ajhk
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
hi this is my first ever post after seeing a leaflet for jy yesterday in the times.

my questions are about the Cruising the Seine Valley & Paris by Eurostar  

has anyone been on it yet or can a administrator help please?

my first question is that my nearest station is ashford in kent so can i get on the eurostar here please rather than london? i dont want to go to london then come back through ashford but if that is the case can i at least get off at ashford on the way home?

how many spaces are left for the october departure please?

I'm only in my 40s but I have a back problem so sometimes I cant walk long distances so how far is the walk from the station to boat please?

 And would all the excursions be OK? (Not the D-Day one), Ive found more info on the ms france croisieurope website but I am still unsure about this.

For people who have done this cruise if you don't go for the excursions can you get off the boat and look around yourself at some of the stops? I see that it says rouen is a 5 minute walk from boat so I presume we can look around by ourselves instead and at honfleur? that way i can do the bits I want and take a break if my back is bad and not effect the actual excursion.

I am vegetarian so are the food options good on board?

also can someone explain how i can get a river cruise brochure posted out to me so I can see all of the other options?

also I should ask are river cruises a good first holiday with jy?

thats it thanks 🙂

Moderator
(Member)
Hi ajhk,

That's great news, welcome to the Just You Community!

1. The outbound service does not stop at Ashford I’m afraid. However, you could travel out from Ebbs-fleet if that helps at all. On your return journey, getting off at Ashford should be OK because the train does stop there.

2. There are only 5 places remaining on the October departure, with 20 people already booked. You'll need to book soon to secure your place

3. In regards to the walk from the station to the boat, we have arranged a transfer to take you from the station directly to the dock where the boat is moored - so you will not need to worry about walking on this occasion. We are just waiting to hear back from our agents regarding the amount of walking involved in general. As soon as I get some information, I will get back to you on this.

4. Vegetarian meals should not be too much of an issue, but if you let us know at the time of booking, we can pass this on to the Tour Manager so they can organise something for you.

5. You can download a River Cruise brochure online if you wish to see our other River Cruises, however, if you would like a hard copy I can personally send you one if you wouldn't mind providing me with your address details.

6. I will let your fellow travellers answer that one, but personally I think they are a great way to see lots of destinations on one trip.

Kindest regards,

Monty

Maddy
  • (Member)
(Member)
I was on this trip in April, and thoroughly enjoyed it, the JY river cruises have been excellent (this was my fourth).

The amount of walking is up to you, the boat moors close to Rouen, Honfleur and other places so it's easy to walk around at your own pace. The guided walks can be quite long so doing your own thing may suit you better. One exception is the tour of Paris which is done by coach with a couple of short stops for photo opportunities, so hardly any walking on that one.

The food is good, we had a lady on our table who was vegetarian and she was more than happy - in fact one evening somebody asked for the vegetarian option instead as it looked so good.

The staff are brilliant, friendly and helpful throughout.

Bosuncat
(Member)
Apologies for butting in on this. 

Maddy.  Have you done the Imperial Cities of the Danube river cruise?  I have booked this for 17th November, and have yet to see any reviews on it.

Thanks.

Maddy
  • (Member)
(Member)
'Bosuncat' wrote:

Apologies for butting in on this. 

Maddy.  Have you done the Imperial Cities of the Danube river cruise?  I have booked this for 17th November, and have yet to see any reviews on it.

Thanks.

I haven't done that one (yet) but the Venetian, Duoru, Seine and Spanish river cruises were all excellent so I'm sure the Danube one will be just as good.

Bosuncat
(Member)
Thanks Maddy.  It's a bit of a new " departure" for me, so we will see.  :)

I had looked at the Seine one, particularly as it goes to Rouen and for the D Day landings, but unfortunately I couldn't get the dates to work.

I have asked questions about the Danube trip on a separate thread , but am waiting for a reply from the Moderator, guessing that they will have to seek queries from the local agents.

Moderator
(Member)
Hi Bosuncat,

Here's the answer to all of your questions:

There is not a lot of walking on cobbled streets and steps, it is mainly flat.

Vienna will be fine as it is all flat pavements, you don’t need to go up or down any steps. It will be a panoramic tour followed by a walking tour, but as I have said the ground is all flat and there are steps involved.

In Budapest there are some slopes and steps that the customer will go up at Buda. However there aren’t loads of steps and you can take your time when going up these. While in Pest the ground is fairly flat and there aren’t any steps to climb up.

In Bratislava there is a slope that you will have to walk up in order to get to the castle. However other than that again the ground is relatively flat and there aren’t many steps that you have to walk up and down.

The Vienna & Budapest excursions will take place in the morning while the Bratislava excursion will be in the afternoon. Obviously this can change if the captain deems it to be necessary. And yes lunch will be on board each day, it will be after the Vienna & Budapest excursions and before the Bratislava excursion.

I hope this information is ok, please let me know if you need any more answers.

Many thanks,

Elisa

Bosuncat
(Member)
'Moderator' wrote:

Hi Bosuncat,

Here's the answer to all of your questions:

There is not a lot of walking on cobbled streets and steps, it is mainly flat.

Vienna will be fine as it is all flat pavements, you don’t need to go up or down any steps. It will be a panoramic tour followed by a walking tour, but as I have said the ground is all flat and there are steps involved.

