Roll Call - Avalon Tapestry, Rhomatic Rhine Sept. 7, 2008

[happycruizer]

I realize that we won't get as much response as ocean cruises but thought I'de start this roll call anyway.

 

There are 3 couples in our group and after several ocean cruises we thought we'de try our first river cruise. This sailing is almost sold out so who will be joining us?

[vb527]

You know we'll be there, with bells on! ;)

Wow. So it will probably be a full boat eh? How did you find out it's almost sold out?

[happycruizer]

Hi vb527. There is another couple "thinking" about doing the cruise so I look at Avalon's website daily checking availability on this sailing. They have shown no available cabins for the past week [you must actually click on the "book now" section to see]. I'm sure there are some cabins on hold that may or may not clear. Regardless I think it's pretty much full.

 

Are ya'all going in a few days early? We'll probably arrive into Zurich on the 5th [although that plan could change]. Not sure if we'll spend extra days in AMS since we'll have all day, overnight and possible half day before flying out.

 

Looking forward to the "jingling" of the bells;)

[vb527]

Hi happycruizer. I never realised how popular river cruising is until I started reading this forum.

 

I'm actually drafting up our holiday plans at the moment and trying to figure out how many days to spend in Zurich before our cruise and whether it's worth our while doing a couple of day trips out of Zurich to Bern etc. We're also planning on arriving on the 5th.

 

You raised a good point about Amsterdam, we would have had all day, over night and half day from the river cruise at Amsterdam. I guess I have to do my research as to what we want to see/do at both Zurich and Amsterdam. As we have never ever been to Europe, we are keen to see as much as possible without overload. Afterall we want this to be a relaxing-ish holiday.

[happycruizer]

Somewhere out there.........surely there are more passengers on this sailing than vb527 and us.:rolleyes: Avalon's website is showing this sailing to be fulled booked with the exception of 2 cabins so we're hoping for new posters of the roll call.

 

vb527 perhaps everyone is waiting until after the holidays to join us. Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.

[happycruizer]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS vb527! Just checked Avalon's website and our cruise is now officially sold out. Guess we won't be the only ones aboard.:)

[happycruizer]

HAPPY NEW YEAR to anyone else on this sailing.:) Time to start searching airfare.

[VAGuy]

We did this cruise in the fall of 2006. Flew into Zurich a few days early and did some sightseeing. If Avalon offers the Mt Pilatus optional at the beginning of the trip, I recommend you do it. Well worth the money. You also get to see Lucerne which is just a delightful town. We have taken several cruises with Avalon and have nothing but the highest praise for them.

 

I recommend you start your airfare search at http://www.itasoftware.com. You cannot book directly from this sight, but there is a wealth of information available. I am certain you will enjoy your trip.:)

[vb527]

Merry Christmas happycruizer. Hope Santa was kind to you this year. And a Happy & Safe new year too!

I can't believe our cruise is sold out. I'm looking forward to the cruise. Hopefully weather will be good.

We've booked and fully paid for our Europe flight. Now just have to pay off our cruise. And book our train from Salzburg to Zurich.

I used http://www.bestflights.com.au as our fare comparison. Not sure whether they do non-Australian bookings or not.

[vb527]

Hi VAGuy.

Are there any tours on the cruise that are MUST DO?

We were going to spend a few days in Zurich before hand, after further research, we're now decided to spend a few days in Lucerne before the cruise as well. And the Mt Pilatus is on my MUST DO places. Any recommendations on accommodations in Zurich ad Lucerne?

Thanks!

[VAGuy]

In Zurich we stayed at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel (I am a Marriot gold member and get room upgrades, etc) which is located near the airport. The hotel had a shuttle to/from the airport (10 minutes), and we would go from the hotel to the airport and then take the train to the main station in downtown Zurich. Very easy to do. Also, at the time, the room rate we got was highly attractive. Be warned, however, that the hotel restaurants are VERY expensive (ridiculous is more accurate) for what you get. If you should book a room, I suggest you take a rate which includes breakfast.

 

We did not stay the night in Lucerence so I have no recommendations.

