hugueys

We are newbies to river cruising and booked with GCT before remembering to check with Cruise Critic. :( Our trip will be Rhine Christmas Markets 2015 (56 days until we go!)

We were attracted to GCT because of included 1) gratuities for local guides and drivers on all main trip and extensions 2) they have dedicated Program Directors who are on the boat and stay with you throughout your entire trip 3) complimentary beer, wine, and soft drinks with onboard lunches and dinners 4) only 2 opt. excursions to Heidelberg/Black Forest and one dinner with wine/food and dance in Rudesheim so everything but final crew gratuities are included and 5) only 140 passenger max.

That said, I have been very interested in learning about all other river cruise lines and will post my experience when I get back. I hope we made a good choice!

Thank you notamermaid for the info. I had a hard time finding the boat on marine traffic because of the name change My friends are officially out of touch from the real world until they get back. I will encourage them to post their review of the trip, though. They booked with a TA out of Atlanta; I believe their were 17 people on their flight over to Munich. It was an impulse buy in July; they have never been on any kind of cruise and only over to Europe once so I am very excited for them.

Great idea on the waterproof spray. Am looking for a new pair of waterproof shoes but would like to bring my old comfortable favorites as a backup. What do you recommend?

Great information, thanks. We did something almost as crazy when we went to Scotland - Glasgow airport, train, ferry and then rental car on Isle of Skye! Hopefully we are ok with chip and pin card; I don't want to get much cash because we will not be in Switzerland long. Don you recommend hitting an ATM at airport or train station?

I am enjoying reading about your adventure so carry on! Never been on river cruise but scheduled for our first Nov. 25 Christmas Markets so your stories help me understand what river cruising is all about.

I am very interested in river levels because I have friends leaving today on KD cruise line Sonata. Anyone ever heard of this cruise line? It seems like a typical Danube cruise staring in Nurember to Regensburg, Passau, Melk, Vienna, Bratislava, and ending in Budapest. They are taking an extension to Prague. Do you think they will be able to complete this trip based on river levels?

My DH is an early morning person so we will off our boat quickly on Sunday (Christmas Markets on the Rhine). A brief time in Amsterdam and on the train to Utrecht or Brugge (spelling?) Any recommendations for places to stay? Seems like some things are closed on Monday in Belgium?

Thanks all

Thanks so much for the input. We could stay in Brussels and take day train trips around Belgium.

I am thinking we might stay the day in Amsterdam because DH would like to go back to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. We would head Sunday evening to Brussels and explore from there.

Ending our river cruise Sunday morning Dec. 6 in Amsterdam and flying out of Brussels 10:40 AM on Wednesday Dec 9. Can't decide what to do! Amsterdam or Brussels each for 3 nights or should we spend a day in Brugge, Antwerp or Ghent or others. DH has been briefly to both on business trips and is leaving decision to me :confused:.

We are active, early 60's and don't mind exploring on our own.

I think we will come back to Amsterdam at a future date when tulips are blooming. We also will do a trip to Normandy beaches (maybe Seine River depending on how our first river cruise goes) since my father landed on Omaha Beach D-Day so we could go to Belgium then. Help please; all suggestions are appreciated.

Beside the obvious temperature (weather), daylight hours, and Christmas Markets, what do you think the biggest difference is?

Leaving Nov 26 Basel to Amsterdam for our first river cruise! :)

Using FF miles our flight goes Louisville to Paris to Zurich for our Nov 25 GCT Christmas Market cruise. We land in Zurich 8:45 morning of cruise. Thanks to all on the forum who have helped us to decide to take train to Basel.

My questions are how much did your taxi cost to go from Basel airport to ship (or in reverse)? Did you get Swiss currency at the airport or train station? Do cabs take credit cards? Should we explore Basel first or go to the ship?

Any info you would like to share on ports visited would be appreciated.

We have never done a river cruise so of course checked out CC to find out all about it. Decided on Grand Circle and used a referral code I found on this site and it worked!

We Got $100 off our upcoming Christmas Market tour Nov 25 Basel to Amsterdam 2015. I will post a review when we get back.

If you would like this referral discount on GCT then email me at

hugueys at aol . com and please put GCT referral in the title.

