Best Of
Re: New River Cruise Ships coming
I thought I could find more about about the new boats on the Scylla website but couldn't find anything. The Tauck site has the most info including the cabin categories and layouts at least for the as yet, un-named(?) new Seine and new Rhône boats (could actually be named "New Seine" and "New Rhône) which should be ready sometime in 2026: https://www.tauck.com/ships/ms-new-seine? Among the differences Claudia mentioned, they don't have any loft cabins and I didn't see any mention of "Arthurs"
Elsewhere I found these statements,
"Scylla plans to launch a total of 12 new riverboats by the end of 2028."
"We have big growth plans for river cruises and are very proud to be launching a total of 12 newbuild ships by the end of 2028. PORTO MIRANTE, Scylla’s brand-new ship for the Douro River, is the first of these newbuilds – and will be followed by VIVA ENJOY in November. This development underlines our positive direction and our commitment to river cruising”, says Scylla CEO, Arno Reitsma."
(Note the VIVA boats are operated by Scylla under their own VIVA Travel brand.)
Scylla also continues to refurbish and modernize their fleet.
"MS Swiss Pearl: A 135-meter long ship that was refurbished in 2023/2024 and has space for 133 guests"
"MS Swiss Splendor: A 135-meter long ship that was built in 2013 and will be renovated in 2024"
p.s. the Scylla website has a short video that shows what is done during a total refurb- everything is ripped out and they start building the interior from scratch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI0TVDFdtAgRe: New River Cruise Ships coming
I made a reservation yesterday for the Seine Xmas markets Dec. 2026. The cat 1 cabins have been redesigned and are listed at 180 sq. ft.
Re: Roll Call - Trip Dates 10-16-24 to 11-02-24
I’m always surprised when people say they got lots of vaccinations for Africa because so many of them are vaccinations people should have had many years before for preventative health reasons. I meet so many people way over 50 who haven’t had a shingles vaccine for instance. People, see your doctor and see what vaccines you should have now, whether you are a traveler or not. If you are someone who does not believe in vaccines, that’s fine, but if you are someone who did not know about what vaccines you could have had, then go to your doctor and discuss
Re: Savoring France: Paris, Lyon, & Provence Sep. 21, 2024
It is amazing how many things you did on this cruise that we did on the French Escapade cruise!
Re: Savoring France: Paris, Lyon, & Provence Sep. 21, 2024
We made ‘cookies’ at Le Cordon Bleu. I did my part beating the egg whites, and doing the pouring, but I’m not much of a bakery chef. When we were leaving a chef student had noticed the wings on the ‘tailhook’ shirt I was wearing and asked if I was a Naval Aviator. I was a bit surprised and even more surprised when she said she had been a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter pilot. But, what she really wanted to be was a chef. So there she was at Le Cordon Bleu studying cooking. My wife did the Les Halles tour, but I was having trouble with one of my knees so I went into the hot tub. The ‘cookies’ were chocolate which I should not eat, so we gave them to the bartender to share with the crew. They were gone in a very few minutes.
Re: New River Cruise Ships coming
Thanks for the update. Nothing wrong with being a nerd
New River Cruise Ships coming
I was checking the Tauck website today for the new Seine holiday cruise and whether the 2026 dates were available yet. In the process I discovered they are having 2 new ships built for the Seine and the Rhone for 2026. The data on the website is a bit garbled but it looks like both will only have 5 cabin categories - mostly 300 sqft suites on the Diamond deck plus a couple of 225 sqfts, all 225 sqft cabins on the Ruby deck and mostly 150 sqft cabins on the Emerald.
As I said, the info on the website is a bit confused so I sense the final design hasn't been locked down yet. Interesting that they look to be getting rid of the triangular cabins at the front of each deck. It kind of feels like the way they went with the Douro's Andorinha's cabins. As a bit of a nerd wrt river cruises, I'm looking forward to seeing how these ships are going to be designed.
Re: Savoring France: Paris, Lyon, & Provence Sep. 21, 2024
On my recent Croatia land trip, we visited a truffle farm - met the dogs and had a wonderful 4 course truffle lunch…the final course was vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of truffle infused honey. Memorable!!
Re: Savoring France: Paris, Lyon, & Provence Sep. 21, 2024
Don’t worry British. People around me are more likely to sense Tommy Bahama St. Barts. Dogs have a sense of smell five thousand times as sensitive as a human. If they can’t smell it it doesn’t exist. Our dog becomes alert when she hears my wife’s car, but she doesn’t get excited until she picks up her scent from about forty feet away when she gets out of the car. The dog can also find the car in a parking lot by smell.
Two labs searching for truffles:
Re: Recommendations for left bank hotel in Paris
Thanks all. Great suggestions. The 4 of us will make a decision shortly as to which one we’ll book.