Rhine and Mosel Rivers

[Jesterscourt]

Has anyone recently returned from a Rhine and/ or Mosel River Cruise? We will be going in Oct. I have read about low water levels last year. Is there anything new (good or bad) this season? What were the highlights of your river cruise and are there any pearls of wisdom you have for us? Since there is a paucity of information about Rhine Cruises as compared to say, Mediterranean cruises, anything would be appreciated.

[cmthomas]

We are sailing on September 23 from Antwerp to Basel on the Rhine and Mosel Rivers with Grand Circle. We have previously sailed with them from Vienna to Amsterdam and enjoyed it immensely. People with whom we have spoken from Germany report nromal water levels for this time of year so it looks pretty good for the coming months. Main advice is to pack comfortable casual wear. I am taking one sport jacket and my wife is taking one dress. Looking forward to sampling many of the local wines as we travel. It is quite nice to have tours included in the price and so convenient to dock right in the towns being visited. If there is anything else I can share with you don't hesitate to ask. Clarence & Ethel

[paknoe]

Clarence

 

I see you have sailed the Vienna to Amsterdam route--what tours were extra and in what cities?

[cmthomas]

When we went two years ago there were no extra charges tours. Everything was covered in the original price. I understand that Grand Circle is now charging for some tours, probably to offset the declining value of the dollar in Europe. I can't imagine any of the tours that I would skip even if it meant paying a charge. The only one I see listed in their 2004 brochure for your trip is to Rothenburg on the day that the ship is in Wurzburg. It doesn't give any information about Rothenburg other than to "Please call for details" which I would recommend doing. I have no independent recollection of Rothenburg from our trip. It does seem odd that in one place the brochure says in bold type "All Shore Excursions" are included in the tour price then in another they list one trip as "Optional." I have checked with my spouse whose memory is infallible (!) and she has no recollection of us going to Rothenburg so either it was not offered on our trip or we decided to pass it up. I clearly remember the visit to the "Residenz" in Wurzburg which was well worthwhile.:D Clarence

[Flick]

Hi:

Just returned from Great Rivers of Europe trip this past Thursday morning. I have written a review which contains a lot of pertinent info. It is listed as "River Melody"-July 04 or some such thing and is near the top of this thread. First we went to Rothenburg-don't miss it! It is a "pure" medieval town because there was no bombing in WWII. The only other opton offered that we went on was Marksburg Castle (while docked in Koblenz). The program directors themselves discouraged everyone from going on the third option, Schloss Seehof, based on past passenger's recommendations. Other than those three options on the boat we did do the Concert in Vienna. Rethink that sport coat-this trip is very casual. Some even wore shorts in the dining room. The GCT boats on the rivers are the sharpest boats out there and the only ones with balconies. The other boats have sliding glass doors on top but no balcony.

Now you probably know this but the weight limitation for International flights both ways is 70 pounds. That will come in handy when you start packing heavier clothing for those Sept. and Oct. trips.

The river levels were normal, neither high nor low. Unfortunately, the bridges were built too low so you rarely can use the Skydeck because the pilot house has to be lowered and that blocks access to the Sky deck.

I KNOW you are going to have a fabulous trip. You both should do a lot of walking before you go, those cobblestones are murder on the old bod and my bod ain't that old!!