Kristelle

Hi Vilhelm2 - which company and ship are you on? we are doing that Amsterdam to Budapest trip in September. Interested in any comments you have while /after you are on it.

typical hoodie (in my understanding of word) they can be plain or logos/patterns and can have zips or pullover the head type. generally fleecy material,like windcheaters I have some that are very thick fleece and some lighter weight ones

sorry, didnt realise hoodie was not universally recognised word - here it means a fleecy windcheater type thing with a hood - so what you are calling a zip up fleece, with a hood I like hoods, you can have them on to keep your head warm and then flick off when not needed thanks for your advice, everyone. ❤️

Have been reading many threads and layering is recomended for excursions. Looking on internet average temps seem low 20's (celcius) i n the places we are going - London, Paris, then Amsterdam to Budapest river cruise Would short sleeve tshirts with light weight hoodies with jeans. light weight pants/ 3/4 pants seem about right for day time, with a light weight foldable rain jacket in back pack in case of wet? I dont want to pack thick jackets/jumpers if not needed.

I agree wit h the gist of what you said Cruisingalong4Now - but you have painted the people who now can afford flying rather negatively. It could just as easily be said they accept that people's backpacks might hit them in the face , they accept that others spread into their seat space - ie they are the reciprients of such things as much as the perpetrators.

as do I for September 😉🤣

yes I guess it is and it is good that the program allows people to do that if the y want its not for me though - my aim in holidaying is to go to places and do things not be 'nice and quiet'

yes agreed - bus tours you want to stay in some places 2 or 3 nights, Same if we plan a self motoring holiday like we did of New Zealand we have been on several land coach tours (UK, Ireland, Vietnam, China) and there weren't many one night stays on the itiniary

totally subjective and personal preference - I like guided tours and I don't mind bus trips - but of course one then wants decent amount of time at the destination - and I really don't want a whole day of 'peaceful sailing'

So Viking's Grand European Tour is basically same route ( in reverse) and probably most excursions as our Scenic Jewels of Europe one - 14 night Amsterdam to Budapest?

yes, always tricky as the programmer of itineraries to strike right balance of pleasing the most people the most of the time as possible Me personally the excursions are definitely a huge part of the decision - like any non cruise holiday to me - a luxury hotel (in this case a floating one) and fancy food are great, but it has to have things to do and places to go, that's the main point of going somewhere (IMO)

I guess that is subjective - somebody in a recent review mentioned how the all day on ship day was scenic but boring half a day of such balanced with a morning or afternoon excursion would suit me better.

Pontac, yes absolutely. re choosing your itinerary When I was first looking at these cruises and deciding between Scenic and APT (which I think is AMA outside Australia) they are the 2 main players which do packages from Australia, there was one which had a full day on the ship Everything else about them was much the same Was going to go with one which did not - but before I fully made up my mind, the itinerary changed to not have that any more - might of been Scenic as was mentioned upthread that they used to but now stop in Miltenberg. This was back in 2019, am finally doing trip now borders have been opened again post Covid I think perhaps they have stopped doing that and made there be excursions ever y day in response to feedback from passengers - seems best option to me is to give passengers as many options as possible - so if anyone wants to stay on board all day they can - but there is not a day everybody has to

Sorry about these big white spaces, not sure how to stop that on tablet

Well, yes, I guess correct term would be river day rather than sea day - but point remains the same - a day you don't get off the ship. Yes I know you can stay on the ship and not get off any day you want to - but sea ( river) day refers to a day when you can't get off whether you want to or not. Regardless of how scenic the view is, I do not want such a day on my river cruise.

there was some bad set shot kicking from both sides, Sydney worse though edge of seat stuff - and I didnt even care about either team, just wanted to get my tip right 😁

I am doing Scenic Amsterdam to Budapest n September - the itinerary does not show any full cruising days. Which is good as I do not want any.

No. Minor delays only. Once we were delayed for most of a day due to computer breakdown issue. Long day stuck in airport. and also overseas trip we went on in 2019 to Fiji (not a cruise) we were delayed overnight before flying out due to some safety issue with the plane Annoying - but would rather that than airline takes chance on safety with possibly disasterous outcome. We were already in Melbourne by then - ie for our connecting flight. Virgin put us up for the night in hotel and gave us meal voucher for dinner there and we flew out next morning.

and Cruise ships would say that.

I remember him. sorry to hear that. 🥺

well ,not really - since Sydney was rated best on job opportunities - most of which would have nothing to do with the harbour But I still think the list is vague and meaningless.

no I dont agree OP - other than property affordability, it is all totally individual and subjective.

Ok it was an example off top of my head, isnt somewhere I have looked into going There are people n Australia who cruise to Antartica - perhaps that is better example of , for me, where not to go because of weather.

Possible but not likely weather, maybe not - but likely or standard weather in the place is a big factor in when I go where - and some places I wouldnt go at all - for me, for example, super cold places like Alaska or the Antarctic Humidity and heat I can cope with. YMMV

Big difference between constructive criticism, valid complaints, relevant comparisons etc and entitled type complaining and behaviour