Off We Go - Rhine River Boat Trip
 

My wife and I are leaving Friday for, of all things, a "guided tour". This is our first time on a tour, and it will be a new experience for us as we are used to traveling alone and making all of our own arrangements.

We fly into Amsterdam via London and spend the next ten nights on a Grand Circle riverboat trip up the Rhine River to Basel, Switzerland. The cruise is called "Christmas Markets on the Rhine" and, as you might imagine, is a theme trip which takes in the sights and sounds of Dutch/German/French towns on the Rhine River.

It is our first tour, as mentioned, and also our first boat trip and our first winter trip. So, as you can see, there are alot of "firsts" for us on this one.

We are hoping to enjoy the trip immensely, and are looking forward to "leaving the driving" and the other details to someone else. I realize most Fodor followers plan their own trips (as have we), but we thought we would give this a try.

I would appreciate any last minute comments about a trip like this from those who have been one one.

Thanks again everyone.

- Dave

Haven't been on this trip but have been on a couple of Grand Cirle tours - Thailand & Malta. GCT does a terrific job. I can't imagine that you won't have a wonderful time. Their guides are the best that I've ever seen. Normally, I do my own thing but their tours are worth it. Hard to beat the price.

The only thing I'd suggest is that if you can opt for meals besides the "tour included" ones, please do that. Tour meals are not very good in general. If you don't have to be back on the boat until after dinner, check out places to eat in the towns you'll be stopping. Sure, you've "paid" for the included meals but it's worth deviating.

Hope to hear your comments on GCT after your trip.

Haven't been but sounds like fun. Have a good time and post back on how you liked it. Barb

It sounds pretty nifty to me; have a great time!

We have been on six Grand Circle trips, including three river boats. I have to disagree with Nancy on the meals. The meals on the European river boats have been excellent. It is worth having some local meals also, just to get the flavor of the local towns, but not because the meals on the boats are other than execellent.

Jack and Ann

I was only referring to the meals on land tours. Haven't any idea how the "boat" tour meals would be. So take Jack and Jan's recommendation.

dwzemens: We have taken many trips with GCT and have not been disappointed. Last year we took the Great Rivers of Europe which took us from Vienna to Amsterdam up the Danube to the Maine then the Rhine. It was fantastic. The food and service was excellent. There was time to go off and explore on your own after some of the scheduled tours. The riverboat held 140 passengers which were split into 3 groups with a leader for each one. In most of the towns visited each group was divided in half. The leaders did a wonderful job. In the evening there was some type of entertainment from the local area. We enjoyed it so much that we are riverboating again this apring from Antwerp to Basel, April 29 to May 14. We plan on breaking away for an additional 5-6 days. I am really interested in hearing about your experiences. You should enjoy this trip.
Carol

dw--- please, please, please post back upon return. The tour sounds lovely. Have fun!!!

TRIP REPORT – EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE – PART 1

We returned from our first Grand Circle Travel European (GCT) river cruise on Tuesday. Both my wife and I had a terrific time. We are most impressed with GCT, the quality of their personnel, their ships, the food and the entertainment.

We flew from Detroit to London on British Airways, and had a connecting flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam where we would board the cruise ship. The flights went well, but fog caused a late departure of two hours in London and a later arrival in Amsterdam. No problem, until we found that our luggage did not make it to Amsterdam with us! We literally had the clothes on our backs, as even our winter coats were packed in our checked luggage. After filing a lost luggage report at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, we held our breath that our luggage would find its way to our river ship before it departed three hours later. We were lucky, because the luggage arrived minutes before the ship departed. Several other people on our boat also had lost luggage, and some of it did not get to the boat for three days! That is a long time in the same closes!

When we arrived at the boat we were a bit disheveled after the long flight, the delays, and the lost luggage. The boat crew met us with open arms and great warmth. They had coffee, tea and sandwiches available to take our mind off the luggage – a nice welcome after a long night and day of travel.

The boat we traveled on is owned by GCT and was called the River Concerto.. The ship was beautifully appointed and decorated nicely for Christmas. We had a cabin on the lowest level - cabin 115. All cabins are outside, and are identical in size (with the exception of the top floor, which has a small balcony and a bit smaller room as a result). Our cabin had window about 2’x 6’, which was only a foot or saw above water level. We decided that paying several hundred dollars less for this lower cabin was a good bargain, as you rarely stay in the room and can spend that money elsewhere. No regrets in not upgrading to a higher level cabin.

The room was 10’x 15’ in size, with a full bathroom and walk in shower that was large enough to shower in comfortably. The sofas were folded down each night by the cabin steward, and seemed to be full size twin beds with a nice, firm mattress. A nice piece of chocolate was left on the down pillow - complete with a down comforter, too. We really slept well and thought the bed comfort level was quite good. We were both surprised by the amount of space, the closet size, and the drawer storage. We had no issues with storing our clothing. The cabin was in excellent condition, clean and efficiently designed.

