Trip Report, Amsterdam to Zurich by boat and train.

Day 1-The Travel Gods are Laughing

I don’t know what it is about arrival day with us. It likely has to do with lack of sleep on an overnight flight but I’m leaning more in favour of the travel gods needing an early morning laugh. We landed in Amsterdam at 5:30am, dead tired and not in a position mentally to deal with curveballs, but the first came as we left the train station and were about halfway through our 1.6km walk to our hotel when one of the wheels on Carla’s suitcase broke. Ironically 10 minutes earlier, as we walked by a tram station, I had asked her if she wanted to take the tram. She said she wanted to walk; cue the travel gods. However, the gods gave us a break as we arrived at our hotel because even though it was not yet 8am, they had a room ready for us.

In our room, dead tired and Carla can’t get her data roaming turned on. I did mine at the airport with no issues. A note for the Canadian travellers who may be using the Telus network. Telus has new international plans that are hard to find on the website but are a significant savings on the $16/day option. We bought the 30 days for $60 plan. There is also a 15-day plan for $50. Anyway, Carla has an IPhone 15, I’ve never had an IPhone and always use Samsung. Carla’s patience to learn how to use her phone is virtually nil and I always make our son or daughter help her. I’m dead tired and on my own this time, but she’s right, the roaming toggle to turn on/off is gone…not greyed out so it couldn’t be turned on…just gone. She’s like a cranky child whose had no sleep when her phone doesn’t do as it’s told, but I’m too tired to care. We rarely sleep on arrival day, but we slept for 3 hours.

Refreshed, we found the Tulip Museum which is in the basement of a store that sells….tulips and bulbs, and for €7 it was well worth the hour to learn about the flower’s history. Fun fact, tulips are not native to the Netherlands, they came from Himalayan region and became wildly popular in other parts of Asia, Africa and eventually Europe as a status symbol for the rich and famous. The first tulips in Holland were grown in 1593 and it grew into such a sensation that fortunes were made and lost. In 1625 a tulip bulb sold for 5200 guilders. To put that in perspective, an expensive home at that time in Holland cost 10,000 guilders.

We didn’t try for tickets to the Anne Frank House, but we did go to the Resistance Museum which came highly recommended to us, and no crowds. The museum goes through the rise of Nazism in the Netherlands where there were some pre-war radicals that could out-Nazi the Nazis and opened the door for the German invasion. The museum continues with the story of the heroes and villains of the Dutch Resistance. What I really liked was the personal stories told. The museum displayed names and photos of real people and what they did for or against the resistance. Real people that may not make it into any history book. We spent about 2.5 hours here and I would have spent more but the museum was closing. I don’t know what the museum is like in peak season, but we easily walked in and got tickets. There were probably 10 other visitors while we were there. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Cue the travel gods. I had to put my backpack in a locker at the museum (free). After we left and were about a block away, I realized I’d forgotten it. I raced back just as the museum was closing for the day, and got it. Some may blame ageing and forgetfulness as the reason I forgot my backpack in the museum lockers 3 times this trip, but I’m pointing my finger at the travel gods having another good laugh.

Day 2-Windmills, Cheese and Sugar.

Despite both of us not being huge fans of 50-person bus day tours, this tour came highly recommended from one of Carla’s well-travelled friends. https://www.getyourguide.com/amsterdam-l36/half-day-tour-of-zaanse-schans-volendam-and-marken-t37238/

The tour description is not entirely accurate, but close enough. We arrived 25 minutes early which meant we were about 100th in line for mass chaos east of the central train station where all the bus tours seem to converge to spew out their thousands onto the poor locals. The instructions on our ticket said to find the person with the blue umbrella. Care to guess how many blue umbrellas the travel gods assigned this morning? People ran back and forth to the umbrellaed people to find the proper bus. We found our bus and left only 15 minutes late and after only asking 4 of the 13-umbrella people. The tour was OK but was generic and designed for mass tourism to get a photo op and then back on the bus to the next spot.

First stop was the windmills at Zaanse Schans. The tour description said we’d “stroll around at our leisure”. The Tour Guide said we had 45 minutes. We arrived at 9am but the windmills didn’t open until 10:00. We sprinted from windmill to windmill reading the signage outside of locked doors. We learned there are three things windmills in this region did; pump water, grind stuff such as spices, oils and pigments (it’s suggested the pigments used in Rembrandt’s paint were likely ground here), and saw wood for ship building. While we were disappointed with the rush, the tour company seems to know it’s audience, of the 50 people on the bus, maybe 10 of us walked to the windmills, the rest saw a coffee shop and made it no further, and those that did make it past, stopped at the souvenir shop. By the end of the day there was one woman with 4 large shopping bags of souvenirs.

Next stop was the town of Edam which apparently is a famous type of cheese. Carla was familiar with the type but not me. They have been producing cheese since the 1500’s when it was a port town, but dikes and dams have pushed it inland over the past 500 years. It’s a very pretty town and we stayed for about 45 minutes before heading to a cheese farm nearby. I don’t recall the name of the farm but it’s been family owned for hundreds of years and while it still produces cheeses for export it seems to have cashed in on mass tourism as they pushed through waves of buses of tourists through a quick 5 minute discussion on how cheese is made, before being pushed through a door to the cheese store. There was no pressure to buy, but there was incentive as there was row upon row of small cubes to sample. Who says no to small cubes of smoked gouda? Not this lean mean cheese munching machine. Carla accused me of eating more than my fair share. In my defense, I saw no sign indicating how many cheese chunks were my fair share.

Our longest stop of the day was for lunch in the town of Volendam. Pretty, but touristy, and OMG I discovered Stroopwafels!!! Who’s been hiding these yummy creations of sugar and crispy waffles cookies from me all these years?? Clearly my research for this trip let me down, the RS guide mentions them, but they should be celebrated on the front cover. We spent the rest of the tour on a sugar high.

Final stop of the day was in Marken which used to be an Island, but it was flooded over in the early 1912’s and now has an access road also being used as a dike. The guide says we stopped here to see a small village still built as it was originally. It was nice. That’s about as excited of a review that I can give. We agreed that if we did it over, we would have taken a train to Zaans Schans and spent the day there. But then maybe I’d never have discovered Stroopwafels or feasted on small cubes of smoked gouda.

Day 3-Can we address the elephant in the room?

Smoke is still coming from Carla’s ears about her phone, so we head to the Apple Store. We took a long 2-hour wandering route and walked around several canals outside the first three where all the tourists seem to converge. We thought the architecture was fascinating and learned that Amsterdam puts Pisa to shame in the number of leaning buildings. Like Venice, the buildings are built on piles driven into the marshes. If you look closely, you can see how buildings have been anchored together to keep them vertical.

At the Apple Store the guy said he’s seen this problem a few times with tourists but couldn’t help because it’s a provider problem not a phone problem. Once we were home, we learned that it sometimes happens with the iPhone 15 if you’ve used an esim in another country, which we had last Fall. He deleted the old esim and said we should be good to go. Here’s hoping, because Hell hath no fury like a dataless wife if it happens in Belguim this Fall.

