Rhine River cruise changed to bus trip, Gate One

Hi! I was on a Gate 1 cruise June 26 from Basel to Amsterdam. Low water meant we spent the first 3 nights of our cruise in hotels and doing bus tours and then we were able to join our ship in Boppard for the last 4 nights of the cruise. I know river levels have only gotten worse since that time.

In Basel we were in a nice business class hotel directly on two tram lines so making connections was easy. They provided dinner and breakfast at the hotel each day of the hotel stays. They gave each guest a €25 per diem in cash for the hotel days to purchase lunch independently. The hotel dinners were fine but certainly did not compare with what the dining options are aboard ship.

We all went to Colmar and spent the day there with a walking tour and then free time before ending up at the Soffitel hotel in Strasbourg. Great location, but a hotel past its glory. Once again it was a walking tour and independent time. We spent two nights here.

The next day was a tour of Heidelberg and then on to join the ship in Boppard. The Rhine was too low for scenic cruising on the river cruise ship so they bussed us to a point upriver where we caught the KD ferry/tour boat for the scenic cruising. Meanwhile, our ship sailed from Boppard to Koblenz and that was where our bus brought us back to. We spent the day there before departing around 9 pm for Cologne where we arrived early in the am. Walking tour and free time.

Next it was off to Amsterdam and the only real time we had much of a scenic view while cruising.

Gate 1 did their absolute best to give the best experience possible under the circumstances and if I had signed up for a bus tour I really wouldn’t have had anything to complain about. It wasn’t a bad experience . It is disappointing, there is no way around those feelings even if you have been warned when you register that this can happen.

My advice is either reschedule the cruise or accept that your trip will be different. Not bad, just different.

Carol, thank you for your very thoughtful reply. We will be traveling in the opposite direction, spending the first 2 nights on the boat, in Amsterdam. The remainder of the trip will be on a bus. How many buses did they have and did each bus have a guide?

We had just over 60 passengers on our cruise and two full size, comfortable coaches. There were two Gate 1 staff members on each bus and local guides were hired for any walking tours. Those groups were 20 in size.

The ship docked in a great location near Central Station in Amsterdam. Very easy to walk through the station and catch a tram to the museum district.