iwanderafar

can anyone help me with how to find the posts by "thepreismans,com" regarding AmaPrima Budapest river cruise...

Did you want to find the website? If you search on this website for "thepreismans" and AMA Prima you'll find all kinds of information. Or you could go to their website: http://www.thepreismans.com/

Wife and I are on a Rhine Viking Sun cruise ending in Basel. We have 5 days after Basel until we have to be in Heathrow. We're trying to decide between touring Germany or France before flying out from Heathrow. Not interested in big cities (Paris or Berlin). Any thoughts?

You might also look at Lyon in France. It is France's gastronomic center and home to some excellent wines. The area is gorgeous and there's a direct train from Basil to Lyon that takes 3.5 hours. Then you could rent a car in Lyon to explore the area and easily fly on British Airways from Lyon to Heathrow.

Thanks. I agree with you.

 

We're wondering if we have the beds together if that will allow more room to move about the cabin. That's what we do if we're in a verandah on HAL. But it's a whole different ball game on the river cruiseships.

If it's anything like our ship (Viking Prestige) it won't really give you much more room. The beds are tiny. They seemed smaller than a normal American twin sized bed and ours were kind of hard. Our biggest room problem was the space at the end of the beds. Someone was always standing or sitting by the counter when the other person needed to get through to the bathroom or closet.

I'm so glad you had a nice time (apart from the noise). Hopefully, they will get that fixed before the next cruise departs.

I have a couple of questions.

Is there plenty of counter top space or shelves in the bathroom? My mom tends to need a lot of space for makeup, lotions, etc.. I was thinking of taking a portable shelf with suction cups.

Did you take any of the optional tours? If so, what was your opinion of them?

You seem like such a down-to-earth, fun couple. I'm sorry you're not on our cruise. Good luck in Paris. If you find an especially nice market, I'd love to hear about it. If you ever make it to Nice, the market there is spectacular.

Could you please explain 'high speed train that takes 2 hours to the ship...' If that is the case, I will fly to Paris instead of Lyon a day before.

Susan, In France they have a couple types of trains. The ordinary (slow) train tends to make stops at most of the stations along the route and it's speed is also slower. The fast trains, call TGVs which stand for Train a Grande Vitesse (Trains of Great Speed), make many fewer stops and go about 175 mph. So the TGV train trip from Paris Gare de Lyon (Gare means train station) to Lyon Part Dieu takes about 2 hours or about 1 hour 40 minutes from Paris Gare de Lyon to Dijon Ville. From either Lyon or Dijon, you can catch a connecting train to Chalon Sur Saone. You can buy train tickets easily online via railEurope.com. If you try to do it through SNCF.com, which is the French rail company, they will transfer you to railEurope.

I have been reading every post above but couldn't find the answer. Hopefully someone here may help. We will be taking the June 21st 2014 cruise from Chalon-sur-Saone to Avignon, but did not purchase the air and transfer. What city would you recommend us to fly to: Paris or Lyon? How far is Chalon-sur-Saone from Lyon?

 

Thank you in advance for any tips and advice of how to get to the boat.

Lyon is about 80 miles to Chalon sur Saone. Dijon is only about 40 miles away. You can get a direct train (see RailEurope.com) from Paris Bercy to Dijon for about $76 that takes about 4 hours (it's a slow train, not the TGV). Or you can fly or take the train to Lyon and then take a train to Chalon-sur-Saone. There are three train stations around Lyon (Part Dieu, Perrache, and Saint Exupery) so make sure you know which station you're going into and out of.

Any train going to Lyon, leaves Paris from Gare de Lyon.

Or you can rent a car one-way (see AutoEurope.com) and drive there. It takes about 4-5 hours depending on traffic around Paris. If you do that, stop at Beaune along the way. It's a beautiful, ancient town from pre-Roman days.

I have to admit though, as a Monty Python fan, I was picturing the rude Frenchman from Monty Python and the Holy Grail standing on the wall taunting the Britons seeking the holy grail ("I told 'im we already got one"). :p

A lot of The Holy Grail was filmed in Scotland. It's well worth a trip to see all the locations. It's a great little semi-country with friendly people and interesting castles.

Thanks for the review. We're doing Viking Danube soon and I love the south of France so you're evoking a lot of wonderful memories.

From what other cruisers have reported in the past, 2 to 3 weeks prior to sailing. Why don't you have your TA contact Viking and see how the documents are coming along for your sailing.

Thanks Nana. I've contacted my TA but I haven't heard back yet and I was just wondering what the time frame was. I appreciate the quick answer.

Does anyone know how soon you get your cruise packet from Viking or your travel agent? We're still waiting and our departure date is coming up fast.

Thanks!

September and October are great times for the south of France. That is usually the time we travel there. In September, the weather is warm (sometimes hot) and generally sunny. It starts to cool down more in October, but it isn't cold (50-70) except for maybe in the mornings later in the month. This is also the season for the vendange (grape harvest). It's a splendid time to be in southern France.

@CelticMutt - Thank you so much for all the details. I have a much better idea of what we'll be doing, now.

One question, though. About an hour or two after my morning coffee, I'm usually looking for a restroom. Do you know if these were easy to find while on the tours?

My longest trip was 3 months and I was definitely glad to get home at the end. I suggest that if you're going to do a longer trip, try to pick a central area and stay there for a week or more. It makes traveling less tiring and you get to explore an area more fully and make friends with the locals. Also, think about renting an apartment or someplace where you can wash your clothes. Then you don't need to take as much.

You're only limited by your vacation time and your money.

@tml1230 - Thank you so much for doing this and thank you so much for your positive attitude! We're going the opposite direction in May. I was interested to learn that the tour in Passau was a walking tour since my mom has back problems and can't walk for long periods. Was it a long walk?

How is the shower? Can you turn around in it? Is there plenty of light in the bathroom?

Sorry about the noise problem. That's why we always travel with ear plugs. They don't block all the noise but they do block out a lot.

Ingo, my DH is specifically looking for "photography" meaning, he'd like to take tours when the light is good (usually early or before sunset) and go places that are photogenic, or places where the culture and people create interesting photos. So that's a category people might be looking for.

I agree. Photography is top of my list -- best places to get the "postcard" or unusual shots, photography tours, cultural issues with photography (will people be okay with us taking their pictures?).

Also, ways to meet the locals would be nice to know. For example, there clubs that meet in local pubs or bars and invite native English speakers to stop by so the locals can practice speaking English.