The River boat/ship

I never did figure out if it was more correct to say boat or ship on our river cruise down the Danube River or in Europe they say River Danube. We boarded the M.S. Swiss Sapphire in Passau, Germany on the fourth day.

A brief description of the ship is that it is long and narrow with one corridor and cabins on each side of it, each cabin has sliding glass doors looking out to the river. There were four decks, a lower deck for the crew mainly, two decks for passengers and an upper deck with deck chairs and loungers in the open air. The captain said even if the ship sank you could probably stand on the top deck and be dry as the river is not that deep.

There was a casual dining area and drink bar at the rear of the ship where I would go sometimes for a cup of tea and to use the Ipad because the wifi connection seemed better there.  In the bow area there was casual outdoor seating and a bar inside and a large lounge area for gatherings where they had some evening entertainment on certain nights. Below the lounge was a large dining room with large windows to enjoy the passing scenery.  It was very elegant with white table cloths and five course meals with full service.

The whole ship was quite elegant with marble floors, polished brass railings, chandeliers and glossy wood paneling. Fresh flowers were on the tables and in the lobby, we got chocolates on our beds every night.

At some ports there would be several ships all side by side so to go on shore we had to walk through the lobbies of the other ships. All the river boats are similar but have different décor and some are definitively fancier than others. The ships seem to be operated by different nationalities and cater to those groups. Tauck seems to cater to English speaking tourists, American, Canadian and Australian.

Besides the pristine countryside views of fortress “castle” ruins, little villages, and vineyards, one of the interesting aspects of the cruise was going through the locks. I think there were sixteen of them some that we went through in the middle of the night. One lock dropped us 65 feet. It seemed like each lock took about half an hour or so to pass through.

The motion on the ship when it is moving is smooth except when pulling close to a port or a lock wall there might be some bumps and squeaks. The engine noises vary according to the speed of the ship and whether they are using the engines to slow the ship down. It wasn’t bad and we slept very well.

We passed through five countries on our trip and the crew always put up a flag for the country we were in. The bridge of the ship was on hydraulic lifts so it could be lowered to go under a low bridge and passengers had to stay off the upper deck.

Just one week after our cruise central Europe had heavy rains and devastating flooding in the regions where we had been. The river cruises all had to be cancelled! The water rose to levels exceeding the high water mark from 1954 the worst flooding in the modern era. I am glad that our cruise wasn’t ruined but feel bad for all those places where people lost their lives and the cleanup will take a long time. We saw everything looking almost perfect.