Keith Baker Oct 2007
River Queen Rhine & Moselle
Highlights:
We joined a Uniworld cruise from Basel to Amsterdam at Rudesheim, 3-4 days after the ship
left Basel. The scenery of the middle Rhine gorge and the Mosel Valley were the highlights of the
trip. Luckily, we had beautiful weather for this part of the cruise. The Middle Rhine Valley, from
Rudesheim to Koblenz, is very hilly, and the home of the famous castles along the Rhine– about
20 can be seen from the river. The south facing slopes of the steep hills are home to the famous
local wine, Riesling.
At Koblenz, our ship left the Rhine and sailed two days up the Mosel to Luxemburg, where we
turned around and sailed two days back to the Rhine. By traveling round trip on the Mosel, we
got see most of the grand scenery through which this river flows. Unfortunately, we passed
about six hours of the scenic Middle Mosel Valley in the dark going both ways.
Towns visited: On the Rhine: 1]Rudesheim, a popular vacation spot, probably because it so
close to Frankfurt. With only two very scenic, short old streets lined with half timbered houses,
wine gardens, and restaurants, the two hours available to visit Rudesheim were plenty. 2]
Koln(Cologne) and it’s great Cathedral; 3]Rotterdam, Europe’s great port, was destroyed by the
Nazis and rebuilt after WWII as a very modern city. Driving through Rotterdam to Delft and
cruising the vast harbor on our ship revealed many striking modern buildings; 4]Delft, the first
capital of the Netherlands is charming miniaturized version of Amsterdam; and 5]Amsterdam.
On the Mosel: Cochem & the grand Cochem Castle; 2] the lovely old wine town of Bernkastle
with a wine tasting; 3]Trier. Not well known by Americans, Trier is one of the most important
cities in European history, and the most interesting city we visited; and 4]Luxemburg.
Quick Tips/Suggestions:
One of the standard European river cruises, offered by many cruise companies, takes the Rhine
from Switzerland to Holland. Some of these cruises include a detour along part of the
Mosel(German) or Moselle (French/English) River. Years ago we drove down the Mosel and
Rhine Valleys, and when we got old and took up river cruising, a cruise on the Mosel went right
to the top of our list of where we wanted to go because the Mosel is the most scenic river in
Europe. However, most cruises go only one way on the Mosel, doing most of their traveling at
night, which means you can’t see the scenery. Our goal was to sit on the sundeck and watch the
scenery unfold, which was almost accomplished by Uniworld’s round trip cruise. We missed
about six hours of scenery viewing because the River Queen traversed one section of the most
scenic part of the Mosel Valley after dark in both directions.
The cheapest bottle of Rhine wine onboard cost $36. It was inferior to wines we bought on
shore for $7. Skip drinking wine at diner– the $17 corkage fee is a pure ripoff– and enjoy your
own bottle in your cabin afterwards. Over priced beer– $7 for a ½l– was less of a ripoff, but
only a couple brands were available onboard.
Pack (in your checked luggage) a Swiss Army knife containing a corkscrew, bottle opener,
scissors, and screw driver. We’ve had occasion to use all these on our trips.
Some passengers with rooms underneath the lounge complained of noise.
Best Way to Get Around:
On several trips, we traveled the Rhine and Mosel Valleys by car and boat. The places visited can
also be reached by train and/or public bus. Traveling by boat is by far the best way to see the
scenery. As an alternative to river cruising, which is expensive (although reasonable value for the
level of amenities offered) and with an older clientele, look into K-D shipping line or K-D cruises
(web site), the local provider of river transport up and down the Middle Rhine and Mosel.
If traveling by road, go on the left(west) bank of the Middle Rhine(for the best view of the
Lorelei) and on the right(south) bank of the Mosel approaching Cochem, for the best view of
Cochem Castel. Bridges across the rivers are far apart. Ferries are more common, and, if I
remember correctly, ferries are part of the highway system and there is no charge.
Expect to walk. Most of the town/city sights worth seeing are pedestrian zones. Besides,
walking is the best way to see the towns and cities of Europe.
A canal boat trip is a good way to see a lot of Amsterdam in good weather. We’ve taken the
canal boat trip in on both sunny and rainy days. Rain sucks. The boats are enclosed in a glass
cage. Rain blurs the view, and, depending on the temperature, fogs the glass. Canal boat seats
are exceptionally uncomfortable.
River Queen Food Service
Breakfast and Lunch were served buffet style. Dinners were all sit down with slow service, no
buffets, and with four courses– Appetizer, Soup, Entree, and Desert or cheese plate. There was
a choice of two appetizers, two soups three entrees (meat, fish, or vegetarian), and 2-3 desserts.
Additionally, if none appealed, you could always order a steak or chicken breast.
We have been on river cruises with four different cruise operators-- Uniworld, Viking, Avalon,
and Amadeus. Food quality was comparable on all– not great cuisine, but very good. Soups,
especially “cream of ....”, on the River Queen were outstanding. Although the head chef was
Portugese, the German dishes were consistently the best. If you have acquired the justifiable
American attitude toward sauerkraut, do yourself a favor and try it in Germany, even on a cruise
ship. It is a revelation.
The lunch buffet offered a choice of any or all of a meat entre, a fish, or pasta(vegetarian), and the
vegetable of the day along with a variety of salads and a dessert table with a variety of good
desserts including three types of ice cream and a mousse of the day. The chocolate mousse was
as good as it gets.
The best meal on the trip was the Bavarian Brunch– salad, potato salad, sauerkraut, and three
different worsts– served on the Sun Deck one day while we were cruising the scenic Mosel
Valley.
The breakfast buffet always included oatmeal, cold cereals, cold cuts, scrambled eggs, a couple
sausage, and a hot vegetable, Danish, and a variety of bread. Although the Italian country cured
ham, prosciuto, is the best known, I think German country cured hams are better. Several were
offered at breakfast some days. Look for it.
In addition to what was on the buffet table, we could order eggs as we liked them. We managed
to get through sunny side up, over easy, over medium, over with hard yolks, and three minute.
All were done exactly as ordered.
Plain and simple, the wine list was a rip-off. We tried a $10 glass one evening from the least
expensive Rhine wine on the wine list– $36 a bottle. We bought better ashore for $7 a bottle, but
to discourage BYO, they charged a $17 corkage fee. We eat dinner booze free, then had wine
back in our room, which is one reason why we always pack a Swiss Army knife when traveling–
corkscrew, bottle opener, scissors, screw driver, and knife, all of which we have had occasion to
use on trips.
Beer was a bit more reasonably priced, at $5.6 for a large, $4.20 for small.
Service was as efficient as possible under the limitations imposed by a river cruise ship. Dinners
were very time consuming, taking 1½ to over 2 hours to get through.
River Queen Review
