Rhine -Mosel Discovery - Day 6

Day 6

After breakfast was the Disembarkation talk which the programme manager insisted had to be attended by at least one person from each cabin. A lot of time was spent on what the contingent on the post cruise extension to Paris would be doing. 

As always, there are only three things one needs to know about disembarkation: when bags are to be outside cabin, when cabin is to be vacated and when one has to leave the ship for the onward journey.  And all this information is written on the document that is placed in ones room on the penultimate evening.

After lunch, we moored around 13:00 in Cochem. The shore excursion left at 13:30 and was most enjoyable.

Photo by Dan

We had a wine tasting at Schlagkamp given by the winery's owner/winemaker Andreas Schlagkamp. 

Andreas Schlagkamp

Two wines were poured, both dry: Riesling and Ebling, followed by a liqueur made from the local small red peaches. Schlagkamp make a wine from the rare Red Riesling mutation, so I had to buy a bottle.

Then mini-busses ferried us up to the Reichsburg Castle on a promontory overlooking the town and Mosel. 

Reichsburg Castle and Cochem from the boat - by Krisie

Our guide gave a good tour of the inside and outside, and then we walked down to Cochem for a tour.

This road-side wine-vending machine in Cochem also holds glasses and snacks. There was a coach to return us to the boat but we walked the short distance, and regular Viking shuttle busses went to and from Cochem.

With dinner's  Chateaubriand we had a Rhone Syrah: Chapoutier's Les Meysonniers  2020 Crozes-Hermitage.

Photo by Dan

It was Krisie birthday and she was presented with a cake while the waitrons and Maitre d' sang Happy Birthday.

The boat departed for Bernkastel around 20:45. There was a movie quiz that evening at which we did poorly.

Rhine - Mosel Discovery - Day 5

Day 5

For many on board, today was the highlight of the cruise because at 07:00 we set off from Mainz to travel along the middle-Rhine with its many picturesque castles. We arrived at the narrowing gorge at about 09:00 and again the weather gave us rain, cold and low lying clouds for most of the way.

Picture by Krisie

Maps of the gorge with photo's of castles and their kilometre marker were handed out.

Picture by Krisie

As we came out of the gorge and passed the Lorelei rock and statue we had a demonstration of making Rudesheim Coffee (coffee, brandy, sugar, whipped cream and dark chocolate) and then everyone was given the fancy cup with the coffee.

Picture by Krisie

Lunches 'Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwich' was tasty as was the wine, Horst Sauer Eshendorfer Lumpen Sylvaner trocken 2021 (Germany, Franken) in a bocksbeutel.

We arrived at Koblenz at around 13:00, mooring at German Corner by the confluence of rivers Rhine and Mosel by the cable car station and huge statue of  Emperor William I. The name Koblenz is derived from the Latin for confluence. 

We joined the included 13:30 walking tour of historic Koblenz. We went on a tour last year but this guide was more informative and showed us things we'd not seen before, such as the spitting statue which is the town's symbol and appears on drain covers.

A nearby clock has a mans head who rolls his eyes and sticks out his tongue on at hour and half-hour.

Mosel on right, Viking boats rafted closest to Mosel. Picture by Krisie

Dan and Krisie took the cable car over our boat up to the castle on the other side.

Picture by Krisie

That evening was 'Taste  of Germany'. Tables had pretzel trees and German cheeses, cold meats and nibbles, and there was a choice of hot dishes from the kitchen - roast meats, fried chicken, sauerkraut, red cabbage, several types of sausages and more -  served buffet style.

Picture by Krisie

Waitrons dressed in German costumes. This is Simone, the bar manager, who ensured our wine glasses were never empty.

Wine at dinner was Gerard Bertrand 'an 1650' 2020 (France, Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape) a delicious Carignan, Syrah, Mourvèdre blend.

We'd set off for Winningen on the Mosel at about 18:30. There was an optional tour (which we'd not booked) 'An Evening of Wine & Music' planned when we arrived at Winningen at 20:30 but we were delayed by the first lock on the Mosel. As time passed Viking had to cancel the tour and refund monies. I don't know when we reached Winningen, it was after we'd gone to bed, or perhaps we didn't stop there.

Rhine -Mosel Discovery - Day 4

Day 4, Mainz 

We woke to find the boat moored in the centre of Mainz, and at 09:00 took the included walking tour of Mainz which included a visit to the Gutenberg Museum.

Dan & Krisie decided not to join the tour but to explore on their own.

The Gutenberg museum, with its display of Gutenberg's earliest books, was fascinating. The highlight was our guide donning an apron to demonstrate printing a page on a replica of Gutenberg's first printing press.

As usual there was free time after the tour but we headed back to the boat for coffee, meeting Dan & Krisie on the way.

Today was the first it was warm enough to eat lunch on in the open on the prow, and we had Symington's Altano Blanco 2020 (Portugal, Douro) a very nice white blend of six local varieties.

After lunch was a talk by Captain Dennis Visser. He'd started as a deckhand and worked his way up to Captain. He and his family had owned and operated a cargo boat on the Rhine, but had to sell it during the pandemic. He was Dutch and had to learn English to work for  Viking.

He said he didn't like school. His teacher told him that no-one would pay him to gaze out of the window. "Now I am in the wheelhouse," he said, "I'm paid to spend all the time looking out the window." 

He works two weeks on and two weeks off, "So I only work half the year," he said. "And half that time I'm sleeping, so in fact I work only a quarter of the year."

