SF Walker

Following up on my earlier post (#1392), we got our modified itinerary for our Christmas Market/River

cruise, leaving next week on Wednesday 11/28. All in all, we feel it's a good compromise. If any of you have time, I'd be interested in what you experienced cruisers think. This is our first sightseeing cruise. 

Originally we were scheduled to be picked up at the Frankfurt airport and bussed to Cologne where we would meet our boat, the Amadeus Silver. Now, the boat will be docked in Frankfurt, and we'll be bussed to Cologne the first day, returning to Frankfurt and the boat at night. The same the second day when we'll be bussed to Koblenz, stopping at the Rhine Gorge for photos and then returning to the boat and Frankfurt. The rest of our cruise is the same, cruising on the Main, ending up in Nuremberg.

So we'll be on the boat every night but we'll miss cruising on the Rhine. I calculated that we'll be on the bus about 7 hours over two days and four trips. 

Thank you 

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I have found cruise mapper to give good details about ships and the display of map with its features is somewhat more pleasant visually but as regards up-to-date information about ship positions I have found marinetraffic to be better.

 

notamermaid

 

thank you again, notameraid. That's really helpful. Cruisemapper has our boat west, not east, of Frankfurt, BTW. My typo. 

18 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I am sorry to read that. As of now, yes, the Amadeus Silver would not get back from where she is now to Koblenz on the Rhine. If you mean the Amadeus Silver ( there are also the ll and the lll), she is docked in Frankfurt according to marinetraffic.  She might or might not be on an itinerary but can still be ready for you waiting at Mainz for you for example. You have a few days to go. If you are worried about flights and itinerary changes I suggest you keep in touch with your tour operator in writing so you have a record of the communication.

 

I hope things work out for you and that you have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

thank you, notameraid - we all hope it works out, too!

I have a question. I do see that the Amadeus Silver is in Frankfurt on marinetraffic, but as I noted above, it's much further east on cruisemapper, though it looks like it may be making its way to Frankfurt. Is marinetraffic the more up to date website? 

And, yes, we were told we're on the unnumbered Amadeus Silver, not the II or III. 

thanks again.

1 minute ago, G.M.T. said:

SF, there are two Amadeus Silver II and III, II is cujrrently in Linz, Austria and III is in Leverkusen just north of Cologne.

 

Cologne to Koblenz is passable, Mainz to Nuremberg should be cruiseable, but don't know if there are ships available to do a swap.

I've been told ours is the "plain" Amadeus Silver, not the II or the III. It's at the location I mentioned above. 

thank you, Jazzbeau. I'll be mindful of this in the future.

Dear Jazzbeau - thank you for your reply. No, I didn't know that. yes, please do remove the information. This was my first posting and I'm not sure how to repost.

thank you.

Dear all - I've been following this thread for about 2 weeks and am so impressed and grateful for all your generosity in posting and researching.

We have yet another potentially sad story: we're scheduled to begin our Christmas Market/Rhine River cruise in nine days (11/27) from Cologne on Luftner Cruise Lines MS Amadeus Silver (135m). The nine-day cruise is scheduled to stop at Koblenz, Miltenberg, Wurzburg, Bamberg, ending in Nuremberg. [It was marketed by a TA] through our college alumni association. Nobody knows nothing or at least they are not sharing what they know. I've taken to calling Luftner Cruise Line in Austria and was told on Friday that they have made changes which they have communicated with [the TA]. Neither Luftner nor [the TA] has so far being willing to share with us customers. Our alumni association rep knows nothing either. 

According to Cruise Mapper, the Amadeus Silver is on the Main River near Raunheim and appears to be moving away from the Rhine. And from what I've read here, there is no way a 135 meter boat can make this trip. 

I'm hoping we'll hear something tomorrow, Monday 11/19, but this has been a frustrating experience. I'm sorry so many of you have also had to go through it.  

This will (would have been?) our first cruise experience. The lack of communication and transparency, primarily on [the TA's] part since they chartered the boat, is so disappointing and frustrating. Surely they knew quite awhile ago that this wasn't happening. 

In any event, I want to again thank all of you for taking the time to post here.