Carla is Facebook friends with several people from our RS tour in France from 2019. One of these is the better half of a retired couple from Oregon. It turns out Sheila and Jim were in Amsterdam today on their way to Germany for an RS tour followed up by a Viking river cruise. We arranged to meet for drinks in early afternoon. They were a sweet couple in 2019, and even a sweeter couple now, if I would have poked a hole in them, Stroopwafel juice would have leaked out. We chatted happily for about 15 minutes until Sheila blurted out “Can we talk about the elephant in the room?” My immediate reaction was to look down in case my fly was open, but then I realized we were about to talk politics. “We are so sorry” she said. “I’m perfectly happy not to discuss if you don’t want to” I lied. But they wanted to have a chat and said they’d considered telling people they were Canadian because they weren’t sure how Americans would be treated, but they also didn’t want to be dishonest. Since it’s topical, I’ll offer up other American stories later.

It was time to check into our cruise ship. First impressions were good. Very modern public spaces and cabins. I’d say our cabin was slightly larger than an ocean ships and our shower was probably triple the size. In this one I could turn around and bend over. And the “balcony” was a clever design with a two-piece floor to ceiling picture window that with the push of a button the top half would roll down giving you an outdoorsy balcony feel.

We were surprised to learn that there were more Canadians on board then any other nationality, then Aussies, followed by the Brits, a few Americans and 1 woman from New Zealand. Carla craves company and conversation and that was the highlight of this trip. We met two Aussie couples on the ship and friendships were made. Even now, several weeks after, we’re all still group-chatting. Aussie Couple #1 are Bruce and Deanne, and we had dinner with them the first night. We were joined by a newly retired American couple from California and halfway through our meal, the Americans, feeling sheepish brought up the political situation. They also said they’d considered telling people they were Canadian and felt a need to keep a low profile.

We never brought up politics, but people from the other Commonwealth countries were continually asking us how we felt about our neighbours, and it was a big story to them that the King was in Canada to deliver the throne speech in a subtle one-finger salute at the Americans. Because the friendship blossomed with our Aussie friends we rarely spoke with the other Canadians, but we saw them; while American logoed shirts and ballcaps were in short supply (except for two people) the Canadians were decked out with Maple Leaf ballcaps and pins. Quite frankly, we Canadians weren’t taking any chances about being seen as Americans.

Day 4-New Friends

Carla threw up overnight. She suffers from motion sickness but had been advised by friends that river cruises are gentle and she’d have no issues, so she hadn’t brought nausea pills with her. She was OK the rest of the trip, but I suspect this night it’s because we remained in port overnight and the main water channel in Amsterdam is extremely busy, and the gentle rocking of the boat was too much. As a result, she skipped our first excursion. Two were offered, a canal cruise and a bike ride into rural areas north of Amsterdam. Me and Aussie couple #1 chose the bike ride. The bikes are electric, but Amsterdam is so flat the extra boost was never needed. The theme of the bike ride was to see how the dikes are used to control the water. It was a simple lesson with no descriptive engineering type talks, we’d just stop now and then, and the guide pointed out how the bike path was actually a dike. I had always imagined the dike system to be more elaborate, but in a lot of cases its simply berms built above the water level. They’re built into the landscape so unless you understand what you’re looking at you may never notice. The ride was about a 20km loop of easy riding.

We set sail this afternoon and the highlight was meeting our 2nd Aussie couple; Carla and I were sitting with Bruce and Deanne in the lounge for a pre-dinner drink when John and Airlie from Melbourne asked if they could sit with us. It’s a coincidence that Airlie has a sister that lives in Edmonton. A tight bond of six was formed and we’d close the restaurant down every night with laughing and conversation. Carla is a people person, I’m not, but this was special. Pre-cruise I would have been perfectly happy if we’d sat at a table for two every night, but this was Carla’s trip and she decided the table arrangements. So glad Carla was in charge.

Thoughts on Amsterdam; Our first impressions of Amsterdam were not favourable as the first 3 canal rings were wall to wall tourists, souvenir shops and angry cyclists’. The bikes have bells, but I’m suspicious the only time they’re used is as a celebration ring after mowing down a clueless tourist who got in the way. It wasn’t until we got further out that we realized Amsterdam isn’t too bad (cyclists aside). Everyone tells you that Amsterdam has a lot of bikes, but I had no idea how many ‘a lot’ is. It is such a unique thing; and how hardy the locals are riding those bikes in any weather, and they even have underground parking for bikes; 7000 stalls under the train station and another 3000 nearby in a couple of buildings. I get why the locals are frustrated with tourism, but everyone is so friendly, except cyclists, I think it’s their mission to rid Amsterdam of tourists, one by one.

Hotel Jakarta deserves an extra mention as well. https://hoteljakarta.com/ we couldn’t have been happier. It’s a new building across the water from the main cruise port. We chose it because it was modern and there is a tram nearby that we never used to take us into the central zone, but we just walked. I thought I was being clever booking a hotel near the cruise port thinking we’d have a short walk to our ship, but which instead cued the travel gods. It wasn’t until later that I discovered the river boats have docks from one end of the waterfront to the other and ours was the furthest dock away from us. It would have been walkable but not with Carla’s damaged luggage. We paid €14 for an Uber. The hotel included a very good breakfast buffet, the room was large, staff exceptional. If you don’t mind the distance from the train station, then I’d recommend it.

Day 5-Cologne a disappointing day

Our first port on this cruise was Cologne and we arrived at about 1pm and we were scheduled to take the bus back at 5:30, so we thought it was going to be a rushed day. However, Monday isn’t a good day to visit Cologne as all the museums are closed and so all there is of any interest is the cathedral. We docked a fair distance from the main tourist area, and we had to be bussed in where we met our guides for a 1.5-hour tour. We were broken into 5 groups of about 35 each. Each cabin on the ship includes the Whisper Systems to be able to hear the guide. Quite frankly, our guide was a dud. I’ll give her credit for enthusiasm, but she was a student from another country and her knowledge was limited. It was clear that she’d memorized a script and anytime anyone asked a question it would throw her off. Plus, she had few answers to any questions. While we walked outside the cathedral, she told us the tour wouldn’t be going inside because tours aren’t allowed. We later learned that there are tours inside, but you have to book them with the cathedral. I’m frustrated with our ship for not providing that bit of information in the pre-trip itinerary or even the night before when they go over the next day’s activities. If we’d known, we would have tried to book, as the cathedral looks impressive. We did wander inside on our own, but some information about what we were looking at would have been helpful.

