Romantic Rhine/Avalon Tapestry

[lbenson]

We are a party of 6-two families, each with a 12-year old son traveling in early August from Amsterdam to Basel. Both boys are well traveled, but this is our first river cruise. I know that there is little entertainment on board, but that is not a problem. I would appreciate any advice regarding what not to miss on the stops, optional tours offered that are worthwhile, and any other information you can share. At dinner do the boys need long pants, or can they wear shorts and a polo/golf shirt? Thanks for any input.

[texastart]

We did provence on the river royale last may(it was still cool) and are doing the new rhine rhapsody in october. The boys can wear shorts and polos. I doubt that anyone will whisper. :-)) But it could be cool and long pants may feel better. We found that nothing is mandatory and unless you feel awkward and out of place if you don't dress like everyone else, it will be fine. My husband wore dockers to dinner all the time and only a coat and tie for the captains dinner but even that is not mandatory..only suggested. And the only reason he took a coat and tie was because my brotherinlaw took one and my husband didn't want to feel like the odd man out. My opinion is that you are paying for the cruise, you can wear what you want. Men were wearing shorts for breakfast and lunch every day and long pants for dinner but nothing fancy. None of the women wore anything fancy or formal. Even for the captains dinner it was simply slacks and a nice blouse. It was fine. These are casual cruises and we think they are the best value. We didn't spend a dime on our provence cruise except for one optional cruise. The food was wonderful...particularly the homemade soups! Breakfast has something for everyone as does lunch. The boys won't complain and neither will you.

The boys won't have time to be bored (although they are probably too young to appreciate this cruise and the history they will see) They kept us busy with walking tours right after breakfast every day and often in the afternoon as well. Otherwise, the boys would probably prefer to hang out on the deck upstairs and going thru the locks is really cool too. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me....texastart@aol.com

[msmeltz]

We are going to be on the Poetry in July.

 

You said your husband wore a jacket....what were the rest of the men wearing on Captain's night? Anyone in just long sleeve shirts?

 

Was a jacket necessary anywhere else in Europe?

[lbenson]

Thanks for the info. Do you think that the weather will be cool in early August? Is dinner open seating or at a set time?

[letsgo39]

The weather will probably be hot.The last 2 times I have been in central Europe in the mid summer it was very hot,in the mid to high 80's. There is open seating at dinner.

[magmorr75219]

On our Poetry trip, there was open seating, but dinner did begin at a set time, with the exception of one night with a dinner buffet.

[texastart]

We are going to be on the Poetry in July.

 

You said your husband wore a jacket....what were the rest of the men wearing on Captain's night? Anyone in just long sleeve shirts?

 

Was a jacket necessary anywhere else in Europe?

I think most men were wearing a sportcoat on captain's night. I honestly don't remember for sure. If someone wasn't wearing one, I doubt anyone would have cared. My husband didn't have any use for the sportcoat/tie except for that one night.

[hobse]

No need to take a sport coat, there will be plenty of men not wearing one. On our Tapestry cruise last year, it was very casual every night. On Captains night some men wore sport coats, most did not. There was a variety of jeans, khakis, slacks, polo shirts, long sleeve shirts.

[JGR01]

Are you on the Aug 4th or 18th departure?

 

I'm on the 4th! 52 (will be spending birthday onboard) traveling single.

[magmorr75219]

Are you on the Aug 4th or 18th departure?

 

I'm on the 4th! 52 (will be spending birthday onboard) traveling single.

 

You should enjoy your birthday dinner. :) They usually make that special. I also spent my birthday on board this year (on the Poetry).

[lbenson]

We are traveling on August 4. You will know who we are because probably we are the only people traveling with 12-year olds. I noticed that you made a post regarding an early return flight home. Our flight home leaves Zurich at 10:10am.

[JGR01]

I'm on the 10:05am AA ZRH-JFK flight.

 

Guess we will be sharing the same EARLY EARLY bus to the airport!

[lbenson]

We bought our own flight, so I don't think that our travel to the airport is included. I was going to worry about it when we got there. Do you know how far we will be from the airport in Zurich? I am thinking that a Sunday early morning will not have too much traffic. We fly into Atlanta and then to LA. We have been on cruises but never on a river cruise.

[JGR01]

I also bought my own air ..

 

In planning with Avalon however, they offer transportation 'options' for each end of the cruise even for people like us with our own air transport.

 

I think it was $35 on the Basel>ZRH end of things and I took it (and paid for it already). Since I am going to AMS early by a few days I am getting to the ship via taxi from the town.

 

Ocean cruise ships let you purchase this optional transportation even onboard .. you may be able to do it.

 

Tho I have read online that while we dock in Basel, (unknown location) mapquest lists the distance from Basel to Zurich (both using just the city not an address) as over 50 miles, the bus for the airport will leave very early from the ship as compared to those who get off after breakfast.

[lbenson]

Hi JGR, Thank you for the info. I will call my agent and purchase transportation to the airport. I had no idea how far away we would be from the Zurich. We are flying into Paris a few days early and then spending a couple of days in Amsterdam. On Monday, the first full day of the river cruise, do we have time in the afternoon to do our own thing or are we off right after our morning canal cruise? I hope that we have some time on our own.

