pontac

Day 4 - Saturday 30 March 2024 We moored in Nijmegen. At 09:00 we boarded our coach for the brief drive to Arnhem for our included excursion Operation Market Garden which first stopped at Arnhem bridge - the 'Bridge too Far'. This is a post-war rebuild to exactly the same style as the bridge destroyed in October 1944. Some of the bases survived, including the concrete stairs and supports on the north bank. The new bridge is named after John Frost, British Forces commander. We went to the Airborne Cemetery at Oosterbeek where some 18,000 allied soldiers are buried. Guide David had written two books about the battle and was in a group of archaeologists that uncovered remains of missing soldiers. He took us to some graves of those he'd found and told us their stories. He also told us that after the war local school children 'adopted' each grave, and they'd contact the families. Soon other war cemeteries were also adopted by school children and when they grow-up and leave school another younger child takes over. Each year, on the same day, each grave has a lit candle to show the soldiers that they are not forgotten. This unofficial tradition continues to this day. I don't think anyone there didn't have tears. Next stop was the nearby Airborne Museum. During the Arnhem Battle as the British troops were defending a decreasing area while facing increasing German forces Hotel Hartenstein was taken over as HQ and now houses the museum. Then a drive around the area where the guide pointed out terrain features that affected the battle and Kate ter Hors' house in which she nursed wounded and dying soldiers. A quiet coach returned to the boat for lunch. We had a short walk in the afternoon and caught up on reading. Before dinner was an enthralling talk on the Liberation of the Netherlands by historian Edwin Popken. The Dutch thought the war was over when the allies arrived in Market Garden. The German troops had left, for Germany it was thought, and crowds were blocking the streets to cheer on the troops.

Day 3 - Friday 29 March 2024 Viking Ve left Amsterdam at 01:00 to sail across Ijsselmeer (once known as the Zuiderzee) now the largest lake in Europe, and the view from the boat when I woke on Day 3 was unexpected for a river cruise as it looked like we were at sea. We moored at Enkhuizen and joined a walking tour at 09:00. A few moments from the boat we were invited to eat herring. The proper way is to take the whole herring by its tail, tilt your head back and slide the fish down your gullet. For those who didn't want the full experience there were slices of fish on cocktail sticks. Then a tray of battered fish nuggets was passed around. It was said to be cod, but the man behind the counter said that it used to be cod but they now used pollock. It was bitterly cold as a strong wind blew from the Ijsselmeer. I sheltered in the warmth of the small shop. Then the walk continued, stopping to see the city gatehouse, our guide said we were lucky because today we would be able to see the Half Moon ship leave the harbour. Half Moon is a replica of Halve Maen, the ship that Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609. The replica was constructed between 1988 and 1989 at the Snow Dock in Albany, New York. Assisted by an inflatable and launch Half Moon was turned and passed under the now opened bridge towards Ijsselmeer. Lunch was A Taste of Holland with the waiters in what I suppose was local costume but I didn't see Dutch Caps on the waitresses... Food was a self-serve buffet and there was a chocolate fountain. In the afternoon we strolled around pretty Enkhuizen. Back on board there was the VES Cocktail Party. I remember on our first trip wondering who the half dozen people quaffing drinks in a Aquavit Lounge were. This cruise 116 people (out of 184 guests), having cruised before with Viking, were Viking Explorer Society members and so the event in the lounge was open to everyone. Dinner menus had two pages. On the left was the Always Available dishes, plus wine suggestions for that night's menu (with the price for those who didn't have the drinks package) and the red and white wines they were pouring for everyone. The white was a (rather nice, crisp) Riesling. By the way, Riesling is pronounced 'reezling', note the 'ie' like in 'field'. I heard one guest 'correcting' her waitress who pronounced it as reezling by telling her that she should call it ryezling. On the right are the dishes for that night. There's a different menu every day, both lunch and dinner, plus the 'always available' dishes. The dinner menu will have three local dishes, then a choice of international starters, mains and desserts. You can pick from each menu as you like and make substitutions - I loathe mashed potato so I swapped that with fries from the 'always available' menu. Some people have two starters instead of a starter and main. Some people have two mains and quite a few have two desserts. As if........ Click on the menu images to get them full size.

