From the lights of Paris to the delights of Prague and every treasure in-between. Another journey with our Viking guests
I have to say that next to the Grand European itinerary, the Cities of Light cruise is fast becoming my favorite. Viking guests arrive for this, my fifth cruise of the season and they start at the magnificent 5 star Collectionneur hotel.
The hotel staff do their best to have the rooms ready. Guests start to arrive, bleary eyed and jaded from transatlantic flights and the connections some may have had to ensure.
All they can think about is a shower and sleep. Of course, like anywhere in the world, if you arrive early to a hotel you can expect a long wait. Check in time is normally 3pm in Europe. Some hotels might advertise 2pm. If you get a room before that, you can count your lucky stars.
The Viking guests start to arrive
Along with Mike, our city host in Paris, we greet all the guests and suggest that they leave their luggage and head out and explore Paris. The Collectionaire hotel is well situated, about 10 mins from the Champs Elysees and is truly a spectacular location.
While it does not have the Hotel Pullmans’ Eiffel Tower next door view, it provides a more central location to some great landmarks.
The Metro is close by, a string of bistros and boulangerie await and the Parisian world is right outside the hotel lobby. However, all the ‘spin’ in the world, fails to convince the jet lagged faces that exploration rather than deprived sleep is a better idea.
Our suggestions are greeted with a few snarls or contempt. However others seem excited at the prospect and quickly grab maps and go.
The grumpier ones sit in the lobby sofas and glare at the reception desk or in my and Mikes direction at the hospitality desk. I totally get it. I know too well how it feels after a long flight. I do it often from South Africa to Europe on my breaks.
Perhaps I have more empathy, however, it is never a great way to start your vacation by being in a mood about something that is standard worldwide. The hotel can only prepare rooms when the previous guests vacate. Most are slow and usually have to be nagged out of their rooms at checkout time.
Getting the guests settled – a real challenge
Of course, Mike and me do our best to accommodate. I identify the Viking guests who really are struggling – some who are challenged physically and truly look like they are about to feint. I begin to gently do my own nagging at the reception desk.
The first couple of rooms come up and I can at least wipe the despondent and frustrated expressions from faces that suddenly beam with gratitude as I hand them their keys. To get a room at 10am is highly unusual, however, the hotel staff work their socks off to make it happen.
As the arrival day concludes, there are just a few guests who have not arrived yet. I finish off the preparation for the next day and make sure that all arrived guests have their rooms. Many start to surface from naps and the faces start to grow familiar (and friendlier) as they stop by the hospitality desk and ask for dinner recommendations.
The next day is full of activity. We start with a panoramic tour of Paris. In the afternoon guests who signed up for the optional excursions head out for Versailles or Montmatre. Some had opted for the full day Giverney trip, visiting a host of landmarks and enjoying Monet’s gardens.
Time to explore Paris by night…
Fellow PD Wolfgang (L) and me at the cabaret with the MC
Night time and the Paris by night tour and the Paradis Latin cabaret night are on the program for those who signed up for these optionals. I decided to accompany the guests to the Paradis Latin cabaret venue for dinner and show.
Wolfgang, a PD colleague of mine from the Viking Kvasir (and fellow South African) came with. It was a great night out with a terrific show. I highly recommend this.
It is the oldest cabaret venue in Paris and, while it is not the iconic Moulin Rouge or raunchy Crazy Horse, it offers something for everyone.
Having seen literally hundreds of productions on land and sea, I have to say that the show rates up there as a great nights entertainment.
Day 3, Friday Reims and the Luxembourg War Cemetery
It was time to leave Paris for Trier. The Viking guests were all on time and the departure was relatively problem free.
Viking are trying out a new destination on this run. Instead of going to Luxembourg, we stop off at Reims. Just a test run but, in my honest opinion, I loved it.
This was my first visit to the city and what an incredible surprise! The cathedral Notre Dame is magnificent.
The town is chilled, with little in the way of crowds and bustle. It is champagne territory and so, this is the town of the bubbly!
Reims is an historic city that offers much more than you would think. Few talk about it and yet, it has a tourist rating of five stars (in my opinion) purely from the cathedral, history, eating, architecture and shopping point of view.
It also breaks up the journey to Trier very nicely.
Reims was founded circa 80 BC known originally to be inhabited by the Remi tribe, who were a Belgic people of north-eastern Gaul (Gallia Belgica). Interestingly, a side note, the city must have been filled with large people as obesity in the tribe was a great honor.
Apparently there was an abundance of food on the Champagne plains and this gave opportunity for many a tribal feast.
Roman times
Once Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, historians guessing at 51 BC, the Remi became strong allies to the Romans and garnered a preferential favor from the imperial powers in Rome.
The city blossomed into a powerful force with a population some scholars put at up to 100 000. Sizeable and wealthy, this made for an important Roman outpost.
I certainly hope we put this stop permanently on the program as it truly does offer something really special within the day.
