Sunday, October 11, 2015
We had the opportunity to sleep in this morning, but I was
up first at 6:30am. Breakfast started at 7:30am and we were some of the few in
there in the first hour. Yesterday morning at this time we were coming through
the first of 34 locks on the Main River when we got up. This morning at 8am we
were coming through the 16th lock. We spent the bulk of the day
sailing the Main River today. They tell us at this point we can’t get caught up
because of the log jam of boats caused by the low water issues with the Rhine
and Danube Rivers. The problem of the log jam of boats is compounded by the
number of locks and the waits this creates to use them. I believe they have
been doing the best they could with the exception of Bamberg. The ACD seems to
have run a charm offensive on the other bus yesterday afternoon with beer and
trivia and is now everyone’s darling. We weren’t on that bus, so I don’t know
what’s going on. After breakfast, Simona gave a lecture on the “Castles on the
Rhine” about the stretch of the river between Rudesheim and Koblenz. After that
the string quartet onboard with the Dutch group gave a concert in the Panorama
Lounge. They were really very good. True to their word they let the other
passengers stay even though they shut the Amadeus Club to the rest of us early
for practice. I still find it unacceptable that they are allowed to take over
public space from the rest of us especially since the sun deck is closed. Of
course, as cold as it has gotten we probably wouldn’t go up there anyway. The
bad news is that a large group of guests that have been on since Budapest set
up a game with tiles right behind them shortly before they started playing and
talked loudly and laughed loudly and then made a lot of noise with the tiles
before bringing a duet to a stop before they quieted and the duet restarted.
This large Dutch group has been disruptive to the rest of us, but they were
just immature and rude. After that there was a taste of Germany buffet with
oompa music in the lounge. We enjoyed it but the music was loud and annoying by
the boat’s duo. We sailed for another couple of hours before disembarking after
the 19th lock. We boarded buses and rode about an hour to
Miltenberg. We had a guided walking tour there. There were 2 buses full and one
guide! We had about an hour there and no free time. Since all anyone vocal
wants to do here is shop, it didn’t really matter because stores are closed on
Sunday. We drove another 30 minutes to Wertheim with the local guide. She led
us again through Wertheim. Again there was no free time available. The boat had
arrived and was docked in Wertheim. All aboard was 6:45. Dinner was 7:30pm. The
program said the port talk for tomorrow would be in the restaurant after
dinner. During dessert the hotel manager came on and gave a pep talk and
introduced a new captain. He said he had come from a boat that had just come
through the Rhine from the other direction and he was here to help troubleshoot
the upcoming segment. He had brought with him the corporate level captain and
their corporate boss and they were onboard to handle the problems that we’ve
been having and are expected to have. He invited everyone to the lounge for a
free drink. The hotel manager thanked him and thanked us and offered a 2nd
free drink. They gave the mic to Simona and she explained that we were going to
fall further behind again in our sailing schedule and that except for the Dutch
group she had done the best she could to replace what was promised with what
could be delivered. So, instead of waking up in Rudesheim tomorrow morning we
will sail all morning. She expected us to arrive in Mainz, where the Main River
meets the Rhine, around 2pm. There the Dutch passengers would be disembarked to
get to a theater they had booked. (She didn’t say anything about picking them
up again. I assume they’ll meet us in Rudesheim.) The boat will continue to
sail to Rudesheim about 4:30pm. There everyone with tours booked or with
included tours like us will have them. Ours originally included lunch and that
will become dinner. We were also supposed to have a tour of Koblenz tomorrow,
but that was not discussed. The boat will overnight in Rudesheim in order to
have scenic sailing of the castles area the next morning. Beyond that it will
be decide each day depending on how far we can sail.
Our dining companions had received the answer to their
question about how we would receive our lunch ashore 15 Euro pp per occurrence
shipboard credits in cash. They had bought some Swarvoski crystal jewelry with
their 60 Euros at the onboard shop. Clay has a bag of laundry ready and the
list filled out to within 2 Euros of our 60 Euros. It is not a big bag! Clay
figured though that we weren’t ever getting cash back (as did I which was why
our dining companions had pinned Simona down for an answer) and he is also
certain that we will not have any free time in Amsterdam to do laundry like we
had planned. So, this is his perfect plan.
We have been without Internet all day, so I'll get this posted when I can. Sorry! I don't know when Clay will get the photos linked in...