Day 2 - Thursday 28 March 2024 We assembled on the dockside for an 09:00 Canal Cruise. As we waited for the last guests to join us it started drizzling and by the time we'd got to the nearby canal boat it was pouring. On either side of the boat there were three seats facing each other across a small table. The boat was covered with glass panels so you could see above and around, but the glass was covered with rain on the outside and steamed up inside. Joan and I faced each other at the waterside. Wipers were handed out so we could remove condensation and it was suggested we open a gap in the sliding side windows but it made little difference as the windows steamed-up again almost immediately. The Viking guide pointed out sights either side as we passed but we could see little, and when there were photo opportunities by the time we'd tussled the sliding window open we were usually too late. Such as this picture, which the guide said was the most photographed sight on the canals because a picture taken through the middle of the bridge would see under a line of bridges down the side canal. I was a little too late, but those not at a window or on the left side would not have a chance. The cruise ended at a diamond factory. If you don't want to visit it then Viking have a coach to take you back to the ship, but the canal boat was returning so we went on that. And as we boarded Viking Ve it stopped raining and the sun shone. Peter & Sue, who were on the cruise a day ahead of us, said the diamond factory was 'simply a buying opportunity'. The excursion was billed as a Canal Cruise and Walking Tour but the only walk was from the Viking boat to the canal boat. After lunch we walked 15 minutes to the National Maritime Museum. It's in an old stone building surrounded by water with four wings around a glassed over quadrangle. Outside is moored a reconstruction of a Dutch East Indiaman which we boarded and explored. Also on the jetty is the Royal Barge, with a movie background of it is use. A Canal Tour boat takes a close look at the East Indiaman The museum closed at 17:00 so we walked into central Amsterdam and had a coffee in the Renaissance Hotel in Spuistraat. I used to stay there when it was the Sonesta Hotel when in Amsterdam on business. The we crossed Spuistraat for dinner in Gauchos. This is the branch I used to eat every business trip as they were the only one to have a salad bar. That's gone now and Gauchos has spawned a multitude of competitors but Gauchos still has their trademark black and white cowhide seating and the tenderist, most flavoursome Argentinian steaks cooked over an open fire, and served with complimentary Chimichurri sauce. And then a taxi back to the boat.

Day 1 - Wednesday 27 March 2024 Pick up from home was at 07:30 and although M25 was busy we kept moving so we were at the airport at about 08.40. Check in was now self-service, via a machine which printed luggage tags which you had to place on your bags and put bags on a conveyor belt. We got breakfast in the business class lounge and boarded on time. BA434 was scheduled to depart at 10.55 but by time we got in the air and they started serving drinks and we put our watches ahead an hour to European time, it was legitimately lunch time and while we didn't have the offered meal we did have a glass or two of Champagne and landed at 13:05. The baggage carousel at Amsterdam stopped working after one of our cases came out and we waited about 55 minutes before an operative climbed onto it and it jerked to life and delivered the rest. A Viking person was outside and led us to a people carrier where we were joined by two others then driven 20 minutes to Viking Ve. We dumped our hand baggage in our cabin and made it to the restaurant before it closed at 15:00. I had a Thai Green Curry from the embarkation buffet. In the afternoon we took a walk to central Amsterdam. In the past Viking boats moored alongside the Centraal Station but now they moor at the old liner terminal. Centraal Station is visible from it, but it takes 25 - 30 minutes to walk to it. We chatted to the manageress of Gauchos in Spuistraat and planned to return for dinner that night. We got back to the boat too late for the mandatory safety drill. Viking Gymir was moored ahead of us, so we went there hoping to see Peter & Sue who were doing the same trip on Gymir a day ahead of us, but they didn't reply to our text. Back on Viking Ve we decided we were too tired to return to Gauchos that night and so ate in Vikings restaurant instead. With dinner Mrs P chose a really excellent Wieninger Wiener Trilogie 2018, a blend of Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Tulips & Windmills - Amsterdam to Amsterdam 27 March – 5 April 2024 was our 14th river cruise and our 13th with Viking. The original route, as per the website We’d booked it last year. Mrs P fancied seeing the tulips in Keukenhof Gardens. I had stayed in Amsterdam many times on business and I knew the weather at this time of year can be very wet and cold, and there’s nothing to stop piercing winds from the North Sea. So I wasn’t that bothered about excursions, Viking’s embrace was reason enough to cruise. We had Gratuities and the Silver Spirits Drinks Package included in the booking again, plus OBC applied in response to my complaint about an excursion last year. Before the cruise we received notification of a change to the itinerary: In order to improve the guest experience, we have replaced our previously planned stops in Hoorn and Arnhem, in the Netherlands, as well as Ghent, Belgium, with new destinations. The shore excursions initially outlined in your itinerary will be modified to correspond with these new docking locations and will be available for booking in accordance with the standard schedule. · Day 3: Enkhuizen, Netherlands (previously Hoorn) · Day 4: Nijmegen, Netherlands (previously Arnhem) · Day 7: Middelburg and Veere, Netherlands (previously Ghent) The original itinerary (above) is still shown on Viking’s website for 2025 and 2026 so I am disappointed that guests on those cruises won’t have an improved guest experience. The revised route, printed in Viking Daily We’d intended using the OBC to buy wines not included in the drinks package, especially Chateau Mouton d’Amailhac 2009, but they didn’t have any on board so we used our OBC on Viking Vouchers. We were in a French Balcony room on the upper deck. Because of the time of year it wasn’t worth getting a veranda, and we only went on the sun deck to cross to a rafted boat. This cruise only runs for about a month, and Viking lay on many boats. Some dates have two Viking boats following the same route, which makes places visited busy. Keukenhof Gardens are open only mid-March to mid-May and there are plenty of river cruise companies about. There are three major themes. Tulips, land reclaimed from the sea by dikes, and Operation Market Garden. We were surprised by how few people had heard of this. Two places visited, Nijmegen and Arnhem, saw important battles to take and hold their bridges in September 1944. Visits make more sense to those who know about Market Garden. The easiest way is to watch the 1977 Hollywood movie A Bridge too Far. Our guide pointed out places and named people, and the actor who portrayed them in the film. The weather was cold and wet but we enjoyed the cruise. Viking’s Longships are superbly designed and their offering over delivers on Viking's description.

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)