SCHappilyRetired

Wifi has been slow here in Arles but will try to catch up on last couple of days.

We arrived in Viviers around 1:30. Post extension to Barcelona talk was at 5 pm and usual 6:45 talk on next day items. There were 2 excursions tonight. The Viviers ghost walk at 9:15 and our excursion at 9 pm Boulangerie Bakery limited edition tour. After a bit of a walk down the street we were at the bakery. Out of 20 or so people they asked for 5 volunteers, which we did. We were shown how to properly pound, stretch and roll a baguette. However, everyone was able to score and number their baguettes before going into the oven. While in the oven we were treated to a glass of wine and shown how to make nouget(?spl) baked breads were given to us to take back to the ship. Back down the roadway to the ship the guide managed to leave 6 of us behind due to our slow walking. She never looked back to see if everyone was with her. DH and I were in the middle of the two groups, fast walkers and slow. Once we arrived at the ship the guide was coming out of the ship and we mentioned to her she left us and 4 others still walking back. She looked around the corner and saw the 4 almost back and left. Boy was I jazzed about that!, we felt Uwe needed to know and told him the next day. He was not happy and thanked us for letting him know.

The others that went on the ghost walk had mixed reviews, eerie and fun. Unless you take one of these excursions, the town of Voviers has nothing to offer.

Who is Pablo? Wonder if he will be with us next week? Would love to hear your impression of the chocolate and wine pairing. Everything I had read said it was boring but would like your opinion since we are days away from it.

 

We are in Marseille and to us, it is beautiful along the port with the thousands of boats. As we walked last night along the waterfront, we saw the Marseille Eye all lit up. Flying in yesterday we could follow the Rhone up in the air, saw the cliffs by Cassis and the beautiful shoreline.

 

 

Jane

Hi Jane,

We did not do the wine and chocolate tour but did speak to a few passengers who did. Their take was it was not so good, boring and a waste of time. We did the Steam train des gorge and thought it was fantastic. Great scenery going through the gorge. At top they turn the locomotive around to head back. Once back at the station you were given 20 minutes to go into the gift shop. Guide was very good explaining the history of the train.

Docked port side here in Vienne overlooking town square. AMACello is rafting with us. Well, Paolo Nassi did not disappoint last night. He had everyone up on the dance floor! So crowded some in the aisles. We left around 11 pm. Today the hike tour starts at 9 am, chocolate and wine pairing at 9:15 and our steam train des Gorges tour at 9:45. No desserts at lunchtime but an ice cream party in the lounge. We then will set sail at 1:30 for Viviers. At 5 pm Uwe will speak on the post cruise to Barcelona. There we can book optional tours and our hotel to BCN transfers. 9 pm our Boulangerie Bakery limited edition tour starts and ghost walk at 9:15.

Weather has been perfect, no rain. Sunny and blue skies today!

Today we opted for Vienne city tour. Hike an 17 mile bike tour was out of the question for us! A lot of roman ruins. We book a choo choo train to the top of Mont Pipet. What a view! Train back to town center where we walked through town and back down to the ship. Disappointed most stores were closed on Mondays. Maps were given to us by the reception desk for both ports. I assume each port you'll get a map. In your welcome packet at the Paris hotel there were maps of Paris also. Had a guest Sommelier in the lounge this afternoon and this evening a Chaine des Rotisseurs dinner will be served. Then, Paolo Nassi for entertainment this evening. Will let you know how that goes.

While I have my excursion book out, in Barcelona we booked a Flamenco night at Tablao Cordobes, show and drink (50 Usd) pp through Viator only because I kept getting bumped out of their own website. We wanted a dinner and show but sold out. I booked 6 months ago!!

FYI, when we were in Lyon we were rafted on starboard side so port side had a very nice view. Collonges docked port side with no one else around. Kinda an odd area. Vienne docked port side. We are on port an alittle uneasy as we were lined up with the sidewalk with people passing right by us. We are ruining towards Tournon now. Port side is very industrialized while starboard has a beautiful view of towns and vineyards. Ok if your on the sun deck. Not so pretty from our room.

I have enjoyed your reviews.

 

I will be on my first river cruise June 1 Provence & Spain on the AmaCello (private chartered cruise). I have the pre and post cruise hotels and transfers.

 

I am interested in your Seine dinner cruise - Name or website of booking company, how did you get there?

 

What was the cost for your Paris optional evening tour?

 

How was the food at the Paris hotel?

 

Can you give some example of the dinner menu?

 

What was served at the Chef Table?

