Favourite River Cruise Operator?

Travel and Leisure

Note: Updated October 2022 after Emerald trip, extensively detailed here. Also, I wrote a review of our Gate 1 cruise and recently posted here.

The other day, the moderator to the river cruise FB group asked, "Which River Brand is your Personal Favorite?" That got me to thinking about it, and to answer her question, I needed to jot down some notes.

We've been on four river cruises: Uniworld (Rhine), Vantage¹ (Tulips & Windmills), Gate 1 (upper Danube) and just recently Emerald (lower Danube). Let me start off by saying that all four of these operators were excellent, but there were subtle differences that I will try to outline below.

Stateroom on the Ship

As with all operators, the room offered for your cruise will change by route, date and class of service purchased. The age of the ship, and the room size/layout should be taken into consideration; the booking site will tell you the name of the ship for you to look up. We travelled on all four in either middle or upper deck staterooms, but on Uniworld, it was a very old ship, that has now been retired (moved to the U by Uniworld fleet), and our room was small, with only a window (vs. floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors), and had a tiny bathroom. Note that Uniworld is famous (infamous?) for their ornate interiors that cruisers either love or hate, but our room pre-dated those changes. Conversely, the Vantage River Voyager was virtually brand new, and you could tell; the bathroom was almost bigger than the one we have at home! Gate 1 leases most of their ships, but it was in pretty good shape for her age, and we had little to complain about, with floor-to-ceiling windows and ample room to move around. Update: I have noticed that Gate 1 has picked up the lease on the River Voyager and renamed it the Monarch Queen. So now, in addition to their own ship, the Monarch Empress, they have the Queen as well. The Emerald Star was a very eye-pleasing design, with smooth surfaces and clean lines, and the room felt bigger than it actually was. The way the window slid down was cool, but the wooden railing blocked your view when sitting in the chairs. The Emerald bathroom was small, but the shower had better space than on Uniworld and our Gate 1 ship.

Winner: Gate 1 Monarch Queen (the Vantage River Voyager at the time). 2nd to Emerald and 3rd to Gate 1 (Monarch Baroness); unfair to judge Uniworld based on ship age.

Included Excursions

We found that our first three river cruise operators had similar included daily tours in our port of call. We disliked how Vantage and Emerald did not separate the "slow walkers" into their own group, and both Vantage and Uniworld put you on a fixed list for which bus to load onto. Gate 1 had a "first come, first serve" coach loading policy; that way we didn't have to wait for Lorna the Looky Loo to dawdle back to the bus before we could leave. Gate 1 did not have bicycles for use, but we found that we would not have had time to use them anyways, as our own self-guided touring kept us too busy. It is hard to punish Emerald for their Eastern Europe itinerary, as that portion of the Danube is much less populated and developed than the rest of Europe; as such, tours almost always required a bus trip, rather than just stepping off the ship into town. However, they could have handled the long excursions better by adding a meal allowance and staying in towns longer rather than rushing us back to the ship for lunch. We made use of the bikes on Emerald, Uniworld and Vantage, so that was a bonus.

Winner: slight edge to Gate 1, tie for 2nd/3rd, Emerald last.

Meals and Food Quality

Here's another one that is very close, but still there were slight differences. All four operators served very good to excellent food, and there was no clear winner from food quality perspective. However, Uniworld and Vantage did not offer a regional-specific dish, whereas Gate 1 served goulash for lunch in Budapest, weiner schnitzel in Vienna, etc. Emerald too, offered a regional dish as their chef's recommendation each evening, but portion size was smallish. Both Emerald and Vantage offered a lighter, buffet-style lunch in the café at the back of the ship or lounge upstairs. Emerald served me a couple of entrées that I felt were just ok - not quite up to the fine dining experience of our other three cruises. Strangely, they also did not offer any coffee service after dinner, and I'd have to run upstairs to the lounge to grab an espresso.

Winner: tie for first with Gate 1 for regional dishes, Vantage for café lunch at the back; Uniworld a close third, and Emerald last place, but not bad by any means.

