Basel to Amsterdam, which side of the ship?

[kent9xxx1]

Despite my dissatisfaction with the wines on board, I find Crystal river cruise to be wonderful. I´m going to book the rhine cruise soon.  Which side of the ship should I be on if the route is from Basel to Amsterdam?  Will there be a lot of day light sailing?

[imcpa]

I'm going to be on the same river cruise (our first river cruise) immediately followed by the Serenity from Amsterdam to Lisbon, so I guess I will be jumping to the river cruise forum, then back to this one.  I am surprised CC has only one forum for all river cruises, but I assume I will learn why soon.

BTW, the highlight of Basel......it's the hometown of the true original GOAT.....RF.

 

 

[pontac]

7 hours ago, imcpa said:

I am surprised CC has only one forum for all river cruises,

 

 

[pontac]

8 hours ago, kent9xxx1 said:

Which side of the ship should I be on if the route is from Basel to Amsterdam

 

 

Boat moor with their bow facing the current, so it depends which side of the river they moor whether you'll face the water or the bank. But if your room faces the water another boat may moor next to you (rafting) and your view is gone, there's no knowing about that in advance.

 

I've given up worrying about which side my cabin is.

 

During the day the best sights are from the deck or lounge as you can see both sides of the river.

 

I've cruised Basel to Amsterdam (altho' not with Crystal) and I recall a lot of cruising is done in the day time.

[laverendrye]

It really doesn't matter which side your cabin is on.  From Basel to Amsterdam nearly all of your sailing will be at night with the exception of the very scenic Middle Rhine Gorge, and there the sights are on both sides of the river, so you will want to go up to the top deck so that you can see everything.  However, that stretch is only for a few hours.

 

When the ship is berthed, you will likely be away on tours for most of the day, and as Pontac noted, the ship may be rafted with others, or your cabin may be looking out at the concrete wall of the jetty.

 

In choosing a cabin, I would be more concerned with noise from above (is it under the long or restaurant or the walking track?).

 

River cruises from ocean cruises in this respect.

[laverendrye]

That should be "lounge" not "long"  Darn spell check!  BTW, I notice thatI can't edit my posts anymore.

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, laverendrye said:

That should be "lounge" not "long"  Darn spell check!  BTW, I notice thatI can't edit my posts anymore.

I don't know for how long, but you can edit a new post.

 

After I posted this it comes up with the quote link, and to the right of it is the edit link. As I say, I don't know how long it is available.

Edited May 1, 2019 by gnome12
Add more information

[TravelerThom]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I don't know for how long, but you can edit a new post.

After I posted this it comes up with the quote link, and to the right of it is the edit link. As I say, I don't know how long it is available.

IIRC you have 15 minutes to edit

[Coral]

I am going to ask a stupid question - what was the problem/preference issue with the wines onboard (and compared to other lines)?

 

I don't drink but I am referring Crystal to friends who do like their wine and if there is a problem, I would like to know. Those who I sailed with didn't say anything about the wines offered.

[kent9xxx1]

A few other guests and I thought the inclusive wines are swill-ish.  Compare to other lines, probably the same or better.  Good thing we had other options on board.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

One nice difference on river cruises vs ocean cruises is that most river cruises are happy to let you bring wine onboard and drink it at dinner [or in your cabin] with no corkage fee.  The bartenders and waiters are happy to open the wine and provide glasses.  [After all, since wine is included you are saving them money by providing your own and not drinking theirs!]

[Coral]

4 hours ago, kent9xxx1 said:

A few other guests and I thought the inclusive wines are swill-ish.  Compare to other lines, probably the same or better.  Good thing we had other options on board.  

Thanks......

[pontac]

16 hours ago, Coral said:

I am going to ask a stupid question - what was the problem/preference issue with the wines onboard (and compared to other lines

 

It's not a stupid question, but the answer is complicated. The same cruise line won't necessarily have the same 'house wines' on every route.

