prodoc

Thanks for the google search.  I have been looking at the Laudromat Cafe on the corner of Arhusgade and Randersgade if we decide to do this.  We will be in Copenhagen 4 days before the cruise leaves and are staying near that area so may stop in and check it out.  After 11 days on the ship, it might be nice to start out fresh again before starting the second cruise.

Penny

On the day that we are back in Copenhagen, ending cruise 1 and starting cruise 2--are we able to disembark the ship any time that we want to for a day of sightseeing or will passengers who are continuing with the ship given a specific time we can leave the ship?  Also, if we decide to make it a laundry day and visit a local laundromat in Copenhagen, what are the procedures for taking a bag off the ship and then returning with the bag since it will be a carry on and off.

Penny

1 hour ago, Beachin2 said:

We did a Serenade B3B out of Copenhagen two years ago.  Was very easy.  Short info meeting a few days before #1 ended.  Met in the Colony Club.  Security set up a temporary kiosk.  After the ship was empty security scanned our old passes off - then scanned our new passes on.  That's it.  Was one of the easiest turns we have ever done.  Same drill for turn #2.

 

Procedures change, but that's what happened then.  Now, who knows!  There is a bus stop directly across the street from the ship so use of public transport is very slick.

Thanks for the reassurance that it will be a simple transition between cruises.  And the information about the bus stop in Copenhagen is most helpful.  We had read it was close to the cruise terminal but wasn't sure how "close" it would be.

Penny

1 hour ago, Bama2georgia said:

Penny, 

 

Maybe all of B2Bers can take over a laundromat for a few hours! The would be a great meet and greet!😜  I know laundry is going to be an issue for us as well! 

 

Dionne

Dionne,

You made me laugh.  We look forward to meeting you and your dad.  I will be sure and pass on to you and others in the group what I learn about laundry options.  Part of me thinks it would be best to just pay and do it on the ship as needed and consider it just part of the expense of the cruise and use the time in Copenhagen to do more sightseeing.  But if there is anything I have learned about traveling international over the years, it is that I learn more about the culture when I do the everyday activities and laundry is certainly a common everyday activity.

Penny

Thank you for that suggestion about going to Guest Services.  I would not have known there was a b2b list.  I will certainly do that.

Penny

I will be traveling with my husband on our first b2b cruises in June, 2019 on Serenade of the Seas.  We thoroughly love cruising but this is our first b2b and I would appreciate any information or insights you seasoned cruisers can pass on to us.  We booked the same cabin for both cruises so we will not need to move between cabins, but if we get a last minute upgrade on one of the cruises, will they help us move cabins?  The first cruise begins and ends in Copenhagen and the second cruise begins in Copenhagen and ends in Stockholm.  Any suggestions on how to make the transition day go smoother would be appreciated.  At this time we think we will disembark in Copenhagen and sightsee before returning to the ship but we will have done some sightseeing there before the cruise as we arrive 4 days before the cruise so that day is still unplanned at this time.  Laundry is a consideration since we will have 29 days of travel total.  Has anyone taken laundry off the ship on these turnaround days, especially in Copenhagen and have for suggestions for me?  Also, will the ship have any special meeting for those on the first cruise that will be doing both cruises?  I know from my Cruise Critic roll calls that we have a large number of people who are doing  these two b2b cruises.  Fortunately we have Meet and Mingle parties set up for both cruises.

Penny

My group is traveling on b2b cruises on Serenade of the Seas in June.  Our early traditional dining is set for 6 p.m. on that ship.  I guess it depends on which ship you are on.

Penny

14 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

We mentioned on our cruise last March that we missed the cold soups.  They brought us a different one every night of our cruise after the 1st night after hearing this.  Just ask them and you likely receive even though they are not on the menu.

Thank you so much for the suggestion.  This has made my sister and I very happy as we love their cold soups and were disappointed they were not offered as often but didn't think about requesting them.  Hopefully we will get as nice of waiters as you had on your cruise and we usually do.  Now I know to mention the cold soups and the savory bites for the bread basket that others have mentioned.  🙂

I agree with tofusmom that the MDR fruit soups are the best--especially the strawberry.  They don't serve them as often as in the past but it makes our day when it is on the menu.   We love trying multiple appetizers--they are some of the highlights of the meals.

