MNPlease

After all this time I just wanted to say this board was super helpful for all the planning of our cruise and adventure with Avalon (the Rhine Basel to Amsterdam). We had the most amazing time! Everyone was happy, the views were amazing (loved sleeping with the door a little open facing the water), the weather warmish, even the most motion sick prone people in the group were a OK!, the food incredible both on and off the boat (make sure to try the aged balsamic vinegar they have on the boat), the staff were super attentive, the tours interesting and well timed, with just enough time for a few naps and relaxing along the way, plus we had awesome adventures before getting on the boat and after getting off the boat. If we could afford to go all the time we would. I sure hope to make a point to go again in a few years.

The one extra stand out thing beyond the avalon experience and our time together as family was the start of our journey. I had made a point to give us a day in Lucerne/Luzern where we boated over to immediately to Weggis to the Seehotel Gottard and it was magical! It was all of a sudden warm (roughly 70 degrees) and so much beauty to take in. We only had a day but it was a magical day (though a few in the group ended up having to sleep due to the time change). We all wish we had more time in Switzerland but specifically in Weggis. Some day we hope to go back. If you have the choice...I would include this in your travels...and give yourself at least 2 days (maybe more if you want to see other stops around the lake or take the gondolas). Just the boat ride to Weggis was wonderful let alone our time there. Seehotel Gotthard also provided us with an incredible breakfast! We departed in a rainstorm but even that didn't tamper our love of this amazing little place.

Also if you have enough time in Heidelberg make a point to go eat some white veal sausage and pretzels with amazing mustard from Scheffler's. Everyone on the trip wished we could have spent a little more time eating and lounging here.

https://mnplease.shutterfly.com/rhine2016daysitinerary is the website I created for my planning... I have to say that I did include some notes when we started the trip as it was happening but by the 3rd day I was just in the moment so much I didn't make time!

Current cruiser...no delay at all at kembs. Speedy actually. :)

We just enjoyed a halfsies kind of day morning on the free excursion and then after lunch we just hung out..watched a movie in our room while looking out our window and taking a little rest (the ship did not move) and then went back into town via a tram for a hour or so t a local museum. We just skipped the optional excurisons and had a grand time. :)

sorry to hear however it is still a lovely place to walk around. how did you enjoy weggis?

enjoy the rest of your cruise the time passes so quickly.

We adored adored adored Weggis and Hotel Gotthard. It was a terrific visit and we all wish we could have stayed longer. We didn't get to do the Weggis to Rigi because of maintence but we had a super lovely time despite. It was so picruresque!! Dreamy actually!

It would have been nice to go on our Canal Cruise today but we had a super lovely time regadless. We are having the very best time on our first river cruise!!

FYI: Just found out that Avalon hired Canal Cruise is cancelled for our morning Canal Boat Ride because of water being too high for the boats to go under.

I have no intentions to cancel either...but still curious as to the flow of travel. We are embarking in Basel on the 16th.

Have a wonderful time Lois!

Bests,

Kelsey

Viking website says....RHINE RIVER

KEMBS LOCK MAINTENAINCE

Due to the scheduled repair work on the lock at Kembs on the Rhine, we anticipate that there may be some delays in sailing between Strasbourg, France, and Basel, Switzerland. Please be advised that prolonged delays may result in slight changes in your itinerary. This situation affects all 2016 sailings on the following itineraries:

Rhine Getaway

Rhineland Discovery

Rhine Rhapsody

Guests on affected departures will be contacted individually with further details.

Interesting that I haven't heard from Avalon Waterways about this.

To my original question...I think we got it figured out...The Att&T person is going to get an international plan that will only be like 35 dollars.

The rest of us have phones that are new enough that we can connect via GSM even if it means we only have 2g and 3g service via the TravelPass system...because as mentioned it is the easiest option for us. :)

Thanks again for the suggestions.

As far as I know you can't just text back and forth like normal because your on wifi (in most cases texting involves signals to towers etc...roaming charges, international texting charges etc...and actually with your phone in airplane mode I don't think can actively use your text even if you wanted to). The same is true with calling...you can't just call someone on your phone with out airplane mode turned off...and once it is turned off you will have issues with roaming and international charges.

But sometimes when I forget my phone I go to verizon's online website and loggin and they have the option of texting from the computer...you could text that way with out having roaming fees and such I would suspect but I wouldn't trust me on this).

When we have access to wifi and have traveled places before we have always just used an app like voxer that allows you to "text" people using that app to other people that have voxer on their phone as long as you are all on free wifi that should be a free option.

You can call using the internet on your phone (an app) using the wifi on your phone but it won't be dialing using your phone in a normal way...and it won't work unless your connected to wifi.

From the ships wifi (being in airplane mode) you can connect to the internet on your phone.

If your App (I am assuming your security system is an App...but it might be a website) works with wifi (as most do) then you should be able to access it fine. If you wanted to test run it while being in the US. You could always turn your phone in airplane mode and try to utilize your security system using wifi at a coffee shop.

With your phone in airplane mode and using the ships wifi (if it is good enough) you can totally upload photos with out having any charges. And actually you could even make phone calls using wifi by utilizing a web option.

The reason I was worried about not having my plan in use is because we plan to make phone calls, text etc without constant access to wifi. :)

Ps. There are clearly some other people on this board that are way more tech savvey than me so I would heed there two cents even more than my two cents.

Thanks guys!!! Such helpful info!!

Oh I just looked and my cell has GSM. Does that mean it would worth through those 4 countries?

Awesome info!!

