We had the opportunity to travel again on A-ROSA, the German River cruise company that we traveled on last July. A-ROSA is a cruise line which has traditionally catered to German clientele. A-ROSA began marketing their river-cruise product to folks in North America last year and we were fortunate to be on the inaugural cruise (for North Americans) out of Basil in July 2013. We met some wonderful friends on that cruise!  Two of them (Shelley & Dean) contacted us to see if we'd be interested in taking another A-ROSA river cruise.  OF COURSE we would!!!.

This cruise would leave and return to Lyon, France and travel on the Rhône and Saône rivers. The first obstacle we faced was getting to Lyon. We love the thrill of the hunt for available seats so there would be no confirmed tickets for us, we would utilize our retiree flight benefits! An awesome reward for our combined 64 years of service to Delta Air Lines! I created a spreadsheet with all flights leaving the United States for Europe. I narrowed the selection down to seven flights that had the most seats available in business class. With highlighted list in-hand, we went to the airport.

The first stand-by opportunity was to Paris. By the time the flight left, it was obvious that we would not get seats so we went to the gate for our second opportunity which was to Munich. It was a bit of a nail-biter, but we managed to score the last two available seats on the plane and they were in business class to boot! While we were sipping our champagne and congratulating ourselves, I booked stand-by tickets from Munich to Lyon on Lufthansa. Or, I thought that’s what I was doing. I guess I had Paris on my mind, because when I did the online check-in for the flight, I noticed that I had booked Munich to Paris instead. I had to scramble to book the Lyon flight before having to turn off my electronic device.

The flight to Munich was wonderful! We both commented that our meal was the best we have had in a long time on an airplane. Tony’s chicken was moist and tender and my eggplant lasagna was delicious. We watched a movie during dinner. I watched “Bad Words” and Tony watched “Divergent”, both enjoyable. We slept well in our lie-flat seats!

We landed in Munich with plenty of time to go to the Lufthansa desk and explain our situation. The agent was very friendly and helpful. He “un-checked” us in for the Paris flight so I could apply for a refund and gave us seats on the Lyon flight! We had a few hours to kill, so we stopped at a café for a very expensive coffee and diet coke ($10.60 for the two drinks). 

We had a nice flight on Lufthansa. We had a 2 across – window/aisle. 

They served a cheese and basil sandwich that was pretty good!

Upon landing in Lyon, we started looking for the public transportation. I had researched a metro/bus connection that would get us to the hotel, but we saw a sign for the Rhone Express and decided that might be more pleasant. The cost at the automated machine was 13 Euros each. We tried to pay with a VISA card, and then a check card, and then cash. There wasn’t an agent to help us, so we started trying every card in our wallet. Finally the American Express card worked and we got our tickets. (We later learned that we had both a debit from our bank account and a charge on the AMEX. We are working on getting a refund now but it doesn't look promising.) The ride to central Lyon was just under 30 minutes. We decided to walk from the station to the hotel as a way to help keep us awake.

The walk was pleasant as long as we stayed on the shady side of the street. Some of the curbs at street crossings were “Roll-aboard” friendly and some weren’t. We took a detour through the park that I had read about on trip advisor but the gravel paths weren’t very “Roll-aboard” friendly either so we took the first exit and finished our walk along the street.

At the Hilton, our room wasn’t quite ready so they sent us to the Executive lounge overlooking the river to relax and wait. 

The Hilton had a nice spread of snacks and beverages in the lounge.

Our room was very nice, overlooking the park that we had walked through. I tried to go to the park but a guard posted at the entrance said it was closed because of the weather (at least that's what I think he said as he pointed to the sky).

We wanted to watch the World Cup Soccer game between Germany and France. We were pulling for Germany, but since we were in France, we decided to keep a low profile. We watched the game in the Executive lounge along with some other Americans. We were pleased that Germany won.

We slept well and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel before heading for the cruise ship. The dock was only a few miles from the hotel and it was a beautiful walk along the river so we again opted to walk. There were lots of folks walking, biking and skating on the path. At one point, I converted my roll-aboard into a backpack and we took a dirt path to get closer to the river.