Cologne was obliterated during WW2, so it doesn’t have a lot of other historic sites. If the museums had been open it might have been a good day as there is a Roman Museum right beside the cathedral which was built on top of existing Roman ruins. I guess other than the cathedral the only highlight from my notes worth pointing out is the price of beer. Our cabin has a mini fridge stocked with drinks and snacks to purchase, but we unloaded it to fit our own drinks and snacks that we bought. We needed to, because one thing we learned about river cruising as compared to ocean cruises is that you can’t always get food. It’s only available at breakfast, lunch and dinner. This was tough on me at times. Breakfast and lunch were buffets, so I had plenty to eat, but dinner was table service, and while the food was really good, the portions were small and often on this trip I’d wake up in the night with stomach growling. But back to the beer, we went to a small grocery store to buy a couple bottles of coke zero which cost €1.49, but then I saw beer was €1.18. God bless Germany.

Day 6-Rhine Valley….meh

Until this cruise I’d never heard of Koblenz, but it has quite the history. We docked right in town and hopped off the ship at 9am to meet our guides. Our guide is a local now, but she was originally from Brazil and moved to Koblenz for love, and stayed despite her Koblenz born husband deciding to love someone else. Unlike our guide in Cologne, she was excellent and guided us through the history of Koblenz starting with St Castor Basilica which has had a church on the spot since 836 and the current newer church which was built in the 1200’s. It was also part of the European grand tour by the elite, including Queen Victoria and Albert passing through during their visit to the Rhine Valley. The history got darker in modern times as this was a Nazi hot bed leading up to WW2 including a school for the Hitler youth. As in other parts of Germany, the Jews were sent away and today most churches, no matter the denomination have tributes to the Jewish community.

Koblenz is very pretty but we only had a couple of hours after the tour to wander before hopping back on the ship for the afternoon sail through the Rhine Valley. No matter the cruise company you take, you can count on this being advertised as the highlight of the cruise through beautiful countryside and spectacular castles. We weren’t that impressed, our Aussie friends also thought it dull with John saying that based on the brochures he was expecting castle after castle after castle, but instead we’d see a castle, wait 20-30 minutes and see another. The scenery was beautiful with vineyards climbing the hills from the river, but the build-up was much more than the actual visit. It was interesting on our last evening on board; the cruise director asked the group for highlights of the trip and nobody mentioned this day.

Water levels were discussed today with cruise director bringing it up during his narration through the Valley. He said we’d be OK, but there was concern in coming weeks. We actually weren’t on the ship we were supposed to be. Our ship couldn’t make it back to Amsterdam and was diverted to Budapest while another ship was sent to Amsterdam for us.

Day 7-Heidlberg, don’t believe everything you read in the RS guidebook.

During the planning I wasn’t sure what to think of Heidelberg, the RS guidebook dismisses it, but when I looked at photos and read other things about it, I was intrigued. I was right, RS is wrong, we really liked Heidelberg. Like Cologne we were not docked nearby. In fact, we docked in Manheim which is a 45-minute bus ride away, and we only got 4 hours in Heidlberg so there was no time to stay longer and make our own way back to the ship. There were two excursions to choose from, one was a hike up a hill for the view and back down, or the 2nd which we chose, which was a historical tour through town ending at the castle ruins. For the 2nd day in a row our guide was exceptional. This time an American, and like yesterday, she also came to Germany for love but is still married. She’s been here 10 years and learned to speak German, but she marvelled us with stories of her two small kids who are already speaking German better than her and with the phlegmy accent, plus although they’re under five, have also mastered English. I envy people who can speak more than 1 language, I’ve always wished my Canadian education system pushed French as more than an option in my neck of the woods. However, speaking only English was not an issue this entire trip. To be honest, now that I’m home I feel a bit guilty for not trying harder, especially in Amsterdam where they apparently saw us a mile away and pegged us for English speakers and greeted us in English before I could even try. I really should have greeted and used thank you’s in Dutch anyway. Germany has been the same way even though they do look stern here compared to the friendly Dutch (cyclists aside). I’m not sure if their faces are just frozen like that or they’re annoyed that I forgot to try and greet in German.

Anyway, we thought Heidelberg was a delight. It’s been a university town since the 1300’s and graciously allowed women to enroll 600 years later. Fun fact that Heidelberg lays claim to 57 Nobel Prize winners including Robert Bunsen of Bunsen burner fame. The tour ended in the castle ruins that overlook the city. But we were pressed for time and only spent about 45 minutes up top when I could have used 2-3 hours. We really wanted to walk through some more streets of Heidelberg as well before it was time to catch the bus back to the ship. Two thumbs up for Heidlberg as it outshone Koblenz, which outshone the Rhine Gorge which outshone (kind of) Cologne.

Day 8-Strasbourg outshone the rest.

I’m not a cathedral guy. I’m impressed with the immensity of some of them and I go inside for a peak, but I can count on one hand the ones that I’ve gone Wow. I give Strasbourg Cathedral a big Wow. This is our first stop where we had a full day in port, but once again we started not only out of town, but in another country. Our bus ride across the river in Kehl, Germany took 30 minutes. On the way back it was closer to an hour as we were stopped in a long line of traffic as the border police were checking all vehicles.

The guides get better and better and today we had a guy who grew up in Strasbourg and is passionate about its history. He’s also a very formal Frenchman but with a dry sense of humour that made the tour very enjoyable. It was about a 20-minute walk from the bus to the cathedral where most of the tour was given and he filled us in on the history of the area. We knew going in about the French/German conflicts throughout history and how the region was sometimes French and sometimes German. He cited his ancestry as an example; his great grandparents were born French and spoke French, but then WW1 happened, and they were told they were German and told to speak only German. After the war, they became French again and were told to speak only French. WW2 comes and they were told they were German again and to speak only German. And then of course Hitler is defeated, and they were French speaking Frenchmen again. And that was just one generation. The regional conflicts had been going back and forth for hundreds of years and started getting particularly nasty when Louis the IV of France wanted it.

By this time, we got to this gorgeous red sandstone cathedral and even without going inside we had the wow factor. The gargoyle carvings on the outside were stunning and it makes me wonder of not only the talent of the artists but the imagination of them as well. Google ‘gargoyles of Strasbourg cathedral’ for some images. The interior was just as impressive. If you’re familiar with the movie ‘The Monuments Men’, while the stained glass windows here aren't part of the movie, the real Monuments Men recovered the glass in a salt mine in Austria after it had been stolen by the Nazis.

This day was also our first peak into the fairytale homes that the Alsace Region is famous for and we found several postcard worthy views, but the 2nd highlight for us was the Strasbourg History Museum. It’s very well done and exhibits a chronological history of Strasbourg. One of the city’s major industries was Printing. Johan Guttenberg lived here for 10 years starting in 1434 and he first developed print type here but moved to Mainz Germany where he invented the Gutenberg Press. But Strasbourg remained a major printing hub with 12 printing houses churning out books, bibles and calendars.

Another coincidence from another passenger. Carla and I were walking back to the bus after visiting the museum and we ran into a group of Scots from the ship. As it turns out one of the couples has a son that lives in Calgary. Conversations started and as has become common when we Commonwealth members get together, we’re also quizzed about our feelings about our US neighbours. The Dutch, French, Germans and Swiss locals later on this trip didn’t care, but the Commonwealth countries sure did.

