ljandgb

I’m going to quibble that ABD caters only to younger kids. I personally know families of teens, even older teens, that have done ABD’s. You can call ABD and they’ll tell you the ages of the kids booked on any specific trip if you wish.

Tauck Bridges are family trips, and there is Adventure by Disney, which is family centered and not TOO Disney-fied. They travel on AMA ships I believe, chartering out the entire ship for their trips. One of my kids always brings their Switch when we travel. Setting that up in the lounge after dinner has made them many friends over the years. Even when they didn't share a language, they all understood Nintendo.

Not Iceland, but a quick Viator story: We recently did a river cruise thru SE Asia with friends. My friend likes to book thru Viator and convinced me, against my better judgement, to book one of our tours thru it. We met some folks on the cruise we wanted to include on our tours. The Viator booking was literally impossible to add participants to, and I could get no one to answer my emails. The booking I did directly with another company for a different tour was easy peasy. I messaged the owner thru WhatsApp, got the ok to show up with 2 extra people, and had them bring cash to pay. Never using Viator again.

I don't recommend booking thru Viator, as it is difficult to speak with a human if plans change, weather is bad, etc. You can use Viator to see what's available, but then reach out to the companies directly to book. Troll and Arctic Adventures are frequently mentioned as reputable tour companies. There is a very good food walking tour that will take you around Reykjavik, though I think it's afternoon based. It's a small city, and the main areas are easy to see on foot. I heart Reykjavik is a popular blog that may also give you some ideas. I believe the writer used to do tours, and may still do them occasionally.

We did the same with Avalon, also a small ship, so able to go thru the canals. I agree that was a bonus. Our cruise sounds much the same, though we were flown to Siem Reap.

Yes, Tauck Bridges is geared more towards younger kids, but looking at the excursions they offer would give you an idea of what sort of "active" excursions they offer. Someone could then compare that with the standard Tauck trips, or any other line's offerings for that matter. Something else my kids have enjoyed with our travels to Europe (though it hasn't been a river cruise with them) is the history. After AP World History, they knew quite a bit that my husband and I did not. I got a whole lecture from my 15 yo on the Hanseatic League while on our Baltic cruise. LOL

Tauck has a Bridges section for family travel, which can skew more active. You might compare their regular trips to see what matches. Some lines have bikes that let you ride along the river while the ship transits. Avalon, and I believe AMA, does this. Back on the ship, there is frequently just not much to do, as space is limited. Some ships have a hot tub, maybe a small pool, though if the water is high access to it will be closed.

We did a ship excursion in Helsinki, to go feed reindeer. It was the least "cultural" activity we did the whole trip, and saw very little of the rest of Helsinki, as it required a 90 minute drive out to a reindeer refuge. It was, however, a lot of fun. Not very DIY, but the one city we did that I don't regret the ship tour. There weren't enough spots on the reindeer tour, so the rest of the family did a speed boat tour thru the little islands there. They came back with so many good stories I almost peed my pants at dinner when we all got back together.

I think the meal pricing is somewhere in the middle. We were there in May for a 5 day self drive trip. Eating out was around $25/person for casual fare, $60+/person for nicer restaurants. Self catering, which we did the most of by far, was $13/person (and that included a boat load of snacks - we went thru a tub of salmon dip every day.) Being on a ship tour, you will be at the mercy of where they take you, especially because there are limited options in most of those ports. We found our least favorite restaurants were at the main tourist points, where bus loads of people show up. Go just a few miles down the road and the options were better. One more reason to do Iceland as a land tour. 😉

Iceland frequently works better thru Facebook. If you can message them thru that, you may get a faster response.

I replied to your other post. I’d recommend the top itinerary with several days land tour of Iceland on your own. You can drive the south coast and not be limited by what’s available from your ship.

This issue is why I think Iceland is best done by land. So much to see and do, but not with 100’s-1,000’s of others in these tiny hamlets.

TBH, the best way to see Iceland is by land. It is easy to drive, or there are plenty of good tours. The "ports" are mostly small villages with extremely limited tourist infrastructure, making you dependent on ship tours. Consider a stopover in Iceland on the way to/from your Norway cruise.

