We had
wanted to plan a river cruise for some time.......it was a
type of travel we had not experienced. Certainly, we
have been on ocean cruises numerous times, but as we
were told they are quite different. For example, we
were told that if the captain of an ocean going ship
sees a shore he gets nervous, while a river boat captain
gets nervous if he does not see a shore.
Not
truly familiar with river boat experiences we resisted
booking a cruise. But then the time had come and we
were ready to experiment. We wanted to be away for
awhile as we do not like to travel long distances for
short periods of time. And river boating is at the
mercy of the geography.....the boat only goes where there
is a river. So how do we accomplish a longer trip on a
river?
With
the expert assistance of our travel agent we did find a
thirty day trip that took us from Amsterdam to Istanbul,
Turkey. For us this was perfect....the trip was to
start on the Rhine River, then sail onto the Main River,
through the Main-Danube Canal into the Danube River.
And the transit would take us through at least seventy
locks raising us over one thousand feet and then
lowering us back to sea level in Turkey.
The
next decision was....What cruise company would we
use? Our travel agent recommended Uniworld and she
could not have been more right. Our experience on the
River Duchess was nothing less than perfect. It is a
company the serves in class from the food, to the
preparation, to the dining experience, to the touring,
attention to detail for everything was excellent. They
were always there to serve the best which they did for
the wines, the drinks; the entertainment.....everything
to meet the needs of the guest was accomplished with
class. |