Uniworld, SS Antoinette – Basel to Amsterdam 3/30/14 on Tape Delay

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for the bonus review. We saw most of these sites last year, and your pictures are great! We did not do Titlis -- that is a trip and a half! Pilatus was nice, but nothing like 10,000 ft (no snow). You also had perfect weather for it. What a great trip!

[eyeu]

Love the photo of the wine glasses..set in front of the vineyards....so relaxing...nice!

 

Rick

Edited June 19, 2014 by eyeu

[jpalbny]

Love the photo of the wine glasses..set in front of the vineyards....so relaxing...nice!

 

Rick

 

Thanks, it was very relaxing! We absolutely loved that place - Hotel Rebenhof just outside the town of Baden-Baden, at the northern terminus of the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse. The room, food, and setting were fantastic, and it's on our return list for sure.

 

But I had to take this particular shot very quickly - first, because the level of wine in the glasses kept getting inexplicably lower, and second, because the Riesling was getting too warm in the sunshine!

 

I hope you have a great cruise this August! Please report back.

Edited June 20, 2014 by jpalbny

[jpalbny]

Thanks for the bonus review. We saw most of these sites last year, and your pictures are great! We did not do Titlis -- that is a trip and a half! Pilatus was nice, but nothing like 10,000 ft (no snow). You also had perfect weather for it. What a great trip!

 

Jazzbeau, the weather was incredible for our trip; we could not believe our good fortune. Even on the one rainy morning we had, the clouds broke and by noon there was nothing but blue sky.

 

Titlis was a last-minute decision which we only decided to do because (1) the weather was incredible, and (2) the high Alpine passes to the South were all still closed. So we found ourselves further North earlier than expected, with time to kill before Lucerne, and it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

 

Chris is the master planner for these trips. She researches them for months, and has index cards full of possibilities for any place we could have ended up. It would have taken a month to see all of the places she investigated!

 

I'm the navigator / mapper and also in charge of the GPS; I spend lots of time on Google Earth figuring out where these places are and how to get around. Once the Alpine passes didn't work out, it took us about 2 minutes to figure out a great Plan B. I just got to drive the new S7 on more mountain roads... :D

[jpalbny]

Here is a link to the daily programs for this cruise:

 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7-MF_WeC07jQXJ6UUkyOFNzQ0E&usp=sharing

[eyeu]

Getting those programs is great!! So much great information to help in planning. wish I had kept my past programs...you are so organized!!!

thanks!

rick

[jpalbny]

Getting those programs is great!! So much great information to help in planning. wish I had kept my past programs...you are so organized!!!

thanks!

rick

 

Glad it's helpful - and thanks kindly for calling me "organized" because I save all of this stuff. Chris has another term for this behavior, also starting with "O," and it is an acronym... 3 letters long... :o

Edited June 27, 2014 by jpalbny

[whatnot]

Thanks for all your great reporting. Will be doing this cruise in May 2015 from Basel to Amsterdam. It will be very helpful in helping us plan our trip. I use to save all that stuff but I've gotten to the point I am running out of room and just save select things. I still have toooo much! My bookcase looks like the travel section at the book store!

[eyeu]

My wife, my kids, even my dog tells me the same three letters!

Where would they be without us???

Rick

[cruisinskier]

Thanks for all the bonus photos, especially Lucerne! We will be spending a few days there next month post cruise. Other than the bridge and the lion monument, any other must do's in Lucerne? We will be doing Pilatus. Thanks again for taking the time to post your review....it has provided valuable input for our upcoming trip.

Jerry

[jpalbny]

The Chapel Bridge and the Lion Monument are the big attractions in Lucerne and they didn't disappoint. There's another covered wooden bridge (Spreuerbrüke) a little further downriver that has some great paintings in the gables of the bridge as well. If you're already at the Chapel Bridge it's less than 5 minutes further away. Worth a visit.

 

Otherwise, just wander the riverbank and the old town, and enjoy! For us the best part of Lucerne was walking the lakeshore and seeing the Alpine scenery. We did not go to Mt. Pilatus, but it sure looks beautiful. I wish we'd had time to cruise on the lake a little bit. Maybe next time...

