Daisi

I think primary language is German? I hope UDChE89 can understand the basis of whatever language is onboard, just for social encounters.

Make that 2 pair, in case one gets wet!

I agree Fran, you only see above the table, and to tell the truth, I'm more interested in looking at a persons face and eyes than even what clothes they are wearing. Reminds me of my B-i-L, who invited us all to his place when they moved from Southern Ont to our end. We showed up, he had a dress shirt, tie and dress shorts! Yes, there were a few AC/DC references, but that's how he was comfortable in our 30+ heat. I was more worried when he was BBQ'ing that his tie would end up in it, but nope, all was good.

I agree, every line treats this situation (and the cancellations from Covid) differently. I was lucky booking my first cruise as one or two years prior, there had been both flooding and low water. It was a lot of reading back posts, but seeing how various lines reacted helped us choose which ones we really wanted to avoid. While they can't control the weather, and it can change from normal to flood / drought quickly, how they handle it is one thing to really look for. Those cruising next year (us hopefully 🙂) may have no problems, you just never know.

When Covid broke, and everyone was having fun trying to connect to cruise lines to get cancellations, rebates etc, I had to re-book our cruise. My agent said to give her a couple of days (final payment would have been about 7 days out), as no-one was to fast on the phone. No problem, I had time to wait. About 10 minutes later, she was calling me back, and not only was our cruise re-booked, but it was also agreed on booking that the cabin, and air could be changed later. She was so shocked, and while she had them on the phone, she re-booked 2 other couples. Sad thing was, that booking was also cancelled & rebooked (nice and easy as usual, but not quite the hectic time), so we are really hoping that next Sept. is a go. Avalon's advertising got us to book tour first cruise with them, their staff had us planning our next cruise on the flight home, and their back office is keeping us loyal customers. As long as they have the itinerary we want, they will be our go - to line.

@notamermaid, I think sometimes that's the one reason my TA welcomes me back. She enjoys working with them. 🙂

Avalon's post about low water situation. https://www.avalonwaterways.com/travel-update/?fbclid=IwAR0DPjjpAwfGaCL85FZIFx6PNivEAX7PNposLtvjBDlPT1dYFps2xBSv71U

Not sure where it's from @notamermaid, it came up on one of my news sites. I agree, "the death of river cruising" was clickbait, and it will take more than 1 year of low water to do so. If barges are still sailing, then I guess it's taking one company saying that it won't sail as fact that none are sailing. Hoping rain comes soon, not only for vacationers, but for those who depend on the rivers for their livelihoods.

Not good news now...the Rhine is closing to barge traffic. https://theloadstar.com/rhine-closes-to-barge-traffic-with-water-depth-set-to-hit-record-lows/

Hmmm... rather than renting a car, we tend to buy the public transit passes. You can get them to cover from 1 day to a week, and they will cover most areas of transit. Just thinking that that may be an option (along with rail for Amsterdam / Brussels) rather than trying to drive around Paris. (Full disclosure, a traffic jam where I live is having a car in front of us and behind us on the roads. When we go to large cities, we will often spend an hour or so just watching all the cars drive by the hotel windows. 🙂)

It took us a full day to get to Amsterdam from Basel - probably just about 8 hours. Our longest stop was about an hour, where we grabbed a quick bite to eat. It was interesting, we met 2 friends from Germany (different towns) who were travelling up to Amsterdam to shop, and once they realised we were Canadian, they went all out to help us out. Took us a while to figure out how the system worked as to reserved seats, but it was a fun day and nice and relaxing way to sight see.

@TravelingProf, we took the train from Basel to Amsterdam after our cruise. We did the milk run, all along the river, and saw a lot that we missed sailing at night. The only parts we "skipped" was from Cologne to Amsterdam, as that portion had been daytime sailing. If you are looking at doing this, you can check out the Man in seat 61's site, he has the stops to look for to go along the river. You will probably miss excursions, as the trains don't always run at the right times or to the right locations, but you will see other things. 🙂

Yes, I do have to agree, the CD makes your trip. I had mentioned to ours that i was a bit disappointed that we wouldn't be doing the canal cruise in Strasbourg as Avalon didn't have it as part of the itinerary any more...next morning, we walked out to do the tour, and we were on the canals! She did several more surprises for others throughout the cruise. I hope our next one is just as good.

Hearing that Avalon did a ship swap and the Imagery II arrived by water in Amsterdam. It picked the passengers up in Koblenz, bussed up from Strasbourg.

DH wishes to go to Paris, so I am looking into Avalon's Grand Tour of France. I'm not a city lover, to many people, but that will probably be one of the few times we actually will fly in and out of CDG. 🙂

Maybe it's different with the UK, as we were (and are for our upcoming cruise) able to choose our airline & what stops we wish to do. I avoid CDG, so do tend to go through Schiphol. Avalon has been great to work with for flights, and doesn't charge any extra fee. When the tickets were booked, I went directly to the chosen airline (KLM), and upgraded our seats, as well as selecting them.

