First River Cruise

[yorkiemomjn]

We are taking an AMA Rhine river cruise next June. We usually DIY before our Oceania cruises (with cruise critic members) and enjoy it, but we don't know where to begin with this trip.

 

Would it be better to take the pre-cruise land tour AMA offers from Zurich or is it easy to DIY before boarding in Basel. We really prefer to not be part of a group before the cruise. If we DIY before, what airport should we fly in to?

 

Thank you for any suggestions/comments.

 

Judy

[Host Jazzbeau]

Welcome to river cruising! This is a great first trip, and you will love AMA.

 

We did this in the reverse direction, and stayed with AMA for the post-cruise extension to Lucerne and Zurich. We usually DIY but found that was worth the extra cost. The CD from our boat stayed with the group, and it was great to be able to share some DIY touring and dining with the new friends we had made on board. On a pre-cruise you would get the chance to meet fellow cruisers early, which could be nice too.

 

I don't think it's difficult to find your way around Switzerland, except the last leg getting to the boat in Basel. The problem is that river boats never know exactly where they will be assigned to berth until they get there. Hopefully the taxi drivers know!

 

There are many possible pre-cruise locations that you could explore. The one I would say is a "don't miss" is Lucerne. It's a lovely town and there are several nearby mountains with cog railways and/or cable cars to bring you up for dramatic views.

[caviargal]

We are also DIY travelers and will be doing that itinerary this December and next November with AMA.

 

This year we are doing a short layover in London, simply because we can fly Virgin non stop and then take a cheap EasyJet flight to Basel.

 

Next year we flying into Berlin and staying 4 nights pre cruise, then we will either train or fly to Basel. We chose Berlin because it is one of our favorite cities in Europe and we can't wait to get back for another stay.

 

I find Switzerland to be very pricey so if you do spend time there pre-cruise, AMA might be the better value.

 

I was not of Zurich but agree that Lucerne is stunning!

 

We love AMA and have been very happy on our cruises with them.

[YoungDubFan]

As to airports, have your TA check times and prices into both Zurich and Basel. If you stay in Basel pre-cruise, all the hotels will give you a free day pass to use the local trams / buses. This could make getting around convenient. We stayed in Zurich for 1 day pre-cruise and used the hotel that Avalon uses. It was very easy to take the train from our hotel into the Alstadt (Old Town) & walk around. The old town area is very compact. Then we joined Avalon for a trip to Mt. Pilatus and Lucern, then transportation to the ship in Basel on the day of embarkation. It was a nice way to meet some of our fellow passengers and we didn't have to worry about any of the details. Check with AMA to see what your options are. As has been mentioned, Switzerland is VERY expensive and you may get a better deal going through AMA than you can get on your own.

[Floridiana]

You would probably fly into Zurich, very nice airport, train station inside. You can take your luggage cart right to the ticket counter and then to the platform.

 

Luzern is beautiful, so are the mountains. Go up to the Pilatus mountain. Swiss mass transit runs like clockwork and frequently. Yes, Switzerland is expensive.

[Host Jazzbeau]

By the way, Switzerland will be the only country on your cruise that doesn't use the Euro. But we did not find any need to get Swiss francs. We were able to charge most things (on our non-Chip credit cards), and Euros are very welcome for tips. As one of our guides pointed out, Switzerland is so expensive that everyone goes to Germany to shop -- so they need Euros too!

[whatnot]

But if you are going to be in Switzerland for several days, getting a few Swiss Francs is probably a good thing to do. The exchange rate now for the US Dollar to the Swiss Franc is much better than the exchange rate from the Dollar to the Euro. I always prefer to use a credit card, but there are times you need at least a little cash. That is why they would prefer Euros. They are worth more than Swiss Francs.

[moesmrs]

We are taking this cruise in the opposite direction next July. We also cruised last year Prague to Budapest.

Last year we did 3 nights on our own in Prague, next year we will do 2 nights pre cruise in Amsterdam and 6 nights post cruise riding the rails in Switzerland. Basel- Zermatt- Montreux.

 

We are independent travelers, and while we enjoy the tours on the cruise itself, we think that 7 or 8 days of that is more than enough for us. The plus side of this is usually the cost of DIY is much less than purchasing it through the cruise company.

 

You could easily travel thru Zurich or Geneva and take the train to Basel. Zurich being geographically closer but I find the airfares (at least from Chicago) less expensive to Geneva.

[BPCruiser]

We are taking an AMA Rhine river cruise next June. We usually DIY before our Oceania cruises (with cruise critic members) and enjoy it, but we don't know where to begin with this trip.

 

Would it be better to take the pre-cruise land tour AMA offers from Zurich or is it easy to DIY before boarding in Basel. We really prefer to not be part of a group before the cruise. If we DIY before, what airport should we fly in to?

 

Thank you for any suggestions/comments.

 

Judy

 

We cruised from Basel to Vienna with Avalon back in 2012 and booked our pre cruise hotel days via Avalon for 2 nights at the Zurich Movenpick. Very close and convenient to airport and a shuttle from Airport to Hotel was provided by Movenpick. The main reason we booked and stayed at this Hotel in Zurich is that Avalon provided the transportation from Zurich Hotel to Basel if we booked our pre-night Hotel thru them. We DIY from Hotel via train to sightsee in Old Town Zurich on our arrival day and then DIY via train on our 2nd day from Zurich Airport to Lucerne. (Took the free Hotel shuttle back to airport where the train station is). Airport is less then 10 mins from Zurich Movenpick. Lucerne is not to be missed and it was very easy to purchase our round trip day train ticket for the at the train station in the Zurich airport.

 

We did pre-order some swiss francs to have on hand for our arrival in Zurich but there is ATM machine at Hotel. Old Town Zurich was very nice but Lucerne IMO was just beautiful!!

 

We are DIY pre and post Oceania too! We did not sign up for any pre or post river cruise tours with Avalon, easy enough to do on our own for both Vienna and Zurich/Lucerne.

[DrivesLikeMario]

We cruised from Basel to Vienna with Avalon back in 2012 and booked our pre cruise hotel days via Avalon for 2 nights at the Zurich Movenpick. Very close and convenient to airport and a shuttle from Airport to Hotel was provided by Movenpick. The main reason we booked and stayed at this Hotel in Zurich is that Avalon provided the transportation from Zurich Hotel to Basel if we booked our pre-night Hotel thru them. We DIY from Hotel via train to sightsee in Old Town Zurich on our arrival day and then DIY via train on our 2nd day from Zurich Airport to Lucerne. (Took the free Hotel shuttle back to airport where the train station is). Airport is less then 10 mins from Zurich Movenpick. Lucerne is not to be missed and it was very easy to purchase our round trip day train ticket for the at the train station in the Zurich airport.

 

We did pre-order some swiss francs to have on hand for our arrival in Zurich but there is ATM machine at Hotel. Old Town Zurich was very nice but Lucerne IMO was just beautiful!!

 

We are DIY pre and post Oceania too! We did not sign up for any pre or post river cruise tours with Avalon, easy enough to do on our own for both Vienna and Zurich/Lucerne.

 

Thank you for that information! We plan to do 3 nights pre-cruise in Zurich thru Avalon, taking the train into Zurich one of those days and doing a Viator tour the other day that picks us up at the hotel. Good to know about the ATM in the hotel and your experiences. :)

[GnRTravel]

Hi I'm going on AMA Certo Treasures of the Main & Rhine next month. I'll be sure to come back and give my review. It's our first river cruise and we are so excited!!