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The WHEN of traveling is as important as the where and how


steverhodes
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Are you happier in short sleeve shirts or down jackets? Think about that before booking your next trip.

 

Too many people, including many of our friends, get all wrapped up in deciding where to go and how to do it (which cruise line, etc.). They end up choosing times ranging from suboptimal to downright miserable. They call too late and just ask the agent, when can you get me ... or they don't think enough about the weather issues.

 

 

Examples: We went to China in May on Viking River and got good weather while other friends suffered blowing winds in the 30s on the Great Wall in November and others sweated though the humid Chinese summer in late July.

 

 

We did Viking Russia in the warmest month, which is July, while friends of ours went in early June and wore heavy coats most of the time.

 

 

For New Zealand we went in March (late Summer for them) and the weather was great.

 

 

Of course sometimes you have to go with the flow. We are doing the Viking Christmas in Germany cruise this year and it has to be in December obviously.

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And then there are water levels. I did research for the Rhine and September seemed like a good time for that, but there was a big price jump between August and September. We booked for the very end of August. It was unusually hot in Amsterdam but we had nice weather otherwise. And no water issues.

 

Now I'm checking out levels on the Danube for a Grand European Tour.

 

 

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steverhodes,

 

you mention that you are going on a Viking river cruise in December in Germany (I think a word is missing from that sentence). That time of year is usually fine for water levels. It has rained enough to bring the low river in autumn back to normal height but not enough to cause flooding. Some of the rain is already retained in the Alps and other mountain ranges as snow. But if one thinks there will automatically be snow one can be really disappointed. January is in long-term statistics colder than December and where I live on the Rhine only 20 days of snow the entire winter is not unusual there can be even less than that in some winters. For the guaranteed experience you would need to be on the Danube in the Bavarian hills or some parts of Austria.

 

I agree, it is important to know what one's comfort zone is. And pack accordingly having done "weather research" beforehand.

 

notamermaid

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steverhodes,

 

you mention that you are going on a Viking river cruise in December in Germany (I think a word is missing from that sentence). That time of year is usually fine for water levels. It has rained enough to bring the low river in autumn back to normal height but not enough to cause flooding. Some of the rain is already retained in the Alps and other mountain ranges as snow. But if one thinks there will automatically be snow one can be really disappointed. January is in long-term statistics colder than December and where I live on the Rhine only 20 days of snow the entire winter is not unusual there can be even less than that in some winters. For the guaranteed experience you would need to be on the Danube in the Bavarian hills or some parts of Austria.

 

I agree, it is important to know what one's comfort zone is. And pack accordingly having done "weather research" beforehand.

 

notamermaid

 

Viking "Christmas in Germany" Cruise runs from Cologne to Nuremberg. We are there in 2nd week in December.

 

I appreciate all of your advice!

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For us, it is a matter of preferring to travel without the crowds and heat of peak season.

 

We live in FL and welcome colder weather when we travel to Europe. Coats and boots are just fine with us and much preferred to sweating and fighting the hordes of tourists. The holiday season is hands down our favorite time to be in Europe, followed by fall.

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Viking "Christmas in Germany" Cruise runs from Cologne to Nuremberg. We are there in 2nd week in December.

 

I appreciate all of your advice!

 

Thank you. I think this is a new itinerary, they usually do not start in Cologne with a cruise. That sounds a great idea and a very nice itinerary.

 

 

Hm, whe have a nice thread on Christmas markets lurking somewhere on page 10plus, must dig that up. A bit early and on a lovely Spring day like this perhaps inappropriate but for all those early planners helpful. :D I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

Edit: here it is just for you (won't bump this up yet): http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2226181&highlight=Christmas+market

 

notamermaid

Edited by notamermaid
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I'm a teacher so my window is limited. That said, weather is unpredictable sometimes. On our July Rhine cruise the temp dropped to 59F during the day!! And it rained every day. Others have had the reverse luck. Just keep an open mind and roll with the punches and all will be fine.

 

 

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Thank you. I think this is a new itinerary, they usually do not start in Cologne with a cruise. That sounds a great idea and a very nice itinerary.

 

 

Hm, whe have a nice thread on Christmas markets lurking somewhere on page 10plus, must dig that up. A bit early and on a lovely Spring day like this perhaps inappropriate but for all those early planners helpful. :D I'll see if I can find it.

 

 

Edit: here it is just for you (won't bump this up yet): http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2226181&highlight=Christmas+market

 

notamermaid

 

This Cologne to Nuremberg " Christmas in Germany cruise" is new this year for Viking. It sold out very quickly

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Sometimes the "When" dictates the "Where" as well! In the Spring, we have popular cruises throughout Holland for Tulip Time - cruising through fields of Tulips in full bloom, and visits to some of Europe's most special gardens.

By autumn, our most popular programs tend to be our cruises through wine regions - Portugal's Douro or Bordeaux in France, for example. It is the harvest season, and an experience not to be missed.

Every country or region has its own schedule as the seasons change, so even repeating the same river in two different months can be a totally new experience.

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I'm a teacher so my window is limited. That said, weather is unpredictable sometimes. On our July Rhine cruise the temp dropped to 59F during the day!! And it rained every day. Others have had the reverse luck. Just keep an open mind and roll with the punches and all will be fine.

