Uniworld, SS Antoinette – Basel to Amsterdam 3/30/14 on Tape Delay

[Got2Cruise]

I notice you are researching a Venice cruise.... If you have never been to Venice I would highly recommend that you try to spend a few extra days there if possible. What a great place.... it is a photo op waiting to happen for anyone that likes to take pictures. We even did a Photo Tour with a noted Photographer that had us walking through areas that the 'normal' tourist would probably never venture too.

 

Of course a tour of the Murano Gla$$ Factory i$ a mu$t $ee al$o....;). and of course we bought $$ some glassware while there.

 

If you have Hilton points, the Molino Stucky on Giudecca in Venice is a wonderful hotel. I think it's expensive, but with points it always feels "free."

 

Thank you for the recommendations. I don't want to hijack the thread and get in trouble with the admins.:D:p But all I can say that after being spoiled with River Cruises my hubby is not going to be a happy camper on the big ship.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thank you for the recommendations. I don't want to hijack the thread and get in trouble with the admins.:D:p But all I can say that after being spoiled with River Cruises my hubby is not going to be a happy camper on the big ship.

 

That's actually worth a thread of its own: What are the best ocean cruises for river-cruise lovers?

[whatnot]

Well, actually I like river cruises and ocean cruises, but only ocean cruises with less than 500 passengers. These include Sea Dream Yacht Club, Windstar, Regent, Seabourn, etc. I do not like the big ships!

[eyeu]

Bon Voyage!! Have a great trip JP and Chris!! Take lots of pics!!

[Bimmer09]

After Kaub comes Oberwesel. This town is guarded by the Burghotel Auf Schoenburg, which looks like a hodgepodge of different buildings randomly stuck together. It's very old; first built in ~900 AD and like most of the others, destroyed in the late 1600s during the War of the Palatine Succession. This is now privately owned as a hotel and restaurant. http://www.hotel-schoenburg.com/

 

 

Nice location for a stay...

 

 

 

JP- I am slowly working my way through your generous photo reviews and came across the above pics of Hotel Schoenburg. I have stayed there 3 times over the past 10 years -always in the highest room at the top of the pointy turret.

 

I thought you might like to see some of the views from up there.

These photos were taken in 2007.

 



 

View from the small balcony off the turret. I'm on the left with a lifelong friend from the UK soaking up the view.

 



 

 

 

View of ancient ruined tower

View from the bathroom to the North (Loreli bend) Oberwesel below us.

 

The hotel is a gem, run by the Huttl family and has a fine restaurant. There's endless barge and sightseeing Rhine boats passing by all day and by night you can hear a pin drop. Nap heaven!

 

Thanks for posting those pics as they brought back great memories of German road trips.

 

Norris in Chicago

[jpalbny]

Bimmer09 - thanks for the great pictures! We have talked about revisiting this area as a land trip / road trip some day. Especially since some of the castles are now hotels, it looks like it would be a great time. The balcony view that you posted looks like a beautiful place to spend the day... Will have to look into it.

 

Maybe we'll be lucky and have a chance to get back here next year. I am thinking of another visit to Ingolstadt to pick up a new Audi in August / September 2015. This would be a nice area for a road trip with a new S6, wouldn't it? The only bad part of the cruise was that this section went by so quickly! Would be great to spend more time here and enjoy it even more.

Edited December 14, 2014 by jpalbny

[Bimmer09]

Bimmer09 - thanks for the great pictures! We have talked about revisiting this area as a land trip / road trip some day. Especially since some of the castles are now hotels, it looks like it would be a great time. The balcony view that you posted looks like a beautiful place to spend the day... Will have to look into it.

 

Maybe we'll be lucky and have a chance to get back here next year. I am thinking of another visit to Ingolstadt to pick up a new Audi in August / September 2015. This would be a nice area for a road trip with a new S6, wouldn't it? The only bad part of the cruise was that this section went by so quickly! Would be great to spend more time here and enjoy it even more.

 

JP- my first visit to Hotel Schoenburg was in September 2003 during a week in which I took European Delivery of a BMW 3 series coupe in Munich.

