pontac

What can I say? I should imagine your remote working doesn't involve you waiting at tables.😁 It's a word well established in Western Cape and Gauteng, see Waitrons Jobs - 20 April 2024 | Indeed.com South Africa and here. I assumed it was a RSA word because I only hear it there but it seems it was coined in the USA, Merrion-Webster says Our earliest evidence of "waitron" in print is from 1980.

I last flew out of Budapest in 2018, but the press release says The airport in the Magyar capital, which was recently renovated, is characterised by welcoming, elegant and bright spaces in line with the best European standards So let's hope so

Female waiter? - the word is waitress I'm a frequent traveller to South Africa where waitron is the term for both waiter and waitress and I think it makes a lot of sense, and waitron is certainly shorter to write than waiter or waitress and male or female waiter.

Being under-age for buying drinks is sadly long long behind me. I'd suggest phoning Viking and saying that as the other person in the cabin is not allowed to drink can you just buy the silver spirits for one. The drinking age in France is not as ridiculous as in the USA, you can legally buy & consume alcohol in France at 18 (and from16 years with a meal in a restaurant with an adult). While in France you are subject to French law, not US (I'm assuming you are in USA). Of course Viking can apply any rules they want, but I wonder if the staff on board are aware of the restriction and would stop you purchasing the Silver Spirits Package when you get on board? Anyway, I'll bet the waitrons don't ask your sisters age when they're pouring the house wines Re Bon Voyage: the wine prices seem jolly expensive and there's little info about what they mean. Red Wine could be anything - likely a bottle of the house red served free with meals. Viking Sparkling Wine is €20 a bottle on board, less than half the Bon Voyage price. I'd suggest asking your friend to get a special bottle before the cruise and wrap it, and for you to take it in your case. You can enjoy it with lunch or dinner, the waitron will gladly open it and there's no corkage.

Hold on - you need a carry on for your plane trip: you don't want to pack essentials (medicines, chargers, e-readers, cameras and valuables in checked in cases, if for no other reason than the bag might not arrive with you.

A good reason to fly home from Budapest: (from a press release - edited somewhat to take out excess floweriness ...) ‘Prosecco Bar’ has opened in a new spacious venue at Budapest Airport in a location easily accessible for passengers waiting to board flights. ‘Prosecco Bar’ has the philosophy of the Venetian bacaro, that is, of an informal osteria, where food is presented both as 'cicheti', or appetisers to be eaten at the counter, and as more structured dishes to be served at the tables. The combination with Prosecco, favoured for its versatility, and with other Italian wines closes the circle and contributes to making every short or long moment spent in a bacaro a pleasant experience that enriches the spirit and refreshes the soul. The range of wines includes Prosecco, prestigious reds (Amarone, Brunello di Montalcino, Ripasso), dessert wines, a selection of white and barrique grappas, together with the wide range of fruit and cream-based liqueurs, plus signature cocktails, created ad hoc by expert bartenders, organic wines and liqueurs and alcohol-free sparkling drinks.

@robertmartha Hi Bob, if Emerald wanted to restrict baggage to one item they'd have said so. One suitcase means what it says, hand baggage is OK. Usually we are collected from the airport by the cruise line, and our cases go in the coach hold while we keep our hand baggage with us. When we get to boat we get out, go to boat reception to get cabin keys and go to cabin. The cases are collected from the coach and delivered to cabins by boat staff. You'll get tags with your cabin number you attach to your case so the crew know where to take them. At the end of the tour, cases are collected from outside the cabin and loaded on the coach. You don't need to carry your cases from time you get to transport on way there to getting to the airport on way back. If you make your own way to/from the boat, your cases will be taken from/to your taxi. You'll get baggage tags that indicate what time you're leaving and how. If there are 180 people on your boat, the crew have to carry 180 cases up a gangplank and get them to cabins; if people were allowed two cases each then crew could be taking 360 cases. It's as @Roz says. One time I made my own way (I didn't fancy an early morning flight, so I came day before and stayed in hotel near mooring spot) the boat crew saw us walking along quayside and came running towards us to take our cases.

