FuelScience

The most important question is whether the new Viking boats on the Elbe share the "long boats" increased draft -- since the Elbe has more low-water problems than most rivers.

I checked on marinetraffic.com, and they show most of the long ships as having 1.7m draft. The Viking Astrild (one of the Elbe ships I believe) shows a draft of only 1 m.

FuelScience

I wonder how consistent the times are from cruise to cruise? River conditions, depth, flow traffic, lock schedules etc. would seem to be factors. Does that site allow for determining how consistent mooring locations are?

If you're willing to do a little work, this should be possible. It would involve gathering information from multiple cruises and tabulating it. For a line with a lot of ships doing the same itinerary, it should be pretty easy. For a smaller line, it would take more time.

FuelScience

Unfortunately the free version does not show the ports of Strassbourg or Passau, among others. Perhaps when you register or get the app they appear. Not all river sections are covered well by signals.

 

notamermaid

You're right that a lot of ports are missing, but by using the "Show Track" functionality, you get ship positions every 5 minutes or so (assuming that the ship is transmitting its location and that it's on a part of the river with coverage). This is usually good enough to estimate arrival and departure times even though it doesn't show up as a port call on Marine Traffic.

FuelScience

I originally cited a web site, but there are apps as well for iOS and Android.

FuelScience

I’m someone who likes to plan ahead and I’m impatient enough that I hate to wait for my cruise documents to see how long I’ll have in ports on my cruise. This week I’m using marinetraffic.com to follow a ship doing the itinerary that I’ll be doing in August.

I’m not trying to push this web site, but by typing in the name of a ship that’s doing your itinerary, you can follow it up or down the river and see when it arrives in and departs from specific ports. As always, “your mileage may vary,” but it’s a good way to see “typical” arrival and departure times before you get your cruise documents.

I’ve registered on the site (free), and set up a “fleet” with the one ship I’m interested in. I can go to the marinetraffic home page and click on “Vessels,” and then on “My Fleets.” Then I click on my ship and then click on the link to show the ship on the map. Once you have the map, click on “Show Vessels Track.”

Now you can see where the ship is and where it’s been. By holding your mouse over the small ship icon on the track, you can see the time at which the ship was at that point. This doesn’t always work. There are areas on some rivers (Moselle for one) where there appears to be no coverage. Also, my ship apparently didn’t turn its transponder on when it originally left port, and the week before, it was turned off for several days as it cruised in Holland.

For most of you, this isn’t a big deal, but if you’re obsessive and want to get an early idea of when you’ll arrive at and leave from ports, it’s a quick and easy way to get an estimate.

FuelScience

Max: I knew you were an engineer the second I finished reading your first sentence!!! How did I know? I married one!!! :D

Kitty, there are a few of us here. On our last cruise through Holland and Belgium, I was the one that got excited when we cruised by all the refineries and chemical plants around Rotterdam!!

FuelScience

biker,

I do think that something is going on with Viking in Amsterdam so that they're the only river cruise company docking the Westpoort area of Amsterdam. If you go to marinetraffic.com and look at Amsterdam, you'll see that all the other river cruise boats are docked somewhere near the Centraal Station, whereas the Viking boats are all docked in the Westpoort area. It's been that way for several weeks now.

FuelScience

I just got my documents from Vantage today!! They do everything electronically but about a month before departure they send the packet with all your tags, a final itinerary and list of hotels and air information. I like having everything available on line so I can add things and check for accuracy and changes but I also like getting them in the mail....it's like Christmas!!!! :D

Hydrokitty,

Even though this is a river cruise board, I hopw that you'll fill us in on your train journey when you return!!

FuelScience

labguides,

Thanks for the review. How long did it take to get from the ship to Witttenberg and the Meissen factory? Did you spend a lot of time that day on busses?

