ljandgb

Since we can't message on the forum, I'm sorry to have to post like this instead.  For notamermaid, or any other German poster,  I'm wondering if you have any recommendations on local German companies that could arrange a land trip in Germany?  My husband and friends want to do a heritage "find the distant relatives" trip, though I'll admit I don't remember which part of the country they were aiming for.  

I love river cruising, and also land trips, which let you soak up more local culture and time.  A combo is a great way to "get it all."

We've used a French company twice now to arrange land portions of our trips, "France Just for You" and wouldn't hesitate to use them again.  They'll arrange lodging, tours, rental cars, trains, pretty much anything your want, and are reasonably priced and easy to work with if you're hesitant to do all the planning yourself.

Our first river cruise was with Croise and we had a wonderful time.  They are not fancy, but the staff were wonderful and it was very clean.  With nothing to compare, we were quite happy.  By the time we were rafted next to a Tauck ship, all I could think of when we walked thru was "wow, shiny!"  LOL. Much more brass, glass, marble, etc.

I did appreciate that second, come and go dining option on our Avalon cruise.  And the larger menu options.  I'd rate that Croise's biggest weakness - limited dining/food options beyond the one entree offered at the - long- sit down meal.  I think I could live with that, though, if it meant I could stay on the boat.

Personally, I prefer smaller ships.  I'm not a crowd person, and really don't even need the spa, hot tub, chef's table, etc.

I definitely prefer staying on one ship as opposed to ship-hopping.  That's the whole appeal of a river cruise - not having to change hotels over and over.

A good friend of mine is on the Rhine with Viking now.  It's his first river cruise.  I'm interested to see what he thinks when he returns.

I'm no expert on European rivers, but the title alone is clickbait.  Puts the rest of the article in the "dubious" category for me.

I think the short answer is no.  

I'm pretty sure all the paperwork you sign when you sign up for the cruise includes something to the effect of "we'll get you from point A to point B."  No guarantee how.  They probably won't even guarantee point B in some circumstances. 

Cafe Loki in Reykjavik has a rye bread ice cream with rhubarb sauce that is crazy good, weirdly.

While in Iceland, try skyr.  It's technically a cheese, but would pass as yogurt anywhere else.

Try contacting the tour providers directly, instead of thru a middle man like TA.  You could try to set up a private tour with others from your ship with the Roll Call forum here.  

And now I know! 🙂

Welcome back kitkit1010.  Definitely read the stickies at the top regarding being new to river cruising.  There are also several many threads on the same topic.  River cruising is significantly different than ocean cruising in many ways.

If you still have questions, or are still looking for someone on your cruise, try posting your own question.  Your question may get lost as the thread is specific to a Portugal cruise.  I only opened it as I was curious where a "rivers of gold" cruise might go.

Gorgeous clock!

Also off topic, but pertains to what kids pick up.  My daughter, at 13, had to take a "what geography do you know" test, and one of the questions was "what country is the Black Forest located in?"  She remembered cuckoo clocks were associated with the Black Forest and that she had seen cuckoo clocks in the Germany pavilion at Epcot, so Black Forest must be in Germany.

Exposure of any sort to these things sinks in in ways that still surprise me with kids!  I grew up with a cuckoo clock my parents had brought back from Germany.  I loved it.

Think business casual.  For men a collared shirt of some sort is really all you need, doesn't need to be a button down.  My husband wore golf shirts most of the time.  We had one single older guy who wore nothing but tennis shoes, old shorts, and t-shirts the entire trip and no one said anything to him.  Sandals for women, or men, are fine.

I think temp will depend on time of year, if the ship is moving, and what side the sun is on.  Days we were moored, it was much warmer, particularly on the side facing the afternoon sun.

Clothing wise, my favorite items are my pashmina (works as scarf, hood, or blanket,) sturdy walking shoes, and a good sun hat.

We are frequently the youngest on board, in our early 50's, and it has never been an issue. We've always found good travel companions and even some very good friends we still travel with.  As mentioned, it's not about the age, but about the attitude.  Most folks are well traveled and on the river cruise to get out and see the culture,  not sit at an all day buffet.  We traveled with Avalon and there were bikes available at every port and one day an optional (free) excursion was biking along the river to the next port with the Activities guide.