 

In Zurich, there are a number of art museums (particularly modern art) and a few churches of interest. Also, the main street is one of the most upscale shopping districts I have seen. My wife wanted a Swiss watch so we spent a lot of time looking at jewelry stores. The walk from the train station down the Bonhofstrasse to the lake is quite pleasant.

 

In Lucerne, the main attraction is the "new/old" covered bridge. The original burned down a few years ago, but has been rebuilt exactly as it was. We also had some time to wander around the main street which was guite charming. But the highlight was Mt. Pilatus - hope for good weather.

 

Optional tours on the cruise: On the day in Strasbourg we were offered an Alsasce winery tour or Black Forest tour. We opted for the Black Forest which included a stop at a clock shop (touristy, but if you want a cuckoo clock .....) and a tour of an open air museum of old farm buildings/houses which surprisingly was very interesting. Friends of ours took the winery tour and said it was enjoyable, but how many wineries do you have to see? In Amsterdam, there were three optionals offered: Dutch windmills, a candlelight cruise and red light district walk. Having been to Amsterdam before, we passed on all three.

 

Several of the included tours we liked very much: The town of Speyer is delightful; Heidelburg is beautiful; the music museum in Rudesheim is interesting; and in Mainz you should be able to see an original Gutenberg bible and a church with stained glass windows designed by Marc Chagall

 

Very enjoyable trip. Should you have other questions, just holler.

[happycruizer]

Hi Fellow Virginian. We just returned from Arlington where our DD & family live............next time we'll holler as we go by Vienna.

 

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I booked our air yesterday and always use itasoftware.com to start my search. We ended up on Delta as they only required 1 stop and the price cost only a few dollars more than the other carriers. Our local airport is a small regional one so we have limited choices. I always get a bit paranoid about screwing up on the travel dates, which I almost did on the return. We decided to fly home on day of embarkation and I initially had our return scheduled for Sept. 15. Thank goodness I had the tkts. on hold and had not actually purchased when I realized that we disembarked on Sunday, Sept. 14th. [I am correct, right?]. If I have to go back and change 6 tkts. my buddies will hang me by my thumbs!

 

Evidently Avalon is not offering Mt. Pilatus this trip so reckon we'll do it on our own. I have reserved the Hotel Adler in Zurich and plans are to explore Zurich on day of arrival, travel to Lucerne the following day, then arrive in Basel early enough to look around there before sailing. Do you think we can manage the above in the amt. of time we have? I feel sure that the ladies can move through the museums pretty rapidly. However, we may have to leave the guys behind and hook up with them later. My DH likes to read every word about every item exhibited.........very frustrating for me.:o We've been to a few of the Germany stops several years ago but are looking forward to seeing them again and in more depth.

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions as we get closer. Thanks for your offer to help.

[VAGuy]

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I was out of town for a few days for the holidays. Might I suggest you book two nights in Zurich and spend the day AFTER you arrive sightseeing? We find our ability to do anything meaningful on the day of arrival in Europe very limited due to jet lag. We like to get to our hotel having requested early arrival access to our room, nap for 2-3 hours and then go out for a good dinner the first night. We save the sightseeing for the next day. Zurich is worth at least one full day, not 1/2 day as your plan seems to indicate.

 

I cannot comment on how to get to Mt. Pilatus from Lucerne since we were bussed by Avalon. But an internet search on Mt. Pilatus will probably answer the question. The Swiss train system is excellent and recommended for travel from Zurich to Lucern then to Basel. You may want to include a 1/2 day for looking around Basel. We did not see Basel, having been bussed by Avalon and arriving at the boat about 6PM.

 

On all the river cruises we have take, the day of disembarkation has been a Sunday which in your case would be the morningof September 14. You can veryify the date by calling either Avalon Waterways in Colorado or your TA. :p

[vb527]

Been trying to book our Amsterdam hotel and just discovered there's a huge convention of some sort the week we're there. DAMN. Looks like we might have to leave Amsterdam earlier than planned if we can't find a hotel to stay at! What a bummer.

