possibly silly newbie question

[Kristelle]

Europe river cruises - most days  seem to have an excursion in the morning then back on board for lunch

 

 question - what happens in the afternoon between lunch and dinner?

 

I get that you can sit on the sundeck or in the lounge and enjoy the scenery and that will be nice at times  - but are there also activities (lectures, cooking demos etc) on board and/or can you leave the ship, if it is docked, and go out and explore within walking distance on your own?

 

 Amsterdam to Budapeston on Scenic, , if that makes any difference.

[reeves35]

I believe it varies depending on the day.  Sometimes you will cruise during lunch and visit another town in the afternoon whilst, on other days, you may have an afternoon at leisure like you suggest.  Given how intensive these river cruises are, I think I'm looking forward to maybe a quiet afternoon on the sundeck every now and then.

[Got2Cruise]

It depends on the itinerary and the cruiseline. Many times you have the afternoon free to explore on your own or there are optional excursions. Sometimes there are two included excursions, one before lunch, one after. Once in awhile there are full day excursions. 
 

It is important to read the day to day itineraries closely when comparing cruiselines and their itineraries. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

This is why it's important to read the detailed itinerary information for different cruise lines.  Except for the European cruise lines that market à la carte, all cruise lines include a morning excursion and come back for lunch.  Added value is the cruise lines that include a second afternoon tour slot (and double value if it's also 'free') or a full-day excursion (and double value if they pay for your lunch).  This never shows up in the cost comparisons, but is one reason people are willing to pay the higher cost of the top-end cruise lines.  [Tauck even provides coins to cover the pay toilets on tours – that is truly all-inclusive!]

[Kristelle]

9 hours ago, reeves35 said:

I believe it varies depending on the day.  Sometimes you will cruise during lunch and visit another town in the afternoon whilst, on other days, you may have an afternoon at leisure like you suggest.  Given how intensive these river cruises are, I think I'm looking forward to maybe a quiet afternoon on the sundeck every now and then.

yes I agree  - probably will be nice now and then. But, for me anyway, I probably dont want that  every day.

 

Happy to get off ship on our own and do exploring on foot in our free time.

 

 

[ljandgb]

Absolutely really look at the itinerary.  For us, I'd much rather have the choice to be going all day, whether it's a am and pm tour with lunch on the boat, or an all day tour.  Another thing to look at is what the boat is doing for dinner/evening.  After our first river cruise, I realized I did not want to be on the boat from 5:00pm on every night, and looked for itineraries that left late at night or overnighted in port.  That gives you the ability to go out and try a local restaurant, or just wander and find a bar or somewhere to people watch.  I'm not a huge partier/drinker, but I do like exploring a bit on my own.

 

There are a few iconic sails where you don't get off and that's ok, like the Rhine castle leg, or the Iron Gorge on the Danube.  

[pontac]

11 hours ago, Kristelle said:

Europe river cruises - most days  seem to have an excursion in the morning then back on board for lunch

 

Not necessarily in the morning. your chosen cruise, Amsterdam to Budapest has several afternoon excursion with the morning cruising. It may be the other way round in on opposite direction cruise.  Also an all day excursion with included lunch.

11 hours ago, Kristelle said:

are there also activities (lectures, cooking demos etc) on board and/or can you leave the ship, if it is docked, and go out and explore within walking distance on your own?

 

Yes and yes.

A note re Scenic cooking demos. These have to be booked on board and you don't know what the cook will be demonstrating. Also there's a limit of 10 on the demo, so if there's 140 pax on the boat and everyone want to attend one demo, 14 demonstrations are needed. So, if you want to attend one, book as soon as you get on board.

[tulok]

Another option that cruise lines give if the port is not walking distance to the town, are bus pick drop off and pick ups with a variety of times. 

The biggest reason river cruising is my favorite vacation is that most ports have been in towns were we can hop off and on to shop, grab a beer at a local pub, run into a grocery store to pick up a needed item or just enjoy walking around and seeing the town in the evening.

Agree with everyone else, check itinerary and research the towns you are porting with times.

Rhine Castle and Southern France cruises had a lot of middle of town ports for us.

[Gourmet Gal]

With Tauck there is very little downtime during the day unless the ship is sailing to the next port and quite often there will be a cooking demo (open to all), wine-tasting, other type demos (gllass-blowing) or special entertainment.  All AM and PM excursions are included.

