Pre-Cruise: Documents Arrive From Silversea!

Silversea Cruises does everything with style. Even the documents you receive prior to the cruise foretell of a luxury adventure that is just beginning. The document package, which arrives in a beautiful silver box, consists of a nicely bound "Travel Journal", pre-printed luggage tags for each guest, and two hard plastic (permanent) luggage ID cards.

The Travel Journal contains all the documents required for boarding the ship. Of course, you will also need your passport. In addition to embarkation information, your suite assignment, packing suggestions, and other pertinent information, the Travel Journal also includes in-depth information for each port-of-call on your itinerary. You can research Silversea Shore Excursions offered in each port.

The Travel Journal is a complete guide to your upcoming cruise with information on all of Silversea's dining venues, butler service, hotel and transfer information and passenger contract. There are even a few ruled pages at the back where you can take your own notes about your cruise experience (use that to submit your review to CruiseReport.com!). The document package is complemented by Silversea's guest portal website, My Silversea (my.silversea.com). Booked guests can use My Silversea to complete Guest Information Forms online, make advance dinner reservations, book spa treatments, or to book shore excursions.

The My Silversea website is one of the most comprehensive Booked Guest Portal sites of any cruise line and makes preparing for your Silversea Cruise much more hassle-free. Silversea's travel docs, combined with the excellent My Silversea website, give guests everything they need to prepare for a seamless, luxury experience.

Viking Alruna Pre-Cruise: Arriving in Basel, Switzerland

We landed at London Heathrow airport about 30 minutes ahead of schedule on AA flight 50 from DFW. The flight itself was pretty uneventful up until the last two hours when the flight attendants paged for any doctors on board to tend to a sick passenger. A few rows behind us, we could see a group of doctors and nurses assisting one of the passengers, who appeared to have suffered a heart attack. The doctors and nurses were able to stabilize him enough to prevent the Captain from having to land in Shannon, Ireland. However, as soon as we landed at Heathrow, paramedics boarded the plane to evacuate the passenger. In spite of the medical emergency delay, we were able leave the aircraft in enough time to make our tight (90 minute) connection to our flight to Basel.

As soon as we exited Customs and baggage claim in Basel, I noticed Mark with EdelSwiss holding a sign with my name. EdelSwiss provides a wide variety of ground transportation services including sightseeing tours and even airport transfers from Zurich to Basel. We will discuss more about EdelSwiss in an upcoming review.

Mark from EdelSwill Limousine

On the drive from the airport to our hotel, Mark took time to share information about Basel, including how to get from our hotel to the old city of Basel. Once we arrived at the Swissôtel Le Plaza, Mark quickly unloaded our luggage and we were greeted by the hotel's Concierge who escorted us into the hotel and to the Reception desk for a quick check-in. Our luggage was delivered to our room while we took a few moments to explore the hotel lobby and check things out.

Swissôtel Le Plaza, Basel

In the lobby area, we could see a Viking River Cruises' hospitality desk. This hotel is one of three Basel hotels that Viking River Cruises uses for its guests. The hotel lobby has a large lounge area filled with new furnishings, making it a comfortable place to relax and enjoy a drink, or use the complimentary WiFi to check your email. We were greeted by Melanie Frey, the hotel's Director of Sales and Marketing, who graciously invited us to join her for lunch at Grill 25, the hotel's restaurant. We accepted Melanie's invitation and agreed to meet her after an hour to freshen up and check out our room. When we entered our room (603), we were pleased, but not surprised, to find my large blue duffle bag waiting for me. I had shipped the bag to the hotel using Luggage Forward and, once again, they came through with a perfect delivery. Shipping your luggage ahead using Luggage Forward is super convenient when traveling abroad. Not having to deal with airline luggage handling, wasting time at baggage claim waiting for luggage, or dealing with the frustration of lost luggage, makes Luggage Forward a special service.

