MS Bolero, 4/13/07

[joek]

Just thought I'd post again about our 4/13 cruise Holland and Belgium.

 

buddawn - are you back yet? How was your March cruise on the Bolero?

[joek]

buddawn

 

I just realized that you were on a long cruise on the Bolero and will just be getting home. Hope that you will post you comments.

 

Joe

[budddawn]

JOEK: Our cruise was just fantastic, excellent ship & crew, but the food was just so so, most of us feel that they skimped on quality. Cabins were quite large, plenty of room and storage. Showers were tiny, you couldn't move both arms at once, and if you bend over, you opened the door. Everything on the ship was very clean, and the whole crew were just wonderful. I was very impressed with GATE 1, in fact about 14/16 of us are thinking of doing thier China trp next March. There should be 4 cruise directors aboard on your cruise, and you should request Rolland 1st and Rudy 2nd. In fact, INSIST on one or the other. You can try to do this in advance by "E" mailing them at msbollero@gate1.com . Don't know if this will work tho. I will check this thread every couple of days, so if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. BUDD

[joek]

budddawn,

 

Glad you had a good trip, thanks for the post. We're looking forward to ours in April. I will write to MSBollero and ask for Rolland or Rudy. We found on the two river cruises we took that some of the meals were not up to expectations, but being fairly easygoing, we didn't make a fuss, we just told the waiter what was wrong. They always offered something else. Our cruise is only 7 days so we see no problem.

 

The main thing is the ship and staff, and we're glad you found them good. We have my son and DIL with us and being their first trip to Europe, we are hoping it will be memorable. I believe that wine is provided at dinner, not sure about beer (my preference) but I'm sure they can provide whatever we want.

 

Gate1 doesn't list many optional tours so we hope that their included tours cover the main attractions.

 

Will ask more later.

 

Joe

[budddawn]

Beer was included at dinner on our cruise, most often I had three, two with dinner and the third I carried out to the Lounge. Try to sit at table 6, 7, or 8 as she was the best in the dinning room; also, if you give the bar maid a ten early on, when she serves you your beer, you will never be without one.

[ltcTN]

I just booked a Gate 1 trip on the MS Bolero 26 Dec 2007 on the Danube. Any other insight on the ship or crew? Who owns the ship?

[joek]

ltcTN,

Somewhere in these threads I read that it was a German ship owner who leases to the tour companies. Gate 1 sells to the US market but there may be people from Canada and the UK. Hopefully there will be other countries represented as well.

 

buddawn,

Thanks for your comments and tips, always helpful. Does the Bolero have a coffee/tea station 24/7? I don't use it much but my DIL loves her tea...at all hours. She can bring a little water heater gadget.

 

Joe

[steamboats]

ItcTN,

 

The MS Bolero is owned by a Munich investment company called Premicon AG. In 2007 she is chartered to the German cruise company Nicko-Tours and maybe sub-chartered by Gate 1 (not at the same time). Premicon does also own the Avalon ships and some Viking ships and some Vantage ships.

 

Here´s a list of all Premicon ships (sorry German only)

 

http://www.premicon.de/pdf/Uebersicht_Schiffe_0612.pdf

 

steamboats

[joek]

steamboats,

 

 

Thank you for the information.

 

Joe Kluepfel

 

PS My grandparents came from near Wurtzburg. I've been close on a tour but never visited my relatives there.

[CBHinkle]

Buddawn,

Thanks for your input on the MS Bolero. I have a few questions that I hope you can answer. Is there a hot tub? Is there a refrigerator? Did they furnish soap, shampoo etc.? How did people dress? Is there room under beds for luggage? How strenuous were the excursions?

Anythine else you can think of would be helpful. I know these things seem insignificant but a girl's gotta ask. Thanks.

[steamboats]

Joe,

 

How can you "survive" in the US with your last name :D . What a great old Bavarian last name! On our first cruise on the Delta Queen we met a lot of people with German last names and some asked us how to pronounce them in German.

 

BTW I lived close to Wuerzburg for 10 years (but that´s 29 years ago) in a little city called Karlstadt (city of Charles).

 

And I just talked to DH - you won´t believe it - we do know a woman bearing your last name and she´s from the Wuerzburg area.

 

steamboats

[joek]

We leave in two weeks....the days seem to drag along before a trip. Buddawn, any more hints and tips? Answers to CBHinkle's questions? I tried to write to the Bolero with the address you had but the dreaded "Mailer Deamon" reported it unknown.

 

Steamboats, there are a lot of Kluepfels here in the USA, many that I've contacted but we cannot find common ancestors. My direct relatives actually live in Steinfeld, and it is a fairly common name in Bavaria. I even got an e-mail from one that said there were over 200 in his area....and none were related. I lost my hard drive a few months ago and didn't have a backup of my family tree program. I have all of the information in a printout but will have to re-enter it into the program...what a bummer.

