Respbj

7 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I would wilt in that heat, so it's April or October for us! Sorry for your weather, but glad you are still loving your trip. I'd be interested in your opinion of the Luminaries. I have heard others say it it wonderful, but I am struggling to figure out how to spend our precious time in Paris. This will be our second two day visit, so we have toured Notre Dame, the top of the Eiffel Tower, spent six hours at the Louvre, and done the panoramic bus ride. We have not seen Versailles, the Musee d'Orsay, Sainte Chapelle, or Montmartre. I think Musee d'Orsay is a must, and love just walking the streets of Paris, so I haven't decided on the rest yet.

 

Enjoy the rest of your trip, and have a safe flight home.

We went to Carrieres de Lumieres today and it was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it. I think Sainte Chapelle is a must too. Versailles requires a full day. If you like Medieval Art then include the Cluny also. But with limited time I would do d’Orsay and Sainte Chapelle.

9 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

We visit Boston frequently ( our son went to grad school there and never moved back home), but have only left Logan on the T, so never had to worry about that! We fly into Philadelphia at 3:30 pm, and since rush hour down I-95 begins at least by 2:00, we are doomed. I am considering a Sleep - Park - Fly deal at the Clarion where we take the room at the end of the trip, and can go take a nap and complete the trip home after rush hour is over! For someone who loves to travel, I sure hate the going and coming part!

We are on the Rhône now but we have a direct flight CDG to PHL on AA gets in at 1:15pm hope to get to S. Jersey before real rush hour on July 16, can I tell you it’s 97 degrees right now!! It’s a 2-3 shower trip but loving it. We started our trip in Manchester England with 70 degrees then to Marseille 98🥵 Luminaries this afternoon 

Thanks we are there on Bastille Day,(Sunday 7/14)  also our anniversary so hopefully there will be celebrating and fireworks, we had planned to not do any touring that day and just enjoy small town France

We used TJ’s tour picked us up at dock in a small bus, they guarantee to get you back to ship on time or pay to get you to next port. We got a group together on our roll call and got a CC discount. It’s a long day just be prepared but we saw a lot in the 4.5 hours as our guide zipped us around.  We also used TJ for St Petersburg with group on the roll call and got a very reasonable 2 day mini bus tour.  If you are only going once, it’s worth it.

5 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Here is what I have to say about renting a car in the south of France.

 

I can only speak about Enterprise because that is the company we used--and we were very pleased with the ease of pick-up and drop-off. After the paper work was completed, we were escorted to our vehicle. Yes, you read me correctly, I did say escorted. The agent did a walk around the vehicle with us; she set the GPS on English for us and helped us enter our first destination. She spent a good 10 minutes with us and did not leave us until she was sure she had answered all of questions.  (BTW, drop off in Avignon was not quite as good because the agent looked at some dirt on the car and tried to tell us that it was a scratch, until my sister wet her finger and removed the dirt. He changed his mind about the scratch).

 

Now here are my caveats about renting a car in the south of France--and I did not do the driving. Enterprise for the most part does not have automatics available; can't speak for the other companies. After watching my sister drive us along some pretty narrow roads, here are my thoughts: if you can't already competently drive a stick shift with the same ease you drive an automatic, don't even consider a car rental. If you have reserved an automatic and they give you a manual, walk away. The back roads and tiny towns of southern France are not the place to be learning how to drive a stick. The last place you want to be stalling out is on a rotary/roundabout/traffic circle--and we went through dozens of them. The last place you want to be thinking about shifting gears and not the oncoming traffic is on the narrow back-roads. 

 

For those that do rent a car,

• the rule on the roundabouts is that you yield to the cars already in the roundabout. The rules differ from state to state in the US, so it is important to know this bit of information.
• Also, I shared a link for Driving in France. Read it.
• Memorize the picture with the various signs that you will see over the toll booths so that you know which lane you need to be in (otherwise, the tollbooths were fairly straight forward).
• Memorize the road signs, especially the DO NOT ENTER sign. INTERDIT means don't.  I don't care what your GPS says, if you see a do not enter sign, don't--and that did happen to us a couple of time. Good thing we had multiple navigators in the car using multiple devices to get us around.

 

For the record, I was able to navigate with off-line Google maps with the phone in airplane mode and location on. It gave me directions and I could search the map without internet. Another tip, from my sister, set the GPS to the parking garage near your destination and not the destination itself.