Definitely look closely at the itinerary.  I prefer to have a few nights where the ship either overnights or leaves very late so we have the option of either eating dinner out in town or going out after dinner to explore a bit.  

It can be harder to DIY the daytime ports, as frequently the ship moves and the excursion will bring you to the new town/port at the end of the day.  

Definitely look at the stickies to compare lines.  Another difference is food options.  We've done cruises were dinner is a set menu, and if you want something different you have to pre-order your chicken breast ahead of. time, and others where there is a larger menu as well as salmon/chicken/steak option for every meal.  

You might ask over on Tripadvisor.  I have no idea how active their Latvia forum is, but it's worth a try.

3 hours ago, dccruisin said:

I will throw my 2 cents in on the currency discussion.

....

In fact in someplaces if you paid the bus fare by credit card it was cheaper than using cash. 

 

We just got back from Paris and cash was expressly not allowed on the buses due to Covid precautions.  I have no idea how wide spread that is, but I was unprepared for that.  We were short one ticket, and had to scramble for alternate plans.

Definitely read the stickies at the top of the forum.  River cruising and ocean cruising are only passingly similar.   The lack of things to do on the ship can not be overstated.  That's ok, as you'll be too tired to do much after a full day of touring and a good meal anyways.

We did a similar itinerary last fall with Avalon, though started in Prague.  I'll be surprised if you have many optional "extra" tours once past Budapest.  I'd be interested to know what your extra options would be.   Mohacs is small.  Ilok is tiny.  Novi Sad was nice, and Belgrade has a lot to offer.  Bulgaria has not invested much on tourist infrastructure.

Romania was a revelation.  I REALLY liked Romania.  If you can add extra days there, I would.  Bucharest is vibrant.  We also did an extension to Transylvania, which was a highlight of our trip.

If I remember correctly (it was a while ago, so maybe I'm wrong,) I transferred thru Munich to Italy several years ago.  We barely made our connection due to 1.) it was a very long distance between gates after passport control, which wove zig zag thru all kids of commercial shops, 2.) the departure gate was to a bus which brought us to a plane on the tarmac.  The bus left quite a bit earlier from the gate than we were expecting, and I did not see a second bus arrive later.  Moral of the story - do not dawdle, do not stop to use the restroom or shop.  Get to the gate and make sure you have time to do anything else first.

My daughter is flying home from Korea and tickets went up 100% from when we looked a month ago.  Yikes.  I also just read an article that said fare predictor sites were having a hard time accurately predicting "best time to buy" right now due to the volatility.

The Tallinn food tour was not from the ship.  I think it was this company.  https://foodsightseeing.ee/tours/tallinn-food-tour

The high speed boat and reindeer tours were thru the ship.

Stockholm has a food market that we did as part of a ship excursion.  My kids loved it. https://en.ostermalmshallen.se/ So much interesting food to try and the vendors were the nicest people.

We did a food walking tour in Tallinn, which my kids really enjoyed.  Half of us did a ship's tour in Helsinki that went to a reindeer sanctuary so my daughter could feed the reindeer.  The other half a high speed boat ride around some of the islands, which they still talk about.

Regarding contacting Icelandic tour companies, I've seen it multiple times on TripAdvisor where it's recommended you contact them via Facebook, FWIW.

With an overnight port stop, you may have time to do a south coast tour the first day. Not sure when the cruise is, but there's a good chance you'll have very extended daylight.  You may have time to do an abbreviated Golden Circle tour the next day, depending on departure times.  You could also do the Blue Lagoon, or new Sky Lagoon.

All things being equal, I'd choose the second so I could spend time in Scandanavia pre/post (whichever segment those ports involve.)

Much of what there is to see in Iceland is in nature, with approaches that are not paved, though some are. There have been companies mentioned on the TripAdvisor forum that specialize in patrons with mobility issues.  You might want to ask over there. You might be able to supplement ship excursions with ones more suited to your husband.