twototravel

Pearl Sea Cruises is associated with American Cruise Lines. During covid our Canada cruise the Pearl Sea was cancelled and we were able to transfer the credit to ACL.

Has anyone cruised on one of the American Riverboats in the AAR cabins? Looks like there are 6, three on each side of the ship, on the first deck. The description says they are 275 sq ft compared to the 2nd deck where cabins are 300 sq ft. The cabin size increases as you go higher, but so does the price.

@EP824 Check out Overseas Adventure Travel. They have a trip to Egypt that includes a 5 day cruise on the Nile on a private yacht. Trip is one of their bestsellers.

@CounselorEllie A very popular route is Basel to Amsterdam on the Rhine. It is usually a 7-day cruise. We went in early May last year and had no problems with the water levels. There are many small cruiselines that do this route, so suggest checking out others besides Viking, unless you are positive that is who you want to go with. Water levels could be a problem any time of the year, either too low or too high, unless you pick a cruise on a river that only has locks with only high bridges. Look at the posts that keep track of the different river levels to look for trends.

@ontheweb On my last three Gate 1 European river cruises, the ship would set out colored tokens - a different color for how many local guides there were going to be. It is your choice each and every time to pick whatever color you want. Usually, the groups had around 25 people each. Sometimes we would all (the entire ship) get in 3 buses and then be broken up into groups once we were at our destination for the day. 

Thank you everyone for your replies. I guess when I looked it was downtime for rivercruises. Enjoy the Empress...it's a great ship.

@Wildcat85 Since it's been several months since your post I assume you either got your answer or went ahead and booked. We just completed our Vikand online medical screening for our upcoming Antarctica expedition on the Roald Amundsen. The receipt you get only says Guest Medical Review and the charge amount. The evaluation is very vanilla. The doctor basically asks you the same questions that were on the medical form. Ours also threw in a couple of tips - bring seasick medicine, be careful when walking, bring warm clothes, and sunscreen. Didn't feel I got my 165 euros worth.

Our ship monarch Queen is docked in Wurtzburg unable to continue to Frankfurt. We are tied up next to an Avalon boat. We will be bussed to Frankfurt today for our tour then bussed back. The trip to the Frankfurt airport the following day will not be fun.

We are in the Monarch Queen. Still cruising but making adjustments in ports. Left Nuremburg last night and now heading to Bamberg. We will disembark for touring and ship will continue and pick us up in Hassfurt. Next stop will then be Schweinfurt, which was a last minute addition. Not sure what will happen next. Wurtzburg then Frankfurt would be our final to ports.

Danube at Regensburg will be affected by melting snow. Our cruise ship is leaving tonight instead of tomorrow night. We were told levels are expected to rise and cause issues with all the Xmas market cruise ships. We are sailing to Kilheim and will dock there and be bussed back to Regensburg for our tours. We will then proceed for the rest of the cruise without issue (only locks from then on). 

So how does the snow affect river cruising? We leave on Monday arriving in Vienna on Tuesday for the start of our Xmas market cruise on the Monarch Queen. We are scheduled to be onboard 5-17 Dec, so I hope they get her repaired. Anyone with updated info?

For our March 2025 trip Transylvania extension, our paperwork says we are in the Radisson Blu in Bucharest and the Kronwell in Brasov.

@Steerpike58 Thank you for your detailed review. Hubby and I are on the Rinda taking this same trip in Feb 2025. Viking would not be our first choice in Europe (we love Gate 1) but the itinerary of this trip is exactly what we were looking for. We will be going Vienna to Bucharest to include the post trip to Transylvania. Although the optional excursions for our trip are not available for booking yet, these are the ones we are considering - Schonbrunn Palace, Budapest Thermal Bath, Hungarian Folklore Dinner, Wines of So. Hungary, Town of Ilok and wine tasting, Belgrade Bohemian Quarter, Highlights of Sofia and No. Bulgaria, Wines of So. Romania, and Sights and Flavors of Bucharest. Any comments about these? 

We booked cabin 209 which is a veranda stateroom. 

Just a comment about dining room seating. I think the two person tables are disappearing from most all river cruiselines. While we do enjoy meeting our travelmates over a meal since we don't do the happy hours, our preference (if available) would be to go for the two seat tables. We took one of Vantage's last cruises and the sides of the dining room by the windows were all two person tables, which was wonderful. 

Gate 1 usually has Black Friday discounts that can be used on their river cruises.

Check out Gate 1 for European river cruises. They are cheaper than Viking, and I really didn't see much difference. Yes, Gate 1 has less ships, but they are very nice. Cabins only have French balconies on the 2nd and 3rd decks. Complimentary wine and beer is served with dinner only. Food is great, and so is the crew. 

@jpalbny Ref your comment about taking the train from Munich to Regensburg. We are on B2B river cruises in Dec, disembarking the first one and embarking the second one in Regensburg. Instead of going on the tour of Regensburg twice (last day of first cruise and first day of second cruise), we thought we would take the train to Munich from Regensburg one of the days. Is it easy to walk to Marienplatz from the Munich train station? I agree that it doesn't look very far from where the ship docks in Regensburg to walk to the train station.

We are taking two Gate 1's B2B Xmas market river cruises. We embark on the first one on 5 Dec in Vienna stopping in Passau/Salzburg and Regensburg. Second one starts in Regensburg, with stops at markets in Nuremburg, Bamberg, Wurzburg, Wertheim, and then ending in Frankfurt. Both are on the Monarch Empress, a wonderful ship and crew.

@bob brown We were booked on the Pearl Mist to cruise the St Lawrence River but it got cancelled due to Canada being closed for Covid. They transferred our money to ACL and we cruised with them instead. The ship has recently been renovated which is good because the reviews about the interior were not so good. Their Canada itinerary still appeals to us but the trip is very pricey.

Does anyone know why Gate 1 will not be using the Monarch Empress river cruise ship in 2024? Based on their posted cruises for 2024, the last date for this ship is a cruise departing 16 Dec 2023 out of Frankfurt with no departures in 2024. This has been their premier ship for several years. All I could find were sailings for the Baroness and the Queen. I'm not looking to book, but curious. We are on the Empress for B2B cruises ending on the 16th. 

Check out Gate 1 river cruises. They do several Christmas market cruises on different rivers, but they all occur in late Nov/early Dec.

@caradara Any of the optional excursions you would recommend? We have been to Budapest before, so we were thinking of doing the thermal spas. Is there time to do the included tour plus an optional, or do you have to choose one or the other? 

We just booked this river cruise with Viking for 2025. Looking at reviews it appears the Rinda is one of their older ships. Anyone have recent experience with this ship or route? The cruise route looks great, hitting Romania and Bucharest which was of special interest to us.

@JordanF Laura (if the same person) was our activities director on the Empress several weeks ago. She said she was moving to another ship; maybe yours? 

@JoyMBee Check out Gate 1 cruises. They too add additional days at the beginning and end of cruises. We have b2b river cruises booked for Dec. Only fear is that the rivers may be too high. We just got back from a Rhine cruise it was close, but had no issues. All depends on weather. Viking, one of the costlier ships, has many ships in Europe and if there was ever an issue with the river, they can easily move you to a different ship on the other side of the impassable bridge. 

@Thompsam