Sorry for the delay! Too much going on!! I see you googled for the Seine dinner cruise. We bypassed Viator and booked direct. It's been so long ago but I want to say for Premier service we paid around 200€ pp. yep, expensive. Paris AMA options illuminations tour around 64€ pp food at the Pullman was good, but expensive like everything else. dinner buffet was 42€ pp. we opted to walk around the corner to a lovely cafe instead. The hotel will give you a list and directions of all the area food venues. Dinner menus on the ship are a variety of items. Believe me, you want for nothing. And if you don't see it, ask and they will accommodate you. I asked for low sugar desserts and the pastry chef had one for lunch and dinner. The head waiter, Alex, always hunted me out and said to ask the waitress to get him and within 2 minutes, dessert!

I will try to get the chef table menu. Too numerous to remember. Captains dinner last night.

My husband, Michael, and I are booked to go on our first river cruise on AMA from Lyon to Arles. Never been on any river cruise, usually go on Azamara but we love the look of the river cruises so we finally did it and Just booked the river portion of the cruise. We have been to Barcelona many times so not interested in ending there (fantastic city).

 

Any cruise tips appreciated. Also suggestions for post trip for a couple of days.

 

Any thoughts on whether we should stay in Lyon before trip and in Arles after.

 

Thanks

 

Ollie47 aka Bev:)

Hi Bev,

I am on the AMADagio once again and posting my daily experiences. See my thread. Ask away!

Thank you Bama!

We did the Beaujolis excursion this morning. I decided to take the seat cane, as others did, and it was a help to be able to sit a bit. Started in the little village of Oingt. We were lucky enough that there was the annual crank organ festival yesterday and today. The village was alive with music! After that we proceeded to Domaine de a Fond-Vieille vineyard. Each bus went to a different one. We sampled a white, rose and red. They also provided bread, cheese and sausage to accompany the tasting.

Once back lunch was waiting for us. 3:00 started a silk painting and printing presentation which Lyon is famous for. Various ties, scarfs etc for purchase.

The "welcome back" cocktail reception is at 6:15 which we will attend as a prior AMA cruiser. Then 6:45 Uwe will talk about our stop in Vienne tomorrow.

Cousin just returned from her massage and booked another! She said it was wonderful.

Had laundry done on Friday afternoon and returned Saturday morning. That's service!

Life IS good!

Good news! They upgraded my cousin, traveling solo, from the lower deck to middle this morning since they had cabins unoccupied. Kudos to AMA!

Hi Jane,

The Captains table is our last night on the river. Will try to post. I will ask Uwe if he will be the next CM, if not then I'll try to get a name for you. He will follow us to the end in Barcelona.

Jazz,

I had my first soup tonight and it really didn't taste salty. With OA, it's just something I live with. The cement, cobblestone etc really does a number on the pups!. I am plugging along. They offer a walking tripod with seat so will take one along. Also offered, canes, walking sticks (tall ones) and walkers.

Tomorrow is our Beaujolais excursion starting at 9 am. Usual time frame for breakfast. We set sail at 2 pm for Vienne tomorrow. DH is getting a massage tomorrow afternoon. Cost for 60 min is 60€ really not bad. Ocean liner would be more than double. Will let you know how he likes it.

We are docked in Collonges with no other ship in sight!

Early risers pastries were available from 6:30-7:30 am. Breakfast buffet 7:30-9:30. There was an omelet station along with off the menu ordering. What a spread! Late risers pastries from 9:30-10:30. The Lyon city tour left at 9:30 which consisted of a bus/walk tour til 1:30. DH went but I stayed behind. My mobility challenge left me with very swollen ankles from OA and I just needed some rest time. He said it was a nice. It's kinda a small Paris. Lunch started at 1:15 in the dining room or a light lunch of soup and sandwich in the lounge. You could order off menu or take part in the buffet. Escargot and frogs legs were on my plate! Yes, I'm a foodie and enjoy those odd offerings! This afternoon is free time to enjoy the ship or go back I to town. BTY we sailed AMADagio her first year and now 10 years later she has held up extremely well. No complaints here! There was a tea time in the lounge from 3:30-4:30 and a travellong solo meet up at 6 pm. At 6:15 Uwe will give a cruise overview in the lounge and 7 pm dinner. Entertainment to follow in the lounge with Adele & Bernard as we set sail for Collagnes. Will keep posting as we sail. This is truly, so far, exceeded our expectations in every way!

