Cruise Review - Travelmarvel Vega / Polaris

[Bill Y]

13 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

Thanks for that insider info, Jazzbeau,

We prefer longer breaks so a 7 day trip is hardly worth leaving home for! Once I unpack I don’t like to refill my case too soon! 
A 14 day or more is our preference, which is why our next trip on Capella is Budapest to Bucharest return.

I will look out for Scenic trips from now on.

We too like longer cruises but also like exploring new places so after about twenty ocean cruises we turned to trying river cruises. As you say most are only seven nights although you can often combine them with an extension pre or post, i.e. Halong bay with the Mekong etc, but you lose the big attraction of cruising of only having to unpack once.

4 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

I am getting a bit confused by APT now, because our first APT cruise was on AmaStella. Our current booking on Capella was also done through APT! So it seems APT uses both “high end” and “lower quality” ships.

To be honest we didn’t notice a price difference, but once we have paid and done a cruise we forget what we paid! We are at the stage of life where, happily, if we see something we like we just go for it. We do have budgetary limits. I think I mentioned on this thread that I thought Noble Caledonian was outside of our budget.

 

I didn’t have a butler unpacking my clothes on AmaStella, but he did bring delicious little nibbles to our room every evening. 
 

I didn’t see a brochure for this trip, booked after seeing an online advert because having done an APT trip I think we are on a mailing list now.

 

But if we have to pay extra for an excursion we want to do then I expect we will. What sort of additional cost are we going to be charged?

 

Thanks for all the insider info reeves35

As Travelmarvel and APT have a combined brochures in the UK labelled APT confusion reigns, last year on a Travelmarvel cruise on the Douro quite a few Brits thought that they were on an APT cruise and had never heard of Travelmavel. The APT cruises are described as "Luxury river cruising" while Travelmarvel cruises were described as "Essential river cruising" but notice for 2024 just river cruising.

 

As regarding excursions, Travelmarvel normally have an included tour/excursion at each port, and your itinerary will list what you will do or what you can do as an extra "enhance your journey / select experience excursion". Prices in May for our Amsterdam - Budapest cruise were from PP, Rothenburg 65€ - Salzburg 88€, Viennese concert was 68€, we only did one as an extra Bratislava as we had a free day in Vienna and were sailing past Bratislava at night.

 

We have found that Travelmarvel suits our requirements as we are not big drinkers. Brands that have a subsidiary lower cost brand i.e. APT, Scenic and Great Rail Journeys, promote their premier brand as smaller groups, better/more central hotels and more food and drink included.

Edited October 11, 2023 by Bill Y

[Kristal Blade]

I got my “tickets” for my holiday today. 
An online booklet with some info about the destinations. It looks as if there is only one trip with an additional charge; the church of the rocks in Budapest. Everywhere else seems to be a guided walk or coach trip.

 

APT have really tied themselves in knots with all these labels! Is Travelmarvel owned by APT? Are the Travelmarvel ships owned by APT or just chartered? I assume AmaStella was chartered by APT as I have seen Ama waterways cruises which can be booked direct with them, rather than via APT.

 

Thanks for trying to explain all the intricacies, one day I might understand what is going on! 🙂  

[reeves35]

30 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

I got my “tickets” for my holiday today. 
An online booklet with some info about the destinations. It looks as if there is only one trip with an additional charge; the church of the rocks in Budapest. Everywhere else seems to be a guided walk or coach trip.

 

APT have really tied themselves in knots with all these labels! Is Travelmarvel owned by APT? Are the Travelmarvel ships owned by APT or just chartered? I assume AmaStella was chartered by APT as I have seen Ama waterways cruises which can be booked direct with them, rather than via APT.

 

Thanks for trying to explain all the intricacies, one day I might understand what is going on! 🙂  

Travelmarvel is owned by APT. Well, technically, they are the same company but two brands.  This is not unusual given the brands are targetted at different market sectors.  For example, it is very common with ocean cruise companies such as Carnival having many brands; hotel companies such as IHG and Marriott do likewise. 

 

The Travelmarvel ships are bespoke designs built for Travelmarvel.  I believe the ships themselves are actually leased from a European investment company but that is not unusual just as it is typical that the marine and hotel staff actually work for European companies and are engaged by the cruiselines on a labour hire basis.

 

APT charters AMA ships for APT branded cruises and the ships have APT branding on them.  Given so much of an AMA ship's life will be with APT, the latter has a significant say in the AMA designs.  To add to the confusion, APT has a significant shareholding in AMA Waterways.

Edited October 11, 2023 by reeves35

[Kristal Blade]

Thank you reeves35, that clears it up for me. 

I will do a compare and contrast of AmaStella and Capella and report back when we have finished our cruise in mid November.

 

[Mnichois1]

HI, 

We were had fantastic cruise on the Polaris in July when we did Budapest to Nuremberg. Next week we are doing Amsterdam to Nuremberg also on the Polaris. Im really looking forward to our trip but when I came across an article about the  current water level , I began to worry. Are passengers changing boats on the Amsterdam to Nuremberg route or is it only happening on the Danube? 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Mnichois1 said:

HI, 

We were had fantastic cruise on the Polaris in July when we did Budapest to Nuremberg. Next week we are doing Amsterdam to Nuremberg also on the Polaris. Im really looking forward to our trip but when I came across an article about the  current water level , I began to worry. Are passengers changing boats on the Amsterdam to Nuremberg route or is it only happening on the Danube? 

Welcome to Cruisecritic. As the Rhine has risen you should be okay from Amsterdam to Nuremberg most likely. The problem area is Straubing to Vilshofen which is where you sailed on your previous cruise, i.e. on the Danube, not on the Canal sailing towards Nuremberg coming from the Rhine and Main where you will be sailing next week.

 

notamermaid

 

[TonyM99]

Have booked our first River cruise (although done several Ocean ones )on Polaris going to cancel and rebook due too better pricing - There is also an offer on the Luxury option cost approx £2K more  - My guess is we would spend approx £600 on extra trips and drinks with Polaris so Price wise still doesn't appear to stack up especially bearing in kind Polaris a newer ship - Any comments appreciated Need to do something soon 

Thanks 

[Frikki]

Thanks for the informative review.  We are boioked on the vega for the same cruise this August.  I really didn't have much idea of the day to day activities and schedule so your review was vary useful.  Upped the excitement level!

Edited April 15 by Frikki