Sister in law and her husband did a river cruise to get an idea of what cruising was like before taking the plunge on a sea cruise. Did the Rhine. Were taken to a church on practically every stop. Decided they don’t like cruising!
French river cruising
- Thread starter Burnerman
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Hi Doug
I've always enjoyed France, having motorbiked there for the last 30 years! I like the people, scenery and speak the lingo.
As that's now a thing of the past, we've done a few Marella (TUI) cruises in the Med and Canaries etc and have got bored with those, so we thought that river cruising was worth a punt so off we went, hoping it would be the formula for things to come.
I don't know anyone who has done these cruises before, so no one to ask.
Courtesy of TV advertising, Riviera and Viking were popular - I now realise there are other companies doing the same thing. Riviera was in the part of France I like best so that was it.
I'm not a great fan of Tripadvisor or whatever, preferring my own opinion.
My sister did the Rhine recently and said it was marvellous - but she says that about everything anyway!
I'm not saying never again, but at 7 grand a week.......bloody hell, how much more do I have to spend?
At least, Jane McDonald wasn't there to sing us a song!
Regards
John
lol
Thanks for that John.Hi Doug
I've always enjoyed France, having motorbiked there for the last 30 years! I like the people, scenery and speak the lingo.
As that's now a thing of the past, we've done a few Marella (TUI) cruises in the Med and Canaries etc and have got bored with those, so we thought that river cruising was worth a punt so off we went, hoping it would be the formula for things to come.dom
I don't know anyone who has done these cruises before, so no one to ask.
Courtesy of TV advertising, Riviera and Viking were popular - I now realise there are other companies doing the same thing. Riviera was in the part of France I like best so that was it.
I'm not a great fan of Tripadvisor or whatever, preferring my own opinion.
My sister did the Rhine recently and said it was marvellous - but she says that about everything anyway!
I'm not saying never again, but at 7 grand a week.......bloody hell, how much more do I have to spend?
At least, Jane McDonald wasn't there to sing us a song!
Regards
John
I have done a couple of P&O cruises to the Norwegian Fjords and now considering a river cruise. Chalk & Cheese comes to mind but at those ridiculously high prices you should expect a ridiculously high standard.
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‘Er indoors.....again, not one to lock horns with - reckons that the Viking company encourage Americans to sail with them, and as far as I gather they don’t approve of naff service so that may be of interest. Our ship - the William Shakespeare- had only Brits on board.
Sister sailed from Amsterdam to Basel with Viking, massive enthusiasm all the way - that was around 10 grand per couple per week but I’ll find out for sure in due course.
It seems like a Marella Mediterranean cruise is half price compared with the river ones, and they are excellent value......it’s possible to upgrade to a better restaurant too. They do know how to do it!
A response from Riviera will be with us within a month.
John
Sister sailed from Amsterdam to Basel with Viking, massive enthusiasm all the way - that was around 10 grand per couple per week but I’ll find out for sure in due course.
It seems like a Marella Mediterranean cruise is half price compared with the river ones, and they are excellent value......it’s possible to upgrade to a better restaurant too. They do know how to do it!
A response from Riviera will be with us within a month.
John
Make it hostess and stripper and you have a deal.
Seriously, there is a website that is a bit like Air BnB for charter boats. Friends have used them for The Med. When I fully retire I'm going to have one for a couple of weeks to cruise the Greek Islands. Can't think of a better way to travel than on a smallish boat with someone else doing the hard work while drifting around the islands, mooring in a bay and taking the tender ashore to a little taverna for lunch or evening meal.
www.samboat.co.uk
This sounds absolutely wonderful! What could scare me though would be the temperature at night for sleeping, and the possibility of bugs everywhere.
I don't know anyone who has done this though, so hopefully talking nonsense.
Mind you, we cruised into Mykonos harbour a couple of years ago, to be greeted by another 6 cruise ships. That meant at least 16000 extra people going ashore, and you couldn't move. lets all shuffle up to the church on the top, everyone.
No wonder they call us locusts!
For me, I'll cruise back to the Adriatic. With the exception of Dubrovnik maybe, it's largely unspoilt by us.
Next year, it's a cruise from Palma up to Cadiz - I've always wanted to sail through Gibraltar.
John
I don't know anyone who has done this though, so hopefully talking nonsense.
Mind you, we cruised into Mykonos harbour a couple of years ago, to be greeted by another 6 cruise ships. That meant at least 16000 extra people going ashore, and you couldn't move. lets all shuffle up to the church on the top, everyone.
No wonder they call us locusts!
For me, I'll cruise back to the Adriatic. With the exception of Dubrovnik maybe, it's largely unspoilt by us.
Next year, it's a cruise from Palma up to Cadiz - I've always wanted to sail through Gibraltar.
John
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Each to their own, matey.......the boat was full as far as I could see.
Mostly middle class and fairly wealthy folks, most were very pleasant and friendly but there were a couple of knobbers to be avoided.
Nothing new there then.
John
Mostly middle class and fairly wealthy folks, most were very pleasant and friendly but there were a couple of knobbers to be avoided.
Nothing new there then.
John
This sounds absolutely wonderful! What could scare me though would be the temperature at night for sleeping, and the possibility of bugs everywhere.
I don't know anyone who has done this though, so hopefully talking nonsense.
Mind you, we cruised into Mykonos harbour a couple of years ago, to be greeted by another 6 cruise ships. That meant at least 16000 extra people going ashore, and you couldn't move. lets all shuffle up to the church on the top, everyone.
No wonder they call us locusts!
For me, I'll cruise back to the Adriatic. With the exception of Dubrovnik maybe, it's largely unspoilt by us.
Next year, it's a cruise from Palma up to Cadiz - I've always wanted to sail through Gibraltar.
John
I wouldn't go high season at the hottest, busiest time. Sept or early Oct can be nice when the temps aren't quite so fierce. I don't like it too hot for sleeping, not sure if it's possible, but would explore the possibility of getting something with ac. Only doing it once, so might as well push the boat out. Also would only visit the smaller islands or ports where cruises and big numbers of people can't go. Just as long as I can get a nice taverna for souvlaki, few Mythos, baklava and couple of ouzos. With something like a cruiser, the world is your lobster.
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