I am traveling with my parents, my bro/sisternlaw and husband. We won't be calling to the US (as far as I know at least)...but will be needing to call a taxi from the Basel train depot and if we are wandering around a town we might want to access to text to keep connected with one another. Also we are doing traveling before and after the cruise that I thought it might be nice to have access to one another. In the past when we have traveled intentionally and had access to random hot spots we have used voxer to communicate with one another.

I suppose I am one of those obnoxious people that isn't very successful at disconnecting.

I am perfectly happy with just using the ship's wifi I think but having access to data would be nice too.

Has anyone ever bought a throw away phone when in Europe that they just used for the trip? Thoughts?

My parents and my sister in law all have I phones...the rest of us are diehard droid people. :)

I had been interested in the Verizon plan but it sounds like we won't have connection to the towers because of the signals?

If we don't find a way to have phones that are active does anyone know if the Basel train terminal has pay phones?

Also has anyone traveled with walkie talkies?

Hi All,

Thought I would see if any experienced international traveler had any guidance.

Did you use your phone in the EU? If so how did you use it (Sim or international plan). Suggestions?

I have a verizon phone and will be traveling with 5 other family members and it only seems wise for at least a few of us to have cell phone access/use (text, talk, and data) available during the trip).

1 of the people in the group has AT&T and can't remove the back of his phone.

I had just looked at the the TravelPass (10 dollars a day) option from Verizon. Looked like it might be a good choice (if not a little pricey) but after reading some reviews it looks like their might be some issues with the system Verizon uses not connecting to towers in the EU?

I just looked up some info about Sim cards and it looks like there are some issues with using the cards (texts being delayed etc) between countries (when you move from say the place you bought the card to a new spot on the river).

Any help or suggestions would be super appreciated!

Lois R. We are going Avalon and they provided the same things you mentioned...I guess I just got excited that more of the documentation would be different than I found on the net...I guess it is just a consequence of being over prepared. I am sure the other family traveling with me will be impressed.

Lois R I am very excited to hear how your trip goes! We are right behind you flying out on the 13th. We got our travel documents this past week (which were fun to look through but not as exciting as I thought). Can't believe our trips are all right around the corner after a winter (or more) of talking about them. :)

Have an awesome time!!

Lois- I totally hear you! I had been checking the Anne Frank house tickets ever day (they don't post full months at a time always) so sometimes dates trickle in. But they do sell out pretty much instantly. Even though there had been listed as an optional excursion to the Anne Frank house on Avalon's info for our April sailing I had decided to book tickets for us independently for the day we debarked the ship and I am so glad I did. Avalon removed the Anne Frank museum optional afternoon activity from its list of places we could choose from.

Tickets are pretty cheap too....so if you buy them and didn't end up using them you wouldn't be out that much but it might save you a whale of time and trouble.

Best to you all on your river cruises.

Daisi which direction are you going? Amsterdam to Basel or Basel to Amsterdam.

I have worked out the itinerary for our travels on Avalon from Basel to Amsterdam. You can read more of my research and the stops along the way at https://mnplease.shutterfly.com/rhine2016daysitinerary

Wishing you fun and safe travels. :)

tctravelgirl my family and I are going to be going from Basel to Amsterdam on an Avalon Waterways river cruise in the middle of April. I have done a lot of research and have compiled it on my website https://mnplease.shutterfly.com/rhine2016daysitinerary the info in the itinerary is built around my family and Avalon but a lot of my resources were reviews, dailies (newsletters are given out daily on the ship) and more from Viking Basel to Amsterdam guests. Maybe you will find some info that will help you...check under Favorite Links. :)

Wishing you fun and safe travels!

Hi All,

I am sure it has been asked (and I kinda remember reading a post on the topic awhile ago) but would love your comments anyways...thank you for your patience!

My family (6 of us) are going on the Romantic Rhine River Cruise from Amsterdam-Basel on Avalon Waterways in April.

My brother just again mentioned that he gets overwhelmed with too many churches or museums. Can anyone speak to leaving the tour to go wander on their own? Or staying on the boat instead of doing a excursion?

My father is hoping to get some biking (he is a mountain biker) in along this trip...did anyone see bikes available to rent at any of the ports near the the docking location? OR have any of you ever had a cruise director help organize a biking outing during a longer stop in a port OR heard of someone biking from one port to the next (makes me a bit nervous)?

Also does anyone know if the German dinner optional excursion is no longer? I didn't see it offered for our trip this year.

On the topic of optional excursions...do things fill up if you don't book ahead of time? Or is there always room to book during the cruise. So far we have avoided booking anything because we don't really know what we will be sold on during the ship or if we might want to spend some time just on the boat or in port.

Thanks!

Thanks to MNPlease for your Shutterfly site. Very impressive.

 

We are on the Tranquility II also, in September, going the opposite direction. With 3 nights in Amsterdam pre and 5 nights in Switzerland post (2 Lucern, 2 Wengen, last night Zurich airport area)

Totally my pleasure! I hope it can be of some help. I am still updating things every so often. I got most of my information from previous cruise critic Basel-Amsterdam (and reverse) Avalon and Viking cruiser reviews and posts....plus a kind Avalon traveler shared there daily news letters from the ship with me. Which helped a lot.

Your trip sounds incredible by the way. We had talked about maybe trying to fit in some time in Ireland before heading home....but sister in law can't miss that much work and my mother is off to an England trip with friends a day or two after we return.

You are awesome!! Wishing you a great move! Thank you! :D

Thank you mimmy52 for a great review and photos! It was much fun to read and helpful as we plan ahead our April 2016 Avalon Romantic Rhine cruise. Wishing you the very best!

Thank you again for this incredible review! It really was one of the key things helping us plan our trip! So helpful with all the times and details!!

I believe you mentioned you had the daily newsletters and other paperwork...would you mind sharing with me? :D birchbarkgrandmarais @ gmail.com