 

 

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While we generally book way in advance, choosing just the right where, how and when for our preferences, in 2015 our Viking agent called and offered us a special deal on a Southern France cruise a month away in mid October. He offered us 2 for 1 off of the 2 for 1 price and gave us free air. No one else on the ship paid as little as we did which proved to be a fun source of dinner conversation. People say, tell them what you paid...

 

But I digress.

 

Our first day and night was gorgeous weather but then it turned what the locals called unseasonably cold with lows in the 30s and highs in the upper 40s. We wore zipped up down jackets for the rest of the cruise. We had a good time but we sure wished we had come when it was warmer

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Every country or region has its own schedule as the seasons change, so even repeating the same river in two different months can be a totally new experience.

 

Soooo true. For example, we have taken the train across Canada and back (Vancouver to Toronto round trip in 8 days) in many seasons. Our most memorable was when we decided we wanted to see Cananda in the peak of winter with heavy snow everywhere. It was a very different than our spring or summer trips.

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For us, it is a matter of preferring to travel without the crowds and heat of peak season.

 

We live in FL and welcome colder weather when we travel to Europe. Coats and boots are just fine with us and much preferred to sweating and fighting the hordes of tourists. The holiday season is hands down our favorite time to be in Europe, followed by fall.

 

We also avoid peak of summer hoards and heat and like to travel when we can wear layers...we'll either be prepared or pleasantly surprised by good weather!

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I hope I don't regret picking Nov 1 for a Budapest - Amsterdam cruise! But, I wanted to give Crystal Mahler crew some time to settle down before boarding the ship.

 

 

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I hope I don't regret picking Nov 1 for a Budapest - Amsterdam cruise! But, I wanted to give Crystal Mahler crew some time to settle down before boarding the ship.

 

 

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That sounds like a good plan in case that ship launch is delayed even more.

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Seriously, people don't know what the weather is going to be like before they book a vacation, whether it be cruise or land. The first thing I do when I am looking at a new destination is look at the historical weather data for the time period I want to go. There's this thing called Google and the internet and it's really useful. Look: http://www.accuweather.com/en/hu/budapest/187423/month/187423?monyr=11/01/2017

 

If you or your travel agent don't do the research and you book Vietnam during the rainy season you can't blame anybody but yourself.

Of course if you want Christmas markets on the Danube you pretty much are going to get cold weather;)

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5ecd556fd3b04f9b76e421d7cfbf5d4c.jpg

 

While my wife and I much prefer traveling in warm weather in short sleeve shirts, cold weather, as we got on our Viking trip in October of 2015 does have advantages. The lighting and the colors can be particularly nice. Trip went from Avignon to Lyon and we did the Paris post extension afterwards.

 

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Beautiful pictures.. Question..I just downloaded cruise critic app. How do I forward pictures on this app?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Hold your finger on the photo for a couple of seconds. It will take over the screen and the apple sharing icon will appear on the bottom left. Push the that icon and you can forward it, message it, save it ...

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Just a quick question on forwarding pictures to cruise critic forum . I received your quick reply on instructions. I am always using my I pad to take pictures forward to Facebook and friends etc.. Do you have to somehow use the cruise critic app to forward and post? Sorry to be so techie illerate I took a picture followed the instructions but no

I con on left corner..

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Just a quick question on forwarding pictures to cruise critic forum . I received your quick reply on instructions. I am always using my I pad to take pictures forward to Facebook and friends etc.. Do you have to somehow use the cruise critic app to forward and post? Sorry to be so techie illerate I took a picture followed the instructions but no

I con on left corner..

 

If you are not using app, then simply touch picture and "Save Image" will popup over the picture. Choose that, go your Camera Roll and there it will be for you to forward as you would any other picture in your Camera Roll.

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Just a quick question on forwarding pictures to cruise critic forum . I received your quick reply on instructions. I am always using my I pad to take pictures forward to Facebook and friends etc.. Do you have to somehow use the cruise critic app to forward and post? Sorry to be so techie illerate I took a picture followed the instructions but no

I con on left corner..

If your question is how to post pictures on the Cruise Critic forum you need the app. There is a complex way to do it without the app, but that way is not for non-techies.

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Just a quick question on forwarding pictures to cruise critic forum . I received your quick reply on instructions. I am always using my I pad to take pictures forward to Facebook and friends etc.. Do you have to somehow use the cruise critic app to forward and post? Sorry to be so techie illerate I took a picture followed the instructions but no

I con on left corner..

 

 

If you want to try to see if you can get your photos to work, there is a test forum you can experiment with before you leave. I had a hard time getting mine to show, until I realised that if they are in your camera roll, it works. I was trying to get mine to copy from Google photos, but no luck. The link for the test forum is : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=225

 

Have a great cruise, looking forward to pics...

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If your question is how to post pictures on the Cruise Critic forum you need the app. There is a complex way to do it without the app, but that way is not for non-techies.
I certainly do not consider myself a techie, so I will just say that I wasn't smart enough to know I needed an app. I just click on any digital picture, click on "copy" in the pop-up, and at the point I desire the picture click & hold until "paste" appears , click and the picture is inserted.
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