Rhine Cruise Photo Review - A-Rosa Viva

In May, 2016 we sailed on the A-Rosa Viva for a Rhine Cruise. This cruise was chartered by an American Tour Company, YMT Vacations and we really liked the itinerary and the price - and a 1 week land tour was included.

We had a fantastic time. No complaints- the weather, service, itinerary and tour guides were all excellent. I think everyone on this tour felt the same - Great trip and good value.

• Pre-Cruise land tour: Munich -2 nights with a city tour, then drive to Heidelberg for a walking tour, then on to Bonn where we boarded the A-Rosa Viva.
   
  
• Cruise: Rhine “circle” ( 7 nights): Bonn, Rhudesheim, Koblenz, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Bonn.
   
  
• Post-Cruise land Tour: (3 nights) Weimar, Erfurt, Dresden and Berlin
  

It’s taken a month to organize photos, but I am will attempt to give a photo review of the entire trip.

This is an unusual review as this is not an actual tour booked through A-Rosa, but we did have the wonderful A-Rosa experience, even though this was an American charter with a YMT employee as the cruise director (and he was wonderful). All other staff on the ship were the regular A-Rosa crew.

On May 3, 2016 We arrived in Munich for a 2 night stay. A city tour, welcome dinner, and shuttle busses to the Marienplatz were included. Here are a few photos of Munich

The Marienplatz

The Marienplatz seen from up in the clock tower of the Rathaus

Beer garden in the market area

On a whim, we decided to tour the Residenz Museum which was right beside the opera house where our tour bus let us off. What a treat for 7 euros!

This building was the official residence of the rulers of Bavaria. The Munich Residence originated as a small moated castle built in 1385, and was gradually expanded by the Wittelsbach family rulers who used it until 1918 as their residence and seat of government for Bavaria.

Munich is a very beautiful city. I have never seen so many forests and trees inside a city. Every street and back yard seemed to have an abundance of trees. Parks were not mostly lawns as we know them, but little forests.

Nymphenburg Palace

Then if was off to Heidelberg and Bonn. We had a long but interesting drive to get to our ship in Bonn.

This wasn’t really a problem as the scenery was interesting and we had an interesting tour guide.

The bright yellow Canola fields made for some very beautiful Scenery

Canola fields on the way to Hiedelberg and Bonn

On our way to embarkation in Bonn, we stopped in Heidelberg for lunch and a walking tour - we got a perfect summer day. The town was crowded with locals, tourists and university students as this was the first day of summer weather they had seen in Germany. Apparently it had snowed the week before.

Heidleberg Castle

Some more Heidelberg photos:

Next post .... we finally board our ship the A-rosa Viva

Great thread! Love revisiting some of these places, and looking forward to hearing about some others that are still on our to-do list! Your weather (so far) looks wonderful. Looking forward to more.

Great photos!

Very nice. Great trip down memory lane for me. Lived in Munich for 1.5 years and loved it there.

Very interesting and lovely photos. I look forward to reading more of your review.

We arrived in Bonn at our ship by about 5pm on Friday May 6.

As we boarded, we were greeted by the hotel officer and each woman was given a red rose and told where to find our stateroom. A very nice touch. There was a silver bud vase waiting in each room for our l rose.

The rooms were on the small side, but very efficiently laid out. Lots of storage and suitcases fit under the beds. We thought the room decor was quite nice in person and not as garish as it appears in the photos. All guests were provided robes and slippers.

Bathrooms had an OK layout with lots of storage and counter room. We liked the bright fun colours.

Glad you have been enjoying the photos ... It's been really hard paring them down. I have sooooo many.

Yes, the weather was fantastic. Mid to high 20's the whole trip .... we were soo lucky. I was cold the week before we were there and then cold again after we left. Very Lucky with the weather:p

Mary

Love your report. Looking forward to reading the rest.

Each sateroom had a bud vase for the rose we were given when boarding

The food on the Viva was outstanding. Nice variety and local specialties. Didn't hear any complaints about food.

When I heard that all meals were buffet, I was disappointed at first but with the schedule we had for our stops, it turned out that buffet suited us much better giving us a lot of flexibility. We never had to rush back to dinner from an excursion. Each cabin could sign-up for a set time sit-down meal one evening of the cruise. These dinners were very good from what we heard. We didn't get to do this as we waited to sign up and all the evenings when cruising got filled quickly. The evenings we were in port, we decided a 2 hour dinner would not work for as we like to spend every minute exploring a new city.

The buffet worked well. The had 2 hot food stations, stations for soup, bread, salad and cold apps, cheese, and dessert. (7 separate areas). It could get congested at times, but generally it was no problem. The breakfast line for hot food and omelettes would usually have a bit of a wait. The wait staff was fantastic!