We vastly prefer to find our own tours over those offered by the cruise lines. The challenge with river cruises is that docking times and locations are frequently much more fluid than ocean cruises, making it hard to arrange a DIY tour. If you do pick an outside tour, I actually do not recommend booking thru Viator. If there is a problem, it can be difficult to speak to an actual human. I do look on TripAdvisor, etc, to find potential tours, contact each company directly, and pick the one that has the best communication and willingness to provide what we are looking for. Once in country, WhatsApp seems to be the communication option of choice. Another option is WithLocals. They are pricier, but you can communicate directly with the guides to find something that works. We've used them in several continents. As for specifics for Prague, I don't have any experience that might help regarding the wheelchair.

Troll and Arctic Adventures are commonly named on the TA board, though I haven't used them myself.

I've been to Iceland 3 times. I'd pick the south coast. It's the iconic views of waterfalls and black sand beaches. Full disclosure I've only been to part of the Golden Circle. Thingvellir is pretty, but not jaw dropping, unless you're really into plate tectonics, local history, or want to snorkel in the rift there. (We did the snorkeling and spent a good deal of time in the museum at the visitor center regarding the history and biology of the park.) I've heard the geothermal areas are interesting, unless you've been to Yellowstone. The consensus on the TA forum is that you should do the GC first before the rest of the country. If you do it last, people tend to be a little less wowed if that makes sense. If you really want to do both, I think you could do an early morning GC tour and still make the departure. You could even just rent a car and start out really early, since you'll have so much daylight.