My blue duffle bag shipped by Luggage Forward and waiting in hotel room

I had enough time to wash my face and have a quick shave before we headed to the lobby to meet Melanie for lunch at Grill 25. The restaurant was remodeled a few years ago and Melanie sang the praises of the restaurant's burger, which she claimed to be the "best burger in Basel." How could we resist that? 

Grill 25 at Swissôtel Le Plaza

The restaurant is contemporary, with an impressive salad bar and open kitchen. There is a lot of comfortable seating, both indoors and out. When our burgers arrived, Rickee and I looked at each other as if to say "why didn't we just order one and share it?" The menu showed the burger at 200g, but we are not used to seeing meat weighed in grams. A quick conversion on my laptop shows that is nearly 1/2 a pound of beef!

Lunch menu at Grill 25

The burger was huge and dressed with melted Swiss cheese, a red onion jam and chipotle mayonnaise. The chipotle definitely gave the burger an unexpected "kick", something you would expect in Texas, not Switzerland. The burger was delicious, albeit a bit pricey at 29 CHF (about $29.75 USD). I also tried the salad bar (only 8 CHF) which was quite varied, and would have been a substantial meal in and of itself. After the excellent lunch, Rickee and I were both ready for a well-deserved nap after our overnight flight. However, we could not resist Melanie's offer to show us around the property first. In our final review of Swissôtel Le Plaza, we will cover the details of our findings. After the brief tour, we headed to our room for a two-hour nap. We never want to sleep too long after an overnight flight. Otherwise it will take longer to shed the effects of jet lag. We woke up around 5pm and decided to head out for a walk to Old Town Basel.

Even though Swissôtel is not located in the Old Town, the city's tram system runs right in front of the hotel, making it a 5-minute journey to the center of Old Town. The trams are clean, efficient and are an excellent way to get around the city. And, upon check-in, Swissôtel guests receive a "mobility ticket" giving you free use of the tram system!

Tram in Basel, Switzerland

The weather this afternoon was so perfect, we decided to skip the tram and walk to Old Town. It is pretty simple: just walk out the front door of the hotel, turn left at the corner, and keep walking! It took about 15 minutes at a leisurely pace to reach the Middle Bridge which happens to be the largest and oldest bridge crossing the Rhine river. The bridge was completed in 1225!

Middle Bridge

After you cross Middle Bridge, you arrive at Old Town Basel. Just a couple of blocks from Middle Bridge we find a plaza where we can see the sun hitting Rathaus, the city's Town Hall and one of the most beautiful buildings in Basel.

Rathaus

We keep walking up the cobblestone streets until we walk past Hotel Basel, where we stayed in 2014 during our last visit to Basel. Continuing up the hill we find Tapas Del Mar, an interesting little restaurant. The walk has made us ready for a glass of wine or beer, so we find a table for two inside the little restaurant.

Tapas Del Mar

We could not resist ordering the Pimientos Padrones, little peppers that are seared in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. We had these for the first time in Barcelona about a year earlier and fell in love with them. We shared an order of the Pimientos and an order of Bruschetta (tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil on crusty bread). Both were excellent, and just enough to complement my glass of Syrah and Rickee's local beer.  As we dined, some local street performers serenaded us with Spanish guitar music and the place began to fill up. The total bill was only 31 CHF (about $32 USD), a real bargain. Our visit to Tapas Del Mar was another one of those little treats you sometimes find when you just get out and walk around on your own.

After our light dinner, we walked back to our hotel (about 20 minutes) as it was just starting to get dark outside. It was a great day in Basel. This is a city that everyone should visit when traveling to Switzerland.

Flying to Europe from DFW

Early this afternoon, our BLACKLANE driver showed up at our home about 10 minutes early for our private transfer to DFW airport. Amin greeted us with a smile and quickly loaded our luggage into the back of his black Ford Expedition. This was our first experience using BLACKLANE, and I have to say, we were impressed. Not only did the driver show up early, he called to let us know he was in front of the house. And, BLACKLANE sent an email earlier that morning with the driver’s name and phone number.