He has a crew of eight: four sailors, a Chief Engineer and two engineers, and a First Officer. Captain Visser operates an open wheelhouse policy and invited us all the visit him, which we did.

We missed the Viking Explorer Society Cocktail Party because Dan & Krisie, as first time cruisers, could not go with us.

Dinner's Classic German Tafelspitz was more appetising than it sounded - or looked. We had Poggio al Sole 2020 (Italy, Chianti Classico).

After dinner entertainment was a guest violinist playing modern music from the movies and TV.

Rhine - Mosel Discovery - Day 3

Day 3 - Speyer

We  arrived at Speyer at 08:00 and the included shore excursion - Speyer Walking Tour set off at 09:00 

We'd really enjoyed the informative tour we'd been on last year, and encouraged Dan and Krisie to join.

But the guide gave a very truncated tour with lots of inconsequential subjects, it was most disappointing.

Based on our previous excursion we walked Dan & Krisie the length of the main street to the old city gate, then we left them to do their own thing as we headed back to the boat.

At lunch we had Ch Thieuley 2022 (France, Bordeaux), a refreshing blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

Last year the boat had left Speyer as soon as the walking tour set off, but on this trip it remained at Speyer all day. So we set off after lunch the short distance to the Speyer Technik Museum. 

This amazing place is packed with planes, cars, boats, submarines, fairground rides, space vehicles, and railway locomotives.

Many exhibits could be entered. A Lufthansa 747 had part of the flooring removed so the cargo bay was exposed, and Dan walked on the wing (above).

The boat left for Mainz at 18:30 and we enjoyed a pre-dinner glass of Champagne.

One of dinner's starters was a favourite from last year, Crispy Mediterranean Tart, and we had Torres Celeste Crianza (Spain, Ribera del Duero).

After dinner was a music quiz where the opening bars of pop songs were played and we had to guess the song title. We did OK but didn't wine.

It was Programme Director Jamie Paxton's birthday and after the quiz the crew presented him with a cake, which somehow got pushed up onto his face. For the rest of the week, whenever his birthday was mention, he unconsciously wiped his upper lip.

Rhine - Mosel Discovery - Day 2

 Day 2, Strasbourg

The boat moored at around 08:00 with the included shore excursion 'Strasbourg' Highlights' leaving at 09:00. Rain was heavy so we decided not to take the tour.

For lunch we chose Morwald's Sauvignon Blanc 2021 (Austria, Wagram) with pleasant memories of visiting the winery on a previous cruise and Erhard Morwald imploring us to drink more of his wine on Viking.

Picture - Strasbourg by Krisie

Rain had let up so we took the 14:00 shuttle bus into Strasbourg but on the journey the heavens opened again. Krisie and Dan were made of sterner stuff and got off the bus to explore Strasbourg on their own, when we returned to the ship. The rain stopped shortly after and Krisie and Dan had a good time.

At 18:15 their was the safety drill. The room steward had taken our lifebelts out from under the bed, and because of inclement weather we mustered in the lounge, instead of the top deck as in past times. I'm not sure how much practical use this exercise was.

With dinner we had Francis Coppola's Diamond Collection Zinfandel 2020 (California). 

I had Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs, which I expected to have bones, but there were none, just very tender succulent meat.

After dinner we went to the lounge to listen to guest musicians, the Fouli Tchay quartet playing French swing and jazz.

At 22:30 the boat left for Speyer but we were asleep by then.

Rhine - Mosel Discovery - Day 1

Day 1 Monday 24 April

We had booked the Rhine-Mosel Discover Cruise on the Viking Hild travelling from Basel to Koblenz down the Rhine and then to Trier up the Mosel with a return flight from Luxembourg Airport. There were stops with included tours at Strasbourg, Speyer Mainz, Koblenz, Cochem, Bernkastel and Trier.

 Dan and Krisie joined us for their first river cruise.

Pick-up at 05:15 for 08:15 flight. We had a speedy journey and Joan's Gold Card got us in the BA T5 First Class lounge. There was a self-serve full cooked breakfast but we had a couple of rashers of back bacon in a bread roll with coffee.

But they had Palmer & Co Champagne on self-pour and as we'd been up for some time by then it seemed rude not to have a glass.

We met Dan and Krisie on the plane and we all had Castelnau Champagne.

The Asian Vegetarian hot breakfast was weird, comprising of a pleasant but bland chickpea curry almost covered by a large tasteless rice cake.

At Basel there were about 20 of us for the Hild. Two other coaches were filled by passengers for Idun which was making the Basel to Amsterdam cruise we'd taken last year.

The two boats were rafted. We boarded about 11:30 and our Veranda Staterooms - 233 for us and 231 for D&K -  were ready. 

View from lunch table

Just  time to unpack before we met Dan and Krisie in the restaurant for the embarkation dinner. Pasta was with pesto. I had a rather tasty Thai Green Chicken Curry and rice.

Lounge and bar

There was no tour of Basel because at about 14:30 we set off for Strasbourg. About 18:30 the rest of the passengers joined the boat at a short stop at Kembs. They were North Americans who'd been on the pre-cruise extension in Zurich accompanied by Programme Director Jamie Paxton.

We had a glass of Veuve Cliquot in the lounge before dinner.

As we all had the drinks package included in our booking Dan chose from the wine list Symington's Altano 2020 (Portugal, Douro), a tasty red blend  of traditional varieties.

The included house wines were Heinrich Volmer Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Heinrich Volmer Altum Meisterstuch, a red blend of unnamed varieties.