Value for Dollar

This is a narrow field for us, because we are not travellers who will pay $700+/night for river cruising, so that eliminates major players like Tauck, Uniworld, and Scenic (although I have seen them offer 2-for-1 deals recently). But when we did sail with Uniworld, it was when she was a travel agent, and so the rate we paid cannot be reasonably compared with the others. However, looking up recent pricing offered by Uniworld, I can safely say that their prices come in at almost triple that of Gate 1 and at least double what a good deal with Emerald will set you back. We found Uniworld neither significantly different nor better than Emerald, Vantage or Gate 1, and certainly not enough to justify thousands of dollars more. With Vantage and Gate 1, we booked using a Travelzoo discount code that brought the per night cost down to $160 per person! We also found out about Emerald's 2-for-1 deal from a Travelzoo email blast, so it certainly pays to sign up for their updates. It doesn't really make sense to compare value using list prices, as I am hoping that no one is paying the published rate. Some reading this will say, "but Tauck is all-inclusive!" or that "with Uniworld, you leave your wallet at home!" While that may be true, with Gate 1 and Vantage, we only paid extra for one or two optional tours, and tips at the end - probably totalling a few hundred dollars per person. Emerald had very few optional tours, and having tips included avoided the annoying task of trying to find spare coins in the right currency for the local guides. Everyone includes free wine and beer with lunch and dinner; I've never purchased an additional drink package. I don't drink alcohol at lunch, and sometimes will pick up a few local beers in town to try in our room or the deck while winding down from day touring. I've also managed to get over-served more than a few nights at dinner on both Vantage and Gate 1!

Winner: Tie - Vantage and Gate 1. Emerald next, then Uniworld comes in at very distant last place.

Customer Service

Customer service is also a key consideration - I'd say it was equal for the most part on the first three ships. However, I did notice some service hiccups on Emerald in the dining room, and my hypothesis is that their wait staff doesn't have the same incentive that the other cruises have w.r.t. tipping. e.g. on Gate 1, the servers were hopping to keep our glasses full and ensuring that we were well fed. Want more food? Sure, let me see if there's an extra entrée in the kitchen. Don't expect much in terms of onboard entertainment each evening, but Uniworld and Vantage were both very snoozy. The Gate 1 Cruise Director and Activity Host were exceptional, but that will vary from ship to ship, and operator to operator. Emerald's Activity Host tried to interact with the guests often, but we felt that she seemed to be trying too hard, rather than having the engagements flow naturally. With respect to pre-cruise experience, we did receive great call centre service from both Vantage and Gate 1. Emerald had some challenges in the first half of 2022 due to being hacked and some other factors, but I believe these are behind them now, and we didn't experience any issues. I didn't book our Uniworld trip, so can't comment on that experience. See footnote¹ on Vantage recent issues.

Winner: slight edge to Gate 1, Emerald at 2nd, with Uniworld and Vantage tied for last place.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a number of considerations to consider when selecting and determining who is the best at river cruising.  There are some other intangibles, like the makeup of guests on board. e.g. the guests on Gate 1 were noticeably younger, which made things like loading coaches, and running through the evening briefing move faster. My hypothesis is that the more expensive the cruise, the older the guests will be - something to consider if you like making the most of your time in town, vs. waiting for the folks with canes and walkers to catch up. With our first three cruises, the majority of cruisers were American, with just a handful of Commonwealth guests. On Emerald, there were very few Americans on board, with the majority being Canadian, then Brits followed by Aussies; however average age was higher than Gate 1, but not as senior as Uniworld and Vantage.

Even though our experiences were very similar, we felt that Gate 1 was the winner, edging out Emerald. Our Emerald experience differed because of the nature of Eastern Europe, giving us a much slower paced trip, but it was still enjoyable; the more diverse mix of guests was a bonus for us, but for value, we still think Gate 1 is slightly better. If we had managed to get on Gate 1's Monarch Empress or the Monarch Queen, then it would have been hands down, Gate 1.

Want to read my other posts about river cruising? Click here.

¹ Update: June 29, 2023, Vantage Travel Services, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced that United Travel Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of Nordic Hamburg and Heritage Expeditions, has agreed to acquire Vantage's assets and provide customers with future opportunities for the travel. I would not recommend booking with this new entity until the dust settles.

The actor upgrade

Retirement Life

Recently, I was booked to work on Resident Alien as "Man in Black". I know, I got pretty excited about it. See, a normal day working in Background (BG) will have you sitting around in holding 80% of the time, and maybe only a couple of hours on set, walking back and forth in the back of the scene. So when I got the request to be a Man in Black, I immediately thought that I could end up being one of the MIB guys - it is a TV show about an alien, after all. Getting to dress up and pretend to fight aliens seemed like it might make for a much more exciting day on set, and I actually wore a black suit to work that day, hoping to play that kind of character.

