Reviewing our Rhine River Cruise
Rhine River Cruise July 14-21, 2022
We booked this cruise on Nicko Cruises through TourRadar.com.
The original itinerary was from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands, then finishing back in Cologne, Germany. However, the river level in the Upper Rhine region (upriver of Mannheim) was too low for our boat to navigate, so departure was changed to Frankfurt, Germany. Before the cruise, we stayed in Mulhouse, France, near Basel, so we took the train to Basel and then another 3 hr train to Frankfurt.
From the Frankfurt train station, we took a taxi to the boat and checked in around 4pm. The first evening, we sailed upriver (south) to Mannheim, Germany.
Our Cabin:
Our boat was previously a Viking boat and, like many we've seen, had 3 interior levels with an upper Sundeck. Our cabin was on the lowest level with windows just above the waterline.
We had taken a Viking Danube River cruise in 2019 with a room on the middle level and the full window was wonderful.So we were worried about our lower-level cabin being dark and claustrophobic.
2019 Viking Cabin and French Balcony
Fortunately, the window on the Nicko boat was much larger than we'd expected and we could see outside well enough.
2022 Nicko Cabin and Windows
...and we had to get creative storing our luggage.
The bathroom was VERY cozy and only one of us could be in it at a time.Overall, for just sleeping and showering, the cabin was adequate.
The information booklet in our room was in English, which was helpful. We were concerned we'd have to translate from German.
The Rest of the Boat:
The rest of the boat was connected by long, narrow hallways on all floors, there was barely enough room to pass by the housekeeping carts.
The capacity is 180 passengers, but we were only about 2/3 full for this cruise.
The central part of the ship is a 2-level lobby, the main floor holds the front desk and concierge.
The dining room was on the main level. Breakfast was a buffet every day with a decent variety of hot and cold options along with coffee, tea, water, and juices.
Lunch and dinner were fantastic!
Lunch was always 3 courses with 2-3 choices.
And the food was delicious with wonderful presentations.
Lounge seating was above the central lobby. The seating was comfortable and there were a couple power outlets available for laptops. Internet was NOT free. 5GB of data was €27, and upload speeds were adequate though video streaming and conferencing were out of the question.
The rear of this level housed the library, which was a great retreat that almost nobody ever used.
The main cocktail lounge was immediately above the dining room. This is where ship announcements were made (all in German for this cruise) and events were held, like the Captain's welcome drink and final night cocktail. There was also a daily afternoon tea/coffee service in the Lounge which included a variety of cakes.
German was the default language for this cruise and we only found 4 other passengers who spoke much English at all. Fortunately, most of the crew spoke some English, so we were able to get by without German, though we couldn't interact much with our fellow passengers.
For drinks, afternoon tea, lunch, and dinner come with tea or coffee. All other drinks are à la carte. Prices aren't bad, €4 for 1 L mineral water, a beer, or 1/4 L house wine. Liquor and cocktails are €4-8.
An unlimited beverage package was sold for €380 per double-occupancy cabin. The bar setup and selection were OK, though there was nothing special. We got by on bottled water, house wines, and well drinks and spent under €150 for both of us.
2022 Nicko Bar
Contrasted to our Viking Cruise, which had a much larger bar and incredible top-shelf selection, the all-inclusive package was not worth it on the Nicko Cruise.
2019 Viking Bar
The upper deck of the boat was the Sun Deck, with many uncovered and covered seating options.
The weather cooperated nicely during our cruise and the Sun Deck was a wonderful place to relax and check out the river views.
Cruise Itinerary:
Going through our itinerary, on Days 1 and 2 we were docked in Mannheim, Germany. Strasbourg, France was the original destination for Day 1 so there was an optional 2-hr bus to tour the city. We didn't want to spend that long on a bus, so we had seen Strasbourg ourselves the day before we left for Frankfurt.
Basel to Frankfurt to Mannheim
Strasbourg
Strasbourg Astronomical Clock
Mannheim Market Square
On Day 2 we departed Mannheim at 1230, passed Mainz, Germany at 1700, and arrived at Rüdesheim, Germany at 1900. We spent the evening touring the beautiful wine-country town.
Near Mainz along the Rhine
Mannheim to Rüdesheim
Rüdesheim
Rüdesheim
Burgruine Ehrenfels @ the start of the Rhine River Valley
Rüdesheim to Koblenz, the Rhine River Valley
We spent the afternoon of Day 3 at Koblenz, sailing on at 2000, arriving in the middle of the night at Cologne, Germany.
Koblenz to Cologne
On the morning of Day 4, we toured Cologne, we could have used more time.
Cologne
The original Eau de Cologne
Cologne Cathedral
The boat sailed at 1230, traveling all through the night and finally arriving at Amsterdam, Netherlands at 0730.
Cologne to Amsterdam
Day 5 was spent touring Amsterdam. Even though we had the whole day, there was more we could have seen.
Canals and Bikes, Amsterdam
Cannabis Museum Shop, Amsterdam
Royal Palace, Amsterdam
"Stumbling Stones," Amsterdam
Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Amsterdam to Nijmegen, Netherlands
Nijmegen on Day 6 was the biggest surprise of the cruise since we had no idea what to expect and we arrived in the middle of a 4-day festival.
Nijmegen Market Square
Windmill, Nijmegen
We left Nijmegen at 1230 and sailed all night back to Cologne where we had to disembark before 0900. From there we took a taxi to the train station and caught our train to Belgium.
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