Day 9-Briesach, bikes and cake

The port today is Briesach, Germany, however the primary excursion destination is half an hour away in Freiburg for a town tour and some time and the weekly market. But today also included one of the rare 2nd tour options which was a bike ride through the countryside. The ship only has 15 bikes, and you can only sign-up the night before after the nightly orientation about the next day. We lucked out on the first night and got to the sign-up sheet first as 30-40 people were lined up behind us. This time for the orientation we sat right next to the Cruise Director and his sign-up sheet so we wouldn’t have to rush across a crowded room throwing women and children out of the way George Castanza style. The ride was a 22km loop along the river and then through some vineyards with a stop halfway at a hotel that’s been part of a family business dating back 265 years and 7 generations. We thought it was just a stop for a short rest and bathroom break, but the hotel owner had freshly baked Black Forest Cake ready for us and then drizzled it with locally made cherry schnapps.

This was the last night and once again we closed the restaurant with Bruce, Deanne, John and Airlie. Friendships made on this cruise were the highlight and three weeks later we’re keeping in touch. As for the rest of the cruise I’d give it a generous 3 out of 5. The biggest disappointment was the lack of time in most ports. It seems that everything is designed to get people back in time for the next meal and so morning tours were rushed to get back for lunch and afternoon for dinner. We would have been prepared to skip meals to have a longer time in town, however the shuttle buses were restrictive, and some ports were far away making it timely and costly to do it ourselves. Also, sometimes the ship was leaving soon after the tours ended.

I don’t think we got enough bang for our buck. When you read the brochures and listen to the sales pitches the river cruise people like to point out why they’re better than ocean cruising. They point out free excursions, docking in the centre of town to maximize time in port, beautiful views from the floor to ceiling windows in your room, free booze with meals, free pick-up and delivery to/from the airport, the list goes on, and it’s not quite like that. They don’t mention that the free excursions are short and in many places time was limited afterwards to do things on your own, or that many of the docks were 30-45 minutes away, and not using the limited shuttle service provided by the ship was difficult. The rooms were beautiful, but only once was our view in port not restricted by a concrete wall or another ship docking beside us. Except for the Rhine Gorge, most sailing was done at night or views during the day were very plain. Free booze with meals was one of two wines or two choices of beer, anything else was chargeable. I remember distinctly in a brochure when beer was mentioned that it was common to change the selection daily to feature local brews. Not so. We don’t drink much anyway so this last point isn’t a dealbreaker, but I’ve always wondered how much a ship estimates the average person will drink and tacks that onto the fees and if we even came close to drinking what we paid for. They do promote free shuttle to/from the airport, but only if you’re going to/from the airport. We arrived 3 days early and were told we could use the shuttle service, but we’d have to make our way back to the airport from our hotel. Same with the drop-off, it was only included for the people heading to the airport in Zurich even though it wasn’t even the closest airport. Our trip to the Basel train station was not an option to be covered by Emerald. Our final rating is good, no regrets, but not for us as there is better value elsewhere.

Day 10-Colmar, Beauty and the Beast Part 1.

While the final port is listed as Basel, the boat doesn’t even dock in Switzerland, it docks downriver in France. With suitcases in tow, we walked across a bridge over the river into Germany and caught a tram that immediately crossed another bridge taking us into Switzerland. 45 minutes later we were at the Basel train station. From there we caught a train for Colmar, France.

I should have paid more attention to my RS guidebook on navigating the Basel train station. Signage wasn’t great and we didn’t realize there was a whole other wing where the regional train into the Alsace leaves from. We wandered aimlessly until we stumbled upon it. I don’t know if tickets can be bought on-line for the TER train that runs between Basel and Strasbourg, but if you are using it, I recommend you check. The ticket machine for the train is like a bad 1970’s video game with a dial you spin and then press to navigate the screen. Even after you pick English as your preferred language, the screen switches back to French whenever you get to a new page. We needed Google translate to figure it out. The same machines were used in Colmar, and so on our return trip in a couple of days we stood in line to buy tickets from a human.

While waiting for our train we ran into a Canadian couple from Regina who had been on our cruise. As conversations carried on, I was asked if we ever sat with John and Sue and their two friends from Texas (not their real names). I rolled my eyes because I knew what was coming. Most of the Americans we met on the ship were polite and they seemed to want to blend in. Not so the Texas quartet-or at least the two males of the herd. They actively tried to engage people in Trump-mania and pointing out why it was good for the world. One day at lunch, one of my Aussie friends was sitting with them and I sat at a table nearby, as soon as he saw me, he introduced me to them and then got up, smiled at me and said good luck, and left. My Aussie friend had been wearing a NY Yankees hat for the trip but the next day he showed up with a new hat he’d bought that day and said that he wasn’t going to be mistaken for an American. The MAGA lecture about Canada started immediately but I shut it down and went for more food. The Canadians from Regina weren’t so lucky and told me they had sat with them one day at lunch and were aggressively lectured on why Canada was robbing from the US. When he wouldn’t listen or agree, John stood and reached across the table and was about to grab him by the shirt when Sue stopped him.

In Colmar, we stayed at Hotel Turenne which is a modern looking hotel about a 20-minute walk from the train station and 10 minutes from the old quarter. It was reasonably priced, clean and quiet. We have no complaints, and because it seems to be so important to many people, it does have AC, not that we needed it in late May.

Colmar is beautiful with the story book buildings beautifully decked out with timber and bright colour. But so crowded. I’m glad we were staying here as it emptied out in the evening and was much more peaceful. It was more than just the colourful faces of the buildings though, some of the roofs were spectacular, there was one building with a terra cotta type of roof but painted in a brilliant green and red. Besides aimless wandering we visited the Musee Interlinden in a former monastery. The main floor is filled with religious art from the region. The highlight for us though was a poorly signed part in the basement that was more of a local history museum with stories and artifacts dating back to Homo Erectus. The only downside is that while the audio guide is useful on the main floor because most of the signage is in French, it isn’t programmed for anything we saw in the basement.

*Remember in Amsterdam where I said I’d forgotten my backpack and had to go back? It happened again.

Day 10-Beauty and the Beast part 2.

We had booked a tour through Viator called Alsace’s Gems Small Group Tour. It was through Ophorus Tours which is recommended in the RS guidebooks. We had tried to book it directly with Ophorus but it wasn’t available on our day but was though Viator. While it’s common for people on this forum to recommend people to book direct for a number of reasons including cost, we only pad $5 more. https://www.ophorus.com/product/121/eguisheim-riquewihr-haut-koenigsbourg-an-alsace-journey-from-colmar It was the fairy tale architecture and not the wine that was the motivation for this day. All the towns in the region seem to take credit for being the inspiration for Belle’s village from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast movie and it’s not hard to see why.

