Tuesday, September 4, 2012
River Cruise Critique
REVIEW OF VIKING IDUN GRAND EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE--AMSTERDAY TO BUDAPEST--AUGUST 2012
By Rick Weiler
EMBARKATION
Excellent: Not sure of the Idun’s dock location prior to leaving Hilton Amsterdam. Spotted boat right away as taxi drove up to “primary” docking location. There were 4 young crewmembers in red Viking shirts waiting to help us with our luggage. Boarded right by small purser’s desk and immediately checked in. No line. We arrived at boat about 12:30pm. Our luggage was kept right there by the reception area as rooms are not available until 3:00pm. Exactly at 3pm, an announcement was made that cabins were ready for us. Our luggage had already been taken to the cabin before our arrival there. Lunch was served while we waited for rooms to be ready. It consisted of small salad bar, ham & cheese sandwiches, and pasta and was at Aquavit lounge. A pianist played during our wait.
CABIN
Very Good: At first sight we wondered where we would put all the stuff we brought. Three 50 lb checked bags and two carryon bags of stuff. We got everything put away and all empty bags fit nicely under the bed. Ask for extra hangers as there were only 10. They brought 11 more right away after I made a request. We are pleased with size of the room. Actually, much larger than balcony cabin we had on RCL Oasis of the Seas. Bed is very comfortable. Air conditioning works very well with 90+ degree days we are having. (Something I cannot say for rest of the boat. More about that later.) Bathroom size is adequate. I like the shower but larger people may have problem due to size. Bath towels are large and new. The bathroom sink is small and would be difficult to do any hand washing of clothing items. Large new flat screen tv above dresser across of the bed. Frig is nice and cold as had some ice form in a water bottle. Will hold 4 bottles of wine at a time if need be. Safe is nice size and just below eye level so you can easily see how to open it and then see what is in it. Balcony is small but plenty of room to sit out on it. Balcony door can be very easily opened. Not like on ocean going cruise ships where you need lots of muscle. Glass sliding doors are floor to ceiling and full width of the cabin so views out are excellent. I love the balcony. No electric outlets in bath which I did not like. Have to use hair dryer elsewhere in cabin. Lighting to use big mirror next to tv is inadequate for makeup or doing hair. Three 110 volt outlets: one on each side of dresser and one on side of bed nearest bath. Three European type outlets: one on each side of dresser and one on side of bed by balcony. You will need to bring the two pole adapters for these. I can plug my laptop into these as it can use 110 or 220 volts. Only real problem with the cabin (and it is a huge problem) is walls are very thin. If you neighbor has his tv on, it is like it is in your room not theirs. You can hear conversations sometimes also. Viking has great design idea for their drawers. When you close them the last last couple of inches, they close QUIETLY by themselves. No slamming of drawers that can be heard in next cabin like on every other cruise ship we have sailed on. This is fantastic innovation. Big kudos for it. On deck 2, I would not want to be in cabin #219 as it is across from small ice machine. People staying in it did not have a problem with it though. Our cabin (#231) was 4th one from back of the boat. We felt no vibrations from propulsion system and very little noise either while cruising. Was a little noise from side thrusters during docking but it did not last long. On deck 2 our balcony was only 4 feet up from river. There are cabins on deck 3 and they are more expensive. View from deck 2 is more than adequate. Save your money.
Cabin Stewardess/Steward
Outstanding: Ours was named Ruxandra. She had a great personality and was a real sweetheart of a person. As with most cruises, the cabins are cleaned in the morning. She did a very thorough job every day and attended to any requests immediately. While we were at dinner she returned to turn the bed down and replace used towels.
BAR SERVICE & DRINK QUALITY
Excellent: Bartender is named Roman and there are normally two waitresses (during cocktail hour there is at least 2 more who go down to the dining room at 7pm). Roman is very nice and gave me a discount on drinks several times. We brought our own bottles of wine on board which we purchased in Amsterdam. We normally sit at the bar for pre dinner cocktails and he always offers to open our wine, pour it, and place it in a cooler. Our glasses never get completely empty as he is very attentive even though he gets busy making other drinks. The waitresses are attractive young ladies and do a similar good job. Interesting how they pour wines. They have small carafes they pour wine into and serve you with the carafe and a glass. You pour it. They get about 3 pours from a bottle so you get more wine than you do per service in the states (about 4 glasses per bottle there). This carafe of house Austrian white or red wine costs 4.20 Euros/$5.25. These wines are served complementary with both lunch and dinner. They have 3 Austrian white house wines to pick from, 3 reds, and a Rose. The white wine has no oak so definitely not like a CA chardonnay. The Austrian red wine is like our merlots. Both are not bad. Hard liquor drinks are nice sized except my martini last night was quite small. The have a Premium Beverage Package you can purchase but it is pretty expensive at around $34 per day.
VIKING LOUNGE
Very Good: Windows all the way around it so view is great. Not enough seating when everyone is up there, as was last night at Captain’s reception. They bring in folding chairs that is kind of tacky for a bar. There is a pianist who plays during lunch and cocktail hours who is very good. Air conditioning is not enough to keep it cool especially when full of people and with warm weather we have been having. I wanted to wear a sports coat last night to Captain’s reception but was way too hot up there. I did see 3 gentlemen wearing jackets however. I wear long sleeve shirts and perspire. Ambiance in lounge is very nice. This is where they have their lectures also. They have big screens at front and back for multi-media presentations plus smaller screens on each side of the bar. Speaker sound is good even for us older folks.
DINING ROOM
Ambiance
Terrible: I’m NOT talking about the food or service. I’m talking about “the room“. It is EXTREMELY noisy with everyone talking. You have to yell to talk over the people at other tables which leads to a shouting match. Tables are for 6 & 8. Too big! First night we were at table for 6 but no one in middle two seats and I could not hear what our table mates were saying. This absolutely ruins the whole dining experience as far as I am concerned. The noise wears me out and I am very glad to leave after dinner. I wish there was an alternative place to dine with some atmosphere, peace, & quiet, but there is none. You have to eat when they say, ie, normally noon or 7pm. No room service is available. Once again, floor to ceiling windows on both sides of the room making it good to sightsee while you are dining. After dark, the lighting in the dining room is very nice, like a dining room should be. You are NOT dining under spot lights. Again when room is full, it can get warm. Napkins are white cloth that leave lint on black pants/jeans/skirts. So take a lint roller with you. Again, inadequate air conditioning in dining room. I was perspiring with just long sleeve shirt. Wearing a sports coat (which I wanted to) would not be possible. NO dress code enforcement. Most people complied but some wore shorts and t-shirts.
Food
Excellent: Menu consists of “Starters” which include a couple appetizers, soup, and salad. Three entrees, one being a vegetarian selection (pasta or risotto for example). Several desserts selections. Menu changes daily but you can always get Cesar salad, salmon, chicken breast, or sirloin steak. Waiters seem surprised that I want an appetizer AND Caesar salad but they gladly bring it. We usually like one of the 3 entrée choices that change daily so have not tried to alternative entrees. Appetizers could be better, for example, crab cake was mostly mashed potatoes and could barely taste any crab meat. Never seen crab cake with potatoes! Entrees have been very good. Surf & Turf consisted of sliced sirloin steak (was med rare just like we asked for) and one small shrimp on top. Was expecting a much larger shrimp. For my birthday I asked the chef if he would make us veal Parmesan with side of pasta. He said his kitchen was small but he could still do it for me. It was the biggest portions of veal parmesan I have ever seen and very good too. Lunch menu also has 3 entrees to pick from and a salad bar in middle of the dining room with several salad choices, meats & cheeses, and a pasta station where a cook will make the pasta for you. My only complaint is with their salad dressings. Might be a European thing but they sometimes seem to be watered down. Not thick like dressings we have in States. At lunch they also have a small buffet set up on terrace on front part of boat. Small salad bar, sandwiches, maybe a pasta, and desserts. There is iced tea (sweetened and unsweetened), juices, & sodas at both places or complimentary beer or wines with both lunch and dinner. I have been disappointed with the desserts. Europe has some of the best pastries and desserts but could be better on this boat. They’re ok, but I was expecting much better. On other hand, the vegetables and fruit has been super fresh of great quality. Much better than large ocean going cruise ships. The eggs that are cooked to order for breakfast are also very fresh. Pastas are excellent. I had heard before coming on this cruise that Viking’s portions can be a bit small. I found this not normally to be a problem, and if I wanted more, all I had to do was ask. Chef George Pereira and his staff do a FANTASTIC job.
Service
Excellent: These kids work very hard and really try to make you happy and satisfied. Some are even entertaining will bring a smile to your face. On a few occasions the waiter/waitress wanted to take our orders before we had been served wine or had much time to look at the menu. Menu was posted in front of dining room all day long so it was not a big surprise or something you had to study. I simply ask them to come back in a few minutes. No problem except for one evening. The Hotel Director took care of problem I was having. The bar waiters/waitresses come to the dining room during dinner to serve the wines. I can almost guarantee your glass will never get dry! Just discovered last night that they have white wine glasses AND red wine glasses. Service is very efficient with little wait time between courses and food is served hot.
ENTERTAINMENT
Good: Dari plays the piano several times during the day in the Viking Lounge, notably during lunch hour, during cocktail hour and after dinner unless there is a show. He is very good with large array of music and sings while playing after dinner, but that about extent of entertainment. Sometimes there are lectures during the day. After dinner there is some sort of game in the Viking Lounge (for example, Newly Wed Game or passenger talent show) or local entertainers brought on board while docked. There is a small library that also has some board games or puzzles. There is a daily USA Times 4 page news letter in several languages. They also have a few things for sale. I would not call it a gift shop, just things on the wall across from reception desk. At 7am every morning there is a stretch class but no workout facility which we really miss. This was our biggest problem with river cruise. You can walk on the upper deck when it is open. Due to low bridges it was closed for 5 days of the cruise. You have to remember this is not a large ship with facilities for entertainers. Some excellent local group were brought on board 4 evenings to entertain us. TV channels were adequate. There were a couple movie channels, CNN World News, ESPN, British news channel plus others I can’t remember. You could also see weather forecasts for ports coming up which was nice.
