Relax and Enjoy the Sights as Vantage Takes Care of the Details

By GERRY and PAMELA BARKER
North Palm Beach Life
November, 2019.

PhotosVideo by
​North Palm Beach Life

​There are a lot of differences between ocean cruising and river cruising.

Ocean cruising usually means you're traveling with lots of people, sometimes as many as 6,000 or more on today's megaships.  Your days are programmed from morning to midnight -- there's always something going on. Shore excursions are optional, and pricey. Personal service is lacking, unless you pay a premium.

But  our river cruise, on Vantage Deluxe World Travel's Ms River Splendor, was just the opposite. Total passengers were less than 200, including 46 staffers. We programmed our own day. Shore tours at every stop came with our cruise. And best of all, Vantage took care of everything, from pickup at the airport to arranging the tours to getting us back home.

It made our 8-day voyage into the "Heart of Germany" an enriching, rewarding experience as we took a deep dive into Bavarian food, history, culture and wine. Be sure and check out our REVIEW on All Things Cruise. And enjoy the photo journals detailing each port of call, linked on the right, along with Pam's podcasts.

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Complete Coverage

Read the review on  All Things Cruise: 

In all the many cruises we taken over the years, there is one type of cruise we’ve never tried: River cruising. READ MORE.

Photo Journals

Mainz and Koblenz
The Romantic Rhine
Heidelberg
Wurzburg
Bamberg
Nuremberg
Regensburg

Pam's Podcasts

​Many of the staterooms on Ms. River Splendor feature French balconies that open to let the outdoors inside. There's plenty of storage space for your clothes, a USB connection, Wi-Fi throughout the ship and flat-screen TVs featuring on-demand programming.

​There are lots of food choices, starting with the breakfast buffet, featuring an omelet station. There is a main dining room - Compass Rose -- as well as the Captain's Club, located
aft. One night during our cruise they fired
up a grill on the outdoor deck
and offered up steak and salmon.
The 24/7 coffee bar is another nice touch.

For entertainment, Dariusz (left) provided a nightly mix of oldies, 80s and disco in the Cabaret Lounge -- we loved "YMCA" with a German accent -- while special guests, like the Bavarian Brass Band above, were on hand as well.

Splendor features a fully-equipped
exercise room

The Captain's Cocktail Party features a full array of drink and hors d'oeuvre choices.

As you cruise the rivers in Germany, the ship must pass through a number of locks. It's fascinating to watch the process of how the locks work. While not on the scale of the Panama Canal, which we recently transversed, the principle is the same.