djh1959

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Even though I froze my butt off, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere going through the Rhine Gorge except up on the Sun Deck with views of both sides.

I totally agree!  The Rhine Gorge was on the coldest, wettest day of our trip, but we were still on the sundeck.  Wouldn't have missed it for the world.

We were on the left of the ship on Diamond deck last month (our first cruise).  I really don't think it would have mattered which side.

We loved the balcony, although we didn't use it often, it was great when we wanted to.

We had a junior suite, which I think is slightly larger.  The best thing was that it was the second cabin back.  It made it so easy to pop back to the cabin for a jacket, or anything you wanted.  It was an incredibly long corridor and I wouldn't have wanted a cabin at the back.

Enjoy the trip.

Well, the person has posted again that they decided to stay in Passau, at least for the time being.  While they were out wandering, staff from the ship rounded everyone up and said that there had been a slight rise in water and that the captain thought that he could get through.  This proved to be correct so that particular Scenic ship at least is continuing on its journey.

Just heard from someone on another forum who is cruising on Scenic from Budapest to Amsterdam.  Apparently they are stuck near Passau, and have been given the option to return home, stay on board and hope or continue by land.

They will certainly be hoping for rain.

We finished our first river cruise (Rhine Highlights with Scenic) about three weeks ago, but remained in Europe for another couple of weeks.

We are glad we took the advice of only a short cruise for our first, as we didn't enjoy it as much as we had hoped to.  Having said that, it wasn't Scenic's fault, I couldn't fault anything with the ship, cabin, food, all inclusive and wonderful staff.  We just realised that group touring is really not our thing!  All tours were included, but where we could we chose not to do them and simply do what we do every other year and that is wander happily by ourselves.

The whole following someone with a flag thing is just not for us, even though the guides were excellent and we received interesting information, most of it could have been found with a Google search.  It was nice for us to disembark and have another couple of weeks in Vienna and Budapest.  We sort of heaved a sigh of relief and said to each other "now the holiday really starts".

We would consider another river cruise, as the actual cruising part was lovely and very enjoyable.  I would just choose a much, much cheaper not all inclusive one where you paid for tours if you wanted and otherwise just did your own thing.

As for age ranges, it was slightly younger than I expected, although the vast majority were older than us - we are 59 and 60.  Most would have been in their late 60's to 70s, although I did see one very young (30ish?) girl.  Our cruise had primarily Canadians, which was surprising for an Aussie company, and a lot of them were on group tours or large family groups.  That was disappointing as most of those people weren't interested in socialising and preferred to keep to their groups.  Luckily we met a few others from Canada, the US and the UK so still had a good time.

3 hours ago, SuiteTraveler said:

Last week I was on the Crystal Ravel and we were told ours was the first cruise in weeks that would go to Budapest and when we were there, not only did we make it, but I also saw a Viking ship there and several others whose brands I'm not familiar with.  Also it rained last week which I'm sure helped.

That is interesting because we spent the week before last in Budapest (not on a river cruise, just independent travel) and there were many river cruise ships there.  I saw at least ten different ships over the week and also saw them sailing in and out.

We just got back from a five night stay in Budapest.  We used Airport Transfers Budapest ( www.airporttransfersbudapest.com ) and could not fault them in any way.

They picked us up at Keleti Railway Station, and were waiting with our name on a board, they transferred myself and my husband to our hotel, then our friends to theirs.  They picked up our friends for their airport transfer and us for ours, on separate days.  They were right on time for all transfers and extremely quick to reply to any email queries.

Highly recommend them.

We got off of a Scenic Rhine cruise a week ago. We too had a little more rain than I'd like, but some sunny breaks too. 

No water level problem though so all good. And we are just finishing a week in Vienna where we have had the best weather imaginable. On to Budapest for five days tomorrow. 

Special thanks to notamermaid for all her help. 

Are finished a Scenic Rhine Highlights Cruise last week. We did our own flights, and our own pre-cruise in Amsterdam. We are still on our own post-cruise trip. 

No transfers were included for us unfortunately. 

Scenic did call a taxi to collect us from the ship in Basel, but we had to pay. 