Well, it wasn't to be. When I got there, the costumer gave me my outfit, which was a military SWAT-type get-up, entirely in black... i.e. Man in Black. We had a chuckle over it, and she even joked that I should go to set in my black suit and see how the director and team reacted. Anyhow, I changed into my costume, and then had a look at the call sheet. But the wrangler stops me and says, "no Richard, you're on splinter unit today... it's just you on that." So what that means, is there's another unit of camera production, complete with separate director, AD, etc. that shoots a completely different scene or scenes from main unit. No problem, I'm thinking... it's sometimes better when there's less BG involved.

After a relatively short wait, the wrangler sends me outside, to where the splinter unit has set up. I come around the corner, and see that the set is an old RV! This is going to be interesting, me thinks. The AD grabs me, and leads me in a holding tent that they call a Green room, and introduces me to the young actor I will be working with. He also hands me a set of "sides", which are the lines for the scene. This is not normal experience for a BG. The props guy comes by, and kits me out with my tactical vest, protective gear, helmet and rubber gun. I sit and peruse the sides, noting that there really isn't much description of what I'm going to be doing, and there certainly aren't any lines for me to read. I'm the bad guy, and will be kidnapping the young alien, cleverly disguised as a human boy.

A little while later, it's showtime, but just me for some reason. The AD brings me in to the RV to do some "blocking"; this is where they choreograph the actions of the scene, so the camera operator etc. get what the director is looking for. Well, it's just me and the cameraman in the RV - no one else; strange, but cool at the same time. After everyone is happy with the setup, the director yells, "let's shoot!" I step outside so that the props guy and the costumer can make sure everything looks good on me, and I head back into the RV. We shot the scene a 1/2 dozen times, mostly because it was hard for me to come out from behind a curtain to surprise the alien without bumping into the lighting rigs in the cramped space. I hear from outside the RV, "more menacing!" which was my cue to put on an even more fearsome look.

We finish that angle, and it's time for "the turnaround". This is where the young actor, Kesler, comes into play, and the camera shoots over my shoulder, capturing the moment when he enters the RV and looks up to me with terror in his eyes. We ran that one a few times, then we switched to a scene where the RV is being hauled away by a helicopter, and Kesler struggles in vain to get out a window, and I pull him back. In all, from the time I arrived on set, to when I was wrapped, it was just over four hours. 

When we finished, I asked the AD if he felt that constituted an actor upgrade, and he thought it did. So after a bit of paperwork and some back and forth with production, I got the upgrade! 

Anyhow, it's out now, but you'll have to watch very carefully to see me; you can see the clip above, or if you are watching Season 2, episode 12, pay attention during the alien kidnapping scene!

Emerald Waterways pre-cruise gifts

Travel and Leisure

Well, the countdown to our European river cruise is officially on... it's getting real! Yesterday, a large package arrived via courier, which I was kinda expecting. In it were two backpacks and a travel document folio. For those of you who have upcoming Emerald cruises, I thought I'd give you a quick review of it, as you may or may not want to plan on another piece of luggage instead. Update: As of the 2023 season, they are no longer sending out these backpacks, and I believe are offering a 50€ per person onboard credit.  Clicking any picture below should bring up a gallery view:

My first observation, is that these backpacks are quite large! At 43 x 33 x 16 cms, it is the exact dimensions of most air carriers' "personal item". If you want to maximise your carry on only luggage, then this will be a good piece for you. The second thing I noticed, is that it is a reasonably full-featured backpack. I was expecting a throw-away/thrift store donation, but it has quite a few nifty features.

It has one main compartment, which has a slot for holding your iPad, and then an organiser area for pens and such. There is a slimmer, front compartment, which has an RFID zipped pocket for your passport etc., and an easy access, 2/3 height front document pocket. I found that the front pocket fits my iPad 9, so I used it for faster access than the main compartment. The back padded panel is ventilated, which has a "sleeve" so that you can slip it over the handle of your spinner/wheeled luggage. The front is also lightly padded, so it gives the backpack structure, even when it is not fully loaded.