We arrived at 12:10 pm and Uwe made sure he gathered all his "chicks" before heading to the buses. Upon arrival whatever hand luggage you had could be left on the bus for direct delivery to the ship. We bused and were dropped off at Bellecour square and given a map of the area. It is around 1:15 now. One bus group went to the cooking class in the square while the other group had time for lunch in the many cafes that the guide points out as you arrive. Then bus group reversed. We opted to have a long lunch and not do the cooking class as I had already signed up for the limited edition Provence cooking class. FYI, sign up for the limited edition class prior to boarding as some were already at capacity. We found a couple of chocolate stores after eating and managed to purchase some bars and truffles. Once done, we had a choice of a 2:15, 3:30 or 4:30 shuttle to the ship. We took the 2:15 and arrived at the ship in 15 or so minutes. We were greeted by the most friendly crew ever!! Champagne! We were then introduced to some of the upper class crew and given a very entertaining safety talk. BTW, only 109 pax on board!! Luggage was promptly delivered to our cabin B206 by 3:15 pm. This cabin has a forward facing bed, if anyone is interested. We were unpacked and settled in by the safety talk. We had the head Waiter approach us at the briefing to see if we wanted to take part in the Chef Table. I had already thought of another night but we decidied to do it on embarkment night. I think because we were the first shuttle in they wanted to book the speciality dining so the first night was full. Capacity of 24. Most asked did not even know what the Chef Table was! Rear of third floor, all glass enclosed with open kitchen. No extra charge either. Meal and service was impeccable! Wine throughout. A MUST!! Later we went to the sun deck with wine from the bar. DH likes his red wine chilled and the bartender put one in his fridge for him. Very accommodating! They offered late night snacks at 10:30 pm. We stayed overnight in Lyon. We did raft next to Tauck's Swiss Emerald. Since our cabin was port side we had the luxury of looking out over the river into the city instead of Tauck's ship. Our daily cruiser for the next day was on our bed when we returned back to the cabin.

Continued.....

We needed to have our 2 pieces of luggage out by 7 am and be in the lobby for Identification so Uwe could mark off. He kept track to be sure he had everyone's luggage. Very efficient! Had breakfast and met the bus at 8:15 am for our drop off at The train station for our high speed train to Lyon. The guide had us all validate our tickets at the kiosk. We needed to wait to see what track we would be on. They don't post until 20-30 minutes before the departure time. We, along with 3 others, upgraded to first class so we were on a different coach (section of train) than the others. Upper deck. We requested of AMA two forward facing seats but unfortunately, they ended up so we rode backwards. However, there were only around 6 others on our coach so we moved. It is a 2 hr 10 min ride and went by beautiful fields and small towns.

Continued....

Our free day in Paris we booked a private tour to see 3 vineyards and a goat cheese farm. Not fond of whites but our first vineyard we purchased 3 different ones! We sampled 6. Goat farm had 500 goats that they milk twice daily. There was a small savory and sweet shop there along with different aged goat cheese. Samples for all. Next stop was Sancerre for a wine tasting and lunch (included). Our last stop was a very modern, yet small, winery where we sampled 6 or so. 2 were rouge and we fell in love with one and managed to purchase 3 rouge. I only bought wine bags for 3 so will need to wrap the others carefully. There were only 8 of us on the tour, very private. We had access to wineries off the beaten bath in Burgundy and Loire. All our bottles were signed by the winemaker so that will make for nice souvenirs. This was a 7:15 am to 7 pm tour in a minibus. A bit pricey but we wanted to get into the wine regions and in the tiny. Ill ages. Mission accomplished!

Continued....

At 6 pm we joined Uwe and the other passengers for a welcome glass of wine and overview of our days in Paris. That lasted about 1/2 hour then we were off. Our first night we booked a Seine dinner cruise on our own with Bateaux Parisians. We upgraded to their highest class, Premier and were not disappointed. Location is in the very front of the ship surrounded by glass ceiling to floor. Service and food were exceptional along with live entertainment. Expensive but well worth it to us. This was a relaxing way to start our vacation. We boarded around 8 pm for an 8:30 set sail cruise arriving back at the base of the Eiffel Tower at 11 to the Tower "sparkling". Up a large set of cement stairs the taxi stand awaited.

The next morning we had the usual hotel buffet. We started our AMA included Paris City Tour at 9 am and returning around 1 pm which was very nice. Our guide, Flavia ? Spl, probably was the best guide we ever had while traveling. We signed up for the optional Montmartre & Illuminations tour that night which started at 6:30 pm. We drove up by large bus (red) the boarded a small train, think tram, up the mont for a breathtaking view of the city. Free time for dinner and shopping (about 1 1/2 hours) then a funicular ride down to the large bus to head down and see Paris lit up in all its glory. We stopped at 11 pm for the Eiffel Tower sparkling show again then headed back to the hotel.

