Day 9 – Tuesday 13 August 2024
When we woke we are moored at Schweich, but all we could see from the boat were fields, trees and bridges across the river.
Mooring at Schweich: https://what3words.com/scrapes.paparazzi.seamlessly
There were choices of a walking tour or tasting at Bernkastel or a visit to Trier.
We had booked the wine tasting. Instead of strolling into town from the boat, as we had on our previous Moselle cruise, we were bussed for 40 minutes to Bernkastel. We had a very brief visit to the town square then 35 minutes of ‘freetime’. Then we were walked across the bridge to Weingut Wegeler for a tasting of their wines. We were joined by passengers from Scenic Opal, sister ship of Jasper, which was moored in Bernkastel.
Weingut Wegeler was founded in 1882 by Julius Wegeler, who worked for Deinhard. In 1900 he bought the famed steep ‘Doctor’ vineyard high above Bernkastel. The company is now owned by the fourth generation and has a winery in the Rheingau and the one we visited in the Moselle.
We tasted:
2023 SLATE VDP Gutswein Riesling Trocken (€12.90) made from a blend of grapes picked early from younger vines across the less well known company vineyards. A dry light wine.
2022 BERNKASTEL VDP Ortswein Riesling Kabinett (€16.90). Only 9% abv, early picked with more body and flavour than the previous. The host called it “lemonade for adults”.
2020 DOCTOR VDP Grosslage Riesling Spatlese (€50). This late harvest wine came from old vines, some more than 100 years old, growing in their vineyard on the steep hill behind Bernkastel.
Some people bought wines but the tasting confirmed that Riesling is not for me.
The coach to take us back to the ship was outside the winery.
Lunch was a German buffet; there was no menu.
Dinner was two hours early at 17:00 for an 18:45 departure to Trier for an ‘enrichment’ concert in Liebfrauenkirche. Because we weren’t moored at Bernkastel the ride to Trier was much shorter, taking only 20 minutes. The coach spent time driving around Trier while our guide pointed out some sites, then parked. We were led a roundabout route to the church which we couldn’t enter and were told we had 45 minutes freetime until 20:15. This upset everyone, especially those that had been on this morning’s Trier excursion and had already had freetime in Trier. The shops were now closed.
After we disembarked the boat was to head back to Bernkastel where we would join it after the concert.
Waiting for the concert
There was no need of such an early dinner, departure or free time. It appeared the reason we had to wait was for the arrival of Scenic Opal passengers who were coming from Bernkastel, where we should have moored. One more example of poor organisation.
A peculiar thing happened at the concert. It was a hot airless day and we were looking forward to entering the cool church, but it was as warm inside as out and there was no air movement. Opal passengers opened bamboo fans and when Jasper passengers asked where they’d got them, were shown the Scenic name printed on the fan. They’d been given them onboard. The Jasper Enrichment Manager who’d accompanied us was asked by several people where their fans we and he said he knew nothing about fans; he’d never seen them.
The concert had a total of 13 musical items played and sung alternatively by a lively trio of violin, double bass and piano and a choir of 11 singers with an organist and conductor.
During the 65 minute concert we heard thunder rumbling in the distance and when we came out we saw lightning and felt winds and our Enrichment Manager took us to a nearby restaurant to have a glass of Riesling till the storm passed. However the Opal customers walked the short distance to their coaches. After 40 minutes or so we were led to the coaches while lightning and thunder continued.
Instead of taking the motorway to Bernkastel the coach went on back roads, and we eventually boarded the boat at 23:30 at Piersport, not at a regular mooring but on the riverbank.
The boat cast off once all passengers were back on board. There were snacks to eat but I had a glass of Champagne, ate some Pringles and went to bed.
So we spent a total of 4h45 for a 65 minute concert.
Next day I asked the Cruise Director why we hadn’t moored in Bernkastel as scheduled. She said that Bernkastel didn’t allow the use of shipboard generators at night and that Jasper needed a double electricity feed which Bernkastel didn’t have. I noted the sister ship Opal was moored there and was told that boat has a different electric feed. If this is so, it means that Scenic operates a boat that it knows cannot meet the advertised programme. The boarding at Piersport was because the boat had been delayed by locks and couldn’t get to Bernkastel till past midnight.
Night Position - Cruising Mosel towards Koblenz
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