[happycruizer]

What a bummer, vb527. I have no idea of your desired length of stay, cost, location, etc., but I just checked on www.hrs.com [Hotel Reservation Service Ltd.] and got several hits of available rooms checking in on 9/14. Check them out; you may be able to come up with something. Hotels.com is supposedly another good sight.

 

Happy hunting and good luck.;)

[happycruizer]

Wondering if anyone else will be joining us on this sailing.

 

vb527, you guys still aboard?

[MrsDave]

Can someone pls tell me more about this ship..

we were on Uniworld River Royale last summer..it was wonderful...am thinking of the Rhine but in July.

Thanks,

Tina

[happycruizer]

There is quite a bit of info about the Tapestry posted back on August 6, 2007 which should be pretty helpful. VaGuy is also a good source of info. Just do a search in this section and you will have access to a lot of information sources.

[vb527]

Just picked up our documents and satchel for the cruise! They've provided quite a lot of information.

I thought gratuities were not included in our cruise prices so I was a bit suprised to open our little booklet to find that gratuities have been pre-paid for both the cruise director and the crew. All we have to do is tear out the 2 vouchers in the booklet and put it in the gratuities envelopes at the end of the cruise.

Did anyone else have these vouchers in their booklet?

Despite this, we will be giving extra depending on the service that we receive on board.

happycruizer, did you find out if there were anyone else on the cruis critic forum that will be on our cruise? Not long to go now, we're getting excited!

[webfoot]

Those who traveled from Australia, New Zealand, and I believe also Canada, had their tips 'prepaid' as part of the trip cost ... those of us from the US didn't ... the explanation that was given to us is that those countries generally do not tip like the US folks do ...

[happycruizer]

Hello vb527 and anyone else who may be on the Sept. 7th sailing of the Tapestry.

 

vb527, congratulations on receiving your documents & the pre-paid gratuities...........try to keep that excitement level under control;) .

 

Sadly we will be unable to join you.:( DH had an accident with his chain saw on March 26 [11 stitches] from which he developed necrotizing fasiitis [flesh eating infection]. We spent 55 days in the hospital with debridement, skin grafts, therapy, etc. and he will not be ready to travel by Sept. I spent enough money on hotel bills to pay for this cruise and the air. We have bumped our cruise up to next Sept. in the hope all will be back to normal by then.

 

Please post about your experience upon your return. I am interested in the included & optional tours vs. venturing out on our own. Also what hotels are you using pre/post cruise?

 

Wishing you a wonderful trip and safe travels....................

[vb527]

Hi happycruizer. Sad to hear about your husband's accident. I hope he'll continue to recover and be ready for next September.

I'll definitely post a review on the cruise and our thoughts on the cruise. It is our first river cruise so I am getting rather excited.

I'm staying at Hotel Sternen Oerlikon pre-cruise and Ibis Amsterdam Centre Hotel post-cruise. Will let you know what they are like.

[happycruizer]

Hi vb527. Have you returned yet. I am anxiously awaiting your review, particularly the time in ports and tours. Don't forget:rolleyes:

[vb527]

Hi happycruizer. Haven't returned back yet. In the last week of our UK holiday. Will post a detail review in the review section when I get back home. But I can tell you, I now understand why people get hooked on River Cruising. My husband and I already can't wait to retire with enough money to do more river cruising! :) It's definitely worth the money. I've kept most of the daily itinerary which I'll also scan when I get home. If the service level keeps up to what we've experienced, I'm sure you and your husband will thoroughly enjoy it. Something to look forward to next year when you go.

[happycruizer]

Hi happycruizer. Haven't returned back yet. In the last week of our UK holiday. Will post a detail review in the review section when I get back home. But I can tell you, I now understand why people get hooked on River Cruising. My husband and I already can't wait to retire with enough money to do more river cruising! :) It's definitely worth the money. I've kept most of the daily itinerary which I'll also scan when I get home. If the service level keeps up to what we've experienced, I'm sure you and your husband will thoroughly enjoy it. Something to look forward to next year when you go.

 

 

vb527: Have I missed your review............I cannot locate it.:confused: