Europe Cruise Line

First day of my trip brings me from Boston to Amsterdam on the red-eye for my luxury cruise vacation.  Our tour parked in a hotel with an ample supply of coffee, baked goods and chairs.  From that location near Central Station, we set out to explore the markets and canals of Amsterdam. 

Of note is that there are an exorbitant amount of bicycles and bicycle parking solutions. We saw bikes neatly lined up in multi layered racks, leaning against each other like dominoes, and zooming down the bike paths.  The canals of the Netherlands are integral to Amsterdam....they slice through the city and reign in the distinct districts like the red light, grey light and market areas.  Add scooters, electric cars and pedestrians and zoom zoom zoom..Amsterdam feels like a lively town.

The Netherlands has just celebrated the Queens Birthday...with orange balloons, streamers and a full on party in the streets.  It's celebrated on April 30th and I now am adding to my bucket list of must dos!

I hear from my friends that river cruises in Europe are the rage and now I know why.  The ship is a perfect size.  We can all join together at the same time to dine, prepare for the next day, and hear from the captain. It's time to reboot for tomorrow.  We are off to see the small villages of The Netherlands and the famous windmills!

Waterways of Holland & Belgium: Tulips, Windmills & Canals

Here is a list of our top 10 destinations that have received raving reviews:

• Castles Along the Rhine & Danube 
• Waterways of Holland & Belgium 
• Imperial Russian Waterways
• Romance of the Blue Danube
• French Waterways
• Best of Africa
• Gateway to the Black Sea
• Switzerland & the Heart of the Rhine & Moselle
• Grand Norwegian Coastal Voyage
• Heart of Africa

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Christmas & New Year’s on the Danube & Rhine December 2010

A dream vacation that really could have been a total nightmare except for the positive attitude of the Vantage staff and the travelers involved. Having set out for our adventure with two other friends, we joyfully left the Tampa airport headed for Atlanta and then on to Budapest. The flight was perfect and everything was rolling along smoothly until we were in line to board our flight to Amsterdam and we were refused boarding because we were planning to continue on to Budapest. It seems that the snows had hit Europe and all the airports, especially Amsterdam were either closed or overloaded.

Two days later, after much maneuvering, we finally boarded a flight to Stuttgart, enroute to Frankfurt and on to Vienna where we hoped to catch up with our River Odyssey. We missed Budapest and the Captain’s Welcome Party and a few days along the way. Landing in Stuttgart, we discovered that Frankfurt was closed and now we were back in the long lines to seek another route. Ten hours later, we finally boarded a Tyrolean Airlines flight to Vienne…still in a heavy snowstorm, which never ended for the rest of our trip. Our late night arrival in Vienna provided us with another obstacle…we were greeted by a sea of baggage, thousands, …mostly black bags, and after much searching, none of them ours.

Gary, our Vantage manager, was not deterred and swiftly guided us through the process of making a baggage claim, and soon, equipped with our “Distressed Passenger Kits”, we were tucked into warm, waiting vehicles and whisked off to our waiting ship. Nothing ever looked so good to four weary people.

Our hotel manager, Ludi, greeted us warmly, and quickly hustled us off to our cabins with the following instructions; “Go to your cabins, and strip off your clothes and put them in the plastic bag and set them outside your door. We will pick them up and deal with them. We will send you some food and your things should be ready when you wake up.” Of course, after living and sleeping in our clothes for four days, we probably did smell like a herd of goats and looked like them, too.

We were a bit dubious but too tired and hungry to care, so we followed their instructions, and they made good every promise. The next day began the way the next 12 would…finding our clean clothes outside our cabin door every morning. A very welcome sight. We discovered that there were 36 others on our ship in the same straits…no luggage. But we were all on the ship, unlike several others who were trekking across the continent in an attempt to get to the ship, and many others who gave up and went home or never left in the first place.


“Honey, all I want is to have a white Christmas.” And a white Christmas we got,
unlike any that the Europeans had experienced for many years. It snowed when we arrived and kept on snowing, our entire trip. It was a fairy land everywhere we looked…snow and more snow, completely undisturbed. It was more than I could hope for, but it did make getting around a bit tricky at times though.

But our program managers and the Vantage staff took it all in stride. Beside their usual daily activities, they spent hours on the phone or running back and forth to airports retrieving missing luggage. They even managed to take Mother Nature’s final challenge in stride.

When the canal and locks froze, a quick trade of riverboats was arranged. The passengers took this all as another unexpected adventure. After spending a night ashore in a German hotel, we were bussed to our new ship, from the Avalon line, which would turn around and take us up the Rhine, while the Odyssey would welcome the Avalon passengers and take them back down the Danube.

And still the snow fell. It was beautiful and all the normal social barriers among the passengers were down. We were one big family, helping each other out with articles of clothing so we could have a slight variety. Each time more bags were located, we all wondered if it would be ours. One found us on the 12th day and the other on the 14th, but we were lucky, one couple found out theirs was waiting for them back home in Boston. The cheerful, helpfulness of our Vantage crew and program managers made this truly a once in a lifetime trip to be remembered and talked about for years.

Yes, we are going on another trip with Vantage. You can travel for 16 days with the clothes on your back, but an extra set in your carry-on would really be welcome.
Max & Sue Elliott Pierson, Florida

Name: Max & Sue E
City: Pierson
State: Florida
Email: 32180
Trip: European River Cruises