Penny

I have friends that are frequent cruisers on Holland.  They have told me that Holland changed their website too about the same time that RCI did and that they seem to be having similar problems that I am reading about on this thread.  Maybe they bought into the same software.  Due to website problems we spend more time calling for answers but unfortunately the customer service representatives seem to be less helpful too so I am afraid their computer screens must be giving them less information.  Fortunately the cruises are great so it is worth it in the long run and I am determined to be optimistic that it will improve--eventually.

I will be going on the Serenade in June with a group of 8 with linked reservations.  Am I correct from what I have read above, my group will be able to text each other on the ship for free if we have the RCI app even if we don't buy the internet package?

Penny

Thanks for the informative review. I found this most interesting as we are taking the August 10th cruise and post-tour that sounds very similar, although we do a few segments by bus and also stay at a different hotel in Fairbanks (the Pike's Waterfront Lodge). Hope to put your information to good use as we are in the final days of planning. We have been able to get the post-tour excursion information ahead of time so although we have not been allowed to book the excursions yet, we have already picked out what we want to do at each stop. I especially appreciate the information about the tundra wilderness tour in Denali Park as we plan on doing that 8 hour excursion, especially good to know which side of the bus to sit on. Is the bus a school bus type or is it more comfortable than that? I am sure I will have more questions as I think about your review.

Penny

Has anyone done the RCI northbound cruise along with the post cruisetour from Seward to Fairbanks? Would love to get some insights on the land portion of this vacation. We are unable to reserve our excursions for the land portion until we get off the ship.

Penny

Thanks for posting. Putting the cruise compass online as well as the pictures and narratives helps the rest of us as we do some planning for our own future cruise.

Penny

Yes you can use Viking Air, paying the deviation fee, even if you book the extended days on your own. As someone has mentioned, you do not get the transfers from/to the airport but their airfares seem better than we get on our own. When we did the Rhine Getaway, we arrived 3 days early in Amsterdam using Viking Air with deviation fee and left out of Berlin 3 days after the cruise ended. We booked our own hotels and extra travel on train to Berlin but the change of cities and dates were all included in our airfare with our cruise. Viking gave us great service and it was a wonderful cruise. Call Viking and discuss with them what you want to do and they will explain what they can and cannot do and what the costs would be.

I received the email from Viking and selected a power cube which I received several weeks later. I have already used it several times and plan on taking it on my Viking cruise in November. Thank you Viking! I look forward to more cruises with Viking River and plan on taking a Viking Ocean as soon as we can work it in our schedule.

Have a great trip Rosieo. My trip is the first week of November so I will be learning a lot from your postings.

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I hope you have a wonderful cruise! The one piece of advice I might give you is to do the things that you enjoy, not necessarily the things that you think that you should do. Prague, and especially Paris, have so much to offer and if you try to do everything, you will exhaust yourself. In looking back, I think that we enjoyed the river cruise the most. It was so relaxing and refreshing. After a morning or afternoon having a tour of a new place, it was like coming back home to return to the calmness of the ship. The crew of the Alsvin and especially the Program Director, Bojan Bozic, were above anything that we could have wished for. Enjoy your cruise!

I am glad to hear the Alsvin had a wonderful crew and program director. All the reviews are currently old and I have been waiting to hear how people felt about this ship on the Cities of Light cruise. I agree that we normally don't try to pack our days too heavily. On our Paris days we added the 2 extra post cruise days so we will have 4 days there and our plane does not leave until the afternoon to head home so we should have some good hours in the city. It has been 25 years since I have been to Paris so my return is long overdue.

Penny

Hello prodoc,

 

Just chiming in to give an idea of distances of where you will be on your trip. On the Rhine Getaway one is normally closer to Heidelberg. From Mannheim (or Speyer) on the Rhine you drive to Heidelberg on the Neckar. No Viking ship ever sails on the Neckar. I am surprised Viking offers an excursion to Heidelberg from the Main area which is further North and quite a bit to the East. If you take the excursion to Heidelberg it will always be a full day away from the ship and I reckon it is a good opportunity for Viking to sail on while the passengers are out on a trip. The Main is quite windy and has many locks.

