Rhine Cruise Photo Review - A-Rosa Viva

[marysb]

Sailing to Dusseldorf (Sunday afternoon May 8)

 

With the warm summer weather and it being Mother's Day we saw lots of families enjoying the beaches, campsites, and some boating. Lots of activity on the Rhine today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying the french Balcony.... we really like these doors -makes it feel like the whole room is a balcony.

[marysb]

After about 4 hours of relaxing cruising, we docked in Dusseldorf. We didn't really know what to expect here and did not have any plans except to wander around the city centre.

This turned out to be a great plan. We walked to the promenade by the Rhine which was packed with soccer fans as there was a big game on and lots of families. All the cafes and pubs were full and the area was buzzing. We then walked to the Konigsallee which is a very high end shopping district on a canal and then back to the ship through the Hofgarten.

 

Docked in Dusseldorf

About a 10 minute walk to the pedestrian city centre

 

 

 

 

 

All the side streets around this square had lots of cafes and pubs

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Konigsallee - this is the upscale shopping street and "the" address to be on in Dusseldorf. It is very nice, but unfortunately we were here on a Sunday and most of it was closed. We met some people from our cruise and we all pulled up some chairs at a lovely cafe along the canal for a cold drink and some dessert. A beautiful spot to spend an hour or so just chatting!

 

 

[marysb]

We walked back to the ship through the Hofgarten - a beautiful park running parallel to the Rhein

 

 

 

 

Tonhalle - Concert Hall

 

 

 

Lots of soccer fans hanging out after a big win. Didn't see a stadium nearby, so I am assuming most were watching in the pubs. We saw a few TV's outside on cafe patios.

 

 

All aboard was 8:30 pm

[marysb]

Next up- Rotterdam

 

 

I know that we did a very unique itinerary with a charter with YMT vacations, but I thought some of you might be curious to see what the dailies may look like on this type of cruise.

 

No drinks or tour excursions were included on this cruise (similar to ocean cruises), but the starting price point was quite reasonable in our opinion.

 

 

 

 

[marysb]

Windmills on the Rhein

 

Woke up this morning in the Netherlands. Opened the drapes and saw a windmill. Cool!

 

 

 

You had o keep your eyes peeled, but you could find a few windmills as you cruised by

 

 

 

 

 

Dutch architecture on the way into Rotterdam

 

We passed by Noah's Arc.

I think this have been one of the last days it was there, because I see that it had a crash in Norway in June.

https://www.rt.com/viral/346257-noah-ark-crash-norway/

[marysb]

About 10:30 am the Viva sailed into Rotterdam Harbour and did a tour of this huge port. It is the largest port in Europe, one of the busiest in the world.

 

 

 

 

Huge drilling platform ships complete with helicopter pad out front.

 

A forest of cranes.

 

Holland America's former flagship, The Rotterdam, now a museum and hotel.

 

 

 

The Erasmusbrug or Swan Bridge

[marysb]

We docked under the red Willemsbrug Bridge. A great landmark to find our way back to the ship.

 

 

There were optional tours to Gouda and The Hague and Delft. We decided to stay in Rotterdam after reading about the modern and unique architecture. We had seen lots of very quaint, historic cities and thought it might be nice to see something different. We were not disappointed -we loved this modern vibrant city and would love to come back to see more of it.

 

 

 

We set off walking for the cube houses (about a 10 minute walk from Willemsbrug.)

 

 

 

 

 

Cube houses are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of "living as an urban roof". His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest.

 

 

 

 

[marysb]

We went into one of the cube houses - small but efficient. They have 3 floors - Kitchen and living room on 1st floor, bedroom, den and bathroom on 2nd floor and a sunroom on the top floor.

 

L

 

 

 

me in the kitchen/dining room

 

 

 

Top floor sunroom

[marysb]

The Rotterdam Market Hall or Markthal

 

Located on the same square as the Cube Houses, this unique horseshoe shaped building has condos on the outside of the U and a large open market and offices & parking on several levels on the inside. A great place to buy cheese and sweets!

 

 

 

 

 

The colourful Ceiling

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marysb]

We walked around the shopping area down to the cool district shopping area and bought some fabulous fries with mayo (a dutch specialty) from a little stand on the street. After dinner we went out walking again. What an interesting and clean and safe city to wander around!

 

In this shot (L to R), we see the library, pencil building with cube houses behind it, and a view of the condos on the Market Hall.

