Binoculars?

I got a really nice pair of stabilized binoculars for our Alaskan cruise a couple years ago. It was great that we had them and we used them a lot to look at land and sea wildlife.

I have read in some river cruising posts and a book that I bought that it is highly recommended to bring a binocular on a river cruise?

BUt..... what would you be looking at? Old castle ruins and peoples back yards? Its heavy and takes up luggage space.

THoughts?

I got a really nice pair of stabilized binoculars for our Alaskan cruise a couple years ago. It was great that we had them and we used them a lot to look at land and sea wildlife.

I have read in some river cruising posts and a book that I bought that it is highly recommended to bring a binocular on a river cruise?

BUt..... what would you be looking at? Old castle ruins and peoples back yards? Its heavy and takes up luggage space.

THoughts?

Thom

Even for the famous "Castles of the Rhine" stretch -- most of those castles are much more romantic with the naked eye, rather than zeroing in on age and decrepitude [kind of like my bathroom mirror!]

We did the Rhine cruise last May and never needed binoculars. The river is fairly narrow so nothing was far away. A few excursions were high up (Heidleburg Castle, Mt. Pilatus) but again binoculars would have made the excursions more painful!

The only river cruise that I felt I would have liked to have had binoculars was the Yangtze in China.

Since you have them, why not take them if there is room in your carry on.

The Rhine River gorge is where binoculars came in useful. I liked looking at the details of the castles while passing. Or even the little towns or vineyards. Ours are just the average size binoculars, hubby puts them in his backpack

One of my favorite things to do on river cruises is simply sit in the area forward of the bridge with camera and binoculars in hand (and a drink!) while day cruising. Maybe it's me, but I am never at a loss for things to look at thru my binoculars. Consider investing in some travel binoculars.

I liked having binoculars on our river cruises. Having said that, I don't like heavy ones. I found a pair of compact binoculars at Amazon that worked well for me on our cruises.

FuelScience

If you're used to traveling with binoculars (and we are) you'll want them. If you normally don't use them, you probably won't miss them. We have reall good small binocs, so-so small binocs, and large really really good options. So we pick and choose what to bring (and we usually bring our own because we don't share well:p) We brought the good and the so-so small ones for the river cruise - and probably not necessary because we were on a Christmas Market cruise - very little daytime cruising, but we used on tours/land as well. But it's a habit for us and they're on our standing packing list and we had room.....

The Rhine River gorge is where binoculars came in useful. I liked looking at the details of the castles while passing. Or even the little towns or vineyards. Ours are just the average size binoculars, hubby puts them in his backpack

One of my favorite things to do on river cruises is simply sit in the area forward of the bridge with camera and binoculars in hand (and a drink!) while day cruising. Maybe it's me, but I am never at a loss for things to look at thru my binoculars. Consider investing in some travel binoculars.

I have a pair of Pentax binoculars that are smallish, lightweight and hang around my neck. I take them on every trip because like Missabby, I'm never at a loss for things to look at through them. Also like Got2Cruise, the Rhine River gorge is where they become indispensible, IMHO....I also used them every day in Egypt and Russia. The heavy ones are for home because they really weigh down the carry on and they weigh ME down when we're walking. They also add too much weight to the checked luggage. You don't always need an excellent pair of binocs, but I love having a pair with me for those "what is THAT?" moments. :D

My lack of interest in binoculars is colored by the 600mm telephoto on my super-zoom camera -- its a Panasonic Lumix DMP-FZ200 and weighs less than any good binoculars I have seen. Not only can I zoom in on anything I want to see more clearly, I can get a picture of it too!

My lack of interest in binoculars is colored by the 600mm telephoto on my super-zoom camera -- its a Panasonic Lumix DMP-FZ200 and weighs less than any good binoculars I have seen. Not only can I zoom in on anything I want to see more clearly, I can get a picture of it too!

And you take some spectacular pictures!!! My camera isn't that sophisticated, neither are my skills! :D

And you take some spectacular pictures!!! My camera isn't that sophisticated, neither are my skills! :D

A good tool makes the worker look good. But thanks for the compliment!

I got a really nice pair of stabilized binoculars for our Alaskan cruise a couple years ago. It was great that we had them and we used them a lot to look at land and sea wildlife.

 

I have read in some river cruising posts and a book that I bought that it is highly recommended to bring a binocular on a river cruise?

 

BUt..... what would you be looking at? Old castle ruins and peoples back yards? Its heavy and takes up luggage space.

 

THoughts?

We also bought a good pair of binoculars for our Alaskan cruise. They were heavy too but I knew we just had to have them for our whale and glacier excursion, so I packed them. I made sure they were on the dining table the day of our excursion so I wouldn't forget them. We got on the boat and sailed away from the ship when my husband asked for them and I realized I'd forgotten them on the table :o. Fortunately, we didn't need them as our camera zoom lenses worked great, so we definitely won't be lugging them with us for our river cruise :).

We also bought a good pair of binoculars for our Alaskan cruise. They were heavy too but I knew we just had to have them for our whale and glacier excursion, so I packed them. I made sure they were on the dining table the day of our excursion so I wouldn't forget them. We got on the boat and sailed away from the ship when my husband asked for them and I realized I'd forgotten them on the table :o. Fortunately, we didn't need them as our camera zoom lenses worked great, so we definitely won't be lugging them with us for our river cruise :).

I bought and brought my stabilized binoculars for Alaska, and they were worthwhile for that one trip (looking at wildlife that was only a dot with the naked eye, from a ship moving in the water). But on a river cruise, the ship is stable enough that regular binocs or a camera zoom lens is fine.