Thread: Rhein cruises
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Old August 30th, 2016, 09:44 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
tim...[_2_]
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Default Rhein cruises


"poldy" wrote in message ...
On 8/29/16 2:26 AM, tim... wrote:

"Happy.Hobo" wrote in message
...
On 08-27-2016 16:10, Erilar wrote:
Looking for suggestions. I've been playing around with river cruise
websites, for a future(2018?)trip with a friend who does not speak
German
along the river I know best, but she is a much better walker than I
am.
Viking requires everyone to pay in advance for all their hikes(aka
"walks"), so they're off my list automatically. I've found several that

I'd bicycle from port to port rather than pay cruise prices. And I'll
get there before my friends on ship.



Unfortunately a large amount of the "value" of a cruise is seen to be
the on board activities and they are timed, and priced accordingly

Personally, I don't see any value in that at all, and as soon as someone
starts up cruises where the focus is on the on-shore attractions with no
need to pay for on board activities that I have no interest in, I will
sign up

but on the odd occasion when companies have tried that approach, they
have failed to be profitable

tim


Some people have rationalized cruises, not river cruises, as being cheaper
if you consider that cost of accommodations and transportation over a
similar period, not to mention the included meals.


I have one on my living room table right now

It talks of 130-150 per day for accommodation, meals and transport

but that's per person so it's 300 quid for a couple

Personally, I find that in the sort of location that cruises stop at 100
pounds per night, per room is more than adequate and certainly a lot better
than an inside 2 berth cabin)

As to the food, well I simply don't want three full meals a day and I
certainly don't want a 5 course banquet *every* night - that is part of the
entertainment, that I alluded to earlier that I didn't want to have to pay
for.

A coffee/juice/couple of croissants is fine for breakfast - for medical
reasons I'm no longer allowed the fry up (something which I probably share
with a large number of cruises target market) and I'm not a fan of muesli
and yogurt.

A quick sandwich lunch and a standard three course dinner is all I need (and
want).

And self services is fine. I don't need to have a troupe of penguins (that
I am forced to tip 300 quid) running after me, I am perfectly capable of
fending for myself. And NO, it isn't a necessary part of a THE holiday to
include this level of service, if I'm on a touring holiday then the
attraction is the places that it goes to, not a ridiculously OTT level of
service.

And then there's the extortionate price of the tours at the stop-overs, I've
seen cases of 4 times the cost of arranging the same thing locally.

And those onboard activities sound hellish, forced participation in
activities when presumably your main interest is to tour the cities.


I wasn't referring to any forced participation

Just the bar, disco and other evening attractions.

I don't need any of that, my holidays a Do the sights during the day,
have dinner, go back to room to sleep - rinse and repeat

tim