I get brochures for these all the time. They look like fun, but they are damn expensive - much more so than places like the Baltic.
As an ex Navy dude I was amazed at the problems at first, until my mind got around the concept that this is a cruise ship and not a warship.
On military vessels, there are hundreds of highly trained sailors, drilled in every kind of emergency. They have cross-connected systems that can be split, to isolate damaged steam piping sections for example. They have scary three-phase high-power “outlets” all over the place where they can run a big hulking cable between damaged sections to restore power. They have sound-powered phones and redundant communication circuits, so sailors can communicate without any energy. They have centralized damage control, connected to all watchstations via those same sound powered phones.
On top of that, once a vessel is in trouble, there is a whole convoy of other vessels surrounding them, ready to throw a towline, provide electrical power, and transfer personnel.
Once I started thinking down that path (and reading this thread) it became clear that the civilian vessel probably has none of these features and definitely does not have military vessels nearby to lend assistance.
The way I look at the boutique cruises like Viking is that they soak up the money you would be paying for hotels, rental car or other transport and at least a couple meals a day. You get to travel, don’t have to unpack or deal with a changing array of service personnel, and can get off and do touristy stuff as they bake in touristy stops into the itinerary. Sounds like a great idea for the wary traveller, and I have checked and have a list of the ones that are provided with elevators for the gimpy among us. [I figure they cater to the older traveller that might not want to keep packing and unpacking for a multi country if this is tuesday it must be lichtenstein sort of tour with a group, or just want to see an array of locations without packing and unpacking.]
My parents went on a river cruise tour like this through Russia. I don’t remember the exact itinerary but I know it went from Moscow to St. Petersburg. They found it fascinating and would probably never dared to have done something like that on land.
My folks did a cruise on the Seine just last year and they absolutely loved it. They said it was a far more intimate situation than on large cruise ships, which they also enjoy and do every year.
Has anybody posted a mention of this yet?
Cruise ship bus breaks down: Another headache for some Carnival passengers
One of the buses ferrying passengers from Mobile to Nawleans broke down en route.
This is the right answer. In fact, the toilet is arranged such that you would really have to struggle in order to activate the flush while still sitting on the bowl. One would NOT want to do that! :eek: