GCT Xmas Market river cruise

[hybrn8]

Basel to Amsterdam looks interesting. Have never used GCT. Have taken river cruises on Viking and self-drive barge cruises in France. The little boats GCT uses look just okay - I prefer the boats with hotel-room type cabins instead of those pokey rooms with sofas. They look very 'tight'! Anyone with any experience on one of these boats and/or this particular cruise - give me your thoughts, please. Finally, I couldn't get website to let me price the trip without their air - we use miles so assume there is some credit given for that. Also, did you book direct with GCT or thru an agency? I much prefer the latter but am open to ideas. Many thanks, folks!!

[nbevins]

GCT can only book their own trips--no travel agency..Their airfare is usually very reasonable--so unless you have tons of miles you may want to save them for a different future trip?? Have fun

[hybrn8]

We go early, stay later and don't use NE gateways so we would only take one of their trips if we could use our miles. But, the bigger concern is the comfort/layout of the boats themselves = like I said, we were happy with Viking.......

[WonderMan3]

We go early, stay later and don't use NE gateways so we would only take one of their trips if we could use our miles. But, the bigger concern is the comfort/layout of the boats themselves = like I said, we were happy with Viking.......

 

The cabins are small compared to an ocean cruise cabin, but honestly when I took this Basel to Amsterdam cruise, I was hardly in my cabin at all. The majority of the days were spent touring at the various ports, and the evenings were taken up by dinner and then ship entertainment (musicians, port talks, crew show, etc.).

 

The beds themsleves were extremely comfortable, and I didn't feel cramped. When they were turned into the couches during the day, those were pretty hard and not something you'd want to sit on for a long time.

 

There was no issue with storage. The cabin had enough closets, drawers, and under the bed space to store everything I brought and all the souvenirs I bought as well as my cabin mate.

 

I suppose if you are someone who does not want to socialize at all and likes to spend a lot of time in your cabin then these might not be comfortable for you. If you just want to make sure it's a place you will be comfortable sleeping in then you should be just fine.

 

Oh, and the cruise itself was great. I took it in 2005, and from what I've seen the itinerary hasn't changed. If you have any other questions about the trip feel free to ask.

[AZPam]

Basel to Amsterdam looks interesting. Have never used GCT. Have taken river cruises on Viking and self-drive barge cruises in France. The little boats GCT uses look just okay - I prefer the boats with hotel-room type cabins instead of those pokey rooms with sofas. They look very 'tight'! Anyone with any experience on one of these boats and/or this particular cruise - give me your thoughts, please. Finally, I couldn't get website to let me price the trip without their air - we use miles so assume there is some credit given for that. Also, did you book direct with GCT or thru an agency? I much prefer the latter but am open to ideas. Many thanks, folks!!

 

We are doing the Basel to Amsterdam trip on GCT for the second time Dec 1st! Can you tell that I am excited? :D Actually, there are 20 of us, all women, and all looking forward to some major shopping in the Christmas Markets.

 

As for the trip, it really is fun. My mom and I are using our air miles and I think they gave us a $650 credit. We also get our own insurance so that saved some money too, and we got better insurance. If you have to cancel with GCT at the last minute, the will only give you credit for another trip and I would rather have my money back, just as an FYI. It's kind of a pain to book thru GCT but there really aren't any other options. Once you finally get somebody on the phone, they are very nice to work with, but I spent over an hour on hold last week.

 

I'd rather have a nicer room too, but honestly, how much time do you spend in there on this trip? We were so busy last time it didn't make any difference. Beds were actually very nice and comfy, bath was fine too, so honestly no complaints. My only complaint was the food and that was just mostly because I PERSONALLY didn't care for the selection. More of a picky eater and didn't care for all the fish and foul selections. Food is very subjective though, and everything they had that I did like, I liked a lot.

[hybrn8]

Just got off the phone with GCT and they gave me a price of $1650/pax for the top deck cabins - the best place to be on the rivers, I think. We have to book with them, as you told me, but there are some savings to be had if we give them name of friend(s) who have travelled with them before.

