Live from Vantage River Navigator--Rhine & Moselle

[tiegs]

Last year Vantage allowed organized groups to reserve tables so that they could eat together.

Without the group reservation several members would go early and wait toward the head of the line to hold tables. It must be a group reservation traveling together and setup in advance of departure from the USA with the Groups Department.

Hope this answers the question.

[DaveinCharlotte]

After the tour we were on our own for lunch. I could have sworn that the Vantage web site had said that we’d get either a box lunch or Euros to pay for our lunch, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

 

FuelScience

 

FuelScience, I remember getting an odd letter from Vantage on this subject a few months ago. I threw the letter out, as we weren't planning to take this tour, but as I recall it said something like:

 

"Our published description of this tour said that a box lunch provided by the ship's chef was included. With regret, we wish to announce that the box lunch for this tour will not be provided by the ship's chef."

 

We had a laugh, saying why a mass mailing for such trivial change? Lunch not from X, but from Y. Now I see why. Since the cost was already included the lunch, Vantage probably thought that obfuscation was preferable to just saying, sorry, no lunch at all is provided.

[Shmoo here]

We had one family (4 adult couples = 8 people) who laid claim to one of the two 8 top tables in the dining room (portside aft corner of the dining room). Only one night (I believe it was like the 2d or 3rd night of the cruise (after we left Constanta) that there was an actual "Reserved" sign on it. Other than that, the rest of us just let them have it.

[DaveinCharlotte]

After shopping we came back to the boat, showered (it was 90F in Cochem this afternoon) and relaxed in the lounge before dinner (25% off on Mexican drinks!).

 

Fuelscience, I was wondering: Just what are their drink costs, generally?

[FuelScience]

Today and tomorrow we experience the strangeness of Vantage’s navigation strategy. Last night we sailed from Schweich to Zell. We actually sailed past Bernkastel as we did this, so this morning we had a drive of almost 1 hour to go back to Bernkastel. Tomorrow we will have 75 to 90 minute drive to back to Trier. If we’d stayed in Schweich, we would have had a drive of only 20 minutes to Trier!

 

Anyhow, this morning we left the ship at 8:45 for the drive to Bernkastel. Vantage’s estimates (45 minutes for this drive) tend to be consistently about 15 minutes short. Bernkastel is a lovely village, and we had a good tour guide. The tour lasted about an hour and ended in the central market. After the tour, there was a little ~20 minutes before those opting for the wine tasting had to leave and walk across the bridge to the tasting at 11:00. Those not doing the tasting could walk around the town and be at the bus parking lot at noon. We went to the tasting, and if I had it to do over again, I would have stayed in Bernkastel and walked around. I’m guessing that something like 80 people went to the wine tasting, and they had seating for something like 30. We each tasted 3 wines without a lot of description or commentary. Most of the time was spent waiting on the two servers to pour wine. After the tasting, two buses picked us up and brought us back to the ship.

 

There were options to stay in Bernkastel or to return after lunch. A bus left the ship at 2:30, arriving in Bernkastel at around 3:15, returning at 3:30 to arrive at the ship at 4:15. If people were still in Bernkastel, it was to return once more to pick them up and get back to the ship around 6:00. We stayed in Zell and walked around the town. If you like Schwartze Katze wine (Black Cat), Zell has lots of it. Zell is the home of Schwartze Katze, and every little shop has it at prices as low as € 3.50 per bottle. I took a walk in the hills over Zell and made it to the Collis tower overlooking the river. It was a hard hike, but the view was worth it. I’ll try to post pictures after I return from the cruise.

 

Tomorrow starts with a 1:15 to 1:30 bus ride to Trier (wish it was the 20 minute ride from Schweich!!). More later on that.

[FuelScience]

Fuelscience, I was wondering: Just what are their drink costs, generally?

 

I think that the Mexican drinks were reduced from 8 euros to 6 euros. I'll check again tonight,but I think that most simple drinks--gin, whisky, etc. were around 5 euros.

 

FuelScience

[FuelScience]

We had one family (4 adult couples = 8 people) who laid claim to one of the two 8 top tables in the dining room (portside aft corner of the dining room). Only one night (I believe it was like the 2d or 3rd night of the cruise (after we left Constanta) that there was an actual "Reserved" sign on it. Other than that, the rest of us just let them have it.

 

For our large groups traveling together there's a reserved sign every night. Also, Shmoo, I checked with our steward, and Sammy is on holiday and not on this cruise.

 

FuelScience

[DaveinCharlotte]

Today and tomorrow we experience the strangeness of Vantage’s navigation strategy.

 

Yes - Did a double-take yesterday when MarineTraffic said the Navigator was headed back down the Moselle, even though you've got two more days upstream. Maybe this has something to do with docking sites being preempted by other vessels?

 

I think that the Mexican drinks were reduced from 8 euros to 6 euros. I'll check again tonight,but I think that most simple drinks--gin, whisky, etc. were around 5 euros.

FuelScience

 

How about the red wine prices, on the cheaper end? Any sign that Vantage frowns on bringing wine bottles on board?