Amin's Ford Expedition provided a roomy and comfortable ride to DFW

Amin was very friendly and we appreciated the cleanliness of his vehicle. Complimentary bottled water was also provided for us. In less than 15 minutes, Amin was dropping us off at Terminal D for our 3:45 flight to London.

Complimentary bottled water provided by Amin

After checking in at the Priority Desk and learning that our chances of getting an upgrade to Business Class were slim to none, we wrestled our way through TSA PreCheck security, where I had to surrender another nice Swiss Army Knife. Damn! I never learn. I think this is the third pocket knife I have had confiscated by TSA. By the way, TSA PreCheck is a God-send. If you do not have Global Entry, you should if you fly more than twice a year. It is well worth it.

Once through security, we found our way to Gate 17 and the American Express Centurion Lounge. The Centurion Lounge is complimentary for American Express Platinum Members and I have been a member since 1987. The Centurion Lounge has some advantages over the Admiral's Club (American Airlines' lounge). First, drinks are free and they have a substantial complimentary buffet. Add comfortable seating and free WiFi and you can see why this is a popular place. They even offer complimentary massage and manicures!

The Centurion Lounge is at Gate D17 at DFW

Soon we were heading to our departure gate and boarding AA Flight 50 to London Heathrow. We were fortunate enough to get confirmed seats in Main Cabin Extra, American's version of "Premium Economy". Basically, it's an economy seat with a little extra legroom. But, on a ten-hour flight, even a little extra room can make a big difference. We were in 18B and 18C, the very back row in Main Cabin Extra. These are great seats because they recline, but there is nobody sitting behind you to inconvenience. Fortunately, American has updated the entertainment systems on the 777-300ER used for this flight. There is a good selection of movies and TV shows on demand.

Updated entertainment system

And, the 777-300 now has international WiFi service...finally! I did not get a chance to try out the service on this flight, but plan to on the flight back to DFW.

WiFi service available on 777-300

Tomorrow morning we will arrive at London Heathrow where we have a very short connection to Basel, Switzerland.

Viking Alruna Pre-Cruise: MyVikingVoyage Website

Most cruise lines now offer some form of online check-in through their website. Viking Cruises' "MyVikingVoyage.com" is the website where Viking guests can customize their upcoming vacation through a very organized set of web pages. After we received our booking number for our Viking Longship Alruna sailing, we were invited to visit MyVikingVoyage.com to set up a new account.

MyVikingVoyage home page

The home page of MyVikingVoyage.com is a summary of the cruise itinerary and other pertinent information. You can easily select your shore excursions from the list of included excursions as well as optional (for a fee) excursions. A shopping cart mechanism allows you to select all optional excursions for the trip, then pay at the end. The cost of the excursions is very competitive with other cruise lines. When you click the More Info button for an excursion, a window pops up with a complete description of the activity including the activity level, a very helpful feature for those with mobility issues.

Excursions are scheduled for morning, afternoon or evening and some are long enough to cover two time periods. Fortunately,the system will alert you if you attempt to book an excursion that conflicts with another previously selected excursion (see example above).

On all Viking cruises (river or ocean), your cruise fare includes at least one excursion in each port, so many may not find it necessary to book any optional excursions. The included excursions make a Viking River/Ocean cruise a great value.

At any time, you can review your Calendar to see what you have planned for each day of the journey.

Calendar shows all pre-booked excursions

Viking recommends that you use the website to pre-book excursions as space may be limited. Even included excursions should be pre-booked to ensure availability.

You can order Viking's optional Silver Spirits Premium beverage package, which appears to be one of the most generous and affordable beverage programs we have seen. For about $30 per person/per day, you can enjoy unlimited cocktails, premium wines, beers and juices and receive a bottle of sparkling wine. It should be noted that Viking includes complimentary red and white wine with lunch and dinner each day. Also, their bar menu has some of the most competitive drink prices in the industry.

The MyVikingVoyage.com website is an easy-to-navigate site and a great way to plan out your Viking cruise in advance. It is one of the nicest cruise line websites we have seen to date. Now that we have booked our excursions, we are really getting excited to sail with Viking River Cruises again!