We have done a Xmas market trip and it is GREAT!! For the shoppers out there - here's a hint: take hard-sided luggage as many of the trinkets which you must purchase are so fragile that breakage is a real problem! We stuffed our treasures into boot toes and sneakers and a shoe box I found somewhere along the way. Everything nestled nicely in our tee shirts and underwear! Clean, of course.........

The cabin comfort is primarily a concern at night and it is reassuring that the beds are good. As far as the food goes, we like to eat in local restaurants or at the markets as they have such wicked yummies.

Finally, this trip appeals as it has many overnights in cities with markets - if you find yourself overnighting in an area without a market (and that happened twice on Viking trip which went from Vienna to Regensburg and was superb), ask the concierge/tour leaders where there are nearby towns holding markets. Virtually any town of consequence has a market. We just jumped on local trains and off we went. I prefer the markets at night - just more magical.

[rogerdawhip]

You won't be disappointed. I've been on 7 GCT river trips, including the one with your itinerary. I am 6'2" and the beds are very comfortable. I enjoy the top cabins also. You won't be able to use the balcony much on the Xmas cruise but the floor to ceiling windows are great.

[micked10@earthlink.net]

I am curious as to what items are displayed at the Xmas Markets? I am assuming you will see many, many nativity sets but can you give me an idea of what else is available?

Thanks,

micked10

[AZPam]

Really kind of depends on what you are looking for. Lots of glass ornaments, lots of wood type ornaments and decorations, like you said the nativity scenes, clothing, flowers, food, etc. I'll try to post a few of my pics of different booths.

[micked10@earthlink.net]

thanks AZPam.

Your pictures are really pretty. They give me a good idea of what to expect. Thanks for responding.

micked10

[hello]

AZPam, I've enjoyed reading about your Christmas Market cruises. We would like to do a Christmas Market cruise in 2009 and I have a question for you -- as we live so far away, and will probably not go again, would a back-to-back cruise -- with 2 different itineraries have been too much for you to do when you went? I realize that everyone is different -- but we would like to see as many markets in different countries as we could. We definitely want to do the German markets, but would like to enjoy some others as well.

 

Thank you.

 

P.S. Loved the photo's!!

[AZPam]

AZPam, I've enjoyed reading about your Christmas Market cruises. We would like to do a Christmas Market cruise in 2009 and I have a question for you -- as we live so far away, and will probably not go again, would a back-to-back cruise -- with 2 different itineraries have been too much for you to do when you went? I realize that everyone is different -- but we would like to see as many markets in different countries as we could. We definitely want to do the German markets, but would like to enjoy some others as well.

 

Thank you.

 

P.S. Loved the photo's!!

 

I'll tell you, when I went a couple of years ago with my Mom, I was pretty tired by the end of the trip. We did the 3 day pre trip, so were gone a total of 15 days. I think it would depend on the itinerary for me whether I thought a back to back would be doable. Some of the trips have a few sail days worked in and if that was the case, it might work for me.

 

The reason we like the Rhine trip is that we get a lot of stops in different countries. Start in Switzerland with the 3 day pre trip, then hit France, Germany and Holland. This year they are offering a 3 day post trip to Brussels, so that would be another option too. There really aren't any sail days on this itinerary, just a half day sail to see the castles but then by mid afternoon we were off and running again. We looked at the 10 day trips and really didn't feel there were enough stops for us, but I would LOVE to go to Austria on those itineraries. I do feel that GCT really has some great options and they kept us totally entertained and busy before. Here I was one of the youngest on the boat, and I was more than ready for bed at the end of the day!

 

I would suggest doing a pre trip with whatever you end up doing. That way you can get used to the time difference before the real fun starts. I'll try to post a few more pics of the markets. If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help.

[hello]

Thank you, I appreciate all of your thoughts and comments! Your photo's made me feel as though I was right there with the ornaments -- nice feeling!!