First half of cruise the ESPN channel showed USA sports news and last half was international sports. We both had big issue with having to watch CNN instead of FOX NEWS CHANNEL. Most ocean cruise ships now have Fox News so wish Viking could also. Probably a satellite coverage issue.
PRGRAM DIRECTOR & STAFF
Excellent: Viking calls it Program Director where ocean cruise lines call it Cruise Director. Seems to be same thing basically. Luk, our PD, was very good and a way of making passengers laugh even when we had the 2 day delay in Frankfurt putting us constantly in catch up mode. When we did leave Frankfurt his staff had to work even harder replanning our tours. Unfortunately, this resulted in some long bus rides to ports ahead of the boat. So the boat could continue moving while tours took place. There were some very long days associated with the bus rides. We elected not to tour several days because of this and enjoyed staying on the boat cruising the rivers. We would have liked to see these cites had we not been delayed. When on tours a staff member was on every bus in case someone had a problem. There was also a local guide for each bus group. Without exception, these guides were very good and spoke good English. Tours started and ended right on time. Buses were all very nice. We all carried listening devices around our neck and ear piece. This way we could hear our guide while on walking tours. This worked very well. Jessica was part of staff and also our concierge. If anyone wanted a dinner reservation while in port city or had any problems, she would take care of it. She arranged taxis on disembarkation day in Budapest for those of us who did not have Viking transfers. The Program Director and his staff worked very hard and had other jobs besides. They helped carry luggage on embarkation & disembarkation days, as just one example.
DISEMBARKATION
Excellent: If you had a Viking transfer to airport or Prague, you were given a time to leave the boat. If you were traveling independently, then you told them what time you wanted to leave the boat. Regardless, you had to be out of cabins by 9am so they could be prepared for next cruise. If you wanted, you could stay on boat all day and even have lunch. You could leave your luggage on boat and go tour the city if you wanted. They were VERY flexible. You had to have your luggage outside cabin 30 minutes before you wanted to leave boat or 9am at latest. I ask for taxi at 9:30am to take us to Hilton. There was no line at reception when I checked out. Our taxi was not a cab but Mercedes sedan. Cost for ride to Hilton was about $12 so very reasonable. (I used same woman to take us to the airport the next morning. $36 including tip) Car was early and Viking staff members carried our luggage out to the car. Gerald, the Hotel Director, came out to say bye to us. Disembarkation could not have been better!
SUMMARY
This Viking river cruise was very enjoyable but not what we are used to. I think we would have enjoyed it more if not for the delay at Frankfurt due to bridge construction over the Main River which closed a lock we needed to transit. Obviously, not Viking’s fault and they did the best they could to catch up.
Our main concerns with river cruising are mostly ship size related: 1) no workout facilities, 2) single seating dinners at set time, 3) very noisy dining room, 4) thin cabin walls, 5) large tables in dining room, 6) no room service, 7) public areas were warm.
Advantages are: 1) smooth ride so no seasickness problem if you are prone to that, 2) nice new cabins with balconies available on Viking now, 3) smaller more intimate crew, 4) some incredible scenery as you cruise on river, 5) get to tour and see many beautiful European villages and cities, 6) less than 200 passengers and no kids on our cruise at least.
ABOUT REVIEWER: This was our 70th cruise but first river cruise. We have been on many of the ocean cruise lines. Lately we have been doing longer cruises on Regent Seven Seas Cruises, a luxury line so admittedly we are spoiled. Most people love river cruising so don’t let my critique dissuade you. Hopefully, it will be helpful however.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Sunday--Flight home & Photos of friends
Sunday, September 2nd
AA79 left
Heathrow airport right on time and was half hour early arriving at DFW. It was a 9 ½ hour flight. Our seats in business class were last row
before coach and there was a baby in first row of coach. They always find us! I still managed to get a nap after my filet
for lunch. We arrived at gate in DFW at 7pm . We
now have Global Entry cards so did not have to wait in the long lines at
Immigration and Customs. Only hang up
was 30 minute wait for our luggage to come our on carousel. We grabbed a taxi ($70 with tip- OUCH!) and
was home few minutes after 8pm . We were two beat puppies but had a few things
to do before bedtime which was 10pm . I woke up at 4:30am
as my body thought I was still in Europe . I got up at 5am
as had lots to do and Rebecca was up few minutes later making coffee. Got my American flag out at crack of dawn for
Labor Day.
I worked on
trying to transfer my photos from laptop to desktop all morning and still this
evening have not been able to do it.
Flash drives would not do it so I went to electronics store and got a
transfer cable and that was useless also.
Any hints?? I did download photos
from my small camera that I carried in evenings so will put those at bottom of
this posting. Will post my cruise
critique tomorrow, hopefully!
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/FWKNtTXMVc8Sp6ir6
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Sunday--Trip Home
Sunday, September 2nd
Heading Home
Last night we had a great dinner at place called “21” just couple blocks from the Hilton. Our club lounge concierge recommended it. They had traditional Hungarian dishes. I had Hungarian veal goulash and Rebecca enjoyed chicken paprikish. Lots of food and very good. Our waiter was entertaining and helpful. Most young people here speak very good English.
We were up with the chickens this morning at 5am. The same lady we had yesterday was to pick us up in her Mercedes at 6am for trip to airport. She talked non-stop the whole way. Very attractive woman but about drove us crazy. She was right on time and we arrived at Budapest airport at 6:35. The check-in lines at British Air were long but I quickly located the Club Europe (first class) line and there was only 1 couple ahead of us there. The nice BA agent checked our bags all the way to DFW and gave us boarding passes for both the BA flight (Budapest to Heathrow) and AA flight (Heathrow to DFW). The line for security was not very long and then no line at passport control. So only took 25 minutes to be at gate and it was now 7am. We are waiting in the clubs lounge now and will be going to our gate shortly.
Heathrow: Now sitting in Admirals Club at Heathrow airport. Our BA flight here was great. Left right on time. We were served a very good breakfast consisting of: Scrambled eggs, ham, big sausage, potatoes, breads & pastries. We decided to have some French champagne with breakfast. I told the male purser that Rebecca was a retired F/A so he chatted with her quite a while. Later he brought us a big bowl of heated nuts and more champagne. The airplane was an Airbus 320 with 3 seats on both sides of the aisle. In Club Europe (1st class) the center seat was left empty. After landing we had parked on ramp so had a short bus ride to the terminal. 1st class had first bus to themselves so no crowding as usual. In the terminal we had a long walk following “Connections” signs so it was quite easy. This time we did not have to change terminals. Finally came to another security check of our carry on bags but no line there. Next was AA check-in (again). A security guy ask questions about our travel in Europe and then agents rechecked out tickets. From there into the “masses of people” in the terminal. We stopped at a Harrods duty free shop to get a gift for Jim & Bobbie, our neighbors, who always watch our house for us while traveling. Sure am glad we have access to this Admirals Club for our 4 hour wait to catch the flight to DFW. Hour and a half to go before our Boeing 777 leaves the gate for home. I wasn’t planning on sleeping but am tired as did not sleep well last night. I have been working on the critique of our cruise while sitting here. Should have it done by tomorrow sometime. I warn you it is long.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Saturday--Day 2 in Budapest
Saturday, September 1st
Budapest, Hungry
The fun is over! We have to leave the boat today and they want us out of our cabins by 9am. They have to get them ready for the next bunch of cruisers. After getting dressed we headed to dining room for breakfast and some more good byes to new friends. When back in cabin we finished last minute packing and sat our bags outside the door so crew could take them for us. I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 9:30 for short drive across river and up to the Hilton. Unlike the big cruise ships there are not dedicated bag people on the river boats. So there were some dining room waiters, cruise director’s staff, and just anyone who was not doing something else, carrying bags from rooms to dock.
Our female taxi driver showed up a few minutes early so off we went. I had stopped at purser’s desk and paid our bill earlier. There was no lines, no customs, or immigration so disembarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the Hilton at 10am and check-in was not until 2pm so desk guy said our room was not ready. We had been upgraded to the Executive Floor and he mentioned that we would be checking in later up there. So I decided to go up and see if we could get a room on side with beautiful view of the Danube and city below us. She told me all those rooms were booked but did give us a room and said there would not be an early check-in charge. With my “diamond” status with Hilton we usually get upgraded to Executive Floors. There they have complimentary breakfast in the morning, dessert snacks in the afternoon, and free drinks & hot canapés from 6pm to 8:30pm. I also get free internet. The hotel’s DSL is so fast compared to what I have had for the past 2 weeks on the boat. As you noticed, I uploaded Vienna and Budapest photos already. Hope you can see them on the link. Also note there are two new blog postings today.
It rained some this morning but stopped about noon so we went out to check out restaurants for dinner tonight. I had our concierge on boat make us a reservation at place for tonight. It is not far but there are quite a few steps down and then back up after dinner so decided not to go there. We found 5 or 6 alternate places fairly close by but not sure where we will go yet. Right next to hotel and chapel is a fair going on this weekend. Locals dressed in costumes of castle days. We had lunch at a little food stand. Shared a big sausage and some bread.
While I have been working on blog and doing some internet stuff, Rebecca has been resting her eyes. Now we will get ready for cocktails and dinner later. We need to pack what we have been wearing today and move some other stuff around. Want to get most of that done as same taxi woman is picking us up at 6am tomorrow.
Our British Air flight departs at 8:25 and will arrive London Heathrow at 10:05am (hour time change so flight is about 2 ½ hours). We will have 4 hours to wait for our American Airlines flight on the DFW airport. I upgraded our BA flight to first class and our AA flight will be in business class so trip home should be fairly painless. We are to land at DFW at 7:30pm.