[FuelScience]

The buses left at 8:30 for Trier this morning. Our guide gave commentary on the geology, agriculture, and history of the region for all of the 1½ hour drive. We arrived at the Roman amphitheater at 10:00 and started our tour about 15 minutes later after all of our bus mates had gone to the toilets. From there we were bused to Constantine’s Basilica for the start of our walking tour. After viewing the Basilica, the walking tour proceeded to the cathedral and market square, and concluded at the Porta Nigra, leaving people about an hour to walk around on their own until we walked to the buses at 1:00 p.m. Total walking distance was about 1 mile. We arrived at Weingut von Nell at 1:30 for our lunch and wine tasting. The meal started with a soup that no one could eat. Soon apologies came the kitchen that the soup had been oversalted. The meal finished up, and we boarded the bus and headed back to Zell, arriving at the boat at around 5:00 p.m. The day was tough due the temperatures which got up to 94°F.

 

I left the walking after seeing Basilica. I toured Trier with Viking three years ago, and I really wanted to see the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, which has the largest collection of Roman artifacts in Germany. I wasn’t disappointed. This is a great museum if you have interest in Roman times in Germany. It was a quick walk from the Basilica. I had about an hour and twenty mintes in the museum, and I met the group at the Porta Nigra 15 minutes before the 1:00 p.m. deadline.

 

As stated earlier, it would have been nice if we had stayed in Schweich two days ago and done Trier as a 20 minute bus ride rather than 1½ hours. Then we could have headed downstream to Bernkastel/Zell.

 

One other thing I should mention is that the Navigator does NOT have a resident musician. The Viking cruises we’ve been on have all had a keyboard player who would entertain in the lounge afternoons and evenings. Vantage has brought two groups onboard (La Strada in Cologne and the Lenard Crooner band—piano player/singer and saxophonist/bongo player) last night. There is a jukebox in the lounge, but no regular musician. We set sail around dinner time, heading for the Rhine and Boppard.

[FuelScience]

Yes - Did a double-take yesterday when MarineTraffic said the Navigator was headed back down the Moselle, even though you've got two more days upstream. Maybe this has something to do with docking sites being preempted by other vessels?

 

I think that this is the plan all along. I saw it months ago on the Vantage web site and thought that it MUST be a mistake, but it wasn't.

 

How about the red wine prices, on the cheaper end? Any sign that Vantage frowns on bringing wine bottles on board?

 

You won't find many reds on the Moselle. I didn't really look much. Vantage will charge a corkage fee for wines brought onboard if you take the bottle to the lounge or dining room. If you open it in your room and pour it there, it's OK.

 

FuelScience

[Hydrokitty]

 

One other thing I should mention is that the Navigator does NOT have a resident musician. The Viking cruises we’ve been on have all had a keyboard player who would entertain in the lounge afternoons and evenings. Vantage has brought two groups onboard (La Strada in Cologne and the Lenard Crooner band—piano player/singer and saxophonist/bongo player) last night. There is a jukebox in the lounge, but no regular musician. We set sail around dinner time, heading for the Rhine and Boppard.

 

That is surprising and definitely new!!! We always had a piano/keyboard player on board....I guess the juke box is cheaper than a live musician! The don't tell make you put quarters in the box do they?? :eek:

[Shmoo here]

That is surprising and definitely new!!! We always had a piano/keyboard player on board....I guess the juke box is cheaper than a live musician! The don't tell make you put quarters in the box do they?? :eek:

 

No, the jukebox is free, just go up and select the songs you want. What I didn't like was you had to keep getting up to push the buttons. You can set up multiple songs at one time, but it takes time to do that. I wish they just had a "play all" button. Or, at least, a button to play all of any one CD.

 

We also had La Strada on our Navigator cruise, on the last night before leaving Cologne. And the Lenard Crooner band, also.

[FuelScience]

Fuelscience, I was wondering: Just what are their drink costs, generally?

 

Here's half of the drink menu:

 

Brandy/Cognacs

 

Asbach Uralt .66 oz € 3.40 Armagnac .66 oz € 3.90 Courvoisier VS .66 oz € 4.20 Hennessy .66 oz € 4.70 Remy Martin VSOP .66 oz € 5.40 Martell XO .66 oz € 15.80 Whiskey

 

Canadian Club 1.32 oz € 4.60 Johnnie Walker Red Label 1.32 oz € 4.60 Johnnie Walker Black Label 1.32 oz € 7.00 J&B Scotch 1.32 oz € 5.00 Chivas Regal Scotch 1.32 oz € 7.40 Dewar's Scotch 1.32 oz € 5.00 Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey 1.32 oz € 5.00 Jack Daniels Bourbon 1.32 oz € 6.50 Isle of Jura Single Malt 1.32 oz € 7.40 Glenfiddich Single Malt 1.32 oz € 7.40 Glenmorangie Single Malt 1.32 oz € 8.00 Spirits

 

