Blog by a river cruise newbie

I so appreciate the advice, tips and friendliness on this forum as I'm only 13 days away from my first-ever river cruise (and first-ever boat trip of any kind other than a ferry to get between Newport Beach and Balboa island!).

I decided to put my thoughts down about my prep for this trip as well as blog as the trip begins, continues and ends (hopefully without any unwanted bus trips mid-cruise). I'm hoping this might help others as they experience a first river cruise--and that you folks might have some ideas for me if I'm heading in the wrong direction with planning.

It's pretty bare now, but does have the background story and a post about "what to pack." Still to come are posts about dealing with money, the gear I'm taking (oh, yes, I love gadgets) and then the actual vacation. I'm crossing my fingers that the onboard wifi will be good early each morning so I can update this with text and photos as we cruise with Viking on the "Grand European Tour."

Here's the link: http://rivercruisenewbie.wordpress.com

If you want to stay abreast of the latest posts, I think you can "follow" it or something like that to be kept informed...but usually I host my own blogs so I'm not sure how WordPress-hosted sites work.

I can also post here when I've updated it, but I don't know if that would be considered rude...?

Thanks so much for taking the time to post....I will look forward to hearing your impressions! Safe journey....

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Thanks, Ukalady, for taking the time to blog about your trip. Hey, I have taken that ferry between Balboa Island and Newport so I really laughed when I read that. (I grew up in OC and Newport was our go to spot....whew that was a few years ago:). Maybe I missed it but which river cruise are you taking?

We'll be on Viking's "Grand European Tour," the Amsterdam to Budapest direction, PurdueMom1.

Yep, I grew up in Orange County as well--in the days when lots of orchards punctuated the entire county. And when Disneyland had "E" tickets...but let's not date ourselves any more, huh? ;)

I've just updated the site, adding three pages of "what to pack" featuring electronic items, flight/comfort items and a catch-all bucket list of "other" items (read to find out some more uses for ZipLoc bags!).

Now I just need to get back to work (yes, I know it's Sunday night!) so I can get five weeks worth of work done in the next 12 days.

Tonya

I remember the E tickets and the "House of Tomorrow". Grew up in the Valley when it was way way out in the valley and full of nothing but Orange Groves and not many people :)

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OK, girls, I'll go you one better, at the risk of REALLY dating myself. I remember when you bought individual ride tickets at Disneyland(before the ticket books) AND admission was just a dollar. Hard to believe considering the cost to visit today. That said, I'll be following the blog and wishing you an awesome cruise.

I just read your blog and I love it! Looking forward to reading about your cruise. We're on the Viking Sky Aug. 28 Budapest to Amsterdam.

Great blog!

But who told you that we don´t wear any jeans?? We also do wear shorts but not when temps are in the 50ies ;):D! I wore mine on Saturday with upper 80ies.

By your packing lists I´d say: Leave half of the stuff at home!! Way too much weight. I only have one charging cable for my cell phone (o.k. Android with MicroUSB) and my Kindle. My tablet has a different connection so I need to carry that charger too.

After years of traveling I do have my "travel wear" which usually packs light. I´m still far away from traveling only with a carry on...

steamboats

Packing is, I admit, always a problem for me! I usually say to myself: " I have not booked a holiday in the desert, I can buy everything I need while I am at my destination, apart from money and a passport." Then I pack almost as if I am going to the desert. But it helps to calm my nerves.

Infrastructure is actually really good in almost all the places you will see on your trip, so apart from essentials like specific medicine and the like, if you really need to shop for something you are likely to find it. Just do not expect your familiar brand. Sundays and public holidays are an exception, of course.

I had a stain in a top I had wanted to wear at the captain's dinner so I went shopping in Linz (Austria). I returned to the ship with a top and a jacket. The hazards of having time to shop in port. ;)

Have a safe journey and enjoy your cruise.

notamermaid

OK, girls, I'll go you one better, at the risk of REALLY dating myself. I remember when you bought individual ride tickets at Disneyland(before the ticket books) AND admission was just a dollar. Hard to believe considering the cost to visit today. That said, I'll be following the blog and wishing you an awesome cruise.

They had the little ticket booths....I think what I remember is ticket books but when you ran out of a certain ticket you could go buy which ever one you needed.... I miss the old music from the Matterhorn :)

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This is getting me excited about our trip, just wish it was not so far away....

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They had the little ticket booths....I think what I remember is ticket books but when you ran out of a certain ticket you could go buy which ever one you needed.... I miss the old music from the Matterhorn :)

 

 

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Yes, I remember the booths to buy more lettered tickets, usually those coveted "E" tickets but when D-land first opened, you paid to enter the park and then bought tickets as you needed for rides. That didn't last long and then came the ticket books.....we always had the "A" tickets left over. I have a lot of good memories of our visits to the park. Also of all the changes over the years in the park as well as the entire area surrounding D-land. I haven't been there in years and have not visited California Adventure.

Ukalady, I'm wondering what size checked bag you are taking. 24 lbs incl bag seems very compact with lots of room for shopping. I like your carry on bag too. Will that be your personal item or carry on? I see you are flying Lufthansa as are we. I wish they allowed more carry on weight and they are pretty restrictive on the personal item size dimensions too. I want to make sure we have a change of clothes with us and then the usual items we never put in a checked bag but we don't need two rolling bags. Wish they would let us combine our allowed carry on weight into one bag! Then we could check just one bag between us.

Looking forward to your entries.

I'm feeling pretty good about the weight/bulk of what I've packed. That's why I stretched and added more tops for wardrobe variety!

