Grand Circle 2005

[npphotog]

Just read Grand Circle's 2005 "The Great Rivers of Eurpoe" line-up on their site. Disappointed to find some of the included tours for 2004 now listed as optional and no stop in Rudesheim except for a dinner on the Drosselgasse listed as an option. I emailed them but no response so far. Wanted to do this trip in 2005 but now looking at Viking which offers same trip for 2004. Called Viking but their 2005 schedule due out end of June. Person there said he thought the program for 2005 same as last year. Willard

[Flick]

Willard: We leave THIS July 7th. for our Great Rivers Cruise. We are a FULL ship (155) passengers so there will be no home-hosted dinner nor apple strudel demo. I did like the idea of the extra 10% discount for Inner Circle members on the boats. Hope that extends to the optional tours which look good. Will report back after the trip...(Obviously, things change right up to the last moment)

 

A thought for ya...

LIFE SHOULD NOT BE A JOURNEY TO THE GRAVE WITH THE INTENTION OF ARRIVING SAFELY IN A PRETTY AND WELL-PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN BROADSIDE, THOROUGHLY USED UP, TOTALLY WORN OUT, AND LOUDLY PROCLAIMING, "WOW! WHAT A RIDE!"

 

Rick,24 cruises and counting! Next cruise- #25-Riverboat cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna in July '04

[Talisker92]

I would suggest you check Vantage's website for River cruises. We took one in 2002 and were very happy with it.

[gracecarmo]

I just got Vantage's catalogue in the mail, and their trips seem very similar to GCT. I also noticed that the presidents of both companies have the last sur-name, Lewis. A coincidence.

 

We took the Great Rivers trip two years ago, and it was really nice, and we leave next week (June 23) for GCT Eastern Europe to the Black Sea trip.

 

A question I have is where does the potable water come from while on the river boat? I can't remember if we drank it on the last trip from Vienna to Amsterdam. Anyone know if it is sterile, or do they just get it from Eastern European ports?

 

Grace

[Flick]

Grace:

Can't answer your water question-hope somebody else can! The owners of GCT and Vantage are from the same family......

 

Rick,24 cruises and counting! Next cruise- #25-Riverboat cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna in July '04

 

[gracecarmo]

Flick: I wonder if the Lewis' are competitors, or is Vantage a branch of GCT? Someone also told me that Grand European Tours was a split off from GCT. Their brochures are almost identical to GCT.

 

For now, we intend to use bottled water, but I sure will miss my ice cubes. I guess I could ask GCT via e mail this question, but of course they will say water is safe to drink. I would like to hear it first hand.

 

We leave in 72 hours!

 

Grace

[gracecarmo]

I am just repositioning this reply. It seems that messages are somewhat disheveled lately.

 

Still wondering about the water on the riverboats.

 

Anyone? an answer? is it safe to drink, or do we drink wine or bottled water?

 

Thanks,

 

Grace

[Flick]

Grace: My final documents say the water is safe on the boats. I know it was safe on our Nile Cruise (by GCT). To my knowledge, Grand European, has had no relationship to GCT. Vantage is an upscale "competitor" to GCT. The Lewis family are investors in both companies but they are run differently with slightly different product offerings.

 

Rick,24 cruises and counting! Next cruise- #25-Riverboat cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna in July '04

 

[mimi1]

Rick, How was your Nile trip with GCT? We are thinking of doing it in Feb. of '05. We have never traveled with them before, but have done a number of ocean cruises. We are doing a Baltic B2B with a transatlantic this Aug on Princess.

I haven't found any threads on the Nile and was wondering how it was. Thanks for your help.

Yvon

[gracecarmo]

Flick and pnphotog: we just got back from the GCT riverboat trip (Eastern Europe to the Black Sea).

We found that the water was safe to drink on the ship and in the hotels, but did not drink any at any of our 3 home hosted meals. In answer to the home hosted meals, we were broken up into groups of 8 for several homes, so I do think that even if the ship holds 152 or more (ours had 162 people on the ship) there could be home hosted events.

Everything was really deluxe on the Aria, much more so than our last river cruise on the Melody. Our only complaint re a hotel was the location of the hotel in Budapest. Other than that, the trip was wonderful, and extremely busy.

I may post a review if anyone is interested.

[paknoe]

Grace

 

Would love to read your review. Please tell the good and bad (if any).

[gracecarmo]

I will post a review under seperate cover, in this forum. Thanks for asking.

 

Grace

[hotspur]

Rick, How was your Nile trip with GCT?

I can't speak for Rick, but our Feb 2004 GCT Nile trip was wonderful. Large, comfortable cabin on the River Anuket. Excellent program directors. Strong emphasis on seeing the ancient sites. The agenda may have changed for 2005. I didn't see the temple at Abydos listed, and this was one of our favorite stops.

 

For what it's worth, they gave us bottled water on the ship for drinking and teeth-brushing. In Cairo, we stayed at the Cairo Marriott, where the breakfast buffets were fabulous. We found the optional Alexandria trip to be very nice and a good price-performer, with an included-lunch in King Farouk's one-time office.

[Flick]

Mimi1:

Hotspur pretty much covered it. The cabins are a large 210 sq. ft. and very nice. One word of warning=my wife got the Pharoes Revenge and the only way she could have gotten it was she noticed that when she washes her hair in the shower she opens her mouth and that's how the water got into her.

We stayed at the Shereton when we arrived in Cairo and the Marriot when we left to come home. The GCT trip is the only one I know of that has a cruise for 7 days. All the other are three, maybe four days and you literaly bounce off the two banks of the river. GCT does the WestBank going to Aswan and the East Bank going back to Luxor. It is a fascinating trip and I highly recommend it.