mc2fool wrote:Arborbridge wrote:mc2fool wrote:From
viewtopic.php?p=371244#p371262Arborbridge wrote:I have a European holiday booked in April. Originally river cruise booked for September 2018, due to drought postponed to October 2019 then postponed due to an operation until April 2020, then cancelled due to covid and rebooked for April 2021!
Postponed due to drought? The river dried up?!?
Not a Rhine cruise then ...
Well, actually it
was the Rhine! We had already been up the Danube from Budapest and enjoyed it, so thought we would then travel Amsterdam to Basel. However, two days before leaving we had an email to report that water levels beyond a certain point were so low that they were stopping there. Continuation travel would be arranged by "luxury" coach to complete to trip to Basel. The coaches are actually quite good, but it wasn't what I paid for, so agreed to take the trip the following October when I hoped that we wouldn't have another very dry summer.
Noted from
another thread ...
Arborbridge wrote:On a tangential point: I have just arrived back from a cruise down the Rhine.
So, finally your much postponed cruise? But with an even dryer summer this year, where did your cruise go (and where was it supposed to go)?
Aha! Well spotted (on the ball as usual). We were fortunate in that the whole cruise was possible - indeed, I believe it was the first one this year which had no interruption due to low water. The section they had been unable to float through was the Rhine gorge, the most spectacular part - but I'm told they had some very heavy rain in the past month. Judging by the banks, the water levels were pretty much "median". The Rhine gorge, BTW was on a cold foggy day, so we missed a lot of views, but I reckon what we missed was made up for by some atmospheric pictures.
To start at the beginning... we flew to Basel and boarded there and proceeded to Amsterdam over seven days. Visited various cities and castles on the way and enjoyed a classical concert/sung recital in Rastatt palace near Mannheim. We also had three nights with some entertainment on board - a violinist (from Ukraine, having been in Germany only 6 months) a singer and a trio - all the programs were familiar light classics, nothing too heavy to frighten people!
The last day on the lower Rhine was most interesting for its industry. Not pretty, but a reminder of the massive size of German industry - Bayer, Siemens, Thyseem-Krupp, BASF all with enormous waterfront lengths of active plant. Yes, and many, many, barges plying up and down with big loads of coal, oil and LPG. A bit like some of the UK was before our industry was wrecked and we started enjoying service industries instead.
The boat was largely filled with Canadians and Americans with only 8 Brits. This really surprised me, because on the previous cruise down the Danube with the same company, it was mainly people from the UK.
We went with Scenic cruises and have no complaints. The boat and accommodation were spotlessly clean and everything went like clockwork - including a built-in "limo" to and from our house. With excellent guides and crew to help us, plus as much food and booze and one could possibly want, all in the price the only downside is that I've put on a kilo or so. I expect 5:2 to sort that out in a week or three.
Next jaunt? Not sure, but I am vaguely thinking of the Rocky Mountaineer and a trip to Alaska.
Arb.