Vantage River Cruise Optional Tour

In early Sept. we are taking the 15 day "Switzerland & the Heart of the Rhine & Moselle" River Cruise with Vantage Travel. In Mainz there is an optional 3 hour excursion titled "Romanesque Jewels of Germany" that goes to Worms and Speyer. Is this excursion worth taking? If we stay with the ship's "standard itinerary" we'll spend a full day touring Schwetzingen and the Gutenberg Museum. Your comments are appreciated.

Don't know if this helps, but if I had the choice, I'd not take the optional tour to Worms and Speyer. Been to Speyer twice and to Worms once and not really impressed with either that much. Not familiar with Schwetzingen, so would like to see it. The Gutenberg Museum is in Mainz and it's interesting. So that's JMHO. But if you never have seen the other two cities, maybe you'd like to. I have seen and wouldn't want to do it again. There are some places that I would loved to see again and these are two cities I wouldn't.

We lived in Germany for four years. Either tour would be fine, but I would tend to go with Mainz.

I was on that cruise in May. You can sign up on the cruise. In fact the Program Managers will hold an informational meeting about the optional tours.

We were on a trip which was affected by extreme rains and high water. I do not think that excursion happened on our trip. I know our excursion -- the Black Forest tour was cancelled. Those who booked on board got an immediate refund. We received a refund/credit from Vantage after we returned home. The people who went on the Iron Works & Nature excursion raved about it.

Enjoy your trip. We loved the River Venture: the crew was so caring, the food was fabulous, our cabin (328) was very comfortable.

We appreciate everyone's helpful responses.

Vantage clarified some information for us. It is possible to sign up for Optional Tours once you board the ship, pending available space on the tours. Also, the itinerary in Mainz has changed in that the ship's "Standard Itinerary" in Mainz has changed from a full day to half day so it is possible to see Mainz and the Gutenberg Museum and still take the Optional Tours in Worms and Speyer.

Thank you also for the information about the ship "River Venture."

Are you on the September 17th cruise starting in Basel? We are, and are taking the pre cruise visit to Lucerne. We did book a tour there. I've been posting on another Cruise Critic River Cruise board where you can find others on your Vantage cruise. So far, we've been the only ones on this sailing.