Everything is shipshape

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And now a few words about our shipboard experience:

I realized this was our first River cruise on a longboat (or any boat for that matter) BUT Wow!!! The ship and crew were amazing as was the ship and accommodations. The room though small was perfect. The bathroom had heated floors and absolutely everything in the room was soft close. You couldn't slam the toilet seat down if you wanted to, or the doors or drawers. The ship was clean, clea, clean from top to bottom. The room steward freshened our room almost everytime we left it.

The tours were run with the precision of a German cuckoo clock. On the evening before a tour everyone would meet at the bar and the Activities Director Lee would go over the plan for the next day. The next morning before going into breakfast we'd stop at the front desk, give them our room number and they would give us a card with our tour group number and our boarding passes for returning to the ship. The boarding passes were a kind of head check to see if anyone was missing. Then at the appointed time he would call out on the ships intercom system to grab your quiet boxes and head to your assigned buses. Once outside the guides would be standing in front of the buses ready to sequence your quiet box and off you went. Every tour was so well planned and executed There was no thinking required.

The staff, soooo friendly especially our waiters they were efficient and numerous. The dining room had open seating every night but once we met Aleksandar and Polina we were always sure to be in the theit section. Alex was a clown and always joking sometimes Polina was the recipient of his jibes. She called Alex her future ex-husband. Sometimes Alex would take my order and sometimes he would just bring me something. He knew quickly I was a meat and potatoes kind of gal. On the last night after I ate dessert he walked by a dropped on another one and disappearing. As soon as I got the first spoonful near my mouth he comes back and says "Oh I dropped that off by mistake. Every meal was fun and delicious, I'll miss Alex and Polina......

We met a lot of people and had a lot of laughs. Probably the ones I'll remember most are Mark and Shelly, Peggy and Charlene and Roxanne and David (from San Diego). It was surprising how many passengers were from California. Pictured here is Alex and Polina clowning around and also Mark and Shelly. Shelly and Mark were great photographers and share some of their pictures with us. Shelly was also a meat and potatoes kind of gal and early in the trip the watier gave her her own bottle of A-1. She shared it with me on the last night......Thanks Shelly!

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Photos

Crew
In the background are the cruise officers