[CastleCritic]

15 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

This is why it's important to read the detailed itinerary information for different cruise lines.  Except for the European cruise lines that market à la carte, all cruise lines include a morning excursion and come back for lunch.  Added value is the cruise lines that include a second afternoon tour slot (and double value if it's also 'free') or a full-day excursion (and double value if they pay for your lunch).  This never shows up in the cost comparisons, but is one reason people are willing to pay the higher cost of the top-end cruise lines.  [Tauck even provides coins to cover the pay toilets on tours – that is truly all-inclusive!]

That's thinking it through, The only time Ive seen that happen with AMA was this May in Bulgaria and it was the tour guide paying for the toilets. I dont think the cruise line had anything to do with it.

 

Know that on anything that is Amsterdam to anything past Mainz (ie. the Main canal to Nuremberg and then onto the Danube towards Budapest/Bucharest) that there are going to be a LOT of days where the main thing the ship does is sail on the Main.  Theres just too many locks for them to cover the distance by being in port all day.  I know Ive posted examples from my cruise through there on AMAWaterways before to illustrate this.

 

Sometime the ship will even move without you to make up that few more hours and you may in fact beat it to the dock (in fact I would count on it, this was a sticking point with a poster last year how often this happened and how much time they spent waiting for the ship to show up) and its likely only staying long enough to get everyone back on board.

 

The Rhine and Danube itself there is usually a lot more time in port or if the ship is moving there is a decent chance its going somewhere to let you off again later that day.  Ive never really been bored on a cruise, sometimes those partial days can be a good relief from the fairly active schedule of a week (or two) long river cruise.

Edited July 26, 2023 by CastleCritic

[island lady]

Mmmm...rigorous walking tour in the morning....back to ship for full lunch with beer and wine.  

 

Sounds like afternoon nap time to me.  😄  

[Kristelle]

I don't think  I could nap all the time through from  lunch to dinner though 😄

 

if there is a mixture of a few 'just sailing' half days along with some on board demos/activities (like wheelhouse tours, do they do them on river cruises?) and the occasional full day tour and some free time off the ship - then I think that will be a nice balance for me.

 

Scenic includes all excursions too - sounds like Tauck, in that regard.

 

another possibly silly question re public toilets - is there  a standard price for them and one carries that much cash in case of needing one or how does it work?

(am used to Australia where paying for public toilets is not a thing)

 

 

[CastleCritic]

Wheelhouse tour really depends on the captain.  Its not something that you book or is organized (that Ive ever seen).  I would just either ask your cruise directory or the captain himself (small ship, you'll run across him) ask if and how he likes to do it.  Funniest thing I had was on my Seine cruise last year on a day where the afternoon was cruising, finding out that what I thought were the stuck up French captain and 1st captain spent most of their time just being silly and blasting things like Credence Clearwater revival(or breaking out an umbrella to catch the water dripping off a raised lock gate...like I said...French).

 

Toilets...depends where you are.  Ive seen it be half a euro, a full euro or even 2 euro.  Ive also been places where they were offended you would even think you had to ask (or pay). As I recall its most common in Germany. if its pay there is usually an attendant of some kind and if its a half euro they will break your 1 or 2 euro coin (Ive also just seen them wave if you break out a 20).  There are a few that are automated though (I've never used one).

 

If someone didnt already say, if the ship is docked, you can leave and do whatever you want and be back by the "all aboard time", no one is even going to question it (though they likely will want you to scan your room key on the way out the door so they know you arent on, at least thats the AMAwaterways practice).

 

Yes some days are going to have a full day tour, some days will be morning, lunch, excursion (possibly third excursion in rare circumstances.....).  Some will be morning lunch then cruise (and then possibly something late...but not always.

 

Really depends on the river and what part you are on.  Anything going down the Main is going to have much more on ship time than the Danube or Rhine or Seine for example.  Sometimes its even a choice, I was talking to my mother about a France cruise where it was for some of the days

 

get up(eat)

morning excursion

(lunch)

ship leaves, you can

-stay on it

-go to a wine tasting

-ride a bike to where its going

(dinner).

 

I think I pulled up some examples for you before, but if there is a specific river you want to see I can pull up some of my old day schedule sheets for the rhine/Main/Danube (upper and lower), or seine. (this would be for Amawaterways not scenic)

Edited July 26, 2023 by CastleCritic

[ural guy]

Only thing I haven't seen mentioned is that 'lounging on the sun deck'...on certain cruises, the sun deck can be off limits due to low bridges quite a bit.  That came as a surprise to me on our first cruise, which was AMS-BUD.  

 

 

[CastleCritic]

6 minutes ago, ural guy said:

Only thing I haven't seen mentioned is that 'lounging on the sun deck'...on certain cruises, the sun deck can be off limits due to low bridges quite a bit.  That came as a surprise to me on our first cruise, which was AMS-BUD.  

