels, rooms differ in layout and there are little public sitting rooms hidden away of upstairs floors. The hotel is a very short easily walkable distance from the boat mooring. Two articles about the building that show something of the architecture: Budapest’s historic Párisi Udvar will reopen renewed by 2018 - English - WeloveBudapest Interior of Budapest’s new Párisi Udvar Hotel is revealed - English - WeloveBudapest The restaurant and a contented Pontac

Gross. Always available for me if I was faced with that.

That last photo: if I remember correctly the flower market lines the canal the other side of that tower. On your canal photos 6 & 7 from the top there is a low rail at the waters edge. Our guide told us that they had been paid for by insurance companies who realised just how much money they were paying out for cars that ended up in the canal.

Be aware that Viking like to ensure guests are at airport check-in for international flights at least 3 hours before flight departure, plus they allow extra time for the journey. For our 11:40 flight from Amsterdam, a journey that took 20 minutes to the airport, we had to put our bags outside the room at 06:30 and the coach was scheduled to leave at 07:45. So, they'll probably allow 2.5hrs for the journey to Munich airport, so if you had a midday flight your coach would leave at 06:00 or 06:30

I've done that cruise twice. If you don't fancy something on the daily menu pick from the 'always available' menu, that's the same on all cruises. Menus are posted outside the restaurant so you have advance notice. Notify any allergies to the Restaurant Manager. I'm a picky eater and I've not starved. Relax and go with the flow.