But the first stop was Koenigsbourg Castle which was purposely rebuilt in the early 1900’s from its ruins to be a museum and tourist destination, and it is spectacular. There were 8 of us plus the driver packed into a minivan and pre-planning did Carla and I well. We learned that the road to the castle is a narrow, winding road that could cause motion sickness. I took the front seat, and Carla was in the middle seat in the 2nd row where she would be more stable. Knowing that the rest of the tour was on flat straight roads we had graciously told everyone that we would take the back seat for the rest of the trip but left out the part of our ulterior motive to begin. Our guide told us she was taking us here first because it can get crowded quickly. It’s a one-way tour through and we managed to stay ahead of the larger tours.

Next stop was a town that I don’t recall the name, but our guide wanted to show us some stork nests and beautiful flowers being grown at this village. Stork nests are a big deal in this region, and they’re protected by the government, even when a stork chooses to build its nest right on top of a home’s chimney preventing its use, as we saw on one occasion. Next stop was a 3-hour stop in Requier which is even prettier than Colmar. Part of the 3 hours was wasted on a wine tasting that I skipped for some more aimless wandering. I did stop at a bakery for an informal Gingerbread man tasting. I love Gingerbread and high marks for the Alsace version, but I’ll give the blue ribbon to the molasses-based Gingerbread that I’ve sampled in the UK.

Final stop was Equishim which is just south of Colmar, and if I had my guess, this was the village that really inspired Disney. As soon as we got to the town square, I told Carla that it reminded my of the square in the movie. Soon after, our guide said that the town claims this square was the inspiration for Disney. A good day and I recommend Ophorus Tours. You could easily get a car and do it yourself but even in late May, parking seemed to be a challenge. Aside from the castle, we could have done it by bike, but I’m considerably more confident on a bike than Carla and so I’m not sure how much she would have enjoyed that option. In hindsight I wish we had a couple of more days here.

Day 11-Lucerne, it costs HOW MUCH!

Goodbye to Colmar as we took a train back to Basel and another to Lucerne. Lucerne is beautiful with the lake surrounded by mountains. The day before, our hotel had emailed me directions of how to get there from the train station, info on the free public Wi-Fi in town and also our transit pass for our stay. Hotel Beau Sejour was a 25-minute walk along the lake but there are two buses that pass right by that we could have picked up in front of the train station. However, even after 10 trips to Europe Carla still has this aversion to public transit thinking that it will be crowded and inconvenient with luggage. So instead, we walked as she used bad words because of her broken wheel on her luggage. Later in the day I did convince her to give it a try, and she was pleasantly surprised that it was cleaner, and much more efficient than transit at home.

It was easily our favourite hotel of the trip with a balcony and lake front view. If you click on the link and the photo on the top right of the website https://beausejourlucerne.ch/en/ our room was the balcony above the Beau Sejour sign. We were concerned that the location would be inconvenient but when we compared prices and sizes of rooms with views, this hotel won out. Cost was about 280CHF/night which was about 100CHF cheaper than anything we liked in town.

Our room wasn’t ready, but they held our luggage and even delivered it to our room while we were out exploring. Without luggage the walk along the lake is gorgeous and confirmed our hotel choice. Sadly, as we got into town it started to rain and since we were hungry, we were looking for somewhere to duck into. It was noon and all the restaurants were packed and so we found a Starbuck where we got our first taste of the cost of things in Switzerland. When I looked at my credit card later on, I saw that 2 drinks and 2 muffins cost $45Canadian. We took advantage of the Wi-Fi and waited out the rain. We were told that Lucerne has free public wifi, but the only place we found it was standing on the bridge, nowhere else in the city did we find it. The rest of the day was spent wandering and enjoying the painted architecture on the buildings and the numerous sculptures of dragons on signs and fountains. I’ve mentioned I’m like a 10-year-old boy around castles, well based on how many photos I took, I apparently like dragons too. Across the lake from our hotel is a clear view of Mt Pilatus where legend has it a dragon lives, but there were no sightings while I was looking.

Day 12-Lucerne’s town walls

We ate breakfast in our room this morning after discovering a whole mall in the basement of the train station yesterday. It’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen at a train station and included a large grocery store where we bought yogurt, fruit, cheese and drinks, also a 5 pack of large Lindt chocolate bars for 10CHF, just in case we needed a snack or five.

Leading up to the trip the plan was to go to Mt Pilatus or Rigi for the day, but the weather still wasn’t cooperating. Just as well because I loved the old town walls. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention to what I’d read, but there is more to the walls than I was expecting. I thought there was one ruined section to look at and that was it, but It’s a very nice walk alongside, plus a couple of towers to climb, one which has spectacular views of the city, lake and mountains. The stair risers to the top are quite steep and so 5’ Carla stayed at the bottom while I climbed to the top and yelled down to let her what she was missing. I’m going to have to check the RS guidebook again and possibly offer to rewrite a section for them.

We’d walked across the Chapel Bridge yesterday which is the famous wooden bridge, but it was so crazy with tourists it was hard to enjoy. Sadly, today was more of the same. It’s very pretty though with the original paintings on panels inside the ceiling that nobody seems to notice. I may not have either if it hadn’t been for the RS show about Lucerne. I’m amazed that they are the originals and how good of condition they’re still in considering they are outdoors.

Intent to skip a 2nd $45 Starbucks visit but still looking for a for a light snack we found a small bakery tucked away hidden from the tourists and spent only €15 for two drinks and two of the largest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever seen. Two older German speaking women were working and a conversation started while we were eating and they asked if we were American, we told them we were Canadian, and she commented she hadn’t seen as many Americans this year. Based on what I’ve read on this Forum and social media I suggested to her that the Americans may be keeping a low profile this year because some are embarrassed of what is happening at home. She scrunched up her face in a ‘that’s stupid’ type of look and said, “just tell them to be nice.” Moral of the story, don’t be the Texans, be the other Americans we met on the trip.

Final stop of the day was to the Lucerne Museum. It’s broken out into a few buildings, and our main focus was the history museum, but we were directed to another building that held the Natural History collection a half block away to buy tickets, then back to the history museum. It was kind of disappointing as it didn’t have exhibits that told a story. It was more like a multi floor warehouse, with all the artifacts still on shelves and in drawers. We were given a tablet, and we’d scan a barcode on a shelf and it would tell us what we were looking at but no story about it. I’d describe it more as a building full of objects than a museum of exhibits. We spent about an hour and a half there and then headed back to our hotel to sit on our balcony and enjoy the view for the rest of the day.

*We had put my backpack into a free locker at the museum…and had to run back inside to grab it….

Day 13-Lost in Zurich

One more walk along the lake before leaving, but this time away from town. We liked Lucerne and we think it’s a great stop for a couple of days, but it was enough. At home the scenery reminds me of a blend of the Canadian Rockies with the lakes of the Okanagan region of BC; intensively beautiful but nothing we haven’t seen before. One day we’ll come back and explore more of Switzerland, but now we’re off for a couple of nights in Zurich before heading home.

