squarevanman

Only a week back from Italy and I have just booked a CroisiEurope Seine cruise for August next year. This will be my 14th cruise, 7th on a river or waterway and 5th with CroisiEurope. This time I will be on the Eurostar from Ebbsfleet about 25-30 minutes from home and only 20 mins check in. Heaven compared to an hours or more to Heathrow or Gatwick then waiting for 2 hours after checking in. Will of course write a report when I get back. Looks like ship is moored 10 minutes from the Eiffle Tower which is a bonus.

Thanks! We saw the ship (Michaelangelo?) in Venice when we were on an ocean cruise. I hope you enjoy(ed) it. Really, what I'm interested in is the food. From the description for the Seville departure, lunch and dinner are "set menu". I'm a self-confessed fussy-eater, who doesn't eat fish and very, very little meat. As the river cruise line is French, I wonder whether any veggie alternatives will be offered. If not, I'll have to give it a miss. Let me know when your report is published.

Have posted under a previous thread sorry forgot to mention veggie alternative. I did not see anyone ask and it was certainly a meat and fish menu. However I am sure they must cater for veggie options and would suggest an e mail to their local office. I have certainly found the London office very helpful.

As promised my review of my floating hotel Michelangelo on the Venice Lagoon and River Po.

First I shall talk about fellow passengers. Being a French ship most passengers were from France with a large French speaking Belgian group from an organisation called Kwiani (hope I have the correct spelling). 6 Spanish speaking guests and the English speaking table consisting of 4 British and 2 Flemish speaking Belgians. French was the predominant language for announcements followed by English then Spanish. CroisiEurope do not have independent Cruise Directors but directly employed staff from Animation or entertainments as we know it perform this function. Sarah the senior of these came to the English and Spanish tables each night at dinner and went through the following days programme. Her English was very good and she was very helpful. Some of the French and Belgians spoke English and I was able to hold conversations including one in partial French with a lady who felt it unusual for such a young man to cruise on his own (I am 64)!

The ship had an age range from around 5 years to I suspect around 80 years. There were 6 children on board the oldest traveling with a younger brother and grandmother was 15. This was one of CroisiEuropes dedicated Kids Club cruises where a member of the Animation team ran the kids activities which gave parents/guardians the chance to go on excursions knowing their children would be safe on board.

Crew:

The ships crew/hotel staff was a mix of French, Italian and Hungarians. The waiter/waitress staff are not allocated to tables and often would address us in French when first serving our table. Some did speak a fair amount of English and some had very little English. I do think they were getting worried for the trip following mine as only 10 French were on board the rest being English speakers. It does go to show how on these ships the crew do many jobs. I thought I had asked a deck hand a question before checking in. That night he had his full uniform on and was introduced as Chief Engineer.

Food:

Breakfast was the usual buffet with set meals for Lunch and Dinner. Menu was broadcast on the televison and if the meal was not suitable the chief would do his best to find an alternative. The chef was French so a good deal of French and Italian food was on offer. Sometimes it was a bit overpowering with a four course lunch and a four course dinner on the same day. As far as dressing for dinner then smart casual was the norm and on the gala night some chaps wore a tie about 6 wore suits and a few ladies were a little elegant.

Actual Cruising and Excursions

If you want a major river cruise this is not the trip for you. On the first night we cruised from one side of St. Marks Square to the other around 30 minutes. The following morning was a 2 hour cruise to Chioggia where all passengers had to disembark. There was and optional trip to Padua with a trip to SottoMarina for those not wishing to take this. The ship made its was to Cattelan Gas where we all re boarded. This section is at sea and we were told that for the past couple of years the Italian authorities will not allow either of the river boats to carry passengers over this section following the Costa Concordia disaster. During Dinner the ship cruised to Polesella which could not have been more than a couple of hours sorry I just cannot remember. Day 3 was a morning coach trip to Ferrara which was very nice. We had a tri-lingual guide and the Spanish and English speakers saw this town together. After lunch the choice was an excursion to Verona or stay on board while the ship sailed to Banchina Grandi when everyone was off again due to sailing at sea. We rejoined the ship at Chioggia again. 2 of the excursion coaches were delayed by a 3 car traffic accident getting back to the ship after the scheduled dinner time. However dinner was delayed but we only had 15 minutes from arrival to first course. Day 4 and we sailed back to Venice during breakfast in time for the optional excursion to the Doges Palace. That afternoon was free time in Venice and I took the opportunity to have a couple of hours sleep (first time I have ever done this on a cruising trip) as I was excursioned out! That night Uniworlds River Countess moored alongside and was there all of the following day. Day 5 was a boat excursion to the Islands of Murano and Burano. At Murano we were taken to a glass foundry and saw a demonstration of glass blowing. Of course this was followed by a visit to the shop. Burano was a very pretty island where one could relax or wander around at leisure. After lunch was free time and I wandered into St. Marks Square which took me about an hour at a very slow pace.

