feelincruisey

Merry Christmas Notamermaid, and get well soon! Thanks for your great river knowledge and hard work on keeping river cruisers informed. Happy holidays to all the river cruisers. Here's a picture of St Nicholas and all his snow domes from the huge Christmas shop in Rothenburg, taken when I was on my river cruise at Easter (it's pretty much Christmas all year in Rothenburg, it seems).

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

If I miss any questions I’ll catch up later. 

 

Yes, Arnhem is on our revised itinerary, ships seem to be getting there OK as well. 

 

Regarding the ‘Signature Events’ right now the train is not going to happen, but the choir in Vienna is still on. There is a possibility that the visit to Namedy could happen but that is not confirmed. 

Oh great! I hope you get to Namedy Castle. Princess Heide is an inspiring host and her home is delightful.

3 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

We are off to a good start with APT and AmaVenita here in Amsterdam.

 

The CEO of APT had flown in to talk to everyone about what was happening, we have an itinerary covering the Netherlands and Belgium for the first 11 days then we go to Vienna for 2 nights and then Budapest for 1 night.

 

He also confirmed that APT will charter a plane to fly us all down there, so no long coach ride.

 

if conditions on the rivers change then so will our  itinerary.

 

APT are handling things well I’d say...

 

 

That sounds like a great solution APT have come up with, even though Germany is probably the biggest chunk of the normal cruise and you won't be going there. I gather they will probably still include the two "signature experiences" in Austria (the Majestic Imperator rail trip to Salzburg and the evening concert at Palais Lichtenstein), and that you will be on board the AmaVenita for the first 11 days. I recommend the excursion to Bratislava if you get the chance. Enjoy your adventure! If Kay is still the cruise director on the AmaVenita say hi to him from Ruth and Jillian who were on the cruise that left Amsterdam on 17 March. He is such a great CD.

11 hours ago, Mark_T said:

 

No problems there, AmaVenita just moved to the nice spot by Amsterdam Centraal, so she is ready and waiting.

 

I'll try to find out what has happened to the 3 other cruises that APT should have been running between Amsterdam and Budapest starting today and tomorrow as none of the other ships are in the right place so it is possible we've all been consolidated onto one ship due to people cancelling...

 

 

We did the APT Amsterdam to Budapest cruise on the AmaVenita in the last two weeks of March this year. It's an excellent ship with a really great crew and staff, so I hope you get to enjoy it as much as we did, even though you will have to go with the flow as far as ship swaps and schedule changes go. It's a shame you probably won't be on the AmaVenita all the way, but bon voyage and have a great holiday.

Mark_T, the situation with the APT (and other) ships sounds pretty bad. I wonder how APT are dealing with that, as it would be impossible to do a ship swap - I guess the unlucky travellers have been swapped to buses and hotels to complete their itineraries. I was lucky enough to do a cruise on the AmaVenita (Amsterdam to Budapest) in March, the first of the season, and although it was snow melt time (and rather cold for most of the way!), we were able to traverse the whole route without hitches. I have friends who did Budapest to Amsterdam in July. They started on the AmaReina and had to do a swap onto the AmaVerde around Passau, which they said was absolutely seamless, involving just a short bus ride after the morning's excursion and finding their bags waiting for them in "their" room on the sister ship. It was great for me being able to check the river conditions with Notamermaid prior to departure. Thanks Notamermaid!

Well, that sounds great, Notamermaid. (y) I think our ship AmaVenita leaves Amsterdam on the 18th. All looking good! We'll wave as we pass you by. :*

Thanks Notamermaid, this sounds very hopeful for our cruise. I hope we'll be bathed in sunshine as we sail through your valley!

Thanks Notamermaid, that link is very useful. I notice it's getting warmer on the weekend, if you can call 0 - 8 degrees warm, haha! It's "cool" here in northern NSW, Australia. The last day of summer was a 29 degree day. So it will take a bit of adjustment hitting Europe next week. I do hope APT has that cup of hot chocolate waiting for us. :)

Brrrr!!! I've been noticing the reports about the nasty cold weather in Europe. With our departure from Amsterdam only a little over two weeks away now (boarding Amavenita 17 March, leaving Amsterdam evening 18 March) I'm wondering if the freezing conditions with wind chill are going to continue, and if it will affect the river heights. I notice you say the levels are quite low at the moment, Notamermaid. Hopefully not too low. I guess a lot can still happen in two and a half weeks. Coming from Australia, the cold is going to be quite a shock, that's for sure. The water woollies, thermals and down coat are packed!

Yes notamermaid, I'm a newbie on this forum. Thanks very much for your warm welcome. I've had a look around and picked up a few bits of good advice. I'm a little reluctant to start a new roll call for the very reasons you give ... do I have enough time to spend on it? :D

Thanks for your very informative posts, notamermaid. Yes, we'll be on an APT cruise, one of the first for the year. I did as you suggested and had a look at photos of Namedy Castle ... what a place! We get to explore most of it before the banquet and piano recital in the Hall of Mirrors. I hope we get to meet Princess Heide. But it will be a thrill, regardless. I am really looking forward to the concert (Mozart Boys' Choir, opera singers and chamber orchestra) at the Palais Liechtenstein in Vienna, too. Another brush with royalty. It will be my birthday! I only hope the river levels will be favourable so we get to see all the castles along the river.

I'm on my first river cruise in March, Amsterdam to Budapest on the Amavenita, leaving on the 17th. I'll be watching your posts with interest, notamermaid, and hoping the rivers will behave for our cruise. :)