A brief Rhine River Cruise Review

Momof3greatkids

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
I know several people are anxious to hear about the Rhine River Cruise, so I will give you a few brief details below. I am very jet lagged, so it won't be too long. If anyone has questions let me know, and I will try to answer.

Embarkation: Ship is open at 9:30am. 2 transports are given from Raddison Blu which is Disney's pre-night Hotel. One is at noon and the other at 2pm. Sandwiches, soup, and dessert is available onboard, followed by tea at 4pm. Cocktails and finger foods at 6pm along with saftey, crew, and guide introductions.

Activities: Disney still has a few kinks in everyone getting the activities they want. They now give you a Disney Character and call groups at random starting at 2:30pm. This takes until at least 6pm as many people are slow in deciding and have no idea what is even offered, and then want to co-ordinate large groups at once. The last people called again had trouble getting what they wanted. Disney made efforts to fix this by adding more bikes, scheduling extra macaroon classes in town and on the boat, Having 2 Van Gough art classes, trying to get extra transportation, and hoping others would change their minds. The problem, per the guides, is with almost 160 guests on board they have trouble figuring out how many people are going to want to do which activity. They said the patterns have been different for each cruise. So, they have trouble planning. Most of this worked out during the week, but not all of it per other guests. As far as individual activities I will comment on a few. Horseback riding was a mess, the stable was not ready at all, and most of the time was spent waiting on them to saddle horses, and then you where led into a very muddy area to mount. An older lady's horse was stung by a bee and the horse starting bucking and the horse rolled her onto the ground. She was black and blue from this, and Disney had the boat give her a massage to help. The trail ride was short, with no English speaking guides, and horses being led over a foggy road, which most thought was dangerous. Zipling was alot of fun but the excursion took till 8pm because it took so long for everyone to get down the ziplines. Porsche and BMW trip was another long trip as Stuggart has terrible traffic. Heidleberg was great with plenty of time to visit the old town, and 3 buses leaving back to the boat so everyone could leave at their leisure. Strasbourg was also a great stop with the boat tour having an excellent local guide. Windmills, clog decorating, and cheese demonstartion where in a very touristy area, with warnings to watch out for pick pockets, and it ran late. Excursions leave very early and everyone was very tired on the boat. Timing is still an issue with Disney needing to work on getting everyone done on time.

Guides: Very hard working and always trying to please. Only problem we had was that one of them announced to the entire boat he was going to be a father as his girlfriend was pregnant. He is a very nice guy, but not everyone is happy for their children to learn the guide's girlfriend is pregnant.

Boat: Lovely and very hard working crew. Food was not great in our opinion, but plentiful. But, that is a subject everyone has their own opinion on. However, big warning: we where on deck 3 directly under the walking/jogging track and to say when people used that was noisy and disruptive is an understatement. Our entire ceiling shook over and over again in the afternoons as some teenage girls ran around on it. From 10pm until 8am they ask people to stay off the upper deck because of this problem. However, it is impossible to have peace in the afternoons in a room under the track.

Disembarkation: Easy and luggage was picked up in the morning of the last day based on departure time. Everyone had color coded luggage tags for where their luggage was to go.

Let me know of any questions.
 
Thank you for the review! Would you know from talking with other guests, how they got to their hotel from the airport if they did not use the ABD transfer? And does the ship dock in the same place. We were provided a number to contact on the day of embarkation of where the ship would be moored. We will be staying at the Hotel Spalentor and embarking on the 15th of July. Thanks in advance.
 
I am not sure if the ship docks at different places, but my impression is that it is at the same place. The other guests used either a taxi or the public transportation (which if staying at a Basel hotel is free.) I believe it is a 10 minute walk from the public transit drop which may be hard with luggage. Alternatively, you can drop off luggage with Disney or catch the bus to the ship at the Radisson even if not staying there. You need to get your luggage to the guides starting at 9am and 15 minutes before the noon or 2pm departures if you wish to use their system.
 
I am not sure if the ship docks at different places, but my impression is that it is at the same place. The other guests used either a taxi or the public transportation (which if staying at a Basel hotel is free.) I believe it is a 10 minute walk from the public transit drop which may be hard with luggage. Alternatively, you can drop off luggage with Disney or catch the bus to the ship at the Radisson even if not staying there. You need to get your luggage to the guides starting at 9am and 15 minutes before the noon or 2pm departures if you wish to use their system.

You mean we can use their system even if are not staying at the Blu? What do you mean guests can use the TAXI for free? I had the impression that the public transportation like the bus or train was free if staying at a Basel-basel hotel.
 


You can use public transport for free not taxis. Sorry for any confusion. And yes, if you bring your bags to the Radisson you can use Disney's luggage transfer, and you can use their bus transfers if you come to the Radisson at least 15 minutes before they are leaving. You don't have to stay there, just be there with your luggage or yourself at the correct times to get the transfers.
 
