lis1407

hi all. Can anyone comment as to whether or not crystal mozart has tables for two in the DR? Many thanks. LB

yes there are many tabbles for two in the DR as well in the other rest.:)

Although in fairness, a decent sparkling wine can be far more palatable than a bad champagne

Champagnelovers,

On the last "International wine & spirits competition" in the UK ,the Cremant de Bourgogne blanc NV won a" Silver outstanding award" just like Veuve Cliquot Champagne vintage 2008.Score between 86 and 89.9/100

This Cremant de Bourgogne blanc can be bought for 6.99 € ( discounter Lidl ) in Belgium.

For the Veuve Cliquot you have to pay 56 € !!!!!!

What's in a name?:confused:

Is there a CHASE bank ATM at the Brussels airport? Is it best to exchange US to EURO in Brussels rather than in the US?

hi

Good advice !!!!

There was an article in today's paper about ATM machines.( in Belgium )

Some machines hide a mini-mini-mini camera,placed by bandits,too copy your code.

Use only ATM INSIDE A BANK OR HOTEL.

Hope this is useful.

Gilbert.

Hi everyone

We booked a rivercruise from Lyon to Lyon on the new (april 2017)Amadeus Provence starting at August the third.

I am sure that there are some people on this forum who have cruised with Luftner River Cruises before.

I have a few questions.

According to some. drinks are incl.only with dinner.

According to others. drinks are incl.with dinner AND lunch,even sprankling wine with breakfast.Who's right ?

Is there FREE wifi? There is some confusion about FREE.

Because excurtions are NOT incl. they offer three DIF. packs at a good price.

Anyone any experience with this?

What is Your opinion about the food?

I would appreciate any input to help us.

Gilbert.

Got it! 15 days would be great.

 

There is actually a tour company that does several beer tours of Belgium throughout the year. We have looked at one which includes the Bruges Beer Festival in the late winter, and another which visits the Trappist Breweries. I wonder how many we could sample in a week?

 

Best of luck getting the cruise you want.

 

Robin

Hello.

Uniworld's offer for the 15 days France cruise was a joke,so we asked our TA to cancel our cruise.Pity.

About beer,

a must:West Vleteren, hard to find, very limited production just enough to keep the monastery alive ( best beer in the world for many years in a row ) also Duvel , Kwak , Gouden Carolus , Leffe , Trappist Westmalle dark and tripple blond and 1994 others.

Have a nice day

Gilbert

Since the cruise you booked is no longer on their website, what are you missing on those 2 days? Is there a way to do the cruise only, without the 2 nights hotel stay? (For my husband and I, being from the states, we would love 2 nights in Paris, in fact, we did 2 nights on our own prior to our Baroness cruise last year). Was there something you were hoping to see that isn't on the new itinerary?

 

Having sailed on the Baroness last year, I will say it was tight. The cabins were incredibly small, so, yes, upgrading to a new ship would be a big plus.

 

(And, we are planning a Belgium land tour in the future, for your beer:-) )

 

Robin

Hello,

We just like to cruise,we do not like to stay in an hotel.

We are missing two days cruising.

We can visit Paris every weekend if we would want.

We asked for a better offer on the15 days France cruises,and they will look into it.

You are right about the upgrade.

If You visit Belgium for the beer,You will be very busy,because we have more than 2000 different brands now!!Cheers.

Gilbert

:(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi

News from my TA.:(

Uniworld cancelled all cruises on the Baroness.

They offer the 8 days Paris to Normandy (2 or 9 july 2017 )+2 days hotel stay in Paris + upgrade.(from 5 to 4/3 or 2 )

In fact they change 2 days cruise in 2 days hotel.

Give up 2 cruise days for 2 days in a hotel doesn"t appeal us.

For us Paris is a 3h30min.drive.

The only benefit is the upgrade,in my opinion not very intresting,is that correct?

Gilbert

Did you call?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi

I contacted my TA this morning.

