sharkster77

@Sleep7, thanks for answering my question RE: Keukenhof. If I may ask, I looked at the Avalon itinerary and saw that Keukenhof is scheduled for Day 2. What were you offered as a replacement, since the gardens were not open yet? We are going to try to schedule a tulip cruise for mid-April next year, as no Keukenhof would be a deal breaker for us.

@Sleep7 you say these are the only tulips you saw---was Keukenhof not on your itinerary? To me, visiting there is the main reason for taking a spring cruise in the Netherlands.

You have an included tour in every port. The optional excursions are worth the cost--the 2 that we took were excellent. If you have never been on a river cruise, you need to avoid thinking like an ocean cruiser (booking independent excursions, for example)--river cruises are a completely different animal. You could book an independent tour and find out that the ship will not be there when you return. Or you may arrive in port after the indendent tour has left due to getting slowed down in a lock. It's been said on these boards that the only similarity between river and oceans cruises is that the ships float on water!

On our cruise, dear wife swore these ripples were from the wake of the boat, but I am convinced it was the second photo:

Men wear polo/golf type shirts or short sleeve buttondowns and khakis quite often in the warmer weather, and long-sleeve buttondown shirts in cooler times. Those with jackets and ties stuck out, in reality. I wear cargo pants that look pretty good on excursions, and a couple of nights I didn't have time to change into khakis so I wore the cargo pants to dinnere and I did not stick out at all.

Does Escabana replace another port, or is it entirely new?

We tipped the local guides, and did tip the bus driver if they were with us for a big part of the day. We (and most of us) did not tip for a short bus ride to/from the ship. Then again, you do you, as my kids say.

With free air, are you still allowed to pay for Viking Air to pick your own flights? It was $100 pp I believe when we cruised in 2019.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we have a good laugh on these on these threads over Uniworld's attempt to salvage the U program by hosting tattoo and drag queen themed cruises?? This was maybe just before COVID changed our lives? Lots of good-natured ribbing IIRC.

This bill has passed the House vote, but the article states there is no companion bill in the Senate. Both houses must pass a bill before a president can sign it into law. NOT trying to be condescending, @notamermaid, do not know how familiar you are with how US federal government works. So the vaccine mandate may not be eliminated for a while.

Here's an out-of-nowhere question, I think worthy of the water cooler: Has anyone had any experience with Globus Travel? They just happen to have an itinerary that I have not been able to find from other vendors (a Montreal-to-Montreal trip that visits the Gaspe Peninsula and Gulf of St Lawrence). I think their parent company owns one of the river cruise lines (can't remember which one). They have been around forever---I wish there was a Cruise Critic for land tour companies! We've traveled with Collette and Trafalgar (and Viking) but never with Globus. Based on where we live, it would involve only a one-hour flight to Montreal. A family member has traveled with Globus, but it was 20+ years ago, so their info would be very dated. Just throwin' it out there..............

We did the Rhine Getaway in 2019. Examples of free time: --included morning tour of Cologne, free time in the afternoon --included morning tour of Strasbourg, free time in the PM --same for Heidelberg, although this stop may no longer be included, replaced with Speyer??? --after returning to the ship in Speyer (after Heidelberg visit) cruise director walked us into Speyer, pointed out how to get back to the ship, and we had a couple of hours of free time there before dinner In all cases, your choices are --return to ship for lunch and stay there --return to ship for lunch then take shuttle to return to the city/town --stay in town and have lunch on your own. We chose the third option, to make best use of our time. There were multiple shuttle times back to the ship.

There is a built-in clothesline in the shower. We washed a couple of quick dry items and they dried within a day. It all depends how much laundry you want done. We each had a couple of shirts/tops washed and it was ~20 euros for 4 items. Like buying from a convenience store--you pay a little more more for the 'convenience'. An entire load of laundry would not be feasible, of course. Caveat---we sailed in 2019, prices probably have increased.

If you go off on your own or book your own tour, be sure the ship will be there when you return. Often on included tours you are bussed to the old town, and after the walking tour you are bussed to the ship's new location. The time during tours is often used to queue up and navigate locks.

Better side in terms of starboard/port, the answer is no. You are really only in your cabin for sleeping or changing clothing. Most sailing is done while you sleep--for any daytime scenic sailing, such as Middle Rhine or Wachau valley, you want to be either on the topmost deck outside, or in the lounge with its floor-to-ceiling windows. While docked, it's very possible you'll be rafted, tied to another boat, such that if you look out your window you will be inches from another ship's windows! Since there really aren't any sea days, sitting by the window/verandah watching the world go by doesn't happen. We spent our sailing afternoon on the Rhine (after Kinderdijk, heading upstream) in the lounge where we could actually see the world go by--if there was something interesting on the other side of the ship, we could see it.

One question I can answer: there are trains between Zurich Flughaven (the train station beneath the Zurich air terminal) and Lucerne about every hour, and the trip takes an hour. You can go on the SBB website and look at the train schedule.

Alas, no river cruises in 2023--hope to do a Tulip Cruise in 2024, God willing. Switzerland by rail in the spring, and 2 weeks in England/Wales in the fall.

And the Seine ships are a little bit shorter than the 135 meter longships, but have the same layout (aquavit terrace, etc), with shorter cabin areas.

We took an 8 day land tour in June. On the last night, an hour into the farewell dinner, the man sitting next to me, who we had not really socialized with much, leaned toward me and said "ya know, I felt pretty lousy a few days ago, but now I feel great!" WHY DO YOU TELL ME THIS? Within 2 days of getting home, guess what---I came down with mild COVID, and my wife tested positive but was asymptomatic. The tour company seemed disinterested when I told them this tale.

Dear wife just went from a cell phone camera with a single lens to one with 3: wide angle (default), telephoto, and ultra wide. She thought that she would appreciate the telephoto the most (as was stated, less pixelation), but surprisingly she loved the ultra wide angle, for landscape shots and city shots, not having to keep backing up was nice.

Which circles us back to my comment about WWI being the "forgotten war" here in the US..........

We were recently in Scotland and visited the Italian Chapel on Orkney. I was truly touched by the humanity displayed by the British toward the Italian POWs. They wanted a Catholic chapel to worship in, and their captors gave them 2 quonset huts, which the POWs, using scrap materials in their spare time, converted into a masterpiece. Even in time of war, folks can still display their humanity.

Since you're talking about Baghdad, when you said Idi Amin, did you mean Sadam Hussein? Idi Amin was in Uganda, IIRC.

I recall that when the centennial of the end of WWI approached in 2018, here in the US many called attention to what was dubbed The Forgotten War. Because the US entered the war only near the end, many Americans knew (and still know) little about it. It is too bad, because the root of understanding why WWII happened lies in how WWI ended. Strangely, many Americans learned more about WWI watching the first couple seasons of Downton Abbey than from anywhere else. The losses for the British during the 5 years of the war dwarf the US losses in less than two years. We recently toured Scotland, and were touched by the presence of a WWI memorial in every city, town, village, and hamlet. It was also during the period of the Queen's death, so many flowers and tributes to her were placed at the WWI memorials.

I was referring mainly to the amenities available on an ocean liner, vs. a river ship.