Art and I have only taken two European river cruises. This Rhine River cruise was our first, and the second was from Prague to Budapest. I enjoyed them both and would love to take another, but there are other things that are bumping it down the list right now.

This Rhine River cruise was our brother’s trip for 2011. All four brothers, their wives and Art’s adult daughter joined us.

The Prep

When Art and I are traveling with others, we attempt to be a little more cost conscious. In this case, we went on the first cruise of the season, when the weather was apt to be a little cooler, but the cost of the cruise was a lower. One of Art’s brothers had recently been widowed, so we juggled the room assignments around a bit, so no one had to purchase an entire room for themselves. Art’s daughter and I shared a room and Art, and his widowed brother shared a room.

We knew we wanted to take this specific Rhine River cruise long before they came available, so the very first day they were open for booking, we snagged them right away. Our company of choice was Avalon Waterways, a part of the Globus family of brands, and were very pleased.

We made our own flight arrangements for the trip. As we were originating in different cities we arranged  our schedules where we would meet up at one airport and all be together of the intercontinental flight.

The closest major airport to Basel was in Zurich. Since none of us had been to either Zurich or Basel before, we decided to stay overnight in each of those locations prior to our cruise departure.

Zurich

We knew Zurich was an expensive city, so we planned accordingly. The public transportation system was easy to use and get us everywhere we wanted to go. We had arranged for a private transfer to the hotel. With a larger group it usually turns out to be less expensive in the long run.

We went up to the top of Uetliberg Mountain and took a lot of photos on our first day. It was nice to get some exercise after our flight. We took a train to the mountain and then had a nice 10 – 15 minute walk up to the top. From the 2850 foot peak we were able to see all of Zurich as well as the Alps. There is another tower you can climb to get a beautiful 360 degree view.

We noticed some interesting light poles in the park. With its exceptionally long neck and legs, and lights on top of what appear to be antlers. It looks like a caricature of a moose maybe. No matter what it’s supposed to be it is amusing.

On the train back from the mountain, I tried to rouse the group to get up so we could get off at the next stop. There was some discussion as to whether it was the correct stop, but my usual bullheaded self, I said, “Yes,” it was correct. As they didn’t think this was the stop to get off, some of the group was slow to respond. Well, the train doors closed with part of our group on the platform and part still in the train. They waived to us as the train pulled away.

Be Prepared

Fortunately, we had our emergency plan already in place. At this time, we still had roaming charges and the like on our cell phones. But we knew that we could send texts for 25 cents each. We had agreed that if for any reason we got separated, we would text the others.

As the train pulled away, I realized that I had made a mistake; we got off at the wrong station. So, we just texted the others to wait for us at the correct station. They got the message with no problem. We were soon all together again. Always have a contingency plan when you are traveling with others. You just never know when something will happen.

Currently it’s a lot less expensive to use your phone internationally, just make sure you know exactly what the international plan includes, and have the service set up prior to your trip.

On to Basel

I have to admit, I am so envious of the passenger train system in Europe. It’s always so easy and quick to get from place to place by train. Our train trip from Zurich to Basel was about an hour long.

While on the train we were discussing where to get tram passes, and a lady who lived in Basel overheard us. She told us that since we were staying at a hotel there, we were entitled to use the trams for free. If anyone stopped us, she said that all we needed to do was show them our hotel reservation and we would be fine.

BaselCard

We took the tram and had no problem finding our hotel. Upon check-in we were issued our free BaselCard. The card allows holders to ride the trams for free during their stay, provides free Wi-Fi at various hotspots, and provides a 50% discount on cultural and leisure activities.

Our hotel, the Best Western Stuckii, was a good choice, and still gets good reviews. It is located a little outside of the central area. However, with the tram available nearby, it’s easy to get around town. Considering how expensive things can be in Switzerland, this was the bargain of the trip! It was clean, plenty roomy and had everything we needed.

This was the first week of April, and we found many of the stores, throughout our trip, were decorated for spring and Easter.

Local Markets

We came across a beautiful market in the square of Basel. I just love the markets you find in towns throughout Europe. Some are much larger than others, but I always find them eye catching and must take photos, no matter what.

You can find locally made cheeses, breads, pastries, produce and even flowers; just about anything you might like. If the place you are going has a specialty product, the local markets are always a good place to find it.

As we walked down a street, we discovered a group of local musicians, dressed in traditional clothing performing for the public. That was a treat!

Toy Museum

Since those of us in the group have different interests, we ended up doing different things during the day. Art and I went to the toy museum, which we found quite interesting. There was a special exhibit on kimonos which was delightful. The four-story museum has every kind of toy imaginable. It also displays the largest exhibit of teddy bears in the world, including a nice section about Steiff bears, which I know are quite collectible.