There will be one more posting after we get back home. I am writing a critique of the cruise for our travel agent and think you might be interested in it also. Especially if you are ever thinking of doing a river cruise.
Stay tuned for that. My next blog will be in January 2013. We will be doing a 66 day cruise on Regent Cruises from Auckland, New Zealand to Beijing, China.
Friday--Day 1 in Budapest
Friday, August 31st
Budapest, Hungry
We had to be up early this morning as our tour was to start at 8:30am. Rebecca had to wash her hair (this takes more time than one would think) as she did not have time to wash it yesterday evening due to getting back on boat late. I spoke briefly again with Gerald and apologized for disturbing his dinner last evening. We got our cruise critique forms last night. I did not mark the dining or waiter evaluation down because I only had a problem with one individual, and I wanted him to know that.
Anyway, we boarded buses for a 4 hour driving tour of the cities of Buda and Pest (they are on opposite sides of the Danube. We stopped a few times for photos and had some free time up in the Castle District. The Hilton Hotel we are staying at tomorrow night is in the Castle District next to the Matthias Church. During our free time I went in to check on my room upgrade. It is a very nice hotel!
We are really impressed with Budapest. It has to be one of the most beautiful cities we have ever seen. One exception may be Salzberg, Austria on a previous trip to Europe. Our tour guide was very dramatic in telling us about Budapest and its history. There are 1.7 million people living in Budapest so is similar in size to Vienna. 1/6th of Hungary’s population live here. Our 4 hour tour was very thorough and covered all the major sights. It really is a lovely city.
We were back to ship at 12:30 just in time to eat AGAIN. They were cooking hamburgers outside which sounded good to about everyone by now. After lunch we did some more packing and mostly finished it. It takes a lot less time to pack at end of trip, just throw the stuff in. At 2:30 one of our boat’s staff took us on walking trip to Vaci Street. It is a pedestrian street lined with shops and cafes. We did not buy anything but enjoyed people watching. I have to admit Hungry has a lot of attractive young women. One of our group tripped and fell flat on her face resulting in bloody nose. Another in our group was a gynecologist so he helped with that.
This was last dinner of the cruise so I have coined it, “The Last Supper”. After dinner we were entertained for over an hour by a local Hungarian group of musicians and dancers. They were VERY, VERY good. After that we went up on top deck to see the lights of Budapest. Awesome!!
Photos--Budapest, Hungry
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/AJETpjwW3rgY1nnp7
Photos--Vienna, Austria
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/2VsTdKF2i857UYQV6
https://goo.gl/photos/2VsTdKF2i857UYQV6
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday--Vienna, Austria
Thursday, August 30th
Vienna, Austria
Vienna is the Capital of Austria and home to nearly 2 million people. This is ¼ of the population of the country. It has a high standard of living as the minimum wage is very high. The Cathedral of St Stephen, built between 1263 and 1511, is the symbol of the city with its 450 foot tower. The Danube Tower is 826 feet high and is one of the tallest buildings in Europe. With nearly 100 art museums and other cultural & historical sites, Vienna is one of the most popular tourist destinations.
We had arrived at our docking spot in Vienna the night before. At 9am today we met our friends, Susie & Fred, right at ramp onto our boat. They were in the suite next to us on our 72 day South America cruise beginning of this year so got to know them very well then. They now live in Vienna and Fred grew up here. We took them on a short tour of our boat before starting our “private” tour. Fred is 90 years young and they took us on a walking tour of Vienna that lasted all day. He wore me out!! He’s definitely my hero and Susie is a real sweetheart. At one point we were in a church that you could take an elevator about have way to very top of its dome but then you have MANY steps to climb to get to very top. I was huffing and puffing, looked back and Fred was right behind me. Fred gave us lots of history about the sights he had planned for us to see, and there were a lot of them. I took lots of photos but now a day later I have no idea what they are. Sorry about that. Without doubt, we had the BEST tour of Vienna then any of our boat mates. Thank you again Susie & Fred.
We were to be at Albertina Museum at 5pm to meet our bus to catch up with the boat. The boat left Vienna at 2pm and moved to Bratislavia, capital of country of Slavia. We were there early so had time to enjoy a beer at Mozart Café across from the museum. After saying goodbye to our friends, the bus pulled out exactly at 5pm. We arrived at dock in Bratislavia at 6:15 so had to rush to get ready for our 7pm dinner time. It was the Captain’s Farewell reception and dinner. We missed the reception part. At dinner we sat with a couple from Houston and one from Melbourne, Australia. Filet and lobster were the two non-vegetarian choices. I had a problem with our waiter. It is second time this particular waiter has tried to rush us. He had taken everyone’s request and then never came back to take mine. I got more than a little pissed off. Pardon my choice of words but they fit my disposition. I had asked the waited to send the Maitre d over but he did not tell him. So finally at 7:25 I went up to table where the Hotel Director and Captain were hosting some other passengers and ask if he could solve my problem. After relating my story, he apologized and said he would certainly take care of it. He charged into the kitchen (we were sitting just outside of it) and apparently chewed some tails. The waiter did not serve our table the rest of the evening. The Maitre d served us! I hesitated to bother Gerald, the Hotel Director, but this was my second run-in with this waiter. Mass dining at 7pm is one of the problems I have with river cruising. The other waiters and crew are fantastic.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Wednesday--Melk & Cruising Danube
Wednesday, August 29th
Melk, Austria
We arrived in Melk early this morning. I’m puzzled why they call it the “Blue Danube” because it is a yuky muddy brown. The main reason for this stop is to visit the “Stift Melk” or Melk Abbey. It used to be a castle and residence of the Austrian ruling Babenberg family until 1089AD when it became a Benedictine monastery. Monks have lived and worked here for more than 900 years and today there are still 30 monks here. The monastery has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the years. Currently, 750 students go to school here. As you will see in photos later, it is a massive but absolutely beautiful place. We left the boat at 9am, were bused a short ride up to the abbey, and then met our guide for an 1 ½ hour tour of it. There is a hall in the abbey that is 600 feet long. Also impressive was the 12 libraries with over 100,000 books, most dating back centuries ago. We were only allowed in two connecting libraries and no photos at all were allowed there. Non flash photos were allowed every place else. We eventually ended in the cathedral which was incredible. Viking had arranged an organ concert for us but we elected to leave and walk back through the village. We stopped at a café and sat outside as I wanted an Austrian beer. Definitely not as good as German beers but Austria is best known for their wines not beer. After that we continued a 15 minute walk back to our boat arriving just before lunch time. Outside at Aquavit Terrace the chef had prepared typical Austrian foods. I got some fried chicken, a brat, and some dessert. I carried it down to the dining room as Rebecca wanted a big salad. We sat with two couples from Sacramento.
It is now 2pm and we are leaving Melk. Next stop will be somewhere prior to Vienna to drop off passengers who will be going to an optional Mozart & Strauss Concert in Vienna. They will be bused there and boat will continue and arrive in Vienna later tonight. The concert folks can then join boat as we will be spending the night and tomorrow in Vienna. Another sunny day but warmer today. Back in the mid 80’s.
We are cruising past some more castles this afternoon through the Wachau Gorge which is a UNESCO protected historical area. It’s a valley lined with vineyards and is VERY beautiful. Our cruise director pointed out the sights and gave us some historical background over the PA system. Since we will be very busy with excursions tomorrow and Friday they will be giving us a disembarkation briefing this evening. We packed one of our 3 bags this afternoon as will be busy all day tomorrow seeing Vienna and will arrive in Budapest Friday morning and want to see it all that day. Our cruise ends and we depart boat Saturday morning but we will be spending another day in Budapest staying at a Hilton. Fly home Sunday.
At 9am tomorrow we will be meeting our friends, Susie & Fred. They were in the suite next to us on our South America cruise this January-March. They live here in Vienna and have volunteered to give us a tour of their city. At 5pm we have to meet ship’s shuttle bus to Bratslava as ship will move there while people are touring in Vienna.
PHOTOS
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/swaUKodwg5o8CPDc8
Photos--Passau
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/s82c33aPQ1e7PxE58
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Tuesday--Passau, Germany
Tuesday, August 28th
Passau, Germany
I put some more photos on the blog this morning. But before I talk about today, I must mention last night’s entertainment after dinner. They brought a group on board from Regensberg. There was a male and two female singers as well as their pianist. The sang opera, Broadway show tunes, and some classical music. They were FANTASTIC!
We arrived two hours earlier than they had planned this morning in Passau. As we sailed in there was some fog rising from the Danube as the water was warmer than the very cool air. Temperature early was in upper 50’s but it warmed up rapidly and fog burnt off. So at 2pm now, the skies are a beautiful deep blue and temperature in mid 70’s. What a day!!
Passau is known as the City of Three Rivers as it lies where the Inn & Ilz Rivers meet the Danube. It is also on the border of Austria so when we leave this evening we will no longer be in Germany. In fact we can see Austria just few miles from here. Passau was an important medieval center for the salt trade and during the Renaissance period became famous for making high quality knives and sword blades. It is also where Adolph Hitler grew up but no one talks about that. No fighting occurred here during WWII but it received some bomb damage near war’s end. Passau’s population is currently 50,000.
The first activity scheduled for us today was to leave boat at 11am for an organ concert at St Stephen’s Cathedral. The old part is Gothic style but was added onto by an Italian architect in Baroque style. The concert was to start at noon. As we were early, we decided to hike up the hill to visit the castle that was built in 1200‘s. Oh, my, 320 feet above the river and there were lots of steps and steep path to get up there. But the view from there was incredible. The 3 rivers that meet here are of different colors and you can see that from up there. We found some of our boat friends already up there. From there back down, across bridge, and into the old part of town. We would just meet the others at the cathedral for the concert. St Stephen’s Cathedral is beautiful and boasts the world’s largest organ. There are actually 5 organs that can be played by one organist. We really enjoyed the 30 minute concert.