There's a laptop area that zips open off the left shoulder strap; it looks like it would hold a 17" laptop. A mesh water bottle holder is on each side, and on the left one, there's a D-ring to clip the security zipper to. The final feature that was a surprise, is the integrated rain cover, which zips out of the reinforced bottom area of the backpack. 

This all fit into the backpack!

At only 0.78 kgs, it's lighter than my Arc'teryx Blade 24 (1.3 kgs) that I would normally use as my personal item. With a capacity of approximately 23 litres, this backpack can accommodate a significant amount of gear. The shoulder straps aren't padded much, but for the amount of kit you can put in, they are fine. The Emerald water bottle you will get on your cruise fits perfectly in the mesh pocket, and the other mesh pouch could be used for a sunglasses/eyeglasses case. With all of the cool travel features, it is a pretty neat gift. Update: I had a short 3-day trip recently, and so rather than taking a carry-on spinner, I thought I’d try this backpack. I used a medium packing cube for a pair of shorts, a few extra shirts, boxers and socks; this cube then slid nicely into the main compartment. There was a little bit of room at the top for me to roll up a thin fleece jumper in case it got cold on the plane or at my layover in Toronto. My Dopp kit, ziplock with liquids and noise cancelling headphones fit into the front compartment, and my iPad tucked into the zip pocket. I put a folio with some printed material in the laptop compartment, my eyeglasses case slipped into one mesh pocket, and my Emerald water bottle in the other. I’m impressed!

The other item that arrived with the backpacks, is a travel document folio. It is approx. 30 x 18 x 3 cms, and has various pockets to cram your passports and other travel stuff into. There is a small clear window pocket on the right, for small items and cards etc. The folio is lightly padded as well, which is probably why I won't use it. With a few documents, some extra cash and passports, it becomes a relatively substantial item, and will take up more space than is necessary. I've got another pouch from Avalon that is a simple, flat nylon item, which doesn't add extra bulk.

Now let's get river cruising!

The river cruise reference page

Travel and Leisure

I've created a fair bit of content over the last few years pertaining to river cruising. Each time someone on our FB river cruise group asks the same question, rather than re-type the answer again, I have usually been sending the relevant blog page that addresses the question. But today, I learned how to create "jump links" in HTML, so you can click directly to the topic, rather than reading the whole page. Some info gets duplicated across different posts, but I’ve tried to use the most thorough responses for the topics below. 

Research and Booking

Introduction to river cruising

Understanding the differences between river cruise operators

Know your budget limitations

Mass market vs. the rest of the operators

Choosing your first river cruise provider

Do you really need a "Deluxe" cruise?

Why we don't cruise with Scenic (or Tauck)

Age of guests on various river cruise operators and why it matters

Popular river cruising routes

Searching for the best river cruise prices

Balcony types on different river cruise staterooms

Layout and room categories on the ships

Choosing a stateroom for your needs and time of year

Ship decor differences - sleek and modern or classical?

River water levels - both low and high

How does time of year affect pricing?

When do the best sale prices occur?

My recent pricing comparison

Weighing out your travel priorities

Comparison and our favourite operator (so far)

Viking vs. Gate 1 river cruise observations

Pre/post-cruise excursions - on your own or through the operator?

A review of our 2022 Emerald lower Danube cruise

Another review - 2018 Gate 1 upper Danube cruise

The Tulips n' Windmills itinerary - ports and sights

The Emerald Waterways pre-cruise gifts (discontinued)

Scenic's differences (compared with Emerald)

Trip Preparation

What type of clothing is best for river cruising?

What is appropriate dinner attire?

Packing tips (primarily mens)

Luggage choices: carry-on only? 

Choosing the right travel backpack

Just some of my travel essentials

• Items I like to have handy on the plane
• Electronics kit with stuff
• Handwashing laundry kit

Power adapters: what do I need?

Foreign currency: do you need it, and where to get it?

On Your Trip

Getting around in metropolitan cities

Google maps is your friend

Using the train in Europe

Mobile phone usage while you are away

Using an eSIM for your mobile phone

A typical day on a river cruise

• Breakfast
• Walking tours
• Lunch
• Afternoon
• Port talk and dinner
• Evening activities

Planning the activities for your day

Inclusions and extras to be aware of

Alcohol: what do you get and optional beverage packages

How do the inclusions differ by cruise operator?

