foot wear

dan grant

my wife and i are taking the nov 25th northbound christmas market cruise. since we are from florida, we do not have boots of any type. In looking at the weather history, it appears it is more likely to rain than to have snow on the ground. So our question is: do we needs boots at all or just warm walkin shoes? thank you Dan

lovestravel

Who knows? This is from personal experience. We've taken two Christmas Market tours, both of which were wonderful and were in early December. The first one was on the Rhine in 2008. Although we had boots, we never needed them. The second one on the Danube was in early December of 2010. For that one we needed our boots everytime we left the riverboat. My best advice would be to follow the weather forecasts for where you'll be as close to your tour date as you can and make your decision as late as possible. We live in central NC so don't need boots often, but unlike you, we do need them occasionally.

Barbannfritch

Having lived in Europe and also taken past Christmas cruises my advice is warm, waterproof footwear with lots of support. You may do more walking than you think, and walking often involves cobblestones so you do need good footwear.

Travelcrazy

I agree about checking the weather. I did this cruise in 2015 and planned to bring boots but left them home at the last minute after checking the weather up until the day before I left.

It was warm that year and the water levels were lower than usual. I was there in early December and we had a little drizzle a couple of days but that was it. In fact, I brought a coat with a zip-out down liner and took the liner out. A couple from Arizona had bought a lot of warm clothes since they didn"'t need them at home said then they didn't wear them.

I'm doing the Danube Christmas Markets cruise this December and plan to do the same thing...check the weather and then decide.

Choc

I have snow sneakers! They are waterproof and have a thick no slip tread. They are insulated. LL Bean

rosepetal

Travelcrazy, I am also doing the Danube Christmas Market cruise starting December 9th in Nuremberg. I, like you, plan to check the weather before leaving. Living in New Hampshire I have plenty of cold weather clothing. It has been dry and warm these past months in Europe. My biggest worry is the level of the Danube River being too low to sail.

British

I am assuming that Tauck are doing a good job with Plan B when the ships cannot proceed any further down the river and passengers have to transfer to another ship further down the river or visit sites on longer bus rides because I haven’t read any negative reviews on the tour pages. Hope everyone has a great time at the markets. We finally take our first river cruise next summer.

AlanS

Choc wrote:

I have snow sneakers! They are waterproof and have a thick no slip tread. They are insulated. LL Bean

We just signed up for a 2020 Rhine XMAS Mkts cruise for 2020*. The snow sneakers sounded interesting so I checked them out on the LLBean website. All reviewers agreed they looked great, but there were more unhappy (1 & 2 star) purchasers than satisfied ones (4 & 5 star). The biggest issue seemed to be sizing/fit and the small foot opening- so read the reviews before you buy.

* The 2020 Rhine cruise dates were recently posted- over 2 years before the first departure!!!

A few things about the 2020 departures-

First you cannot reach the 2020 Rhine XMAS Mkts tour page on the Tauck website from the River Cruise tab (neither Rhine nor Themed). You must go to the Destinations tab > Europe > Germany > page 2 > Christmas Markets Along the Rhine - Northbound where you will find both north and southbound departures. Or, you can just follow this link http://www.tauck.com/tours/europe-tours/central-and-eastern-europe-tours/christmas-market-tour-rcy-2020 : )

You will also notice, unlike previous years, there is only one boat, the MS Inspire (no MS Grace) and just 3 departures, not 6 (only two northbound and one southbound), currently showing. The Tauck agent I spoke with had no info about this. It could change

For 2019 and 2020 they added a land excursion from Basel (actually it looks like it starts in nearby Kembs) to Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus. The itinerary and pricing are not yet posted.

Also, according to the 2020 southbound tour page map, it looks like if you take the land excursion from Köln to Aachen, you will rejoin the boat further south/up-river in Königswinter, Germany instead of going back to Köln.

Travelcrazy

rosepetal wrote:

Travelcrazy, I am also doing the Danube Christmas Market cruise starting December 9th in Nuremberg. I, like you, plan to check the weather before leaving. Living in New Hampshire I have plenty of cold weather clothing. It has been dry and warm these past months in Europe. My biggest worry is the level of the Danube River being too low to sail.

I'm on the Dec. 16 cruise starting in Nuremberg. Let's cross our fingers that between now and December Europe finally gets some rain.

I live in San Francisco and while I don't have snow clothes, I do have a warm coat, scarves and boots if I need them. I was a little disappointed in no snow on the Rhine Christmas Markets three years ago, but in the end, I had more room to buy and bring home things I didn't need since I didn't pack boots, etc.

I'm really looking forward to comparing this trip to the Rhine cruise. I booked it over a year ago and can't wait.

AlanS

Travelcrazy wrote:

I'm on the Dec. 16 cruise starting in Nuremberg. Let's cross our fingers that between now and December Europe finally gets some rain.

I live in San Francisco and while I don't have snow clothes, I do have a warm coat, scarves and boots if I need them. I was a little disappointed in no snow on the Rhine Christmas Markets three years ago, but in the end, I had more room to buy and bring home things I didn't need since I didn't pack boots, etc.

I'm really looking forward to comparing this trip to the Rhine cruise. I booked it over a year ago and can't wait.

It could be the impact of global warming and become routine for most trips in the future. Of course some climatologists say global warming is causing extremes- making summers hotter and winters colder.