gingerspike

Thank you. I'd be interested in your thoughts about the hotel when you return. My TA contacted Ama and confirmed that we are expected to stay at the Grand Hotel Krasnopolsky. They won't know for sure until 30 days prior. I went ahead and made the reservation. Have a wonderful trip!

We are sailing AmaWaterways Rhine Castles & Swiss Alps in November 2024. When we booked, the hotel was listed as the Grand Hotel Krasnopolsky and that is what is on our cruise invoice. Today I noticed that the web site has added a second hotel, the Barbizon as one of the potential hotels for the precruise. I just booked our air and we are arriving 2 days prior to the start of land package. I would like to stay at the same hotel that Ama will use. Is there anyway to know which it will actually be this far out? Has anyone been to Amsterdam with Ama recently that can share their hotel experience? thanks, Kelly

If you haven't already, be sure to follow up with another email or phone call. As I recall, I had to send a second email to get a response. Office seems slow, but the team on the ground was awesome. We had a problem with the copy of our PCR results and the Cairo representative went above and beyond to make sure we had them in hand for our flight out of Egypt in the morning.

We booked with a local company Djed Egypt Tours and they were fantastic. We were originally booked on a Uniworld cruise but then Covid. During the downtime, I did more looking around and found Djed. In October 2021, we spent a month in Egypt and Jordan. In Egypt, we used Djed to arrange everything. We did an extensive land tour with private guides and drivers. The Djed representative met us on arrival at the Cairo airport and sped us through the entry process. We spent 3 days in Cairo and Giza, flew to Luxor for 4 nights and saw Karnak and temples, Valleys of the Kings and Queens, took a hot air balloon ride and a cooking class. We sailed the Nile for 4 nights on a dahabiya from Esna to Aswan with an overnight excursion to Abu Simbel. The dahabiya is a traditional sailing boat and accommodates only 12 passengers. Our guides were phenomenal. The trip was less expensive, longer, totally private for the 2 of us and a great experience. I would also recommend the company we used in Jordan, Zaid Tours & Travel.

Thanks, everyone, for the good advice. I will reach out via email to the Special Services group. I did make this request to my TA a few weeks ago, but as usual, she has not responded. I find it takes 3 tries to get her to answer. I was going to give her until the new year but now will do it myself. Needless to say, this is our first and last cruise with her. It's good to know that the tap water will work in a pinch. I will be sure to request the extension cord, too.

My husband was recently prescribed a CPAP and will also need distilled water in the cabin. Does anyone have the contact info for Special Needs? I'm not finding it on the web site. Or is this something my TA should handle for us? thanks, Kelly

@pontac The wines were quite good. We did not know much about Bordeaux before this, so it was quite an education. We are definitely converts. I think we would DIY with a local guide next time, especially if the other river cruise companies visit the same vineyards. Although we really like the unpack once travel that cruising offers. It was a wine cruise and the last Bordeaux cruise of the 2023 season. This was our first river and Ama cruise, so can't speak to the US host question. It was not a special charter or anything like that. However, we are signed up for a 2024 Rhine Castles and Swiss Alps cruise next November that also includes US hosts (David Lauer & Krista Lauer of Bryn Mawr Vineyards, Salem OR). The host, Mark, was quite knowledgeable and always available to chat. This was his 80th trip to Bordeaux and 100th trip to France, so he knew the area quite well. This it the info provided by Ama in our docs: "This cruise will be hosted by Mark A. Newman, CEO of Accolade Brands Inc. & SteakHouse Vineyards in Santa Lucia Highlands, CA. In addition to producing wine in California, Mark also has produced wine in the Loire Valley in France called Perle de Mer Muscadet. Additionally, Mark has recently judged with Gambero Rosso for the prestigious Tre Bicchieri awards in Rome, Italy. In his over 40 years in the wine industry, he has owned the largest wine & spirits retail chain in Arizona, held key California winery positions as well as senior level executive positions in the wine distributing business. He received his education at the University of Southern California and is a member of several wine industry trade groups. Mark was inducted into the prestigious Commanderie de Bontemps du Medoc et Graves recognizing his years of dedication to the Bordeaux wine industry, and is Maitre-Conseil of Gastronomy, an honor bestowed by the French Minister of Agriculture, a member of the Society of Wine Educators. Mark has judged the Los Angeles International Wine Competition for 26 consecutive years, and he also judges the California State Fair, the San Diego International Wine Competition, and the San Diego Toast of the Coast Competition." I forgot to mention that, although the bar by the glass offerings were the regular ones, you could purchase the Bordeaux wines by the bottle.

@pontac We just returned from the Taste of Bordeaux and enjoyed most of the wines and tours we were on. Usually we were split into groups and would go to different vineyards. If I know or can find the second vineyard, I will include it here. For excursions, we chose the wine tasting ones as opposed to the bike rides, etc. The guides were all excellent. We toured St. Emilion cellars and monolithic church, the citadel at Blaye, Roquetaillade Castle. We enjoyed all the tours - the castle was the most surprising visit. It doesn't look like much from the outside. Our vineyard visits included: St. Emilion - Château de Ferrand. I believe the other group went to Château de Pressac Fronsac - Château de la Riviere. Others listed in our cruise docs were Château Gaby or Château de la Dauphine Bourg - "Fête du Vin" with tastings from local producers and entertainment Medoc - Château Leoville Poyferre. The other may have been Château Gruaud Larose Cadillac - Sauternes - Château de Rayne-Vigneau. I believe the other group went to Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. As to wines poured on board, I didn't make notes about the dinner wines but all were from Bordeaux regions. The bar wines were the regular offerings, not regional. Our wine host was Mark Newman,CEO of Accolade Brands Inc. & SteakHouse Vineyards in Santa Lucia Highlands, CA. He provided two talks and tastings of right and left bank wines. If I can read the labels from my photos, at the right bank seminar we tasted: 2020 Château Joanin Bécot, 2020 Château Eglise d'Armens St. Emilion Grand Cru, 2018 Pomerol by Clinet and 2019 Château Fombrauge St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe. The left bank included: 2020 LaCoste Borie Pauillac, 2020 Château Ormes de Pez Saint-Estèphe, 2020 Château Cantemerle Haut-Medoc, and 2020 Château Bouscaut Grand Cru Classe de Graves Pessac-Leognan Semillion-Savignon Blanc blend. I hope this helps. This was our first visit to Bordeaux and we thoroughly enjoyed it even with all the rain.

Now that we are home, I'm able to access the website with no issues. Maybe it's an east coast thing?

I've been at the beach in NC and have been getting the 403 error since yesterday. I've tried Chrome and Firefox on my phone, tablet, and even my mother's tablet but have been unable to access the web site. We're heading home now to upstate SC. I thought I might have better luck on my PC.

Thank you. We'll be taking the 10%. Cash in hand is better, IMHO. We usually do private tours also. This will be our first time in Asia, so I'm sure there will be a mix.

Can anyone tell me if the 20th anniversary offer is combinable with the 10% past guest discount? I'm thinking of booking Exalted East Asia in April 2024. TIA