Issues of courtesy on a river cruise

We have been on 3 river cruises. I am a slow walker due to limited lung capacity. Avalon made wonderful accommodations for slower guests...Viking not so much. I filled out a form at the beginning of the cruise stating slow walking and the need for more leisurely tours. Nothing became of it and nothing different was offered.

I think for many river cruise companies they are just beginning to pay attention to the less mobile passenger.....maybe because there's so many more of us these days :D On my 8th trip with Vantage for the first time they had us fill out a form asking us to pick fast, moderate, slow walking group plus interests such as sights, shopping, dining. It worked very well...I was in the slow walking group and as we checked off the ship we were given a different colored card every day. Our groups were then taken on the same trip with the slow walkers taking basically the same walking tour with some modifications re: stairs or steep hills if necessary. In addition to not having to constantly worry about holding the group up (I was never worried about being left behind) I discovered that I had extra time to take photos. The only thing that was cut short was the amount of free time, sometimes....other times it didn't make any difference. I would suggest you try a different company or stay with Avalon.

Avalon did a very good job with the slow walkers on our cruises with them. My mom was with us on a B2B and took those tours and was very pleased. What they lacked was active level tours, which is our preference.

AMA does a great job with both "gentle walkers" and active tours. My mom is with us next week on her 3rd AMA cruise and it works out perfectly for us that we can do our thing and she can comfortably participate in the tours that are geared to her comfort.

Locks are a fact of life on European rivers I have no problem with them as I have worked loads of them on English canals at least in Europe they are worked for you. I have never been woken up by lock knocking so are Scenic captains better drivers? Okay Scenic do supply ear plugs in every cabin so you don't have to bring your own.

CA

I'd check the curling irons carefully a lot are dual voltage but some still aren't, especially if you've had them for a while.

 

Phones, tablets, cameras etc. are a virtual certainty but still wise to check just in case.

I travel extensively and have lost a couple of curling irons using an adapter. no issues using a 110 flat iron on my hair with an adapter.