Rhine River Cruise - Food & Wine cruise

[HI_Tig808]

Aloha,
We are doing this river cruise in 2020. Has anyone else done this? Which excursion is a MUST do?
Mahalo

 

[sun_seekin]

We are on this too--October 4 departure! Following!

 

[HI_Tig808]

We are on this too--October 4 departure! Following!

Guess no one on the boards have .. LOL .. hoping someone sees this

 

[Praying Colonel]

I've done a Rhine River cruise, but not with ABD, sorry.

I can say it was a memorable trip and whetted our appetite for more Europe trips. Amsterdam, Cologne, Heidelberg and Strasbourg were our favorites. We also had optional excursions to a winery in the Alsace for a wine tasting and a trip to Colmar. They were beautiful, but I'm not sure what ABD is offering for optional excursions. Enjoy!

 

[HI_Tig808]

I've done a Rhine River cruise, but not with ABD, sorry.

I can say it was a memorable trip and whetted our appetite for more Europe trips. Amsterdam, Cologne, Heidelberg and Strasbourg were our favorites. We also had optional excursions to a winery in the Alsace for a wine tasting and a trip to Colmar. They were beautiful, but I'm not sure what ABD is offering for optional excursions. Enjoy!

Thanks

 

[Pebbles12]

Guess no one on the boards have .. LOL .. hoping someone sees this

We are on this sailing too & first time for ABD, so following!

 

[minie_meese]

We did this in October 2018. Ours was an adult exclusive Food and Wine cruise. We loved every place we visited. Since our trip was centered around food and wine most of our excursions had a food/beverage focus. We also didn't have as many choices in excursions as the tours that included families. Riquewhir is right out of a picture book. Strasbourg included a great river boat tour. We loved walking around the town, visiting the shops and the cathedral. There was an extra special Disney surprise in the evening in Strasbourg. The Heidelberg castle was fascinating and the views from there were spectacular. Rudesheim is another quaint town. You get to ride a cable car over the vineyards and visit a fascinating clock museum with a Disney connection. Make sure to get a Rudesheim Coffee. We went to Dusseldorf instead of the planned stop in Cologne because of an issue in Cologne on our scheduled day that jammed traffic and closed everything down. The ABD guides did an excellent job replanning the stop with the last minute change. The day we traveled passed the castles was pretty dreary and cold. We could only stay on deck for a short time but there was plenty of room in the lounge with its large windows and it was a lot nicer in there. In Amsterdam we all did another canal cruise and then split off. We did the etching workshop at the Rembrandt House which was a lot of fun. The tour of the house was great too. We stayed 2 1/2 extra days in Amsterdam and did some things on our own which I highly recommend. We toured the Anne Frank House, Van Gough Museum (need to purchase timed tickets well in advance for both - they do not sell them the day of), Rijksmuseum and attended a concert at the Concertgebouw. We did a great walking food tour and we also did the Heineken Experience which was just ok. Hope that helps.

 

[Pebbles12]

We did this in October 2018. Ours was an adult exclusive Food and Wine cruise. We loved every place we visited. Since our trip was centered around food and wine most of our excursions had a food/beverage focus. We also didn't have as many choices in excursions as the tours that included families. Riquewhir is right out of a picture book. Strasbourg included a great river boat tour. We loved walking around the town, visiting the shops and the cathedral. There was an extra special Disney surprise in the evening in Strasbourg. The Heidelberg castle was fascinating and the views from there were spectacular. Rudesheim is another quaint town. You get to ride a cable car over the vineyards and visit a fascinating clock museum with a Disney connection. Make sure to get a Rudesheim Coffee. We went to Dusseldorf instead of the planned stop in Cologne because of an issue in Cologne on our scheduled day that jammed traffic and closed everything down. The ABD guides did an excellent job replanning the stop with the last minute change. The day we traveled passed the castles was pretty dreary and cold. We could only stay on deck for a short time but there was plenty of room in the lounge with its large windows and it was a lot nicer in there. In Amsterdam we all did another canal cruise and then split off. We did the etching workshop at the Rembrandt House which was a lot of fun. The tour of the house was great too. We stayed 2 1/2 extra days in Amsterdam and did some things on our own which I highly recommend. We toured the Anne Frank House, Van Gough Museum (need to purchase timed tickets well in advance for both - they do not sell them the day of), Rijksmuseum and attended a concert at the Concertgebouw. We did a great walking food tour and we also did the Heineken Experience which was just ok. Hope that helps.

Yes-this is a great recap, thank you!

 

[minie_meese]

I forgot about the one excursion that was just ok for us. It was in the Netherlands to a small lakeside town called Volendam. The town has some charm but felt mostly like a tourist trap. The town used to be a fishing village but has been reimagined into a tourist town. We did get to try some local treats like stroopwafels and poffertjes at the food stands along the water and tried a Dutch liquor called genièvre (pronounced yen-a-ver - heavy juniper flavor and similar to gin) at the Hotel Spaander. The artwork at the hotel was pretty neat. The Cheese Factory advertised as one of the hilights of the excursion was a modern cheese shop with people dressed in local garb giving samples. A lot of the town felt make believe. A lot of the people who went on our tour really enjoyed it so we may have been in the minority. On the way back to Amsterdam we did get to see a windmill (the only one we got to see) in the Netherlands.

 

[Pebbles12]

I forgot about the one excursion that was just ok for us. It was in the Netherlands to a small lakeside town called Volendam. The town has some charm but felt mostly like a tourist trap. The town used to be a fishing village but has been reimagined into a tourist town. We did get to try some local treats like stroopwafels and poffertjes at the food stands along the water and tried a Dutch liquor called genièvre (pronounced yen-a-ver - heavy juniper flavor and similar to gin) at the Hotel Spaander. The artwork at the hotel was pretty neat. The Cheese Factory advertised as one of the hilights of the excursion was a modern cheese shop with people dressed in local garb giving samples. A lot of the town felt make believe. A lot of the people who went on our tour really enjoyed it so we may have been in the minority. On the way back to Amsterdam we did get to see a windmill (the only one we got to see) in the Netherlands.

Feel free to share Any other insights you remember & thanks!