Riviera bound

1 hour ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

No scooter issues with either dining room.  They are right off the Atrium.

Thanks so much. That will help us. 

Thanks so much. You are right. I meant the Palm. Glad to hear both on Island are accessed easily. Thinking of using a scooter. Have recent fracture of tibial plateau following a fall and stability is still an issue. 

We will be in traditional dining on the Island Princess in November. Are Provence and Bordeaux dining rooms both accessed from central elevators with no steps involved? I’m comparing this to Caribbean Princess where the access to the Island dining room on deck 5 is only accessible by stairs or the two outside back elevators which get very crowded at meal times. 

Thanks everyone. Good advice. Basically won’t make a lot of difference it sounds like. Tossup. Starboard or port. Sun in morning or afternoon. Views everywhere.😀

I had booked C503...mini-suite with curved balcony...on starboard side due to the sun. I figured the first few days would have possible afternoon sun...but the majority of cruise would have morning sun....

BUT today I upgraded to a Vista Suite (aft) on Lido Deck!!!:D

 

Look forward to more discussions about this cruise & activities!

What a great upgrade. Thanks for the info on starboard balcony room.

We were on the starboard side going westbound and that was the place to be. It is just jungle on the other side. A couple that we met on the cruise had even been stationed in the Zone and they came to our balcony to see where they had lived, where their children attended school, and etc..

Thanks. Great advice.

Do we want starboard or port on a Panama Canal cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco? Anyone familiar with Island Princess C535? Or other caribe deck rooms? Or general ship comments?

What direction and how close to where the ship docks, is the farmers market in Quebec?

Thank you Jolie Cruiser. After dark with the city lights looks cool too. So glad for the schedule and photos.

Thanks so much. We may try to do that.

Where is the ferry dock in Quebec and how do you get to it from the cruise ship dock? How often does the ferry run? We just want to ride across and back to get scenic pics of the city.

If your booked thru with Air Canada this what will happen

1 - you'll clear Canada customs and immigration

2 - you'll pick up your baggage

3 - not selected for secondary checks . You'll take your bag to kiosk where you'll give your bags back to Air Canada

4 - You'll leave the secured area and proceed to your gate area after clear security again.

Here is a link to Montreal airport

http://www.admtl.com/en/guide/connecting-flights#Etats-Unis

 

Signage in the airport is very poor and usually on in french.

What would the steps be for us? We are flying United from Chicago to Montreal and Air Canada from Montreal to Quebec. Any details will be appreciated.

Caribbean Princess Quebec City to Houston in October dropped by $500 per person plus $75 in OBC per person.

When did you get that reduction and what category was it? Thanks for any info. Did you have to cancel and rebook? I tried today but my princess agent was not there. She will contact me tomorrow.

I used Travel Guard. I called and a very nice girl walked me through it.

I have used Travel Guard. Twice I had to collect because of health issues. They were very good to work with and guided us through the whole claims process.

Thurs we left Rudesheim at 8:45 am to sail the Rhine Gorge. This was the first day that the weather turned cooler. We were lucky that it was not raining, as had been the forecast. About half of the ship braved the breezy weather on the sun deck for the sail, and others stayed warmer in the lounge. My mom actually took the blanket from the room up on deck and wrapped up in it. Andrzej handed out a flier that listed the km marker and the name of every castle that we sailed past, which was very helpful. I also purchased a map of the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam. This actually showed what the castles look like. This should help trying to match up castles with pictures. Andrzej gave a running narration of the journey as well. He gave some background on the castles. The sail was amazing. I could not believe how many castles there were within such short distances. I think we finished the gorge around 11:30 or noon. Lunch was at noon.

 

The ship docked in Coblenz at 1:00 pm and we had a 1.5 h walking tour starting at 1:30 pm. There was free time as well. Coblenz is situated at the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle. We took the cable car across the Rhine up to the top of the hill (8E round trip). We decided not to tour the fortress up there (additional 3E admission) due to the threat of rain. A word of advice - if you take this up, sit facing Coblenz. This is the only way that you can get good pictures of the intersection of the two rivers as well as nice views of the statue of Wilhem. I thought we would have good views from the top of the hill. However, the cable car was put up last year for a big flower show and was originally going to be a temporary structure. As a result, there really are not viewing areas or good vistas. You may have a better view from the fortress, but I'm not sure about this. I was able to get some really nice pictures on the way down. We finally got some rain, which started on the way down.

 

We were going to tour the Basilica of St. Castor, but the rain really started to come down. Luckily the ship was only a 10-15 min walk away. I should note that Avalon had umbrellas available if needed. They did not have enough for everyone, but it was a nice gesture. We had packed our own.

 

At 5 pm, La Strada came aboard for entertainment. They are a 3 piece (violin, guitar, cello) group who played classical and local tunes. They were wonderful. I think most of the ship came to hear them. The ship sailed at 6:15 pm. Dinner was at 7 and the crew show followed at 9:15 pm. This was truly a highlight of the week. By this time, most of the passengers had gotten to know the waiters and other ship staff fairly well and they put on a very funny show. The closing number was a riot!! All the staff were very good sports about it.

 

Fri morning we were in Cologne. We docked into Cologne around 11:00 pm at night. If anyone is still up, it is worth it to look out the windows to see the cathedral and the bridges lit up at night. Very pretty. We were docked almost right behind the cathedral, which was very convenient. We had a 1.5 h walking tour of the city and then plenty of free time afterwards. Our guide took us to one of the stores that sold the Eau de Cologne. The ship didn't leave Cologne until 1:45 pm to head to Amsterdam.

 

Once we were underway, from 2:30 - 4:00, Captain Manfred Mertens was in the wheelhouse and the doors were open for everyone to look inside, ask questions, etc. There was a galley tour at 3:00 pm. This was very interesting to see what a small space the staff has to prepare all the wonderful food we had.

 

Andrzej gave a nice port talk about Holland in the afternoon. There was a reception for Journey's club members (my mom is one) at 5:30. We were all given a complimentary drink and were able to sit with Andrzej and the hotel manager. (I can't remember his name) to talk about Avalon, Globus, our trip, etc. Very nice.

 

At 6:45 there was a farewell cocktail and disembarkation briefing, followed by the farewell gala dinner. Again - very good food. hors d'oeuvres were passed during the reception. I would say that less than 10 men wore sport coats. Some women wore sparkly / dressy tops and a few had dresses on, but as with most of the cruise, dress is much more laid back than on ocean cruises.

What a great review you have compiled. When we were in Cologne, our tour guide ended the tour outside the cathedral. It was Good Friday so we had to wait for the service to finish before entering. Don't miss going in there. It is fantastic and has an amazing story of how the people saved and restored it after the bombing during the war. Also, don't miss walking up on the bridge close to the ship. The fence is covered with "Locks of Love". A tradition that has grown in recent years is for lovers to leave pad locks with their initials on the fence. Also the bridge gives you a great view of the city with our ship and photo op.

Thanks so much for this great review of your trip. I am really enjoying reading it since we did the same trip on April 1st this year. I am currently in the process of labeling the photos that I have finally printed and assembled into a book. I've tried to include a lot of the details of the ship life, tours, etc. in the labels since I am typing labels and printing them on sticky back paper to put beside the pictures. I love all the details you have put in your report and look forward to reading about the rest of your week. I agree, it was an amazing trip and Avalon does a great job.

When considering your Germany cities to visit, please consider the town of Marburg. It is about an hour northeast of Frankfurt. We stayed at the Welcome Marburg Hotel. It is one of the few German towns that wasn't destroyed during the war and it is just beautiful and historical.

Clare

We would love to have that site that describes the castles on the Rhine. Great idea to have your Ipad right there with you.

Hi One More,

We are also doing this boat with Evergreen tours on 3rd June. So I will be able to tell you how we went. Evergreen like Gate 1 seem to charter the boats from Luftner.

Elb - thank you for your comments. It makes us even more eager to start our tour/cruise. We are doing Prague, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow on a tour before joining the boat at Budapest. I think we will take less tours and do more by ourself as we have been to some of these places before. I will post on my return the experience we had.

Would you mind sharing who you used to set up your tour to Prague, Berlin etc.? We are new to river cruising and would also like to do a land tour before we do our cruise.

Clare

I agree with the spread sheet method.

 

Though folks are well meaning, I don't hold much faith in the "we have done 5 cruises with XYZ and they are wonderful" because you are not the poster and your needs and requirements will most probably be significantly different from theirs. Further, if someone has only cruised on one line, can they really make effective comparisons?

 

Try to find a travel agent who specializes in river cruises. I used one and she had a wealth of information to share with me that helped me to decide which line to choose for the itinerary we wanted to do. Surprisingly, she also got me a better deal than the cruise company's quoted fare.

 

One more tip: If you live near a major international airport then included air could work. We have to fly a commuter flight between home and a major airport and none of the included air fare offerings have been a savings. Usually there is a list (fairly short) of the departure points that the inclusive air fare will cover. Look at the offer carefully.

 

Read the fine print. Check the details of the so-called "deals". Make sure you don't have to pay the entire fare up front to get a so-called "deal." That's a lot of your money in someone else's hands for a long time to get that "deal." If it's a "two for one" offering, check prices on similar lines. Most of the time I've found that the "two for one" pricing was exactly the same as another lines regular pricing but sometimes it is a real bargain.

 

Everyone seems to have a gimmick, you just have to find the cruise line whose gimmick works for you.

Kellie,

We are trying to plan our first river cruise for a group of 6 (siblings and spouses). We would like to do the Rhine River and also want to do a little land touring in Germany near Berlin (birth place of father) either before or after the cruise. How would we find a travel agent who specializes in River Cruises? I have used a Cruise only travel agent for numerous ocean cruises and I know they advertise river cruises. Would this be a good choice or do I need someone who only does River Cruises to get the best deal?

Clare