 

It is somewhat a pity in my opinion that they do not offer a trip to Darmstadt instead but that is just my opinion. Heidelberg has of course much more romantic appeal.

 

Perhaps the google maps figures might help you: Mainz: 50°00'06.5"N 8°16'38.5"E 50.001795, 8.277373

 

Mannheim: 49°30'29.0"N 8°26'20.1"E

49.508045, 8.438902

Heidelberg: 49°24'46.4"N 8°42'56.4"E

49.412883, 8.715670

 

Wertheim: 49°45'42.6"N 9°30'56.5"E

49.761822, 9.515682

 

Freudenberg: 49°45'02.5"N 9°19'22.7"E

49.750695, 9.322976

 

Anyway, I hope you will have a great time. The scenery I am sure is lovely both on the coach trip to Heidelberg or if you remain on the ship.

 

notamermaid

Thank you Notamermaid for your insight and knowledge. You comments on the different threads are always helpful. Maybe we will luck out and get to disembark closer to Heidelberg for the excursion as I do see what you mean about the distance. Maybe one day Viking will take your suggestion and offer a trip to Darmstadt as an option for passengers.

We will stay flexible and see how my sister's knee is doing and maybe she won't even need a break. The cobblestone streets can make walking a little tricky for her but she is normally fine as long as we don't rush. We are looking forward to our cruise--we can never get enough sightseeing.

Penny

We, too, went on the Rhine Getaway and had visited the castle. However, this time our Heidelberg schedule was different. First of all, the ship does not stop right at Heidelberg but then, it didn't last time either. It was supposed to stop briefly at Wertheim to discharge passengers for a bus ride to Heidelberg, and then go on to Freudenburg to meet the returning passengers. However - the Main River is a very busy river with A LOT of locks (on the Rhine Getaway I never saw the ship go through a lock as they seemed to occur mostly at night, but on the Main there seemed to be a multitude of locks which slowed passage considerably, especially since passenger ships have no preferential treatment as they do on the Rhine). So, our ship was late and we had to disembark at an earlier stop and the buses had to come to meet us for the two hour trip to Heidelberg, while the Alsvin went on to Freudenberg.

As I recall, the castle tour was the first thing we did during the Rhine Getaway. This time we first had a tour of the town of Heidelberg after which we gathered at the restaurant of the Hotel Ritter to have lunch with some students from the University. The student at our table was studying law and it was fascinating to learn of his experiences. Then after lunch there was free time to shop and explore before taking the funicular to the castle and its tour. After the tour we returned to the buses for an hour and a half bus ride to the ship.

I am not sure how much the initial lateness of the Alsvin had an effect on our schedule. I know the two hour trip to Heidelberg would have been shorter had we been able to reach the original port. That being said, we dock no where near Heidelberg so you would not be able to just leave the ship and explore.

You might be able to take the tour of the town, have lunch and just spend the remainder of your time in town as long as you made arrangements with your guide as to where and when to meet for the trip back to the Alsvin. Or you might want just to stay on the ship and enjoy a leisurely day. There were alway some passengers who did this at various ports.

I tried to include a picture of the Viking Daily but failed.

The following schedule all is dependent on the river traffic.

8:30-5:30 Shore Excursion to Heidelberg

9:00 Alsvin casts off for Freudenberg

12:00. Lunch for those on the ship

1:30. Arrival at Freudenberg

5:30. Back on Board from excursion

5:45. Cast off for Mainz

Thank you Wispackrat. This is most helpful. The town is mainly where my group wants to spend their time so it sounds like we should stay signed up for the excursion and then talk with the staff and see what the timing plays out to be. Although the time on the ship does sound inviting to just relax, to miss any time to explore in the towns would be a shame since that is why we are on this trip. This is very encouraging that we may be able to work something out to have more leisure time in Heidelberg. But as you said, it is all about timing on the river. I remember on our Rhine Getaway cruise that several excursions got moved around due to ship timing and docking changes. But that is all part of the adventure so we will be good with whatever happens. I know many get upset about the bus travels but we knew about that when we signed up for the cruise. We have enjoyed relaxing and sightseeing out the windows of the comfortable buses as we are transported from the ship to our excursion destinations. My questions have more to do with knowing options so we can make informed decisions on excursions. Thanks again--and I am sure I will think of more questions for you.

