Kristelle

I think,like most things, it is a compromise. Most of us don't have unlimited money so we have to figure where is the sweet spot between what we would ideally like, and what we can afford or consider worth the cost.and would still enjoy doing. if you can afford, or consider it worth the cost, of the lowest price and you will enjoy that holiday even though it isnt your ideal penthouse suite, you can really afford to go and should do so.

or they would be fine if you did them as part of a land/cruise combination trip or, as mentioned above, live really close to the location of the cruise.

or less. I've been on many dinner cruises - that last for about 3 hours while you sight see and have dinner. But like one day ones you obviously do so as part of a trip, not fly from Australia to France just to do a dinner cruise on the Seine. or people do things like 2 nights on Halong Bay as part of a trip to Vietnam

when I was on river cruise (so not sure if this would work for ocean cruises where there are so many more people) the cruise director mentioned this - people deciding not to take some old item of clothing home so more would fit in luggage, please let us know. whether they then donate them or bin them I don't know, you could ask - but at least they know not to try to contact you or wait for you to contact them, thinking it was left by mistake. But I agree with Anita - don't just leave them in taxis or random places in ports - that would just clog up their lost property, not knowing if you would later claim it. if you are going to donate them, needs to be donated to a thrift shop there or a charity that you know wants them. Would have to do some research in advance to know how to do this in a foreign place.

Can't answer any of your other questions - but re no 1 - pretty well all river boats on Europe river cruises are very similar set up - since width and height is limited by requirement to fit through locks and under bridges If the ship is fully booked, I doubt you will be sure of a table for two at every dinner time - and anyway the tables for 2 are really close to the next tables so you won't be really alone anyway. Here is a youtube review of Tauck- you can skip through to the section on dining and see the dining set up for yourself

well that is interesting. Have just returned from Scenic 14 day Europe river cruise - and one laundry bag per cabin was included in price (stuff as much as you can into it) there was also 50 euro per person obc - not sure what others used it for but we used it for laundry, per item price. With handwashing underwear and thin material shirts, was able to get laundry done on board and have no out of pocket expense.

Have just returned from 2 week Amsterdam to Budapest cruise My answer would be same as Scott above - really doesnt matter. Sometimes you dock on either side of river, sometimes you are docked side to side with other boats but that could happen either side of river and you could be inside or outside boat. Sailing - either or both sides could be more interesting to see - and/or you can see from lounge or (most of the time) sundeck anyway. I would not factor which side into my choice at all.

well I guess that answers my question about whether anyone really owns 9 swimsuits. I own one, which I use sometimes - on holidays and at home. (not my own home, don't own my own pool) I possibly would buy 1 more if I intended swimming a lot on a holiday - but so far have been fine with 1.

Gosh If I did that I would have to buy 8 more swim suits before I go on the trip 😲 Does anybody really own 9 swimsuits? If I were going to spend a lot of time swimming, I guess I might buy one more and therefore take 2.

I don't recall any vaccination requirements - perhaps there were, we booked our trip a while ago and am fully vaccinated anyway, can't remember if I had to show that to TA when booking. Or, if I did, whether it is still a requirement now. Nobody on the ship wore masks. And only saw a few of the European public doing so, less than I see in Australia (which isnt many in general settings either) There were hand sanitisers when entering public areas, I used them and saw many others also but was not policed. (should do this anyway of course, not just for Covid) I did not have to do any RATS I think people were asked to test if symptomatic and it is 5 days isolation in cabin if positive, I remember cruise director saying that. I dont know if this happened to anyone.

I'm still here, back home now, toasted sandwiches for tea last night , make yourself and do your own dishes, what a come down after being spoilt on cruise 🤣 Back to work tomorrow.

I have booked to go with Scenic in Jan 2025, Mekong River cruise. 66 people maximum capacity - less than half the capacity of their Europe river ships

Would be quite happy without turn down service and chocolates on pillows myself. Not something I value highly myself either.

Just been on a 14 night European river cruise. Not in France but I imagine dress code similar on all of them. There were a couple of occasions - welcome dinner, gala farewell dinner, one evening at a concert off board - when dressier was the go. Men mostly wore dressy or chino pants and smart collared shirts, women wore mid length dresses or pants and dressy tops to those. A few men wore ties, vast majority didn't. 'Ordinary' dinner nights - some people dressed slightly dressier than during day, some didn't. Shorts were worn by maybe 1/4 of the men at dinner as well as shorts by men and women during the day. Before coming I read that jeans at dinner were not really ok - reality said otherwise, jeans at dinner were not at all rare, men and women. Weather was quite warm,obviously that affected what people wore.

Ritabob I find it so hard to single out one highlight. A lot of cathedrals, abbey's, palaces - got a bit over the Hapsburgs and baroque architecture by the end, magnificent though it was. The one absolutely not to miss IMO is Melk Abbey. Also the mini train, music museum and cable car excursion - that was really good. My advice would be to try to take some tours of other things and in hindsight one of the earlier days, in Miltenberg, , I would of taken the farming tour, which people said they enjoyed, rather than the tour to the Abbey Abbey tour was good - but we saw many similar later in trip and so a farm visit would be nice variety and avoid being Abbey-ed out later in trip. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the lunch and show at Salzburg and the classic music concert in Vienna - classical music and Sound of Music movie not being my interests - but it was tailored to broad appeal. Am on last leg of flying home now. Budapest to Frankfurt to Changi to Adelaide. Incidentally little tip for anyone transitting through Singapore - there are free guided tours, 2 or 3 hours, if you have long enough. Very enjoyable and way better than twiddling your thumbs in airport lounge for hours and hours.