 

 

Definitely a thing

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, ural guy said:

Only thing I haven't seen mentioned is that 'lounging on the sun deck'...on certain cruises, the sun deck can be off limits due to low bridges quite a bit.  That came as a surprise to me on our first cruise, which was AMS-BUD.  

This is mainly a Main thing [see what I did there? 🤣]  It never happened on our AMS-BSL, Lyon-Arles or Seine Paris-Honfleur-Paris itineraries.  Better to sail AMS-BSL and then Vilshofen–BUD as a side-to-side – you avoid those low bridges, and the Danube low-water choke point.

[reeves35]

1 hour ago, ural guy said:

Only thing I haven't seen mentioned is that 'lounging on the sun deck'...on certain cruises, the sun deck can be off limits due to low bridges quite a bit.  That came as a surprise to me on our first cruise, which was AMS-BUD.  

 

 

We are cruising on Travelmarvel whose new ships have a lower sundeck towards the bow which apparently always remains open though the larger sundeck aft closes like other ships.

[CastleCritic]

22 minutes ago, reeves35 said:

We are cruising on Travelmarvel whose new ships have a lower sundeck towards the bow which apparently always remains open though the larger sundeck aft closes like other ships.

Yes a number of ships have a lower deck forward of the main sun deck

While I dont think it the main sun deck was  closed here(this is a lock), you can see the difference in height between the forward deck on this AMA ship and the main sun deck. (think this was 2019 which would make that the AMAViola, but they all pretty similar in that regard)

 

[Kristelle]

Thanks so much for your answers everyone.

 

Am getting excited now, our trip is only 5 weeks away 

 

The paperwork itinerary doesn't go into detail so  would appreciate seeing any examples of day sheets along the route we travelling, doesn't have to be Scenic's

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Kristelle would you believe it all the so called paperwork (which I always collected avidly) is now on the Scenic app so unless you managed to wrangle a paper copy (heaven forbid) it disappears. Don’t worry it enables the Cruise Director to nip & tuck, for instance something extra is happening at your next stop - he/she gets the Captain to put the peddle to the metal so you get just a little extra piece of local interest.

If you want a wheelhouse tour ask for a slot at reception or in passing ask the Captain, after all you’re cruising with Scenic. Enjoy!

[Kristelle]

so you just download this Scenic app onto your phone when you get on the ship?

[pontac]

1 hour ago, Kristelle said:

so you just download this Scenic app onto your phone when you get on the ship?

 

'Fraid so, it's a monster on a weeks cruise, so how much data it'll be on yours I dread to think. And you use it (and thus your phone) for hearing the guide. I got fed up with my phone constantly being on recharge and borrowed a device from reception, but they have only a limited number to loan.

[pontac]

Re toilets on mainland Europe. You can get a coffee in a café and use the facilities there, otherwise the public toilets don't have a standard fee. Sometime the guides will give out coins to those needing them.

 

Over many cruises I've found that sundecks are closed on the judgement of the crew, unless clearance is very little they may just warn you to sit and not stand.

 

On wheelhouse tours - speaking for Viking, except during Covid they always had a wheelhouse tour. Some cruises one had to book it, other times anytime the Captain wasn't busy docking, going through a lock or manoeuvring a tight bridge. Our trip earlier this year the Captain announced he had an open wheelhouse policy - my son spent 45 minutes there quizzing the First Officer.

 

I found there was nearly always something to do and I missed more on-board activities than I attended.

[ljandgb]

On Avalon, the dinner menu was on the app as well, though you could request a paper menu.  It also had info about each port, and a map.

 

Downside it all disappears after the cruise.  If you want to save it, screen shot it.

[CastleCritic]

Ok let’s go for the virtual cruise on that route (this was 3 different cruises to cover that distance)

 

First we get to Cologne, a "youre in port all day and can walk there (though they had a bus if you really wanted it) port.

Next we get to the Main, and things get a bit more relaxed, we. were dropped off, did

one excursion, were bused to the next city and then did ANOTHER and then got back on the ship.

 

 

Here's a strange one, we were dropped off, the ship left, we went on a bus BACK up the river where the ship already had gone through (there was another AMA ship docked there), did an excursion then met the ship (the low bridge shot I posted yesterday) for a short evening excursion and the ship stayed there until late

 

 

 

 

 

All day/half day excursions from LINZ

 

 

a full day in Vienna, 3 possible excursions and a shuttle bus running to and from the ship (and the metro wasnt far)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by CastleCritic