Tipping: understanding the differences

Other European Travel Topics

Using vacation rentals like Airbnb or VRBO

Upgrading airline seats à la carte

Make sure you book your rental car early

Using Rick Steves Audio Europe Tours

Preparing vs. planning for your trip

Avoiding travel mistakes (two parts)

Do men need a day touring bag (or man purse)?

Is my iPhone camera all I need for travelling?

An 8-day Croatian travel itinerary 

Our Portugal trip with Air Canada Vacations

Some things I learned about travelling in France

Scandinavian and Baltic cruise with Princess

Opinions expressed here are solely my own and are not affiliated with any travel company or website.

River cruising: low water levels

Travel and Leisure

"At the moment... this seems to be the worst" year in 500 years.

(Update on current conditions at the end) You don't have to look very hard to see the issues that are plaguing most of Europe right now. Heatwaves and dry weather. Massive wildfires in France, Spain and Portugal. Crop failures. Sky News is reporting that this could be the worst drought conditions seen in 500 years. This has caused major arteries like the Rhine and Danube rivers to dry up to the point where river cruise operators are forced to cancel or change itineraries. The Rhine is expected to hit critical low levels next week. Edit (17-Aug) Rhine closes to barge traffic.

Rhine River pictured in Cologne (Sky News)

I've written about this before in a previous post, but water levels can be unpredictable, and sometimes events occur that make the river(s) impassable in certain locations. While river cruise ships have a very shallow draught, some between 1.5 to 2 metres, it still may not allow them to reach some ports or traverse sections of the river. The last bad year for these drought conditions was 2018; we sailed the Danube in late May that year, and read that many subsequent cruises were diverted or cancelled that season. Unlike where I live (Vancouver), there really isn’t an annual dry season, and surprisingly, some of the wettest months in Central Europe can be June and July. Yet other dry(ish) periods of the year over there aren’t accompanied by the blistering heat of summer.

Historical Danube River water levels

What can you do about this? Nothing, really. Sure, you should have read the fine print about this when you booked your trip, but you can't predict what Mother Nature has in store for you a year out. But if you've fully paid for your cruise, all you can do is wait and see what happens. If you're lucky, maybe you will only have to say, start your cruise in a different port other than Budapest, but everything else might remain the same. Or perhaps you will end up with different ports and excursions than were originally planned for your itinerary. The level of the river can change quickly; some ships can't get through one week, and then only a week later, enough rain may arrive to change things substantially. 

Federal Institute for Hydrology (BfG) Rhine water level and forecast 08/17/22

With large operators with a huge fleet of river ships like Viking, sometimes they can do ship swaps to get around some low water issues. But with many others, your deluxe, unpack once, 7-night river cruise turns into a pack-up-every-day bus tour. And whether you've paid $2,000 or $10,000 for your trip, all the travellers get treated to the same hotels and rooms. Some operators will give you a partial refund, and some will outright cancel, giving credits or refunds depending on the line. Should you cancel? That answer is up to you, but river conditions can change quickly, and the difference between a bus tour and a full river cruise may only be a few days' worth of rain.

High water levels in Passau

But if you haven't booked anything yet, the current situation in Europe should give you pause for consideration. Is that too-good-to-be-true price for late-August 2023 really going to be worth the anxiety? Yes, this is the worst drought situation they've seen in 50-70 years, but perhaps you could/should consider a different date? In fact, historical data shows that the Danube improves in September, but the Rhine doesn’t start to recover until the start of October, so your cruise could be in jeopardy even after summer ends. But if you do wait until then, it's likely that you'll also be avoiding the crush of summer tourist season and certainly the high temperatures will be long gone. However, we cruised the Rhine in late October/early November 2009, and the river was still so low that you could "feel" the river bottom when we were in particularly shallow water. Late spring tends to be agreeable weather, and with the snow melt and glacial runoff, rivers are full; sometimes they can be too full however, and instead ships can't get under some of the bridges.

Vienna: still busy in May

I love a good deal, but the heat of the summer months is usually enough to deter me/us from sailing on Europe's waterways in July and August. Even in Vancouver, I often find the summer heat intolerable, even though the mercury only gets above 30ºC for a couple of weeks. Not to mention that every European is on vacation in August, and attractions are packed to capacity. If you fit the typical demographics of the average river cruiser, you don't have school-aged children, so there shouldn't be much forcing you to sail in the summer; most river cruise lines don't allow kids anyways. As I mentioned in my factors to consider post, prices definitely are higher in the late spring, and go up again in September, but I feel that the lower temperatures, fewer tourists, and better chance¹ of agreeable river levels justify the added cost. Will you get caught by an issue with low (or high) water levels on your summertime river cruise? Odds are that you won't, but it's like booking a trip to Cancun in hurricane season... the risk is definitely higher then.