Both my wife and I slept ten hours the first night, and almost missed breakfast, which would have been a real tragedy. We were glad we made it to breakfast, because we were about to find out that the food provided by GCT is excellent in both preparation, quality and service!

PART TWO STILL TO COME …..

DWZ, I am reading this with great interest, as I river trip is up to #2 now on my future vacation list.

Interesting and helpful!

dwzemens, I read your posts with interest. I have recently taken a summer tour of Italy with Collette Tours because I thought that for the money, a tour co. would get the trip done a lot more efficiently than I could independently in the 2 weeks I had available--really saw everything major and feel comfortable going back on my own now that I know my preferences. Anyway, the Rhine River cruise/tour has been an interest for a while. I worry that the boat would pass by a beautiful city and I would be stuck on board, unable to see things. Did you feel this way, or did your tour include enough land time for your tastes?

TRIP REPORT – EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE – PART 2

THE FOOD

The trip itself was quite structured, but had plenty of relaxation time built in, too. Without going into a detailed, day-by-day itinerary, I will give you an overview of how a typical day went, starting with the food, of course!

Breakfast was routinely served from 7:30am until 9:00am. It consisted of a very nice, fresh assortment of fruit, rolls, bread, muffins, croissants- along with the necessary jams, jellies and other condiments you would expect. (All of the breads are baked fresh daily on board – every one of them – according to the Austrian head chef). There was orange, apple and grape juice daily. There was always an assortment of meats and cheeses (soft and hard). There was a hot buffet that consisted of sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes or waffles, and oatmeal. There was also an omelets chef to prepare fresh omelets to your liking – with all the necessary ingredients for many types of omelets. You could also ask this chef to make your eggs in any other fashion, too. He would even make an egg white omelet if that was to your liking. The breakfast coffee was strong and hot, and served professionally by the terrific wait staff (more on them later).

Here is a lunch menu from one of the days of the trip:

Starter: “Minestrone” Soup followed by a “Fresh Garden Green Salad with Ham & Cheese”. There was always a soup course with lunch and dinner, and the soup was uniformly excellent.

Main Course Choice #1: Beef Goulash with Spatzel
Main Course Choice #2: Spaghetti Bolognese with Parmesan Cheese

Desert: Tiramisu

Here is a typical dinner menu from one day of the trip:

Starter: Tartar of Smoked and Fresh Salmon – followed by ½ of a Rock Lobster

Main Course Choice #1: Sirloin of Venison on Mushrooms
Main Course Choice #2: Braised Filet of Cod

Desert #1: Crepes Suzette a la Souffle
Desert #1: Cheese Plate with Crackers and Bread
Desert #1: Coupe with Fresh Fruit Salad.


PART THREE STILL TO COME …..

Very interested in your report. We have talked off and on about a trip like this. Sounds delightful so far.

Thanks for sharing!

TRIP REPORT – EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE – PART 3

On about ½ of the days, we had already docked during the night at our port city for the next day. There was generally a walking tour of the city, with a local guide who was very knowledgeable about the city and area in general. These guides all seemed eager and willing to share their experiences. During the afternoon there was generally some free time in the city, and then a return to the ship for drinks and dinner.

On some days our boat did not dock until around lunch time. On those days, there was usually an event in the ship’s lounge during the morning. On one day they served sausages and German pretzels, on another day there was a champagne tasting event. On another day there was a silversmith showing how jewelry was made, and on yet another day an explanation and demonstration of cuckoo clock manufacturing and design. After lunch on these days, we were in another city and generally had another city walking tour.

Twice during the trip we took a bus tour that took most of the day. There was sightseeing and then a walking tour of another city that was distant enough from the ship that it was necessary to take a tour bus to it. These days were a nice diversion from the boat.

On one day we were all transported in groups of four to six to have a home hosted dinner in a family home in the Netherlands. This was a great experience, as you were taken into a family home and were able to interact closely with a Dutch family. Everyone we spoke to really enjoyed this evening, and we did as well.

On several evenings, after dinner, there was entertainment on the ship. There were some comedy acts and some musical acts. The ship crew actually put on a show one night. All of the entertainment was fun – not top notch Las Vegas quality, but good, solid fun that everyone seemed to enjoy.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We really enjoyed this trip. We thought that Grand Circle did a terrific job with all aspects. The ship was beautiful. The staff was professional, polite, entertaining and cute as well. They could not have done a better job and I was happy to tip them accordingly. The food was great. There was a good mix of downtime and events/programs/tours. The other passengers were great. All in all, my wife and I rate this trip a 10 out of 10! We are eager to plan our next trip with GCT.

I will be happy to answer any questions I can about a Grand Circle river cruise. You can contact me directly at [email protected] if you have any questions.

dw-- you trip report is awesome. Is good to read a trip report that sort of departs from the typical independent travel. Thanks for sharing such interesting info.