 

Once I had the car we went to spend the night in Howenschwangau, after having lunch in Mittenwald and next morning took tours of Neuschwanstein and Howenschwangau castle (we are Wagner/King Ludwig fans). Then drove the Romantic Road to spend two days in Rothenburg followed by two days in Oberwesel. We got on the Rhine there for a boat trip. Koblenz is an easy drive away as is Cologne. Burg Eltz castle is within 25 mins of the hotel as is the Mosel River and some good riverside dining. It's a wonderful part of the world indeed, especially if you like castles,dramatic scenery and outdoor dining.

 

I'm still driving the car 11 years later (garaged in winter as it has low profile tires and rear wheel drive).

 

We rounded up our trip with a two day stay in Munich again, to drop the car off at the shippers and visit Oktoberfest.

 

I hope you pick up that S6 and do a tour on land!

 

Norris

[jpalbny]

Norris, thanks for the info. We've done two independent land-based trips in this region and the names/places you mentioned bring back some great memories as well.

 

We tried a Danube cruise in June 2013 but it was canceled due to the big flood that spring. We didn't want to change our plane tickets, so we went anyway and made up a 2 week independent visit to Bavaria and Franconia. We did lots of train travel but also rented a car towards the end and drove most of the Romantic Road. Starting in Fussen, we visited the castles (including Schloss Linderhof), then we drove the Road over 2 days. We did one overnight in Augsburg, then ended in Wurzburg. We would have liked to stay longer in Rothenberg but maybe another time. There are so many cute medieval towns along that area that you could spend weeks and not get bored.

 

Last May we did the European delivery program for Chris' new Audi and had a week to drive through some slightly different places. After Munich and Ingolstadt, we visited Mittenwald and Reutte, the Bodensee, and Lucerne before driving north through the Black Forest to Baden-Baden, then Wurzburg again. We used Frankfurt for a drop-off point. There was nothing more fun than finding an empty section of Autobahn with no limit and letting that new car fly!

 

Tentatively thinking that we should head more north next time and revisit some of the wine country along the Rhine and Moselle, so your tips are much appreciated.

 

I used to have an 02 3-series, and Chris had an 02 M3 convertible which we really liked. It was sad to let it go a few years ago... We didn't do European delivery for those, though; for some reason we thought driving in Germany would be much harder than it really is. Oh well, we should have - it was such a great time that I'd do it again tomorrow if we could. We did visit the BMW-Welt during that 2013 trip and it's a cool place as is the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt. Any plans to revisit for a new car?

[Bimmer09]

Norris, thanks for the info. We've done two independent land-based trips in this region and the names/places you mentioned bring back some great memories as well.

 

We tried a Danube cruise in June 2013 but it was canceled due to the big flood that spring. We didn't want to change our plane tickets, so we went anyway and made up a 2 week independent visit to Bavaria and Franconia. We did lots of train travel but also rented a car towards the end and drove most of the Romantic Road. Starting in Fussen, we visited the castles (including Schloss Linderhof), then we drove the Road over 2 days. We did one overnight in Augsburg, then ended in Wurzburg. We would have liked to stay longer in Rothenberg but maybe another time. There are so many cute medieval towns along that area that you could spend weeks and not get bored.

 

Last May we did the European delivery program for Chris' new Audi and had a week to drive through some slightly different places. After Munich and Ingolstadt, we visited Mittenwald and Reutte, the Bodensee, and Lucerne before driving north through the Black Forest to Baden-Baden, then Wurzburg again. We used Frankfurt for a drop-off point. There was nothing more fun than finding an empty section of Autobahn with no limit and letting that new car fly!

 

Tentatively thinking that we should head more north next time and revisit some of the wine country along the Rhine and Moselle, so your tips are much appreciated.

 

I used to have an 02 3-series, and Chris had an 02 M3 convertible which we really liked. It was sad to let it go a few years ago... We didn't do European delivery for those, though; for some reason we thought driving in Germany would be much harder than it really is. Oh well, we should have - it was such a great time that I'd do it again tomorrow if we could. We did visit the BMW-Welt during that 2013 trip and it's a cool place as is the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt. Any plans to revisit for a new car?