 

The interesting 2 story outdoor shopping mall. This is a photo at night when the stores were closed, but it shows the 2 stories of shopping street.

 

Canal shot

 

Interesting building with wonky red stripes

 

Lit artwork of roots in the underpass - very cool.

 

[marysb]

Ship entertainment:

 

Every evening there was a DJ in the lounge playing music. The only time we had live entertainment, was in Rotterdam where a folk group came onboard to sing. There was a huge turnout to see this group- standing room only.

 

 

 

Mary

[marysb]

Woke up in Amsterdam tied to our sister ship, the aRosa Brava. Very near Central Station - very close to the Doubletree Hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

Had an early breakfast and headed out for a tram to take us to the Rijksmuseum. The hardest part of the journey was crossing the street with the rush hour bike traffic. There were streams of bikes and few lights to get across the bike path ... we just had to be patient - and then run. The trams were easy to find in front of the station.

 

 

 

Bikes parked near the Doubltree

 

 

 

 

the Canal in front of Centraal Station - very easy to pick up a canal tour right here.

 

 

No one at the sign at museum opening time. -just us!

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[marysb]

We bought our tickets for the Rijksmuseum the night before. We bought them online and they sent us electronic tickets and all we had to do is show our phone. No need to print out the tickets. We walked right in with no lineup just after opening time.

 

 

 

 

 

The most famous paintings had a placemat-sized viewing guide to point out interesting aspects of the paintings ... a great help if you are wandering around undguided and very interesting.

 

 

A special exhibition of fashion through the ages called The Catwalkwas on while we were there. It was amazing how well preserved these clothes were considering some were well over 200 years old.

 

 

After the Rijksmuseum we took the tram back to ccentral station and then back to the ship for lunch.

After lunch we had a tour booked to go to Keukenhof Gardens.

 

 

 

The four level parking garage for bikes at Centraal Station

[marysb]

After lunch, it was off to the Keukenhof gardens (about a 45 min drive).

 

It was a nice break (fitbit said we walked 5 km in the Rijksmuseum) and you could see some of the scenery outside of the city.

 

We had a cool spring this year so the tulips and gardens were in fine form. We could see where some beds were finished, but most of the garden was still in bloom.

 

 

Dont miss this excursion! If you are worried about the size of the park and walking, there are lots of benches for sitting, and you don't have far to walk to see beautiful flowers in all directions.

There are more than 7 million bulbs in bloom this spring, with a total of 800 varieties of tulips. An unique and unforgettable experience!

Besides the spacious 32 hectares of flowers you can enjoy the spectacular flower shows, surprising inspirational gardens, unique artwork and wonderful events.

Keukenhof Website http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/#discover-the-park

 

 

Beds shaped like tulips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more Keukenhof photos, here is the link to my Flickr page https://www.flickr.com/photos/57348676@N04/albums/72157668461767841/with/27201827565/

[rittsail]

Absolutely beautiful flowers! You pictures are stunning

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[ural guy]

marysb- Thanks for posting on your trip. Very interesting that there are no tours, it sounds like you enjoyed bopping around and checking things out on your own.

 

Someone awhile back asked about cruises with minimal items included. I hope they see your report.

[marysb]

Thanks Rittsail, glad you are enjoying the pics.

 

 

marysb- Thanks for posting on your trip. Very interesting that there are no tours, it sounds like you enjoyed bopping around and checking things out on your own.

Someone awhile back asked about cruises with minimal items included. I hope they see your report.

 

thanks ural,

There were tours, but you had to pay.... like on an ocean cruise. We did buy the Keukenhof through the tour company I think $95 for a half day tour.

 

We probably could have found an independent tour to Keukenhof from Amsterdam for less money, but since time was tight, we went with the optional ship tour. I think Keukenhof is probably an optional pay tour on all the river cruise ships, but I may be wrong about what is considered all-inclusive on each of the cruise lines.

 

 

But overall, we did save money on this type of river cruise/tour and having choice of what tours we pay for works well for us.

[notamermaid]

Hello marysb,

 

Thank you for the lovely photos. It is a long since I have been to Keukenhof. It is easier for me to remember now how nice it was, despite the crowds.

 

Paying for the excursion on an item basis, i.e. non-inclusive is very common on the German river cruise market. On my cruise I pre-booked a tour package and then added a couple of excursions onboard during the first evening briefing. I need not have booked any and could have DIY-ed all my time on shore. ARosa even says on their German website that on cruises shorter than seven nights all excursions are booked on board the ship.

