swamp1sg

I think that Vikings strengths are its guides and hotel staff. On all the tours the guides are extremely knowledgeable. When I was sick on the ship, Connie, the head of the hotel staff and the maitre d' brought me soup and bread to my room. We have been on 4 different lines so I have experienced a variety.

We had Cornelia on the Viking Spirit on the same cruise. I think that where Viking excels is its hotel and tour staff. They are very friendly, knowledgeable and professional.

Speaking of airports, I met a medic from Afghanistan, who was a double amputee with a traumatic brain injury, whose wheelchair got stuck in the luggage line. Someone in line also screamed at him for taking so long to board. I guess you meet all kinds when you travel.

We did this cruise a few years ago on Uniworld. Both Heidelberg and Strasbourg were included tours, although you could of course skip them. Heidelberg is worth the short drive. The view from the castle is stunning. We enjoyed Strasbourg and the boat cruise through La Petite France a great deal. It was glass enclosed but I still got a lot of great pictures. Some did have a blue tint but most of them were fine. Maybe it was because we were there in December and it was overcast.

Again---Why do people feel the need to put down other people's opinions?

Thumbs up to Wingtips.

Amyr: What is "trolling?"

I went back and looked at some of "Freddie's" posts and saw that I am certainly not the first person that he has "respectfully" told off. He has "respectfully" put down people's grammar, sentence composition, thought process, and their opinions. I really found the lengthy debate on "coat and tie" versus "silk shirt and linen pants" highly entertaining. Freddie's original and plaintive post, "Where do you go when you've been everywhere?" broke my heart. I think, respectively.

To the few people that honestly responded to me inquiry: Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

To the others, especially "Amyr": I guess my reason for traveling, is pretty different from yours.

I'm new to posting, although I've read nearly every past page of "River Cruising". I've so enjoyed how traveling in foreign countries gives you new insights and not just new pleasures. I guess that I wanted these boards to be more than they are. I wanted to hear how various trips have influenced people, made them more thoughtful, driven them to want to know more, encouraged them to find out the why's of a place, its people and its history. I guess I expected too much. Respectfully.

Well, Freddie, you certainly told me off. I honestly wondered why over 400 posts never mentioned what it would be like to visit a country where we were not the victors, where it wasn't a "good war" and we weren't "the greatest generation." I think when you travel, all the history of a country is important. I noticed that you said that you were a Nam ERA vet? I take it that you were never "in country."

Honoring American soldiers is appropriate anywhere and at anytime. On the Seine River cruises people always (myself included) frequently comment on the Normandy beaches and the American Cemetery. Also many people visit **** Concentration camps and other sights in Germany. So I don't think that this forum is just reserved for people's packing list. I hope that maybe I've made a few people stop and think about the lost lives of Viet Nam.

Thank you for replying. I have been very surprised at the lack of awareness and down right shallowness of some of these posts. Over 50,000 Americans died over there.!They deserve a passing thought.

My husband did 2 tours in Vietnam. One as a grunt in the Big Red One.(He really has had malaria and had to be medivaced).) He said that despite the beauty in the countryside, he would never return to Vietnam.

I've gone back and read most of these posts, and I've been surprised that no one mentioned the Hanoi Hilton, or the Reunification Palace, instead focusing on food on the ship, how stale the bread was, how some people got to reserve a table, etc.

Were any of you travelers Viet Nam vets? How did it make you fill? It wouldn't be like traveling in Normandie where you helped save a continent or even Germany where your were the victors. Just curious.