 

JP-thanks for responding.

 

No plans currently for another Euro Delivery but the experience was amazing. I still have the German lisence plates for my car and my local BMW dealer recently featured the car on their Facebook page as it's 11 years old but in new condition to the eye. It's a 5 speed manual which makes driving the fun it should be.

 

Regarding the wine country around Oberwesel and beyond- beautiful hilly twisty roads that are fun to drive. Smooth pavement. The combination of the Rhine close to the Mosel is a heady one and the dining opportunities-oudoor as it should be in September-are rich.

 

On our 2007 visit to the area, we landed in Frankfurt and stayed in Cologne the first night(amazing Hyatt Hotel-haute cuisine) before going to Oberwesel next day, stopping in Koblenz-a must see.

After Oberwesel we drove to Alsace region of France and enjoyed Colmar. We stayed in an ancient hotel (Les Deux Clef) in nearby Turckheim for the village atmosphere. Then via Strasbourg back up to Rothenburg for a couple of days-we always stay at the Burg Hotel which is part of the city wall. At least two days in Rothenburg at a leisurely pace. Then to Munich to finish off for a couple of days.

 

Munich is one of our 4 favorite eye-candy cities in Europe, the other 3 being Salzburg, Vienna and Lucerne.

 

We only go for 7 or 8 days due to work and always pick up a car (must be German!!!) at the airport. I rent Hertz.

 

I find Germany (including Berlin) the easiest country to drive in as everyone driving is focusing on the road, unlike in the USA.

 

As much as we love cruising, we are drawn to driving holidays in Europe and eating in different restaurants every night-always local cuisine and even though we have to unpack and repack every two or three days there's the excitement of moving on and having time to savor the next destination.

 

I am currently reading Jerry's long journal of his Viking cruise. My next though is the familiar Ruby Princess ( E. Caribbean) in January to escape the Chicago weather.

 

Here's a shot of my car taken by Lake Superior in Canada...

 

 

I just watched a Rick Steves (our guide in Europe) show featuring Cappadocia...and it reminded me of your recent Silversea review. It's now on our bucket list. He was hot air ballooning over it and we are balloon fans.

 

I thank everyone who writes long reviews with photos and videos for making the experience come alive for me. What an amazing world we live in! Who can stay home?? Travel broadens the mind- never a truer word said.

 

Norris

[jpalbny]

Norris, great post. I had a manual Z4 which I really enjoyed driving as well. And your description of the area around the Rhine and Mosel makes me want to visit even more. Definitely would like to revisit Cologne too. We went south with Chris' new Audi last May so the terrain was a little different:

 

 

Nice car and setting in your photo - I really liked the E46 3-series; it's a good looking car. We had both a 2002 sedan and Chris' 2002 M3 from that series. Unfortunately my more recent iteration of the 3-series never felt as nice and it made me jump from BMW to Audi.

 

Thanks for the comments about Cappadocia. Unfortunately our balloon ride got canceled but we made the most of it despite that. Definitely a place worth visiting, and contrary to what my friend told me, a place that was pretty easy to explore on our own.

 

Enjoy the warmth next month!

[mskaufman]

Thanks for this. We are trying to decide whether to do the Basel - Amsterdam cruise and the pictures make this look enticing.

[jpalbny]

Thanks for this. We are trying to decide whether to do the Basel - Amsterdam cruise and the pictures make this look enticing.

 

Glad I could tempt you. It is a great itinerary and a very nice cruise. Though there is something to be said for visiting by land as well... Choices!

[Bimmer09]

Glad I could tempt you. It is a great itinerary and a very nice cruise. Though there is something to be said for visiting by land as well... Choices!

 

JP-thanks for the pic of the S4! It's hard to photograph a car in Europe without some pesky gorgeous scenery getting in the shot.

 

I travel with someone who mentions the words River Cruise a lot but I have so far resisted the urge to book one and it's probably because of agreeing with what you say in the quote above- the flexibility of being on land in a good rental car and being able to drive ALONG a river and say-this looks like a nice little town, let's stop and have lunch here. We stumbled upon Durnstein during a drive from Melk back into Vienna in this way.

