Jane361

A Uniworld ship just passed by.......

I'm at Melk and you ship is parked in front of mine--GCT Concerto! Lol

Thanks. We have been promised a turkey dinner tonight on the ship.

The Christmas markets in Vienna were good but not great. The best will be in Nuremberg so they say. Today we are in Melk.

We passed a parked and empty Viking ship this morning. We have seen AMA ships in passing. Haven't seen Avalon however.

The snow is a real treat for me (home in South Texas :) )

I'm cruising on the Danube as we speak. We left Vienna yesterday on GCT. The landscape is covered in snow--quite beautiful!!

I'm leaving tomorrow for cruise from Vienna to Nurenberg. The weather forecast shows rain nearly every day. So...good news and bad news..high water but rainy weather.

I agree wholeheartedly. The "hostess" is providing a service that has been purchased by the cruise line.

Sapphire, I took that cruise 2 years ago and it was one of my all-time favorite river cruises. Enjoy!

Don't worry. I think their strikes only last a few days. They had one when I was in n Italy last year and I was to fly home using them. I had used my United FF miles to book my flights so I contacted United while in Italy and immediately was assigned flights on just United--even better connections than on Lufthansa.

Kenster, have you seen any Grand Circle boats? I am cruising from Vienna to Nurenberg on November 25 and wonder what are the chances of actually cruising. !! BTW, I have driven through Bellville a hundred times on the way to College Station to visit children and grandchildren. Nice little town.

What cruise line were you on?

Good luck. My Elbe river cruise turned out to be a bus tour because of low water on the Elbe last March. We did get partial refunds however.

The one strong point for me with Grand Circle and/or Overseas Adventure Travel is that they have relatively modest fees for solo travelers on cruises and no additional fees for land tours.

I don't have a problem with tipping if it has NOT already been included in the price of the cruise. So, for US citizens, the tipping has not been included and I will sign up for the automatic tips. Thank you, all.

Several years ago, my husband and I ate at a restaurant near the port in Auckland, NZ There was no place on the CC bill for tips.

The very next day, we ate at the same restaurant. A large American cruise ship was in port. The CC bill had a line for tips. LOL.

Jane

Many thanks for the additional information.

I do have a CC that does not charge foreign transaction fees.

Ok. Thank you for your quick response!

I'm uncertain about rules for tipping on Dawn Princess since it is an Australian

ship. The Princess website does not give guidelines but I have read that tips are only given for personal services such as cabin person and dinning room. I would appreciate any uptodate information

Jane