FuelScience

Rorygirl,

Just saw your review. Thanks for the great description. I do have a quick question. In your review, you said, " The food at lunch and dinner was excellent. Wine was included at no extra charge." Was the wine free at both lunch AND dinner, or just at dinner?

Thanks,

FuelScience

Hydrokitty,

I think that it should work anywhere you have cellular data available. I suspect that cellular data service in the wilds of western Canada may be hard to come by. You might find some coverage maps online somewhere. The advantage on your cruise would be the ability to use it when you're not on the ship.

Janetcbl, TEP claims to be secure. You can look at the website and judge for yourself what that means.

FuelScience

Now for the stupid questions: If I'm walking around say Amsterdam and I want to find a French restaurant nearby, I can turn on my phone with this device in my pocket and be connected to the internet? If I see something and want to take a picture of it with my phone (this would be rare) and then post it on facebook, I could do it right then and there and not have to wait until I'm back on the ship to post it? If I get lost and can't find the ship, I can turn on my phone and bring up a local map (assuming I have the app loaded) that will tell me where I am and how to get to where I want to be? If I want to convert local currency into dollars, or vice versa, I can do it on my phone as long as I have the tep device in my pocket?

 

I'm going to Canada in June, will it work there? That might be a good trip to test it on since I already know where I'm going and I've been there before.

As I understand it, that's the way it works. It's like you go into a cafe and connect to their WiFi. I checked the web site, and you can get a device for Canada.

FuelScience

Leaving June 2nd for Vantage's French Waterways - anyone here going too? Willard

Williard,

I checked the "All Vantage" list on the River Cruising Roll Calls forum and no one showed up. I've added you to the list just in case.

FuelScience

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=46431849#post46431849

FS: Some questions about this TEP: 1. what is it 2. where do I get it 3. does it work if I have Verizon? 4. Can I pay for it per day used or do I need to sign up for 30 days?

HK,

1. The TEP device is a small, battery-powered wireless hotspot that connects via cellular networks. So you turn it on , and connect your phone/tablet/computer to it just like you would to the ship's WiFi. It has about a 5 hour battery life, and you can connect up to 5 devices to it at one time.

2. If you go to http://www.tepwireless.com/, you can get all the information you need. You tell them when you're leaving and when you will arrive in Europe, and when you will leave. They mail the device to you before you leave, and you mail it back when you return.

3. It should work with any device that can connect to WiFi.

4. If I understand correctly, you are only charged for the days you're in Europe.

Hope this helps. XCom Global has a similar device that costs more, but offers more daily data. I'll probably rent one of the two when we do our cruise in early August. We'll have three couples along, so I figured that we could share the device when we're off the boat.

FuelScience

I buy a European data plan for my iPhone from my carrier, AT&T. It costs $30 for a month. I found the wi fi on our Avalon ship pretty good in our aquarium room. The phone will be for texting and uploading photos to Facebook off the ship. Maybe by the time we leave mid-July I'll have figured out Google maps.

Just be aware that the AT&T $30 Passport only includes 120 MBytes of data for the entire 30 days. If you're uploading photos, that's not a lot. For comparison, the TEP device gives you 150 MBytes per day for $7 per day and lets you connect 5 devices simultaneously.

FuelScience

Looking into XCom now as I have read the wifi on Uniworld is not very good and I have to have access. 14.95 per day to rent the unit plus some other charges. Seems to be better than international data rates.

I have a good friend who rented an XCom unit last fall. The only problem he had was that the "unlimited" data isn't totally unlimited. He's a big University of Alabama fan, and on the weekend before he boarded the boat in Budapest, he streamed an Alabama football game to his iPad. XCom shut his device down, but the situation was remedied when he called, and XCom gave him credit for the day or two when he didn't have access.

FuelScience

Another option for better data access on and off the ship is to rent a wireless hotspot. The TEP device rents for about $7 per day, and XCom Global is a little more.