 

Did you find yourself seeing places along your cruise where you thought-I wish we were stopping here, or I wish we could stay here and have dinner tonight?

I surf the Azamara boards for Ocean Cruising based on the fact that they do late port departures and overnights in port even though I am a happy Princess Cruiser. Dinner ashore at night, eaten outdoors is a great lure. Small ship helps too.

 

While I mention driving (on a river cruise board-maybe I'm lost!) don't you wish that Freeway stops in the USA were up to par with those in Western Europe? Ever stopped at a rest stop/tankstelle where they have an AXXE cafe? Amazing fresh highway food and clean bathrooms.

 

While I am highjacking your thread I may as well ask how you came to pick Silver Sea as your cruise line of choice?

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Norris

[jpalbny]

JP-thanks for the pic of the S4! It's hard to photograph a car in Europe without some pesky gorgeous scenery getting in the shot.

 

I travel with someone who mentions the words River Cruise a lot but I have so far resisted the urge to book one and it's probably because of agreeing with what you say in the quote above- the flexibility of being on land in a good rental car and being able to drive ALONG a river and say-this looks like a nice little town, let's stop and have lunch here. We stumbled upon Durnstein during a drive from Melk back into Vienna in this way.

 

Did you find yourself seeing places along your cruise where you thought-I wish we were stopping here, or I wish we could stay here and have dinner tonight?

I surf the Azamara boards for Ocean Cruising based on the fact that they do late port departures and overnights in port even though I am a happy Princess Cruiser. Dinner ashore at night, eaten outdoors is a great lure. Small ship helps too.

 

While I mention driving (on a river cruise board-maybe I'm lost!) don't you wish that Freeway stops in the USA were up to par with those in Western Europe? Ever stopped at a rest stop/tankstelle where they have an AXXE cafe? Amazing fresh highway food and clean bathrooms.

 

While I am highjacking your thread I may as well ask how you came to pick Silver Sea as your cruise line of choice?

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Norris

 

Happy Holidays to you also, Norris! We are busy packing up for a Christmas getaway to Paris. Since 12/26 is a Federal Holiday we have a long weekend and why not?

 

We have cruised on and off since we finished school - our first cruise was on the SS Norway back in 1993 and for a while we cruised with Norwegian and Celebrity every winter. It was fine at the time but we got bored with the Caribbean and even in those early years, we could see things cheapening out. I remember being amazed by the midnight buffets and the public spaces aboard the SS Norway the first tie - what a grand old ship. That quickly disappeared. After a few years, we got bored with cruising in general and started doing more land-based trips to National Parks, Hawaii, etc.

 

We were bit again by the Cruise bug almost 10 years ago when we tried Oceania, just a normal Mediterranean route. Had a great time and found that cruising with O was an order of magnitude better than what we remembered. We mixed in a few Princess cruises along with a bunch of Oceania cruises and while we could see a difference, both were fun. But after a few Med itineraries, we again started looking for something different.

 

Our current choice of SS started with an expedition cruise that we took with them 5 years ago. We visited Antarctica on Prince Albert II, now Silver Explorer, and were again amazed at the level of service and the quality of the onboard experience. We then tried a few itineraries on Silver Cloud and Silver Wind and have not looked back yet - though we are again looking for new and different itineraries and may slow down on the number of Ocean cruises for a time.

 

We like SS for the international mix of passengers, the ability of the tiny ships to visit smaller out of the way places, the (pretty much) all-inclusive experience, and the consistently great service. It's a little hard to describe another factor, but we get the sense that it's more "European" than many of the US-based cruise lines. The food choices, for example - more often than not, they are not the type of items that you'd identify as "American" so it's a chance to try something a little different. The wines are often unusual too. For us, trying something a bit different when traveling is a lot of fun, and they do that well.

 

So far we haven't felt like we missed things while river cruising because we have kept a nice mix of land-based and river-based travel. Plus we tend to cruise to places that we haven't visited yet, so our plan going in is to get an overview of a certain area. Part of the fun for us, when we cruise, is finding places to return and visit again later in more depth. So a superficial overview is OK in our book.