Update Aug. 24: This is how quickly things can change, and why you may not want to cancel cruises when water conditions get low. The image below is the Aug. 23rd current reading and forecast for Kaub, after a few good days of rain.

Federal Institute for Hydrology (BfG) Rhine water level and forecast 08/23/22

You can see a distinct difference between last week, and this week, as the level has risen above the critical 78 cm marker, and shows a high probability of staying above it until at least the first week of September. Ships and operators that were cancelling cruises and/or shuttling passengers around low spots, are now able to fully sail the route from Amsterdam to Budapest!

¹ Opinions expressed here are my own; research conducted using historical data and weather patterns for West and Central Europe.

Like this post? Here's more river cruising ones.

Preparing vs. planning for travel

Travel and Leisure

Louis Pasteur once said, "Chance favours the prepared mind". Ok, what he actually said was, "In the fields of observation chance only favours the prepared mind", but I like the simplified version better. I often come back to this quote because I'm a bit of a worrywart; sometimes, when something crosses my mind, I tend to dwell on it, and if it's late at night, it even keeps me awake.

We are about two months away from our first European trip since the pandemic started. The river cruise that I've been wanting to try came up on a sale last summer, and we thought with the vaccines in full deployment, that surely things would be good by the beginning of fall 2022, right? So we pulled the trigger on the Enchantment of Eastern Europe cruise, and have planned for a week in Croatia beforehand. But then the Omicron variants appeared, and new concerns arose about how long the vaccine effectiveness would last, and whether we'd be in for a fourth, fifth and sixth wave of Covid-19. And then when we started to see the light with respect to the severity of Omicon, and countries started to lift measures, all of a sudden - BAM! Russia invades Ukraine! So I watch every newscast about war, and monitor the effect it is having on tourism in Eastern Europe's neighbouring countries; surprisingly, it hasn't been too detrimental, at least to the places we will be travelling to. 

But all of the things mentioned above are way beyond our control, so they didn't wander too far into my field of worry. However, there are things that are happening that can and should be prepared for, in order to improve the chances of an enjoyable trip. I'm not talking about booking hotels or Airbnbs in advance, so you're not left out in the cold, or planning ahead and booking your rental car at the best rate. And you probably don't need to book your rail tickets too far in advance, but prime TGV rates are usually best booked at four months out. No, I mean taking steps within your control that will remove or lessen the burden once you arrive at your destination. A simple example is all of the issues flyers are currently having with lost or delayed baggage; while it's not easy for some to pack efficiently for a two-week trip, going with carry-on luggage would ensure that you are well prepared for that potential dilemma.

So what else can we prepare for that might be an issue? Lineups at the airport can't always be avoided, and certainly you'd want to show up early to make sure you don't miss your flight. But there are programs that allow you to take the fast track through things like security screening and sometimes customs checks; e.g. Nexus, Global Entry and TSA Precheck. While these might seem like a hassle to get, they are very beneficial when you can bypass that endless security lineup that snakes out into the airport concourse. Another thing that can help you at passport checkpoints, is the e-passport, or biometric feature that almost everyone has now. The tiny chip embedded inside contains information that is used to identify the passport holder, and is readable by Near Field Technology (NFT). This is the same kind of thing that you are using when you pay with your Apple iPhone, or tap your VISA card. Instead of queueing up at the customs and immigration lineup, look for a row of kiosks or a separate one indicated by the symbol that matches the one on the front of your passport. Simply insert your passport into the reader, then a photo is taken, and you're off to get a stamp from the customs official. 

Another thing that I like to prepare for well in advance, is seat selection on our flights, especially the long haul ones. As I had written about in my avoiding travel mistakes post, I didn't do this on a long trip from Frankfurt to Harare, and ended up in the rear bulkhead, sandwiched between two large German men. Now, I make sure that I book our seats pretty much right after I've secured the reservation, and will look for the best options for us on SeatGuru. In fact, I'll even make flight or airline choices based on the type of aircraft offered, as some trans-Atlantic flights might not be in a wide-body jet. 