Our flight home in two days was at 6:30am and we were concerned about transportation to the airport so early, so we decided to stay at the Radisson Blu Zurich Airport. It’s only 20 minutes by train from the central train station, so hardly inconvenient. https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-zurich-airport and compared to some of the hotels we looked at in Zurich it was relatively cheap at 215CHF/night which included a very good breakfast buffet.

After doing the math at home regarding a transit day pass for Zurich I’d determined it wasn’t worth it, but once we arrived and before we bought tickets for the train to the airport hotel I stopped at the TI to ask again. What we discovered is a 24-hour pass for 14CHF that I never saw on the tourism website. We each bought 2-24 hour passes to cover our 36 hours in town which included transportation to the airport which costs about 7CHF one-way. We made 5 trips back and forth over those two days so the passes paid for themselves for that alone. It appears the entire Zurich transit is on the honour system as we never had to pass through any gates or show our passes for any rides.

I have to say, that the Zurich airport may have the worst signage of any airport I’ve ever been to, and later after reading some reviews I find I’m not alone. It took several attempts to find our way out of the airport station to the terminal and then to our hotel. I should have left a trail of breadcrumbs to find our way back after dropping off our luggage in our room because we got lost again….and again later that evening on our way back to our hotel….and again the next morning to head back to Zurich….finally the 2nd evening we found our hotel with no issues.

Luckily, we had no plans for the day as it was raining. We ended up at a fondue restaurant in the old town that was trying it’s best to have a Swiss alpine feel to it, but honestly, I think the couple of fondue restaurants at home in Banff, out-Swiss the Swiss in décor and fondue quality. I have no idea of the name of the restaurant, if I find it, I’ll rewrite this sentence.

It was still drizzling and so we decided to call it a night and head back to our hotel, but we stopped at a grocery store for snack and drinks and wouldn’t you know it, like Germany, beer here was only 1.18CHF while coke zero was 1.50CHF. God bless Switzerland.

Day 14-History and chocolate, lots of both.

It’s a busy day today with a town tour in the morning booked through the TI and then later a tour and tasting at the Lindt Chocolate Factory. The town tour started at the train station with groups of 30 people per guide. The guide used a miniature amplifier to project here voice, but even with that we needed to stick close. I’d been spoiled by the Whisper Systems on the cruise because I tend to wander and lag behind the group whenever something bright and shiny distracts me. With the Whisper Systems I could still hear the guide, but not so with the amplifier. Carla can get annoyed because she feels she has to keep a close eye on me like I’m going to get lost…which happened once in 2014 in Pompeii where I lost the group and wandered by myself for about half an hour before finding them. Carla has never let me forget.

We’d heard that the Swiss are sticklers for punctuality, and we saw first hand when our tour guide arrived 20 minutes early, looked around and wondered out loud why everyone wasn’t there yet. She announced that we’d be leaving at 11:00 whether everyone was there or not. We did leave on time, and I have no idea if anyone got left behind. The tour was as good as expected. We enjoy these town tours early on in our stay to get a feel of the place and a quick version of its history. https://www.zuerich.com/en/tours-excursions/zurich-old-town-walking-tour and always enjoy the little bits of history that otherwise may go unnoticed such as Einstein studied here, and Lenin lived here after being banished from Russia and before heading back to Moscow to start the revolution.

We had a couple of hours to wander before we had to catch our train to the Lindt Factory which was about 30 minutes along the lake south of Zurich. Thinking about it after, we assumed our transit pass included this trip, but we never checked, and our tickets were never checked there or back.

It’s about a 10-minute walk from the train station along a well-signed trail to the Lindt factory, but honestly all you have to do is follow everyone else that looks like a tourist. It’s recommended that you buy your timed ticket in advance, and I did note that a couple of weeks before we left, our day was fully sold out. We arrived at about 2:30 for our 3:00 time and Swiss time was running efficiently as we were told we had to wait. There were lockers and it was mandatory to use them. I can see why because at the end of the tour there are 8 large bins of the round chocolates Lindt is famous for and you’re allowed to take home one of each. I can imagine people (me) loading their backpacks full if given an unsupervised chance. It is a self-tour with an audio guide through a museum describing the history of chocolate. Aside from the numerous tasting stations as you wander through, our favourite part was the marketing history of Swiss Chocolate including displays of original chocolate bar wrappers. Fun fact, did you know the Toblerone triangular packaging has hardly changed in 116 years? Since my hands were full of free chocolate samples, I didn’t forget my backpack this time as we walked back to the train. I didn’t realize it on the walk to Lindt, but it is a slight vertical walk back to the station and then up and down some stairs to get to the proper platform for our train. Probably fitting that a workout was required on the way home from Lindt.

Scenery aside, we probably enjoyed Zurich as much as Lucerne. If your goal in Switzerland is the scenery, then Zurich can be skipped, but if you like trips that include a historical flair then a few days in Zurich are worth it as well.

Day 14-heading home

4:30am and off to the airport for a short flight to Amsterdam before a direct flight home. In Zurich, KLM was publicly calling out zone jumpers trying to get on the plane before their turn. It didn’t happen on the 2nd leg in Amsterdam, but our gate changed twice while we were waiting. Not a big deal, but no announcements were ever made, and the KLM app wasn’t sending me notifications. I found out because I had set up an Amsterdam airport update via WhatsApp and it performed better than the rest. We had 3.5 hours between flights, so connections weren’t an issue. When we got in line for passport control, the sign said it was a 30–45-minute wait, but in reality, it was only 15 minutes. There is a 2nd line you can use if you connection is 30 minutes or less.

Sorry/not sorry for the length of the report. I eliminated quite a bit from this one but I never know what else to cut out. My goal is to be informative, but also use it as a diary for myself so I can refer back to it for my own memories.

Final Thoughts of the trip:

• The cruise was OK but now we know it’s not our thing. Not enough bang for our buck.
• Enjoyed most of the ports, but needed more time. Strasbourg was our favourite.
• Food was excellent, service was good to excellent.
• The size of the rooms and showers on the ship surprised me.
• Views from the room are overrated as views were often blocked while in port and nighttime sailing doesn’t offer views.
• The highlight is the friendships made with our new Aussie friends.
• Loved the Alsace region and it deserves another trip.
• Lucerne is beautiful and a good jumping-off point for other areas.
• Zurich much better than anticipated.
• Two things I knew before the trip but still surprised me were how many bikes there are in Amsterdam and how expensive Switzerland is.
• Note to self, buy a cable and lock and fasten my backpack to me.

Allan, I thoroughly enjoyed your trip report! I'm going to bookmark it and thank you for sharing your experience.

I enjoyed your trip report. It was very helpful. Based on your description, I don’t think a River cruise would be my thing. We are looking for ways to make traveling easier as we age, but I’m not yet “old” enough for a River cruise!

Great trip report! Had me laughing. Interesting that your conclusion about the cruise was the same as ours after our first (and probably last) cruise in April. We loved Alaska but decided that we are not cruise people.