The next day we had a nice leisurely morning and after lunch we headed off for the boat. I had determined where our boat would be docking, so we knew right were to go. We hired a cab to take one of us along with all our luggage, and the rest of us took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked over to the dock.

Our Rhine River Cruise Begins

And there she was: The Avalon Affinity. At 361 feet in length and 69 rooms she accommodates up to 138 passengers. Our check in went smoothly, and we were all quickly in our rooms and unpacked, ready for our week’s adventure. The boat was only two years old at the time, so it was quite nice. At 172 sq ft, our rooms were plenty large enough for two people.

Our Rhine River Cruise was for 7 nights, beginning in Basel and ending in Amsterdam. They still offer this cruise but there is one change in the itinerary. The cruise now includes a stop in Breisach, Germany, the gateway to the Black Forest, and no longer includes Speyer, Germany.

As with all river cruises, walking tours are provided in each city. Our guides were always local and very good. They used headsets with microphones and using our receiver headsets we could easily hear them talking without having to be all bunched up together. We participated in all the tours, and then often went back out into the towns on our own.

As I said earlier, our cruise was the first week of April. The weather could be a bit chilly at times, but when the sun was out, it was absolutely perfect. We had a couple of overcast days, but in general the weather cooperated for the entire trip. However, we went prepared for cool and wet weather.

The Staff

Our cruise director, Robert, was great. He was so funny. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but he always had us laughing. All of his announcements ended with a very unusual way of saying thank you. With the emphasis on the you and would always raise the note of his voice on the you as well.

I ran into someone years later who said they had been on a cruise with Avalon and the cruise director had such an unusual way of saying thank you at the end of his announcements. I just said, “Thank you!” and they laughed and said, “That’s him!” You would often hear people on the boat talking to one another and it never failed that they would end their conversations with a “thank you” in Robert’s unusual way.

A Sense of Humor!

The staff was nice and helpful. Anything we needed was quickly taken care of. Since it is a small boat, the staff would have multiple duties. For instance, the bar tenders also worked in the dining room. They like to have a little fun with the passengers about this. My sister-in-law, Patrice, said to one of the staff in the dining room, “Do you work at the bar too?” His answer, “No, that’s my twin brother”, which caused Patrice to pause for a second before she realized he was pulling her leg.

With the boat only being three stories in height, it was quite easy to get anywhere you needed to go. For those who need it, there is an elevator on the boat. We spent the majority of our time in the lounge or on the sky deck when we were on the boat. The large reception area worked well for taking care of any other needs we might have had.

One Minor Issue

We only had one issue on the boat. There were only two tables for eight in the dining room, and there were several groups on this particular cruise. We talked to the dining room staff and they said they did not reserve tables, it was first come, first serve. I think all but one night, we managed to snag one of the large tables.

Strasbourg

The first stop on our Rhine River Cruise was Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg has an interesting history in that it has been under control of either Germany or France numerous times over the years. As of 1944, and the end of WWII, the city has remained a part of France.

What none of us realized at the time, was that Art’s father had traced the family history, all the way back to the Alsace region in which Strasbourg is located. One of the wives stumbled across the family history records after we returned home. If only we had known!

Strasbourg is a delightful city, filled with picturesque half-timbered houses and canals weaving throughout the city. It is also the home of the European Parliament.

Our city tour included a canal boat ride which was a pleasant way to see some of the city. Its Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady, which dominates the historic city center, is not to be missed.

Wrought Iron Signs

One of the things our guide pointed out was the wrought iron signs. They have been used since medieval times to identify shops. Some are quite elaborate, other’s fairly simple. I had never noticed them prior to this trip, but now I was seeing them everywhere. I really enjoyed photographing them and it became a quest to find them in each place we visited.

Strasbourg today

The city of Strasbourg proper has about 290,000 residents, with about half a million in the metropolitan area, it’s large enough to have everything you need, yet still small enough to not feel overwhelming. As with many of these old cities, the city center retains the feel of the old world, while the new, modern buildings are located outside. In fact, the historic city center of Strasbourg was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

This is absolutely a place we need to return to and stay for a few months. We can soak up the ambiance of this lovely city and perhaps do a little family history research.

Speyer

Our next stop was Speyer, Germany. The morning allowed us time to explore the area on our own, and the afternoon offered a tour to nearby Heidelberg.