In Budapest there are some slopes and steps that the customer will go up at Buda. However there aren’t loads of steps and you can take your time when going up these. While in Pest the ground is fairly flat and there aren’t any steps to climb up.

In Bratislava there is a slope that you will have to walk up in order to get to the castle. However other than that again the ground is relatively flat and there aren’t many steps that you have to walk up and down.

The Vienna & Budapest excursions will take place in the morning while the Bratislava excursion will be in the afternoon. Obviously this can change if the captain deems it to be necessary. And yes lunch will be on board each day, it will be after the Vienna & Budapest excursions and before the Bratislava excursion.

I hope this information is ok, please let me know if you need any more answers.

Many thanks,

Elisa

Many thanks Elisa! 

Thanks all I needed to know!

🙂

ajhk
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
'Moderator' wrote:

Hi ajhk,

That's great news, welcome to the Just You Community!

1. The outbound service does not stop at Ashford I’m afraid.  However, you could travel out from Ebbs-fleet if that helps at all. On your return journey, getting off at Ashford should be OK because the train does stop there.

2. There are only 5 places remaining on the October departure, with 20 people already booked. You'll need to book soon to secure your place

3. In regards to the walk from the station to the boat, we have arranged a transfer to take you from the station directly to the dock where the boat is moored - so you will not need to worry about walking on this occasion. We are just waiting to hear back from our agents regarding the amount of walking involved in general. As soon as I get some information, I will get back to you on this.

4. Vegetarian meals should not be too much of an issue, but if you let us know at the time of booking, we can pass this on to the Tour Manager so they can organise something for you.

5. You can download a River Cruise brochure online if you wish to see our other River Cruises, however, if you would like a hard copy I can personally send you one if you wouldn't mind providing me with your address details.

6. I will let your fellow travellers answer that one, but personally I think they are a great way to see lots of destinations on one trip.

Kindest regards,

Monty

thank you so much, I have not been able to reply before as no internet as I am moving house! 🙂

If I cannot get on at ashford can someone confirm the times the train leaves london as if it is very early i will need to travel up the night before. I have had a brochure through and river cruises were covered at the back thank you ::)

Just renewed my passport so once it is with me I plan to take the plunge and book so I hope there's still a space by then.

as the weather is so bad on the seine currently I do hope the june trip is not going to be effected, and if that sort of weather happened in october is the holiday cancelled as standard? I see that next years trip is by plane now instead and that is not something I want to do for this trip.

ajhk
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
'Maddy' wrote:

I was on this trip in April, and thoroughly enjoyed it, the JY river cruises have been excellent (this was my fourth).

The amount of walking is up to you, the boat moors close to Rouen, Honfleur and other places so it's easy to walk around at your own pace. The guided walks can be quite long so doing your own thing may suit you better. One exception is the tour of Paris which is done by coach with a couple of short stops for photo opportunities, so hardly any walking on that one.

The food is good, we had a lady on our table who was vegetarian and she was more than happy - in fact one evening somebody asked for the vegetarian option instead as it looked so good.

The staff are brilliant, friendly and helpful throughout.

thank you so much for the reply! It is so nice to find out from someone who has been on a river cruise before, with the guided tours are they flat or lots of slopes/steps? Also I see I need to book the excursions now but if I left some can I book them once aboard? If my legs are OK I will be fine walking but I can never really tell until the day and different beds/traveling/cases are the sorts of things that can make them bad.

So glad to know vegetarian food is a option and nice, when I was in France as a teenager I survived on bread and hot chocolate  so as long as its better than that.

thanks again 🙂

ajhk
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
'Moderator' wrote:

Hi Bosuncat,

Here's the answer to all of your questions:

There is not a lot of walking on cobbled streets and steps, it is mainly flat.

Vienna will be fine as it is all flat pavements, you don’t need to go up or down any steps. It will be a panoramic tour followed by a walking tour, but as I have said the ground is all flat and there are steps involved.

In Budapest there are some slopes and steps that the customer will go up at Buda. However there aren’t loads of steps and you can take your time when going up these. While in Pest the ground is fairly flat and there aren’t any steps to climb up.

In Bratislava there is a slope that you will have to walk up in order to get to the castle. However other than that again the ground is relatively flat and there aren’t many steps that you have to walk up and down.

The Vienna & Budapest excursions will take place in the morning while the Bratislava excursion will be in the afternoon. Obviously this can change if the captain deems it to be necessary. And yes lunch will be on board each day, it will be after the Vienna & Budapest excursions and before the Bratislava excursion.

I hope this information is ok, please let me know if you need any more answers.

Many thanks,

Elisa

 this is really helpful for me too thank you as I had ruled this one out as the brochure implied there would be too much walking on slopes and I cant do cobbles sometimes.  Maybe I can consider this one as well now, are there going to be any others for next year?

Paul_W
(Member)
Hi Maddy

I posted a request in Say Hello to other travellers ( I thought more appropriate) for any further comments on your trip and the TM's name.

Regards

Paul

Moderator
(Member)
Hi ajhk,

The train will depart from London St Pancras at 12:24.

Regarding the weather, as this is an extreme weather event, we hope that it won’t happen again. However if it does we will take each tour on a case by case basis, and study each tour carefully closer to the departure date. We’ll take all the necessary actions leading up to the departure and we would only cancel the tour as a last resort.

Kindest regards,

Elisa