 

notamermaid

[marysb]

After retruning from walking through the Keukenhof (we walked for 2.5 hours staight and we couldn't cover the whole 79 acres, but we did see a good bit of the gardens), it was back to the ship for dinner. After dinner, we were off walking around Amsterdam by night. Once again, we were glad of the buffet dinner. Timing is everything when you have to do Amsterdam in a day :-). We walked 15 km this day!!

 

 

 

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Ha ha .... the requisite "bikes on the canal" pic

 

 

[marysb]

 

 

 

 

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The Red Light District

 

 

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[marysb]

One evening on the cruise, the movie "A Bridge Too Far" was shown in the lounge. It was very well attended as we would be docking right under the Arnhem Bridge in the movie. It is now called the John Frost Bridge after the Britsh Major-General who commanded the British forces that reached and defended the bridge during the battle of Arnhem. (Anthony Hopkins played Frost in the movie)

 

The aRosa Viva docked under the Arnhem or John Frost Bridge.

 

 

There were optional tours available such as: The Liberation Route tour and a tour to Apeldoorn and Het Loo Palace. Some folks rented bikes and followed a bike route suggested by the cruise director. We opted to walk around town and do some shopping.

 

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Devil's House

 

 

 

 

There was a big bike race in Arnhem days before we arrived and apparently the leader of the race wore a pink jersey (similar to the Tour de France's yellow jersey). So, the whole town was decked out in pink shirts and bikes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marysb]

Visiting with the Captain in the wheelhouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Captain and officer having dinner on the top deck. The weather couldn't have been better this week. High 20'sC /70'sF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since this was our last night in the Netherlands, we had a Netherlands evening with a cocktail contest and some "Dutch" Chocolate.

The Dutch Chocolate samples were only available until we hit the German border . Ha ha

 

 

 

 

Cruise Director Walter

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[TravelerThom]

oops...... the spelling is Rudesheim...

To be technical Rüdesheim am Rhein has an umlaut on the "u", so without the umlaut it should be Ruedesheim, but you have given the spelling that most North Americans would use:cool:

 

Fantastic pictures and wonderful commentary. I had always wondered about A-Rosa and appreciate hearing about them. I hope that map in your first post (which I assume came from YMT) was not used for navigation purposes - how did Koblenz get south of the Main and when did Dresden move to the Czech Republic?:eek:

 

thanks for a great thread

Thom

[marysb]

To be technical Rüdesheim am Rhein has an umlaut on the "u", so without the umlaut it should be Ruedesheim, but you have given the spelling that most North Americans would use:cool:

 

Fantastic pictures and wonderful commentary. I had always wondered about A-Rosa and appreciate hearing about them. I hope that map in your first post (which I assume came from YMT) was not used for navigation purposes - how did Koblenz get south of the Main and when did Dresden move to the Czech Republic?:eek:

 

thanks for a great thread

Thom

 

Thanks Thom,.... Wondered about that different spelling too. Too bad I can't start another spelling ;-)

 

Ha Ha .... I didn't even notice the details of the map and yes I lifted it off the YMT website. Good eye, you are correct- there are a few misplaced dots. I just looked at that thing to see which order of places and directions we were travelling.

Edited July 21, 2016 by marysb

[marysb]

We sailed into Bonn today and we docked an easy walk to the old town square.

 

All ports on this cruise we very walkable and no extra transportation was really needed to explore the old town centres and pedestrian streets.

 

This was our last day of the cruise and were docked back where we started in Bonn. But for whatever reason, we are going to Cologne in the morning for disembarkation. (maybe the next cruise itinerary leaves from Cologne; or maybe dock issues.... don't know and it really didn't make any difference to us)

 

 

We had no tours booked, so we did a "Walter Walk" to get our bearings and then we went for tour of Beethoven Haus and a walk around the university grounds and of course went to the gummy bear store.

 

This is a beautiful city just to walk around and soak up the atmosphere, sit in a cafe and do a bit of shopping.

 

One of our favourite things to do in each and every town or city we visited was to have coffee in a cafe. ...Lots of atmosphere, real china cups and saucers (not a paper cup in sight), great service and fantastic coffee and pastries. hmmm, I miss it just thinking about it.

 

 

 

Town hall in the Market Square

 

 

 

 

White Asparagus .... seen on menus around the cities and on the ship all week.

Delicious!

 

 

A maze of shopping pedestrian streets around the market area and a short walk from the ship

 

 

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