 

Back to cruising....April weather history in Holland indicate cool temperatures so we'll be layering and take windbreakers and umbrellas. Don't like ponchos, legs and feet seem to get wetter.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Joe,

Hope you have a great time on the MS Bolero. We are booked for October and look forward to hearing about your trip. I hope Buddawn posts some more information for you before you leave.

 

Cynthia

[marycang]

Joe K

When did you get your cruise docs? Did they come by e-mail or snail mail?

We are leaving the U.S. on May 2, but our Gate 1 M.S. Bolero cruise isn't until May 19. I'm concerned about not getting the docs B4 we leave. Everytime I talk to someone at Gate 1 and I tell them that, it is like the first time they've been told. Doesn't make me feel very secure. They won't even be exact about when the docs will be sent.

 

Thanks, Mary

[jettaleea]

No coffee and tea 24/7.

 

There is a jacuzzi in the exercise room.

 

Soap and shampoo are the same. Lux liquid.

 

People were very casual on our Gate 1 Christmas markets tour.

 

There is a stocked minibar in the room. They might empty it if you ask.

 

Plenty of room for suitcase storage under the beds.

 

There was a fair amount of walking on some of our tours. Not sure where you'll be so can't ask specifically. But if you talk to your tour directors they'll help you with this.

 

Beer and wine flow freely at dinner without paying anyone for it. Never a shortage.

 

jettaleea

[joek]

We haven't gotten any documents. I called our TA and they were told by Gate1 that the documents would be sent to them this past week. We booked our own air so really the only thing we need is something for boarding the ship....like something that says we have reservations? I only spoke once to someone at Gate1, some months after making reservations with our TA. I got just two words, Don't worry!

 

jettaleea, Thanks for the details on board .

 

Joe

[cmthomas]

Joe, my recollection of the five river cruises the we have been on (none of them with Gate 1 however) is that there are no "tickets" as such. Since the total passenger complement is so small they just have a list and check off your name. Others may have had different experiences with different lines.

 

It is certainly nothing like the "cattle call" that you go through getting on an ocean cruise ship!

 

Clarence:)

[joek]

Clarence, you're certainly right. On the two Grand Circle cruises, at the gangway, they saw our name tags and lead us right to our cabin. Oh....first handing us glasses of wine. I have the reservation sheet from the TA but I sure would like to have an acknowledgment from Gate1. I'm sure we'll get something next week. We traveled with Gate1 many years ago, land tours, but don't remember the paper work.

[marycang]

Joe, now you are scaring me, as we leave 17 days before our cruise. You leave in less than 2 weeks and you don't have any docs from Gate 1?? According to their website docs are e-mailed 21 days prior to departure. Doesn't look like that happened for you. See:

 

http://www.gate1travel.com/terms.HTML#DOCUMENTS

 

Mary

[budddawn]

Sorry everyone, but we had to come down to Maryland and didn't get our dial-up renewed until today but JETTALEEA was correct in all of the answers.

 

CBHINKLE : Depending on the water level, just getting off of the boat can be difficult to someone with a cane, and at some ports the buses can be over a block away over cobble stones, and most walking tours are at least one to two hours long, which is not plesant if it starts to rain.

[CBHinkle]

Thanks to all who posted. We'll always welcome additional tidbits if any of you remember anything else.

[crazydago]

We are thinking of taking the Thanksgiving river cruise on the Ms Bolero through Gate1. And the information I have read on this post has been very useful. However, I have a couple questions that I hope can be answered before we make our decision.

 

I read on another post about the smoking on board. Do they allow smoking in all areas of the ship? What I am wanting to know is it like being in a smoke filled lounge. I am not a smoker and am actually allergic to smoke. Therefore if they allow smoking in the restuarant and lounge then this probably not the cruise for me.

 

The other question was regarding the food. I understand that it isn't the greatest but wanted to know if you order from a menu? Do you have choices?

 

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

Ronnie:)

[H2Otstr]

I am going on that trip. There are designated smoking areas, usually outside, on the boat. I also am highly alergic to smoke.

[joek]

I have just gotten my travel documents. I don't see anything in them about non-smoking rules, but the Gate1 catalog specifically says that smoking is only permitted in a designated area on the open Sun deck. I'm sure that there will be someone smoking in their cabin, hope it's not near me, or they keep their windows closed. We had that problem on our last ocean cruise, smoke from adjacent cabins blew into ours from the veranda.

 

I've only been on 2 river cruises, Grand Circle, but I believe that all of the cruises are similar. Breakfast is a buffet with hot and cold food plus a daily special hot choice. Lunch often has a salad buffet and a soup or entree, no choice other than vegetarian which I think is always available. Dinner, there is usually a choice of meat or fish, or vegetarian, they either pass around a check-off sheet at the previous lunch or dinner.

[jettaleea]

Our Gate 1 Christmas marts cruise had a breakfast buffet of hot and cold foods, quite extensive.

 

Lunch was meat-eater or vegetarian. No buffets.

 

Dinner had a meat, fish, and vegetarian option. They gave you a menu and you ordered from it like a normal cruise. No options on appetizers though.

 

jettaleea