We rented out of Aix and returned to Marseille and it was horrible at the airport so they just gave us an upgraded car and no help at all, here are keys go (now this was back in 2009 so no GPS or NAT-SAT as they call it in the car) ok so we drove all over Provence for a week returned to Marseille train station as going on to Nice and the person wanted to charge us 2,000euro for the wheels being messed up (some small scratch that was probably already there) and since this was a upgrated car it was more.  Well lots of yelling (Yes I was on the verge of being called an Ugly American) till finally the manager came over and called the Aix lot and they agreed no one checked the car with us at all so we didn't pay the charge but almost missed our train as our 4 other friends were waiting for us, we ran for the train.  But after that when in Europe always check the car with an agent not like here in the states with Hertz if there is a small scratch they don't care. We had a problem last year in England after asking for GPS and our UK friends calling to confirm the GPS was going to be in the car, we get there and no GPS in the small car we rented, had to rent and pay the difference for a bigger car with GPS.  My UK friends were horrified but lesson learned, in Europe it's different.  This year before our Frances Finest cruise we will be in the Lake District of UK renting from Hertz with GPS included in our automatic (we pay the difference as we have used stick shift in Europe but in UK/Ireland we go with automatic as everything is on the other side, too confusing). 

It's been a pleasure hearing about your trip, this is the first time in Europe in summer, as we usually do shoulder seasons, and Christmas market time.  This is our 5th river and 3 ocean with Viking, love their ships and crew. 

3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Don't know about Easter Sunday; that is another animal but it is Sunday in the little town if Les Andeleys on the Seine and there are shops that are are open, taking advantage of the two ships that docked here today. 

We will be in Les Andeleys on Bastille Day (7/14  a Sunday) which is also our anniversary so we hope to see some festivities as I always wanted to be in France on our anniversary.

Frances Finest Booked for July 2, will be our 5th river, with 3 Oceans all Viking.

We will be on Empires of the Mediterranean, starting in Venice and ending in Athens.  We are then going to stay in Athens an extra 4 nights on our own (Vikings price for 2 nights was way to expensive).  My Question is how is the best was of getting from the port to a central Athens hotel.  I must admit since this trip is next year I have not really started to research this myself. Thanks to any who have done this trip for suggestions.

BJ

We used TJ's Tours, a Russian Company, and they took care of all the paperwork.  Just had to send them information via email.   It was a great 2 day tour and we had a group that got together through Roll Call here and were able to get a good discount from the company.  But you can not go alone in Russia unless you have an individual visa so going with a tour takes all the hassle out of it.

We did Homelands beginning of May 2017 and flew to London for a week then flew out of City Airport London to Bergen and stayed in same hotel that Viking uses but on our own, the bus from airport drops off outside hotel as last stop, you can then walk on to the ship from there, no taxi needed.  We had 5 wonderful days in Bergen with sunshine in the high 60's which is unusual for Bergen. Lots to see and do there. We used TJ's Tours for our 2 day St. Petersburg small bus tour, and for Berlin (but that is a long day so be warned) but also with TJ's on a small bus.  On the Roll Call we got our group of 16 together for the TJ's tours and they gave us all really good discounts. We did Table Rock cruise with a company than was half as much as booking with Viking and as it turned out Viking used the same company.  At the last minute we booked the Jazz evening cruise in Coopenhagen with Viking and it was fun.  I guess because we were early in the season we never saw big crowds except for Katherine's Palace but TJ's got us to see so much in 2 days including lunches and they don't make you pay till the end of the last day, really happy with them as they zipped us from site to site including going down into a Metro station.

We did all the other included Viking tours and stayed in most towns like Stockholm where there were shuttle buses also they had temps in the 80's very unseasonable for that time of year, people were out sunbathing.  

We had Viking arrange a taxi to pick us up as we flew out of the small Stockholm airport into Brussels on Brussels Air, where we then continued our European adventure. Have Fun!

We have done four VR and two VO and are looking forward to getting back on the river with Frances Finest in July. We like the smaller group of people and you can really get to know the crew.  We have friends from N C and UK that we met six years ago on the Rhine and we vacation with them and became fast friends.  I think sitting in the lounge and getting to know fellow cruisers in one advantage the river cruise has over the ocean. We are booked for Empires of the Mediterranean for April twenty twenty so I can't say I don't like the VO they are just different types of cruises. Enjoy each for their differences.

