Travel

[AlsaceGal]

I've been on three river cruises, all on a Uniworld ship. I loved them, one was the same as your doing. 

I packed too any clothes, take a jacket, two pair of shoes, one for walking and another for when you're onboard for dinner and festivities for evening. You do not need evening clothes. One outfit I used for the evening was black and I  dressed it up with jewlery.

Casual clothes is basically all you need, plus a jacket and perhaps a rain jacket. I took gloves with me, I loved getting up at night to go onboard and watch as we went throught the locks.

Remember to take a hat for when you're out and it's cold.

You're going to have a wonderful time, and you will be spoiled rotten onboard.

I love the tours we had and the guides were wonderful, they're small groups.

The food onboard is delicious, and the crew, I can't say enough about them.

You'll have lunch out when you're on walking tours, and every restaurant they took us to was wonderful.

Each cruise I was on, the passengers were wonderful and very friendly, I still correspond with a few of them.

Uniworld is first rate!

[wonderfulworld]

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@AlsaceGal wrote:

I've been on three river cruises, all on a Uniworld ship. I loved them, one was the same as your doing. 

I packed too any clothes, take a jacket, two pair of shoes, one for walking and another for when you're onboard for dinner and festivities for evening. You do not need evening clothes. One outfit, I used for the evening was black and I  dressed it up with jewlery.

Casual clothes is basically all you need, plus a jacket and perhaps a rain jacket. I took gloves with me, I love getting up at night to go onboard and watch as we went throught the locks.

Remember to take a hat for when you're out and it's cold.

You're going to have a wonderful time, and you will be spoiled rotten onboard.

I love the tours we had and the guides were wonderful, they're small groups.

the food onboard is delicious, and the crew, I can't say enough about them.

You'll have luch out when you're on walking tours, and every restaurant they took us to, was wonderful.

Each cruise I was on, the passengers were wonderful and very friendly, I still correspond with a few of them.

Uniworld is first rate!

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I am very excited and appreciate all of your tips. I am a little concerned about water levels...hear they are quite low this year due to warm temps and lack of rain.

I have a question for you or anyone who might know. We are travelling from the states through Amsterdam and onto (in our case due to some added train travel) Zurich. We have a 1.5 hour connection time in Amsterdam.

The plane tickets are both Delta. Will our suitcases go straight through to Zurich?

[Alter Ego]

@wonderfulworld - by “Delta”, I assume you will actually be on KLM (which code shares with Delta).  Randomly, just read that KLM is the oldest airline in the world, not that that answers your question!  At any rate, it’s a nice airline, although some planes are nicer than others.

I assume you bought the tickets specifically to go to Zurich and it’s all really one ticket. Therefore, you shouldn’t have to worry about your luggage until your final destination.  In fact, based on my last flight through Amsterdam, since you are coming from the States, you should just get out in the international terminal and be able to walk straight to your next gate.  No additional baggage checks (however, I will say that when I returned from Africa, I did have to go through additional screening for my carryon (checked luggage still went straight through). I say this just not to be surprised if you had to, but I still think you won’t. I assume the difference is where you are flying from.) Their airport is huge though, so you may want to look at a map just to get some sort of bearing where you are. In fact, you may be sorry your connection isn’t longer just because it’s so nice!! I usually bring home goodies from there.

edited to say...

it it occurs to me that I actually never went through Amsterdam to another European country.  I assume that I’m still correct, but someone can comment that I’m wrong ang that you may need to go through passport control.  I assume passport control would be in Zurich.

[Gorgf]

I have been on that cruise last April. Going now realize Europeans are on Holiday in Aug. I went with Grand Circle. Good walking shoes, rain gear but they do have umbrellas to borrow on the boat. Food is abundant and regional dishes offered along the way. Bring a small shopping tote as you pay extra for plastic bags. Few dress up for the Captains  dinner so did not  need any thing fancy. A majority speak English. I was able to get Euros on my Debt card no problem . Except for some venders credit cards work fine.  Chocolate ,sausages and Pretzels are fantastic. Bring a European outlet adapter in case. Newer boats have US voltage. A massage costs the same and helpful with the long flight there and back. Beer and wines delicious . The all purpose shower gel stripped my hair color.  Lots of bikes and our boat had them for us as well. Love Rivers cruises as a smaller group than Ocean ones. They treated us like Queens. Most tip at the end divide with all staff except leaders. They do not mind U S dollars for tips as saves Euros. Not a lot of exchange places but the leaders will point them out or banks. .Lots of walking and stairs.

