tevegal

Having done two river and one Ocean with Viking, hands down the river is better! The intimacy, the experience, the food relative to the locale and the cost.

Enjoyed both but the expense of the side excursions on the ocean made this so much more costly then a land excursion or for example Celebrity on a similar itinerary. The included excursions work well on the river but the included excursions on the oceans do not, everything of interest to us cost $$$. The on board experience on the river is special

Has anyone done a SHARED Jewish Tour of Rome? Can you provide contact info, etc?

 

Thanks.

Yes. Several years ago we took a walking tour of the Jewish Ghetto with Michaela Pavenchello We found her from the Rick Steve's book and it was like spending time with a friend. She is an excellent guide. Contact is jewishroma.com

We are in the process of planning and booking our 1st river cruise so there are a lots of things we don't know and will really need your help.

We are considering booking the Rhine Getaway in July 2018 with Viking (Basel to Amsterdam). We are also planning to do the 2 nights pre cruise in Lucerne. On the Viking website, the Lucerne pre cruise details show this itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Lucerne

Day 2 : guided tour of the town

Day 3: free time in the morning then transfer to Basel to board the ship.

 

We are flying in from Madrid, Spain. We will probably arrive in Zurich around noon or 13:00. Then it will take around one hour by train from Zurich to Lucerne.

 

These are the questions that I have:

1/ Does anyone have an idea of which hotel Viking usually uses for the pre cruise guests ?

2/ What time does the guided tour on day 2 start? How long does it last?

 

We want to do the Pilatus Golden Round Trip. I have read here that it takes 4.5-5 hrs so will we have enough time to do it on day 2 after the guided tour?

 

How far is the starting point if the Golden Tour from Lucerne hotel, if we want to start by going up the gondola?

 

Shall we arrive one day earlier?

 

Thanks

We did an Amsterdam to Basel on the Vidar with a post stay in Lucern. We took a Viking offered a full day tour called The Pearls of Switzerland. It was pricey but we had the boat tour to Mt Pilatus, cog rail up and Gondola down, then a mini van met us there and we went to a monastery, dairy farm, cheese factory where we made cheese and topped the day off with a fondue dinner. There were 10 people in our group some from a post cruise stay and some from a pre cruise stay. It was absolutely fabulous and well worth the $$ since we packed so much into the day and Viking made it so easy. Small group... it was like traveling with friends. It would be hard to go to such a dairy farm on your own because the farmer spoke german with limited English and our guide was like traveling with a friend. If it is available I would recommend you take the "Pearls". Also on the Vidar if he is still there Chef Karl Heinz was a joy! We were there in April 2017. Our Viking hotel was the Schweizerhof in a fabulous lakeview room...a great hotel!

Yes, been to Terezin. Viking hosts arranged the tour for us. There were 8 of us. It is somber but excellent. We went to a local restaurant for a beer sampling after. You kind on needed that after what you see in Terezin. Do go there .