loge23

Who is the "My" in "Dine My Way" anyway? Padgett?? We booked our reservations (silly btw - "booking" dining reservations on a cruise ship) last night for our upcoming 26 night cruise one night at a time. This is progress??! And only on one's mobile device? I kept saying to my wife that this would have been so much easier if one could do this on a PC, but no - that make too much sense. So you have your most loyal customers, many of whom are relatively new to this type of tech, having to book their DR times on their phones/pads -no guarantee of the same table and shuttled to different DR's for "My" preferred time. No wonder why there is so many dissatisfied Princess cruisers these days. Have to hope the onboard experience bears at least in some semblance to what we know and used to love about Princess.

That's where we're at as well. We have another booking for next July after our upcoming month-long Regal cruise. We really want to get a sense of what's going on before - or if - we switch the July one out. We do cruise from time to time on other lines and just from that we see that Princess has been kind of stagnating, if not regressing. We're long-time Princess fans, but not fanatics - we just preferred the Princess way of cruising. Loyalty is for marriages and dogs, not stuff that we pay for. Someone mentioned the Princess itineraries and that is a main draw for us. They still do have very good cruise itineraries, particularly combined ones. To be fair, Sir Richard owns the venture, while Mr. Padgett is essentially a corporate yes man.

Not sure if you meant taking a river cruise from Paris to Normandy, but if so I would definitely recommend doing this trip on your own. The river cruises to Normandy really don't cruise much - it's a short distance and there's very little scenery from the boat, unlike the Rhine or Danube cruises. If you fly into CDG, you can rent a car (get one with GPS). It's a pretty short drive from there to Giverny or Rouen, where you can regroup for a night or two. From there, it's an equally short trip to Bayeux, in the heart of the Normandy beaches area. Brittany and the lovely town of Honfleur are also easily reachable by car (albeit in opposite directions). You'll also have much more time to explore while you're on your own. There are excellent guided tours if you wish from Bayeux to the landing beaches - and plenty of yummy places to eat when you return to Bayeux. Don't forget to see the awesome Bayeux Tapestry exhibit in town - it's a highlight!

That's what we always used to do if we couldn't get a Vines glass to "borrow" (so silly really). The "wine glass" they used to use in the DRs was ridiculous - an insult to the grapes! On our Enchanted cruise in Feb. they had replaced all the wine glasses in the DRs with actually wine glasses - not sure of their brand (it wasn't Riedel), but they were a vast improvement over the former bud vases they had.

The glasses in the Vines are (or used to be - haven't been on in awhile) Riedels. On our last Princess cruise (Feb '22) we were happy to see that they changed out the awful stemmed water glasses for wine that were used in the DR's to nice, proper wine glasses. Sorry to say though, if you are used to Celebrity's wine program, you may be disappointed on Princess.

Indeed! The Rhine is all about castles, the Moselle is about steeply raked vineyards and lush landscapes. Both are wonderful but the Moselle is country, the Rhine is town.

Should be delightful weather, perhaps a bit damp, but so, so much better than summer! Summers in Europe are becoming unbearable.

Yes, as was the Royal's as well.

It is a bigger bar, but in my opinion, poorly placed. It was the Sea View bar, now it's the elevator or pool view bar. I found the placement obstructive of the normal traffic flow in that area. Just an opinion.

I recall your earlier spreadsheet and used it well! You continue to be a "go-to" for credible wine/spirits info on the line, and it is much appreciated!

No Vines Bar on the Enchanted and the Retreat Pool area has been radically changed for the worst - it looks like a late afterthought by the designers when someone asked "Isn't there supposed to be a pool there?" The Sea View bar, as noted, is gone - moved actually to smack in the middle of the deck. Again, a poor design decision. We did enjoy Take Five somewhat and considered that an improvement over the little-used Club Six. But again, poor design - a wide walkway from the theatre to the mid-ship area cuts through it, rendering the performers on one side and the audience seating on the other. Nice if you like to watch parades go by. The Bistro Sur La Mer was just awful in every way on our February cruise, hopefully they figured it out by now. Needless to say, the Enchanted was a big disappointment to our tastes. I noted while on it that the designers were seemingly given cut-outs of all the interior features and then blindfolded. Kind of like the old color-forms game or pin-the-venue-on-the ship.

This will ultimately be a operational decision. If the river conditions warrant, then the ships will become smaller. The current Viking fleet was built for the market - more people are river cruising, thus longer ships. The river cruise industry has been exploding in the last decade, 2020 notwithstanding. It can use a bit of a cool down period. We did an independent land tour on the Rhine and Moselle in the late 90's. There weren't any commercial river cruise ships as I recall - it was all the KD ships, day cruising. Then Viking brought KD, and their docks, and that changed everything. It's difficult to predict the weather conditions going forward, but if the trend towards drier conditions continues, it will bring the river cruise industry to a screeching halt (although not quite as dire as the CNN article, imo). Personally, I'm hoping for snowy winters and plenty of spring rain, but I'm being optimistic.