After lunch back on the boat we met at 2:15pm for a 1 ½ hour walking tour of old part of Passau. Our guide went too far into history and wore me out after about an hour but I stuck with it. The tour ended at the Cathedral again and we were on our own then for free time. Of course, I stopped at bakery and got an apple strudel for later tonight. It is now 4:30pm and I am sitting on our balcony writing this. I cannot tell you what a wonderful day it is here weather wise. The old part of Passau is very interesting but the view from our balcony of the Danube and castle on the hill on the other side is fairytale like.
We sail at 6pm for Melk, Austria. After dinner tonight there is a passenger talent show. No, Rebecca will not be singing.
Photos--Cruising Main-Danube Canal
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/aQJinyLcJRtmdnRx9
Monday, August 27, 2012
Monday--Cruising Main-Danube Canal
Monday, August 27th
Cruising Main-Danube Canal & Regensburg, Germany
About 6pm yesterday evening it rained very hard for about 15 minutes. I figured the passengers on tour in Bamberg were getting pretty wet. At 7pm we literally stopped on bank of the canal and those passengers came back aboard from their tour. Dinner was delayed until 7:30 so they could freshen up a bit. The osso bucco was good!
Let me make a correction. I stated that we were now cruising on the Danube River but actually from Bamberg to just before Regensberg we are cruising on the “Main-Danube Canal”. The canal is about 100 miles long. Later today we will be officially on the Danube River. There are 16 locks on this canal that raise us nearly 500 feet then lower us about 300 feet. We passed Watershed Monument this morning which was the highest point of the canal so now the locks will lower us to the level of the Danube. There were 36 locks on the Main River that raised us 520 feet. There will be another 16 locks on the Danube that will raise us another 515 feet. So all total we will be passing through 68 locks on this cruise. This is what takes time.
At 1pm we stopped in village of Dietfurt to let passengers off who wanted to be bused 1 /12 hours on ahead to tour Regensberg. We elected to stay on board the boat again today as we do not like bus rides and would not get back on boat until about 7pm. So we are really enjoying the scenic cruising this afternoon. High hills on both sides of canal and some castles on top. Got some great photos. Perfect afternoon weather wise also with lots of sun and 75F. This afternoon has been the most beautiful scenery so far. We will stop at Kelheim (few miles before Regensberg) to pick up the touring passengers. They are to meet boat there at 7pm. Kelheim is where we join the Danube River. Can’t tell you how much I am really enjoying cruising this afternoon. Sitting on very front of the boat at Aquavit Terrace. There is canopy extended now so have nice shady place to sit in open fresh air. This is where you can sit out and have light lunch as there is small buffet set up then.
Ok, we arrived at Kelheim at 4:30pm. Now we have to wait here until 7pm so seems like a waste of time when we are still over a day behind but I am not running the show. We will got off boat and walk into the town and checked it out. Was about a mile walk from boat into the little town. At the only cross road in downtown you could see a clock tower in all four directions. Dinner is at 7:30 tonight and “quiz night” at 9:30pm. Tomorrow we will be in Passau.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Sunday, Bamberg, Germany
Sunday, August 26th
Cruising & Bamberg
When we left for dinner last night I left small bag of laundry on the bed to be done today. When we got back from dinner last night, the laundry was done and hanging on a hanger. Now that was fast service. We both had pork tenderloin, Asian style, with polenta for dinner. Delicious!
When I opened our curtain for first look out, we were deep into a lock, so was dark. When the water level rose I saw a beautiful deep blue, cloudless sky and sunshine. It was chilly when I stepped out onto the balcony as today's high temperature is for low 70's. Within a couple of hours the clouds rolled in so has been overcast, windy, and cool most of the day.
So this morning we sailed up the Main River and arrived in Bamberg shortly after 10am. Bamberg is where the Danube River meets the Main River. So now we will start sailing on the Danube River for the remainder of our trip. We are docked in the industrial part of the city near some grain handling facilities so nothing we can view from here. It is now 1:45pm and passengers who will be doing the excursion to Bamberg central part of city have just left via buses. Now the boat will continue on up the Danube to Forchheim. It is only about 25 miles away but there are several locks enroute so will take several hours. In fact we will not arrive there until 7:30pm and will only be there long enough to pick up the excursion passengers. Normally, the boat would be docked here in Bamberg all day but they are still way behind schedule so moving boat to save time. It is sprinkling some now, is cool, and get back to boat right at dinner time so suspect not to many went on the tour.
Last night the cruise director went over their plan for rest of cruise of the trip and how they plan to arrive in Budapest on time. We will be skipping the port of Melk/Durnstein. There will be more busing, long days, and late arrivals back to boat, unfortunately. I nicely expressed to cruise director that we did not like getting back late as Rebecca did not have enough time to dress for dinner. Told him we would just stay on board and cruise with the boat, not doing the excursions. They really are working hard to make the best of a bad deal because of the 2 day delay. Good news is, we will still get to see our friends in Vienna where they live.
After breakfast I stopped at purser's desk to fill out a suggestion card. I nicely suggested that they could put the bar "special drink of the day" and its price on the daily program. About 15 minutes later the cruise director called our cabin and said the Hotel Director would like to speak to me. So I went down to his little office. Think I mentioned we had cruised with Gerald around 10 years ago on Seabourn Cruise Line. Anyway, we had a nice 15 minute chat and he thanked me for my constructive comments.
So we will have a nice cruise this afternoon up the Danube. Osso bucco is on menu for tonight which is one of my favorite dishes. Yummy! Hope you all had a great Sunday!
Cruising & Bamberg
When we left for dinner last night I left small bag of laundry on the bed to be done today. When we got back from dinner last night, the laundry was done and hanging on a hanger. Now that was fast service. We both had pork tenderloin, Asian style, with polenta for dinner. Delicious!
When I opened our curtain for first look out, we were deep into a lock, so was dark. When the water level rose I saw a beautiful deep blue, cloudless sky and sunshine. It was chilly when I stepped out onto the balcony as today's high temperature is for low 70's. Within a couple of hours the clouds rolled in so has been overcast, windy, and cool most of the day.
So this morning we sailed up the Main River and arrived in Bamberg shortly after 10am. Bamberg is where the Danube River meets the Main River. So now we will start sailing on the Danube River for the remainder of our trip. We are docked in the industrial part of the city near some grain handling facilities so nothing we can view from here. It is now 1:45pm and passengers who will be doing the excursion to Bamberg central part of city have just left via buses. Now the boat will continue on up the Danube to Forchheim. It is only about 25 miles away but there are several locks enroute so will take several hours. In fact we will not arrive there until 7:30pm and will only be there long enough to pick up the excursion passengers. Normally, the boat would be docked here in Bamberg all day but they are still way behind schedule so moving boat to save time. It is sprinkling some now, is cool, and get back to boat right at dinner time so suspect not to many went on the tour.
Last night the cruise director went over their plan for rest of cruise of the trip and how they plan to arrive in Budapest on time. We will be skipping the port of Melk/Durnstein. There will be more busing, long days, and late arrivals back to boat, unfortunately. I nicely expressed to cruise director that we did not like getting back late as Rebecca did not have enough time to dress for dinner. Told him we would just stay on board and cruise with the boat, not doing the excursions. They really are working hard to make the best of a bad deal because of the 2 day delay. Good news is, we will still get to see our friends in Vienna where they live.
After breakfast I stopped at purser's desk to fill out a suggestion card. I nicely suggested that they could put the bar "special drink of the day" and its price on the daily program. About 15 minutes later the cruise director called our cabin and said the Hotel Director would like to speak to me. So I went down to his little office. Think I mentioned we had cruised with Gerald around 10 years ago on Seabourn Cruise Line. Anyway, we had a nice 15 minute chat and he thanked me for my constructive comments.
So we will have a nice cruise this afternoon up the Danube. Osso bucco is on menu for tonight which is one of my favorite dishes. Yummy! Hope you all had a great Sunday!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday, Cruising up Main River
Saturday, August 25th
Cruising up Main River
We had some rain showers last night but did not hear them. At 10:30pm had to rap on wall as our neighbor’s tv was too loud. This morning we were docked in north (industrial part) side of Wurzburg, home town of our Dallas Maverick’s star, Dirk. The “try to catch up” plan for today is bus people from here to Nuremberg for tours. So people left boat at 10am, have 2 hour bus ride to Nuremberg, do tours, and will reboard the boat at 6pm this evening in Kitzingen, which is only about 40 miles further up river from where they were dropped off. As river is narrow (I guess about 200 yards), our cruise speed is not too fast plus there are more locks to get through. We did not leave the boat again and skipped seeing Nuremberg. Again, 8 hour touring days is just not what we bargained for or enjoy doing. We just passed through Wurtzburg city center area and went through a lock there. Guess what? Yep, another castle on hill top overlooking the city. Now back in countryside with vineyards lining the hills on one side of the river. RVing is popular in Europe and there are many little RV camps along the rivers. Their RV’s are smaller than most American “land yachts” however. Now approaching another lock. It appears we are raised about 8 feet in these locks, and indeed, are similar in theory to Panama Canal lock system.
The lady who fell down plank while getting off boat yesterday had 4 four surgery on ankle broken in two places and some tendon damage. She was overweight which did not help her during fall. She will be in hospital for 10 days before her insurance arranges way back to the States. Not a good way to spend vacation.
