Rhine Cruise 2020 - Best Time to Embark?

[DisneyWishes14]

Hi everyone! I'm putting the final touches on our pre- and post-ABD Rhine Cruise travels and I'm wondering when is the best time to embark on the ship on our first day? I have read that we sign up for excursions that first day on the ship and I want to make sure we do that as soon as possible to, hopefully, get our first choice of excursions. We will either be driving or taking the train from Lucerne that morning. Is noon at good time? Or is that too early? Thanks for any advice you can give!

 

[Happy99]

I was just coming here to ask the same question. I know rooms will not be available until the afternoon but how early can you board and is there a light lunch offered or should we have lunch before going onboard?

DisneyWishes14 - my TA said for the Rhine you usually get to pre-choose your itineraries before getting onboard based on whether you have travelled with ABD before. Not sure how far in advance that opens, we are not going until September so we have a bit of time still.

 

[OhanaCuz]

I was just coming here to ask the same question. I know rooms will not be available until the afternoon but how early can you board and is there a light lunch offered or should we have lunch before going onboard?

They had snacks and sandwiches out in the lounge on boarding day.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I was just coming here to ask the same question. I know rooms will not be available until the afternoon but how early can you board and is there a light lunch offered or should we have lunch before going onboard?

DisneyWishes14 - my TA said for the Rhine you usually get to pre-choose your itineraries before getting onboard based on whether you have travelled with ABD before. Not sure how far in advance that opens, we are not going until September so we have a bit of time still.

Oh, wow! That would be great! I will give ABD a call and ask if we can pre-choose the excursions. I'll also ask how early we can board. I was thinking maybe we could drop off our luggage and then explore Basel a little bit as it will be our only day there. If I get any info, I'll post!

 

[sayhello]

Oh, wow! That would be great! I will give ABD a call and ask if we can pre-choose the excursions. I'll also ask how early we can board. I was thinking maybe we could drop off our luggage and then explore Basel a little bit as it will be our only day there. If I get any info, I'll post!

To my knowledge, the Danube is the only river cruise where you don't book excursions until the day you board. That is because none of the Danube excursions have a limit on the number of people that can sign up. They just break people up into groups of no more than 40 people.

Sayhello

 

[Happy99]

They had snacks and sandwiches out in the lounge on boarding day.

Thank you

 

[DisneyWishes14]

To my knowledge, the Danube is the only river cruise where you don't book excursions until the day you board. That is because none of the Danube excursions have a limit on the number of people that can sign up. They just break people up into groups of no more than 40 people.

Sayhello

This is so good to know! Thank you!

 

[DisneyDarling216]

I know for our Danube River Cruise in 2019 people arrived in Budapest that day, and while their rooms weren't ready, they were able to get directly on the ship. Because it was in June many of them said they just took naps on the sun deck, or in the lounge. We did a pre-night through ABD and didn't get transferred to the ship until mid-afternoon. If that information gives you any ideas!

 

[OhanaCuz]

I know for our Danube River Cruise in 2019 people arrived in Budapest that day, and while their rooms weren't ready, they were able to get directly on the ship.

For the Rhine our rooms weren't ready. They took our bags and after we had some food in the lounge we hopped into an Uber and entertained ourselves for a few hours until they were ready.

 

[quinnc19]

We left our bags around noon and went to the Vitra design museum, which I loved. It's on the other side of the Rhine in Germany.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

This is great info - thanks so much everyone! We will be in Lucerne and check-out there is 11 am, so we'll head up to the ship in Basel at that point and will probably arrive around 12:30/1:00 pm. Good to hear we can drop off our luggage and either relax on the ship or explore the area a little bit. Is there anything within walking distance of the boat? Or will we need a taxi/uber?

 

[kaseyC]

Great question, I was wondering the same. We are spending our time pre-cruise in Zurich and taking the train to Basel the morning of the cruise. Hoping we could drop off bags and head back out and explore Basel.

 

[lpm23]

You definitely pre select your activities. I think it was about 60 days in advance.
You can walk to pretty much everything from where boat is docked. It’s a cute area to walk around. I think we could get in our rooms around 3 pm.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You definitely pre select your activities. I think it was about 60 days in advance.
You can walk to pretty much everything from where boat is docked. It’s a cute area to walk around. I think we could get in our rooms around 3 pm.

That's awesome! Thank you so much!