Hotels will vary. We sailed in this past July - the hotel in Zurich was the Sheridan West Zurich, a tram ride away from the old city center, but in a nice "locals only" section of town. In Paris, we stayed at the Pullman Montparnasse. Also a nice hotel in a little-travelled tourist section of town, but easy access to the Metro/cabs/etc. You could also walk to many good bistros and the Montparnasse Tower which locals say is the best views of the city (because you can't see the Tower itself!). I would expect chilly weather then though.

We booked it as complete with the (then) "premium" package, gratuities, and wifi. The premium package became the plus package when they added the premier package to the mix.

On our recent Viking Hild/Herja swap the cruise director and three (3) wait staff (one staffer for each of the four buses) came along. Once we re-packed, the luggage was put in the hall and the next time we seen it was in our identical room on the Herja. The luggage is trucked, separately, to the alternate ship.

We're used to getting the (now) Plus package as a perk from the TA. I suppose we'll keep that for our Nov. cruise and just pay the difference for upgrades from all of the OBC we'll have. Imo, the premium package is too expensive for what's being offered.

Thank you, Notamermaid! Koblenz was indeed as beautiful as remembered. Sailing on the Moselle was just lovely. Arrived in Trier this AM, the end of our river portion. Full review forthcoming in the ship review section under our original ship, the Hild.

Arrived in Koblenz today (7/22). Scheduled to sail to Trier tomorrow on the Viking Herja.

Yes, we started in Basel on 7/18.

Aboard the Hiln. Yesterday, we sailed up to the port for Speyer, spent the very hot day, and then promptly turned around and high-tailed it back to Strasbourg. The Captain announced that low water in the Rhine, from Speyer to Koblenz was too risky to make the trip. We'll be bussed up to Koblenz on Saturday, where we will continue along the Moselle in another Viking vessel.

They shuffle between 2 or 3 hotels in each hotel port. We're on the Hild presently going from the Alps to Paris. In Geneva, we stayed at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental. In Zermott, the hotel was the chic Schweitzerhof - note that this hotel is not air-conditioned and the room holds the heat from the day quite well until the cool night air comes in around 1 or 2 am. Further complicating things is the smoke from their giant bbq grille in the restaurant which finds its way into your open windows. Yuck. In Zurich, it was the Sheraton in Zurich West - a short tram ride (8sf rt for a 24 hr pass) from the city center. Nice hotel tbough. In Paris, which we haven't reached yet, we're booked into the Pullman Montparnasse. Happy travelling! It's a wonderful trip so far!

notamermaid (I don't believe you, I think you are most certainly a mermaid!) Anyway, regardless of your aquatic status, can you let us know how the Rhine & Moselle levels are faring these days? I think the boat swaps I've been reading about apply to the Danube and/or Main, but we're travelling from Basel to Trier next week, thus my interest in this topic. And vielen dank for your fine commentary on this site!

Of course! My apologies for that unintentional omission!

A bit off topic on this thread, but I'd like to pipe in a bit regarding visits to Normandy. I highly recommend doing a tour of the beaches, the tapestry, and the towns of Normandy as independent as you are able to do. If you are interested in the landing beaches, you will need at least 2 or 3 days - more depending on how interested you are in the D-Day events. A great base is Bayeux - very centrally located for exploring the sites. There are also several companies that run guided day tours out of Bayeux both to the landing beaches and to Mont Saint-Michel (not as one tour!). The town is beautiful and the people are warm and friendly (yes, tis true). You can walk over the tapestry building for an incredible exhibit of the original work. Plenty of good restaurants too. It's a relatively short, easy drive from CDG if you fly in to Paris (be sure to get a car with GPS). Us Yanks will be sure to see Omaha, Utah, the Pont du Hoc, and the incredibly moving American cemetery; but if you're on your own, you may want to drive a bit east to take in Sword, Gold and Juno and maybe the Merville Battery - a very important and well-preserved landmark for the D-Day invasion. The invasion wouldn't have been successful without the British and Australian forces, among other Allies who combined with the Americans to change the course of history. Your visit honors them.

Interesting take on Cologne and not much different from our recollections. On our last visit there, we were going in the opposite direction, so the shock of arriving in a crowded, noisy, city was compounded by the fact that our previous week has been spent visiting blissful, quaint small towns and villages. We just weren't ready for civilization yet! The good news for you is you're about the experience the relative calm of the Rhine and its' lovely ports. Smooth sailing!