Castles on the Rhine

[lizglea]

Booking the Castles on the Rhine for 4/11/09 on Uniworld. Any suggestion on what to see, weather, extra night in Amsterdam/hotel accomodations, etc. Has anyone sailed on the River Ambassador? Any tips would be helpful

[H2Otstr]

We took this tour 2 years ago and it was very good. It was cold and rainy, but the scenery and the towns that we visited were wonderful. I would be glad to forward my pictures to you if you would like to see them.

 

Sharon

[WIT]

Booking the Castles on the Rhine for 4/11/09 on Uniworld. Any suggestion on what to see, weather, extra night in Amsterdam/hotel accomodations, etc. Has anyone sailed on the River Ambassador? Any tips would be helpful

Liz - Assuming you start in Amsterdam, an extra day(s) would allow for recovery from the transit and also gives you some cushion in case you are delayed.

 

We did a few extra days in Amsterdam before our cruise. The review is farther down the first page of CC River Cruising. Please read and ask any questions.

 

WIT

[lizglea]

I would very much like to see your pictures. Could you send me a link

[H2Otstr]

Lizglean, please send you email address to me. h2otstr@aol.com. I will forward them to you.

 

Sharon

[scapel]

Liz - Assuming you start in Amsterdam, an extra day(s) would allow for recovery from the transit and also gives you some cushion in case you are delayed.

 

We did a few extra days in Amsterdam before our cruise. The review is farther down the first page of CC River Cruising. Please read and ask any questions.

 

WIT

 

Wit,

I can't seem to find that report. Any other hints?

[WIT]

Wit,

I can't seem to find that report. Any other hints?

Joe - It is 21 threads down on the first page from this Rhine castle thread, titled AMA Amsterdam-Paris Christmas 08. Hope you like it.

 

WIT

[scapel]

Joe - It is 21 threads down on the first page from this Rhine castle thread, titled AMA Amsterdam-Paris Christmas 08. Hope you like it.

 

WIT

Wit,

I found it and enjoyed it. I have saved it to my file and will refer to it later. I remember a very good Argentine Beef place we ate at twice, but I forgot it's name. Tournedos didn't right a bell. Will have to look it up, but the Tournedos looked good. Did it have an address that you easily remember.

Again thanks for taking the trouble to write this very nice entertaining report.

[richardgail]

Booking the Castles on the Rhine for 4/11/09 on Uniworld. Any suggestion on what to see, weather, extra night in Amsterdam/hotel accomodations, etc. Has anyone sailed on the River Ambassador? Any tips would be helpful

 

We are on the 4/11/09 sailing of the River Ambassador--Dick and Gail Graham. We have not sailed Uniworld before but did a Danube River cruise with Amadaus three years ago. Budget Travel has an article about a new hotel in Amsterdam--a location at the airport and one at the city center--called CitizenM www.citizenmamsterdamairport.com. We booked the airport location for $100/night.

 

Gail

[scapel]

Wit,

I got this Castle visit together. It is only 10 min. See if it works.

The Castle is above Kaub on the Rhine.

[richardgail]

Wit,

I got this Castle visit together. It is only 10 min. See if it works.

The Castle is above Kaub on the Rhine.

 

Great video! We are getting excited! Thanks for the link.

 

Gail

[ddean52]

We took this tour 2 years ago and it was very good. It was cold and rainy, but the scenery and the towns that we visited were wonderful. I would be glad to forward my pictures to you if you would like to see them.

 

Sharon

 

sharon, we are dong the grand euro with viking in june and would LOVE to see your pictures. Again thanks so much. best regards, Dean:)

[WIT]

Wit,

I got this Castle visit together. It is only 10 min. See if it works.

The Castle is above Kaub on the Rhine.

Thanks for the video. I can now visualize staying there, visiting the village and environs. The Rhine was much higher than our transit 5 weeks ago.

 

I usually shoot shorter clips but more of them. Mine are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski/WITsClips#

 

WIT

[ddean52]

an intresting job. well done! it got us "in the mood" for our June river sailing. Again, thank you.,,,think ill watch it again:cool: Dean

[ddean52]

Thanks for the video. I can now visualize staying there, visiting the village and environs. The Rhine was much higher than our transit 5 weeks ago.

 

I usually shoot shorter clips but more of them. Mine are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski/WITsClips#

 

WIT

 

Wit, thanks for the clips. We have looked at 50% so far, and its a real kick!:)

[scapel]

Thanks for the video. I can now visualize staying there, visiting the village and environs. The Rhine was much higher than our transit 5 weeks ago.

 

I usually shoot shorter clips but more of them. Mine are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski/WITsClips#

 

WIT

Wit,

Thanks for the clips. Looked like it was a day trip on the Yangtze. Would one pass there if on an over night kind of cruise?

[WIT]

Wit,

Thanks for the clips. Looked like it was a day trip on the Yangtze. Would one pass there if on an over night kind of cruise?

Joe -

I think the shortest included cruises in China are 4 days. We did the Viking Cultural Delights cruise/tour in 4/07, which had 9 of the 21 days cruising on the river. Photos in my webalbum are more descriptive:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

A lot of the towns on the trip were accessed by short bus trips from the boat. While the river air was hard on the lungs, the boat had an excellent filtration system which made dining and sleeping comfortable. The 9 days also made it possible to get to know the crew (from Chongqing) pretty well - for most of us the most substantial contact with the 'real' China. I have a lot of posts on the Viking China River Cruises section of CC which detail the trip.

 

WIT

[WIT]

Wit, thanks for the clips. We have looked at 50% so far, and its a real kick!:)

Dean - Glad you are enjoying them. The were taken using the movie mode on my digital camera. I try to keep them short to make uploads/downloads easier.

 

WIT

[scapel]

Joe -

I think the shortest included cruises in China are 4 days. We did the Viking Cultural Delights cruise/tour in 4/07, which had 9 of the 21 days cruising on the river. Photos in my webalbum are more descriptive:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

A lot of the towns on the trip were accessed by short bus trips from the boat. While the river air was hard on the lungs, the boat had an excellent filtration system which made dining and sleeping comfortable. The 9 days also made it possible to get to know the crew (from Chongqing) pretty well - for most of us the most substantial contact with the 'real' China. I have a lot of posts on the Viking China River Cruises section of CC which detail the trip.

 

WIT

I really enjoyed the link to the still pictures. Very well done. I have been through the 146 pictures which included some great Istanbul picutes. Yes I went to the same places in the Topkapi palace. On my second trip to Instanbul 7 years later after the first one, I got the same cab driver. I had kept his card, got off the ship and showed it to another cab driver and he took me right to him. Very hospitable I thought instead of trying to steal his fare. My cab driver remembered me and got me on the side and whispered. Different wife. That was correct.

 

I was on a Black Sea cruise once before the wall came down, and we were getting off of the ship in Yalta and being checked by a Russian Soldier. I had a tan bag and he kept pointing to it. The interpreter said he wanted to know what was in the bag. Well, I said a camera and a ---I got nervous and drew a blank on the word binoculars so I said "spy glasses". The interpreter laughed and told the soldier something and I went on. I found out later that they did not want any books taken ashore. All the churches were closed and they didn't even want to stop and let me take a picture of the outside.

I think Intourist was the Russian tour agency and everyone had to use them to tour in Russia at the time.