Thanks for the kind words, Viajero2.

We had a terrific time and a highly recommend that we "independent" travelers let someone else do the work once in a while. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

- dwz

dwzemens, sounds like a great trip. Please let us know where you stopped. Barb

Glad you enjoyed Grand Circle. However, there are some other great river cruises in Europe. We especially enjoyed Uniworld and Peter Diehlman (sp?). Our Uniworld took us from Vienna to Bucharest and we had driven five nights in Austria prvious to the cruise. Grand Circle draws the older folks, it seems, and the others take all ages (not younger children. And, we prefer that. We also took a French river cruise years ago. The boats travel in the evening and tie up during the daylight hours..all sightseeing is included. Please don't just concentrate on the Grand Circle brochures..there are lots more out there!

I'm really enjoying this report vicariously--in December I took the GCT Danube river cruise and enjoyed it just as much. The food is really memorable.

Underhill,

Can you contact me off this forum as I would like to ask you some detailed information about your Danube trip?

[email protected]

Thanks - Dave Z.

It's very difficult NOT to concentrate on the GCT catalogs, as I get so many of them!

My husband and I took a Grand Circle Christmas Markets Along the Danube trip in early to mid-Dec. I was quite pleased, despite my initial misgivings since we have only traveled independently previously. (Have done some small group day things here and there and a couple of terrible "big bus" day tours out of Athens last May which caused me to decide I'd stay home before I'd do tours. But the GCT trip convinced me that I can manage tours within certain perameters - where we're on a boat that docks at the edges of the towns so we can take off on our own. And that was easy on this trip.) Found the food on the boat generally pretty good and the Program Directors excellent - they solved a number of problems for people that I witnessed with creativity and finesse. Since we could do our own exploring, it worked out quite well for us and I will probably use them again when I want to do a river cruise. May post a trip report in a day or two.
76y

We must have been on the same trip--if yours left on December 7th from Vienna, that is. It was definitely a fine not-really-a-tour.

Dumb, dumb--you were on the Rhine, I was on the Danube. But perhaps our ships met on the canal?

My wife and I would like to take the Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest probably next Spring or Summer. What did you think of Grand Circle? I have looked at other lines but have not heard of that one. Did you compare its cost with others?

We did run into (not literally) several other GCT boats on the trip. (From Nurnberg to Vienna - but some were coming the other way as well.) I'm interested in the Rhine trip, though. Might be fun for next year. Will have a couple of questions about that one after I finish up my rather long-winded trip report.
(http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34733752)

BTW, GCT was in the top five small ship awards in last year's Conde Nast Traveler. (Think probably the first time.) And another BTW, you might want to hook up with another GCT traveler if you decide to take a trip with them because they do a discount for referals for both the referer and the referee. I gave them a friend's customer number and got $100 off ($50 pp. for my husband and me) and she has a $100 credit on her next trip with them.

On 10/27/05 the company's membership in the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine & Vermont was revoked by the BBB due to violation of BBB Standard of Membership "Make diligent efforts to eliminate the underlying cause(s) of any pattern(s) or trend(s) of customer complaints which the Bureau may call to the company's attention."
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a pattern of complaints.

Based on BBB files this company has a pattern of complaints concerning contract issues. Consumers state that they purchase vacations advertised with specific amenities and itineraries. Consumers state that they are not kept informed of changes made to trips until days before departing or sometimes changes are made while on the trip. Consumers state that the amenities, activities and locations of the hotels are not what was advertised and that adequate substitutions are not made. Consumers state that they are unable to receive refunds or reimbursements from the company. Consumers state that they are dissatisfied with the level of customer service they have received trying to find resolution to these issues.

The GCT river cruises give you a lot for your money, and I was entirely pleased with the one I took. I keep reading about problems with the company but have yet to talk to anyone who had difficulties.

I concur - our trip was *delightful*, first class, professional and a great value for the dollar.

We have only taken this one Christmas Market trip with Grand Circle, but are planning another trip in August on the Danube.

I, too, had read some negatives about GCT before my trip, though I admit some of what I have read recently, including the BBB thing, has been depressing. Makes me think that Grand Circle might be like the little girl with the curl of the nursery rhyme - when they're good, they're very, very good, but when they're bad, they're horrid. I'm considering a Galapagos/Amazon/Machu Picchu trip with them next fall but am still in the very early stages of decision, in part because of the bad press. I like the suggestion of one poster about trying to get in writing whether you're actually confirmed or on a wait list, etc. Wonder if that would help?

I suspect travel, for business or pleasure, has always been a mixed bag and things aren't apt to get any better. You pays your money and takes your chances, I guess. Even when you're doing your own arrangements, things can go wrong. I'm just thankful that our experience on the Danube cruise was a good one.