We started our adventure Tuesday upon arrival at CDG. After a fiasco and free for all at border control (2 hours in line) a rep from AMA Waterways were patiently waiting for us outside of arrivals hall. We were taken by private car (surprised as we thought we would be on a large bus) for about an hour to our hotel Paris Pullman Montparnasse Hotel. Driver was very professional and handled all our bags into the hotel. There, a bellman waited for us to Check in. It is 11:00 am now. Official check in is at 3 pm so we knew our bags would have to be held until a room was ready. The hotel offered us an "upgrade" to a larger room for 12€ per night more. We decided to do that has that room was ready instead of waiting 4 hours. Not sure if that is the "usual" offer but we were traveling for 2 days, exhausted and wanted to shower. The room was clean and modern. Taxi stand directly in front and Gare Montparnasse around the corner. A bit further outside the attractions but fine for us. Vouchers for buffet breakfast were given to us also. We had lunch in their cafe as it was just convenient. We were greeted by our cruise manager, Uwe Nitschke, at the AMA desk and given a welcome packet for the 3 days we would be in Paris. There were 60 of us at the hotel so we were given 2 luggage "red" tags for our bags. Any other luggage you have besides the 2, you need to handle yourself on the transfer bus to Lyon so be aware of that. This color would tell us what color bus to be on for all AMA tours while in Paris. Continued....

Sky Club (formerly Crown Club) was conceived like most airlines clubs as a paid only membership -- individual rate is now $450 per year. Over the years they added access for SAME DAY international business and first fliers. I got mine many years ago via PAN AM for $500 lifetime.

 

Domestic fliers were never included. You can now buy a one time access.

 

If you had an AMEX Platinum -- that would also allow entry. But FF and Delta Amex is a non starter.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Just came into Atlanta via first class. I had 3 hours layover before ending my travel for the day at JFK yesterday. Tonight we are leaving for Paris, Delta One class. I have been enrolled in their FF program for years (for better or worst) and carry a Delta Amex card. When DH and I approached one of their sky clubs to relax for the layover time, I was told we could not use their club, only for International flights, not domestic. It was 7:20 am at this point. While I knew this, I did think as a FF member and Delta Amex card hold that would get me in.

Enlighten me please.

Oops...yes she let me in when she saw my next flight was international and Delta One

I called AMA yesterday as our cruise is next week. They said a card is issued and needs to be used to gain access to the ship. However, when I asked her further about security (officers on deck, security at gate, rafting) she didn't quite know how to answer. Let's just say I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling about it! Guess I'll just find out next week.

If there is any chance that you could post some info as you are cruising, it would help me as we get on when yo get off. Any must dos or don't, entrees not to be missed, any great tour guides or anything else. Would appreciate it.

 

Jane

Will do my best!

Hi,

 

On our cruise it was the evening of the cruise day prior to the last full cruise day.ie the Vienne to Lyon day. Have a wonderful trip. Vienne will amaze you- Roman Temple of Augustus & Livia. If you have Jean(John) as your guide you are in for an in depth tour.

Carole

Thank you!!!

Morning! We leave Sunday and don't want to book the Chef Table the same night as the Captains Dinner. Anyway recently back that can recall what night the Captains Dinner was on? Thanks!!

I purchased CZ ring for touring. Does me just fine on my trips. Leave the diamonds in the safe at home. I too take rings and earring off as I'm walking in the house.

My husband, Michael, and I are booked to go on our first river cruise on AMA from Lyon to Arles. Never been on any river cruise, usually go on Azamara but we love the look of the river cruises so we finally did it and Just booked the river portion of the cruise. We have been to Barcelona many times so not interested in ending there (fantastic city).

 

Any cruise tips appreciated. Also suggestions for post trip for a couple of days.

 

Any thoughts on whether we should stay in Lyon before trip and in Arles after.

 

Thanks

 

Ollie47 aka Bev:)

We leave Monday for the AMAdagio. We did book pre cruise Paris and post Barcelona as we haven't been to either. I will try to post when we get home on the excursions etc. our prior River cruise was also on the AMADagio her first year out. We were extremely satisfied with ship, crew, excursions and food.

Leaving Sunday for AMA Waterways Rhone with ore and post cruise Paris/Barcelona. Heard wonderful reviews. Will be sure to report as we go (if wifi is goo) but definitely when we return. Prior cruise was Rhine, Main and Danube. Loved Amsterdam our start city. Commercial area until you past Cologne.