romance of the rhine and mosel

[burtshell]

my wife and i are going on gct's debussy from basel to antwerp. we will be on the river for 14 days.

we will welcome any comments,info and other bits of information that would enhance our cruise.

thanks

burtshell

[Carhut]

Took that trip last year. It was scenic and a very nice trip. If you haven't seen my pictures, you can find them on this site.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/Carhut

 

Carole

[burtshell]

great pictures.

anything we should know re: the ports and the boat?

thanks

burtshell

[travelsfun]

We did that trip two years ago in late July, early August..it was wonderful! The scenery was especially beautiful on the Mosel. When are you going? You will enjoy all the little villages and GCT does a terrific job. Any questions, I will be happy to answer.

Dorothy

[burtshell]

hi dorothy,

we are leaving july 21,2007

flying from florida to basel,then boarding the debussy and cruising for 14 days. we fly home on august 5,2007 from brussels to florida.

re:questions- what were the highlights?

what optional tours did you enjoy?

how were the included tours?

did you have "free time" in the towns?

was the ship(boat) docked near the center of the towns?

thanks

burtshell

[Carhut]

I loved the town of Bernkastel. The tour that I enjoyed was to Riquewihr. It stopped at a stork farm and drove through the French countryside and lot's of little towns. We did spend some time shopping in the one town.

I didn't take the Luxemburg tour. It was kind of rainy that day, so opted to stay on the boat in the lounge and watch the scenery cruising down the Mosel river.

Didn't take the Marksbury Castle tour as they said there were steep steps, much hill climbing, etc. Friend that went said it was good that I didn't go. I have a bad knee.

But we did get to tour another castle, Rheinfelds and the bus drove us right up to it. This was an included tour.

[Carhut]

You asked if boat docked near center of town. Sometimes. Basel was not. Up the hill and a train ride to center of town. Trier, we were bussed to center of town. Busses kept running back and forth on the hour. Dusseldorf was a long walk (in the rain) to get to the busses that took us on tour. Strasbourg had a shuttle to get to the center of town. I think the rest were all within walking distance of town.

[travelsfun]

Think that Carole answered most of your questions. I did take the optional to Luxembourg (hubby did not). The American cemetary was very impressive to those of us who lived through that war. I could have skipped the city tour as there was not that much to see. It was also a long bus ride there.

 

One suggestion...pick up a booklet called "A Trip on the Rhine" and one on the Mosel which have long fold-out maps showing milage markers along the rivers so you can know exactly where you are at any given moment. You can find the maps in a bookstore in Basel, I'm sure. The ship did hand out similar maps but they were not nearly as good.

 

There was some free time in the cities (but not enough to suit the real shoppers)

 

The weather was very unusual when we went two years ago in late July. It was cold and wet part of the time and gals were rushing off the boat to buy sweaters. Be prepared for anything!

 

Dorothy