Our family walked over Speyer’s Technik Museum which was very near the port. It’s not every day you walk up to a museum with a Boeing 747 that appears to be taking off right over your head! This museum is filled with all kinds of things: cars, fire trucks, motorcycles, a carousel, jets, planes, even an old Russian submarine. My favorite part was climbing up into that 747 and walking out over the wing. Plexiglass covered a lot of areas exposing the wiring; there must be miles of it running throughout the aircraft.

Avalon’s current 7-day Rhine River cruise from Basel to Amsterdam does not stop in Speyer. But if they should add it back in, this is a great museum, well worth the price of admission.

Unfortunately, my knee was really acting up, so I stayed on the boat and iced it down. The rest of our group did take the tour of the Heidelberg which included the Heidelberg Palace.

Mainz

Our next stop was Mainz, another picturesque German town.

As with many of these towns, the large Mainz Cathedral, which has survived fires and wars over the years, dominates. The town was largely destroyed in WWII and has been lovingly restored. There was a market going on in the square when we arrived. Mainz is also the home of a very well-done Gutenberg Museum, with two original Gutenberg bibles on display.

Rudesheim

A quick tram ride from the river up a rather steep road brings you into the old town of Rudesheim, Germany, our next stop. Although it is certainly walkable, the trams are a big help for those who might have mobility issues.

Rudesheim has probably one of the most unique museums I have ever seen, Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet, a museum of mechanical musical instruments. All the way from a tiny mechanical singing bird to a large cabinet that plays violins. The 45-minute tour shows you mechanical instruments which have all been carefully restored to playing condition. The demonstrations are amazing.

Our city tour included a stop at a local restaurant, Breuer’s Rudesheimer Schloss where we could purchase a snack or beverage. The specialty of the restaurant was the Rudesheimer Coffee. The coffee is very sweet, with the locally produced Asbach brandy added, and topped with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. I didn’t try it, myself, but others said it was quite good. There are specific cups to be used for the coffee, and I did purchase a pair of them. Here is it 8 years later and I still haven’t used them!

The Optional Dinner

That night we were able to participate in an optional dinner in Rudesheim. Since it was one of the brother’s birthday, we decided our entire family would attend.

There was a large booth in an alcove that accommodated our family just perfectly. The only negative was that it was one very large U-shaped booth, so if anyone needed to get out for any reason, half the table had to get up as well.

We were in a very jovial mood that night. (Alcoholic beverages may have been consumed by some of the group during happy hour on the boat.) But the funniest thing that happened was when the youngest of the brothers made a request of the band.

Upon returning to the table, Ken said that the band agreed to play “Que Sera” but, it was required that everyone stand up and sing. Of course, we all complied. We stood there, arm in arm swaying to the music, just singing away! There were other people from the boat who came over to our table, and said, “What is it that you all are drinking back here? It sounds like you are having such a good time.”

Full Disclosure

Okay, I admit, we can be the obnoxious group that is always laughing… loudly. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, we have so much fun traveling with “the in-laws.” People often come up to us and comment about how much fun we seemed to be having. Of course, it is obvious the men are brothers, which also brings comments.

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering, there was no requirement to stand and sing, Ken just made it up.

Castles Along the Rhine

The next morning the crew casted off and we cruised along the Rhine viewing the beautiful castles. The weather was quite overcast and chilly that day, but we made the best of it.

I knew this was a well-known wine region of Germany, but I had no idea there would be so many vineyards along the river. There were trees along the river that were in bloom all around the manicured vineyards. As beautiful as it was, I can only imagine how it would have looked in sunshine! 

Lorelei

One of the other attractions in this part of the Rhine is the Lorelei. There are several different stories about Lorelei. Let’s start with the fact the Lorelei is actually the name of a large rock along the Rhine River.

Legend has it that Lorelei is a siren who sits on the cliffs combing her golden hair, unknowingly distracting the sailors along the Rhine and causing them to crash on the rocks. There is also statue of Lorelei along the banks of the river. It reminded me of the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen.

T-Shirt Day

We had a shirt made for one of our family reunions and decided to bring them with us on this trip. The story behind the shirt is that we have an uncommon last name, and although it’s not difficult to spell, people always get tripped up by it.

Here’s how a typical conversation goes:

“What’s your last name?”

“Wickerham,” is the reply. (We pronounce it American style wicker-ham rather than the British version which is “wicker-um.”)

Then we usually get a quizzical look with “What? How do you spell that?”

We all reply in just the same way: “Wi-ck-er-ham.”

Nine times out of ten the next words out of the person’s mouth will be. “Just like it sounds!”

This happens to all of us. No matter where we live. The t-shirts we made have Wi-ck-er-ham on the front, and “Just like it sounds!” on the back.

