River Cruising Water Cooler

[Daisi]

19 hours ago, Kristelle said:

60 years ago today,  I was exactly 4 months old.

 

for ignoramuses like me, can you tell us what news we are talking about?

 

Thanks Kristelle, I had to "google" the date!

[jsn55]

On 10/9/2023 at 6:10 PM, Got2Cruise said:

I’d love a Christmas Markets thread! It’s on my list. 

Me too, I avoid hot weather, so a Christmas cruise is very enticing.  But I'm not very interested in walking through a Christmas Market every day.  I mean, how many Nutcrackers do I really want to see?  I'd like to find out more about the cruises themselves and what all that's offered.

[notamermaid]

Not sure if this is of interest to anyone, but here goes. Combine flight and train in Germany: https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Airline-News/United-enables-customers-book-Deutsche-Bahn

 

In Europe the choices for train connections are almost endless. If you cannot get a direct flight to your destination and you are happy to navigate airports and train stations on your own you can do a lot of combining and may even save money in the process.

 

Just a couple of ideas. Fly into London and take the train to Brussels or Amsterdam for your cruise. Or fly into Frankfurt and go to your cruise in Nuremberg. Unless you have booked a pre-cruise trip to Prague which I think is far better as regards sightseeing.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

I hope more airlines do this, Cdn trains aren't much, but the European ones that we've been on are fantastic.

[Host Jazzbeau]

For train buffs, after you get to your river cruise Uniworld now makes it possible to include a train segment on the Golden Eagle Danube Express:

Uniworld expands its itineraries that combine river cruises with train travel

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

For train buffs, after you get to your river cruise Uniworld now makes it possible to include a train segment on the Golden Eagle Danube Express:

Uniworld expands its itineraries that combine river cruises with train travel

My Tauck river cruise I have booked includes train from Lugano to Basel. It also includes 3 nights in Milan hotel (which takes land trips to Bellagio and Lake Como).

 

I like the hotel plus train plus river cruise combination. That is what drew me to this itinerary.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Coral

[jpalbny]

8 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Not sure if this is of interest to anyone, but here goes. Combine flight and train in Germany: https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Airline-News/United-enables-customers-book-Deutsche-Bahn

 

In Europe the choices for train connections are almost endless. If you cannot get a direct flight to your destination and you are happy to navigate airports and train stations on your own you can do a lot of combining and may even save money in the process.

 

Just a couple of ideas. Fly into London and take the train to Brussels or Amsterdam for your cruise. Or fly into Frankfurt and go to your cruise in Nuremberg. Unless you have booked a pre-cruise trip to Prague which I think is far better as regards sightseeing.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Very convenient. Have done this a few times on different trips. We have flown to Frankfurt, then taken the train to Nürnberg or Würzburg. Have also flown to Paris and then taken the TGV to Genève. 

[notamermaid]

Had never thought to mention this but Riviera Travel UK offers train travel sometimes as a standard alternative to flying. I regularly see it mentioned as (close to original wording) "take the coach to Brussels for the Eurostar or board your coach for the transfer to the airport" when the cruise ends in Cologne. Admittedly, Cologne is the best port for that apart from Amsterdam in my opinion.

 

notamermaid

 

[pontac]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Had never thought to mention this but Riviera Travel UK offers train travel sometimes as a standard alternative to flying.

 

As do Viking and Scenic -  and probably others.

 

The main attraction of the Scenic Bordeaux cruise to Mrs P was that we'd travel by train to/from London. (Eurostar arrives at the north of Paris and the train to Bordeaux departs from the south of Paris. Finding out no transfer is supplied and that we'd have to get ourselves and our baggage across Paris made me change to a flight; there's a non-stop flight Lon>Bordeaux BA flight that Viking uses. Not so Scenic - Lon>Paris>Bdx and Bdx>Amsterdam>London.)

Edited November 27, 2023 by pontac

[notamermaid]

25 minutes ago, pontac said:

Finding out no transfer is supplied and that we'd have to get ourselves and our baggage across Paris made me change to a flight

The stories I have heard about Paris transport would make even me consider flying...

 

Dragged my suitcases from Heathrow to London proper on the Underground before that shiny Heathrow Express came into existence. Wasn't fun. I gather it is better now.

 

I recommend trains but must admit that one of my worst First World train journeys was back from my river cruise, a fast train around Frankfurt airport that apart from it not being overly hot cannot have been much worse than a train in a developing country.

 

Have yet to go on a TGV.

 

They say taking a train "over" the Alps is spectacular so this

15 hours ago, Coral said:

My Tauck river cruise I have booked includes train from Lugano to Basel. It also includes 3 nights in Milan hotel (which takes land trips to Bellagio and Lake Como).

 

I like the hotel plus train plus river cruise combination. That is what drew me to this itinerary.

sounds great.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

From June 2024 Eurostar will not be travelling to Amsterdam for at least 6 months partly due to work being carried out at the central station in Amsterdam. 
A few years ago when Eurostar ventured into travelling as far as  Marsalis we used it for our South of France cruise, wonderful start but the return was spoilt somewhat by having to stop at Lille for the passport check. 

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

The stories I have heard about Paris transport would make even me consider flying...

 

It's really not that bad. Have done it numerous times with suitcases. The RER line from CDG is easy to negotiate, with a sensible amount of luggage. Even if you have to make a change somewhere. 

 

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Dragged my suitcases from Heathrow to London proper on the Underground before that shiny Heathrow Express came into existence. Wasn't fun. I gather it is better now.

 

Yup. Did that too, last Christmas. On the older Piccadilly line, not the new Elizabeth line.

 

I agree, Heathrow Express is much nicer and so fast! It just depends whether or not Paddington Station is a useful destination for you. Since our hotel was in Covent Garden it made more sense to just use the Tube.

 

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Have yet to go on a TGV.

 

Finally did that in 2015, Paris to Lyon. And Paris-Geneva the year after. The view from the upper level, as two trains pass at full speed, is crazy.

 

We use a lot of trains or other public transport to/from airports in Europe. Sometimes Chris gets exasperated following me with her small suitcase in tow. But with the money I save avoiding taxi rides, I can buy her extra wine. So she ends up happy!

[Canal archive]

Sneaky! Hic  

[pontac]

17 hours ago, Canal archive said:

From June 2024 Eurostar will not be travelling to Amsterdam for at least 6 months partly due to work being carried out at the central station in Amsterdam. 

 

According to The Guardian, it's the other way around. Eurostar services to Amsterdam Centraal are unaffected, but there will be no Eurostar service from Amsterdam from June 2024 to early 2025,  because of work at the station will mean there is no room for border control facilities.

 

Eurostar services from Amsterdam to London to be suspended for six months | Eurostar | The Guardian

 

PS - there's a Marsalis in Louisiana USA however I don't think the Eurostar ever went there, but I couldn't find  Marsalis in France.....

 

[gnome12]

2 minutes ago, pontac said:

PS - there's a Marsalis in Louisiana USA however I don't think the Eurostar ever went there, but I couldn't find  Marsalis in France.....

Marseilles??

[gnome12]

2 minutes ago, pontac said:

According to The Guardian, it's the other way around. Eurostar services to Amsterdam Centraal are unaffected, but there will be no Eurostar service from Amsterdam from June 2024 to early 2025,  because of work at the station will mean there is no room for border control facilities.

If there is no service FROM Amsterdam, what happens to the train that ARRIVES in Amsterdam? If they don't have one, presumably they don't have the other.

[pontac]

10 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

If there is no service FROM Amsterdam, what happens to the train that ARRIVES in Amsterdam? If they don't have one, presumably they don't have the other.

 

It's all in the article.....

 

Trains will run empty on the Amsterdam-London route during the period, while passengers heading for London will have to change trains in Brussels, Belgium, instead.

 

Travellers will still be able to go one-way by Eurostar from London to Amsterdam during the six-month interruption.

[notamermaid]

13 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

If there is no service FROM Amsterdam, what happens to the train that ARRIVES in Amsterdam? If they don't have one, presumably they don't have the other.

If it is just the passport control then that should work. The Channel Tunnel is like this: Border people in Calais are from both France and England, in Folkestone they are also from both England and France. You are cleared to enter the country rather than leave the country. Leaving Amsterdam would mean taking the Eurostar to enter the UK and you need border control I assume. However, this would not be needed when taking the train to Paris as it is within the Schengen zone. They could run those.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by notamermaid

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, pontac said:

 

It's all in the article.....

 

Trains will run empty on the Amsterdam-London route during the period, while passengers heading for London will have to change trains in Brussels, Belgium, instead.

 

Travellers will still be able to go one-way by Eurostar from London to Amsterdam during the six-month interruption.

WOW! That is nuts!

[notamermaid]

19 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

WOW! That is nuts!

Weird stuff indeed. It was weirder in the past of course. Anyone remember (from stories or having done that trip) the underground stations that were never stopped at because they ran through East Berlin? Wikipedia has an interesting page on this type of station: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_station

 

Cannot find the info on Amsterdam on the Eurostar website. This is how a railway journal reports it: https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/high-speed/amsterdam-london-eurostar-service-to-be-suspended-for-five-months/

 

It appears that international news is far more eager to pick up the story than the Netherlands themselves...

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

43 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Anyone remember (from stories or having done that trip) the underground stations that were never stopped at because they ran through East Berlin?

 

Chris visited in High School and told me about that. Then when we went to Berlin together in 2017 we read about it at one of the museums.

[jsn55]

Odd that they don't just set up border control in a temporary enclosure or something.  But by the time everyone agreed on how to handle the situation, we'd all be too old to travel.  

[CPT Trips]

On 11/28/2023 at 9:30 AM, notamermaid said:

Anyone remember (from stories or having done that trip) the underground stations that were never stopped at because they ran through East Berlin?

I remember it well.

We (US military personnel including their dependents as well as British and French too) were not permitted to ride on trains that passed through those stations so it was just easiest for us to not use those lines. The U-Bahn was run by West Berlin and was almost entirely in the western sectors except for those few ghost stations
Berlin’s other rapid transit system operated throughout all of the city and some of the surrounding area in East Germany (DDR). It was operated by the DDR’s Reichs Bahn, even those lines and stations in the west. It was off limits to all the western allies military personnel because we didn’t formally recognize the authority of the DDR. Many West Berliner’s refused to use it as they didn’t want hard currency going to the DDR.

[Canal archive]

When it became possible to visit the other side of the wall my husband arranged for a coach load of customers to do just that for a meal at what was then a very indifferent restaurant. Only one forgot his passport he got through ok but they had to smuggle him back, hiding him in the coaches loo luckily he was quite a small man. I suspect like many we still have pieces of the wall that have nearly been thrown away several times until you remember.

[capriccio]

In 1976 my DH had a Fulbright Fellowship and we were living in Rome.  He was chosen to represent those Fulbright scholars in Italy at a conference in West Berlin that spring with transportation (by train) and lodging provided for both of us by the Foundation.  That was a perfect opportunity to stop in Vienna for a few days to do some research.  The travel agency routed us on an overnight route that ended in East, not West, Berlin!  Authorities boarded the train at the Czechoslovak and East German borders and inspected our passports. When we disembarked there was not a single sign - not unsurprisingly - in the station providing directions to West Berlin.  Luckily DH spoke fluent German and asked a surprised and bewildered soldier/guard how to get to the West.  We were instructed to get in a line of pensioners - the only people allowed to go back and forth.  We were asked what we were doing in the East and had to show our meager amount of money in various currencies.  We were then told to follow the pensioners to board the U-Bhan.  It was a very quiet, eerie ride to the West.  During our week in West Berlin we crossed at Checkpoint Charlie to visit the museums in the East and when it was time to return to Rome we departed from the West Berlin station.

 

Fast forward to November 1979 and my DH was posted at US Embassy Bonn (the capital of West Germany) as the Wall fell.  He was sent to Berlin for a few days and in between meetings he took lots of pictures and chipped off small pieces of the wall.  All 5 of our siblings and our parents received a piece glued to a stained and inscribed plaque from us that Christmas.  Ours is on display with other important reminders of DH’s career and my sister’s has had a place of honor on her foyer table for over 30 years.