Christmas on steroi_s 🧑‍🎄🎅🎄🦌🛷

[VPS]

Some other good news is the Panto you are going to in London is getting great reviews

 

[Pushka]

They always say the true strength of a company is how the deal with situations that aren’t the norm and it looks like Viking are very poor
Keep being positive and enjoy the holiday Pushka. Markets look fantastic!

Oh my gosh, so absolutely this. Service recovery. We are trying to make lemonade out of lemons. That's what the Americans are saying. During the day everyone does their special thing and enjoys. At dinner time where like minded people seem to gather together - fan bois and then, well, the rest, it's been interesting. While people don't voice their concerns during the CD speech, it's after the alcohol that people vent their spleen.

We had a shocker of a pre dinner talk by the Ship Hotel maintenance. He went on for about 30 minutes. The CD looked like he was sucking the lemons. His well crafted positive intro to him went to custard. He banged on about how Viking looked after all the crew for the entire pandemic. How lucky we were all to be cruising. Well, yes, but he gets paid. We pay them. The crew started handing around the second glass of champers - yes they found some - because everyone had drunk theirs waiting. Then they handed round some schnapps as that we supposed to signal his final to the speech. he didn't get the message.

Anyways we are up early to head off to Colmar and Riquehar. Our trip for this has been cut short because we might be sailing at 4.30pm. Otherwise we are on a road trip of three hours first thing to get to Lucerne by 9 am. People have early morning flights to catch from Basel. That's two hours away. Add in the international flight timings and do the maths. Watch this space if we don't sail tonight. (This announcement took us all by surprise)

Yesterday arvo we did the Mercedes Benz Factory tour. I'll report back later. But it was so good we bought a red and blue Series 3?, our grandkids.

 

[latawiec]

Oh my gosh, so absolutely this. Service recovery. We are trying to make lemonade out of lemons. That's what the Americans are saying. During the day everyone does their special thing and enjoys. At dinner time where like minded people seem to gather together - fan bois and then, well, the rest, it's been interesting. While people don't voice their concerns during the CD speech, it's after the alcohol that people vent their spleen.

We had a shocker of a pre dinner talk by the Ship Hotel maintenance. He went on for about 30 minutes. The CD looked like he was sucking the lemons. His well crafted positive intro to him went to custard. He banged on about how Viking looked after all the crew for the entire pandemic. How lucky we were all to be cruising. Well, yes, but he gets paid. We pay them. The crew started handing around the second glass of champers - yes they found some - because everyone had drunk theirs waiting. Then they handed round some schnapps as that we supposed to signal his final to the speech. he didn't get the message.

Anyways we are up early to head off to Colmar and Riquehar. Our trip for this has been cut short because we might be sailing at 4.30pm. Otherwise we are on a road trip of three hours first thing to get to Lucerne by 9 am. People have early morning flights to catch from Basel. That's two hours away. Add in the international flight timings and do the maths. Watch this space if we don't sail tonight. (This announcement took us all by surprise)

Yesterday arvo we did the Mercedes Benz Factory tour. I'll report back later. But it was so good we bought a red and blue Series 3?, our grandkids.

And I see in today's Financial Review that the Viking River Cruises are already selling the "Christmas on the Rhine" for 2025 season!

However, I am not sure if you are fully satisfied with your cruise and the Viking's handling of abnormal weather conditions. High or low rivers water events occur and they should have ready prepared smooth plan "B".

Viking at one time was providing excellent customer service but it seems that recently their reputation is deteriorating with only 1.7 rating reviews on the TrustPilot:

Viking Cruises is rated "Bad" with 1.6 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Viking Cruises's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 136 customers have already said.

www.trustpilot.com

 

[Pushka]

And I see in today's Financial Review that the Viking River Cruises are already selling the "Christmas on the Rhine" for 2025 season!

However, I am not sure if you are fully satisfied with your cruise and the Viking's handling of abnormal weather conditions. High or low rivers water events occur and they should have ready prepared smooth plan "B".

Viking at one time was providing excellent customer service but it seems that recently their reputation is deteriorating with only 1.7 rating reviews on the TrustPilot:

Viking Cruises is rated "Bad" with 1.6 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Viking Cruises's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 136 customers have already said.

www.trustpilot.com

I don't think they can genuinely read the room anymore.

But, we are moving at last. Of course it's only 4.30pm which meant our excursion to Colmar (that part was mostly left untouched) but Riquehar was a waste of time. God it was so crowded. We had an hour. The toilet on the Viking Branded ship didn't work and the queue for the loo around 20 minutes. . We will be in Breisach tomorrow and from there they have to get people to Basel for planes and extensions and Lucerne for us for their extension.

A lady I was talking to on our tour said she'd paid 750 Swiss Francs ( that's around $1200 AUD) for a transport from Basel to Wengen in the Alps. That company will not collect her from Breisach without another 500 Swiss Francs. People are just now being told they will need to be collected at 3am tomorrow morning to take their flights back to USA.

It won't be too bad for us. Just a longer trip back to Lucerne.

I'll update blog when I get a bit more time. We have to have another port talk, dinner, then pack and luggage out.

But Colmar was spectacular.

 

[love_the_life]

We loved Colmar and I can imagine they had super decorations for Christmas. I think we bought a large bag of chocolates there from memory.

 

[Pushka]

Colmar. Wonderful as expected. Christmas on steroi_s. . It was quite a longer drive and even our guide was a bit grumpy about that. We arrived at 9am and markets didn’t open until 10 so we walked down to little Venice, learning about the checkered history. It’s currently in France. That changes.