Great report! We have been considering a river cruise, but had concerns about exactly the same things you described, I.e. short times to explore in port. We have a friend that loved her cruise but You’ve confirmed that cruises wouldn’t a good fit for us.

Allan, thank you for the time and care you put into writing your very entertaining and informative trip report. We were supposed to be arriving in Amsterdam tomorrow for 12 nights in The Netherlands, but the travel health gods were not on our side. I should recover and we hope to do another trip in the fall and to make it to The Netherlands in 2026. I have been nervous about the bikes in Amsterdam!

Last year, we spent 5 nights in Strasbourg, 3 in Lucerne, and 6 in the Berner Oberland. I hope you do have a chance to return to Alsace. We loved it, and Strasbourg was a good base. I laughed about those train ticket machines with the dials--it took me forever to figure them out.

I used to think I really wanted to do a river cruise, but the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized it would not be good value for us. Your detailed description of the cruise days really confirmed that for me. I do see why it's a good fit for many people, and maybe some day it will be a fit for us, but not now.

Thank you for the detailed trip report, Allan. I did not find it pessimistic - I found it realistic. And a few things I suspected about my travel style and preferences have been affirmed.

Great report Allan. The per person per day river cruise numbers are pretty scary to me. And it’s pretty easy to visit those places on one’s own, minus the social experiences etc. Curious that the Rhine gorge area wasn’t that interesting. Perhaps it’s too overhyped to start with.

I don’t think a River cruise would be my thing. We are looking for
ways to make traveling easier as we age, but I’m not yet “old” enough
for a River cruise!

That's why I won't say "never" to a future river cruise, because it might be something we'll want to consider later on. In a Trip Report I wrote last Fall about Portugal I had mentioned that I'm glad I got it out of the way now because of the hills, because you never know in 15 years if steep inclines will be more difficult than I'm willing to manage. Maybe I'll find 2 hour walking tours to be my limit and enjoy the relaxed pace of a river cruise.

I enjoyed your trip report. And it helped me to realize that a river cruise is just not the right fit for us.

As a Texan, I am truly mortified about the MAGA nut job on your cruise.

Interesting that your conclusion about the cruise was the same as ours
after our first (and probably last) cruise in April. We loved Alaska
but decided that we are not cruise people.

I'm assuming yours was an ocean cruise? We would do an ocean cruise again. For me, ocean and river cruises aren't comparable. We found the time ashore considerably longer and much more to do onboard afterwards. It's still not ideal, but suits us in some situations. Funny enough, another thing the river companies like to promote is only 180 or so passengers aboard, but it still felt crowded in the lounge and dining room. One night, a family of three all had to sit as solos at three different tables because there wasn't an open table to spare. My favourite cruise was on a 5000 passenger ship and we never felt crowded.

Allan.

TY for an interesting and informative TR.

Loved visualising your encounters with the travel gods, re-visiting the one sight of yours that I did see … many years ago: Lucerne. And, I loved imagining the sights we will see in September: Koblenz, Strasbourg, Colmar and bikeable villages and towns near there, Eguishim, Kayserburg and others. Thank you for sharing these so richly.

I was reminded of another fantastic TR that you posted in the last year. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-part-2-hills-and-castles-dordogne

Your comments about RS’ travel guide-books resonate with my own observations. There’s much that the RS team does well, but Rick and/or the team can be myopic. They miss some delights. And they have made too many of us - their followers - tourists, rather than travelers or visitors. Too many back doors have become front doors and the back door approach has been abandoned. Too many towns have been transformed into tourist destinations. It’s always useful to search other guidebooks and internet sites and travel blogs.

We don’t need to be talked out of cruises, generally. But I am glad to have cold water thrown on the one option that I had not totally foreclosed - the European river cruise.

We are, instead, looking forward to cycling the Mosel from Trier to Koblenz, and then turning the corner on the Rhine to Boppard in September. Plus Alsace and more.

Again, I really appreciated your insights and imagery.

Loved the report, as always - with the highs and lows laid out. You are never boring. Lol. I have thought that river cruising might be something I would consider a few years down the road when walking is harder. But this reinforces it’s not for me right now.

I second Estimated Prophet - no desire to be THAT Texan! It feels like travel right now is tough. (But maybe I am just tired - I have traveled a lot this year.)

I loved imagining the sights we will see in September: Koblenz,
Strasbourg, Colmar and bikeable villages and towns near there,
Eguishim, Kayserburg and others.

There is a path that seems to run parallel to most of the Rhine Valley. It's been there for centuries and was originally used as a path for horses and mules to pull the boats against the current. You'll need some extra pedal power though if you are looking to explore the castles as they're all uphill. We didn't see the bike paths in the Alsace but our guide says they are dedicated for bikes to get from town to town.

Updates:

We took Carla's suitcase into a repair shop to replace the damaged wheels and they put in a warranty claim and did it for free. The suitcase is about 8 years old from American Tourister which is owned by Samsonite. I had originally called American Tourister directly and got nowhere including being told that parts for that model were no longer available. No mention was ever made on that call that it was still under warranty. Hmmm. We were also reimbursed earlier this week by our cell phone provider for the $60 international plan on her phone that didn't work.

Thanks Allan for a great report. I used to want to do a river cruise desperately, but the more I read about them the more that yearning fades.

Too bad about the foul fellow getting into people's faces about politics. And so much for my theory that hard core maga are unlikely to be travelling abroad, whether by circumstance or by choice.

They are out there Andrea, but let's not forget a lot of nice ones are out there as well. Maybe it's just where we were, but there were definitely fewer American telltales like ballcaps and college team t-shirts. Fewer Americans, or attempting to blend in?

Quite frankly, we Canadians weren’t taking any chances about being
seen as Americans.

Fear not, Allan. I can assure you that no one is taking Americans out back to rough them up. :-)

Europeans are intelligent and continue to judge based on action, not nationality.

Having just returned from my third trip to Europe this year, I was treated kindly as I have always been.

I hope no American reads your comments and thinks they should be afraid to travel to Europe, as that is just not the case.

Very interesting trip report, Allan. I suspect I would feel the same way about a cruise.

That said, I remember something Carol not retired wrote once about one of the cruises she has taken. You need to to remember going into it that you will just get a taste of what you are seeing. Cruises are not designed to give you the full-blown travel experience you would get traveling on your own or with a group tour like Rick Steves.

Sometimes a taste is enough, and sometimes a taste leaves you wanting more. So maybe you come back on your own to those places you really liked and explore in detail. :-)

Quite frankly, we Canadians weren’t taking any chances about being seen as Americans.

American here, fully supporting you in your Canadian national pride!

They are out there Andrea, but let's not forget a lot of nice ones are out there as well. Maybe it's just where we were, but there were definitely fewer American telltales like ballcaps and college team t-shirts. Fewer Americans, or attempting to blend in?

A rumour went around the ship on our Asia cruise earlier this year there was a maga going at people. I never saw it in action so can't say if it was true.