Getting from Marseille to ship in Avignon?  Since we have been to Avignon/Aix  before we will fly into Marseille from UK and spend 2 days there, then make our way to the ship.  My question is has anyone taken the train up or arranged a hired car to take you and if so what was your experience, any recommendations?  Anyone else going to be in Marseille on 7/2/19 that is also going up to the ship in Avignon, maybe we could arrange transportation by van to the ship. We are staying at Holiday Inn Express by St Charles train station.  Any information will be useful.

DIY but wait for the Beefeater tour right as you go in, they are informative, funny and well worth the time. If you can purchase your tickets online then you don’t have to wait, also the tower underground station is right there and very handy for getting around

Shorts are not permitted in churches in Europe however if it is not a big tourist church like in Rome you could get in maybe. If he can get those pants that have the zipper so they are shorts but you zip the lower part on to create pants. My husband wore them on days where a church visit was in our itinerary. Also mem in Europe wear Capri type pants unlike mem in the US so if your husband doesn't mind them maybe mem's capris.

We booked TJs tours for Berlin ( minibus picked up at port) and their 2 day St Petersburg tour both excellent, check in roll call and if you get a group they give you a discount. Did the jazz boat in Copenhagen at last minute and it was fun. Also booked the Pulpit Rock cruise on our own at the port, was cheaper than Viking and our boat was ahead of the Viking tour so we knew we would get back before the ship left. Every other place we did the Viking included tour and had some free time. We got to Bergen 3 days before cruise and enjoyed that city.

We stayed at the Sofitel also for a little over $100 us$ A night for 3 nights pre cruise and did a walking tour and a day in wine country booked through viator on our own.

The metro is easy, easy to walk through town and the ship is right there at the Chain bridge.

How far in advance/end of a sailing can I make my travel dates? We are doing Octoberfest pre-cruise so will want to fly at least a week prior to sailing and not sure how long we might want to stay after or what we might want to do? .

We just did this however Viking charges $100 pp for a change from the itinerary. We did custom air $50 pp but are staying an extra 2 weeks after our cruise for which we were charged another $100 pp. So you can do it but it will cost extra. If it's not free airfare you may want to consider making your own air reservations.

We did Portugal, River of Gold, I had a pair of black Teva sandals, slip on black dress shoes with good support, Capri pants, t-shirts, one cotton sweater, scarfs for dress up, 3 pairs travel underwear that washed every night, since Viking is casual Capri/ shirt and sandals were fine for Day & night. My husband took a pair of grey jeans and tan cotton pants, plus shorts in a longer length, golf shirts, sneakers. Since we spent time in Lisbon before our tour we had some thing laundered on board which is worth it for packing light, enjoy the trip

You should have no issues with water levels in December.

Don't miss the Xmas markets, my favorites Passau ( small but easy to manage, lovely homemade wood carved items in hut by the church), Vienna ( sausages, fresh made donuts, hot drinks, you can buy the mug as they change each year) night time in the markets with the lights is magical. Nuremburg has a Nuremburg sausage sandwich that is very tasty, lots of ginger bread to take home in tins make nice gifts. If you can go a few days early to ease into the time change and get your feet on the ground so to speak.

We have pretty good weather the 2 December cruises we took, you will need hats gloves, scarfs, sweaters umbrella just in case, should be in the 30-40's but you never know. Enjoy

We took this trip twice, once during Christmas Market time in December which we loved. I would not take optional tours as the cities themselves are worth the time after the included tour to do on your own. The exception to this is probably the Vienna evening show. We did our own flights and stayed at the Sofitel in Budapest which is right by the Chain bridge where the boat was and it was very reasonable. We took a walking tour of the city which included taking the subway, but Budapest is a great Walking city. We love Passau as it is an interesting small city. You will meet many interesting people as there are less than 200 people and most of the activity takes place in the lounge when on board. Dinner has something for everyone and we usually had our wine filled and take it back to the lounge after dinner as we don't drink a lot that was fine for us. You will probably talk to some people and find a group on board, we made friends in 2013 that we still vacation with. Just know it's not like a big ship especially as entertainment goes, there is a ship piano player and some local entertainment brought on board a few times but most people are in bed by 11pm as the days start early. Enjoy

PS we are signed up for river cruise #5 next year

We left from the smaller airport in Stockholm on an 8am flight, Viking arranged for a taxi at 6:30am so we had early breakfast, kept our bags in our room and took them off the ship ourselves, got to the airport at 6:45am but the airport didn't open till 7am, we were the only flight out going to Amsterdam. So if you are using the smaller airport and not the main airport you won't need as much time to get there and the Viking desk can schedule a taxi, but if you did not make air through Viking you have to pay your way.