This photo shows 3 stations

The "Leaf" dining room

Here is an A rosa brochure image of the 2nd dining room. You will notice that all tables had a little stand with the cutlery hanging from them. This was very handy in a buffet. You always knew exactly where to find another fork or knife. I wish all cruise ship used this stand. These were very popular!

Outdoor eating/ bar area

We were very fortunate with the weather and were able to eat some meals up on the top deck. There was always a server up there to remove dirty dishes and bring beverages.

Great pictures! I always wondered about the A rosas.

I see you are from Ontario and yet the company you dealt with was American...more details, please. Thanks

RB

26-outdoor dining/bar 24-Leaf Dining Room 23-Buffet Stations 22-Dining 21- bar 20-lounge 18-reception/giftshop area 12-14 spa & outdoor hottub

Our room was 326 - very convenient

Note that even the carpeting has a rose petal pattern to keep to the rose theme

Hot Tub

Very nice photos. Thank you for posting.

Some Notes about this cruise:

• there is no elevator on this ship
  
• Wine and Beer are not included with meals, but the prices are resonable and the wine list of local wines is good
  
• there are no excursions included for the most part, but our cruise director always did a walk into town to give people higlights and get our bearings
  
• beds were very comfortable and bedding of very good quality
  
• there were no coffee stations available during the day, except during meals and afternoon tea - this was a bit of an issue for me
  

This was certainly not an all inclusive vacation, but we did not find that an issue at all at the price point for this cruise. We like choice for our money and that is what we got on this ship. A good value as all tours were included on the pre and post land tours.

Also, bikes were available for rent (I think heard 12 Euros for the full day, not sure about hourly rates ... but thy were very reasonable)

During our first night, we were jarred awake in the middle of the night. We have a boat and it felt like we just came into a dock a little too quickly and banged the wall. We just thought we were probably going through a lock on our way to Rhudesheim. Lots of people commented on it the next day but no one was too worried .... but we did learn what happened on the last day of the cruise from the captain....stay tuned! It's a good thing we had some experience at the helm.

We awoke on our first morning and pulled back the drapes..... and WOW!- our first castle silhouetted against the sunrise.

We were really here! A Castle on the Rhine. And yes those are vineyards planted steeply on the side of the hill

RHUDESHEIM

We docked about 8:30ish (time for a fairly leisurely breakfast) in Rhudesheim right next to a Tauck ship. Weird, because we were the only 2 ships in port and we were rafted together at the furthest dock from town. Not really a far walk, but for elderly people it was a bit of a hike (7-10 minutes or so).

Docked against the Tauck Ship .... the put a little bridge on the sun deck so we could walk over it to the dock.

There was an optional tour on the little train throught the town and the musical instrument museum.

We just decided to do a walk into town. Our tour director, Walter went with us and pointed out where some highlights .... the museum, where to catch the cable car, the ATM's, some nice wine gardens, etc.etc. We came to call these the "Walter Walks". It was very helpful and you could just stay with him or go off on your own at any time.

Here are some photos of a morning in Rhudesheim:

Walking into town. The monument is at the top of the hill and the cable car to reach it is in the middle of town.

This charming little german town looks like it could be the set for a Disney movie. It was so quaint and full of character.

The mechanical musical instrument museum

Lots of wine gardens

We spotted a nice spot for a glass of local Reisling (...it was 5 o'oclock somewhere;-)

the Vitners Express

It was a gorgeous day and a very pleasant walk back to the ship

The Viva rafting on the Tauck Grace

Next up ... the Lorelei Passage

Nice review thank you for sharing

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oops...... the spelling is

Rudesheim

so sorry ..... once in my head, I will probably always spell it incorrectly now.

Apologies!

Mary

This is a dream cruise for us! Enjoying your review very much.

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Hello marysb,

I remember you telling us here on CC about the unusual arrangement for your cruise and the questions about ARosa ships, etc.

Great to read from your review that you had a great time. Thank you for the many photos as well. I saw that the Arosa was docked in Bonn at the Köln Düsseldorfer landing stage. It is the biggest day excursion company on the Rhine and they used to sail the river cruise ships on the Rhine before all those other companies came along...

I think the reason that you were rafted a little away from Rüdesheim near that park is that both the Tauck Grace and the ARosa are 135m, they might no fit the other dock that is used by the shorter ships for example CroisiEurope and the Dutch ships. My guess. At least one landing stage is reserved for day excursion boats.

A round trip is quite typical for itineraries offered by German cruise lines, by the way. Remember that some come by train or even by car. They park their car in an alocated lot in a multi-storey car park, for example, and just pick it up again when they return from their cruise.

Looking forward to your next post.

notamermaid

Thanks notamermaid for your kind words and interesting information.

We did have a fantastic time, and I am sure you must remember those 2 weeks at the beginning of May with 28 degree weather. Boy, did we get lucky with that -it seemed like tourists and locals were so upbeat enjoying summer weather, outdoor activities, and full cafes. It really did add a lot to our vacation.

Mary