In Budapest. The excursion we picked went to Hospital in the Rocks, fascinating place, re-created with many wax models of when it was used as underground cave hospital during WW2 and beyond. Fascinating tour, well worth doing. Huge market across from where we were docked, well worth a visit in afternoon. And night cruise of Budapest illuminated at night was lovely. Some rain in morning which was only rain all trip. Very lucky with weather - ranged from low 20's to low 30's and fine all trip and no issues with water levels, ship sailed whole length, no interruptions to schedule. Survey of cruise distributed by internal email, didn't get to do it as despite giving my email address to reception as requested, they didn't save it so no survey link sent to me. Survey has to be done electronically on board, no paper alternative and cannot do after disembarking. Not a good system IMO. Overall conclusions Food- excellent. Breakfast and lunch are extensive buffets in main dining room, ( except one day BBQ on sundeck and one day out at Salzburg) with lighter alternatives available in Cafe. Also cooked meal available on request. Dinner- table service in main dining room, several choices plus ' always available' alternatives All food and drinks included, except some very few high end wines or whiskeys ( of which we had none, not sure if anyone does) Service - excellent. Housekeeping no issues at all. Any request eg had an issue with TV - attended to very promptly DH had room service for dinner one night when he didn't feel well. Only time we used room service or butler. Excursions - mostly very good. Very focussed on churches, castles, architecture, history Although very interesting, was good to enjoy different focus tours sometimes and more of these options would be good. That is probably partly a reflection on length of cruise (14 nights) and wouldn't be an issue on shorter ones. Of course coming from Australia you don't come for a 7 night holiday. We did 5 days before the cruise ( not with Scenic) and then 14 nights on board. On board entertainment. Several on board groups, mainly musical or dancing, and one glass blowing during non excursion times of the day. Quizes, party games some nights- we went to some of these. Lightweight but quite enjoyable. Passenger demographic - 157 in total 70 Australians, 50 Canadians, remainder from New Zealand, USA, UK. So, cruise has come to an end, thanks for reading my ( mostly) daily postings. Photo of us at Golden Carriage in Palace Lichenstein, Vienna - just to show this review written by a real person, not a bot.

No that's not what I meant - the coffee and cake establishment at the end was fine, but it was one stop at the end of a usual sort of city walking tour rather than a series of stops and little samples and talks at each, the way foodie tours usually are.

We were docked 3 deep with other ships last night, we were on bank side so had people climbing over and thru our ship. Today we are docked on outside of Emerald so we will be walking thru them. Did coffee and cake tour in Vienna- bit disappointing. I was expecting a 'Cafe crawl' where you get samples of coffee, cake, anecdotes from different places - but was just another general city walking tour with one stop for coffee and one cake slice at the end.

Docked in Vienna for 2 nights. Must be about 10 ships here, some docked side to side but we are not. Just outside of Vienna actually - We have excursions in morning and then several shuttle buses back and forth between town and ship for anyone who wants to go back in. We are going to do so today and take a 20 minute ride on the Fiakers, the horse and carriages. €55 per carriage but they take 4 people, so sharing with another couple. Also last night went to classical music concert at Palace Licenstein, really good experience. Only about 45 mins so not too long for those who don't know anything about classical music ( like me) Kept it lively and interesting.

Visited Abbey at Melk , fascinating place, guide was very good and then walked back to ship, about 1.5km. Some people took bus back. Sailed thru to Durnstein, no tour there but we got off ourselves and did walk of town. Had BBQ lunch on sundeck which was nice change of format.

Which cruise are you going on Ritabob? On our 14 night cruise we got one free bag of laundry per cabin. Can squash quite a bit into it. You also get obc of €50 per person. Nothing much to use obc for - a very small shop on board, massages, or a few non included drinks at back of drinks menu. We are spending it on laundry. Am washing underwear and it does dry if hung up on curtain rail on inside of cabin if sundeck window down and glass doors open ( can't be seen from outside) and I hang thin nylon shirts outside on sundeck and they dry. Can finish off with hairdryer if neccesary. With doing that and using obc for rest I won't have any out of pocket expense for laundry. Admittedly our cruise has had all fine weather, in mid 20's and above Celsius so of course that helps things dry. Sorry if that is all TMI and you just wanted only a photo of list

Very long full day trip into Salzburg today while the ship sailed and met up with us in Linz. Lunch and music show - if you do the general tour of Salzburg and not the Sound of Music focused one, then the day is not overkill of S of M. Concert was music of Austria, Mozart and S of M. I was anticipating it not really being my thing but was actually most enjoyable.

Yes we got through that stretch last night. A few bumps throught the night were apparently due to shallow water - bottom of ship scraping onto river bed??

Yes we are! I have a thread describing my travels - Amsterdam to Budapest on Scenic Jewel.

Continuing on in same pattern- either sailing in morning and excursion in afternoon or vice versa. Often something small on board and quiz or games type entertainment after dinner. No river level issues and no side by side docking with other ships yet. Once or twice docked length to length ie all ships had direct access to land, obviously no issue in that. Weather over 30 every day until cooler today and expected to stay in low 20s from here on.