Daisi

My cousin teaches in a town in Ont. called Baden, so if we go visit, we tour. We've found Luxemburg, (New) Hamburg, Mannheim, (New) Dundee, Paris, Oxford (Centre), Washington & Boston so far, but there are many more. So many European names in Canada as that's where most of us came from.

When it was 30C on our cruise with Avalon, lots were wearing shorts. Mind you, they were still nicer ones and not short cut offs. You also didn't notice until they stood up to leave (and our group was usually the ones who got the hint that they are cleaning up the dining room) if they had shorts or pants on.

There are so many variables with river cruising that sometimes, it's a day to day thing as to when and where you dock. You can have problems with low or high water levels that can even change ports that you are scheduled to visit, or even locks being damaged or ships stuck in them, which really ties everyone up. Best way to river cruise is to go with the flow, if you book for an excursion that they can't provide for some reason, they will re-imburse you, but that's about all they can do.

The Santa is from my parent's tree, we've had to add on the "attachment pole" as it's over 67 years, and the plastic cracked. We've had lots of fun with him, one year DH & I were decorating for them and we stuck the wrong sized bulb inside and kinda burnt him! My tree has an angel, she's been there for 42 years. I have stopped adding to my Santa collection, as we will someday be downsizing and after watching others do this, we've decided we don't need any more "stuff" to get rid of.

IIRC the newer ones still needed a Bluetooth receiver, so I would wait until closer to your cruise and see what's happening then. I think they are hoping to go back to the new ones once they have the problems fixed. Post a reminder closer to your cruise (July/August) and I'll see if I can get more information for you.

If you haven't been to Zuiderzee, we really enjoyed it. Enkhuizen was also a nice town to wander around, although most of what we saw was our walking back to the train station (no map, so did get a bit of a tour 🙂).

The cabins with balconies are flat to the sides of the boat, so just like the French balconies, you won't see anything overtop. Cabins would be the same, it's only the level with the French Balconies that has the corridor shifted over.

@drowelf not only can you bring your own water & soft drinks onboard, you can also bring your own wine, beer and alcohol. We dont' sail with Viking, but we always have our attendant clear out our fridge so we can put our own stuff in it. Since Viking only serves soft drinks with lunch & dinner (the rest of the time I think you pay for them), if you like certain ones, stashing them in your fridge should be no problem. I think they provide you with water every day.

@CDNPolar sorry to hear you are going to miss out on your trip. I don't know if it's because my family travelled extensively growing up or what, but travel insurance has always been something we got whenever we left the country. Because most of our trips were to the US, we usually picked it up just before we left. It wasn't until I started researching our first river cruise that I found out about the CFAR insurance. Now, for the expense of a cruise, I make sure to get it. I look at it like car insurance, hope you don't need it, but if you do, it's nice to have.

It was still raining after 12:00 last night, this is what we woke up to at 5:00 (picture taken later as it was a little dark then 🙂).

We had our Christmas parade last night in the rain, with today and tomorrow being our local village's Christmas weekend. Woke up this morning to snow on the ground, so sleigh rides through the village will be much better. It’s pretty seeing the snow on the trees, and all the decorations and lights.

I understand your feelings of possibly not being safe, however as cruises and trips are still going on in Egypt I'm not sure what you expect. Your cruise probably did go, so it would be the same for those who cancel European cruises on the *chance* of low water problems, and you would have no recourse. As mentioned by @Squawkman, this is when CFAR insurance is best. We always choose it as we have situations at home where we may have to cancel shortly before our cruises. Since the war isn't in Egypt, I'm not sure your CC will cover it. I wish you good luck.

@AtlantaCruiser72 just had confirmation from cruisers that they are still using the older sets that don't give the wifi when away from the ship, you will only hear the guide. You may be able to get away with a Bluetooth transmitter, but not sure. We only had the older style for our cruise in Sept, but since they didn't have wifi, I didn't bother trying to see if a transmitter would work.

I hope more airlines do this, Cdn trains aren't much, but the European ones that we've been on are fantastic.

Thanks Kristelle, I had to "google" the date!

If I see anything, I'll try to let you know.

They were using the whisper type on our tour in Sept. I don't know if a Bluetooth dongle would work. They had others out that it did work with Bluetooth dongles this spring, but had a problem with them, so had to go back to the older type this summer. I've seen Globus is apparently using the wifi ones now, so hopefully by next spring they will be back to them.

Totally agree. We like our fresh air, so always get the French Balcony on Avalon, but on the middle deck and towards the back. If I'm lucky enough, I book the cabin right beside the one that is the next level....same cabin, but gives us more to enjoy on an optional excursion or special treat.

My Mom always made Spritzgebäck, usually just the crescent shaped ones dipped in dark chocolate, not sure if the rum was in them, but I'll have to put in a request. 🙂 We didn't have goose on our cruise, but we did have pigs cheeks. We were gutsy, and they were quite tasty.

I hope that is available, it looks great. It's not listed on our tour, but there is a wine tasting in Bernkastle-Kues, so hopefully we can see the town and the excursion will be in the afternoon. Thanks for the info!

Thanks. I can't do anything about flights now, but we have mentioned to Avalon that we may go through them, so at least that way they provide the transport. It's just so hard having to wait....... 🙂

Thanks. No problem taking luggage on the bus? Only public transit we have taken was the tram in Amsterdam, and I sure wouldn't want to take the luggage on that...to packed with people! We've booked for 2025, eagerly watching YouTube videos of the towns on the Moselle to see what they are like. 🙂

@TikiIslandGirl, how did your trip go? Looking for transport options as well.

Neither of my Grandfathers talked about the war much, except with my husband and then it was transport & tanks (one transported tanks, the other drove them). Ironically, they actually met up in the Netherlands close to where my Father-in-Law lived, as one transported the other's tank. Guess they got together as they were both from the same area (east Ont., west Quebec). 10 years later when my parents started going out and introduced the parents to each other, they recognised each other! Would have loved to hear some of the stories they told amongst themselves, as one was a bit of a character. 🙂

Thanks @Sleep7, I really enjoyed that. Glad you had a great time. Loved the photos.