river cruise

* How would this cruise compare to my previous ocean cruises?
* Will I be comfortable on a much smaller ship? Will I miss all of the features of the bigger ocean cruise vessels?
* Will the shore excursions be interesting? Is a river cruise really one of the best ways to see Europe as advertised?

I answer these questions and more in my trip report below. Sailing on the Artistry was one of my best cruises ever! I rate in my descriptions each part of the trip on an “A to F” scale. I generally gave high marks to everything (grade B or higher).

By Tim Larison, Master Cruise Counselor (MCC)

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Cruising the Danube

One of the most enjoyable features of the cruise for me was watching the scenery go by as we sailed up the Danube.   I awoke at 6 a.m. most mornings and went outside to take pictures of the beautiful surroundings.  We saw old churches, castles, and small towns amidst the lush greenery of the river valleys we sailed through.

During selected parts of the journey our cruise director Hans described the sights to us from the top “Sun Deck”.  For an ex-engineer like myself I also marveled at how the river “locks” worked.  We passed through 26 locks in all on our 7 day journey – the lock would raise or lower our ship to the next water level so we could continue sailing.

This sailing part of the cruise was the most relaxing to me.  It reminded me of cruising the quiet waters of the inside passage in Alaska, only on a smaller ship and closer to the shore.  Grade A

Shore excursions
While this cruise had its share of quiet times sailing the Danube, it was an active cruise, too.  At every stop we had a choice of one or two shore excursions.  In this section I describe the excursions I took.  Some of the tours were included in the cost of the cruise (I label those “included”) and some were at an additional cost (I label those with “fee”).

On many of the excursions Avalon gave us radio receivers.  Each tour participant received a headset and the guide’s comments were broadcast to the headset.  Often our tour group was large (over 30 people) and having the headset allowed me to hear the guide even if I was outside of normal hearing distance.  This was an innovative way to take a tour that I hadn’t experienced before.

Vienna Concert (fee)
We arrived at our first stop, Vienna, on Monday night.  Here I attended the “Sounds Of Vienna” classical music concert.  The presentation was in the Kursalon Wien concert hall, a setting where famous composers Johann Strauss and Johann Strauss II performed in the 1800’s.  The concert also featured a male and a female opera singer along with a classical dance pair.

The sounds from the small orchestra were amazing as the musicians played many famous pieces from Mozart, Strauss, and others.  The orchestra did not have a conductor;  the Avalon program explained “this special style of music-making goes back to the time of Josef Lenner and Johann Strauss, who both led their orchestras from the position of first violin.”

I was hesitant to attend the concert at first.  Back home I am more comfortable at an NFL football game than a classical concert!  But the quality of the performances and the easily recognizable tunes made this a very enjoyable evening for me.  Grade A.

Walking tour of Vienna (included)
On Tuesday morning we took our first “included” excursion – a good basic walking tour of the historic district of Vienna.  The best features of the tour were:

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