 

I haven't travelled with Crystal, all my trips have been on Viking.

 

The earlier trips always had the same house wines, especially  labelled for Viking; they were Austrian from the Morwald Winery. They are excellent and not the cheapest on the market. But as Viking fast increased the size of its fleet  they supplemented these with other.

 

One time we were served with Argentinian Malbec while cruising through German vineyards. "Why Argentinian Malbec when we are in one of the finest wine growing regions on earth?" I asked the Maitre D' who replied with an embarrassed shrug that the winery owner was German.

 

On the Douro all the wines were local and they changed during the cruise. In Bordeaux -- which is a wine cruise - we had different wines every day based on the appellation the boat was in.

 

As wine lovers, the wine served is important to us and we take full advantage of buying wines along the way to have with dinner for, as said, there is no corkage or problem about bringing on board your own wines

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, pontac said:

 

It's not a stupid question, but the answer is complicated. The same cruise line won't necessarily have the same 'house wines' on every route.

 

I haven't travelled with Crystal, all my trips have been on Viking.

 

What is interesting is we had 2 individuals who were interested in wine and started speaking with the sommelier. The sommelier looked them up and realized that one was one fo the most traveled with Crystal onboard. He kept bringing different wine for them to try and they seemed pleased. I later asked if they ended up buying any wine above what was offered and they said no.

 

Again - I don't drink so I have nothing to compare but these 2 seemed pleased with what the sommelier was bringing them. I wonder if they were treated "better" because they were repeat customers.

[pontac]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

these 2 seemed pleased with what the sommelier was bringing them. I wonder if they were treated "better" because they were repeat customers.

 

I suspect it was more to do with their interest in wine; the sommelier could chat on his favourite subject with people who understood wines nuances and could discuss these other wines with him.

[sharkster77]

The Viking commercials create a false impression of what it's like to cruise a river.  In most instances, sailing takes place at night, with daytime spent off-ship, unless area is particularly scenic, such as the castle stretch of the Rhine, or the Wachau valley of the Danube. (exception: the Douro, where night sailing is not allowed).

 

The image of sitting on one's verandah, "watching the world float by", is false.  Maybe it's an attempt to lure the ocean cruise crowd, as those folks are accustomed to having sea days, which do not exist on river cruises.

[kent9xxx1]

There were 2 daytime sailing on the Danube on Crystal.  It was amazing.  The rest of the time, it was night sailing.   I was hoping there would be more on the Rhine.  

[notamermaid]

Basel to Amsterdam is essentially one scheduled daylight sailing that all river cruise companies plan in: The Rhine Gorge. This is between four and six hours from what I have read here in the past (note that a few itineraries, like one with Uniworld, split it into two parts meaning you have an overnight stay usually in Boppard).

 

Other daytime sailing very much depends on the itinerary and company. A lot of sailing happens around the Speyer area as a kind of "save time and move the boat while the passengers are on an excursion", that sailing you can participate in, if you do not go with the excursion - standard is Heidelberg.

 

You will find that on a lot of itineraries sailing is from dinner time onwards into the night, so in the longer days in Summer you will get to see moving scenery then. Likewise the boat might still be moving early in the morning from the nighttime sailing.

 

For the cruise that you are interested in you need to look closely at the itinerary and try to figure out, perhaps with a map, where daytime sailing might be. It is not easy if the approximate docking times are not given. That is almost always the case on the North-American market.

 

Hope this helps.

 

notamermaid

 

[Sailawaytoday]

On ‎4‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 10:27 PM, kent9xxx1 said:

Despite my dissatisfaction with the wines on board, I find Crystal river cruise to be wonderful. I´m going to book the rhine cruise soon.  Which side of the ship should I be on if the route is from Basel to Amsterdam?  Will there be a lot of day light sailing?

We sailed this itinerary last year, and were on the port side.  Our cabin faced the water most times.  We spent very little time in the cabin, and were on the top deck or bow when the ship was sailing in daylight.