And agreed, lots of nice ones too. There was a 98-person group from a southern US church group. Our cabin was in the middle of all of theirs, and they were lovely.

Allan, I enjoyed your thread, Well done!

You need to to remember going into it that you will just get a taste
of what you are seeing. Cruises are not designed to give you the
full-blown travel experience

Back when the only cruise I'd done was by ocean, that's the same advice I was giving. But river cruising has shortened that 'taste' to even less. For me, ocean over river is the clear winner.

Thanks for your excellent, detailed report. While I have not been there recently, I remember that there are so many museums in Cologne, and some current construction closures, that it is necessary to check days and hours carefully. While I agree that a guide would be helpful in the interior of the Dom, the (charged for) Treasury is well labelled for independent viewing. It's unfortunate that you were there on Monday, but after all, a river cruise has to be SOMEWHERE on Monday.

Because the superb Romisch-Germanisch museum is long-term closed, some of their exhibits have been moved to the Belgian House, Cäcilienstraße 46, 50667 Cologne. This is closed TUESDAY.

The good Kolumba museum (fascinating site-specific sculpture by Richard Serra in the courtyard, often overlooked) is closed TUESDAY.

I would think that the mostly outdoors Archaeological Zone would be visible on Mondays. The Botanical Garden, which I enjoyed, is open seven days. I personally enjoyed a very long walk across the river on one bridge, and back on the (annoyingly decorated) bridge with the locks of love. I have a particular enjoyment of the skyline of Cologne because of the Turner painting at the Frick Collection in NYC.

Thanks for the trip report Allan. We know people we have taken the river cruises only to be bussed around cause the water level was too low. We’ll stick to ocean cruising and land touring on our own.

Also considering giving the Netherlands another chance. We’ve visited 3x and our last trip we stayed in Rotterdam. Just avoid any day trips through get your guide or viator. We only book through toursbylocals.com because we can have a private tour and customize it. They give you the prices under the description and they tell you the maximum or minimum people needed. We have used them in so many countries, even Cuba.

You need to to remember going into it that you will just get a taste of what you are seeing. Cruises are not designed to give you the full-blown travel experience

Back when the only cruise I'd done was by ocean, that's the same advice I was giving. But river cruising has shortened that 'taste' to even less. For me, ocean over river is the clear winner.

That's interesting. I myself have never been on a river cruise, and the only ocean cruise I've been on was a Caribbean cruise back in the early 80's, which is probably very different from what you are talking about. The only reason I was on that is because my sister worked for the live shows department and got me and a few other family members free tickets. I remember being pretty bored most of the time; at least on board. :-)

We went to Amsterdam in 2014 and loved it especially for the museums. We stayed on a canal in an AirBnB. We also paid for and downloaded all museum tickets before leaving home and we are glad we did. I remember going to the Anne Frank House and showing my print out ticket to the guard at a side door which said ticket holders. No waiting as we were the only ones in line. Outside the lines for tickets were around the block. We walked everywhere except for a bike rental one day to go to the large park. On one of our walks we saw the docked Viking Cruise ship and it didn't seem that luxurious from the outside.

We have decided against a river cruise and you explained the reasons why we aren't interested. The Texans sounded obnoxious. Why do some Americans feel it's necessary to alienate their long term allies.

I enjoyed your report, Allan. I was not entranced by Amsterdam either. While I admire the hardiness and fitness of the bike riders, they made me nervous and I just could not relax there. We also had unusually cold weather in April. However, it was all worth it for the Anne Frank House (a lifetime highlight) and the tulips. I have no interest in going back.

I’ve never been interested in taking a river cruise. Now that I’ve read your report, I don’t think I’ll consider one when I get older and less mobile. I suppose that could change, but I do appreciate your frank and detailed report.

I loved Alsace too. I urge you to put Switzerland high on your list, especially the Berber Oberland area. It is stunning.

We made no attempt to hide the fact that we were Americans on our trip to England and Wales this spring, and we were treated kindly as always. I shudder to think there are Americans like the ones you encountered. I’ve never come across anyone like that on our travels; I hope they are the only ones.

Thanks for the trip report Allan. We know people we have taken the
river cruises only to be bussed around cause the water level was too
low.

I've been following a few river cruise Facebook sites for the past year leading up to our trip and the water levels are extremely low right now. People are posting stories of ships being swapped, being bussed to new ships and even cruises being cancelled. A week before or cruise we got an email that our ship was being swapped at the beginning port, but it didn't impact our cruise. One spot in the Rhine Gorge we had to wait for about an hour at a bend in the river because the river was too shallow and ships were having to share a narrow channel to get through. It was like waiting at a long red light while traffic coming from the other way went through. The captain said that there was only 1.5 metres of water below the ship which was bare minimum.

My sister recently did a Viking River cruise and mostly hated it, for all the reasons you state. I know it’s not my kind of thing and likely will never do it, if eventually too frail for independent travel would probably stay home rather than cruise. Not interested in traveling with training wheels.

Glad to have visited Amsterdam in 1988 before it was “ruined.”

Kind of shuddering at the daily cost of the river cruise.

Glad to have visited Amsterdam in 1988 before it was “ruined.”

I certainly wouldn't consider Amsterdam ruined. The areas directly around the train station are busy and disappointing but as we stretched ourselves further out, the crowds disappeared and we left the souvenir shops behind. And the Resistance Museum was worth the visit in itself...and hardly anyone was in there.

Thank you Allan for your wonderful report! I have been to many of the places you wrote about and you captured them so well!
We have been on river cruises in China, Russia and Europe. The river boat tours in China and Russia were many years ago, all were well done.
We did not go on the group tours on the river boats rather explored the ports independently. The crew told us we did it the right way! We couldn’t believe the sites that the tours skipped!
Also, we have very good friends who are Canadian. We met them while traveling in SÉ Asia. They recently gave us Canadian Maple Leaf
flag pins to wear when we travel. We are going to use them!
I am surprised tour members get away with talking about the U.S. President. Upon boarding a boat we were told there was not going to be any talk about US politics!

Upon boarding a boat we were told there was not going to be any talk
about US politics!

We were given a similar speech on our ship but from a new angle. Our captain was Ukrainian, and the 2nd in command (I don't know the title) was Russian as were many of the staff. In his welcome speech, the Captain told us that not all Russians agree with what Putin is doing and not to think all Russians are alike. There was no mention whatsoever of Americans except for the Cruise Directors speech that Canadians, Australians and UK had the most passengers aboard, Americans fourth.

Allan--thank you for sharing this with me. Your trip is mine in reverse. I leave in eight weeks. I am on Emerald because they have two rooms for single customers without having to pay for two people to a room. Those are hard to come by. You brought up some things that will help to make my trip more successful.. I appreciate getting to read it. This will be my first river cruise. I feel bad if MAGA people have impacted people's travels. That is not a universal American belief and one certainly should not be treating a neighborly country that has worked with us so well the way Canada has been treated.

Becky in Kansas City