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Cologne vs Bonn

JohnBJohnB
in The Rhine and Moselle
We are considering the Basel to Amsterdam cruise in 2014 but noticed that Bonn has been chosen instead on Cologne as a port. How big a deal is this? Is there enough time to visit Cologne on ou own?

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    ScorpioSScorpioS
    I haven't looked at the 2014 itinerary yet, but when we did this river cruise two years ago, the riverboat did not stop in Cologne so there wasn't anyway to do it on your own.

    Sheila
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    ScorpioSScorpioS
    Hi again JohnB,

    Forgot to tell you that we loved our Rhine riverboat cruise. The castles and scenery along the way is breathtaking.

    Sheila
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    ScorpioSScorpioS
    I just checked the 2014 Rhine Cruise and it is now an 8 day cruise where our cruise was 12 days. The 2014 Rhine river cruise does go to Cologne.

    Sheila
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    JohnBJohnB
    Sheila,

    Thanks for the input. They are still offering the 12 day cruise as well which is what we are interested in. If you have any recommendations or highlights from your trip they would be greatly appreciated.

    John
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    ScorpioSScorpioS
    Hi John,

    One of the good things we did was go into Basel a day earlier. We loved walking around Basel and the hotel provides tourists with a day pass on the electric street cars. There are lots of interesting museums there. Go to tripadvisor and check out Basel for yourself. We stayed at the Swissotel Le Plaza Basel hotel with Tauck. The downtown area is only a 15 minute walk. Food is very expensive in Basel. A pizza and drink cost about $35 US for the two of us. I found on line that the Manor department store in the center of town has a food court in the basement which turned out to be wonderful for lunch. It was similar to the food court in London at Harrods, but on a smaller scale. There is a wonderful ice cream place in the center of town, also. We used credit cards in Basel as they don't take the Euro and we didn't want to get any Swiss Francs since we only needed them there. My husband was thrilled that there was a Bally Store and bought two pair of beautiful shoes. A tour of the city will be offered by Tauck on the 1st day of the tour before you go to the ship. We loved Basel!

    If I think of anything else, I will let you know. I don't know if you have traveled with Tauck before, but we are going on number 20 this year. They do a wonderful job -- have top local guides in every place. They also take care of every detail. One lady fell on our trip and broke some bones. They took her to a hospital and helped arrange her return home to Australia. Tauck really cares about their customers!!!

    Sheila
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    TravelGuyTravelGuy
    Sheila:

    The name of the ice cream place near the Town Hall is Movenpick.

    Enjoy!!!
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    PatchouliePatchoulie
    We are eagerly awaiting our first trip on the Moselle/Rhine, scheduled for October. Appreciate hearing how to make the most of our overnight in Basel. Loved the ice cream tip! We are really newbies to river cruising and will take any advice veterans care to share.
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    JohnBJohnB
    Sheila,

    Just wanted to let you know that we have booked the Rhine & Moselle in July 2014 on the new ship Inspire. If you think of any other tips they will be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks,
    John
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