Bev415

23 hours ago, OldCrustyGuy said:

Anyone booked on an upcoming Grand Circle Rhine/Mosel cruise?  Two weeks from today we depart for our air gateway city and fly on November 7.  Were told we would hear something two weeks out - that obviously isn't happening.  Would like to hear from any other Grand Circle cruisers whether you recently completed the cruise or are pending departure.  Goes without saying, have found notamermaid's postings quite enlightening.

Reply to OldCrusty - we returned last week from Grand Circle Vienna to Amsterdam.  5 nights in hotels & 2 nights using ship as hotel with several long bus trips.   They did provide extra excursions (bus to Munich for Octoberfest which was an amazing experience). It certainly wasn’t perfect but they did a pretty good job of handling a difficult situation.  

Update on Grand Circle European River Cruise

After 3 flights & 2 layovers, we arrived in Vienna at 9am where Grand Circle rep meet us & arranged transport by car to hotel in Bratislava, Slovakia. We were told that lunch (dry sub sandwiches) would be available at noon in banquet room. The hotel was very pleasant (advertised as 5 star) but not located within walking distance of Old Town. GC did provide a shuttle to town & local guide did a 20 minute walking tour, then allowed free time. Dinner in hotel was very disorganized the 1st night but much better the next evening.

Day 2 - we were bussed back (1 hour) to Vienna for 1 hour walking tour, given $ for lunch on our own & free time before being bused back (1hr) to hotel for dinner. To this point we’ve really little or no interaction with our fellow travelers other than introductions when we join a table for 4 or 6 at dinner or breakfast. Also in hotel we don’t have any place to gather & visit. Immediately after dinner (sometimes alone at table for 2 in hotel dining room) everyone just goes back to their rooms.

Day 3 - we put our luggage out early this morning & are now headed by bus to Melk, Germany (2 hr) where we will have lunch & tour the Abbey. Scenery may be a lot different on a train but so far, we seen little from our bus windows on the roadway. After lunch & tour, we will have a longer bus ride (4 hours) to Regensburg & to our ship. I’m sorry we are missing this part of our river trip & looking forward to actually unpacking late tonight.

After this we really don’t know how long we will actually be on the rivers. One program

director was pessimistic about our being able actually cruise to Amsterdam. I guess we will have to wait & see. No indication of any compensation mentioned at this point. I will update later.

I think we will be bused backward to Passau tomorrow, then bused back to ship, next day, bused to Munich. No time on these bus trips yet. Hopefully not long.

This is my 1st ever post. I’ve been reading for the last several weeks & have been very apprehensive about upcoming Grand Circle trip from Vienna to Amsterdam on 10/1. We just heard that “at least 1/3 of our trip will be bus/hotel trip with some very long bus trips. I’m very disappointed and can now only hope that the rest of the trip can be salvaged. I will post from our trip

This is my 1st ever post. I’ve been reading for the last several weeks & have been very apprehensive about upcoming Grand Circle trip from Vienna to Amsterdam on 10/1. We just heard that “at least 1/3 of our trip will be bus/hotel trip with some very long bus trips. I’m very disappointed and can now only hope that the rest of the trip can be salvaged. I will post from our trip