Has anyone Been on a Vantage River Cruise?

[cruisingmimi]

Cindielee,

 

Thanks for your excellent report. Sounds like Vantage may be a very viable option for us. The weather will not be a problem for us as we live in New England and would be used to similar temps. Besides, it's a good excuse to drink some more of those German wines to keep warm. LOL

 

I wondered if you could answer a question about the cabin beds. What are they like? I spoke w/ a Vantage rep a few weeks ago and she had just returned from the Christmas Market cruise. She loved it (of course, she works for Vantage). Said the beds folded up into the wall. Not sure what she meant. Are the cabins really small? Sounds like they are. That's not really that big a deal for us but I was just wondering about the bed arrangement. Is there an area where you could sit and have a drink, etc.

 

I was also wondering about the itinerary - where did you visit and can you recap those places?

 

Also wondered about what "extras" you had to pay for not included in the trip price? Wines for dinner included? Shore excursions? Optional shore excursions you may have done? Did you do a pre-cruise stay? Sorry to be asking so many questions.

 

Thanks so much.

 

Mary

[cindiedee]

Hey - I will try to answer your questions. On the beds - you can have a queen bed if you pay for it - you have to pay for the upper deck cabins. We were on the lower level in the "cheap seats" but we knew that going into it. The cabins are small but have so much storage. When we first saw our cabin I was concerned about where all our clothes were going - because winter clothes are so bulky. But there are all kinds of drawers and cubby holes and everything worked out fine. We had the beds you are talking about - one on each side of the room, separated by a table with lamp, etc. The beds were very compfortable and the top part comes up on a slant - so you can sit and read - kind of like a lounge chair does when you are hanging around the pool. Great pillows and this is the best! The feather deckers on the beds instead of blankets, bedspreads, etc - my DH was so enamored by them that he insisted we buy one as soon as we get home - we did, but for peat sakes, we live in south Florida! So, if you and DH must sleep in the same bed, you'll have to pay for the more expensive cabins. DH and I cuddled up in just one of the beds several nights and were just fine. :D Our ports were Nurnburg, Rudeshiem, Mainz, Rothenburg, Koln, Amsterdam and there must be other places that I just can't think of at the moment. I can't tell you how wonderful this trip was and we go on several o'seas trips or cruises a year - this was just magical. The best service ever, best tours, etc. We did not pay extra for any shore excursions - they were all included. A couple of times the entire ship went to local restaurants for lunch or dinner. We had a band one night at a restaurant and we all ate and drank and danced and then walked en masse back to the ship in the snow, under the moonlight, with all the Christmas lights twinkling. A couple of nights the crew took people to a disco - I am a bit beyond the disco age but a few went. In Mainz there is a casino so some went there. The only extras we paid for were wine/drinks and tips to the crew and staff. Several times there was free champagne and/or wine in the afternoon or at cocktail hour and sometimes even at dinner. The crew made arrangements for those of us who wanted to attend to go to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I am telling you the ONLY disappointment was New Year's Eve and that was an absolute bust. We loved this trip so much that we were going to book it for the holidays next year - it is even cheaper than this year - but it is the identical itinerary and we didn't want to do that - would prefer different towns or countries. Because we will be moving out of Florida as soon as our house sells (we are moving to the Savannah area), I also didn't know where we would book to fly in/out of - so that was another consideration for waiting to book another trip. Once this move is over and we know we are somewhat settled, I will start the hunt for the next Vantage cruise - we would like to see Prague and Romania so we are looking for something with those in mind. If there are any other questions, just fire away. Y'all have a great weekend! Cindie

[cindiedee]

Forgot to answer a couple questions - we did not do pre-cruise because we have been to Munich in the past and although we like that town, we wanted to have an early Christmas with our children and grandchildren. We didn't do the post cruise because it was Amsterdam - very few people did it. We have been to Amsterdam before and it is ALWAYS under construction and pretty ugly. Holland is gorgeous when you get outside of Amsterdam but A'dam itself is nothing to write home about. Alot of the tourist areas are around the Red Light District and in every tourist souvenir shop we went in, right there beside the wooden shoes, was all the marijuana and sex stuff. All our 6 year old granddaughter wanted us to bring her was "wooden shoes from those Holland people" - I was very glad that she wasn't in the stores shopping for them with us! I don't recall that there were any extra shore excursions that you could pay to go on - I could be wrong but I don't think so. Anyway.......hope I have now answered your questions! Oh, on the beds, they fold up into the wall during the day and the underside of the bed (padded) becomes the back of your daytime sofas - with a table between them. They aren't very comfortable to sit at and read, write etc - the bench part is too narrow - but we would just pull the pin on the top and fold down our beds in the day when we wanted to read or watch tv. Go book that cruise!!!!!!!!!

[npphotog]

Hi Mary - I would agree with everything that Cindiedee said. We too had a cabin at the bottom of the boat. Same beds as the middle deck and same room size. Only difference of the two decks were the size of the windows. Really, who sits in their cabin that much. Had free wine first night on the cruise, the second night (Captains welcome dinner) and the farewell dinner. This was our first cruise of any kind - not interested in those huge liners. too many people. We had 160 people and I think a total crew of some 46.

Right now we are having a monster of a storm here in Florida. Two days dropping buckets of rain.

I would recommend Vantage with out any reservation. We plan to do the China tour with them next May (2007). Willard

p.s. Could not believe how much room there was in our cabin (#206) Little spots to stuff things. And the wait staff were just great.