It took us about an hour to get to the Quai Claude Bernard where the A-ROSA Stella was docked.  Here's where our vacation really started!

The Cruise
Saturday, Day 1
When we arrived at the ship, we were greeted by Stefan. A sign indicated boarding time was at 2PM but Stefan said we could leave our luggage and relax in the lounge until check-in opened. 

There were several folks in the lounge who hadn’t yet disembarked from the previous cruise. At 2PM, Stefan arrived with a rose for me and said that we could check in.

Our cabin was almost identical to the cabin we had on our previous A-ROSA cruise aboard the AQUA. The color scheme was slightly different but no more appealing than before, all oranges and reds, not complimentary colors on the color wheel. The cabin was comfortable though with plenty of closet space and a small but clean and functional bathroom.

We unpacked our luggage and went back to the lounge to wait for our friends. We noted a number of differences this year. The average age of the passengers was much older this year (probably closer to late 70's/early 80's). There were lots of folks with canes and crutches. There were also a lot of British and German passengers this year, while last year’s cruise was attended exclusively by North Americans. We would later learn that each nationality had a different contract of carriage. The North Americans were on an all-inclusive package, the British were on a semi-inclusive package, and the Germans seemed to be on a pay-as-you-go basis. We had to use our room cards when we ordered a drink and then were asked to sign a receipt with a zero charge.

Our friends, Shelley & Dean arrived just in time for the mandatory briefing where we learned about safety on board.

We then listened to Stefan give a description of the excursions. We hadn't signed up for any of them yet, so we were interested in hearing about them.

After the briefing, as we were exploring the ship, we ran into the entertainment and were thrilled to find that it was Ingrid and Rasti of the Duo Lipstick, a real highlight from our last cruise with A-ROSA! Not only did we recognize them, but they remembered us and wished me a Happy Birth Month!

The first dinner was buffet style, another deviation from our last cruise where all dinners were 5 course seated dinners which included wine pairings with each course. On this cruise, there were no pairings, we were offered a red or a white wine.

This was rather a disappointment since the food had been one of the enticements that caused us to come back aboard A-ROSA. We shared a table with some Brits. After dinner, we went up on deck to enjoy the scenery as we sailed away from Lyon.

There was something called Matinée Rustique on the sundeck before lunch where they served tarte flambee and French wine while we listened to French music as we sailed.

When we docked in Avignon, our friends who had taken the bus tour were waiting for us. (That's Shelley & Dean on the dock.)

We had lunch with Roger (the lonely British man I had met on my bus tour). There were hot dogs on the deck or a variety of foods from the buffet.

We wanted to take the afternoon bike tour, but we had not signed up in time. Marco said we could wait and see if anyone didn't show up (sort of a non-rev approach to biking), but everyone did, so there were no bikes for us. We decided to walk through the wall into Avignon. The town was incredibly crowded due to a performing arts festival. We were bombarded by performers trying to hand us information. The city was a little hard to navigate, but we found the church, and the Pope's Palace.

From atop the hill behind the Pope's Palace, we could see the wall around the city and what was left of the the Pont d'Avignon (bridge) after sieges and river currents had destroyed 18 of the 22 arches.

All that remains of the bridge is 4 arches and a chapel that was enlarged in the 1500's.

Dinner was a fixed menu affair again. The lamb loin appetizer and the herb crusted veal were memorable, and the dessert was very pretty. We had the pleasure of dining with Bob and Nancy, a couple from Virginia with whom we had a lot in common.

The evening's entertainment was LUC BRIAN (not to be confused with the American Country singer, Luke Bryan). LUC BRIAN is a local artist who entertained us with his electro piano and classic French chansons (whatever that is).

Thursday, Day 6
The boat spent the night docked at Avignon. We had planned to take the early morning bike ride but I wasn't feeling well when I woke up so Tony went to find Marco and let him know we wouldn't be going. I stayed in bed until noon and finally got up just as we were leaving Avignon. I had soup for lunch and was feeling much better by the time we docked in Arles around 4PM, so we were able to take the afternoon bike ride.

This ride took us to the Camargue Nature park where there are beautiful sunflower fields.