Penny

As far as tours that I would particularly recommend. In Wurzburg there was a choice between the included tour of the Bishop's Residenz with a walking tour of Wurzburg and an optional tour of Rothenberg ob der Tauber ending with the tour of the Bishop's Residenz but no Wurzburg. We opted for the optional tour and it was our favorite. There was a bus ride on the Romantic Road to the fairy tale town of Rothemberg ob der Tauber. We had a walking tour of the town, then free time with some suggestions for activities and then an included lunch at a lovely restaurant. On the way back, we visited the Bishop's Residenz before returning to the ship. From what I heard, the included tour of Wurzburg was also very good. The choice is yours.

 

The included tour of Heidelberg was excellent also. The castle, though mostly in ruins, is lovely and the tour of the town was very interesting. We had been to Heidelberg on a previous cruise and enjoyed it, but this time lunch with college students in an old hotel was included and added a lot to the experience.

 

We also enjoyed the Gutenberg Museum and demonstration in the included Mainz tour and we took a cable car ride in Rudesheim which afforded wonderful views of the area. We did this on our own as there was no official tour in Rudesheim and we were there quite a while.

I have questions about the Heidelberg day. We went on the Rhine Getaway so toured the castle. Were you given any options on that day other than the included excursion? Wondering if the ship moved during the day or if someone can go into town from the ship to do things on their own. My sister is recovering from knee surgery so we may want to skip the castle since we have seen it to give her knee a rest. Any insight you can give would be appreciated. Also I would love it if you could post the daily sheet that shows the schedule for that day.

Looking forward to any information you can post.

Penny

I have done 4 ocean cruises (Caribbean, Bahamas, Alaska and the Mediterranean with RCI) and two river cruises (Century Yangtze River Cruise and Viking Rhine Getaway). I agree with others on here that I have different expectations on ocean and river cruising. On the ocean cruising I not only pick the location but also the type of ship as I want to be entertained on the ship itself with shows, activities, etc. When river cruising, I am going for the location and thoroughly enjoy the daily stops and sightseeing. I expect to learn about the history of the cities we visit and to see their major attractions. We thoroughly enjoyed the small size of the Viking longships and the intimacy we found there. Although the daily sightseeing can wear you out, you can totally relax in the evenings and do not have push yourself on the excursions if you don't want to. This coming year I have another Viking river cruise scheduled and another ocean cruise, so obviously I like both. Consider what is important to you when you vacation, and choose accordingly.

Penny

We were on the Mani in May and even then had cool days on the Rhine Getaway. The public rooms would tend to run on the cooler side so used a sweater often.

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I returned last week from the Viking Rhine Getaway cruise that went from AMS to BSL. We left on May 20th on the Mani. We were a group of 7 and most of us did all the included excursions with two taking the extra WWII Museum excursion and one going on the Bruhl Palace excursion in Cologne. All of the included excursion were good and well worth the time. Be sure and go to the daily briefing each evening to find out timing and what will be done on that particular excursion. We did not schedule any third party excursions as we had done plenty of research ahead of time, so after our included excursion, our schedule was full of the things we wanted to do. There is never enough time to do all you want, no matter how long you are in port, so planning ahead is helpful.

Another aspect to keep in mind, is that the docking of the ship in a port may not be exactly where it was for previous cruisers. Although Viking owns many of the docks they use, there was one port where another barge illegally docked in our spot causing us to shift our location. We noticed he eventually moved and our ship moved to the desired spot, but the barge moved to another Viking dock so he probably displaced another ship later in the day.

I agree with the previous recommendation about going to the River Cruising roll calls to get specific information for your cruise. I found it most helpful. I also posted the ship daily sheets yesterday for the Rhine Getaway cruise that you might find helpful to see how long you have in each port if you are on that cruise.

Penny

Thank you to all that have responded with such good suggestions on what to see and do. We are getting close to our trip and are excited. With the suggestions here and on the Roll Call, my husband and I are feeling very prepared. We tend to be the organizers for our group that are traveling together so all information is most helpful.