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This is an amazing vacation for Christmas lovers! Cruise the Rhine River and see amazing European sites, all dressed up for the holidays! Adventures by Disney is a luxury vacation, and you will not find Mickey Mouse here. But you will find Disney’s World Class Standards and customer service. While on this trip, you can shop world-renowned Christmas Markets, explore Medieval wine caves, toboggan through the Black Forest, cruise the Canals of Amsterdam, and so much more!!
Rhine River Cruise: Overview
This sailing will depart from Switzerland. You will fly into Basel Airport, where your Adventure Guides will meet you and transport you to the AmaLucia. Over 8 Days and 7 Nights, you will sail from Switzerland, France, Germany, and end up in The Netherlands, where you will depart via the Amsterdam Airport Schipol. Included are 7 breakfasts, 6 lunches, and 7 dinners. The minimum age is 4, but it is suggested that all sailors be at least 8 years old.
Ring in the holiday season by shopping in Christmas Markets! Shop for local crafts, gifts, and treats, which can be the highlight of the trip for many! You can ride a toboggan through the Black Forest, taking in the pastoral landscape, and learn to make an iconic Cuckoo Pipe. You may have heard of the Heidelberg Castle, but have you ever BEEN there? Now you can! Other highlights include:
- Riquewihr Excursion – enjoy this quaint Medieval Village, with it’s cobblestone streets & 13th century structures
- Amsterdam Canal Cruise
- Rhine Gorge Castle Cruise
- Chocolate Museum
- Indoor Winter Park
- Medieval Wine Caves
- Rudesheim Gondola Ride
Rhine River Cruise: Itinerary
Day 1 – Basel, switzerland
You will board the ship and enjoy a Swiss Cheese and Wine Welcome Reception, followed by the Captain’s Welcome Cocktails and Dinner.
Day 2 – Strasbourg, France
Start the day with breakfast on board the ship. Lunch on excursion, dinner on the ship. Full Day activity – Choose One of Two Options:
- Option A: Tour the Black Forest, take a toboggan run, and visit a woodworking museum. Tour the Black Forest and view the beautiful highlands, pastoral farms, grassy fields, and woods up close! Enjoy an alpine toboggan run and attend a museum workshop and learn from an expert how to make an iconic Cuckoo Pipe.
- Option B: Tour the Black Forest, go ziplining and take a leisurely hike to the Triberg Waterfalls.
Day 3 – Strasbourg, France
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the ship.
Morning Activity – Choose one:
- Option A: Alsace Canoe Trip, Center of old Strasbourg
- Option B: Canal Boat Tour on Baturama Canal Boat and pass the city’s main attractions. Followed by a stop at the Cathedral de Notre Dame for an at-leisure visit.
After lunch on the ship, choose one option for afternoon activity.
- Option A: Take a French macaron hands-on demo with the onboard chef
- Option B: Explore the wine caves in the Medieval basements of Cave Historique des Hospices, founded in 1395. In the wine museum, see 40 ancient wine barrels, one even dating back to 1472. Wrap up your tour and enjoy a wine tasting from wines more recently put in barrels and bottled in the caves.
Day 4 – Mannheim, Germany
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the ship. Tour Heidelberg and the Heidelberg Castle.
Day 5 – Rudesheim, Germany
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the ship. Enjoy Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum: contains one the largest collections of mechanical music boxes, giant pianos, and other automated instruments dating from the 18th-20th century.
Morning activity – choose one:
- Option A: Biking around Rudesheim
- Option B: On your own in Rudesheim – coffee and hot chocolate tasting; gondola ride to Niederwald Monument
Afternoon Activity, choose between the morning options A or B, or:
- Option C: Weingut Adolf Storzel Wine Tasting, accompanied by pretzels inside Bassenheimer Hof’s Cellar
Then it is time to enjoy a castle cruise through the Rhine Gorge, where you can see this UNESCO World Heritage Site and see 30 castles. Enjoy a Rudesheim coffee demo on the tasting deck!
Day 6 – Breakfast on the ship
FULL DAY ACTIVITY (until 2pm) Indoor Winter Park! Visit an indoor ski hall in Neuss, where you can experience winter park games or outdoor climbing park. Enjoy sledding or tubing, or take part in a ropes obstacle course.
Half Day Activity: Choose One
- Cologne walking tour, leisure visit of Cologne Cathedral and Fragrance Museum
- Still the Cologne walking tour, leisure visit of Cologne Cathedral but you will visit a Chocolate Museum
- Enjoy a Cologne Pub Tour
Afternoon Fruhschoppen: beer with sausage and pretzels as your Adventure Guides tell you about what lies ahead as you depart for Amsterdam. Then the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party and Dinner.
Day 7 – Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
After breakfast on the ship, enjoy an Amsterdam Canal Cruise. Travel by boat along one of the 165 canals that are Amsterdam’s lifeline. Along the way, view this 800-year-old city’s famous historical center and some of its most memorable and beautiful attractions—ancient churches, quaint canal houses, picturesque bridges, cobblestone streets and more.
Morning Activity – Choose One
- Option A – Discover History at the Rijksmuseum: Discover the art and history of Amsterdam in The Rijksmuseum. This national museum displays nearly 8,000 pieces of art dating from the 9th to 19th centuries. Housed in over 150 rooms in an impressive, gold-leaf building, magnificent 15th- to 17th-century paintings are on display—masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, among others. It also houses some outstanding 19th century works as well as a remarkable Asian collection.
- Option B – Visit The Rembrandt House Museum With an Optional Etching Activity: Pay a visit to the home and workshop of the Netherlands’ greatest artist and see where he lived, worked and found the inspiration for some of his masterpieces. Then, Adventurers are invited to enter Rembrandt’s printmaking studio for a demonstration to learn about the technique of etching and see how an etching is printed.
- Option C – Visit the Van Gogh Museum: Explore the Van Gogh Museum with over 1,000 paintings, drawings and letters of Vincent van Gogh. This museum contains the largest collection of Van Gogh painting in the world. Learn about Van Gogh’s personal history, how conservators restored his paintings and more. Get an intimate view of some of his greatest masterpieces, including “Sunflowers” and “The Bedroom,” as well as many works of his contemporaries.
Lunch on the ship before Afternoon Excursion – Choose one:
- Option A – Countryside visit to Volendam: Tour the classic fishing village of Volendam, located near IJsselmeer Lake just outside of Amsterdam. With its beautiful harbor, home to old fishing boats and residents who still wear traditional clothing such as pointed bonnets, it represents life in The Netherlands.
- Option B – See Sights in Zaanse Schans: Take in the community of Zaanse Schans, located amidst a meadow landscape and appearing as if it’s straight out of a child’s storybook, with iconic wooden windmills and other structures that have been moved and reassembled here piece by piece to bring the history of this area to life. Feel welcomed by this community as you stroll past wooden houses, shops and museums. Then, try your hand at clog-decorating and see a cheese-making demonstration.
Wrap up your night with dinner on the ship. Then debark in the morning and head to Amsterdam Airport Schipol, as your amazing vacation comes to a close!
Rhine River Cruise: Dates and Rates
Adventures by Disney offers this river cruise once in 2022, on December 22-29, 2022. Rates are starting at $6,200 for children, $6,800 for adults.Enjoy this cruise in 2023 on December 21-28, 2023, at $5,100 for children, $5,700 for adults. If you book your 2023 River Cruise before April 25, 2022, you can save an extra $500 per person! Read more about this River Cruise by visiting my eBrochure!
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