The Cruise Report With Cruise Specialists Cruise Reporter Ralph Grizzle

Rudesheim, Germany (October 14, 2006) – We are walking along Drosselgasse, the lively narrow pedestrian street in the best known wine village along the Rhine River. Saturday night, and the street is festive, with people dancing to oompah bands in beer gardens and wine cellars on either side. At one open-air beer garden, waitresses carry glasses of beer with froth sloshing. At a wine cellar nearby, patrons sip the Rheingau’s famous Rieslings, sparkling Sekts or locally distributed brandies.  Read more... (678 words, 3 images, estimated 2:43 mins reading time)

En Route To Prague, The Czech Republic (December 31, 2006) – Recapping events of our seven-day cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg, Cordula Deeken, hotel manager on Amadeus Waterways’ Amadagio, proudly proclaimed that we were close to breaking an all-time record: 279 bottles of wine consumed, only 23 bottles shy of a record set last summer. The audience applauded during the cocktail reception on the final night of our cruise. We were sure to surpass the standing record, because dinner and a New Year’s Eve ‘practice’ party still were ahead of us, and on Amadagio corks go popping with great frequency thanks to the ship’s policy of ‘wine and beer included’ with dinner.  Read more... (734 words, 2 images, estimated 2:56 mins reading time)

“Attention ladies and gentlemen. We are approaching a very low bridge, and we kindly ask that you vacate the Sun Deck until we have passed.”

Welcome to river cruising in Europe, where the experience is unlike any other you’ve ever encountered. Floating down the Moselle River toward Germany’s border with Luxembourg and France, Peter Deilmann River Cruises’ Heidelberg is passing under a bridge — a low bridge. The crew moves to remove not only all tables and deck chairs from the Sun Deck but also the side railings, and even the captain’s pilot house must be lowered so that it is flush with the upper deck.

With the bridge only 100 yards away, I squeeze my head through a canopy draped over the stairwell to the Sun Deck, completely flush except for the captain’s bald crown poking above the deck from the pilot house.

We make it under with only two inches to spare. “The captain has been with us a very long time,” jokes Wilhelm Bahrs, Heidelberg’s affable hotel manager. When I fail to get the joke, he rubs his head to indicate that the low bridges have scraped the captain’s noggin bare.   Read more... (732 words, 1 image, estimated 2:56 mins reading time)