mtebor

My daughter is attending grad school in St. Kitts. 

Is it possible to take a cruise, get off the ship for a week to visit, and then hope back on the next cruise that is stopping at the island and finish the itinerary.

Flights to St Kitts is running about $900 from my airport and $670 from Miami (which offers direct flights)

Thanks

Not on the June sailing.  I had a package but my wife didn't. 

We did Emerald back in June and have no problem booking with them again.  It was our first river cruise.

Lot's of positives

• room size
• room comfort
• bathroom
• Employees (Service)
• Tours (absolutely awesome except for one which was just ok)
• Clientele (upper 50-65 on average)
• Drink package - very affordable compared to ocean cruise

Negatives

• Food (very subjective) but I can tell you the portion sizes were small (but you could have multiple services)
• Breakfast never changed
• Lunch could have had more options that changed
• Late night snack was left over desserts from dinner
• Internet was spotty while cruising

That being said, I would book with them in a heartbeat.  They fit my demographic and price.  If I had to do over again I would get a cabin on the lowest deck and use the money to fly business class (7 hour plus flight).  

I have a river on this board on the Emerald Sun. 

We did a tour From Zurich to Lucerne and then to Mt Pilatus. It was very good. Zurich airport was our pickup point for the cruise

I'm really sorry but I don't remember what the drinks packages cost. We just paid out of pocket for extra cocktails , bubbly and beer etc.

 

Andona

The basic drink package that included wine and draft beer was 11 Euros a day. Well worth it if you have a few before dinner and after. Much more reasonable than an ocean cruise

We did Emerald Basel to Amerstam in June and it was wonderful. The buses were nice and comfortable but I don't recall power outlets. I have a battery unit I used to keep my phone charged.

I recently came back from an Emerald cruise with the French Balcony. Next time I plan on saving money and getting a lower cabin and upgrading my flight (8hr) to business/premier class. We paid for upgrades on both legs of the flight and it was well worth it. Our cabin was nice but I really wasn't in there much other than sleeping.

There was construction last month when we were there and the only way to purchase tickets was on their website

Verizon worked in Germany not in Switzerland on our recent cruise

First chance I have to post our cruise June 23-30th.

Here is my review.

After much research for our first river cruise, we decided to book with Emerald. While, I usually book my own vacations, I did go through a travel agent this time as I have never been to Europe. I did book my own airfare and hotel pre-cruise but did the Emerald add-on with the hotel and transfer at the end of the cruise which was well worth the price.

My wife and I left mid-June and spent five nights in Munich before taking a train to Zurich for four nights. Using trains and trams was a new experience for us and while we were a little intimidated at first, we quickly adapted. We decided to visit the Zurich airport the day before pickup to make sure that it was easy to find the pickup spot.

Pickup and transfer to the ship was easy and on time. Passengers were primarily from England, USA, Canda, but also included Ireland, Scotland, and Australia, Average age would be early 60s. We are early 50s and were on the younger side. We did see two families with teenagers. I think pricing for River Cruises, in general, makes this situation. For the price of a River Cruise, we could have done about three Caribbean cruises.

The ship was easy to navigate compared to large Caribbean ships only have three floors with one main dining area and one lounge.

The trip from Basel to Amsterdam was wonderful. We couldn't have asked for better weather! Each day we had city tours, sometimes we would have to take a bus but not all the time. All the tours were excellent and were done by local guides with the exception of Cologne which was just OK. The guides on this tour were much younger and a little inexperienced IMHO. But the tours were only two hours so we had plenty of time to do our own sightseeing if we wanted.

We had French Balcony cabin 220 which was probably the nicest cabin we ever stayed in. This was a standard balcony cabin which we paid a premium for the view and the window that slid down. However, if we do another river cruise we would opt for the lowest level and use the money saved for upgraded airfare. Other than sleeping, we really didn't spend much time in the cabin.

Food

Breakfast had a light offering of food in the lounge area and a standard buffet with omelette station in the main dining room.

Lunch in the main dining room was buffet style as well and didn't change much from day to day. You could order off the menu which was the same items that were on the buffet which really didn't make sense with the exception of a few Classic items: steak and chicken breast and Cesar salad.

The dinner menu changed nightly with meat, fish, and vegetarian options with the Classic items also available.

Food was good but many felt that the portion sizes were too small with the exception of the Captains Farewell dinner. Same issue with dessert. We noticed the salad dressings, especially at lunch, looked and tasted watered down. I have never seen such thin blue cheese dressing, but then I am from Buffalo and we are used to thick Blue Cheese!

The late night snack at 10:30 was disappointing. It mainly consisted of leftover desserts or appetizers from earlier in the day and the portions again were small. We stayed off ship one evening for dinner in port.