We have really enjoyed the river cruising today. It is 4pm and going through another lock. I believe our destination is very close now. In Kitzingen we will pick up the 150 or so passengers who went on the Nuremberg tours today. That is scheduled for 6pm and then continue sailing up river at 6:30pm. Tomorrow we are to be in Bamberg which is where we were suppose to be yesterday. Still behind schedule. Got letter in cabin from Viking Cruises saying we are getting $500 per person off another Viking cruise in 2013 for the hassle of being delayed on this cruise. Doubt we do a river cruise next year. Maybe I can trade it in for a free drink??? BTW, the bartender gave me free drinks again last night for my birthday. I will give him another 10 Euro note tomorrow. Roman, doctor I call him, has been good to us. I gave him 10 euros the other day and also gave our cabin stewardess the same. Just bonuses, not part of the tips they will be getting at end of the cruise.
Probably be adding more photos to the blog. I have them about uploaded. Apparently, some people can see them and some not.
Photos of Frankfurt, Freudenberg, Wertheim, & Main River
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/H2YskYFLa7xzGYcR7
Friday--Cruising River & Wertheim
Friday, August 24th
Cruising Main River & Wertheim
During night on Thursday while sleeping, we had thunderstorms and lots of rain which ended about daylight. Also during the night we passed through several locks. How did I know this? Well, there is less than a foot clearance on each side of the boat when in the locks and several times we would "bump" against the sides of lock. The locks function much the same as Panama Canal I guess.
Our morning was spent cruising up the Main River again going through more locks. The river is really not very wide now and lined with trees and other vegetation. Every so often we would pass by a German village nestled on the banks. We arrived at 1pm in the village of Freudenberg where we left boat to do an excursion. From there we were bused about 30 minutes ride to village of Wertheim. Here our guide led us on an hour walking tour of the picturesque little village. Again we had a very good and entertaining guide. Of course there was the obligatory castle on the hill overlooking the village and a couple of interesting churches in the village. After the tour we had free time to walk the narrow cobblestone streets and check out the shops. We found a wine shop and bought a couple bottles of chardonnay--1 from Germany and 1 from California. We finally sat in the little plaza where there were tables for some small coffee & pastry shops, and of course, some bars. I had a coffee and got a piece of German cheese cake to take back to the boat. She said the cheese cake was a day old so was half price. While we were on the tour our boat continued sailing up the river to catch up as it had several locks to get through and that takes time. It arrived to pick us up again in Wertheim at 5pm. As soon as everyone was aboard she continued sailing.
We got ready and headed up for cocktails at 6pm. Roman, the bartender, did not charge me for drinks since it was my birthday. Dinner was again at 7pm. We sat with two other delightful couples from Australia and a nice woman traveling by herself from New Zealand. If you will remember, the chef was preparing veal parmesan for Rebecca & I. The portions were HUGE and it was very tasty. I could not eat the pasta because there was so much veal. Then came the birthday cake with people singing happy birthday. So I had a WONDERFUL birthday and thanks to all my FaceBook friends who sent birthday wishes to me also.
Cruising Main River & Wertheim
During night on Thursday while sleeping, we had thunderstorms and lots of rain which ended about daylight. Also during the night we passed through several locks. How did I know this? Well, there is less than a foot clearance on each side of the boat when in the locks and several times we would "bump" against the sides of lock. The locks function much the same as Panama Canal I guess.
Our morning was spent cruising up the Main River again going through more locks. The river is really not very wide now and lined with trees and other vegetation. Every so often we would pass by a German village nestled on the banks. We arrived at 1pm in the village of Freudenberg where we left boat to do an excursion. From there we were bused about 30 minutes ride to village of Wertheim. Here our guide led us on an hour walking tour of the picturesque little village. Again we had a very good and entertaining guide. Of course there was the obligatory castle on the hill overlooking the village and a couple of interesting churches in the village. After the tour we had free time to walk the narrow cobblestone streets and check out the shops. We found a wine shop and bought a couple bottles of chardonnay--1 from Germany and 1 from California. We finally sat in the little plaza where there were tables for some small coffee & pastry shops, and of course, some bars. I had a coffee and got a piece of German cheese cake to take back to the boat. She said the cheese cake was a day old so was half price. While we were on the tour our boat continued sailing up the river to catch up as it had several locks to get through and that takes time. It arrived to pick us up again in Wertheim at 5pm. As soon as everyone was aboard she continued sailing.
We got ready and headed up for cocktails at 6pm. Roman, the bartender, did not charge me for drinks since it was my birthday. Dinner was again at 7pm. We sat with two other delightful couples from Australia and a nice woman traveling by herself from New Zealand. If you will remember, the chef was preparing veal parmesan for Rebecca & I. The portions were HUGE and it was very tasty. I could not eat the pasta because there was so much veal. Then came the birthday cake with people singing happy birthday. So I had a WONDERFUL birthday and thanks to all my FaceBook friends who sent birthday wishes to me also.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Thursday, August 23rd--Still in Frankfurt
Thursday, August 23rd
Frankfurt, Germany
Well, river is still blocked so here we sit in Frankfurt. We did not go on the 9 hour excursions (half the time was to be riding in bus to and from) so we have had a relaxing day on the boat. There were 23 other "smart" passengers staying also. Other tourists left ship at 9am and won't be back until between 6 & 7pm according to the cruise director. Really wanted to see Wurtzburg & "Romantic Road" to Rothenburg today but not sitting on a bus that long. It is another absolutely beautiful day--blue skies and upper 80's. We were talking with another passenger this morning. They and another couple in very back of boat on top deck (3) have not had any air conditioning in their cabin for 5 days now. Staff was not doing much to resolve problem so they threatened to leave ship and fly home. They were told by engineering that their air was being diverted to cool off an electrical room. I'm beginning to question Viking Cruise Line. Lots of positives though and our a/c in cabin has been super.
Our Captain does not speak English so had a chat with the Staff Captain this morning. He acted like he knew what I was asking anyway. He stated what we were told last night at a bridge under construction just up river from us outside Frankfurt. So have to wait for it to be set. He did know when we would be leaving but hoped it would be tonight. We are getting way behind schedule just sitting here. Will be doing a lot of fast cruising if we ever get out of here. Probably half days in ports instead of free time in the afternoons as planned.
The internet is working great today with nearly everyone off the ship. I have no clue why you cannot apparently see my photo albums. Doing it same way as previous blogs. Too bad as photos are good.
We took a long walk this afternoon, of course Rebecca did her nails. Ended up in Turkish section of Frankfurt. Found another wine shop today and stopped at bakery to get me some desserts for tonight as you know I am not crazy about Idun's desserts. Almost got lost but someone pointed us back towards river. The Hotel Mgr was at purser's desk where we have to exchange cards for our cabin keys. This way they know who is not on ship come sailing time. He ask if we had sailed with Seabourn cruises because he remembered Rebecca. He used to work there. Yes, we had 3 times so now he is our friend! Of course I ask if we would be sailing tonight and he HOPED to sail at 10pm. You will not believe "last resort" plan. There is another Viking ship exactly like this one stuck on other side of the lock and heading opposite as us. SO, if it does not open up they will move us to that ship and those passengers will board ours. The ships will turn around and continue on their way. So we may have to pack up and "bag drag" as we called it in the military. Would really hate to do that!!! He says if we get going tonight as planned we can catch up with our schedule in two days. Boat would drop us for excursion, ship would continue up river, and bus would take us to it. Boy, more bus riding. River cruise or bus tour vacation??
We are getting ready for cocktail hour. Will probably be only ones there until buses return anyway. Surf and Turf for dinner. Not lobster and filet! Shrimp and sirloin steak. Tents and stands are being erected on both sides of the river as at 3pm tomorrow a huge festival will start. Nearly 2 million people expected so where we are docked will not be a safe place or quiet place. Hotel Director said they will move boat one way or the other before then.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad today!!!!
Frankfurt, Germany
Well, river is still blocked so here we sit in Frankfurt. We did not go on the 9 hour excursions (half the time was to be riding in bus to and from) so we have had a relaxing day on the boat. There were 23 other "smart" passengers staying also. Other tourists left ship at 9am and won't be back until between 6 & 7pm according to the cruise director. Really wanted to see Wurtzburg & "Romantic Road" to Rothenburg today but not sitting on a bus that long. It is another absolutely beautiful day--blue skies and upper 80's. We were talking with another passenger this morning. They and another couple in very back of boat on top deck (3) have not had any air conditioning in their cabin for 5 days now. Staff was not doing much to resolve problem so they threatened to leave ship and fly home. They were told by engineering that their air was being diverted to cool off an electrical room. I'm beginning to question Viking Cruise Line. Lots of positives though and our a/c in cabin has been super.
Our Captain does not speak English so had a chat with the Staff Captain this morning. He acted like he knew what I was asking anyway. He stated what we were told last night at a bridge under construction just up river from us outside Frankfurt. So have to wait for it to be set. He did know when we would be leaving but hoped it would be tonight. We are getting way behind schedule just sitting here. Will be doing a lot of fast cruising if we ever get out of here. Probably half days in ports instead of free time in the afternoons as planned.
The internet is working great today with nearly everyone off the ship. I have no clue why you cannot apparently see my photo albums. Doing it same way as previous blogs. Too bad as photos are good.
We took a long walk this afternoon, of course Rebecca did her nails. Ended up in Turkish section of Frankfurt. Found another wine shop today and stopped at bakery to get me some desserts for tonight as you know I am not crazy about Idun's desserts. Almost got lost but someone pointed us back towards river. The Hotel Mgr was at purser's desk where we have to exchange cards for our cabin keys. This way they know who is not on ship come sailing time. He ask if we had sailed with Seabourn cruises because he remembered Rebecca. He used to work there. Yes, we had 3 times so now he is our friend! Of course I ask if we would be sailing tonight and he HOPED to sail at 10pm. You will not believe "last resort" plan. There is another Viking ship exactly like this one stuck on other side of the lock and heading opposite as us. SO, if it does not open up they will move us to that ship and those passengers will board ours. The ships will turn around and continue on their way. So we may have to pack up and "bag drag" as we called it in the military. Would really hate to do that!!! He says if we get going tonight as planned we can catch up with our schedule in two days. Boat would drop us for excursion, ship would continue up river, and bus would take us to it. Boy, more bus riding. River cruise or bus tour vacation??
