> ga wrote:

>> Our main objective is a River cruise in Europe and we wish to combine it
>> with a visit of Countries that we have not seen, such as Germany and
>> Holland. A Danube cruise would have been fabulous, but we have already
>> seen Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.
>> Cheers, - gA
>>
>> "Gail Koontz" cfl.rr.com> wrote in message
>> news:48466cf2$0$4270$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...

>>> ga wrote:
>>>

>>>> We are thinking of going to Germany and N. Italy next year, perhaps
>>>> Holland,
>>>> and would like advise on the best river cruise in that area. Has anyone
>>>> experienced the Mosel and the Rhine? Pros and cons? Thank you.
>>>> - gA

>
> I just returned from Uniworlds Legendary Rhine and Mosel cruise. As I
> said in a previous post, the cruise was wonderful. Most of the cruisers
> are older. I would estimate the average age as 70, some as young as 40
> but not many. Most in their 80's. A very spry group, though. Even those
> with canes made the tours.
>
> The ship was very nice. Most stateroom comparable to any ocean cruise
> lower deck. (I've been on 17 ocean cruises but usually spring for the
> lowest rate since you're not in the room much). The 4 suites were larger.
> All rooms on a river cruise have windows or floor length windows. There
> were 6 bicycles onboard for our use.
>
> Tours were included and superb. Split into manageable groups. Since we
> docked within walking distance of the towns, you could skip the tour and
> venture out on your own to lose yourself.
>
> Initially, the price seemed expensive but with the tours, free wine with
> dinner, wine tasting tours, and all the extras, it was a very good deal.
>
> Our itinerary included Basel, Colmar, Strasbourg, Rudesheim, the Rhine
> castles, Cochem, Trier, Luxembourg, Koblenz, Koln, Amsterdam. I had
> driven to all of these places before but the tour guides were excellent
> and gave more insight to the history.
>
> My only con of the experience was the food. Just my personal taste, but
> it was too foo-foo for me. Beautifully decorated dishes and exotic meals
> but not much to eat. What there was was delicious but I'm more of a meat
> and potatoes kinda person - not things like *Tapas of Salmon* that was a
> square of salmon about 1 inch. One bite and it was gone. Another was
> *Shrimp Cocktail on a bed of wild rice* and it was one shrimp perched on
> about 2 T. of rice. Maybe that is the way your supposed to eat.... It
> was OK though because every town had bratwurst and pomme frites close by!!
>
> Not to discourage you. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I will
> be river cruising again.
>
> Travlr