The Ship:

The Michelangelo is one the lines 2 cabin deck ships with a lounge and bar, restaurant and cabins on the upper deck and cabins only in steerage where I was. I had one of the two single cabins which was comfortable but compact but just right for me. Small double bed, desk, chair, T.V. and wardrobe space. Very small shower room with hand basin and w.c.

On the sun deck was a small inflatable pool, loungers and chairs around tables.

Conclusion:

Certainly not a trip I could compare to any other being more excursion based rather than cruising based. However a great way to see Venice rather than being in a hotel. Even though I class myself as a Croisifile I do not think I would do this trip again. Next year I shall be looking towards one of their paddle boats if I can save up enough pennies.

Please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer.

papa B me Uniworlds River Countess looked very nice much more luxury than my ship. I did think from the people I saw walking though the Michelangelo that she had a much older demographic but of course this can change from one departure to the next.

Think this is a CroisiEurope ship if my memory serves me. I will be reporting on my Venice Lagoon trip on (i hope) Sunday uk time. Would think ship and services would be similar.

Just had a txt fro uk it was Royal Caribbean Anthem of the seas

wOW What cruise line was that?

Sorry I have not replied but I am in italy and on the ship the wi fi was very bad. I will find out next week and post the answer.

Hi everyone I am sitting in Heathrow T5 ready for my BA flight to Venice for my floating hotel on the Lagoon and River Po. Will try and give my opinions while away if not will review early next month. Best of luck to those of you affected by the low European water levels.

Security? The news just said that here were no security check-points for the Thalys and no identity checks for ticket buyers. Otherwise the latest attack could not have happened. Is there a security check-point for the Eurostar because it goes through the tunnel?

Yes passport control and security is standard in Brussels for Eurostar. UK border control checks all passports even EU citizens unlike going from Netherlands to Belgium or any other country. Last time I used Eurostar from Lille to Ebbsfleet I was checked at Lille and then again at Ebbsfleet including ticket inspection

Thank you all for the info. I have looked at the Thaly's and Eurostar's website. No matter what I do it looks like I shall catch a Thaly's in Amsterdam and change to a Eurostar in Brussels. Was wanting to know if 58 minutes between arrival and departure is sufficient at Brussel's Midi? The DW and myself are mobile! I believe the only issue we might have is the DW and her procrastination

If my memory serves me Eurostar check in closes 20 minutes before departure but I have seen people rushing through security 10 minutes before.

CroisiEurope includes alcohol both at meal times and from the bar with the exception of champagne and premium brands.

I have just had lunch with friends who I worked with. The youngest of the group (23) has recently returned from her first cruise in the med from Southampton. I could not believe what she told me. 25 people put off for a brawl. 10 confined to cabins. Another couple put off for attacking a passenger who complained a deck chair was unoccupied for 4 hours with a towel on it and he tried to use it. Also it seems many passengers were refused alcoholic beverage due to over indulgence. Thankfully I have never seen or heard of such bad behaviour on a river cruise.

I can only comment on Vodohod (Russia) PNC (Egypt) and CroisiEurope. No major queue for the restaurant as each line allocated tables according to language spoken. No mad rush for excursion coaches as all labelled and allocated to individual groups again per language. Often the rear seats got taken first (possibly a British thing from school days). No one trying to sell additional excursions or push expensive souvenirs.

Although I have only been on 5 sea cruises 4 of which were small ships I find the crew and officers on the rivers seem happier and are willing to spend a little extra time with passengers.

A few year ago a friend and myself were in a coffee shop/bar in Amsterdam. After a couple of beers she needed the loo. The attendant was sitting at the bar and chased her upstairs to ensure she paid. It was a very surreal experience seeing this especially as she had to come back to get some change off me:)

If it is the storm we had here in London on Thursday I am afraid it will be very short lived. We had a forecast of rain today but all I can see is brilliant sunshine. Very best of luck to all of your cruising shortly hope that it rains before you get there. Think I should be ok with my floating hotel on the Venice Lagoon from 26th.

I have tried to vote but seems it does not want to accept my iPad or iPhone. Personally I just do not care about the cabin size as I tend to cruise alone and only use my cabin for sleeping, washing etc. I certainly accept the cabin size is important to many others and would not decry this.

It has dawned on me that if cabins were larger then ships would be constructed to carry less passengers. With the popularity of river cruises this could end up with more ships being needed to supply demand. This in turn would increase both river congestion and rafting.