Look up Viator as they have a variety of tours of Versailles, from private to skip the lines. We did a Rick Steves 7 day Paris tour and one day was a train trip out to Versailles with a private tour that even took us into the theatre and little train ride out to various sites on the grounds, enjoy we will be back in Paris in summer of 2019 for our anniversary which is on Bastille Day!

quote=vino100;55175915]Did you take a private tour of Versaille? We will be staying in Versaille for 2 nights before our uniworld cruise.

Versailles is worth it, easy train ride out, but so large that if you can schedule a tour so you don't miss anything

Versaquote=VTgreentraveler;55126772]Looking for info on the excursions that are offered for the 3 day pre-cruise Paris extension. We get into Paris on a Sunday March 31st, bright and early in the AM, and leave for Lyon on Wednesday. Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, want to see Versailles, and are scheduled on the Viking Panoramic Paris tour on Monday. Has anyone done any of this? Does the Panoramic Paris tour in the morning actually stop anywhere or is it just a bus ride? Does it leave enough time to see Louvre in the afternoon? Do we need to pre-purchase tickets for the Louvre or would we have any deal from the hotel? Is Versailles worth the trip? It is better to take the Viking tour or try to get out there on out own? Have I asked more questions than I am allowed in one post :p

I would add the Cluny museum which has a wonderful collection of Medieval art housed in a Bishops palace

in the Latin Quarter, don't miss the famous Lady and the Unicorn and when going into the palace notice the sea shells on the outer walls, very interesting

The Panoramic Paris Tour is mostly a bus ride but stops at Notre Dame for a walking tour of the inside and then continues. It's possible to leave the tour there and do Paris on your own, just notify your tour guide. We did this on the Paris and Normandy cruise. After we took the Notre Dame portion of the tour, we left the tour and took a picturesque walk along the Seine (there is a pedestrian walkway) to the Musée de l'Orangerie to view the giant Monet waterlilies panels. Be aware that many museums are closed on Mondays. The Musée d'Orsay is closed but the Musée de l'Orangerie is open.

 

When in Paris I consider Sainte-Chapelle to be a must see. It’s located a short walk from Notre Dame so it’s possible to do both on the same afternoon. You can leave the bus tour after seeing Notre Dame and walk a couple of blocks to Sainte-Chapelle. It was built by Louis IX to house holy relics brought back from the crusades, including the supposed Crown of Thorns. It has the most extensive collection of 13th-century stained glass anywhere in the world. It’s amazing.

http://www.sainte-chapelle.fr/en/

 

The art museums in Paris are organized by period. Most everything Pre-Impressionism is at the Louvre. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism works are at the Musée d’Orsay. Modern Art is at the Pompidou Center. Some museums are closed on Monday, others on Tuesdays. Be sure to check the websites as to operating times. I’m partial to Monet so I love the Musée d’Orsay. It’s a converted 19th century train station on the banks of the Seine. The Musée de l'Orangerie is across the Seine from the Orsay and is where the large water lilly series of paintings of Monet are located. Also for Monet fans, the Musée Marmottan is owned by the Monet Foundation. Here you’ll find the largest collection of his painting in the world, as well as works he own from his fellow impressionists. Many of his works that were hanging at his home in Giverny are here (his home contains reproductions).

 

The road on the right bank of the Seine has been transformed into a pedestrian and bicycle walkway. On our trip last August, we left the tour after visiting Notre Dame and walked along the river to the Musée d’Orsay, passing under Pont Neuf. It’s really a spectacular experience. If you’re up to it, I highly recommend it.

 

 

You should do Versailles on your own. The Viking tour allows you a very limited time there, too short to fully view the gardens or go to Marie Antoinette's "village."

We always choose these as they are large but you just don't have the larger windows. Since most of the time we spend on river cruises is either in the city touring when in port or in the lounge talking to other people or enjoying the evening entertainment or watching the view as we cruise by, I see no reason to waste money on something I won't use. The rooms have the same items as the ones with the larger windows/balcony but priced better.

DW and I are planning a Danube river cruise and on a number of sailings all that is left are "river view" cabins on the lowest deck. I understand that you can't watch the river go by and that the floor is below the water level. We tend to use the cabin for sleeping and changing and otherwise are off or around the ship. Is there something I am missing as to why these cabins are undesirable?