Since others have already posted detailed trip reports of the ABD Rhine River cruise, I'll just give some notes about particular aspects of our cruise. To start, here are some general comments and observations:
Our guides were Byron, Betti, Danny, Veronika, Jillian and Michaela. Here's a photo of them, along with Cruise Manager Maddy in front. The first four guides were on the inaugural Rhine cruise last year.
If I could use only one word to describe this cruise, that word would be "smooth." Everything ran smoothly and we encountered no significant problems. I was able to reserve in advance every excursion my family wanted, and on the ship I requested and got another that I didn't reserve in advance. All the guides were great and the AmaStella ship and crew were wonderful. Since some activities had limited space, I assume some guests didn't get their first choice of excursions but I heard no complaints while on the ship.
If I could use one more word, that would be HOT. There was a worldwide heat wave going on, and at most of our stops it reached 95 deg F. In Rudesheim it peaked at 99 deg F! Fortunately Amsterdam was only 80 deg F. The guides told us this was the hottest cruise they had been on. When booking this cruise I hadn't considered that it might get this hot, so if you are considering going on this cruise, keep that in mind...
They made refinements compared to past cruises and the schedule they sent in advance, and these changes may have helped make the experience so smooth:
We paid for both a prenight and a postnight. Both were expensive. But we got a lot for that. We were a family of three. For the prenight, they gave us two rooms! And the postnight in Amsterdam was in a large suite, with a wonderful view of central Amsterdam.
The river boat crew seemed much more casual and flexible than what I've seen on big ocean-going cruise ships. The captain invited us to visit the bridge, so we did. The Chef's Table is supposed to be an adult only experience, but they let my 11 year old son participate when we asked.
Out of all the amazing excursions and events, the ones I appreciated the most were the sessions where three guides shared their personal stories with the guests. Betti talked about growing up in a divided Germany and how Berlin was a divided city, and how gratifying it was to her that we chose to visit her country. Veronika described how her family escaped communist Hungary. And Byron talked about how he hated his first job at Disney but he persevered and got noticed and was able to apply his talents to become an Adventure Guide. These are all good stories for my son to hear. I lived in Germany for a while prior to the fall of the Wall, so I knew some of this from first hand experience but my son of course didn't have that perspective.
I'll post more pictures later but I'll end this for now with a picture of the pins we received:
Our guides were Byron, Betti, Danny, Veronika, Jillian and Michaela. Here's a photo of them, along with Cruise Manager Maddy in front. The first four guides were on the inaugural Rhine cruise last year.
If I could use only one word to describe this cruise, that word would be "smooth." Everything ran smoothly and we encountered no significant problems. I was able to reserve in advance every excursion my family wanted, and on the ship I requested and got another that I didn't reserve in advance. All the guides were great and the AmaStella ship and crew were wonderful. Since some activities had limited space, I assume some guests didn't get their first choice of excursions but I heard no complaints while on the ship.
If I could use one more word, that would be HOT. There was a worldwide heat wave going on, and at most of our stops it reached 95 deg F. In Rudesheim it peaked at 99 deg F! Fortunately Amsterdam was only 80 deg F. The guides told us this was the hottest cruise they had been on. When booking this cruise I hadn't considered that it might get this hot, so if you are considering going on this cruise, keep that in mind...
They made refinements compared to past cruises and the schedule they sent in advance, and these changes may have helped make the experience so smooth:
- The Beauty & the Beast dinner was on the 2nd night, not the 3rd
- The organ concert was on the 3rd night, when the ship was closer to that event and not on the same day as the day-long events to the Black Forest
- The ship started sailing through the Rhine Gorge at 4pm on the 5th day and there was plenty of light to see the castles in the gorge
- Some excursion options no longer existed compared to the inaugural cruise, such as the bike tour in Rudesheim or the Delft factory tour in Amsterdam
We paid for both a prenight and a postnight. Both were expensive. But we got a lot for that. We were a family of three. For the prenight, they gave us two rooms! And the postnight in Amsterdam was in a large suite, with a wonderful view of central Amsterdam.
The river boat crew seemed much more casual and flexible than what I've seen on big ocean-going cruise ships. The captain invited us to visit the bridge, so we did. The Chef's Table is supposed to be an adult only experience, but they let my 11 year old son participate when we asked.
Out of all the amazing excursions and events, the ones I appreciated the most were the sessions where three guides shared their personal stories with the guests. Betti talked about growing up in a divided Germany and how Berlin was a divided city, and how gratifying it was to her that we chose to visit her country. Veronika described how her family escaped communist Hungary. And Byron talked about how he hated his first job at Disney but he persevered and got noticed and was able to apply his talents to become an Adventure Guide. These are all good stories for my son to hear. I lived in Germany for a while prior to the fall of the Wall, so I knew some of this from first hand experience but my son of course didn't have that perspective.
I'll post more pictures later but I'll end this for now with a picture of the pins we received:
