Docking times

[calteacher]

We will be on the Uniworld "Legendary Rhine and Moselle" from Amsterdam. How can I find the times when we will dock at the ports and when we will also depart from the ports?

Thanks.

[notamermaid]

If Uniworld has not posted them online - it could well be a page that you lock into, something like "already booked" or "my booking" - you will need to ask Uniworld if you need specific times. However, be aware that those will be estimates. Things can change at short notice. The companies seem to be reluctant to publish them online. Possibly for that reason.

 

notamermaid

[laverendrye]

The times of departure and arrival will not be posted on-line in advance, as they can vary due to river conditions, lock traffic, and the harbourmaster's directions in each port. You will get the times in the daily program published the night before: the departure times are set, but the arrival times are always noted as "estimated". In checking my daily programs from this cruise (Basel-Amsterdam) last September, most departures are around dinner time (6 to 8 PM) and most arrivals are early in the morning. There are some notable exceptions, when the ship departs mid-day for cruising on particularly scenic parts of the Rhine and Moselle. If you have a specific port in mind, I can tell you when we arrived and left, but these times will vary from what you will experience, not only because of the factors above, but also because you will be travelling in the opposite direction. You will have one overnight stop in Trier.

[calteacher]

Thanks. I was wondering as it seems there is often time for "on your own" and wondered (in advance in case I want to schedule something) if it would be a case of leaving at 4 p.m. perhaps. No specific port, but we are new to this. We've done ocean cruising and it seems that we've often known well in advance when we will depart a port.

[jpalbny]

Ocean cruising is much more scheduled than river cruising. It can take some adjustment when you switch from one to the other. Welcome to River Cruising!

 

Yes, there is often time for activity on your own, but not always. Most Uniworld cruise directors will give out an overview sheet on day one or two, with the (estimated) port times for the week, but that hasn't happened on every cruise (2 out of 3 for us). You will always know a fairly accurate schedule for the next day, if you attend the port talk on the night prior.

 

I agree that it's harder to plan in advance without knowing this. There isn't a perfect solution, other than to do what you can in the time that's allotted. We usually have a lot of possible things to do on our own, and we get to what we can once we find out how much time we have.

 

We figure that we can come back to visit these places a second time to cover what we have missed, if it's something major. :)

[gnome12]

Many of the towns are small and won't have a lot of things to do. The port talk will hand out maps with a list of sights you might want to see. You can do that last minute.

 

For some place like Vienna, you will probably have an overnight. Do some research in advance as to what you want to see.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Most people [including us] find that the pace of the included daily tours [with no "sea days"] results in a very demanding schedule. Any downtime is welcome either to go back into town for a few further sights, or to relax onboard. [And this from someone whose DIY travel plans are often compared to the "Bataan Death March"! :)]

[nancyevans]

Some ports, like Antwerp, have a website where arrival and departure times of ships are listed. Otherwise you have to be prepared to do things on the fly. Ex. In Vienna I had studied the subway system so we were able to visit Schoenbrunn on our own. In Budapest taxis are very cheap and the conceirage called one to take us up to the castle area. We walked

back.

 

 

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[FuelScience]

If you're really that interested, you can go to sites like marinetraffic.com and vesseltracker.com and "stalk" a Uniworld ship on the same route before you sail. There's no guarantee that your docking times will be the same, but it will show you how previous trips went. Be aware that coverage for both sites is spotty on the Moselle and the southern Rhine.