We are getting ready for cocktail hour. Will probably be only ones there until buses return anyway. Surf and Turf for dinner. Not lobster and filet! Shrimp and sirloin steak. Tents and stands are being erected on both sides of the river as at 3pm tomorrow a huge festival will start. Nearly 2 million people expected so where we are docked will not be a safe place or quiet place. Hotel Director said they will move boat one way or the other before then.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad today!!!!
Photos of Castles on Rhine, Frankfurt, & Miltonberg
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/Hz1KW2or8h2LBNAP8
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Wednesday--Frankfurt, Germany
Wednesday, August 22nd
Frankfurt, Germany
We are stuck in Frankfurt!! Arrived here sometime during last night and is change to our itinerary due to some problem with lock or new bridge near lock. Details from Hotel Mgr this evening were sketchy. Anyway, we were here today. They bused us to Miltenberg which was our original destination for today. Was an hour bus ride to Miltenberg. We enjoyed this small German village in Bavarian part of Germany. Once again our tour guide for walking tour which was about an hour (small town) was excellent. We then had an hour of free time to shop. I had a Faust beer and sausage roll. It was a very picturesque little German village and worth the ride. During our ride we drove past acres of corn fields and basically followed the Mein River to get to Miltenberg. We arrived back at boat at 1:30pm and had lunch. About 3pm we ventured out to explore Frankfurt. We had two missions: one to find Starbucks to use internet and two to find some more wine. Starbucks again was total failure with internet. My laptop would not work there. We walked for two hours and asked multiple people where a wine shop was. We finally stumbled on one about 3 blocks from the boat.
At the 6:30pm briefing in lounge with next day's plan, we were advised that there was something about a bridge (not lock) that was problem and that we would be docked in Frankfurt AT LEAST until 6pm tomorrow. They again will bus us to tomorrow's planned city, Wurtzburg. We had also planned on doing optional trip on to Rothenburg. So now bus time is about 2 hours each way. We cancelled Rothenburg excursion as would be nearly 10 hour day and not get back until 7pm. May not even go on the Wurtzburg trip in the morning as it is long bus ride and hassle. I am becoming even less likely to do another river cruise. It is not Viking's fault. PROBLEM IS WE MAY BE STUCK HERE FOR ANOTHER DAY OR TWO. This could snowball into a total waste of our time!!! AND money. John, are you hearing me!
At dinner tonight we had a macadamia nut crusted black cod as entree. I think it may have been the best fish I have ever eaten!! I talked with the chef at lunch today and asked if he could prepare veal Parmesean for us on Friday evening, my birthday. He agreed! Now I need to talk Roman, the bartender, into free drinks for my birthday.
I managed to get photos uploaded today so hope you enjoy them. We have a lovely view from our balcony of the Mein River in central Frankfurt. Sleeping like a baby here. Beds have hard foam mattresses that I like.
Frankfurt, Germany
We are stuck in Frankfurt!! Arrived here sometime during last night and is change to our itinerary due to some problem with lock or new bridge near lock. Details from Hotel Mgr this evening were sketchy. Anyway, we were here today. They bused us to Miltenberg which was our original destination for today. Was an hour bus ride to Miltenberg. We enjoyed this small German village in Bavarian part of Germany. Once again our tour guide for walking tour which was about an hour (small town) was excellent. We then had an hour of free time to shop. I had a Faust beer and sausage roll. It was a very picturesque little German village and worth the ride. During our ride we drove past acres of corn fields and basically followed the Mein River to get to Miltenberg. We arrived back at boat at 1:30pm and had lunch. About 3pm we ventured out to explore Frankfurt. We had two missions: one to find Starbucks to use internet and two to find some more wine. Starbucks again was total failure with internet. My laptop would not work there. We walked for two hours and asked multiple people where a wine shop was. We finally stumbled on one about 3 blocks from the boat.
At the 6:30pm briefing in lounge with next day's plan, we were advised that there was something about a bridge (not lock) that was problem and that we would be docked in Frankfurt AT LEAST until 6pm tomorrow. They again will bus us to tomorrow's planned city, Wurtzburg. We had also planned on doing optional trip on to Rothenburg. So now bus time is about 2 hours each way. We cancelled Rothenburg excursion as would be nearly 10 hour day and not get back until 7pm. May not even go on the Wurtzburg trip in the morning as it is long bus ride and hassle. I am becoming even less likely to do another river cruise. It is not Viking's fault. PROBLEM IS WE MAY BE STUCK HERE FOR ANOTHER DAY OR TWO. This could snowball into a total waste of our time!!! AND money. John, are you hearing me!
At dinner tonight we had a macadamia nut crusted black cod as entree. I think it may have been the best fish I have ever eaten!! I talked with the chef at lunch today and asked if he could prepare veal Parmesean for us on Friday evening, my birthday. He agreed! Now I need to talk Roman, the bartender, into free drinks for my birthday.
I managed to get photos uploaded today so hope you enjoy them. We have a lovely view from our balcony of the Mein River in central Frankfurt. Sleeping like a baby here. Beds have hard foam mattresses that I like.
Photos of Cologne & Marksberg Castle
**You have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click **Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/zUAU6KNToc4VkAUV7
https://goo.gl/photos/zUAU6KNToc4VkAUV7
Amsterdam, Our boat, & Windmills Photos
Link to photos taken day we left Amsterdam. Some photos of the Idun, our Viking river boat and photos taken at our stop in Kinderkijk where we saw several windmills. The Idun is one of Viking's newest boats, as it was brought online this spring.
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/zaWEq16vMBFqbfBh9
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/zaWEq16vMBFqbfBh9
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Tuesday--Koblenz & Castles
TUESDAY, AUGUST 21ST
KOBLENZ, GERMANY
MARKSBURG CASTLE TOUR
Entrée choices for dinner last night were duck, fish, or vegetarian something (I don’t pay attention vegetable anything). We chose duck as was not impressed with sea bass (that’s what they called it but looked more like carp) the first night of cruise. The duck was rather tough but ok. I am disappointed with the desserts on Viking, since Europe is loaded with excellent pastry shops, I expected better. Waiter “tried” to rush us into ordering but I told him to come back later. He returned a couple minutes later and I told him again we were not ready. Same couple we dined with night before showed up and sat with us again. After dinner at 9pm there was a local 3 piece instrumental group that played some classical music from German composers for over an hour.
Another good nights sleep and we were up at 7am. After breakfast we arrived in Koblenz at 9am. We were divided into groups again and boarded buses for a 20 minute drive up to the Marksburg Castle. This is the best preserved castle on the Rhein and is over 800 years old. Because of its location on an isolated hill it was never attacked during countless wars over the centuries. This part of the Rhine is called the Upper Middle Rhine Valley and has many vineyards lining the valley walls and is where most of the castles are also located. The cruise director is saying today is sight seeing highlight of the cruise. Our buses parked fairly close to the castle but we still had a walk up steep hill to get to first of 5 gates to enter it. This tour definitely not for folks with health or mobility issues. Our castle guide was again very good and the tour lasted an hour. IF, internet ever works long enough to download photos, they will explain castle rooms. I had a connection long enough this morning just to get yesterday’s blog posting on it. I’ve had much better internet service in the middle of the ocean. Of course Viking will not get satellite so we have to be passing a town and then have very brief connection, maybe.
So after we left the boat in Koblenz, it moved on upriver to hill just below Marksburg Castle. It stopped just long enough for us to jump on. This afternoon we are cruising up the Rhine passing by several castles, interesting villages, vineyards, and other sights. I just got photo of two castles in one shot. We will be docking tomorrow morning at Freudenberg which is stop for Miltenberg, if you are following our itinerary. Tonight’s “special drink of the day” is any drink made with tequila for $4.50. After dinner tonight is a “Liar’s Club”. These are usually very funny and entertaining.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Monday--Cologne, Germany
Monday, August 20
Cologne, Germany
First let me make some comments about last night’s Captain’s Welcome Aboard reception and dinner. In the Viking Lounge they passed out glasses of sparkling wine so we could all drink to the Captain’s toast. He and other senior officers were introduced to us. It was short and sweet just like the emergency drill, which last maybe one minute. The Captain’s speech lasted less than a minute before he made the toast. I am not complaining as I like these “short & sweet” deals. We sat with a very nice couple from UK for dinner. We both had chateaubriand that we asked to be medium rare and I ask for extra. I got extra but both was very well done. Tasty though and rest of dinner was excellent. They do a very good job of keeping your wine glasses full. This morning I spoke with the dining room manager and chef (they were both at breakfast ) about the well done beef. They said, indeed, we should have gotten our meat cooked just the way we wanted it so next time if we are not pleased just ask waiter for him.
Ok, we arrived at our docking area, which is right near the center of Cologne, just before 10am. As there are about 190 passengers on the boat, we were divided into 6 groups for our two hour walking tour. We had a local guide who was excellent. There are listening devices in our room that we place around our necks and has ear piece. Our guide talks via mouth piece and we can hear only him as we walked through the town.
