dolllover

In the future if you don't like bus tours I wouldn't book any Danube cruises in Aug, Sept or Oct because of the risk of low water. Our Danube cruise in 2017 we sailed all the way through but came close to not making one of the legs.

Wow nice pictures! Your pictures brought back wonderful memories. We did Vikings Romanic Danube last October and had a great time! Terezin was such an interesting visit. Glad we chose that tour when we were in Prague.

Good move on Vikings part. Thanks for the article.

Also, Vantage is usually cheaper than Viking and doesn't make you pay a year ahead of time.

I pay 6 months ahead of time and for 10 grand I get flights, insurance, 3 days pre and post cruise plus the 1 week river cruise for two people. Also nice perks from my local TA .

I totally understand the OPs reaction to the disappointment. We are booked from Amsterdam to Basel in October 2019 for our 35th Wedding Anniversary. While I do know that there is a chance of this happening, I would still be very upset.

 

I really think that the cruise lines need to give people who really, really hate bus trips the opportunity of cancelling the trip with a full refund. There is no doubt that river cruising is an extremely expensive type of holiday and simply replacing the cruise with a bus and hotels is simply not good enough.

 

I would much rather get my money back and then do my own thing in Europe, using trains and hotels of my own choice. A bus tour can be purchased for around 10% of the cost of a river

 

cruise, so it is not a suitable replacement.

How would they stay in business if the cruise lines refunded the money every time they had an issue with water or locks? The water can change to high or low at any time which increases your odds of a bus trip. It's best to do research which months are best to go to decrease your odds of a bus trip but it can still happen! If you go in the months of Aug, Sept, Oct you increase your odds of low water. We went last October with Viking on the Danube and had clear sailing

all the way through. We came close to not being able to see the Wachau Valley due to low water but were able to make it. I personally wouldn't go on a river cruise if I hated bus trips.

We were in Egypt in January and I would definitely suggest Abu Simbel as a top priority. We went to the Temple at Philae during the day and it was my favorite temple. The one temple we toured at night was very crowded and not as nice. We did not have an option for the hot air ballon ride in Luxor, because our travel company did not offer them. They were concerned about safety, and not just because of last year's deadly accident. The tombs on the West Bank were my favorite tour on our entire trip. Not to be missed. I'd skip the dinner on the Nile. If you stay at the Four Seasons, you'll see the Nile from your balcony!

We are booked for Dec 2020 and will be doing both the pre and post cruise overnights. I'm torn about doing the hot air balloon ride because my parents a few years ago almost lost their lives going on one in France. Their balloon caught on fire. May skip it.

Save the money. I like balconies because I'm claustrophobic, but seriously you won't be in your room much to justify the cost.

Worked great for me. Just cancelled the previous paid excursions and used my onboard credit. Really looking forward to my upcoming cruise with Azamara to Italy.

Thanks again for another wonderful review . Your website is valuable to me as I research information for our vacations .

You can also report them to the Better Buisness Bureau . We’ve had good luck getting issues resolved with that .

I’m sure a sail by is nice but if one can physically do an expedition type Antarctica cruise I would do that. I cancelled a sail by on Celebrity when I found out we wouldn’t land but hopefully will book an expedition type cruise to Antarctica in the future . I heard the crew is very helpful in helping one board and get off the panga boats .

The way Silverseas has approached this is repulsive . They should refund your entire cruise for the disaster that you encountered. Silverseas was on my radar for a future cruise but maybe not for the way they have handled this. Good luck and hopefully you will get a positive resolution at the end of this .

We cruised the Danube with Viking and thought they were fantastic. All the way around. They may have more people but it never felt crowded to us. We had previously cruised with Avalon and had a great time but to us Viking was superior to Avalon that after our Danube cruise we booked two other river cruises with Viking.

Thank you for your review. Your pictures are amazing.

We had so much wind in Aruba I lost my hat!! Could not find it anywhere. Had to buy a new one in the gift shop there since it was really hot too. I make the best of things as well when stuff gets cancelled. You are right vacation time is too precious to waste time moping about it.

Thank you for your review. Glad overall it was a really nice trip. Bad wifi this day and age is inexcusable. DH needs it to touch base at work. Unfortunately some of us can't unplug on vacation. I've been to Paris many times and your photos brought back wonderful memories.

Looks like the bean counters may be at work. That would suck if they were going to combine the fast and gentle walkers together to save money.

Sometimes we have to make the best of things since stuff happens. On our recent Caribbean cruise I got a whopping ear infection so had to cancel my snorkling in Bonaire but took an awesome Eco tour thru the mangroves and saw flamingos in the wild. That was amazing. Love your review and photos!

Many times I'll just run into a hotel and use the restroom and it was free. Maybe I got lucky.

Wow love your pictures and review. We've lucked out and had good weather traveling off season. Your review makes me want to take this trip!

We used Vikings pre and post land excursions on our Danube cruise in Prague and Budapest and we loved it! We felt it was good value for the money as it included a lot and made the experience seamless.

Wow 28 river trips! That's amazing. What company did you use for the Columbia and Snake river trip? It's a trip I want to do in the future. Looking forward to your reviews as well.

I found the food very good on our Reflection cruise except for one dinner in Blu where I found the fish inedible. I just ate the salad and called it a night. It wasn't a big deal to me after many nights of excellent food. Just decided to eat a bit lighter that evening.

We went in 2017 in early April and got lucky with Keukenhof. Saw so many tulips everywhere. I was worried that I had booked that trip too early but it worked out. Seeing Keukenhoff in bloom is not to be missed.

My DH and I both got sick after our April 2 Reflection cruise. I got the stomach bug and DH caught a bronchitis type cold. Still recovering. Who knows where we caught this. We flew in and out and stayed in hotels as well. I seem to get sick after every time I fly these days and I fly a lot. I wash my hands and use sanitizer frequently but still get sick. I'm going to try airborne before leaving. My TA swears by it or maybe she's just lucky. She travels all the time and never gets sick. She starts taking Airborn a week before leaving and Emergen C.