Back from our trip and still fairly jet lagged. I'm not going to do a full daily trip report, but will note any important points or differences from European river cruises as I think of them. We chose Avalon for the small ship size, which was perfect. The ship was in great condition and the crew were wonderful. Our friends that traveled with us were amazed at the large size of the room in comparison with their Viking Danube cruise (not sure which ship they were on.) It was a small enough group that it wasn't too unwieldy to get on tenders, walk thru town, etc. We were told that because the ship is smaller, it could go on a few branches of the river the larger ships can not. There were 8 of us that did the Hanoi/Ha Long Bay extension, 7 more that joined us for the HCMC extension, and 19 that did just the 7 day cruise. Then we peeled off folks in reverse order - 15 of us went to Siem Reap, and the first small group of us went on to do the Bangkok extension. The Hanoi/Ha Long Bay and Bangkok extensions were outsourced completely to local travel companies. We did not meet our Avalon guide until we got to HCMC, and he stayed with us thru Siem Reap. Our Hanoi/HLB guide was good. The Bangkok portion was disappointing as far as Avalon was concerned. Avalon provided transfer to the hotel, in 2 different vans, so only the group that traveled with the local guide got any info, and then one half day tour of the city. The other 1 1/2 days were completely OYO. The local guide was just OK. We planned our own tours for the free time, but there were some more newbie travelers that were somewhat at a loss. **side note - two of the "newbies" tagged on to our time in Bangkok. I usually arrange tours thru the provider but our friends wanted to book thru TripAdvisor/Viator. I did what she wanted and regretted it. It was impossible to add the 2 extras on thru TA/Viator, so we did by just contacting the provider directly thru WhatsApp and paying cash at the time of tour. Also, one trip cost HALF to book directly thru them. I look at it as a lesson learned. The tours themselves were awesome.** Interestingly, the 7 that joined us for the HCMC extension had just COME from Bangkok, and were going to Hanoi/HLB AFTER Siem Reap. I had no idea that particular combo was an option, the main differences being that we had 2 nights in Hanoi, and one in HLB at a resort on its own small private island while the other group did 1 night in Hanoi and 2 nights on a cruise ship in HLB. Since they were going after they left us, I can't tell you any more about the specifics. The hotels for the extensions were fabulous. Like, spectacular. The pool at the Park Hyatt Siem Reap is one of the nicest I've seen. Our Avalon guides were also fabulous. We had Khahn, a Vietnamese local, who was our coordinator for the trip, then Chung as the local guide for the Vietnamese portion and Sokun for the Cambodian portion. I can't speak highly enough about them. The cruise itself was a bit more low key than European cruises. Due to the heat, I'm ok with that. We had 3 days of afternoon sailings. Our excursions were mostly to VERY small villages along the river, with demonstrations on weaving, noodle making, farm life, etc. Avalon made sure we experienced a variety of transportation modes - tuk tuk, cyclo cart, and ox cart included. There were few piers, and we mostly tendered. I will say that anyone with mobility issues would not do well on this cruise. The transfers at shore were frequently steep, irregular, and mobile as the tender rocked a bit. The tender frequently just pulled up to a small trail on the shoreline. We also rafted once, in Phnom Penh, at a large pier. My favorite excursion was surprisingly the trip to the English school. I'm not one that loves kids in principal, but they had the kids (ages 7-12-ish) set out with work books and we were paired with one kid to basically just go thru their work book with them. It was like going thru homework with my kids and actually quite fun. That portion went on for about 30 minutes then they had some of us stand in front of the class to answer questions from the kids. Most people felt the same way I did - it was a highlight of the trip. The food was very good. Buffet at breakfast and lunch, menu at dinner, local dishes predominantly. There was always a choice of sandwich or burger for lunch and chicken, steak, or fish for dinner. Free wine and beer at meals, a happy hour drink of the day free in the evenings. I loved all the countries, but Cambodia was my favorite. I think because they have come so far after so much tragedy. We also loved Siem Reap out of all the extensions due to the temples. Truly, they were worth the entire trip, and Siem Reap itself is just a nice sized city to navigate. Hanoi was great, and so bustling. HCMC started to feel a bit too large to my taste, and honestly I did not care much for Bangkok. Crowded, loud, a lot of air pollution, and so difficult and inefficient to get around if what you want is not next to the subway or sky train. Not Avalon related, but we did several OYO tours, most street food related. Hanoi thru With Locals, HCMC thru Street Food Man, Phnom Penh with Kingdom of Wonderlust (this was booked just the day before we got there and we had the owner himself,) and Bangkok with Bangkok Food Tours. All were very good but the HCMC was our hands down favorite as we went places I would NEVER had gone on my own, and had food that you can not get at any restaurant. We really felt like we were living like locals. Our Phnom Penh tour was a close second, for the same reasons. When we were in Siem Reap, we asked the hotel desk where we could get some of the same dishes and he just shook his head and said it wasn't possible unless we went back to the food stalls near the temple. LOL HCMC and Siem Reap were private tours. We also did a private tour to Kanchanaburi Erawan Waterfall and Elephant Care thru Idaytrip in Bangkok. This was a 12 hour day and one of our favorites of the trip. It was sooo nice to get out of the city, and it really made me think I'd love to go back and see the rest of Thailand that isn't Bangkok. We swam in the waterfalls at the Erawan national park, and got in the river with elephants to bathe them. We got soaked, had a blast, and got some amazing pictures as they had us give one of our cameras to a guide while we interacted with the elephants. We got a Vietnam e-visa no problem. If you're getting one, check your dates carefully. One of the travelers got the date wrong on entry. Fortunately, they arrived at 11:30pm and she only had to wait 30 minutes to wait before going back to immigration. The Cambodian visa you can not get online despite what your travel agent might say. The ship did ours and just charged the $50/person to our ship account. Money was in local currency at each location except Cambodia, where vendors would happily take $US for small transactions. I did not have any issue with getting our money turned down due to condition, but our bills were in decent shape. You can even get US$ at the ATM, but only in $100 bills, which was not super convenient. Getting around in towns on our own we used Grab, the SE Asia version of Uber. It worked well everywhere but Bangkok where traffic is so bad it just took forever to get anywhere. Our cell service, AT&T, did not work well in Hanoi though, so we ended up having to have a random restaurant employee give us his wifi hotspot long enough to call a grab to get back to the hotel. Using the app worked fine on wifi. If I were going to spend any amount of time in Vietnam on my own, I'd get a local SIM card. We travel carry on only, and much of my travel wardrobe is performance fabric which washes and dries easily. I always bring detergent sheets and a 10L dry bag to wash clothes in, but don't usually wash all that much. This trip was different. We were so hot and sweaty any time we left the ship that those clothes were not usable again. I found myself washing every 2-3 days. I also sent pants to be washed on the ship. It was $2-4/item and returned in 24 hours in good condition (one group mentioned fears of t-shirts shrinking in the dryer, but that did not happen.) Every lady in the group found themselves eventually getting elephant pants. They really are the coolest (temperature wise) to wear there. My friend said 'it's like wearing air conditioning on your legs." LOL Generally, you could wear shorts if they were close to your knees (no shorty shorts on women) and short sleeved shirts. Most places would let you cover with a scarf to correct that if needed. The Bangkok Royal Palace required long pants, shoulders covered, and no mid-riff showing, scarf cheating not allowed. We saw guards turning some young ladies away saying "this is no sexy area!" That's all I can think of right now. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

