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  1. #11
    urquie is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    What is your timeline for the cruise? After the very recent flooding in Germany, I would consider other options first.

    My mom and in-laws have been on many river cruises in Europe and have loved them.

  2. #12
    smilequeen is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by urquie View Post
    What is your timeline for the cruise? After the very recent flooding in Germany, I would consider other options first.

    My mom and in-laws have been on many river cruises in Europe and have loved them.
    A year from now is the plan. We’re consulting our travel agent at the moment.
    Mama to my boys (04,07,11)

  3. #13
    smilequeen is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    So our travel agent surprised me by saying that Disney is not currently requiring vaccinations for adults, so I'm not sure with all going on that even next summer will be totally comfortable on a cruise, even a small one. We just went to the Galapagos, but the requirements were for all crew and adults to be vaccinated (or recovered from covid). That was comfortable, but I'm not sure I could put my almost 80 year old parents in that position if things are not better, even though we will all be vaccinated (assuming my then 11 year old will have had the chance by next year). So we may look at a land based trip. (Or my husband is dying to do a private yacht trip in Croatia, but I haven't priced that out paying for my parents as well).

    Of all the companies, I was hoping for more from Disney. I generally despise cruises but our Disney Alaska cruise was really nice...
    Mama to my boys (04,07,11)

  4. #14
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    I have been on two Viking river cruises in Europe and enjoyed them very much. But even aside from the current flooding in Europe, there are other weather events which can cause problems. I assume the same would be true for other lines. If the river is too high, the boat may not be able to get under a bridge(s). If the river is too low, the boat may not be able to get past a shallow part.

    On our first cruise there was threat of problem with high water but we were lucky. The second one there actually was a problem with low water one day. Viking's solution which worked well was for all passengers to leave our ship in the morning (when there was a scheduled excursion), then be bussed beyond the problem after the excursion, and board an identical viking ship beyond the problem stop. The passengers that had been on the other ship (which had been traveling in the opposite direction) had the same procedure except they continued on the ship we had left. Of course we had to pack up everything for the transfer but the staff had our luggage back in our rooms. Viking has so many ships that this works well. We had planned another river cruise the next year but before we left we were told that because of river conditions the trip would mostly be by bus, do not remember if we would have spend the nights on stationary boats. We canceled and were fully refunded. Situations like this are more difficult for passengers who have made arrangements for some independent travel before the cruise.

    With the "unusual" weather that is more frequent now, I regretfully discourage planning riverboat cruises.

    Grammy K

  5. #15
    AnnieW625's Avatar
    AnnieW625 is offline Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    Consider Oceania as well or Regent Seven Seas. I have heard good things about Regent, but we did Oceania in the Baltics. I believe they do river cruises as well. I had never been on a large cruise before and TBH I don’t know if I would after only sailing on smaller boat. I think the total capacity including crew was about 2,000, but it could’ve been less.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Annie
    WOHM to two wonderful little girls born in April
    DD E, 17
    DD L, 13,
    baby 2, 4-2009 (our Tri-18 baby)

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