Cologne is the 4th largest city in Germany and know for its churches and museums. The museums are closed on Mondays. That works for me!! The population is 2.1 million and the city is on both sides of the river. Our tour initially followed the river passing by St Martin Church. Then he pointed out a bridge crossing the Rhein River. On this side of the bridge was the Cologne train station and he said over 1200 trains cross this bridge daily. Cologne’s most famous landmark (you can see it for miles) is a Gothic masterpiece featuring pointed arches--The Cologne Cathedral. Construction was begun in 1248AD and finally completed in 1880, over 600 years later. Construction of it was halted for 300 years due to lack of money. During WWII Cologne was heavily bombed by the Allies but the Cathedral, although damaged, was not destroyed. The MANY stain glass windows (over 30,000 square feet of stain glass windows) were removed and put in bomb shelters during the war for protection. We spent quite a bit of time inside the cathedral as our guide filled us in on its history. What makes this catholic church unique is the gold coffin with the bones of The Three Wise Men. They were brought here in the 11th century as spoils of a war from a cathedral in Milan. There is also a 1000 year old Crucifix (wood carving of Christ on the cross) . Photos will show these. We have seen many churches on our world travels but this one has to be in top 3 or 4. From there we walked to old city hall and that was it for tour.
We got back to boat at 12:30 just in time for lunch. The rear end of our boat (where antennas are located) is docked under a bridge today so there is no internet again today. This afternoon we went back in town to two different Starbucks to us wifi. Had good signal but laptop would not connect to internet for a strange reason. I am writing this post on Word so hopefully tomorrow I can post it. Also need to download some photos from Sat & Sun onto the blog. It is 2pm and just came a rain shower. Weather changed quickly as it was very sunny this morning. We will not leave here until midnight. Tomorrow we will be in Koblenz. I ask young lady at purser’s desk to tell Captain not to park under a bridge tomorrow! On way back to boat this afternoon I stopped at a kiosk and bought a bottle of Kolsch beer. It is only bottled in Cologne. Excellent beer and I don’t particularly like beer.
Very difficult time getting internet on the river. Still trying to upload photos.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sunday-Visiting windmills
Sunday Morning, August 19th
KINDERDIJK, NETHERLANDS---Had a great night's sleep but did not want to get up at 7:40am when cruise director made announcement in cabin about lecture on windmills that would be starting at 8:30. This is a beautiful new river boat but cabin walls are too thin. When neighbors have their tv on you better turn yours on too. You can hear conversations also next door.
I went to the lecture presented by a local Dutch lady about the history and workings of windmills. There used to be 9000 windmills in the Netherlands but now down to 1000. Windmills are used to pump water off of the land so it can be used to live on. A windmill can only lift the water 4 feet so if they need to lift it higher it takes more windmills. The Dutch government wants to keep the windmills operational so it lets a family live rent free in the windmills in exchange for them keeping it operational. We toured one this morning and quite small inside so not sure how they live in it. The windmills were built in 16th and 17th century for purpose of reclaiming land. Nowadays, pumping stations run by big diesel and electric motors pump to water from the land and back into the river. There is a dike along the rivers to keep water out but land inside is 10 to 20 feet below sea level so water will seep back in any way. In the pictures you will see small canals that the water collects in then it is pumped out of these back into the river on other side of the dikes.
It is now 11:15am and we are leaving Kinderdijk and the Netherlands. Will be entering Germany this afternoon. Our lecturer said this is the only "beach day" of the year here as weather is absolutely clear skies and temperature will be in low 90's. Hottest day this year! No beaches here however. After lunch we will have our emergency drill followed by lecture on cheese. The Netherlands is well know for their gouda cheese. This evening is the Captain's welcome aboard reception and dinner. Tonight's menu looks very good.
So this afternoon we will have a relaxing day sailing up the river and enjoying the countryside. Rebecca just found Detroit vs Baltimore preseason football game on ESPN channel. We're moving now and going faster than I thought we would be. In fact we were going backwards very fast. Now turning up another river and going forward. Maybe I can try to put more photos on blog.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Saturday, boarding the Idun
Up this morning and another nice breakfast up in club lounge. Checked out of the Hilton at noon and took taxi to the cruise terminal. There were several river cruise boats here but our Viking boat was easily found. There were 4 very nice young men who met our taxi and took our luggage onto the boat. After checking in they told us that our suite would not be ready until 3pm. We went up to the lounge to wait and had a light lunch while waiting. It was a very hot day here so Rebecca did not want to leave the boat. I went out to see the "red light district" of Amsterdam which was right across from where the boat was docked. My "tour" of the district was most interesting!! Gave an new meaning to "window shopping"! I was back on the boat by 3pm. Exactly at 3pm they announced that the cabins were ready for us. So from then to 5:30pm we unpacked and got cleaned up for cocktails and dinner. Somehow we got all of Rebecca's "stuff" stowed in the drawers and small closet!
Boat Review of Embarkation: Viking guys met our taxi and took our luggage right onboard the boat. Could not have been better! No line for check in at purser's desk. They sent us up to lounge to wait and have lunch. Lunch was salads, sandwiches, and pasta. Very nice.
Cabin: Small but nice. We got all of our clothes stowed away. I like the shower!
Lounge: Piano player is very good. Like the bartender. He gave me discount on my cocktail and put our bottle of wine on ice. Served it on a timely basis.
Dinner: One seating at 7pm. Dining room is very noisy. We sat at table for 6 initially and were only two there. Mid dinner another couple joined us and we could not hear what they were saying. We both had sea bass for our entree but it was wafer thin and like an appetizer serving. I ask for more. Portions were SUPER small. Taste was good. Wine service at dinner was good.
Overall feeling first day: NOT FOR US. Probably last river cruse. No Fox News just liberal CNN crap!!! Just first day so maybe feeling will change. We depart dock at 11:30pm.
Boat Review of Embarkation: Viking guys met our taxi and took our luggage right onboard the boat. Could not have been better! No line for check in at purser's desk. They sent us up to lounge to wait and have lunch. Lunch was salads, sandwiches, and pasta. Very nice.
Cabin: Small but nice. We got all of our clothes stowed away. I like the shower!
Lounge: Piano player is very good. Like the bartender. He gave me discount on my cocktail and put our bottle of wine on ice. Served it on a timely basis.
Dinner: One seating at 7pm. Dining room is very noisy. We sat at table for 6 initially and were only two there. Mid dinner another couple joined us and we could not hear what they were saying. We both had sea bass for our entree but it was wafer thin and like an appetizer serving. I ask for more. Portions were SUPER small. Taste was good. Wine service at dinner was good.
Overall feeling first day: NOT FOR US. Probably last river cruse. No Fox News just liberal CNN crap!!! Just first day so maybe feeling will change. We depart dock at 11:30pm.
Photos of Amsterdam
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/JxQdEKczz17sRe6UA
https://goo.gl/photos/JxQdEKczz17sRe6UA
Touring Amsterdam on Friday
Friday, Aug 17
Dinner last night was couple blocks from Hilton at Italian restaurant called Bellavista. It was a fantastic evening with clear skies and 70F at 7:30pm. Most people were dining outside at the places we saw because of the lovely evening. Bellavista made me feel like I was in Italy. All the staff seemed to be Italian as that is only language I heard them speak. Rebecca said her pasta dish was best she has ever had. I had to agree. Lights out was 10pm and enjoyed some much needed sleep.
I woke at 5:30am so decided to get up at 6:30. I peered out our window, as it was already light, at the little canal that passes by the Hilton. It was so peaceful looking out over the city. Rebecca was still asleep as I showered and wrote an email or two. I am now up on top floor at the club lounge waiting for her to come up for breakfast. You should see the breakfast spread. I did take some photos of it that I will post later on. Some very high, thin clouds this morning and 64F outside. High temp for today to be around 77F. We really lucked out with this great weather as usually rainy in Amsterdam.
Ok, back from a long day of seeing Amsterdam! Our poor feet are barking. The hotel concierge provided a map and some tips before leaving the Hilton. We walked a couple of blocks and got on the #16 tram like I did yesterday. We bought 24 hours passes $9 each. Used tram several times during the day and will use it again tonight to go to the restaurant. Anyway, took tram to "hop on hop off" canal boat place. Bought 24 hour passes on the boats for $27 each. Off we went on the "red" line boat. We hoped off at the Anne Frank house as we had pre-bought tickets for it on the internet. Good thing as line to buy tickets was over 100 yards long. It took about an hour to do this tour and was very interesting. After that back on the canal boat red line which we took to the Central Station (large train station near cruise terminals). There we changed to the blue line to continue our canal tour around the city. We got off finally got off at a market area. Very long street with all kinds of booths selling everything for cheese, fish, meats, clothes, and you name it. Our feet were getting worn out so back on tram to go back to canal boat place to get some brochures for our friends Barbara & Jerry who are coming here to do same cruise in October. We got back to our hotel at 5pm. Showered, changed and went up to club lounge at 6pm for cocktails. After that we were back on the tram for short ride to Cafe Leotje for dinner. The locals say this is best restaurant in Amsterdam for steaks. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table outside. Yes, I got Rebecca to eat outside! It was a beautiful evening and quite pleasant. Our filets were very good but not quite the quality of meat we have in Dallas.
Tomorrow we will checkout of the Hilton around noon and catch a taxi to our river boat.
Dinner last night was couple blocks from Hilton at Italian restaurant called Bellavista. It was a fantastic evening with clear skies and 70F at 7:30pm. Most people were dining outside at the places we saw because of the lovely evening. Bellavista made me feel like I was in Italy. All the staff seemed to be Italian as that is only language I heard them speak. Rebecca said her pasta dish was best she has ever had. I had to agree. Lights out was 10pm and enjoyed some much needed sleep.
I woke at 5:30am so decided to get up at 6:30. I peered out our window, as it was already light, at the little canal that passes by the Hilton. It was so peaceful looking out over the city. Rebecca was still asleep as I showered and wrote an email or two. I am now up on top floor at the club lounge waiting for her to come up for breakfast. You should see the breakfast spread. I did take some photos of it that I will post later on. Some very high, thin clouds this morning and 64F outside. High temp for today to be around 77F. We really lucked out with this great weather as usually rainy in Amsterdam.