As the title states, we’re on the Avalon Saigon for a Mekong cruise now. We arrived in Viet Nam November 10 for extensions in Hanoi, Ha Long bay, and Ho Chi Minh City. We also did 48 hours in Taiwan prior to all that since we flew EVA Air. We embarked November 16 in Ho Chi Minh City and are currently in Phnom Penh. We’ll be doing the Bangkok extension at the end as well. I’ll do more thoughts when we get home but if anyone has specific questions I can try to answer them. Wi-Fi and cell has been very spotty on the ship but we’re docked in the city for a bit yet, which helps. it’s been hot, low 90’s in Hanoi and HCMC but it’s been a bit cooler here. The ship is great, 36 pax, mix of Americans, Canadians, and Aussies. Crew fantastic. People everywhere super friendly. We’ve done a few OYO food tours which have been huge winners. This trip was my husband’s idea and I’ve not had a huge draw to come to this part of the world but so far it’s been fantastic. It’s really exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations.

Thank you. That's what I thought but figured I'd make sure.

We leave Monday for our Avalon Mekong cruise. Regarding pants for temples, does this include men also? My husband lives year round in shorts.

The best views are from the lounge or up top. As mentioned, there's a good chance you'll wake up and be belly to belly balcony-wise with someone else, so not likely to go out and sip your coffee while staring into the eyes of a stranger, who may or may not be clothed. LOL I did enjoy the Avalon French balcony just to let in fresh air.

We're doing a Mekong cruise next month. I don't dress super formal at home, and rarely wear skirts anyways, but my plan is a wardrobe of simple trousers, light weight technical fabric solid color shirts, and a nice scarf or necklace to dress it up. In the past, when cruising in hot climates, I generally come back from excursions, shower, and put on tomorrow's clothes for dinner that night. In general, river cruises are more smart casual. At least the European ones I've been on.

I splurged on a prescription mask for our Galapagos trip. I bought the mask from a dive shop, gave them my glasses prescription from my ophthalmologist, and they sent the mask somewhere that puts lenses in the mask. The lenses, including a lined bifocal, are glued (?) to the inside of the mask front. They worked beautifully. The mask cost $80, putting the prescription in cost $280. Totally worth it, but not cheap. After that trip, my husband brought in the mask he’d bought off of Amazon, gave them his prescription, and we’re now waiting for them to be done. The dive shop said any mask with a tempered glass front could have lenses put in.

We always prefer to find our own excursions. Either private, or with a small group, which is way better than being in a big bus with 40 other people. Some companies offer small groups arranged by the company, other times the groups are formed on a CC roll call (I admittedly have not gone this route.) In general, I do some research online to see what's available at any given port, find companies that provide what I'd like to do that also have good online reviews (including from here at CC), then email several. It's usually apparent quickly which companies are responsive to our questions and communication. I never book thru a third party like Viator. It's worked out well for us every time. Always check cancelation policies, including if the ship can not make it to port. Something to consider with these port stops is that the towns are small, and for Iceland, tourism is not their main focus. There will be limited offerings, so if there is something you wish to do in some of the very small towns, I'd work on that first. There is also a lot of talk here on CC about Isafjordur. It is a very small port whose pier does not support large ships, and some ships don't tender. They are working on enlarging the pier, but consequently, many ships have had to skip this port this year. The weather in this part of the world is also harsher, and some ports have been canceled due to high winds. I'll always maintain that Iceland is best done as a land trip, as it's easy to navigate and simply beautiful. Since the common "ports" are often tiny villages, you are frequently left with whatever the ship can provide, and there's so much more to do if you could just get to it. There are few to no cars to rent and no public transport. At least consider arriving a day or 2 earlier and seeing more of Iceland. The Golden Circle is the standard tour, but is honestly less inspiring than a south coast tour for most people, unless you are really into geothermal areas. (If you've been to Yellowstone, you'll probably be underwhelmed in Iceland.)

It was smart casual on our Rhine cruise. I can't imagine the French rivers are significantly different. I usually wear the outfit I'm planning on wearing the next day, sometimes changing it up with the one nice shirt or scarf I brought.