- Messages
- 633
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Impolite people, yobbish behaviour, pretentious people.
We boarded the train, first class reserved seats being part of the package. The train pulled out and we started chatting with the couple sitting in the adjacent seats.We were the objects of a certain degree of curiosity among our fellow travellers, having joined the group in Brussels rather than at St Pancras. We told them about ourselves and learned something about them in return. They seemed a likeable couple and we talked to them until the train pulled into Frankfurt where we had to change.
The new train took us all the way to Wuerzburg and we got to know more members of the group on the final leg of the journey. A bus was waiting to take us to the hotel when we disembarked and we were quickly installed in our room with our luggage. We had never stayed in a Maritim hotel before and we found this one to be excellent.
After a freshen up we adjourned to the restaurant where a buffet meal awaited us.We joined others of our group at a table for 6 for dinner and then stopped off in the bar for a digestif with them. Others from the group sat with us as they left the restaurant and we ended up with a very jolly group. By the time we collapsed into bed we decided that this group looked distinctly promising.
Next morning it was a buffet breakfast before the short bus journey to the station. Once again it was first class seats and once again we found ourselves sitting with a couple from our tour.We found them to be friendly and the kind of people we knew we would get on with.
We ordered sandwiches from the young lady who was taking orders for food and drinks, which would serve as our lunch. We travelled until mid afternoon when we arrived in Passau where we would join our ship. It was a very short drive to the dockside where our ship, the Amadeus Royal, was docked. We disembarked and identified our luggage which was being unloaded. A bright pink label was attached to each bag with an identification number. This turned out to be the number of our cabin and once our bags were duly marked we were free to board. In the reception area, which was entered directly from the gangplank, we were offered drinks, given our keys and joined by the ship’s cruise manager, who gave us a brief introduction to the ship and how to find our cabins. Once we had been issued with the keys to our cabin we were free to go, unpack our bags, freshen up and relax for a while before dinner was served.
Our cabin was on the top deck, port side, about a third of the way down the corridor. Nicely placed for both the dining room and the bar, we agreed. We had upgraded to a junior suite as Jackie couldn’t tolerate being below the waterline. The cabin itself was quite spacious with floor to ceiling windows which gave us a panoramic outlook. The bathroom was completely equipped with shower, sink and toilet. All in all, a pleasant enough space to spend most of the next 15 days.
After sticking my head under the tap and changing clothes we were ready to go out and explore our surroundings for the next couple of weeks. We turned left outside our cabin and made our way to the reception area and then a little further on we found the Panorama Bar where we ordered a couple of drinks and joined another couple from our group who had already ordered theirs. Then came a safety briefing in English. After that we studied a list of optional excursions along the way and decided which ones we fancied. The prices seemed reasonable to me and we decided to sign up for several of them. There were five excursions included in the initial cost of the cruise which took in the five capitals we came to as we moved down the river.
There were three national groupings on board: German, the largest group; British, the next largest, and French, who were the smallest.
Another couple came along and joined us and we all sat staring out of the windows as the ship got under way. Passau is where the river Inn joins the Danube. Anyone familiar with the Austrian skiing resort of Innsbruck will be familiar with the Inn, which flows through the town where the water, melted ice and snow from the mountains, is an icy green.
Just as we passed the mouth of the Inn dinner was announced and we headed towards the stern where the restaurant was situated. Each tour group had their own tables and we chose where we wanted to sit (by the window, naturally).
Our tour manager, Grahame, told us that we could sit at any of our designated tables but we had to remain at that table for the remaining meals that day. This was because at breakfast we ordered lunch and at lunch we ordered dinner. To keep changing tables during the course of the day would leave our poor waiters hopelessly confused. We accepted this as eminently sensible, not least because if you got stuck with someone you couldn’t stand on the first day your meals would be a misery for the rest of the cruise.
We found ourselves on a table with the couple we had met first on the train. We had a good meal and they're good company. The serving staff were friendly and willing, the wine flowed freely - the wine waiters circulated constantly, refilling any glasses that fell below the full mark.
