Logistics of a ship swap? Transition to hotel-based tour?

[Daisi]

9 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

The only “informed” decision you can make before a River Cruise is to know for a fact that there is always the chance that the river won’t cooperate and it might turn into a bus tour. How the corporations respond is another aspect to research. 

 

A similar aspect holds true for ocean cruising. Cruises to Bermuda turn into a Canada cruise due to hurricanes or ports you had your heart set on are missed due to high winds or your long awaited cruise to Cuba is going to Freeport Bahamas. 

 

Well said.  Any type of travel comes with risks, even when you plan your own.  A missed plane,, strikes, or severe weather can leave you scrambling, whereas if you are on a river cruise, at least you have someone doing it for you.  You have to take the idea that it's a new experience (even for those who have several river cruises under their belts), as you may not see your ports, but you will probably get a nice scenic tour by bus that you wouldn't have if things had been fine.

[notamermaid]

Marjan1,

A good decision-making example I think. Travelmarvel has handled this well in my opinion. Scraping through the Rhine gorge, hmm, many large ships had to give up sailing, which ship were you on? Just asking as the 110m ships could sail the gorge for longer before even they ran into problems, when it got very low indeed.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

During the drought a few years ago, Viking customers were the most upset and AMA ships continued sailing through all or almost all of the problem period.  But last year the roles were reversed, as Viking had so many ships spaced out along the rivers that they were able to do ship swaps very smoothly, and AMA had many very unhappy customers about how they handled the problems.  Crystal made [IMHO] a bizarre move to turn their Rhine cruises into tulip-less Holland trips – but they have so few ships and I guess they were stuck on the wrong side of the blockage.  Next time?  Hopefully Viking will continue to build on their good plans, AMA will figure out what they did wrong, and Crystal will get their ships into position.  I wouldn't write off any company because of their poor performance last year, as Viking showed how well a company can learn from its mistakes and jump from worst to first.

[notamermaid]

Good point indeed, jazzbeau. Last year is also not the norm for handling drought. How the companies will handle the next one will be interesting. The NEXT one???? Yikes, but yes, no doubt there will be one, when and how bad remains to be seen.

 

I was going through the companies in my head earlier today, thinking about how they handled things. It is only anecdotal as we only have one review but for me APT came out top with their rearranged Amsterdam to Budapest. With a bit of luck I admit they were able to do all the signature excursions and events and flew the passengers from the Rhine to the Danube area to continue the trip, rather than trying to fit in coach tour days along the Main.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by notamermaid
Missing word

[arabrab]

The video was really helpful.  

 

I'm worried a bit because my hip doesn't like me sitting for hours at a time without an opportunity to walk and stretch. This putting people on bus trips for hours and hours is depressing -- much, much different than a cruise missing a port. 

I guess that I just have to hope for the best. We've really wanted to do this trip. 

[Roz]

11 minutes ago, arabrab said:

The video was really helpful.  

 

I'm worried a bit because my hip doesn't like me sitting for hours at a time without an opportunity to walk and stretch. This putting people on bus trips for hours and hours is depressing -- much, much different than a cruise missing a port. 

I guess that I just have to hope for the best. We've really wanted to do this trip. 

 

Hours and hours on a bus is the exception, not the norm.  I think you're dwelling too much on POSSIBLE negatives.  The chances that your entire river cruise will become hours and hours on a bus are far, far less than the chance you'll complete the entire itinerary on the river without incident.  

 

Roz

[DougK]

32 minutes ago, arabrab said:

I'm worried a bit because my hip doesn't like me sitting for hours at a time without an opportunity to walk and stretch. This putting people on bus trips for hours and hours is depressing -- much, much different than a cruise missing a port. 

 

 

I totally understand where you're coming from. My wife has similar issues, and we were quite concerned about having a multi-hour bus trip when we were forced to do a ship swap last year (between Regensburg and Melk). The ship plan was for everybody to get on the bus, drive for several hours, then do a tour, and finally end up at the new ship. We decided to instead go on our own (after talking to the cruise director, of course). We got train tickets from Regensburg to Melk, which was much more comfortable, and allowed walking and stretching, and then we did our own little walk around Melk and stopped at a cafe, before proceeding on to meet the ship. It cost us a little more money (about $125 for the two of us), but ended up being a rather pleasant day. With luck, you won't run into any problems, but if you do, just remember that you aren't necessarily limited to what the ship company is providing.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I don't know the details, but buses in Europe have mandatory rest stops (for the driver, but passengers benefit also) so you will have an opportunity to get out and exercise your hip.

[notamermaid]

5 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I don't know the details, but buses in Europe have mandatory rest stops (for the driver, but passengers benefit also) so you will have an opportunity to get out and exercise your hip.

This a tricky one as the driver only has to stop after 4.5 hours to have a break of 45 minutes. Most split this in my experience into two, which is allowed, meaning first 15 minutes, then 30 minutes. It will depend on each individual journey. The standard coaches for longer distances have toilets on board. You will find that a rest room stop is often built into the journey but it is not guaranteed every two hours or similar. A journey that is planned to be 2 hours and 40 minutes might not have one.

 

notamermaid

 

[Coral]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

This a tricky one as the driver only has to stop after 4.5 hours to have a break of 45 minutes. Most split this in my experience into two, which is allowed, meaning first 15 minutes, then 30 minutes. It will depend on each individual journey. The standard coaches for longer distances have toilets on board. You will find that a rest room stop is often built into the journey but it is not guaranteed every two hours or similar. A journey that is planned to be 2 hours and 40 minutes might not have one.

 

notamermaid

 

I have got to ask after reading several of your posts? Do you work in tourism? Are you just overall knowledgeable on tourism items? Just curious on what "notamermaid does in real life"..... :)

[Marjan1]

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I don't know the details, but buses in Europe have mandatory rest stops (for the driver, but passengers benefit also) so you will have an opportunity to get out and exercise your hip.