But what about catching your connecting flight and navigating in a foreign airport? Sometimes with a short layover time, you might want to prepare yourself for what to expect when you land at the hub airport. The in-flight magazine located in your seat pouch usually has airport terminal maps, but you can do much better by Googling the airport beforehand. In my case, someone had recorded a video on what you will experience transiting from Munich's Terminal 2 satellite to Terminal 2. And while doing my Google search for info on the Munich airport, I came across a link for an app called Passngr. It's a German portal for all things flight-related, and can give you insight into flight arrival and departure info, show you where to find food and drink, shopping and other services, as well as link you to wait times at various passport control points. As an added bonus, it enables you to use the free WiFi services at the airports, which would of course would be needed to look up the previous information.

So you've arrived at your destination... what now? How have you planned to get to your hotel or Airbnb? Because I'm so cheap, we often take the train/metro from the airport to our lodging, and walk the last 5-10 mins of the way. But many metro stations have two exits, and if you take the wrong one, you'll end up heading in the wrong direction. That's why I like to prepare in advance, and have a look at Google street view, as to what things should look like when we exit the station. You might think this is overkill, but you don't want to know the number of times that this has tripped us up, and we ended up walking 10 mins in the wrong direction!

Another thing to be prepared for once you arrive, is how to avoid the lineups at popular things to do. When we were less skilled European visitors, we didn't think to book museums or other tourist highlights ahead of time, and spent valuable day touring time standing in line. Most of the top attractions allow for online booking ahead of time, and it is usually cheaper to do so as well. Also, some will limit the total number of ticket sales, so you might not even get in, even with waiting in line. What's the risk? Well of course, you might end up changing your plans, and your pre-purchased entry tickets to Plitvice Lakes National Park go unused; but at only $50, you're not taking a huge financial leap of faith.

My final bit of advice regarding being prepared for your trip, is making sure you've downloaded the apps and data that you need for your vacation ahead of time. You never know if the Wi-Fi at the hotel or Airbnb is going to be dodgy, and things we take for granted like Google Maps navigation may not work well if you haven't downloaded an offline copy of the map data. More on using your mobile phone in Europe can be found in a more detailed post here. 

Top 3 river cruise questions

Travel and Leisure

I belong to a FB group for river cruising, as it's a fun way to get excited about upcoming trips, and share ideas and knowledge to others who are interested in this unique way of exploring Europe. But it would seem that many folks don't realise that you can use the search feature to find the answer to their questions, and so a number of common questions keep popping up on there. Here are the top three that seem to come up, over and over again, with my thoughts on each.

What do I wear for dinner?

Dining at the Captain's table on Uniworld

I think this one comes up so often, because of what things are like on ocean cruises (e.g. evening galas and black tie dinners). There are no such evenings on a river cruise, and for the most part, smart casual is the recommended attire. Of course when you are out and about during the day, you're going to want to be comfortable, so pretty much anything goes (within reason) for city touring as well as breakfast and lunch on the ship. However, there was one guy on our Danube cruise who wore the same tank top every day; I overheard that a staffer had polite words with him, as he stopped showing up in the dining room in that attire. I get that you want to minimise the amount of clothing that you pack in your luggage, but that guy was taking it to the extreme. But back to the question at hand. Yes, there will be a few folks who stroll in for dinner in the same outfit that they were wearing for that hike up to the ruins of Dürnstein castle, and you can't help that. I myself, tend to perspire somewhat during my day outing, so I welcome the opportunity to freshen up in our room and put on something different. On our last cruise, they discussed appropriate dinner attire at the welcome briefing, which sent a few men scurrying back to their rooms to put on some trousers and a collared shirt. But there won't be any fashion police at the entrance to the dining room, as much as most would like, turning away guests in their shorts and T-shirts; they will be getting some unwelcome side-eye from other well-dressed cruisers however.

River cruising has fine dining;
why not dress up a little for it?

