Good morning
I’m urgently writing to you today because we’ve just put together a very special Christmas cruise for this December, and along the Rhine river rather than the Danube.
If you’ve not already filled up your time prior to Christmas, please have a look at this. The deal offers $1000 or $1500 per person saving off Amawaterways’ regular fares, plus another $100 per person in onboard credit as a pre-Christmas gift from me to you (spend in the bar, the spa, the gift shop – any way you like except on touring, because all the touring is included!), and if you’ve been on an Amawaterways cruise before, there’s another $100 past passenger discount, too!
We usually feature the Danube for our Christmas cruises (in large part because it is more competitive and so generally easier to get deals on the Danube), but the Rhine – traveling up from Basel, through France and Germany and ending in Amsterdam – is also an excellent experience, simultaneously similar to the Danube, but also different. The Danube is more popular because it has ‘bigger name’ cities along the way, perhaps, but the Rhine itinerary (which I’ve done twice before) is also highly enjoyable and equally recommended, and now we’ve a deal so special as to make it worth a last minute rush to take advantage of.
I know it is late notice, but if you can squeeze it in, perhaps you should. The cruise leaves on Monday 14 December (there’s also a pre-cruise option to see Zurich and Lucerne) and ends on Monday morning, 21 December. You could be back home later that day and still have three shopping days until Christmas – not that you’d need it, after having opportunities to buy amazing and unique gifts at the markets along the cruise.
Talking about shopping, the weak Euro (€1 = US$1.15 at present, down from $1.40 less than two years ago) makes shopping and everything else in Europe much more pleasant than it has been for a long time.
While the weather is sometimes cold (but never impossibly so, and I give out free hand warmers ‘just in case’ of extreme cold), the fellowship on these cruises is invariably warm. It is a wonderful experience to live the Christmas tradition free of the commercial pressures and the rush/crush of everything back home – the malls and streets all full of harried shoppers, and no-one really relaxed or enjoying things. In contrast, the Christmas cruises are relaxed, easy going, and indulgent, and you’re with a group of like-minded souls, all delightfully skipping the worst of the pre-Christmas back home!
I’ve only managed to get a small number of cabins, and there’s not a huge amount of time between now and when we join the cruise in Basel, so if you can make the dates work, please do come join me this December, for a lovely journey up the Rhine.
It is an exciting week this week. Not only do we have this new Travel Insider Tour, but on Wednesday I’ll be getting the two new tablets from Amazon – one each of the 7″ and 8″ models. I’ll let you know on Friday which you should get.
I’m also starting to firm up details for an antiques-focused England tour next June. It will be centered on the first week in June (28 May – 5 June) with some spill over into the week before and after. More about that, soonish.
Until Friday, please enjoy safe travels
David.
