Back from maiden voyage of River Ambassador

[Jesterscourt]

Returned last week from Treasures of Prague, Rhine, and Main. There were a few glitches as some heroic engineers from the Arnhem shipyard were aboard putting the finishing touches on some items. Yes, some of our tv's or hot towel racks didn't work perfectly at first, but it was a pioneering adventure and the front desk, hotel manager, and Cruise Director as well as the entire crew handled everything with patience and panache and this ended up being the best of my 5 river cruises I have been on. Instead of giving a day-by-day report, I will answer questions about Prague, Nuremberg, Bamberg, Wurzburg, Miltenberg, Aschaffenburg, Koblenz, and yes, even Frankfurt! Can you believe that we docked right in the center of Frankfurt on the Main River? This was an unexpected treat as we docked around 6 PM and had until around 1AM to stroll the river promenades on either side of the bridges, and we were a 10 min walk from the center of the city including the splendid Romemberg Square every bit as good as the Marienplatz Square in Munich. But here' the thing. It amazed me how many folks didn't get off the ship there or even in other towns in the evenings after supper. Also of note is that we were the first river cruise group in Nurnberg which had the famous Courtroom 600 included as part of it's general tour so we didn't have to go back to it on our own. The cruise ended in Koblenz with the first German National Garden Show (BUGA) going on with brilliant flowers and gardens throughout the city as well as on top of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress gotten to by an exciting gondola funicular ride which they did not have last time I was there. Sorry if I jumped all over the place, but these were some of the highlights for me in a nutshell.

[Betty Lu]

Thanks for the review of the Treasures cruise with Uniworld. We're on this cruise starting on June 3 in Prague and looking forward to it. We love Uniworld, this will be our fourth with them. What hotel did you stay at in Prague and was it convenient to the city center? Did you stop anywhere on the way from Prague to Nuremberg? I look forward to anything else you can tell me about this cruise.

[Jesterscourt]

Betty, you will be staying at the Art Deco Imperial Hotel on Na Porici, a main avenue that feeds into Republic Square a few blocks away where you will find the famous Municipal House and the Powder Tower gate whose street (Celetna) leads straight to the Old Town Square about a 20 minute walk. People come from all over just to dine at the Imperial Hotel Cafe and you will be having breakfast there every morning! Down the street is a large mall (Paladium), around the corner are 2 pharmacy-grocery stores (drogeries) to get bottled water, etc. There is Bancomat ATM across the street, and yes...hold your breath....even a Starbucks! Nurnberg is a 3 hour ride and they stop halfway at a rest area that has a McDonald's, but we had a blast using up our left-over Czech krona at the convenience store at the gas station there where you can buy soda, chips, pastries, and good Czech beer (cheap). Use the bathroom here to avoid the longer line at McDonald's. They must've thought we were a bunch of desperate tourists coming all the way to Central Europe to go to a McDonald's! Pretty lame, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Let me know if you have more questions and I'll try not to bore you with details.....Steve

[trinitygirl]

Hi there, it sounds great. I am doing a trip (first european river cruise) with AMA in December, and would love to hear about Bamberg, Wurzburg, Miltenberg and Koblenz, which are stops where my cruise overlaps with yours and which are all places I have never been before. What, if anything, really stood out as Don't Miss events in those stops? Is there anything that you would have ditched the group tour and headed off to on your own, in order to have more time at a particular site (and if so, what and why?). Also, I'd love to hear about any special things that are particular to any of those places as Must Buys: I have ten days before the cruise visiting christmas markets around Germany and Salzburg, and if I need to save money and suitcase space for something really great towards the end of my trip, it would be cool to know about it up front...

 

thanks for any info!

[fred111]

My wife and I are on the same cruise in October. We'll be staying at the Art Deco for 4 days before joining the Uniworld group. Anything you can tell us about the cruise will be greatly appreciated.

[Betty Lu]

Thanks for the info, Steve. I'm really looking forward to staying at that hotel - I looked at their web-site and it looks great. We have tickets for the opera on Saturday night and can't wait for that. Also, I'm never bored reading about anyone's review of a trip, especially one that I'll be going on. We were on the Christmas markets cruise this past December and while in Nuremberg, we took the train to Wurzburg to see the Residenze, we I'm anxious to see the gardens there. Also, the gardens in Bamberg. Only three weeks to go now. Who was your cruise manager - we had a great one in December. Thanks again, Betty

[Jesterscourt]

The Cruise Manager was Bart Roelofs from Holland. Simply put, I feel he is one of the best CD's we have ever had. He had a great sense of humor, and genuinely enjoyed hanging out with us instead of being the type that continually remind you how long they have to stay away from their family, etc. Being a newly refurbished ship on it's maiden voyage, along with a challenging itinerary, he had to be flexible, and never allowed stress to show. He was visible around the ship so it wasn't hard to find him if you had a question or needed to make a change. I have had Cruise Directors who made you feel like they were doing you a great favor by talking to you, and could never be found. So hopefully you'll have him or someone similar.

[Betty Lu]

Hi Steve: Just got our documents today and now it's just two weeks before we leave for our trip. I just read some negative comments about the Koblenz flower exhibit - I thought it looks very beautiful and hope I'm not disappointed. Part of the attraction of this particular cruise is the garden visits at the various ports. How do you feel? Thanks for your response, Betty