After dinner we adjourned to the bar and after an hour or so we returned to our cabin and dropped into an exhausted sleep as the ship plowed onward.
The new train took us all the way to Wuerzburg and we got to know more members of the group on the final leg of the journey. A bus was waiting to take us to the hotel when we disembarked and we were quickly installed in our room with our luggage. We had never stayed in a Maritim hotel before and we found this one to be excellent.
After a freshen up we adjourned to the restaurant where a buffet meal awaited us.We joined others of our group at a table for 6 for dinner and then stopped off in the bar for a digestif with them. Others from the group sat with us as they left the restaurant and we ended up with a very jolly group. By the time we collapsed into bed we decided that this group looked distinctly promising.
Next morning it was a buffet breakfast before the short bus journey to the station. Once again it was first class seats and once again we found ourselves sitting with a couple from our tour.We found them to be friendly and the kind of people we knew we would get on with.
We ordered sandwiches from the young lady who was taking orders for food and drinks, which would serve as our lunch. We travelled until mid afternoon when we arrived in Passau where we would join our ship. It was a very short drive to the dockside where our ship, the Amadeus Royal, was docked. We disembarked and identified our luggage which was being unloaded. A bright pink label was attached to each bag with an identification number. This turned out to be the number of our cabin and once our bags were duly marked we were free to board. In the reception area, which was entered directly from the gangplank, we were offered drinks, given our keys and joined by the ship’s cruise manager, who gave us a brief introduction to the ship and how to find our cabins. Once we had been issued with the keys to our cabin we were free to go, unpack our bags, freshen up and relax for a while before dinner was served.
Our cabin was on the top deck, port side, about a third of the way down the corridor. Nicely placed for both the dining room and the bar, we agreed. We had upgraded to a junior suite as Jackie couldn’t tolerate being below the waterline. The cabin itself was quite spacious with floor to ceiling windows which gave us a panoramic outlook. The bathroom was completely equipped with shower, sink and toilet. All in all, a pleasant enough space to spend most of the next 15 days.
After sticking my head under the tap and changing clothes we were ready to go out and explore our surroundings for the next couple of weeks. We turned left outside our cabin and made our way to the reception area and then a little further on we found the Panorama Bar where we ordered a couple of drinks and joined another couple from our group who had already ordered theirs. Then came a safety briefing in English. After that we studied a list of optional excursions along the way and decided which ones we fancied. The prices seemed reasonable to me and we decided to sign up for several of them. There were five excursions included in the initial cost of the cruise which took in the five capitals we came to as we moved down the river.
There were three national groupings on board: German, the largest group; British, the next largest, and French, who were the smallest.
Another couple came along and joined us and we all sat staring out of the windows as the ship got under way. Passau is where the river Inn joins the Danube. Anyone familiar with the Austrian skiing resort of Innsbruck will be familiar with the Inn, which flows through the town where the water, melted ice and snow from the mountains, is an icy green.
Just as we passed the mouth of the Inn dinner was announced and we headed towards the stern where the restaurant was situated. Each tour group had their own tables and we chose where we wanted to sit (by the window, naturally).
Our tour manager, Grahame, told us that we could sit at any of our designated tables but we had to remain at that table for the remaining meals that day. This was because at breakfast we ordered lunch and at lunch we ordered dinner. To keep changing tables during the course of the day would leave our poor waiters hopelessly confused. We accepted this as eminently sensible, not least because if you got stuck with someone you couldn’t stand on the first day your meals would be a misery for the rest of the cruise.
We found ourselves on a table with the couple we had met first on the train. We had a good meal and they're good company. The serving staff were friendly and willing, the wine flowed freely - the wine waiters circulated constantly, refilling any glasses that fell below the full mark.
After dinner we adjourned to the bar and after an hour or so we returned to our cabin and dropped into an exhausted sleep as the ship plowed onward.