Anyone River Cruised With APT Travelmarvel Recently?

[bootscooter]

1 hour ago, Ladyshopper23 said:

Yikes, those flight times sound horrid! 

 

Hope you have a great time. If you see a blonde lady with a walking stick  taking photos of food with a ginger Scottish guy, then you've found us (I write a gluten-free travel blog hence the food photos!).  Feel free to say hi. 🙂

Will do.  See you next week. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

@bootscooter and @Ladyshopper23 – don't let jet lag cause you to miss the CD's first meeting.  It should include a forecast of the entire trip and details about the shore excursions.  [On our first river cruise, this happened to us!  Luckily there was an in-cabin announcement 15 minutes before the meeting that woke DW up and we were able to throw some clothes on and make the meeting!]

[bootscooter]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@bootscooter and @Ladyshopper23 – don't let jet lag cause you to miss the CD's first meeting.  It should include a forecast of the entire trip and details about the shore excursions.  [On our first river cruise, this happened to us!  Luckily there was an in-cabin announcement 15 minutes before the meeting that woke DW up and we were able to throw some clothes on and make the meeting!]

Thank you so much! We'll definitely be awake for that

[Ladyshopper23]

15 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@bootscooter and @Ladyshopper23 – don't let jet lag cause you to miss the CD's first meeting.  It should include a forecast of the entire trip and details about the shore excursions.  [On our first river cruise, this happened to us!  Luckily there was an in-cabin announcement 15 minutes before the meeting that woke DW up and we were able to throw some clothes on and make the meeting!]

Definitely wouldn't miss that. Hopefully our coach transfer won't run into too much traffic, as it isn't leaving Munich airport until 3pm, and I believe it's about 2.5 hours to Nuremberg. 

 

We won't be getting up anywhere near as early as @bootscooter fortunately - our flight is at 8.40am and we've booked a Heathrow hotel, so can get up at 6am (that is still early for me, but usual for my husband!) and still get to check in with plenty of time to spare.

 

We then have a 3 hour wait at Munich airport for the transfer, but I'm sure that will pass by swiftly.

[Ladyshopper23]

Today is airport hotel day (once my husband finishes work of course!) and flight to Munich tomorrow morning.

 

Our travel agent has let us know that the transfer has been moved from 3pm to 1pm which is great news, as means we won't be hanging around Munich airport for 3 hours!

 

Can't wait for our second river cruise. Really hoping the gluten-free food is as good as we experience on Avalon (if anyone has any kind of interest in that, then I wrote it up for my blog which I mention in my signature). As always, have packed some essentials just in case!

 

Thanks to @notamermaid for all the river updates. Fingers crossed for no river issues. 🙂

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, Ladyshopper23 said:

Thanks to @notamermaid for all the river updates.

My pleasure. Have a good trip. And I extend that to @bootscooter.

 

notamermaid

 

[mumanddadspain]

On 5/16/2024 at 6:24 AM, reeves35 said:

Travelmarvel does not use AMA Waterways ships though APT still does until the end of 2024 when it receives 2 bespoke ships of its own.  

 

Travelmarvel has 3 identical bespoke ships all launched in 2021.  I sailed on both Vega and Polaris last year from Amsterdam to Budapest.  We were originally on Vega but had a ship swap in Nuremberg due to water levels on the Danube.

 

I did put up a review Travelmarvel Review but feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.

Great review. Can you tell me anything about dress code? Is it informal all the time or are there dress up nights. Hubby isn't sure if he needs his smart coat! Thanks. We go in November for 14 days.

[Ladyshopper23]

It was very casual when we cruised in June/July, a lot of people didn't even change out of what they were wearing during the day. We did, but I tended to wear linen trousers with a vaguely nice top! My husband had chinos and a polo shirt or a shirt (he's a shirt fanatic though, any excuse!).

The food was ok. Not marvellous, not terrible, just kind of middling. At breakfast, it was the standard buffet fare, but there was no separate egg station or hot dishes to order, so pretty much the same things available every day.

Lunch was buffet with a couple of cooked options that you would order. Some days, there wasn't a veggie option within this (I am gluten free and vegetarian, so had to do pre-orders for this reason, but if you happen to be veggie it's something to bear in mind). The best lunch was the day we had the outdoor grill up on the open deck.

Dinner was always 3 options - 1 meat, 1 fish and 1 veggie. My husband had the fish quite often, and said that although they called the dishes different thing, it was basically very similar every time.

We're new to river cruising, this was only our second river cruise. We did our first one in April with Avalon, and the food on there was absolutely head and shoulders above the food on APT Travelmarvel Vega. The majority of people on there were from Australia and New Zealand, and had been onboard for a week already before we got on. A lot we spoke to thought the food was pretty basic and samey too. When we were docked in Amsterdam overnight on our last night we chose to eat out just for something different.

We also spoke to people who'd cruises with Travelmarvel before, and they all said the food/choices had seriously declined. Not sure if they're trying to save money or something. I had an issue with the hairdryer (didn't have one in the cabin, they found one which then broke halfway through the cruise) and the hotel manager said he wasn't even allowed to use petty cash to go out and buy a replacement (three cabins had reported broken hairdryers).

Overall we had a great cruise, and as I said, the food wasn't terrible. We were perhaps spoilt by going on Avalon before, and expecting a similar level from everyone else.

[Frikki]

We are on TM Vega right now and there is an egg station at breakfast. 
There are also one or two things different each morning.  

Edited August 10 by Frikki

[Ladyshopper23]

On 8/10/2024 at 10:14 PM, Frikki said:

We are on TM Vega right now and there is an egg station at breakfast. 
There are also one or two things different each morning.  

 

There were a LOT of complaints on our cruise about the lack of egg station and general lack of choices, so I wonder if they've done something about it?

Great to hear there is an egg station back. I even took a photo of the empty area with the electric hob on it to write up in my blog (details in my signature, although I've not actually written up this trip yet).

Hope you're having a great cruise. 🙂

[reeves35]

We cruised on Vega and Polaris last August and there was an omelet station every day not that I used it.  I rarely eat large breakfasts on cruises just sticking with cereals and toast.  I try not to eat more for breakfast or lunch than I would at home. 

 

I was kind of proud that after 4 weeks in Europe last year, including 2 weeks on TM, I came home at the same weight I left and that is after drinking at least 2 or 3 wines every day and having a large dinner every night.... lots of walking definitely helps too!