FuelScience

From Scenic's web site:

Our new and independent free choice tour enhanced by GPS-activated directions and commentary. A Scenic Tailormade app can be downloaded whilst on board for free to your apple iPhone or iPad, or you can take one of our pre-loaded devices.Complimentary electrical-assisted bicycles are also available which include special mounts to hold your personal GPS-guided tour system device. Discover extraordinary sights off the beaten track or follow well-trod paths at your own pace.

http://www.scenictours.com/scenic-cruises/all-inclusive-luxury/

FuelScience

Briny,

No problem. I will be doing the Vantage Rhine & Moselle at the end of July, and Hydrokitty will be doing the same cruise about a month behind me--both on the River Navigator. I will try to post from the boat and give more detail after we're back home. I'll also review the hotel we'll use in Amsterdam.

FuelScience

There is one problem that I'm really having trouble with: the Vantage website says that their Rhine and Moselle cruise in 2016 starts/ends in Arnhem and avoids Amsterdam completely. They don't even offer a pre/post optional tour of Amsterdam, which seems odd to me. I suppose we could make independent arrangements for a short stay in Amsterdam, pre- or post-cruise, but doing so does shrink the price difference with Tauck.

Like Hydrokitty, I'm surprised with the Arnhem start for 2016. Also, like you, I can't understand how Vantage decides on options for pre- and post-cruise extensions. We're sailing from Amsterdam in late August and would have loved to have had the option to do a pre-cruise in Amsterdam, but the only choice was Brugges! Strangely, if you do the Grand European, which leaves from Bonn, you can do a pre-cruise extension in Amsterdam!

I also notice the 2016 itinerary skips Cologne and does Koblenz on day 4 instead. After that the descriptions for 2015 and 2016 appear to be identical. I would consider going into Amsterdam early and doing your own air and hotel arrangements. I checked on the Dutch rail site, and it's a 1:05 hour train trip from Amsterdam Central to Arnhem with no changes (cost is €16.20). The train station is about a 5-10 minute walk from the river where the ship will be docked.

In any event, if you go through Arnhem, I strongly recommend skipping one of the tours and going on your own to the Open Air Museum. It's one of the top attractions in Holland, and it's about a 20 minute tram ride from the train station. We found our fellow streetcar riders more than willing to help us find our way! We did this last year on Vikings Tulips and Windmills and loved walking through all the old reconstructed buildings. We got to see a working paper mill and see a lady making fishing nets as well as seeing lots of windmills, farm buildings and other sites.

Finally, one factor that swayed us into sailing with Vantage was the 10% discount we got for paying in full a year before we cruised.

FuelScience

Dutch train info

http://www.ns.nl/en/travellers/home

Open Air Museum Arnhem

http://www.openairmuseum.nl/ __________________

Thanks for the note. I went ahead and gave Vantage a call, and we will get to the ship on our own and can board any time after noon. I've already decided not to use Vantage for transfers. There will be six of us traveling together, and our hotel will arrange a van to get us from the airport to the hotel for just under € 50. I suspect that we'll see how close the ship is to the Central Station before deciding whether to take the subway and walk or just get a cab from the hotel.

FuelScience

Does anyone know how Vantage handles embarkation for people doing their own transfers. We're flying into Amsterdam a few days early for a cruise, and will need to get to the ship on our own.

I've heard of some lines where people assemble at a hotel to be transported in masse, and others where you just make it to the ship on your own.

So does anyone know how Vantage handles this?

Thanks,

FuelScience

P.S. I've sent a similar email to Vantage. We'll see if they're quicker than CC!!

Wonder if Spirit is up and running or if they switched and brought in a new ship

marinetraffic.com shows the ship in Paris. From the track, it looks like it arrived there yesterday.

FuelScience

Another alternative is to go over to tripadvisor.com and look at their reviews of restaurants and attractions in the cities.

FuelScience

Thanks for the great review with all the pics. Enjoying being a virtual cruiser with you!

FuelScience