[carefreecruise]

The Chapel Bridge and the Lion Monument are the big attractions in Lucerne and they didn't disappoint. There's another covered wooden bridge (Spreuerbrüke) a little further downriver that has some great paintings in the gables of the bridge as well. If you're already at the Chapel Bridge it's less than 5 minutes further away. Worth a visit.

 

Otherwise, just wander the riverbank and the old town, and enjoy! For us the best part of Lucerne was walking the lakeshore and seeing the Alpine scenery. We did not go to Mt. Pilatus, but it sure looks beautiful. I wish we'd had time to cruise on the lake a little bit. Maybe next time...

 

JP, is right, lots to do in Lucerne. We just got back a few weeks ago:

http://media602.dropshots.com/photos/1184286/20140607/b_100418.jpg

A nice house on the lake.

http://media600.dropshots.com/photos/1184286/20140607/b_100344.jpg

On the lake looking at the Mt. Pilatus.

http://media602.dropshots.com/photos/1184286/20140607/b_100502.jpg

Up on Mt. Pilatus lots of hiking trails.

http://media600.dropshots.com/photos/1184286/20140607/b_100440.jpg

Taking the train up to the mountain.

If you want to read my review of the ship just click on this link http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=257104

 

Sorry, don't know why the pictures are not just showing up. I guess you will have to click on them till I get it figured out....

[jpalbny]

This is carefreecruise's post with the pictures inserted:

 

JP, is right, lots to do in Lucerne. We just got back a few weeks ago:

 

 

A nice house on the lake.

 

 

On the lake looking at the Mt. Pilatus.

 

 

Up on Mt. Pilatus lots of hiking trails.

 

 

Taking the train up to the mountain.

 

 

If you want to read my review of the ship just click on this link http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=257104

 

Sorry, don't know why the pictures are not just showing up. I guess you will have to click on them till I get it figured out....

 

Thanks for posting! Great pictures - beautiful place!

 

You have to copy/paste the link to your pictures using the picture icon above (in the edit/post dialog, it's the yellow square with a mountain and sun). I changed it for you so the pictures show up. You had posted the links directly, which for some reason doesn't work here. It took me a while to figure this out the first time...

[carefreecruise]

JP, thanks again.

I did post the URL link directly and forgot to use the picture icon. I better make a note of that for next time...... Thanks for fixing it! We will catch up with you later this year on the Cloud. I think we board her when your getting off in Athens?

[MeganM]

Hi JP and Chris. My husband and I are looking into this trip for our 10th anniversary in 2016 (yes, I'm an early researcher). Question for you - the ride up the Rhine and the view - were there a lot of castles and nice scenery? Or did you find that it was just one area and more industrial. I've seen comments about this on other sites. Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!! Megan and Jon

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jpalbny]

Hi JP and Chris. My husband and I are looking into this trip for our 10th anniversary in 2016 (yes, I'm an early researcher). Question for you - the ride up the Rhine and the view - were there a lot of castles and nice scenery? Or did you find that it was just one area and more industrial. I've seen comments about this on other sites. Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!! Megan and Jon

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hi MeganM - welcome to CC! A Rhine River cruise is a good intro to River Cruising and certainly Uniworld would be a special place for an anniversary celebration.

 

To answer your question, we found that the upper (Southern) Rhine was more picturesque than the lower (Northern) Rhine. We enjoyed most every part south of Koblenz. Luckily, we sailed the Northern Rhine mostly at night, and did the big, less-picturesque stretch north of Cologne (AKA the Unromantic Rhine) on the last afternoon when we were busy packing.

 

The famous stretch between Rudesheim and Koblenz, where the castles are, goes by quickly. But most of the area south of Rudesheim was pretty.

[Buck1949]

JP, thanks again.

I did post the URL link directly and forgot to use the picture icon. I better make a note of that for next time...... Thanks for fixing it! We will catch up with you later this year on the Cloud. I think we board her when your getting off in Athens?

 

Hey there Fellow Arizonan...(I assume from Carefree,Az ? )

 

Did you do the Rhine cruise already? We loved that cruise. We were booked to do the Russian River cruise in 2015 also with Uniworld, .. But have decided to cancel (too many things happening in that region) and instead may try the Paris/Normany cruise or some other Europe River cruise.