I was under the impression from Carolyn's excellent thread last year that the majority of the boats are owned and operated by Douro Azul, and are marketed by companies such as Viking. The only company owing their own ships being CroisiEurope who I travelled with last year. I found the coaches comfortable on the excursions. The coaches seemed to be allocated to ships for the whole duration of the trip. The ships would dock passengers go on the excursion and rejoin the ship further along the river. I found it a very pleasant cruise and would not hesitate to take it again.

I have cruised 3 times with CroisiEurope and am booked for Venice and the Lagoon later this month.

As they have passengers of many nationalities speaking a multude of languages they assign seating so those speaking the same language sit together. Indeed on one cruise they said they had 14 nationalities on board and made announcements in 6 (French, English, German, Spanish, Italian and Norwegian) languages.

I must be lucky as I have only seen one meal returned. That was a person sitting on my table who did not like the food in question. They quickly found an acceptable alternative. The passenger had not cruised before and had not realised they could request an alternative if the menu was not to their liking.

I agree meals can be longer than expected but I think this is the French way. On a day trip to Lille last year my lunch lasted about 1.5 hours and people in the restaurant before me were still there when I left.

I am not a wine drinker but everyone I have shared tables with have agreed the wines served were of an excellent quality.

I realise my Venice trip is basically a floating hotel but will post a review when I return.

xpcdoojk

I know I am biased but I would always recommend a trip to Greenwich. Most attractions can be found using your favourite search engine, I would always suggest the Cutty Sark and National Maritine Museum. However there is so much more to see and do in the Royal Borough outside of the central area. It certainly needs more than a day to explore all there is on offer. Don't drive here though the council car parks are a rip off.

Host Jazzbeau

Funny you should mention Rumpole I started watching re-runs of series 1 last week. One of our better exports in my opinion.

G.M.T and notametermaid I have no problem in answering. I live on the Blackheath/Kidbrooke border. So 8 minutes by car about 18 by bus or I could hobble there in about an hour. I used to wander over Blackheath through Greenwich Park and around the National Maritine Museum as a teenager most Sunday afternoons. The fire on the Cutty Sark came as a shock as I was taking my first river boat (if you can call it that) cruise at the time. I was on easycruise2 that went between Brussels and Amsterdam. A franchise by Boonstra River Line I believe. It was that trip that got me into the delights of river cruising and lead me to find cruise critic.

If your ever in Greenwich I would be to please to join you in ye olde tea shoppe Certainly nowhere near Lewisham High Street:)

G.M.T. I regret you beat me I was born across the boundary in Lewisham although I have been a Greenwich Boy all my life. I was in the painted hall in May for the inauguration of our Borough Mayor. It is being restored to its previous splendour and they seem to be doing a fantastic job.

Wow you live and learn. I am only 8 minutes away from central Greenwich and had no idea about cruising the Thames apart from the tourist boats.

Once the new cruise terminal at Greenwich is opened we should see an even greater use of the river.

Here in the UK I would expect to pay a deposit of between £100 and £200 pp on any holiday I booked. I would also expect to pay final balance round about 12 weeks before departure. Looking at the Viking UK website they require a 25% deposit from us and balance 10 weeks before departure. This seems to be very unfair on you good people across the pond in having to pay fully so far in advance.

I had never thought of any type of cruising when in 2007 a friend saw easycruise2 advertised. 7 nights Brussels to Amsterdam return no frills room only for £13 a night. We enjoyed it so much that we booked to go back again a few months later. However Boonstra River Line who operated the ship folded. easycruise were fantastic and return my money, paid our airfare and offered a free (room only) upto 10 day cruise on easycruise1 the following year. This gave me the bug and I have since been on 3 Hurigruten Norwegian coastal cruuises. 2 Greek Island cruises, the Nile, Russian Waterways and 3 croisiEurope cruises with one booked for August. Wish I could book for next year but am awaiting a knee replacement and will not be able to fly for a while. Still I could always take the train to Paris and pick up a croisiEurope cruise on the Seine:)

I can only speak to my 3 CroisiEurope cruises so far. English was the second language onboard and German the third (after French). On excursions each language group was allocated different coaches to avoid guides duplicating information.

That's what I like about it - unpacking once. Plus all the luxuries awaiting you every day.

 

Travel by bus puts me off though.

 

I'll be researching this next year. OH and I want to go to Italy and I'll be comparing Hotels along the way (plus travel cost) to the cost of a river (land) cruise.

 

It may even be worth it just to get the cheapest room on the ship and do our own travel to different cities.

I have booked Venice and the Lagoon with Croisieurope next year plus hotel in Rome. Intend taking the train from Venice to Rome and also a possible day trip by train from Rome to Pompei. Only problem so far is it is too early to book the railway tickets.

Oops missed that sorry.