GiannaD

We have sailed on 2 Vantage river cruises, and have a 3rd to Burgundy booked for next year. The stories and pictures are on our website www,stevekathytravels.com

I checked your site and enjoyed your posting. We have been to many of the places you wrote about and on three previous Vantage trips. It was great to read about the locations we have visited and places we still want to visit.

Thank you,

Gianna

Gangway, we are considering the "Springtime in Eastern Europe & the Black Sea" cruise for next year on Vantage, going from Budapest to Bucharest. If this was the cruise you were on, I would be interested in hearing more about it. How was the weather in May?Was the boat the MS River Odyssey? If so, what was it like? If you get a chance, please post or contact me by email at pdcldco@hotmail.com.Many thanks.

We have been on the Navigator and Explorer and are booked on the Odyssey in September. The ships are sister ships and only have slight differences. They are impeccably maintained and the crews and tour directors are marvelous. On the upper deck they have a sundeck with walking track and places to sit and watch the scenery glide by. There is a lounge with a bar in the bow and the dining room is at the rear of the second deck. The dining room has linen table covers and china for dining. Breakfast and lunch are usually buffet style and dinners are served. The rooms are comfortable with a lot of storage but more compact than on most ocean cruisers. As is typical on river cruisers the bathrooms are small but adequate. The upper deck has hotel type beds and the two lower decks have fold down twin beds that are very comfortable. (I thought I would hate those beds on our first cruise but since have chosen to book B1 rooms with the fold down beds because they have a larger table and more floor space than the twin bed rooms.) You can get a good idea of the ship amenities by visiting Vantagetravel.com

We're booked on the Vantage Deluxe World Travel Cruising the Danube to the Black Sea departure for September 2011. This will be our third river cruise with Vantage but the first in Eastern Europe. We thoroughly enjoyed the River Navigator and River Explorer and are looking forward to the River Odyssey.

We would be interested in hearing from anyone who has taken a Vantage Eastern Europe Cruise and especially anyone who has taken the cruise from Vienna to Bucharest or the reverse in 2011.

We welcome your comments about the itinerary and any helpful hints you might have for enjoying the cruise.

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

just wondering - if we want to pack a picnic lunch to take ashore, is this ok? i know there are restrictions on what you can bring on, but wasn't sure if you're free to take food off the ship as well. we are traveling with small children, so we pretty much always need small snacks and water with us!

On a recent Caribbean itinerary there were constant reminders not to take food off the ship or bring food onto the ship. Bottles of water are permitted and so are prepackaged snacks (cookies, pretzels, crackers - brought from home) as stated above. You can fill your own bottles with water or purchase water on the ship. You can bring things like bags of coffee, candy, cakes, and snacks onto the ship but nothing fresh like a sandwich and especially no fruits or vegetables can be taken on or off the ship. The rules were the same in Europe.

It is safe to take the train from BWI to Baltimore but I would take the light rail or preferably a shuttle or taxi instead. The airport is close to Baltimore and it would be much less hassle with your luggage.

Looking for info on the Vision of the Seas:

 

Are the D1 corner aft cabins larger than the rest of the aft cabins?

 

Are the aft cabins larger than the side cabins?

 

Do the corner aft cabins have larger balconies than the rest of the aft cabins?

 

Looking at the St. Petersburg & Baltic Cruise...any recommendations on the following ports of call:

 

Stockholm, Sweden

Helsinki, Finland

St. Petersburg, Russia (read about bkg with a good private tour company)

Riga, Latvia

Gdansk, Poland

Visby, Sweden

 

Yes, I did read the Baltic forum...but there are many posters on this forum that have sailed on the Vision and I'd like to read their opinions, also.

 

Will the Vision be going into dry dock for refurbishment?

We were in JS 8588 on the aft corner of the Vision in October 2009. The room was great but no larger that the other JS cabins. The balcony as on the 7th level was huge (largest on the ship). It was great to watch the wake and sunsets from the balcony. The only drawback was the long walk and that part of the balcony is not under cover. It was great for sunbathing BUT collected soot when we were in some crowded ports.

We returned this week from the Eurodam Western Mediterranean 10 day cruise. We ate in the dining room every evening without reservations. The food was great as was the service. No matter what time we arrived we never waited more than a few minutes to be seated and the service with a few small exceptions was very good. We generally asked to be seated with others and met some very interesting people. We much prefer the flexibility of dining when we wish and not being confined to a set time with the same table mates each evening. We tried anytime dining on Royal Caribbean last October and had a similar experience.

My advice- try it you'll like it!