[wonderfulworld]

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@Gorgf wrote:

I have been on that cruise last April. Going now realize Europeans are on Holiday in Aug. I went with Grand Circle. Good walking shoes, rain gear but they do have umbrellas to borrow on the boat. Food is abundant and regional dishes offered along the way. Bring a small shopping tote as you pay extra for plastic bags. Few dress up for the Captains  dinner so did not  need any thing fancy. A majority speak English. I was able to get Euros on my Debt card no problem . Except for some venders credit cards work fine.  Chocolate ,sausages and Pretzels are fantastic. Bring a European outlet adapter in case. Newer boats have US voltage. A massage costs the same and helpful with the long flight there and back. Beer and wines delicious . The all purpose shower gel stripped my hair color.  Lots of bikes and our boat had them for us as well. Love Rivers cruises as a smaller group than Ocean ones. They treated us like Queens. Most tip at the end divide with all staff except leaders. They do not mind U S dollars for tips as saves Euros. Not a lot of exchange places but the leaders will point them out or banks. .Lots of walking and stairs.

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Thank you very  much for the great advice. I will pack my own shampoo. We did get some Euros and Swiss francs as we well be travelling by train through Switzerland before the cruise. The River Cruise is early Sept.

[Wobin]

Water levels on the Rhine were OK this week as I heard from someone on a Viking cruise which ends tomorrow.  They had been warned they might have to switch ships part way through but it turned out they did not have to.  Hope it all goes well for your cruise.

[SANNA]

September is still very nice there, but could be rainy. Anyway bring a light raincoat. You definitely need a comfy walking shoes like nice sneakers for the tours and walks and some nice shoes for the dinner time.

I would bring mostly comfortable jeans, pants and slacks and the whole bunch of tops like, long sleeve/ short sleeve shirts, blouses. Cardigans make sense. 

Germany is a very plain clothing country, sporty and comfort oriented. Keep the elegance for the nights on the ship ( which is also questionable these days). Stick to your comfort and google the local weather.

Enjoy your trip!

[haddon9]

It's your vacation...no need to be uncomfortable with a dress!  Dressy pants are prefect!

I've only been on a river cruise once a few years ago.  We went up the Rhine River in France for several days then got off and took the train up to Paris.  It was a wonderful vacation!  Lots of great food and wonderful scenery.

It was in September and the temps were mostly in the 70s.  I wore very comfortable walking shoes and mostly knit pants or jeans.  I have a great travel crossbody handbag with lots of compartments but for dinner at night I brought a black clutch which was big enough for my phone, tissues and a lipstick.  I also brought a pair of dressy shoes to go with my nicer dinner outfits.

Hope you have a wonderful & safe trip!

[Drythe]

I have been on many river cruises including this one.  Must admit river cruises are my favorite way to travel.  In general they are more casual than the large cruise ships and it’s much easier to meet people.

Pack layers, one longish skirt can be used with a dressier top if you need one.  I usually travel with only a few mix and match colors, usually black, turquoise, camel, and berry.  In my ‘fashion’ world these colors are very mixable, throw in several scarves and you are ready.  Do not take your good jewelry.

Be be prepared as some of these cities are not disability friendly - stairs, cobbled streets, etc. Take shoes in which you can walk comfortably.

Schiphol airport is very easy to navigate and interesting.

Have a great time!

[wonderfulworld]

I have just returned and we had a wonderful time excpet that there was a virs (coughing type) making the rounds and we both came down with it but fortunately after we got home.

The weather was fantastic 70 and 80's hardly any rain, we really didn't need the Swiss francs as Euros were quite acceptable in Switzerland.

We took trains all over Switzerland including the Glacier Express to Zermatt.

We visited St. Moritz, Lake Lucerne, Interlaken, Zurich and Geneva.It is a beautiful country and the Swiss are justifiably proud. This was all by train. Very fast paced but we saw a lot from the trains. This was a Trafalgar Tour.

We took a train on our own to get from Lake Lucerne to meet the river cruise in Basel.

The Uniworld Cruise took us from Basel up the Rhine, over to the Moselle(gorgeous vineyards), Trier, Colmar, Cochem, Bernkastel, Cologne, Luxembourgh (visited the WW II cemetery where Patton is buried along with many American soldiers and one Nurse,) Strasbourg (beautiful), Speyer and Rudeheim. Then onto Amsterdam. It was a 12 night trip. All together we were gone 3 weeks and one day.

Amsterdam airport is a zoo of lines and it took us two hours to get from the front door to our gate. Very busy.

People were very friendly and helpful and we did not encounter any problems (no one felt in danger of pickpockets like other big cities). Most people in shops spoke at least some English. Some menus were in English and others we could figure out well enough.

What did surprise us is the vast numbers of Europeans that smoke...everywhere on the street. It is not allowed inside restaurants so they sit outside at lovely cafe tables ( 2 hour lunches are the norm) which spoils it for those who don't smoke and wish to sit outside. The lovely cobblestone streets are covered with cigarettes except in the most touristy areas where they clean them up. No one seems to care and it must not be frowned upon like over here.

As you all advised everything is very casual and there was no need for a dress or tie unless you wanted to. Black pants and a nice top. Uniworld said no shorts in the dining room for men but that was all.

A very special trip and we hope to do more river cruises in the future.

Thank you all for your advice and good wishes.