 

Most likely the cruise lines will charter a bus for the connection.  

 

In our case, the trip from Aschach to Nuremburg was under 4 hours.  There was a mid-point comfort stop for about 15 minutes so we could stretch our legs, rest room access was paid for us.   There was a rest room on the bus but I don’t think anyone used it.  

[notamermaid]

8 hours ago, Coral said:

I have got to ask after reading several of your posts? Do you work in tourism? Are you just overall knowledgeable on tourism items? Just curious on what "notamermaid does in real life"..... 🙂

I work part time in tourism, correct. My job has got nothing to do with river cruising. I "stumbled into" that when I had the chance to go on a river cruise. I have travelled in Europe on coaches, trains and planes as well as ships and ferries. So far, I have not stepped beyond the boundaries of Europe.

 

I have been interested in languages and travel since I was a teenager.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Marjan1 said:

 

Most likely the cruise lines will charter a bus for the connection.  

 

In our case, the trip from Aschach to Nuremburg was under 4 hours.  There was a mid-point comfort stop for about 15 minutes so we could stretch our legs, rest room access was paid for us.   There was a rest room on the bus but I don’t think anyone used it.  

This is what I assume to be a very likely scenario for those doing a four hour journey. The 15 minutes for the bus driver is a rest room stop for the passengers at a place that has a toilet, is a roadside café or even a filling station with restaurant.

 

notamermaid

 

[arabrab]

On 6/12/2019 at 10:44 AM, DougK said:

 

I totally understand where you're coming from. My wife has similar issues, and we were quite concerned about having a multi-hour bus trip when we were forced to do a ship swap last year (between Regensburg and Melk). The ship plan was for everybody to get on the bus, drive for several hours, then do a tour, and finally end up at the new ship. We decided to instead go on our own (after talking to the cruise director, of course). We got train tickets from Regensburg to Melk, which was much more comfortable, and allowed walking and stretching, and then we did our own little walk around Melk and stopped at a cafe, before proceeding on to meet the ship. It cost us a little more money (about $125 for the two of us), but ended up being a rather pleasant day. With luck, you won't run into any problems, but if you do, just remember that you aren't necessarily limited to what the ship company is providing.

That's brilliant.  I'd be very happy to pay that rather than sitting for hours on a bus.  Thank you for sharing your experience.  I'll hope for good water conditions, but nice to consider options. 

[Coral]

On 6/13/2019 at 3:15 AM, notamermaid said:

I work part time in tourism, correct. My job has got nothing to do with river cruising. I "stumbled into" that when I had the chance to go on a river cruise. I have travelled in Europe on coaches, trains and planes as well as ships and ferries. So far, I have not stepped beyond the boundaries of Europe.

 

I have been interested in languages and travel since I was a teenager.

 

notamermaid

 

Your posts are extremely valuable - thank you.

[sammiedawg]

On Viking,  Budapest to Amsterdam, we rode buses for two days to get to the port cities, then we rode a bus to Nuremberg for the ship swap.  The bus rides were long and the Viking tour director underestimated, Or pretty much lied, about the duration of the bus rides.  Then he yelled at passengers for not getting back on board the bus on time in the allotted fifteen minute rest stop.  They took 190 people to the same gas station/rest area. 

We had to pack up our things and set out our luggage on the third low river day,  then we were bused to the ship in Nuremberg for lunch.  We had no access to our cabin or a safe and ended up carrying around passports and cash for the Nuremberg tour  that afternoon.  Pretty irritating and this was big a turn off.  The unpacking was easy, we were in identical cabins on the new ship.  

Then there were 4,5,6 days where the sun deck was closed due to low bridges.  But the crew was allowed to hang out on the steps to smoke, nonstop and stink up the place.  Viking does not have sufficient comfortable indoor seating when the sun deck is closed.  They actually bring in folding chairs for their daily meetings.  They have 190 passengers on board, the family engineer quickly figured out the additional weight onboard made Viking more susceptible on low rivers.  Other engineers we met were in agreement. 

 

The river cruise was interesting but for us it was one and done, especially on Viking. 

We asked for zero reimbursement and were offered zero. 

 

[Coral]

1 hour ago, sammiedawg said:

On Viking,  Budapest to Amsterdam, we rode buses for two days to get to the port cities, then we rode a bus to Nuremberg for the ship swap.  The bus rides were long and the Viking tour director underestimated, Or pretty much lied, about the duration of the bus rides.  Then he yelled at passengers for not getting back on board the bus on time in the allotted fifteen minute rest stop.  They took 190 people to the same gas station/rest area. 

The river cruise was interesting but for us it was one and done, especially on Viking. 

We asked for zero reimbursement and were offered zero. 

 

I had several friends on Viking and they felt the same exact way. They will never return as they thought Viking did a poor job this past year. They did get a voucher but will not use it.

[Marjan1]

On 6/11/2019 at 9:34 PM, notamermaid said:

Marjan1,

A good decision-making example I think. Travelmarvel has handled this well in my opinion. Scraping through the Rhine gorge, hmm, many large ships had to give up sailing, which ship were you on? Just asking as the 110m ships could sail the gorge for longer before even they ran into problems, when it got very low indeed.

 

notamermaid

 

 

We were on the Travelmarvel Diamond.   Not sure of the length but around 170 passengers.  

 

The Scenic ship travelling beside us did not go through the gorge.  Our captain told us we should be ok, (he reckoned we had a thick steel hull!) but we did feel a few bumps and jerks, presumably when we hit rocks on the bottom!  We travelled through the Rhine Gorge, downstream, on the afternoon of 14th September.  

Edited June 16, 2019 by Marjan1