 

For example - we thought Rudesheim was cute but on our Rhine cruise, but we had about 90 minutes there in the early morning. Of course, we loved it and wanted to stay longer, and we wanted to wander the streets at night when the weingartens were rocking. But I took a picture of the hotel I want to stay at, and it's on the return list. Some day, we'll get to do that. No worries.

 

It's a trade-off because land-based trips are harder work, driving can be stressful at times, and it's a pain living out of a suitcase, moving every night. So mixing in a few cruises helps make that all average out for us.

 

I don't remember much about the rest areas in Germany but I have been similarly amazed at the highway stops in France. Wow! The food selection is incredible. Puts McDonalds to shame. We had to drive from Nice to Paris once and we lived off of that food for the entire day.

 

BTW, Chris' car in that picture is actually an S7. Hard to tell from the straight-on front profile, though. This will show the profile better:

 

 

And you're right about that scenery! This is somewhere else in Switzerland...

[123456con]

JPALBNY,

 

What a wonderful post! It will be my first river cruise and had decided on this route on the Antoinette. I've been on a few Crystal cruises and was getting confused with river cruising since the websites don't expound too much on the daily tours and how far the town will be. Likewise, was turned off when I read a few reviews saying that boats were docked side by side at night!

 

I was literally googling each port and trying to figure out how long transfers to town proper would take (don't want to be on a bus for long) till I came across this detailed travel diary. What an experience! Cant wait to sail on the Antoinette too.

 

You mentioned that you pick which tour you want to go to. I was wondering do they all start at the same time? Or are they staggered throughout the morning. I want this to be relaxing and would prefer having a late start at around 11am. Is there a site where they publish the tour details. What time do the tours leave? Also if we opt out of touring, are there shuttles to say Strasbourg... throughout the day?

 

And lastly, ocean liners post the time they arrive and leave each port. I don't see that in any of the river cruising websites? We plan on going in October, hoping that we will have as much time in each town as you had.

Edited March 6, 2015 by 123456con

[jpalbny]

123456con - thanks for your comments. It was a great trip and we enjoyed it so much that we're off to join her sister ship (SS Catherine) on the Rhone in 2 weeks.

 

To answer some of your questions:

 

First, bear in mind that river cruising is quite fluid (no pun intended) and docking times and locations can change minute to minute based on water levels, traffic, and many other circumstances. So putting out a detailed schedule saying that you'll dock at 8AM on such and such a pier, be on tour by 8:15, and done by 10:30 is not so feasible months in advance. I didn't ever find this information in advance, and I do not know that such information exists.

 

That said, you can plan in general terms, but be prepared to be flexible. They give you more detailed information during the briefing that occurs every evening before dinner, and by that point they have a pretty good idea of the timing of events for the next day.

 

I did scan and upload my daily programs if you want to look at them, for an idea of how our days were scheduled. But your cruise's schedule may look nothing like ours. I posted a link to the daily programs in this thread.

 

We found that the tour groups doing the same tour all left at the same time - and what I mean by that is for instance, when you're disembarking in a city and splitting into groups for a walking tour, everyone assembles into the groups on the pier and everyone leaves at roughly the same time. The tour guides are pretty adept at varying the order of the sites that they visit, so that all the groups don't end up in the same place at the same time. But they didn't have a group leaving every half-hour for example. So you can pick your group, but not your time.

 

Different tours can certainly leave at different times. They were timed so that you could usually go on two different tours a day if you wanted. For example, in Koblenz we did our included city walking tour in the morning, and then went on the optional tour to Marksburg Castle in the afternoon.

 

If you don't want to go on the included tours then they will run shuttle buses to some of the towns for independent travelers. They did this in Kehl (for Strasbourg), and in Mannheim (for Speyer). We used the independent bus to spend more time in Strasbourg which was very nice. In many of the other towns, a shuttle bus would be unnecessary as you dock within walking distance of the town.