Next stop – the American Cemetery and Memorial in Luxembourg
5100 American service men and women are buried here at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, including the famous General George S. Patton. Many died in the Battle of the Bulge and many others in the battle to liberate the small country of Luxembourg.On a personal note..
On with the cruise
The cruise moves on. We got out of Paris just in time. France recorded its hottest day ever the day we left Paris. That, however, did not stop us feeling the unusually high temps for the next few days.
I must admit, I was feeling pretty exhausted from the previous cruise and it was a pretty intense time that we had all had. So, this cruise was relatively challenge free and a welcome respite.
The guests were great and wanted to have a good time. This is when I can really gauge the group dynamics of the cruise – that first gathering in the lounge that evening. Happily, it seems we managed to provide a successful pre-cruise experience. The guests were in good spirits and looking forward to the actual cruise.
Weather-wise, things were getting more comfortable. By the time we reached Zeil am Mein, it was good to have cooler weather and a sailing morning to get there. Those sailing mornings are really special. It gives the guests time to recharge batteries and get ready for the next adventure.
From Zeil we have a short coach ride to Bamberg. One of our buses got caught up in traffic and so we had a bit of a delay. Not bad though, 15 minutes or so. I was not concerned.
We had an entire afternoon and early evening to indulge in the delights of Bamberg, walking tour, shopping and smoked beer. Ah yes, the world famous smoked beer of Bamberg…that’s worth the diversion…
Schlenkerla Brewery and Rauchbier
Rauchbier, a beer where the barley is smoked, is almost exclusive to Bamberg.
The Schlenkerla Brewery make this very unusual and perhaps the most historic beer in the world. The taste is of smoked beer. It is decidedly odd.
I recommend you give it a try. It is available at many of the Bamberg eateries and certainly will have you chatting about what you just sampled.
Heading to the final destination of the cruise for the Viking Idi
Bamberg is the final stop for the Idi. It is here that the ship will dock overnight. Bamberg is problematic in the docking facility, which is not ideal.
I always tell the guests that we will be docking in a rustic area (read rusty) as it is pretty much an old industrial dock.
Unfortunately Bamberg is not on the Main river. It has its own middle ages river of Regnitz. Therefore, docking is not possible for any ship in the town itself.
What happens on this day is that the ship continues on from Zeil to Bamberg and we meet the ship in the early evening. Usually about 6-6:30pm. This is when the timing is crucial.
The Viking guests have had a full 5+ hours of shopping, eating, touring and drinking. They are tired by the time they meet the coaches. This is the tricky part for all PD’s. Getting it right so that the coaches pull up to the ship where it will be docked.
It’s all in the ….timing
The locks and snake-like river of the Main make the timings tight. By 4pm I am already monitoring the progress of the ship and am in communication with the Captain.
I meet the guests at 6pm and then make my final call to the wheelhouse. On a good day, the ship would have arrived and be docked. On a not so good day, the ship could have been held up for an hour in a lock. That would bring a whole new challenge to the PD in Bamberg.
Fortunately, this day, the ship was close. Okay, onto the buses. Let’s go! I also have to be in contact with the guide from another excursion which is our optional Franconian tour that does not go to Bamberg.
Instead, this tour takes guests on a beer sampling excursion to breweries and the Seehof Palace. So, I inform the guide that we are on our way and both they and my coaches head to the spot.
Finding Nemo – aka known as Viking idi
Next trick, finding the ship. I call the wheelhouse again. Where are you? We are coming in, comes the reply. Ok, I don’t see you.
Then across the river, at a different location, I see our floating homes funnel and wheelhouse peeking above some low structures. Coaches turn around and we go back out of the harbor area and across to the other bank.
It takes awhile to get the ship docked. Guests pour out of the coaches and I run ahead to the docking ship, making sure to keep the guests from venturing too close in their eagerness.
The gangway swings in the air from the crane and we all watch and wait as the nautical team get things secure and safe. I turned around at the tribe behind me. It was a great photo op. Phone in hand, I snapped away…
It is time to get the guests to Prague again. I love this day. It starts with Nuremberg with a tour and free time and then guests get their own lunch.
We all meet and then head off to Prague. After a few wayward turns along the way, my remedial German maxed out with the driver who cannot speak English, we find our way to the hotel.
It is time to check guests in. I decide to get myself a dinner bought from the local supermarket and have that welcome hot shower.
7 hours later, and I literally wake up the next morning in the same position I fell asleep in the night before. Tours in the morning and then I am up on the Sunday at 2:30am to get ready for the first of our departing Viking guests heading back home.
Time for a break
Sunday late afternoon and I am on a plane to Rome and then connecting to a flight to South Africa. Time for a short 10 day break before heading back to France to start our next cruise from Paris.
As I complete this entry, it is a lazy Saturday afternoon in Johannesburg. Winter is on this side of the hemisphere. I cannot complain, though. The mornings are cold but the day is blue skied and warm at 19 degrees Celsius.
All good..