 

Good seeing like 'local' cruisers in here.

[eyeu]

Getting ready for our exciting trek in a few weeks...

I understand the emphasis is on the castles on the Rhine but there are lots of other historical events that occurred on the Rhine.

Does anyone address any of the WWII events there? Bridge at Remagen, Siegfried line, ...etc...? I understand this is not a WWII cruise, but since we are going down that same Rhine, just thought I would ask...thanks..

rick

[Buck1949]

Getting ready for our exciting trek in a few weeks...

I understand the emphasis is on the castles on the Rhine but there are lots of other historical events that occurred on the Rhine.

Does anyone address any of the WWII events there? Bridge at Remagen, Siegfried line, ...etc...? I understand this is not a WWII cruise, but since we are going down that same Rhine, just thought I would ask...thanks..

rick

 

Hi Rick....

I don't remember anything specific about any of those things you mention above. There may be a casual mention by a tour guide, or on Castle Day...the Tour manager may make a comment - but nothing that stood out to me.

[Buck1949]

Hi JP and Chris. My husband and I are looking into this trip for our 10th anniversary in 2016 (yes, I'm an early researcher). Question for you - the ride up the Rhine and the view - were there a lot of castles and nice scenery? Or did you find that it was just one area and more industrial. I've seen comments about this on other sites. Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!! Megan and Jon

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Personally I liked the views during pretty much the entire cruise. It was just enough mix of small villages/towns, and a bit of industrial. Get your camera ready for the Castles portion....and I would suggest a telephoto lens if you have one available. There is a booklet that is available on Amazon (I've been told) that was also sold on our Uniworld cruise ship that is very informative. The title is: Castles and Palaces on the Rhine. It sure helped me get the names/spellings correct for the various Castles along the way.

 

Enjoy !!!

[TravelBugM]

Here's a link to a great website which we followed along as we sailed the middle Rhine:

 

http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/castles.php

[jpalbny]

Getting ready for our exciting trek in a few weeks...

I understand the emphasis is on the castles on the Rhine but there are lots of other historical events that occurred on the Rhine.

Does anyone address any of the WWII events there? Bridge at Remagen, Siegfried line, ...etc...? I understand this is not a WWII cruise, but since we are going down that same Rhine, just thought I would ask...thanks..

rick

 

Rick, have a great time! You must be as excited as we are - leaving for London on Friday to join the Silver Cloud on Monday, cruising to Reykjavik. :D

 

I don't remember hearing much about the WWII sites along the way. I do remember that our CD made an announcement during her usual evening talk after we left Koblenz, that we'd pass the Remagen Bridge later that night.

 

They mentioned some other WWII history during our visit to Alsace-Lorraine, but that was in the context of the area having changed hands so many times between Germany and France, rather than in regard to a specific site. But other than that, I don't remember too much being said specifically about WWII. One of the few disadvantages of an all-inclusive cruise...:rolleyes:

[Got2Cruise]

Getting ready for our exciting trek in a few weeks...

 

I understand the emphasis is on the castles on the Rhine but there are lots of other historical events that occurred on the Rhine.

 

Does anyone address any of the WWII events there? Bridge at Remagen, Siegfried line, ...etc...? I understand this is not a WWII cruise, but since we are going down that same Rhine, just thought I would ask...thanks..

 

rick

 

 

Investigate visiting the Maginot Line. That was an excursion while in Strasbourg offered by Avalon.

[Buck1949]

Investigate visiting the Maginot Line. That was an excursion while in Strasbourg offered by Avalon.

 

I notice you are researching a Venice cruise.... If you have never been to Venice I would highly recommend that you try to spend a few extra days there if possible. What a great place.... it is a photo op waiting to happen for anyone that likes to take pictures. We even did a Photo Tour with a noted Photographer that had us walking through areas that the 'normal' tourist would probably never venture too.

 

Of course a tour of the Murano Gla$$ Factory i$ a mu$t $ee al$o....;). and of course we bought $$ some glassware while there.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Buck1949

[Host Jazzbeau]

If you have Hilton points, the Molino Stucky on Giudecca in Venice is a wonderful hotel. I think it's expensive, but with points it always feels "free."