Yes, I know I have some redundancy in the cables/electronics section. But Mom wants to take her iPad and I *need* to take mine (with the external keyboard) because I actually will be doing some client work while floating down/up those rivers. Thank goodness for the TeamViewer app! With the promise to DH that I'd address client needs (as possible), I must be ready with the right cables/interface to get my work done. Hence, a bit more to pack. But, I think everything is still pretty do-able weight and bulk wise.

The Patagonia bag is my carry-on for Lufthansa, PurdueMom. My "personal item" is my PacSafe hip bag (but I usually just drop that in the Patagonia to make it easy to slide through TSA with one item only). And I realize I'm lucky I'm not on any meds, so that makes carry-on tidier/less, too.

Mom and I are going to "blend" our clothes in our two suitcases--in case one bag is lost in transit, we'll each have a few clothes to wear while it's being "found."

Our bags are each Eagle Creek Tarmac 25-inch models from 2010 They're long discontinued but I love Eagle Creek's "forever, even if the airlines destroy it" warranty. I have the 22-inch wheeled carry-on for the Tarmac, too, and everything for this cruise fits in it fine, but I'd rather have some extra room in case I *do* decide to buy anything ;)

And Lufthansa doesn't charge for the first piece of luggage for each of us, so....

Note: Mom's bag is even lighter than mine--yahoo! As a backpacker, I'm used to debating gear in *ounces*; with whole pounds to work with, this is a piece of cake.

Thanks for the link, look forward to your updates.

Ukalady- beware Lufthansa is known to weigh carry on bags at check in and a legal carry on in the US is NOT the same legal carry on in Europe...they actually do measure and they count from the floor to the top of the handle. So go online and check out European standards, saw lots of very upset US passengers.....

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◾“Don’t wear jeans. Nobody in Europe wears jeans.”

◾“Don’t wear white athletic shoes. Nobody in Europe wears white athletic shoes.

◾“Don’t wear bright colors and prints. Nobody in Europe wears bright colors and prints.”

◾“Don’t wear a hip pack. Nobody in Europe wears a hip pack.”

What a crock! Everybody and grandma wears jeans. All sort of athletic shoes in all colors. Of course, bright colors and prints are popular. Maybe my view is skewered because I tend to spend European vacations in touristy towns where everything and anything goes, even hip packs.:D

I'm following along too. First entry has me wanting more. Just returned from a wonderful Rhine River cruise. Check the weather forecast immediately before departing to make any necessary packing swaps.

Ukalady- beware Lufthansa is known to weigh carry on bags at check in and a legal carry on in the US is NOT the same legal carry on in Europe...they actually do measure and they count from the floor to the top of the handle. So go online and check out European standards, saw lots of very upset US passengers.....

 

 

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I was concerned about the weight thing too until I realized that her carry on isn't a rolling type and probably won't be even near the wright limit. I believe the 24 pounds she mentioned will be her checked bag. I have traveled for almost 3 weeks with only a carry on and a tote but those trips were on US airlines with no carry on weight restrictions to worry about. I admire Ukalady being able to pack all in 24 lbs total!! Her 25 inch bag must be lighter than most that size. My problem is the weight that is added by my thinking I need to take some things "just in case".... that can add up quickly. I'm trying to working on that problem:o

I've been working on that "packing" issue for nearly 40 yrs and it just keeps getting worse. Next year on our Avalon River cruise I swear I'll do better ( maybe only 4 pair of shoes instead of 8). Now if I could just lose some weight, then I could justify a whole new wardrobe :)

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Yep, the 24-pound bag is my checked bag. I'll weigh the Patagonia bag (soft bag, shoulder strap style) and ensure it's under the Lufthansa carry-on limit (rules here).

It looks like 8 kg for coach (oh, yes, land of happy squished-together seating) and my Google search says that's 17 pounds. I'm definitely under that amount for carry on plus my personal item.

Mahalo for the warnings!

An aside...yes, those shoes are so bulky and heavy aren't they? I try to always "wear" the heaviest ones (until they start *weighing* passengers, that is!) and pack the rest. I'm thankful I'm not responsible for DH's big shoes in my luggage.

And, once you've backpacked and carried everything on your back (including water purifier system, food and kitchen) for 10 days at 7,000-foot elevation, you really do start thinking about lightening up the load. You have to!

I read once that "fear" is the biggest impediment to packing lighter: You're afraid you will have really bad weather so you pack more weather-y clothes. You're afraid you'll get blisters so you pack more shoes. You're afraid you will be hungry so you pack more food. I'm certainly guilty of that, too (I'm afraid those connector cables will fail, so I pack a duplicate). As notamermaid said earlier, I'm not headed to the wilds where nothing's available. If I forget/break/need something, I'll keep in mind I can buy it there, too...

My idea of packing for a trip seems to be taking my suitcase to Chico's and buying way more than I need....

At 5' tall I love crops because they hit me at the ankle and don't need hemming.... Gonna miss Coldwater Creek!

Ok you are my hero for being so vigilant with your packing! Can't wait to follow you on your journey :)

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Can't wait to follow you on your journey :)

And *I* can't wait for the journey. If only I could get this pesky "work" thing finished so I can dream a bit more about what's to come...

I too will be taking my first river cruise on September 10th & look forward to following your blog to get tips. We will be on AmaWaterways Melodies of the Danube, which will be stopping at some of the ports included in your trip.

I've been working on that "packing" issue for nearly 40 yrs and it just keeps getting worse. Next year on our Avalon River cruise I swear I'll do better ( maybe only 4 pair of shoes instead of 8). Now if I could just lose some weight, then I could justify a whole new wardrobe :)

 

 

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Shoes always are my downfall!