On 10/17/2019 at 10:16 PM, G.M.T. said:

Hopefully you are on the right ship.😇

 

The photo is of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz.

 

Have a great cruise.

Ha ha you are quite right of course. No idea why I said Cologne!  Still a stunning sight though. 

On 10/15/2019 at 6:52 PM, notamermaid said:

My pleasure, djh1959. After all the anticipation it is good to hear from you saying you are enjoying your cruise! I see on marinetraffic you are leaving the canal and are about to enter the Rhine, which is called Waal in that stretch, heading towards Nijmegen. I expect that means you will sail through the night and wake up in Cologne. Prepare yourself for a spectacular sight!

 

Wishing you many more enjoyable days on the river.

 

notamermaid

 

We certainly did wake this morning to a spectacular sight!  The fortress in Cologne just before dawn. 

We are currently cruising the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel on Scenic Pearl. There are no water level issues whatsoever. Today  been cloudy with sunny breaks, although it is drizzling slightly now. It is dinner time though so it doesn't matter. 

Thank so much notamermaid for all your posts over the past year or so. We are loving our first river cruise. 

On 10/11/2019 at 2:22 PM, jeb_bud said:

 

We’re in a Junior Suite on Crystal now. As of Day Three of our Romantic Rhine and Moselle cruise I have found the food to be good to very good, service excellent, wine just fine for my pallet(YMMV) and booze selection more than I need. 

 

I opened the minibar to see what was in it but since our suite is about 20 seconds from the lounge I just go there to get drinks. As someone else said you can have your butler bring you drinks but if you have clothes on it is much faster to just go get it. 

Glad to hear your trip is going well jeb_bud. We have been in drizzly Amsterdam for 24 hours now and board our shop on Monday. Presumably it is still the Pearl, we haven't heard otherwise. 

Can't wait to get onboard and find out for ourselves, but I have never really worried about food and wine because there are so many great reports. 

I can't imagine water levels being much of a problem in the rain here is anything to go on. 

We are leaving this evening for Amsterdam, and boarding Scenic Pearl on Monday for the Rhine Highlights cruise.  I am very interested in how the food and booze will be, but I am pretty confident.  From reading many posts here, on other forums and on Facebook, most people rate it very highly but there are odd people who don't, as someone else said food is very subjective.

I have read the drinks menu and it is extremely comprehensive.  I really only drink wine with an occasional cocktail, so I will report back on the quality of the red wines - we are very fussy about them.  As for champagne, I did notice that it was only available at breakfast, but other sparklings are available in the evening.  I will just make a point of having one for breakfast each day - I am on holidays and certainly not driving lol.

One of the above posts commented on being in a Royal Suite so therefore getting better wine.  We are only in a Junior Suite on the top deck, not a Royal, but nothing I have been told or read says that the wine is any different.

We almost always travel in January, partially because I can avoid the hot Australian summer and partially because it is easier for my husband to take holidays then.

A bonus is a lack of crowds everywhere, but of course it is cold.  We don't mind that.

The forecast temperatures for our Rhine cruise next week seem really warm compared to what we are usually expecting in January.

Notamermaid, we were in France a couple of January's ago and travelled south from Paris to Lyon to Avignon and then into Spain.  I had assumed that it would get warmer as we went further south, but it definitely did not.  We had heavy snow in Lyon and Avignon was totally freezing.  We only warmed up in Spain.

Well we sail on 14th October, so hopefully there will be lots of autumn colours and possible a little sunshine to go with it.
The complete opposite of here in Melbourne, Australia, where spring is springing everywhere, except for today which is cold and wet.
We can't wait to get to Amsterdam on Friday and get ready for our cruise.

21 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Good morning, just here briefly to say that the river level at Kaub is fine. Along the Rhine we have not had the ups and downs there were on the Bavarian Danube (thankfully, too nerve-wracking over there). Current levels are Maxau 430cm, Kaub 120cm, Koblenz 126cm. That is of course a bit low for barges - reduced load, more transport costs - but it need not worry river cruisers.

 

 

djh1959 and Schlugs, back to you. Lovely reading your conversation posted from so far away. Have a great trip.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks notamermaid, your posts have been so enjoyable to read for the last eighteen months.
We fly out on Thursday night and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the water levels remain good enough for the trip.