He received a email yesterday night (local time)asking to contact Uniworld asap, without giving a reason.

Because of the time difference,he can call them at about 5pm(LT)

Gilbert

Did you call?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

HI JVILLEGAL ANDACWMOM

I dit not call yet because of the time difference.

I call my TA tomorrow here in Belgium.

Thanks for Your quick reply.

Gilbert.

Hello,

Question about Uniworld's" River Baroness"river cruise.

We booked ( 12/15/2016 ) "The Impressions of the Seine"from 7/5/2017 till 7/14/201 on the Baroness.

THIS CRUISE AND THE RIVER BARONESS DISAPPEARED FROM THE UNIWORLD WEBSIDE.

Has anyone any idea what's going on?

Any info would be appreciated

Thanks

Gilbert

Thanks, Jerry. Your review was one of my inspirations before my first river cruise.

 

Interesting information, lis1407. Is there a reason they leave flowers?

 

And just to let people know, my cousin who had to cancel her part of the trip at the last minute got a check for all her money back except, of course, for the amount she paid for the trip insurance. We bought our insurance through our travel agent, not through Viking.

Hello mimmy52,

All the information about the deceaced was graved into the stone.

You can no longer see that because millions of people walked over the grave.Every grave has a number now.

So the families still know where their ancestors are buried.

Many of these families still exist.

So i guess that's because of a special commemoration.

Gilbert.

I paid my ten euros and entered the Old Church. It is mostly bare but had some interesting features.

 

Old Church exterior

 

 

 

 

 

The organ inside Old Church

 

 

 

I never did figure out what these meant. They were behind plexiglass and there was no English explanation.

 

 

 

A view of the interior

 

 

 

There are graves set into the floor, some were honored with vases of flowers.

 

Hello

About the graves set into the floor.That was very common in the middle ages in the netherlands and flanders.The saying"stinky rich (filthy rich)" comes from the smell of the corpses ( after a while ) buried under the floor.

SOME ( not all ) corpses were burried whithout a coffin,just wrapped in linnen.You can also see the graves in the cathedral in Antwerp.

It was very expensive to be burried IN the church.

The closer to the altar the more you had to pay.

So you could smell the rich peoples.

Gilbert

Viking, to their credit, offered all passengers the chance to go home but it took some a day or two to get flights. Their chairman flew in to talk to authorities and his employees and also spoke briefly to us. They would not specify and continue to decline to answer any specific questions about refunds, credits or compensation. I do think that most passengers feel that they were looking forward to and paid for a river cruise. Instead they were awakened in the middle of the first night, kept up all night, then given an improvised bus tour and this is not all what they paid for and they should be offered the choice of a full refund or a free cruise including airfare and not with a very short time limit as some people had to make extensive arrangements to get the time off and may have limited travel opportunities or health limitations. Some passengers had heart conditions and were complaining that being kept up all night was exacerbating their symptoms, etc but thankfully everybody seemed ok after a nights sleep and a hot meal.

Hi all,

I.M.O,this is a moment to show how great the hart of Viking is.

It is not easy to make arrangement in the middle of the night for so many people and please everybody.

This is a moment,not to count beans,but showing how great the concern for their pax, and future pax is! It would be wise to do so.

I think they will come with a proper solution to please the most.

I feel with You.

Gilbert

Not Hot news but very bad news...

 

Has been posted many times here

Sorry You are right

Gilbert.

Hi All,

today 9/13/2016 one crew member was killed and four wounded during a resque drill on the Harmony of the Seas.:eek:

Source:Belga:La provence ( france ) 12.58H local time

R.I.P.

GILBERT

Hi All,

just saw the newspaper (9/11/2016)

satedaynight at about 1.30h the Viking Freya hit a bridge in Erlangen Germany.

Two crew menbers dead.:eek:

All passengers saved.

