Abrakadabra
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2005
Intro
Hello! We just returned from the Adventures By Disney Rhine River Cruise. This was the Adult-Exclusive Food & Wine Sailing of September 21 - 28. 2023. On these trips, the excursions and other activities are coordinated by ABD, while all other shipboard functions including food, wine, and running the ship itself, are handled by the ship's owner, AMA Waterways. (We were on the AMA Siena). Since to my knowledge there has not been a trip report posted about this particular itinerary since the 2018 Inaugural F&W cruise, this report will attempt to describe the ways in which it has changed since that first sailing.
I just completed the ABD post-trip survey, and hidden among all the marketing questions there were only a few small boxes into which you could type a maximum of 500 characters. So it is obvious that ABD doesn't really care about what we thought about the trip, but rather they just want to know how to attract their customers to the next one. So this report is my attempt to get our thoughts out into the world. It's not a trip report in the usual sense, with day-by-day recollections and photos, but rather an overall reflection on the entire trip. I can give more specifics if you wish, but other Rhine cruise trip reports you may find here on the DIS and elsewhere pretty much cover all the details.
In summary, we were very disappointed in the food and wine aspects of this cruise. Based on the trip report from 2018, we had been led to believe there would be culinary experts on board who would travel on the excursions with us, would help to teach and explain the various cuisines and wines we would be tasting, and that there would ample opportunities for learning and culinary exploration. We had read about vineyard walks and guided wine tastings, and experiences such as evening concerts in the towns we visited along the way. Unfortunately, most of those aspects have been stripped from the program, and what we were left with was basically the standard ABD Rhine River cruise excursion itinerary. While we were told by the lead ABD Adventure Guide that the changes had been made based on previous traveler feedback, I am pretty sure that economics have also played a part as well. And perhaps our hopes were just a little too high that ABD would be able to make this a trip that truly stood out above all the other Rhine cruise company offerings.
So basically, this is a warning to future travelers - if all you want is a fun adults-only trip down the Rhine with magnificent scenery and where the food is decent and the wine and beer are free-flowing, then perhaps this is the trip for you. But if you are hoping to actually learn something new about the food and wine of the regions you are traveling through, then you should look elsewhere. Rather than a "Food and Wine" experience, this was really no more than an expensive "Booze Cruise" down the river.
Hello! We just returned from the Adventures By Disney Rhine River Cruise. This was the Adult-Exclusive Food & Wine Sailing of September 21 - 28. 2023. On these trips, the excursions and other activities are coordinated by ABD, while all other shipboard functions including food, wine, and running the ship itself, are handled by the ship's owner, AMA Waterways. (We were on the AMA Siena). Since to my knowledge there has not been a trip report posted about this particular itinerary since the 2018 Inaugural F&W cruise, this report will attempt to describe the ways in which it has changed since that first sailing.
I just completed the ABD post-trip survey, and hidden among all the marketing questions there were only a few small boxes into which you could type a maximum of 500 characters. So it is obvious that ABD doesn't really care about what we thought about the trip, but rather they just want to know how to attract their customers to the next one. So this report is my attempt to get our thoughts out into the world. It's not a trip report in the usual sense, with day-by-day recollections and photos, but rather an overall reflection on the entire trip. I can give more specifics if you wish, but other Rhine cruise trip reports you may find here on the DIS and elsewhere pretty much cover all the details.
In summary, we were very disappointed in the food and wine aspects of this cruise. Based on the trip report from 2018, we had been led to believe there would be culinary experts on board who would travel on the excursions with us, would help to teach and explain the various cuisines and wines we would be tasting, and that there would ample opportunities for learning and culinary exploration. We had read about vineyard walks and guided wine tastings, and experiences such as evening concerts in the towns we visited along the way. Unfortunately, most of those aspects have been stripped from the program, and what we were left with was basically the standard ABD Rhine River cruise excursion itinerary. While we were told by the lead ABD Adventure Guide that the changes had been made based on previous traveler feedback, I am pretty sure that economics have also played a part as well. And perhaps our hopes were just a little too high that ABD would be able to make this a trip that truly stood out above all the other Rhine cruise company offerings.
So basically, this is a warning to future travelers - if all you want is a fun adults-only trip down the Rhine with magnificent scenery and where the food is decent and the wine and beer are free-flowing, then perhaps this is the trip for you. But if you are hoping to actually learn something new about the food and wine of the regions you are traveling through, then you should look elsewhere. Rather than a "Food and Wine" experience, this was really no more than an expensive "Booze Cruise" down the river.