 

So go, enjoy, and "go with the flow" of the river. We found this river cruise to be more relaxing than our typical ocean cruise, where we visit bigger ports and try to cram two days' worth of activity into 8 hours. We found river cruising to be more about wandering through small towns and soaking up the ambience.

 

Have you booked yet for October?

Edited March 9, 2015 by jpalbny

[dbncsuvet]

Thanks so much for this wonderful and thorough review! Did you feel that the all-inclusive nature of Uniworld was worth the higher price? We are going to do a Rhone/Saone cruise in 2016 for our 10th anniversary and are trying to decide between all-inclusive (Uniworld or Tauck) vs AMA. I love the photos of the SS Catherine and Uniworld is our top choice so far. However, we also want to spend time in Paris and Uniworld's cost for that is astronomical. We may book that part on our own.

 

I see you will be sailing the SS Catherine this month. Will you be posting a review of that? I would love to see it!

[jpalbny]

Thanks so much for this wonderful and thorough review! Did you feel that the all-inclusive nature of Uniworld was worth the higher price?

 

Thank you for your kind comments.

 

Yes, we thought the price was reasonable for what is included. Food was quite good, and included wines were local and tasty. I cannot in all honesty compare Uniworld to any other river cruise line operating in Europe, because we haven't sailed them. Our only other river cruise was with A&K in Egypt.

 

We are going to do a Rhone/Saone cruise in 2016 for our 10th anniversary and are trying to decide between all-inclusive (Uniworld or Tauck) vs AMA. I love the photos of the SS Catherine and Uniworld is our top choice so far. However, we also want to spend time in Paris and Uniworld's cost for that is astronomical. We may book that part on our own.

 

I see you will be sailing the SS Catherine this month. Will you be posting a review of that? I would love to see it!

 

Definitely easy to do Paris on your own. We have been there twice, both times independently, and have had a great time. We were just there over the Christmas weekend for a few days and it was wonderful. It does help that JP stands for Jean-Paul, and I can speak passable French...

 

And, we'll be back in Paris a week from this Saturday, before our Rhone cruise! Just one day and one overnight, but it should set the stage for a great trip. From Paris, we'll take the TGV to Lyon to meet SS Catherine. We are really excited for this cruise!

 

I plan to do a trip review - hope that I can find the time. Sometimes I have to take notes and pictures during the trip, then assemble the report once I'm home. It's more fun to spend our time enjoying the trip, than to put the whole trip log together "live" - but we shall see how that goes.

 

Regarding other lines - there are many fans of Tauck on these boards and their product sounds first rate. AMA seems high-quality as well, and some rate their food even better than Uniworld. Caviargal will be able to compare them head to head later this year; she's an AMA veteran who's cruising on SS Catherine in a few months. We also have friends who speak highly of AMA.

 

It seems like all of the higher-end lines deliver a quality experience. So your anniversary trip should be something special - enjoy it!

[Buck1949]

I was reading through the postings and noted that you wanted to do a 'recap' of your trip, but did not like having to take notes.......

 

Well I was exactly the same way...UNTIL several years ago... I went out and bought a small handheld recorder. Many of today's recorders run off AAA batteries, and store hundreds of minutes of voice recordings. I predominately use mine for recording each photo that I take that I want to remember details about. (the camera labels the photo number so I just reference that). There are also times when I want to remember something I saw, or the spelling of an item for later. Ironically you rarely use up more than 30 to 40 seconds of space for each voice note on the recorder. I have yet to run out of space. Just last year I took 1500 photos on a 14 day Italy trip, and still had plenty of room for more info on the recorder. While I am not trying to sell you on my brand...there are dozens of different ones.... I do like mine..and I like that I can plug in the included USB to my laptop to download it when I want to. These date/time stamp your notes...so that it corresponds to the location and time you took the picture, or made the voice note. (Just remember to reset the date/time to the country you are in for it to be correct )

 

Just thought I would pass along this idea for you.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Buck1949

[dbncsuvet]

Definitely easy to do Paris on your own. We have been there twice, both times independently, and have had a great time. We were just there over the Christmas weekend for a few days and it was wonderful. It does help that JP stands for Jean-Paul, and I can speak passable French...

