rogerdawhip

I was on the Allego two years ago and thought the cabins were very comfortable. They do seem to be smaller than other GCT ships but not much.

Tom

The Allegro does not have any balcony cabins...you might be confusing it with GCCLs Adagio.

I've been on over 20 cruises on most line and the two worst cruises I've taken have been on NCL. The layout of the ships were terrible and the food (both MDR and buffet) were (to me) inedible. I think they downgrade the free food so more passengers opt for their moneymaker...the specialty restaurants.

Princess seemed much better but their entertainment is still lacking unless you like trivia and game shows.

I was given bad info from a third party. Both the Ravel and Debussy are new built ships.

I should have checked myself before posting.

You mean number of pax rather than cabins, right?

 

ETA- interesting to see, "third berth available on request"

Yes, I meant passangers, not cabins....my bad.

Two of their ships (Ravel & Debussy) used to be GCCL ships that cruised on the Rhone and then the Danube. The retrofit decreased the number of cabins from 120 to 84. These were my favorite two GCCL ships when GCT owned them due to their smaller size. I checked out their new deck plans and their new interior looks great. I can't wait for pictures of their renovations.

GCT's ships dock near Parc André Citroën. The nearest metro stop is Javel - André Citroën which is about 1/4 mile away. The PD's will show you where it is. The Eiffel Tower is about a 2 km walk.

GCT has the following in their travel handbook:

"We reserve the right for our Program Directors to modify participation, or in some circumstances send travelers home if their limitations are impacting the group's experience."

I'm sure other cruise lines have similar statements. Many people do not read this and say they the PDs have no right to send them back to the ship.

The ship does not dock in Haarlem. you are bused from Amsterdam.

Roger,

 

Do you have a Link? :confused:

 

Thanks!

https://www.gct.com/trips/river-cruises/europe/the-great-rivers-of-europe/2016?icid=global:smallshiprivercruises:rivercruises:sge2016#anewperspectivetwodeparturesonly

GCT has a special new itinerary for two dates on their Great Rivers cruise in 2016. I booked as soon as I saw it. The cruise is called 'New Perspective' includes different stops with new experiences for those who have traveled this itinerary before.

The main reason I booked is it now has more than 70 hours of daylight sailing.

Many travelers prefer more port time but I'm a cruising addict and enjoy watching the passing scenery with glass of wine and conversions with my fellow travelers.

Many of you say there is no benefit to booking direct. I had an entirely different experience.

A few years ago I booked a river cruise direct with AMA. I was traveling with some friends who booked through a TA. I was given a $500 discount for booking direct that my friends did not receive. They cancelled with their TA and rebooked direct with AMA and received the discount.

My review is up!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2264109

 

Also the blog of the entire trip, with lots of photos, can be found at:

https://jazzbeauxfranceblog.wordpress.com

How were you able to take pictures inside of Monet's house? We I visited and tried to take a picture I was almost accosted by one of the attendants.

On one of my previous cruises two passengers were not allowed in the buffet area because they refused to wash their hands. They then tried to enter thru the exit only area and were kept out. They started screaming and grabbing the buffet personnel and were escorted out of the area by security personnel. How can using the hand dispensers be such a problem.

Do you know of any ships that have it? This topic comes up from time to time, but usually as a complaint about the absence of screens. It would be good to know which ships provide it.

Many of the Scenic ships have screens that can be lowered on their balcony cabins.

I have done extensions on most of my river cruises. My favorite two were Sinaia, Rumania on GCT's Eastern Europe to the Black Sea cruise and the Brittany extension GCT's Seine, Paris to Normandy Cruise.

Sinaia in high in the mountains of Transylvania. The highlight was visiting Bran (Dracula's) Castle.

The Brittany region of France is not to be missed. The highlight of this extension was the visit to Mont St Michel.

THIS!!!!! Why would anyone want to travel when it's 100 degrees???? I'll stick to lovely fall weather thank you very much!

 

Not to mention Low Water issues.....

Half of my river cruises have been in the middle of the summer and I never experienced 100 degrees. At home (AZ) yes but not in Europe. June and July are y favorites months mainly because of the long days of sunlight.

I'll take low water as an alternative any day!

But the revised itineraries on a Caribbean cruise do not include buses instead of ships.

The best thing I like about river cruising is the cruising itself. My favorite days are those with little port time. I love being up on the sun deck as we pass all the small villages.

I voted other...I've been in all classes of cabins for aquarium to full balcony and

the cabin makes little difference to me. I like being on the sun deck or in the lounge to mix with fellow passengers. Also, If I stay in my cabin I only see one side of the river.

On GCT ships the PDs are not included in the tip pool. They are tipped separately by the travelers in their group. There are 3-4 PDs on each ship. The tipping pool for the ship crew is divided equally among all members from the Captain to the dishwashers. I occasionally give extra to a waiter or bartender for exceptional service.

I always book my airfare with the river cruise line (GCT). They give me a preliminary air itinerary 10 months in advance and will work with me on changing it if I desire. The price is always competitive, I'm able to get my seats when the itinerary is available and get my FF miles on the flights.

After reading an article in USA Today about Tauck river cruises I decided to check out their website. I never ventured there before because I figured they were way out of my price range. I was very surprised to see they have no single supplements on their lowest rated cabins. I checked their prices against GCCL and discovered only a $200-300 difference for similar cabins, dates and cruises. I'm already book for the rest of 2015 and all of 2016 but will look into Tauck for 2017.

Having now been on fifteen river cruises my favorite river is the Moselle. It seems to be less crowded with great scenery and many small villages to stop at.

As others have stated the best cruise line is very subjective. I have my favorite (GCCL) but it may not be yours.

This board is starting to get getting some nasty posts. Could the moderator look into this.

I don't remember anything in Honfleur being shut down but we were on our tour of Normandy for most of the day and did not get back until after 6 PM.