See my later post, as these things have been reinstated.

I just noticed that zip lining and horseback riding are no longer on the itinerary. Neither is the canoe experience. I hope that perhaps other activities will be added in after they work some more things out.
 
Last edited:
Where did you see that? Disney sent us an updated itinerary for the July 1rst a week before we left, which came after an itinerary sent a few weeks earlier. I can see why horseback riding did not work, and zip line was very late. The canoes seemed to be liked by those who did it, but there must have been some issue if they changed it. However, Disney needs to stop this learning as you go process. These issues need to be worked out before people are being sold and charged for excursions they can't pull off.
 
Last edited:


When I read about your description of the horseback riding I decided to try to pick a different activity for that day, so I went to the Adventures by Disney website. When I started reading through the posted itinerary last night, I noticed some discrepancies from what was there previously.

Where did you see that? Disney sent us an updated itinerary for the July 1rst a week before we left, which came after an itinerary sent a few weeks earlier. I can see why horseback riding did not work, and zip line was very late. The canoes seemed to be liked by those who did it, but there must have been some issue if they changed it. However, Disney needs to stop this learning as you go process. These issues need to be worked out before people are being sold and charged for excursions they can't pull off.
 
They have changed the itinerary multiple times. I think they are trying to get things smoothed out, but it is frustrating because I know people will often choose certain adventures or tour companies based on what the activities are offered.
 
Wow. I have a deposit on a Rhine cruise for next summer, and I booked it based on the excursions. I am having second thoughts now, because I have a 15 year old son and 13 year old daughter who were sold on this trip based on the excursions (zip-lining, canoes etc.). I am now looking at other options, including non-Disney Med cruises. Extremely disappointing Disney!
 
When I read about your description of the horseback riding I decided to try to pick a different activity for that day, so I went to the Adventures by Disney website. When I started reading through the posted itinerary last night, I noticed some discrepancies from what was there previously.
We were also on the July 1st sailing. I just looked at the itinerary posted online and it does seem to still match the excursions we had, including the ziplining (which we did and was amazing). It did change a couple of weeks before our cruise, to include the Beauty and the Beast activities which don't start until 2018.
 
Well you are right! They are all back to normal . I wonder if there was a transition between the old itinerary and the new when those things were missing? Whatever the case , I am very relieved ! And sorry to anyone I unnecessarily concerned. I still notice one change which seems to be for the better, on the Amsterdam day they now have the Van Gogh museum and painting class in the morning and in the afternoon.
 
Last edited:
thank you so much for the candid review. I have been torn over this vs. a trip to Hawaii. I was teetering towards Hawaii, now I have been pushed :) THanks again. Looks like a gorgeous trip!
 
Why did anyone care about him announcing he was gonna be a dad?

Ok I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by that.
Not that I in any way agree with this, but I believe the concern was that his *girlfriend*, not his *wife*, was pregnant, ie, the product of pre-marital relations... And they didn't want to have to have that discussion with their kids...

Sayhello
 
Last edited:
Which excursions do you recommend?

We absolutely loved the canoeing. We got to canoe through a "lock" - it was super cool. Beautiful scenery. We also loved baking Macaroons. Heidelberg Castle tour was great - costumed guides that were very funny and knowledgeable. My whole family read The Diary of Anne Frank before the trip and the visit to the Anne Frank house was emotional and will probably be what we remember most. The night of Spaghetti Ice Cream (not an excursion) was a favorite and the afternoon cruising through the Castles on our way from Rudesheim to Amsterdam was magical. The music box museum in Rudesheim was surprisingly fun and quite honestly the gondola ride in Rudesheim was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. That was the afternoon they gave us tickets for the gondola and a coupon for a free Rudesheim coffee (STRONG brandy!) so that we could have both experiences on our own. Pretty much a near perfect day. ;)
 
Thankyou for your honest review!!

We will do an ABD for my DD graduation HS 2020. I want Italy Switzerland, she wants river cruise. I know backwards lol!!

So I am nervous about a river cruise in general and only considered Disney for that because of age of passengers on normal river cruise and having my DD with us. I think she will be bored but maybe not.

Question have you been on any other river cruises and can you compare?
How was nightly entertainment?
Is there a 24 snack beverage station?

Lastly I wonder why can't Disney have passengers decide on there excursions before boarding. Anyone on the ABD river cruise is an avid Disney planner LOL.... I plan most excursions on my regular cruises before
Thanks
Kerri
 
To be honest I thought the nighttime entertainment was only fair on the Danube River cruise. We were so exhausted at the end of the day we didn't really feel like watching it anyway. Before I went I was really concerned about the late night food ( as in what would I do if I got hungry). At 10 PM they would put out snacks such as sausages and dessert options such as brownies. I ended up never touching it because I stuffed my face so much at dinner the food was so good.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top