[Harley Woman]

My husband and I were on the Tapestry the first week in June and had such a great time!

You sons should be fine with polo shirts and shorts for dinner. There were some teenage girls on our cruise who wore jeans and I didn't hear anyone say anything negative about that. My husband took a dress shirt and tie for the captain's dinner. He didn't want to waste space in his suitcase with a jacket. He looked fine and dressed better than some on that night.

We only did one optional excursion, a beer tasting walk, which, we thought was overpriced for what we saw and did.

We pretty much explored the cities on our own with a map. We enjoyed the included excursions/tours especially in Coblenz.

We had incredible weather. Much warmer than we planned for. Make sure your shoes are ultra comfortable before you go!

One tip - When you go to the Black Forest(included tour by bus) remember this: You will only get off the bus at the cuckoo clock maker's store. He is the one that is on board the night before to show you a video and demonstrate carving. When you get off the bus the employees at the store will offer you some cherry wine. We thought that was an interesting marketing move. Have a taste of wine at 10 am and then let loose in a store!! I tasted the wine after we left the store.

If you and yours like chocolate try the Ritter's Sport bars. They come in many flavors and the Alpenmilch is the creamiest milk chocolate I've ever had! Better that Lindt. You can find these in tourist shops and small markets.

You will like the music machine museum in Rudesheim. Very interesting. The bier gardens there looked fun, though we didn't go in.

Please email me if you have any more questions. I'll be happy to answer them.

Harley Woman

[lbenson]

Thank you Harley Woman. I am so happy to hear what you had to say. I appreciate your recommendations. Did you have time on your own in Amsterdam, or did the boat set sail immediately after the canal cruise Monday morning? Does a packet come with the cruise docs listing the optional tours? Are there many optional tours? What time do the included tours begin in the morning? If you will post your e-mail address, I will ask you questions directly. Maybe it is already posted somewhere, but I don't know how to find it. I am so glad that you enjoyed the trip.

[Harley Woman]

Ibenson - There is no private messaging that I can use to give you my email address. For some reason it is not available on these message boards. I really don't want to give it out on the message board. I get enough junk email as it is. My husband is going to set me up with instant messaging if you would like to contact me that way. I'd still like to answer any questions and give you my thoughts about the cruise.

Harley Woman

[lbenson]

That is OK Harley Woman. I don't blame you about not wanting to post your e-mail address online. If you could just answer my questions in this open forum, that would be great. I have the questions that I asked in my last post. I am sure that there may be others who are wondering the same thing. Also, are there any evenings where you can go ashore or are you always moving at night? Do you remember if there were DVD players in the cabins? I am thinking that the kids may want to watch a movie. I can always pack a small portable. Thanks for your info. Sincerely, Laura

[Harley Woman]

Laura,

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.

We stayed 3 days in Amsterdam before we set sail on a Sunday morning. We met up with the cruise group at a hotel in the museum district. We were told the cruise uses various hotels for each trip, so you may not be at that particular hotel. From my journal, we were bussed to the ship on Sunday afternoon, settled in and had dinner. No one was concerned with attire. We walked into Amsterdam from the ship and then back around 10pm. (The ship is docked near the Red Light District and we hadn't seen it yet, but nothing to show teens!) The next morning there was the canal tour. We had already taken a free one through the hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam, so we wlaked around one last time. Just a note about Mondays in Amsterdam. Many shops are not open early ( we found only some "tourist" type shops open - regular shops open at 1 or 2pm). I guessed it's from working most of the weekend!! Then back to the ship at 11:15am to set sail.

All of the info and times will be in your documents. For some reason ours arrived very close to out departure date. It was supposed to arrive 3 weeks before our departure and we only got it a few days before.

No DVD players in the rooms, but they had a few channels with only movies, some corresponding to the area we would be docking at i.e. Heidi, a movie about WW II, etc. They run the same movies back to back for about 24 hours in case you miss any of one.

We did go ashore in Rudesheim in the evening to visit the music museum (must see), but the town was basically closed except for a tourist shop and the bier gardens, which looked fun - live bands, small tables outside in a courtyard-type setting, flowers and plants in lots of planters. We also saw a number of swans near the ships (there were other cruise ships like ours docked near us).

One thing about security while in Holland, Germany and France, I really felt most comfortable with the purse I took (small back pack type from http://www.travelsmith.com). I kept my wallet in the section closest to my back and suggested to my husband that he keep his wallet in his front pocket, not the back pocket. In Amsterdam there are even street signs warning of pickpockets. I have a friend who just got back from Italy and she told me horror stories about gypsy women who brazenly try to get in your fanny packs while you stare at them breast feeding their babies openly in front of you!! We felt safe where we went and used the onboard safes in the closets.

Please let me know if you have any other concerns or questions, or if anyone else does for that matter.

 

Harley Woman

[lbenson]

Thank you Harley Woman for all your information. Our trip is just a few weeks away, so already we are planning our time away. I appreciate the time you took to give me the info. Laura