Calvados Dauphine VSOP .66 oz € 3.80 Bokma Jonge Genever 1.32 oz € 4.00 Grappa Julia 1.32 oz € 4.60 Himbeergeist 1.32 oz € 4.00 Barack Apriootschnaps 1.32 oz € 4.40 Tequila Silver 1.32 oz € 4.20 Havana Club 1.32 oz € 4.00 Myers’s Rum 1.32 oz € 4.40 Sambuca Molinari 1.32 oz € 4.20 Jégermeister 1.32 oz € 3.90 Gordon's Gin 1.32 oz € 4.60 Beefeater Gin 1.32 oz € 4.60 Tanqueray Gin 1.32 oz € 4.90 Bombay Sapphire Gin 1.32 oz € 5.00 stolichnaya. Smirnoff. Absolul 1.32 oz € 4.50

[Mark_T]

For our large groups traveling together there's a reserved sign every night.

 

If it is bothering you, I would certainly say something while you are still on-board and could benefit from a change.

[DaveinCharlotte]

Here's half of the drink menu:

(lengthy list of drinks & prices follows...)

 

Good heavens. I'm almost sorry I asked! Surely you didn't enter all this manually...but how in the world could you import this data?

[Hydrokitty]

FuelScience:

 

On behalf of DaveinCharlotte and all the rest of us wondering about the drink prices: Thank you!!! :D

[FuelScience]

Good heavens. I'm almost sorry I asked! Surely you didn't enter all this manually...but how in the world could you import this data?

 

Not a problem. Took a photo with my cell phone and copied the photo to my computer and then ran it through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert to text.

 

FuelScience

[FuelScience]

We arrived early in Boppard, with no activities until 9:00 a.m. Our cruise director told us last night that they had not been able to find English-speaking local guides, so at 9:00 we had an hour-long English lecture on Boppard’s history and attractions. After the lecture we made the short walk to the chair lift (Sesselbahn) to the top of the mountain for a short hike to the famed Vierseenblick (4 lakes view). The cost was € 7.50 for a round trip. The view was nice and then we returned and walked through the village and shopped.

 

The ship featured a German Buffet today, which sounded a little too much for us, so we stopped at a small Italian place (Toni’s) and sat outside along the Rhine and enjoyed pasta and pizza. The ship departed at 3:00 p.m. for our trip through the Rhine gorge to Mainz where we’ll spend the night. It’s hot here (89°F as we left Boppard and 94°F in Mainz). We watched the castles go by from the air-conditioned lounge rather than the top deck. As I’m writing this, we’re in the lounge, and it’s getting full as the temperatures continue to rise. The air conditioning in the lounge is struggling to keep up with the heat. Staterooms are cool—at least ours is with the curtains drawn.

 

I was a little surprised when commentary on the Rhine castles stopped at 5:45 (cocktail hour). We still had castles to go, including two of the more spectacular ones—Reichenstein and Rheinstein.

 

We arriveed in Mainz around 9:30, about 30 minutes late due to low water. Some of the passengers left with the cruise director for a pub crawl, but we’ve retired to our room.

Internet service has pretty much slowed to a crawl for most of the day. As more and more people travel with connected devices, this is to be expected, but it’s still frustrating.

[jpalbny]

Not a problem. Took a photo with my cell phone and copied the photo to my computer and then ran it through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert to text.

 

FuelScience

 

Given the spacing, and the preservation of the symbols, I wondered if it was an OCR job. You should have let everyone think you typed it in by hand! Still, impressive work!

 

Enjoying your travelogue. We never visited Mainz on our Rhine cruise, but we're staying there next month. Can't wait!

[ural guy]

Not a problem. Took a photo with my cell phone and copied the photo to my computer and then ran it through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert to text.

 

FuelScience

 

Not a problem...I didn't know what you just spelled out existed.

 

And I'm not 50 yet. Sigh, technology passes me by.

[Hydrokitty]

7

Not a problem...I didn't know what you just spelled out existed.

 

And I'm not 50 yet. Sigh, technology passes me by.

 

I know what you mean....I never heard if OCR...:eek:

[DaveinCharlotte]

FuelScience, have you run into anybody who reserved the cruise and the $100 transfer back when the departure city was Zurich? (If they unknowingly booked their air to Zurich, they're going to have to make their own way there on Friday.)

[Mark_T]

7I know what you mean....I never heard if OCR...:eek:

 

Oddly enough, you may find the current generation are not very familiar with OCR either as it is pretty much 1970's tech :)

 

Invented a long time before that but practical since the '70s.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Oddly enough, you may find the current generation are not very familiar with OCR either as it is pretty much 1970's tech :)

 

Invented a long time before that but practical since the '70s.

 

Right. Now that we are several decades into the "paperless office" as promised -- why would anybody need OCR??? :D

[FuelScience]

FuelScience, have you run into anybody who reserved the cruise and the $100 transfer back when the departure city was Zurich? (If they unknowingly booked their air to Zurich, they're going to have to make their own way there on Friday.)

 

We're flying from Zurich. The six of us booked a van for 322 Euros.

 

FuelScience