The swampy area of the Camargue is used for growing rice. There are lots of animals as well. The white horses, we were told, are born black and turn white as they mature.

I was surprised Tony would get so close to a horse after his unfortunate injury back in 1993. Horses also played a role in the injuries inflicted on two of our bike riders. The two German girls were looking at the white horses when they ran into each other and crashed. They survived with just a little road rash. Marco administered some first aid and we were on our way again, riding a little slower.

We were worried that we would miss dinner but Marco wanted to show us some sights in Arles before returning to the boat.

There are still bullfights held in the Amphitheater, but Marco says they do not kill the bulls.

It is hard to believe, but Marco said the Roman Theatre is also still being used as a venue for concerts and other performances.

This ride was 42km and our moving average was 16km/hour, better than the first ride but we won't be competing in the Tour de France anytime soon!

We did make it back to the boat before the buffet closed. We were supposed to have a BBQ on the deck, but the weather didn't cooperate. We enjoyed another night in the lounge with the Duo Lipstick and DJ EFFI. The theme was an '80's party! We were still dancing as we left Arles at 10PM.

Friday, Day 7
We passed through a LOT of locks during the night, arriving at Viviers around 8AM. We stayed just long enough to drop off the folks who were taking the tour which would drop them off in La Voulte.

While the group went on their tour, the rest of us sailed to La Voulte through even more locks. It was a lazy day for us. It was a bit chilly to sit on the deck so we spent most of the day in the lounge, playing cards and reading our books.  Rasti, the guitar player from Lipstick Duo impressed us with his guitar skills in the afternoon. I had a chance to give private card shuffling lessons to another British couple. Who knew Brits couldn't shuffle a deck of cards?

The staff hosted a Travel Quiz in the lounge which we failed miserably. I think we only got 3 of the answers correct about where we had traveled. We did have some pretty creative answers though.

We enjoyed a glass of champagne in our cabin while we got ready for dinner and the farewell party.

The final dinner was pretty good!  We both had the surf and turf which was a shrimp on top of a beef filet.

After dinner, it was back to the lounge for the farewell party where the crew was introduced and we had a champagne toast.  We said goodbye to our new friends. I especially hope to hear of the progress from my British card shuffling students!

We had a wonderful time with our old and new friends despite what probably sounds like complaining. We were just so spoiled by the previous A-ROSA cruise...

Saturday, Day 8
We had concentrated very little on how we would get home, so we were pleased to have wi-fi on the boat so we could check flights. We had decided that we would try for a 6:50AM flight from Lyon to Frankfurt which would allow us to connect with the nonstop flight to Atlanta. If we didn't get on that, we would try to get to Paris since there are some late afternoon flights from Paris. A-ROSA had arranged a 5:15AM pick-up for us.  This meant we had to get up at 4:30AM. We thought we would be on a shuttle with other passengers, but when the car arrived a few minutes early, the driver whisked us away by ourselves. Nice!

The flight to Frankfurt would be on Lufthansa again. We can't get as much information about availability on other airlines as we can on Delta. The only availability we could see on the Lufthansa flight was a red frownie face which means we don't have a good chance of getting on the flight. We got our standby boarding cards and passed through security with plenty of time before the flight. I checked in at the gate and was told we would have to wait until the flight had boarded to see if we would get on. We watched A LOT of people get on the plane so we were quite surprised when the agent gave us a thumbs up! He scribbled on our boarding passes 1C & 1D. Business class no less!

They served us a lovely breakfast and afterward, some apple chips.

When we got to Frankfurt, we had very little time to get to our next gate which was in a different terminal. We had to ride the sky train, get checked in, go through passport control, make our way to the gate and wait in a huge line for security. All of this took an hour and a half! We felt pretty good about our chance to get a seat if we could just make it in time. Thankfully we did! We had just taken our seats in business class when we heard the agent say they would not be boarding anymore non-revs because of payload optimization. We just slid in under the wire! It was a great flight home in lie-flat seats!

Conclusion? We would still recommend A-ROSA, but maybe to a slightly different audience this time. Send me an email if you are interested and I'll tell you more.

BJ (and Tony)
bj@bjandtony.com