The Response

We all agreed to bring the shirts with us and wear them on the same day. It was so funny. Numerous people came up and asked us what the shirts meant. In fact, as I was walking down the hallway to my room that afternoon, I heard someone say to the person they were with, “I wonder what that means?” The person replied, “Oh that’s their name and people can never spell it. When they spell it for them, they always say ‘Just like it sounds!’” I just smiled to myself as I went into my room.

Koblenz

We decided to wear our T-shirts on the day we visited Koblenz, Germany, another lovely town located at the spot where the Moselle River meets the Rhine.

It’s also the home of the spitting boy. You heard that right, home of the spitting boy. There’s a fountain with a statue of a little boy who “spits” water out in irregular intervals. If you are standing unawares, you could get a little wet. Naturally, this is one of the things people remember out Koblenz.

Augenroller

The other curiosity in Koblenz is the Augenroller which is found on the clock tower in St Florin’s Square. The face below the clock represents a 16th century robber who was sentenced to death for his crimes. Just prior to his execution, he was reported to have rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue at the assembled crowd. Now, his eyes move back and forth with each tick of the clock and he sticks out his tongue on the hour and half hour.

Our walking tour here was very nice. It was a warm sunny day. There are numerous squares in the town, and the locals were out enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

Apparently, ice cream sundaes are a big deal here. We saw people eating some of the biggest sundaes I have ever seen!

Reminents of WW II

Koblenz is another town that sustained heavy damage during WWII. Interestingly enough, in November of 2011, two live allied bombs from WWII were discovered in the Rhine River, at Koblenz. The unusually low water levels exposed the bombs which were diffused without incident in early December of that year.

This is something we don’t think about here in the US. But according to an article by the BBC, about 600 tons of unexploded ordinance is discovered in Germany each year. The allied forces dropped a lot of bombs on Germany, and it is estimated that about 10% did not detonate.

Cologne

Onward we cruised to Cologne, the last stop in Germany of our Rhine River Cruise. With just over a million residents, this was the largest city we visited in Germany and a grand European city it is.

The tallest twin spired church in the world, the Cologne Cathedral dominates the city’s skyline, and is just as impressive from the inside as it is from the outside. The stained-glass windows are amazing. If I recall correctly, we were told on our tour that despite being struck by 14 bombs during WWII, very little of the stained-glass windows were broken as most had been removed and safely stored away. It is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Although there were other stops on our tour, the Cathedral was the highlight.

After our tour was over, we found a nice little café in Cologne and had some wonderful pastries!

Amsterdam

Our final port was Amsterdam, where we had an overnight stay at the end of our cruise. This allowed us plenty of time to see the things we wanted to see there. I always recommend a canal boat tour of this city.

Amsterdam is known as a very bicycle friendly city, but it’s also a great walking city. However, when you are walking around, watch out for the cyclists, they’re everywhere!

My favorite art museum, the Rijksmuseum, is located here. This was my third visit. Although it was under major construction at the time, they had all the important works available for viewing. If you like the paintings by the Dutch Masters, this is your museum!

One Small Problem

Here we were at the final day of our Rhine River cruise, and other than our one little glitch on the train in Zurich, we had breezed through the cruise with out a major problem. Until the last morning!

Our pre-arranged transportation didn’t show up to take us to the airport. I never did get a good answer as to what happened. Fortunately, we were able to purchase transfers on the boat at the last minute and get on the bus that the cruise line was operating. As the bus drove off, we noticed a van pulling up to the boat, and our guess was that was the one that was supposed to have been there for us an hour earlier. We made it to the airport on time, and our flight home was uneventful.

My Final Impressions of Our Rhine River Cruise

Overall, I was impressed with our first river cruise. I definitely would recommend it to anyone who asks.

Although there is some entertainment on board, it’s not a big Vegas style show like you see on the larger cruise ships. Usually, a quartet of musicians, a vocalist, or small group of singers.

Special Interest Cruises

There are some special interest river cruises and if they happen to be about a topic in which you are interested, I recommend you investigate them.

I found the pace to be relaxed on this particular cruise. With the tours there was enough scheduled activity with plenty of time left to do things on our own

The included tours are not strenuous. Although they work very hard to ensure accessibility, just be aware that you may have a few issues here and there. It’s a great way to see some of the smaller cities of Europe.

I also highly recommend that if you have friends or family who are interested in river cruises that you go as a small group. It can be a lot of fun and you can come home with some wonderful memories!

How about you? Have you taken a Rhine River Cruise? What did you like most about it? Any thoughts or tips you’d like to share? Don’t forget to share this blog post with your friends!