33 minutes ago, Schlugs said:

We are coming from Sydney 🙂 I see you are from Melbourne? Yes, a little worried about jetlag, urgh, but hoping to handle it. I will stick my head in the Rhine to wake up 😉 

Lol I am sure you will be fine.  We find that coming home is far, far worse than going.  Excitement keeps you up when you are in a new place or an old favourite.

Fly safely and have a great trip.

1 minute ago, Schlugs said:

OOH lucky you!! A very full trip for you both! 6 nights in Vienna and Budapest and even 3 in Ams..what a dream!! 

No, we get to Ams on the day and go straight to the ship from the airport.Then straight home afterwards. In retrospect I wish we gave ourselves more time at either end. So looking forward to it, just a week to go..less for you 🙂

Oh well never mind.  At least you have a two week cruise, I'll probably be sorry to have to get off lol.

My only worry about arriving on the day of the cruise is flight delays, although we are coming from Australia so it's a long way.  It always takes a day or two to get over the jetlag.  

Where are you coming from, the UK presumably?

1 minute ago, Schlugs said:

Sorry, checked Accuweather a few days ago and it said rain for most of the trip. Checked again now and you are so right !! Sounds good eh. I see you are on the Pearl..we are on the Jewel leaving Ams also on 14th, but going to Budapest. So hopefully clear sailing for us all ..with good river levels 🙂

Oh that's good news.  Let's hope the forecast doesn't change.  I really wanted to go all the way to Budapest, but this is our first river cruise and DHs first every time on a boat, so he wanted a short one to test the waters.

It has actually worked out well, because after we disembark in Basel we are spending six nights in Vienna and then six in Budapest so we will still get to see those places too.

Are you going to Amsterdam early?  We will arrive on Friday 11th so have three nights.  We have been to Amsterdam before, but still lots to see and do.

7 hours ago, Schlugs said:

Thannks! 

Down Puffer Jacket...check.

Beanie....runs off to find 😉

 

Well packing for all seasons as I think the ships are air conditioned. Packing raincoats also as when I checked on accuweather it said rain for most of our trip. 

River levels..so hard to predict eh. 

Watching this page like a hawk ! 

We too are packing for all seasons, I have everything from sleeveless to down lol.
I am interested in what you said about Accuweather.  I just checked my app and it state sunshine most of the way with odd showers and cloudy days.  Definitely not rain.

We are sailing the Rhine from Amsterdam on 14th October.  Are you travelling at a different time or are our apps just different?

56 minutes ago, rileygirl12 said:

Bring warm clothes because it’s cold! I’m jealous of the passengers that have down jackets 

Ha ha, we also leave on 14th October on Scenic Pearl for the Rhine Highlights cruise.

I have been tossing up whether to pack my down jacket as well as a lighter leather one.  You have just made the decision for me! 

19 hours ago, dairymancruiser said:

Our cruise leaves on 12-27-19 out of Nuremberg and was wonder if they keep the Christmas lights and decorations up through out most of Europe until New Years Eve? Thanks

As people have said above, London's lights are still on til well past New Year.

We were also in Paris, Strasbourg and Colmar earlier this year and they started to remove the lights on the day we left which was the 6th or 7th January.

The markets in France were all done though, although I do remember a big Christmas Market in Prague a few years ago in late December.

We are due to sail on the Pearl from Amsterdam to Basel on 14th October.  We have heard nothing about a ship swap and we leave before you.

I have looked at the map where the Pearl is and I'm not sure it is where she should be so I wouldn't be surprised to get an email too.

She is due to leave Basel for Amsterdam on Monday 7th October, but currently she appears to be in Bernkastel which is a little strange.

18 hours ago, notamermaid said:

If you happen to be in Vienna in the next few months you have the rare chance to see the original exhibited at the Albertina Museum: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190917-albrecht-drer-the-painter-with-a-magical-touch

 

notamermaid

Thanks from me too notamermaid, we will have a week in Vienna later this month and the Albertina is already on my list.  We will definitely try to see this too.