Ok, back from a long day of seeing Amsterdam! Our poor feet are barking. The hotel concierge provided a map and some tips before leaving the Hilton. We walked a couple of blocks and got on the #16 tram like I did yesterday. We bought 24 hours passes $9 each. Used tram several times during the day and will use it again tonight to go to the restaurant. Anyway, took tram to "hop on hop off" canal boat place. Bought 24 hour passes on the boats for $27 each. Off we went on the "red" line boat. We hoped off at the Anne Frank house as we had pre-bought tickets for it on the internet. Good thing as line to buy tickets was over 100 yards long. It took about an hour to do this tour and was very interesting. After that back on the canal boat red line which we took to the Central Station (large train station near cruise terminals). There we changed to the blue line to continue our canal tour around the city. We got off finally got off at a market area. Very long street with all kinds of booths selling everything for cheese, fish, meats, clothes, and you name it. Our feet were getting worn out so back on tram to go back to canal boat place to get some brochures for our friends Barbara & Jerry who are coming here to do same cruise in October. We got back to our hotel at 5pm. Showered, changed and went up to club lounge at 6pm for cocktails. After that we were back on the tram for short ride to Cafe Leotje for dinner. The locals say this is best restaurant in Amsterdam for steaks. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table outside. Yes, I got Rebecca to eat outside! It was a beautiful evening and quite pleasant. Our filets were very good but not quite the quality of meat we have in Dallas.
Tomorrow we will checkout of the Hilton around noon and catch a taxi to our river boat.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Arrived in Amsterdam
Thank you American Airlines and British Airways for getting us AND all our checked bags safely to Amsterdam. The flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam was only an hour but the two first class F/A's on British Air served us a light lunch consisting of a cold blackened chicken plate. Very nice. We landed here late at 2:40pm (7:40am Dallas) Now 7 hour time difference. Like at Heathrow we had a long walk in Amsterdam terminal to get down to baggage claim. This was the easiest airport I have ever been to to clear immigration and customs. No line at passport check and no one at customs so just walked out after collecting our checked luggage. Grabbed a taxi to take us to Hilton. It was a Mercedes and very nice. Only about $40 to get to hotel.
Front desk folks at Hilton were very nice and because of my "diamond" status upgraded us to a executive king room on upper floor with view of canal passing by. Rebecca was too pooped to go with me but I made a trip to a wine shop I had located on the internet several months ago. I took a "tram" (electric bus like thing) to it. Told the tram driver to let me know when I was to get off. He spoke perfect English and was super nice to me. Was less than 10 minutes away.
The wine shop was very nice and young owner was very helpful. I do not like French wines BUT he opened a bottle of French chardonnay for me to try. Bought 8 bottles of it plus 2 bottles from Australia. So now back to the tram stop and once again told driver to let me know when to get off. Worked great. A one hour pass cost me $4.
Bicycles everywhere here. Seems to be the favorite mode of transportation. Even girls/women in short skirts were on them. Not that I noticed!! So all our good friends will not be too surprised that my first stop in Amsterdam was at a wine shop!!! We will drink this wine in the evenings (pre-dinner) on the river boat.
Ok, time to shower, change, and head up to the Hilton executive lounge for a cocktail before dinner. We will be going to Bella Vista, an Italian restaurant, just a couple blocks from the hotel tonight. Hope we can stay awake that long! Two tired puppies for sure. Weather is very nice with mostly sunny skies and 80F.
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/iTadYpeBK4WcQ1N48
Front desk folks at Hilton were very nice and because of my "diamond" status upgraded us to a executive king room on upper floor with view of canal passing by. Rebecca was too pooped to go with me but I made a trip to a wine shop I had located on the internet several months ago. I took a "tram" (electric bus like thing) to it. Told the tram driver to let me know when I was to get off. He spoke perfect English and was super nice to me. Was less than 10 minutes away.
The wine shop was very nice and young owner was very helpful. I do not like French wines BUT he opened a bottle of French chardonnay for me to try. Bought 8 bottles of it plus 2 bottles from Australia. So now back to the tram stop and once again told driver to let me know when to get off. Worked great. A one hour pass cost me $4.
Bicycles everywhere here. Seems to be the favorite mode of transportation. Even girls/women in short skirts were on them. Not that I noticed!! So all our good friends will not be too surprised that my first stop in Amsterdam was at a wine shop!!! We will drink this wine in the evenings (pre-dinner) on the river boat.
Ok, time to shower, change, and head up to the Hilton executive lounge for a cocktail before dinner. We will be going to Bella Vista, an Italian restaurant, just a couple blocks from the hotel tonight. Hope we can stay awake that long! Two tired puppies for sure. Weather is very nice with mostly sunny skies and 80F.
**Thanks to Google deactivating Picasa Photos, I now have to use Google Photos. So you will now have to "Cut & Paste" the link below onto a browser "New Tab". A photo album will appear. Click on first photo which will make it much larger. In upper right corner under "Info" you will see caption for that photo. Putting your cursor on right side of photo (under 3 dots at top) will produce an arrow for you to page through the rest of the photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/iTadYpeBK4WcQ1N48
Flight to London
"Abby the Cabby" showed up yesterday right on time at 1:30pm to pick us up for trip to DFW. Jeanie, a cruising friend of ours, recommended Abby. We got a little down the road and I had forgotten my backup pair of glasses so turned around and went back for them. I would be in big trouble without my glasses. We still arrived at Terminal D DFW at 2pm. Our 3 checked bags were checked through to Amsterdam and we given our boarding passes. No lines at security so breezed right through and headed for the Admirals Club to wait in comfort for our flight at 4:50pm. We watched them pull our Boeing 777 up to our gate right below us up in the club. It was good to see "my old friend" again. I flew and was check pilot on the 777 for several years. Just looking at her brought back some good memories. We had a couple glasses of wine and made some phone calls while waiting for boarding time.
Shortly after 4pm we proceeded on board and found our seats. We were in 13 H & J which was last row in Business Class on right side. After settling in I ran up to the cockpit (you didn't think I wouldn't did you??) and had a nice chat with the 3 pilots. Rebecca went to say hi to Danny. She was working in the business class galley and an old friend. The flight was approximately 8 1/2 hours. After getting to cruise altitude we were served drinks followed by dinner and more drinks. We both had the adobe chicken which was served very hot but taste very average. Oh, well, it was airline food after all!
We then both took half of an ambien (sleeping pill) which worked great. We both slept until about 1 hour before landing at London Heathrow airport. Now it was time for breakfast. A not so good omlette. We arrived at the gate here at 8am (2am Dallas time). We had to change terminals for our connecting flight on British Airways to Amsterdam. That flight departs Heathrow at 11:55am so had lots of time to change terminals.
Rebecca does not know it yet but I bought upgrades to first class for our BA flight. Because of that we were put in "Fast Trak" lines for immigration and security here. Glad I did as other lines were LONG. We breezed right through and was sitting in the British Airways club lounge an hour after landing. She does not know why we are allowed in the BA lounge. I keep telling here, "I always take good care of you". She will be surprised when our seats on the BA flight are "up front".
After writing this I will have a couple of the Brit's bacon sandwiches. Love them. Unless you have had one you don't know what I am talking about. Their bacon is thick with no fat like ours and is served on a roll. Food and drinks are complimentary in the lounge. Still two hours until flight time to Amsterdam. We'll be tired puppies tonight.
Shortly after 4pm we proceeded on board and found our seats. We were in 13 H & J which was last row in Business Class on right side. After settling in I ran up to the cockpit (you didn't think I wouldn't did you??) and had a nice chat with the 3 pilots. Rebecca went to say hi to Danny. She was working in the business class galley and an old friend. The flight was approximately 8 1/2 hours. After getting to cruise altitude we were served drinks followed by dinner and more drinks. We both had the adobe chicken which was served very hot but taste very average. Oh, well, it was airline food after all!
We then both took half of an ambien (sleeping pill) which worked great. We both slept until about 1 hour before landing at London Heathrow airport. Now it was time for breakfast. A not so good omlette. We arrived at the gate here at 8am (2am Dallas time). We had to change terminals for our connecting flight on British Airways to Amsterdam. That flight departs Heathrow at 11:55am so had lots of time to change terminals.
Rebecca does not know it yet but I bought upgrades to first class for our BA flight. Because of that we were put in "Fast Trak" lines for immigration and security here. Glad I did as other lines were LONG. We breezed right through and was sitting in the British Airways club lounge an hour after landing. She does not know why we are allowed in the BA lounge. I keep telling here, "I always take good care of you". She will be surprised when our seats on the BA flight are "up front".
After writing this I will have a couple of the Brit's bacon sandwiches. Love them. Unless you have had one you don't know what I am talking about. Their bacon is thick with no fat like ours and is served on a roll. Food and drinks are complimentary in the lounge. Still two hours until flight time to Amsterdam. We'll be tired puppies tonight.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Packed & Ready to Go
Well, I decided to do a blog after all because of the many requests. People want to know how someone with 70 ocean cruises likes river cruising. Yep, this is our very first river cruise. I'm not sure how much time I am going to have for writing during the cruise but will certainly keep notes and write later if need be. I understand that internet service at times is very marginal so that may factor in also. After enduring Dallas summer temperatures in the mid 100's, we are ready for cooler climes. High for Amsterdam will be low 70's.
I can't believe it but we are packed and don't leave until tomorrow afternoon. I managed to keep checked bag count down to 3 which is a miracle when traveling with Rebecca. She is only packing 8 pairs of shoes this trip. Last cruise was 19 pair! Don't ask. We were actually mostly packed yesterday so today was leisurely one.
So tomorrow is "D" day. Departure day! Let the fun begin.
I can't believe it but we are packed and don't leave until tomorrow afternoon. I managed to keep checked bag count down to 3 which is a miracle when traveling with Rebecca. She is only packing 8 pairs of shoes this trip. Last cruise was 19 pair! Don't ask. We were actually mostly packed yesterday so today was leisurely one.
So tomorrow is "D" day. Departure day! Let the fun begin.
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