Think of dinner on board as you would an evening out at an elegant restaurant back in your hometown; what would you wear in that instance? I think most would prefer that smart casual was the norm, but if the best you have is a nice, crisp pair of unfaded jeans and a collared, or polo shirt, then that will have to do. However, I personally don't recommend jeans (unless it's late fall/winter), as they get hot and uncomfortable on warm, muggy days in Europe. I like 5-pocket chinos and a collared shirt, whereas she will likely put on a skirt with her outfit; it tends to be cool in the dining room, so ladies may want a wrap/sweater. On the evenings with the welcome reception and the Captain's farewell dinner, she wears a dress, and I might throw a blazer on; this would be certainly not be mandated, and you won't be out of place without either. For heaven's sake, don't go out and buy a blazer if you don't have one, but if you're going to get one, I've discussed what kind to get here. I've discussed my clothing/packing tips in this previous post.

Do I need a travel adapter/converter?

Disclaimer: While I am/was an electrical engineer, please do your own due diligence with respect to using electrical devices in Europe. Since power technology evolved differently in other parts of the world, instead of the 120 volt/60 hertz that we use in North America, Europe uses a 230 volt/50 hertz system, and unfortunately, a few different outlet styles. Luckily for most of us, the only thing that we need power for, is to recharge the batteries in our iPads, smartphones and other portable devices. 

These are typically powered or charged by a USB Type-A port, with an output of 5 Vdc drawing from 5 to 18 watts. The power supply that you already own performs the conversion from AC to DC is typically rated for 110-240V, 50-60Hz, so it is going to handle the power conversion for you. The only thing that you need to be concerned about, is adapting the two flat prongs to the two round pins used in most of Europe. Now some of you may have NA-spec, 120V/60Hz sockets on your ship, but that's not going to help you when you are at hotels before or after your cruise. 

Since the Swiss socket (Type C) is like a flattened hexagon, getting adapters that will fit those will be the most versatile, as it will also fit into the round socket (Type F) in other EU countries; these are usually available 2 for $6 on Amazon. Note that you can get them for even less, as I did, but on my super cheap ones, the slots for the NA prongs are the same size, and some plugs have one prong that is slightly larger than the other; these might require a tiny bit of modification with a utility knife to make the slot slightly wider (I chose to file down the wider blade on her travel iron's plug instead).

But what if you have other electrical devices that do not have their own power conversion? That's where you will need a power converter. Note that these all-in-one converters from Amazon for $16-25 usually DO NOT convert voltage, and certainly are not be rated for high wattage devices like hair dryers and straightening/curling irons! For those, you need to look for converters that are rated for 2000 watts or more; I had one for my wife's straightener, but it was so hit and miss for some reason, and so she ended up getting a dual voltage one instead, avoiding the problems with trying to convert the power altogether. Update: I wrote a little bit more detailed piece on adapters here.

Do I need/where should I get euros/foreign currency

We needed cash at the Lorenzo Street Market

While the almighty US dollar is the benchmark against which all other currencies are measured, places that don’t take credit card DO NOT want your American dollars. Imagine that you are running a hot dog stand in the US, and some tourist offers you euros? Anyhow, it used to be that you pretty much needed to have some running-around money, as some small restaurants, shops and street markets would only take cash. But with the pandemic, contactless payment options became the norm, and almost anywhere you go, you will be able to use your credit card (take note of your provider's foreign transaction fees; we use the Home Trust Visa for Europe). Regardless, I like to have some local currency on me, as there are a few things that you do need cash for. One is the public toilets; unless you use your cash to buy something small, you won't have any coins to use the facilities. And don't forget that not everyone uses the euro; even though they may be part of the EU Schengen zone, they might still have their own currency. e.g. Hungary uses the forint, the Czech Republic has the koruna, etc. Sure, some folks might accept euros, or even US dollars, but they will not give you a very good exchange rate.

While there are those that would swear that they are getting the best exchange rate at the Forex kiosks in the airport, I'd tend to disagree, as I can usually get the best value at my home bank, and typically can even do a little bit of bargaining with the teller. Of course, you can/should be able to get cash from the ATMs that are everywhere in Europe, but make sure you are going to a trusted financial institution, and not some dodgy location inside a pub or at the entrance to the casino; these will give you a terrible exchange rate as well as slap you with a high transaction fee! And when the machine asks you if you want them to do the exchange for you, always decline that, as your home bank will give you a better conversion; the same goes for using your credit card in a retail store or restaurant. How much cash you need is subjective; we don't do a lot of shopping, so would probably only bring the equivalent of $300 USD for a 2-week trip, and then top up at an ATM if we needed more. We did run into one situation in Portugal however, where every cash machine we went to would not give us euros!

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