Gilbert

My Belgium experience goes back to my first trip to Europe in 1970 when my sister and I left the train (in Brussels) in the early morning with "gentlemen" making lascivious comments that fortunately my younger sister didn't understand. "Just keep walking, Karen," I said. "Ignore them."

 

On Renaissance in 1999 we had ports of call in Bruges and Antwerp which were wonderful. We particularly enjoyed Antwerp and had no need for a guide.

 

So if you decide to do that instead, you won't be unhappy. The Rembrandt Huis is wonderful. (Or was in 1999 ... I assume it still is.)

 

Mura

Hi Mura

i think the RUBENS HUIS is wonderful :)

Sorry

Gilbert

I have actually had a Bloody Mary with a stick of bacon in it. :cool:

 

I see you live in Antwerp. :) I believe that DH and I will be visiting there in May on a day trip from Amsterdam. We can't decide on Brussels, Antwerp or Bruges. We plan to take the train. Looking forward to seeing a touch of Belgium where ever we end up. ;)

Hello

Yes we live in Antwerp.

If You decide to visit Antwerp.

Very easy from Amsterdam to Antwerp by train.

We'll be on the inaugural voyage of Sirena until 11 may.

If You plan your visit after 11may ( in cause You visit Antwerp )we love to be Your guides.At no fee:)

Gilbert

Could I order mimosa with breakfast?

HI

Yes You can,but only with bacon:)

Was that a specific batch? I'm not sure how that wouldn't run afoul of the Reinheitsgebot. Do you have the rest of the article, the beer you mentioned I don't drink but am curious what the 13 others are.

hi

Try "Tot 300 keer te veel kankerverwekkende pesticide in bieren gevonden"on internet or

"Duits bier zit vol gif"

many articles in Flemish

You find the list in every aricle

the "Reinheitsgebot" is a joke

have a nice day

German report 2/25/2016 by Sophia Guttenberger

Beck"s beer plus 13 other german beer contains " PESTICIDE GLYFOSAAT"

max allowed by law 0.1 MICROGRAM

BECK'S UP TO 29.74 MICROGRAM :eek::eek::eek:

The safest way to canser

santé

It wont be a shake-down cruise, but a refurbishment. No structural or engineering gross changes... just taking the current run down Island Princess and turning it into a luxury ship with luxury fittings........Like a Ritz Carlton. from a Novotel.

 

However, after Jan 1 2016 there is NO more O life, unless you booked before Jan 1.

 

Now it is O "choice" and you only get 1 of 3 choices.

 

You will have zero problems and many great experiences with such a quality transformation...

hi Hawaiidan

I consult the others expecting to see my opinion confirmed.

Thank you all

Gilbert

We are also on this cruise and have sailed 8 other times with Oceania. Just an FYI - the prices on many O voyages were dropped for 2016. The Sirena is an older "R" ship purchased from Princess that has been retrofitted. I believe the Insignia was retrofitted as well after the fire. Whereas this is an inaugural it is not a brand new ship so I am hoping that there will not be all those "new" bumps in the road. I believe Jacques Pepin will be on the voyage since his daughter is the godmother. FDR may even be aboard which may make for smoother sailings.

Hi

i didn't know about Jaques Pepin or/and his daughter and Frank Del Rio may be on this trip.

It certainly is a reason to perform better,although it has been exellent on my 6 previous cruises on Oceania.

See You on the ship.

We are the ones with that strange flemish language.

Gilbert

A maiden voyage is of course unique. The passengers on Marina and Riviera can tell you the experience is worthwhile. That being said, everything may not be 100%. Having been the first passengers on board Viking ocean's Star, the TVs didn't function, the bathrooms were eratic, the kitchens needed training, and more. But I wouldn't have missed it.

IT SEEMS SO NEGATIVE TO ME !!!

But You would'thave missed it. Why ???

Gilbert

On the lighter side: if a contractor dropped a tool in the plumbing system during the retrofit work, you may be the first person to realize it.

Thanks for the Your answer...very helpful...

in this case,any compensation or reward?:confused:

Gilbert