 

And, we'll be back in Paris a week from this Saturday, before our Rhone cruise! Just one day and one overnight, but it should set the stage for a great trip. From Paris, we'll take the TGV to Lyon to meet SS Catherine. We are really excited for this cruise!

 

Thanks for the information. It is very helpful! Do you have any particular hotels that you recommend in Paris? We are looking for something close to the city center (along the Seine or Champs Elysees) and something not too expensive (hopefully under $500 per night) but decent. Any recommendations are welcome.

 

Enjoy your cruise on SS Catherine! I am anxious to hear how it goes!

[jpalbny]

Thanks for the information. It is very helpful! Do you have any particular hotels that you recommend in Paris? We are looking for something close to the city center (along the Seine or Champs Elysees) and something not too expensive (hopefully under $500 per night) but decent. Any recommendations are welcome.

 

Enjoy your cruise on SS Catherine! I am anxious to hear how it goes!

 

We spent 3 great nights at Hotel Keppler over Christmas weekend. Lovely boutique hotel, great staff, amazing breakfast... Location is an 5-10 minutes walk from CDG-Etoile RER station (which is the Arc de Triomphe) and a few blocks from the Champs-Elysees on a quiet side street. We took the RER from the airport and it was a piece of cake.

 

Loved this place and will definitely stay again on another visit. I wrote a review on Trip Advisor (same username as here).

 

We're staying further to the east this time so we're closer to Gare de Lyon, where' we'll be catching our train to the cruise ship. But we did look at Keppler again for this upcoming trip - just decided that location was more important for a one-night stay.

 

There is no shortage of beautiful (and expensive) properties in Paris to choose from. And if you have points with any major hotel chain, Paris is a good place to use them. We got a gorgeous suite at Hyatt Place Vendome a few years ago that was well worth it - the room rates are crazy, but when you can get them for points... :D

[jpalbny]

Buck1949 / Bill - thanks for the idea.

 

Between Chris, me, and Google, we can usually figure things out after the fact - but this may save some time. I have taken notes with the memo app of my cell phone on occasion; now that they have voice recognition software that is pretty good. The more that I can use my cell phone for something, the fewer pieces of equipment to carry around...

 

I bet that there's an app to take voice notes on a cell phone, though. That would be even better. Will have to look for that. Again, thanks for the idea!

[Buck1949]

Buck1949 / Bill - thanks for the idea.

 

Between Chris, me, and Google, we can usually figure things out after the fact - but this may save some time. I have taken notes with the memo app of my cell phone on occasion; now that they have voice recognition software that is pretty good. The more that I can use my cell phone for something, the fewer pieces of equipment to carry around...

 

I bet that there's an app to take voice notes on a cell phone, though. That would be even better. Will have to look for that. Again, thanks for the idea!

 

I totally understand about carrying many things. I actually carry a Canon DSLR so I just attach the recorder to the camera strap or camera backpack I carry.

 

My wife actually has a small recorder that will translate to text what she says. Does a very good job of voice recognition and translation and helps put events in written chronological order when she downloads it to her laptop computer.

 

I rarely use my iPhone when I travel - but have on occassion recorded a voice memo. Bet there probably is 'an app for that'!!

 

Enjoy your trip - and.....

 

Travel Safe!!

[sanantoniogirl58]

Your photo log and trip report were addictive. It was midnight; I had to go to work, I could not stop scrolling. My hub and I are doing that cruise Amersterdam to Basel in October on AmaCerto. I am so excited and addictedto this forum I fear I will burn out long before the cruise. Thank you for the time it took for you to put your report together. I loved overy bit of it, but mostly the Rhine Gorge.

[jpalbny]

sanantoniogirl58, welcome to CC! Thanks for reading and I hope you made it to work on time. CC can be addictive... Lots of information there. You will have a great time on your cruise and no matter how much you read about it beforehand, it's even better to be there. The Rhine Gorge is amazing - hope you have nicer weather than we did that day.

 

Buck1949 - found an Android app called Skyro that records voice memos. It geotags the memos with your phone's GPS, and also timestamps them. Should come in handy. We'll see how it goes.