I will send you my customer number and name. We will also receive $100 credit toward our next cruise.

Happy cruising :)

Our first Caribbean cruise was on The Norway! Talk about tendering to all the ports. Think it was about 1998 and Norwegian Cruise line had already refitted it from the original oceangoing ship by taking out the middle of the ship. Anyone else ever travel on her?

Thanks so much for the information. My hubby is experienced with Euro train travel so we will plan on getting our tickets when we arrive.

Don't forget that the layers under your coat will never be seen in your pictures. I always take my least favorite clothes and donate them at my last stop to those in need. That way I have more room to pack all my wonderful souvenirs that I have bought. :)

Remember also to notify your debit card company ahead of time that you are going overseas.

This is a great website for 2015 German Christmas market dates and times.

http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/christmasmarkets_germany.htm

We went through the same experience in May when booking our 2015 Grand Circle Christmas Market Nov 26 First river cruise. The prices Grand Circle (which I assume is similar to most others) quoted us for air seemed slightly better that what we could find on most search engines. We ended up booking our own air mainly for our peace of mind in knowing exactly when we would leave and arrive. Since May, our flights have been changed by Delta 4 different times :) so it makes sense that cruise lines don't have exact information months in advance. Still happy we did it ourselves.

River Cruise Review – Scenic Pearl – Basel to Amsterdam, August 19-26

This was our first River Cruise so we had nothing to compare it to. So I will describe everything I can about this wonderful experience. We planned this trip with another couple that we hadn’t seen for several years and met them on the boat.

 

We started out our holiday by getting to Basel a day before we were scheduled to board the ship. I have gotten both Swiss Francs and Euros before I left the states. I think I would have only needed Euros, it seems in Basel, Euros would have been accepted wherever we were.

 

We flew into Zurich and got in around 9am. We already had tickets for the train to Basel and went to find it. It was somewhat confusing to determine what platform etc, but the lady at the lost and found was most helpful and we got on a train 1 hour earlier than I had planned. We had first class tickets and when we got on a car with first class written on the end I realized that first class was on an upper level of the car. Well we are Americans and do not travel lightly, so the train was not crowded and we parked our luggage in second class and parked ourselves next to our luggage. The conductor made sure to let us know we could go to first class but she also seemed to be used to seeing Americans with lots of luggage. It was a nice train ride and we got into Basel around 11:30. After getting off of the train we found a taxi and headed to Hotel Spalentor Basel.

 

We got to the Hotel around noon or so. We were able to get into our room. This was a really nice way to get started. The front desk clerk gave us Tram tickets for the time we would be there and a map and off we went walking around the area of the hotel, through one of the city gates. We had a nice meal of quiche at a small neighborhood restaurant within a couple blocks of the hotel. We walked through several more areas window shopping and taking in all the buildings before we called it a night (since we were still recovering from our flight) and headed back to the hotel. The room was very comfortable.

 

Wednesday morning after a nice breakfast at the hotel, we set out again, this time to find the river and walk along it. It was a nice morning and we got to see more of Basel. Around 1pm we headed back to the hotel and got a cab to be taken to our river boat, the Scenic Pearl. Crew from the ship came for our luggage as the cab driver took it out of his trunk and we saw our luggage next in our cabin when we were able to check in. But before we could check in we were given some sparkling wine and waited in the lounge area for about 30 minutes. We then were shown to our cabin and our luggage. We unpacked right away. The cabin was small, just enough storage space, none to spare but we managed. We left our suitcases on the floor and when we got back later that evening they had been stored under our bed. Our cabin attendant and butler came by to meet us and then we headed to the lounge to find friends we were traveling with and meet other passengers. That evening in addition to a buffet dinner we had a safety briefing. A couple more drinks and to bed. While there are late night snacks in the lounge, we only stayed up late enough one night to see them. I need to add that throughout the entire cruise we were always doing something or getting ready to do something. There was very little down time but everything was very interesting and we saw so much and learned so much that we could always rest when we got back home.

Thanks for all the information. Just curious, was your flight into Zurich from Paris and how long in advance did you book your train tickets?

First river cruise is Grand Circle Christmas Markets leaving Nov. 29 Basel to Amsterdam. I can't wait (but I guess I have to)!