Emerald includes beer and wine at lunch and dinner. Most of them were very good and the servers made sure your glass was filled. I had a wine/beer drink package for 10 Euros/day which was a great deal compared to Caribbean cruises. There was another package for around 22 Euro for spirits as well. Drinks prices are reasonable and depending upon your drinking habits, it may not be beneficial.

Bar service was fair to good with the exception of Svetlana who was the best. We usually tried to sit in her area as we knew she did a great job!

Emerald should let passengers know that there are drink packages available at check-in. While I was asked by a server if I had a drink package when I ordered my first glass of wine, a couple we met didn't know there were packages available until the last night! The packages are listed in the lounge menu book but most people usually know what they want when they walk into a bar and therefore didn't pick them up.

We didn't use the complimentary bikes or go to movie night in the pool area. The pool was nice though!

This was a great cruise and absolutely loved it. We met a lot of nice people from all over the world! While there is room for improvement, we would consider Emerald again for a future cruise. Their all-inclusive package and payment structure is the main reason why we chose them. Another company wanted full payment almost 11 months in advance which we felt wasn't reasonable.

I will let you next next month. Doing Basel to Amsterdam soon.

Thanks Roz,

I am on the Sun but I was just talking about reviews, in general, are low compared to the other forums.

I am so excited for our upcoming Emerald Cruise. I am having a hard time find river cruise reviews.

I tried a link under Research/Reviews but receive NOT FOUND on this server error.

I would like to read any recent river cruise review

In regards to currency exchange, any advice on where and when to exchange? We are arriving on a Sunday late afternoon in Budapest, and we’re trying to figure out whether it makes sense to exchange at the airport, or wait until Monday morning in Budapest. For Sunday, we’re being taken straight to the ship, so I am guessing we won’t need Hungarian money until Monday.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I often go to Canada living close to the border, the best place I found for currency exchange is at the local Mall. Their currency exchange is better than the bank or AAA or anything I found up in Canada

thanks everyone. After talking with my wife we decided to book the tour!

sorry for the confusion.

Here is the entire message I received

Discover More: Moselle & Cochem Visit passengers on this tour will not be able to visit the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress for both tours happen at the same time. The cost of the tour is $85 per person and it can either be purchased on board or you can call our call center and have it added prior to departure. The description is: Perched on a spectacular hill 300 foot above the Moselle Valley, where the river curves between two hiking paradises, Eifel and Hunsrück, lays the old town of Cochem. Take a walking tour of the town including a guided visit of the magnificent Cochem Castle, boasting impressive views of the Moselle Valley. A long history precedes what we see of the Castle today. The original 12th-century Romanesque style and condition was replaced by King Louis XIV, who ordered his troops to destroy it in 1689. Rebuilt in 1868, he chose the neo-Gothic architecture that we know today, as is family’s summer residence. This is a 6 hour tour.

we have choice on tours for our upcoming emerald trip.

The included tour in Moselle is Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

The option tour of $85 is . Take a walking tour of the town including a guided visit of the magnificent Cochem Castle, boasting impressive views of the Moselle Valley

15:17 to Paris

I found their payment schedule a little too much for me. I booked with Emerald which was much more relaxed on final payment. They do offer an incentive if it is paid off by a certain date. I think my extra discount had me pay by Oct 2017 for June 2018.

If you are looking for a crowd closer to your age, you may want to look into Emerald. My wife and I have our first river cruise coming up in a few months

thanks everyone. I will book it. Now I am wonder if I should upgrade to premium class since it is long night flight. Price is an extra 1k/pp

I am getting ready to book our airfare for our June river cruise.

I had a question on a connection. We would be flying Toronto to Amsterdam for a 1h43min layover before we catch the plane to Munich.

Is this enough time?

When do you go thru customs? Before you leave Toronto, in Amsterdam or final destination Munich?

Thanks

Thanks everyone!

Basel to Amsterdam in June booked and paid!

Now for the last part, booking flights. We will be flying into Munich 10 days early and will also visit Zurich before the cruise.

Currently airfare is running about $800pp and I was wondering if airlines run deals around Christmas time? I was hoping for a Black Friday sale, but didn't see anything. Maybe there is a cheaper airport to fly into instead of Munich but must leave out of Amsterdam.

I was told the best deals are about 4 months out which means February but I am the type of person that books everything far out and don't want to get caught if that isn't the case.

Thanks for the help

We do not normally use a debit card, but we do have a 'pre-paid' one we only use for travel. It is not connected to our accounts but we can transfer funds to it from our 'real' accounts, and use it to get local currency from ATMs as needed. For 'charging' things we use one of our credit cards.

I am confused. If I purchase a prepaid debit card in US funds, is it automatically converted to funds in the country I am visiting?

I haven't used a debit card in over 20 years and find them dangerous if they are lost compared to credit card.

We are visiting Germany, Switzerland, and Amsterdam.