But wait. I’ve forgotten the Mercedes Benz trip. It was surprisingly excellent. We were not allowed to take anything into the factory at all. It went into lockers. The robotics were fabulous to watch. 1000 cars a day. Each one is individually specc’ed by the purchaser and each has a QR code. They dunk the cars down into the paint area. Fascinating to see. It takes 24 hours for each car to be made.

Inside the visitors centre.























We decided to buy a rather cute toy Mercedes for eachj of the kids and they gift wrapped them. But now I don’t know which is red or blue. Lottery.

 

[Pushka]

And now I’ve run out of time for Colmar as we depart the boat.

 

[Pushka]

Bargain. There’s wifi on the bus. It’s 7.45 am and pitch black outside. A 2-3 hours trip to Lucerne.

So. Colmar. We walked through the streets and talked about the age of the buildings and how they were marked and disassembled to be rebuilt elsewhere.








Each sign tells a story.

Villeroy going all out again.







This was the sign for us to look for to get back to the meeting place.




The guide, a retired teacher from the UK but now living in Breisach, was one of the best. This tour included a three course lunch. We had already decided to skip it. Who wants a heavy meal taking 90 minutes when you are in Colmar for just a few hours? She said at the start, ‘it’s your holiday and do what you want to do. I’ll start with you to explain the layout and I’ll keep walking and talking and you can drop off whenever you want. Don’t have lunch if you don’t want to but let me know for catering. ‘. Of the 20, 14 had the lunch. It would have given them just over an hour in the markets. I don’t understand.

 

[Pushka]

Some of the places are permanently decorated for the tourists.

Vendors were constantly handing out samples. Freshly baked gingerbread. Nougat. Biscuits. The smells were divine.








The oldest house in Colmar.

This is in the square of the deigner of the Statue of Liberty. He lived in Colmar for just a couple of years but loved it. He left 6 I think, statues there.

 

[Pushka]

There was a huge queue for the canal boat tour. . The river canal was so high so people had to duck.



Ski tree anyone?

Apparently this is the most photographed spot in Colmar? Maybe in summer.









the Ferris wheel is installed for Christmas. It wasn’t running when we were there and nor were the food courts. Too early.

 

[Pushka]

One of the statues.


Yum. Crepes avec beurre et sucre. So pleased to be using French.



This was all we needed for lunch.



We were using a tiny shared high tiny then another guy plonked this down. I thanked him for sharing. He looked shocked.





This was the hotel they had lunch in. Apparently it was packed and the owner locked the door. One of the 6 of us asked to use the bathroom. He said No. yet we’d all paid for the lunch and he didn’t have to provide the food so he’s a bit nasty. The guide wasn’t impressed as he ran very late with the meal which because the boat wanted to leave at 4.30 pm meant much less time in Riquehar.








It was because we were hanging about here for a while, waiting, I got my backpack searched by security. I’d been profiled.

 

[Pushka]

So we had to dash to Riqehar about 30 minutes away. The place is a classic village surrounded by vines. It would look absolutely glorious. Today I cannot believe how many cars and people there were. We had just over an hour here instead of three. Because of the longer drive, the late lunch, and the changed ship schedule.

There is a Christmas designed called Kathie Wolfhart. Expensive but beautiful. The entrance to that shop had a queue that went around the block. Several disappointed women on the bus. We didn’t have a chance to get in.

We didn’t see all that many handcraft stalks. It was mainly food and wine.

 

[Pushka]

The top of the main street.


The only thing we managed to buy. Coconut macaroons. Warn. And splendid.







These were beautiful.



Anyone know what these are?

 

[Pushka]

Much preferred Colmar but Riquehar would blow it away in Summer.

Last night around 10pm we were packing and heard a weird sound. We opened the drapes and realised we were going through a lock. We’ve been through several but always in the middle of the night.




Touching it.

 

[Pushka]

And we are now in Switzerland. Clear skies. Up to Mt Titlus this arvo.

 

[VPS]

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The top of the main street.
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The only thing we managed to buy. Coconut macaroons. Warn. And splendid.

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These were beautiful.

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Anyone know what these are?

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I think the coloured things with the zips turn into a purse of some kind

I wanted one of the Santa in a phone booth but it was 25 pounds in UK and I refused to pay that and now I regret it

Thanks for bringing back great memories of Colmar - Riquwehr was almost empty when I was there. Enjoy

 

[ellen10]

Ah bringing back memories of Alsace.

On our first visit we stayed in Riquewihr in a small gate in the walls. It was September and grape harvest time.
I bought some things from the Christmas shop there and didn't have to line up. I still use them at Christmastime.

If you get a chance, plan a return to Alsace, all the little villages are stunning. I have now been 3 times and would go back again.

 

[Pushka]

Just a taster. Mt Titlus.

 

[Pushka]

We left the boat at 7.30am and onto a nice bus for the 2 hour drive to Lucerne. It was pitch black but very fast internet. . Was able to be up to date with the report.

Weather is chilly but no rain. Overcast. Our luggage went to the hotel where we dropped off hand luggage and as no check in until 2 pm then it was off for a familiarisation walk which was helpful. We've been given free passes on buses for the duration. The hotel is spectacular. It's on the lake.




Its lobby toilets are Throne Rooms.

And this greets you on the way out of the loo.


We received these nice cakes on arrival

And these Swiss chocolates on turn down.


The ancient lift even has a seat.

 

[Pushka]

Some sights on the walk. It took about two hours.






These taps provide potable water.






When the Viking hosts found out we were Australian, the first thing they mentioned was the rate of exchange. Its horrific.