That is one of the best things about doing an organised holiday like river cruising or by coach....you can still plan for "free time", but get to let everyone else deal with the headache of working around low water, broken locks, strikes... 🙂 I still do lots of research, but love the fact that I don't have to look for somewhere to eat, which of 20 some options to do each day etc. Once in a while, it's great to sit back and let someone else do the work. Another great thing about doing a cruise that has multiple options of tours/day. When we sailed, there were about 2-3 options for the included tours, as well as a couple for the optional ones. It was great sitting down for dinner with friends who had done other tours and hearing about them, and telling them about the ones we were on. When touring as a group, you can do the choices you want, not everyone having to do the same. 🙂

Can't speak for all cruises, I'm sure some do it differently, but with Avalon, once final payment has been made (and this is something to consider, as Viking is AFAIK the only one requesting payment in full a year ahead of sailing), you can go to a section of their site, where you can provide them with all the information required - contact #'s, contact names for people at home if needed, as well as a list of excursions available for your cruise. You can then select the ones you wish to do, and pay for them as well. We do so ahead of time, as we 1) don't like coming home to a large CC bill, and 2) prefer to pay CDN rather than the Euro's they charge onboard. You then have up to about a week or so before sailing to change or modify your choices. Docking depends on harbour masters, they control when you arrive & when you leave. Since you usually sail at night, you will most likely be docked early in the morning. We are early risers (like 4:00 - can't get into this retirement thing even after 3 years) so we would get up, and if docked, we could go for a wander around port, or the sun deck (walking, not running), then go on for breakfast. Rivers can have problems, early spring brings high water, summer brings low. Any time is a gamble, I had friends who went this spring and had snow. Coming from Houston they weren't to sure about it! Just be prepared for anything, most lines are now well used to dealing with the water levels so hopefully will have a way around things. If you wish to dress in a jacket & button down shirt, I'm sure no one will say anything. Yes, some of the cruises in the summer time get a little more casual, and that's probably because of the heat. I think we saw 3 gentlemen in a jacket on our last night, and 2 of those were celebrating anniversaries, so not sure if that counts. Mind you, our last night was a bit of a rush, as 2 of our tours were a little late getting back so it was a quick re-fresh in the cabin and up for the disembarkation talk. As long as you are neatly dressed, most won't comment on what you are wearing. My experience is most are commenting on how much better your dinner may look over their's! One thing to consider, keep an eye on the boards to see how various lines are dealing with the water issues, it will help you to know what to expect if you have issues. Also, start requesting brochures from various lines (paper or e-mail to a junk e-mail account so your regular one doesn't get overloaded). It will help you to compare what is available. If watching YouTube, watch the passenger ones, not the ones posted by the lines, as they are real, not staged. I may have mentioned that previously, not sure.

Some lines have already opened up sailings for 2024, I know Avalon has, and I think I have seen others. Most lines have morning and afternoon tours, just some are referred to as optional as you pay extra for them. Usually, the only time you are onboard during the day (other than if you choose to be) is if there is a distance between ports (Amsterdam and Cologne, Budapest and Vienna} or if sailing through a scenic area. Otherwise, you are free to tour on your own or by the companies tour. Have you narrowed down a river yet? We can probably provide more details once you do.

I heard on another board that someone on the Budapest to Amsterdam cruise has had to stop around Nuremberg. They will be bussed the remainder of the trip, and are supposed to be receiving a generous reimbursement for the missed cruise.

Most chargers for newer phones/tablets are marked 110-240V. As long as your chargers are marked like that, you can just use the plug adaptors. I buy the chargers that have multiple ports, so I can charge 2-3 devices overnight all at once. Most lines will supply hair dryers, as do hotels if you are doing a pre or post stay.

Looking forward to seeing your report, and also hearing about what line/river you end up choosing. The main thing to do is ask questions, so if you have any others, don't hesitate. Have fun, planning is only part of the game. 😉

We didn't travel with Viking, but I know our busses had them. Mind you, they were pretty tiny, and I don't think they were ever used. I think if you are on the bus for more than a couple of hours, it includes a stop for restrooms.

On Avalon, all tips are split between all the crew, I think that is standard for most river cruises. So we gave extra for all the crew, then felt that those who we interacted with everyday deserved a more personal thanks. Our problem was, when we wanted to give a bit to our wine steward, he was off on holiday....which impressed me, as it was the last day so I thought he would have been needed for help with disembarkment and embarkment. His sister was our server, so we gave it to her. We had a lot of family on our cruise - our cabin attendant did the whole level with his twin, and the Housekeeping manager was engaged to my favourite sous-chef! Can you tell we sat at the back of the bus for all tours, so got to meet a lot of staff we normally wouldn't. 🙂

While we never had to do a ship swap, I remember the first time our tour had to go by bus for a tour. Most of the trip was by scenic routes, and we appreciated seeing the countryside we wouldn't have if we had been on the boat.