I saw that in 2022. Parts of paintings I didn't know by artists I've never heard of slowly moving across walls and floors to a background of muzac was interesting for about 10 minutes. Then it was 'how much longer?' Too much longer..... Tip:- at first you're invited to sit on large concrete steps facing a basin; some are part cushioned. Grab a cushioned seat, your bottom can thank me later. You can get up and move around, other pens have bits of other pictures projected. There's also information boards about the pens; they're difficult to read in the gloom of the show but more interesting, I thought. I won't be going back.

You would have done if you'd been on the previous sailing.... 😁

I'm with @CDNPolar , really great review and great pics. I did this cruise on Viking Delling in August 2023 and it was interesting to see the differences. Our Tournon train ride was in open carriages and the river below was dry, just a few pools left, so it was most interesting for me to see it in flood in your pictures. And we made it all way. But we didn't get to Vienne. The boat was delayed and the included tour cancelled. We visited different wineries, and I thought the optional Chateau Neuf du Pape was poor - and it caused me to write the only letter of complaint to Viking in 13 cruises with them, on the other hand the included tour to Beaujolais was first rate. A couple of points. Your description mentions the coffee station "just before you enter the lounge on the port side" which reads like there is only one coffee station, but there's an identical one in the same position in the starboard side. The description "a unisex bathroom with two stalls. Men and women could be in there at the same time, which was a bit different." caused me a double take but I think it's a matter of interpretation. Just a shared washbasin. On the upper deck the stalls each have a washbasin and there's no shared door. My briefer review our our trip is here

For the past few years booking made in the UK have had the drinks package included at no extra cost, and so we chose from the wine list. Mrs P chose one day, I chose the next. We had a white at lunch and a red with dinner. We also had a glass of Jacquard Champagne as aperitif before dinner. I was happy with all the wines we had, but had I not then we would have changed to another. That's the beauty of the drinks package. (We did have one white wine on the Rhone trip we didn't like - not that it was faulty or a bad wine - but it was not really dry so the waiter gave us new glasses and we chose another wine.) The quality of wines on Viking's list was better than the hyped wines on Scenic's list, but Scenic lets every guest choose from the list whereas Viking charges per bottle or charges (most guests) for the drinks package. However most Scenic guests didn't choose from the list and accepted the red and white poured by waitrons. The standard wines -i.e. the wines poured for everyone- were Heinrich Vollmer Riesling (white) and Heinrich Vollmer Cuvee H.V. (red) both from the Pfalz, Germany. We had the Riesling on the day we arrived with the embarkation lunch and I enjoyed it. It was crisp and fresh, with a bit of citrus acidity and without the petrol tones I dislike in Riesling (except in a blind tasting competition). A large proportion of guests didn't drink any wine. Some drank beer but I was surprised at the number of guests drinking fizzy soft drinks. The included wines were listed on the 'always available' dinner menu I show on my Day 1 post. I can't say if the included wines ever changed as we never looked at that menu or even the sommeliers recommendations for wines to buy from the list because we had already chosen our wine before the meal.

😁Seems I was reading and replying to it same time as you were posting here. Glad you had better weather than we did.

Well spotted, I didn't notice. I just saw that Arnhem shows as an overnight stop and that had been swapped with Nijmegen on our tour. I have found a map showing the 2024 route with stops in Hoorn & Ghent but I think it's too small to display here. The itinerary we were given when we booked in June 2023 was so it does seem the itinerary was later changed - and probably moving the overnight stop from Arnhem to Nijmegen is only temporary. I see Hoorn is a stop on their Holland & Belgium cruise, but I can't see a visit to Ghent. Shame software prevents me from editing earlier posts to make corrections.

@notamermaid as a resident of Germany you probably have a different perspective than the intended audience. Me too. As someone who lives in a city with a history going back more that 2,000 years, a mediaeval centre, a cathedral dating from 900, Roman and ancient British tribal ruins all within 20 minutes walk of my house, I am less impressed by visiting old towns than many of the New Worlders on cruises with me who live in towns where buildings more than 100 years old are to be remarked on. Also, as you are aware, practically most excursions must be to places that can be travelled to, guided around and travelled back from in the space between mealtimes.

Ah, I was a trifle confused, mostly tho' because I thought you were the OP, your handle being May B which my memory thought was the OPs, though going back to the top I see it is @Maybelline True Shucks, I sensed the faint possibility of a future stay with you in Florida.