Sailing the Danube aboard AmaCerto

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Well, we're not really sailing yet, but we crossed the Danube River to Bulgaria last night. That was the only thing that went smoothly last night. It turns out this sailing has a large escorted group (50 or more) of French-speaking Canadians. They travel en masse. Everything has to be done in 2 languages so it takes twice as long. Because the CD was returning to the boat with the pre-cruise passengers, all evening activities were delayed by 45 minutes or so. We were all supposed to have our tour requests finalized by 9:30 pm. I asked both the day and night receptions to handle that and both referred me to the CD but he was probably still at dinner at 10 pm. He had his main course when I left the dining room after 9:30 pm. We had a terrible dinner experience waiting an hour for 1 course. We are hopeful that it won't be as bad as that every night. But, the waiter defended himself by saying the kitchen workers would not let him order main courses until they finished serving appetizers, soups and salads. Hopefully, everyone won't arrive at once every night like last night. That couldn't help. They say you can enter the dining room and order any time between opening and 1.5 hours later. If we could stand to eat that late, maybe a late arrival would solve our problem. Tonight dinner is at 7 pm so we'll hope to out by 9 pm. There is a complimentary cocktail hour in the front lounge starting an hour before dinner starts.

Some more notes about AmaCerto. There are adequate outlets because in the desk drawer they provide a power strip. Current is 220 only. Oddly, there is only one 220 volt outlet behind the mirror in the bathroom. They provide a hair dryer but I don't know anyone who'd use it without being able to use the mirror too. Today I found there is an ice machine at the aft lounge/Chef's Table restaurant that is steps from our last cabin on deck 3. A plus. After breakfast, we returned to find our cabin already serviced and gifts on the bed. A ball cap for Clay and a Chinese-made viscose/acrylic large scarf/shawl for me. I should note that Clay complained going to bed last night with only a duvet again (as all over Europe anyway). Today there was a card on the bed that stated he could go to reception to ask for a sheet and blanket instead. He refused to go request it. So.

We were up much earlier than we needed to be today. Since the tour we wanted to cancel was leaving at 8:30 am and the tour we were interesting in was leaving at 9 am, we went to breakfast early. We caught Christian at his desk busy and waited to speak with him. He never asked our names about the cancellation so I guess it wasn't that important. We asked about the Rousse and Ivanovo Rock-Hewn Churches tour. The pre-cruise pdf said it was strenuous to hike at Ivanovo. Since we'd paid for an independent tour that was supposed to go there and didn't early this trip, we assumed the guide substituted a different rock-hewn monastery in the same Lom River valley because he thought I wouldn't be able to do the hike. Clay still wanted to do it (and so did I really, if possible). We asked if there was any flexibility like doing Rousse and not the hike (which the pdf doc had suggested). Christian said no at first, we talked some more and he asked us to check back after the woman guiding it arrived and he'd see and let us know. We told him we'd go to breakfast and check back. After breakfast, he flagged us down at reception and encouraged us to take gray tags (they use a group color code system everyday for each group to sync their QuietVoxs). He said we could stay in town and walk back or go out to Ivanovo and hike or sit at cafe tables. It turned out people in worse shape than me and less appropriate footwear were going to hike so I went. It wasn't easy but I did it and I'm glad. It was amazing and unique. I'm still glad that we also saw the starting monastery & tomb of St. Dimitri earlier too. So that all worked out for the best. After the tour bus returned to Rousse, they dropped off in town those who weren't ready to return to the boat. There is a little Artisan's Street Market at the docking area and our guide led us through for samples of wine and rose candy. Oh, the Rousse walking tour was remarkable for being yet another first day of school! The kids and parents all active and carrying flowers. As today's guide explained, 1st day of school in this region means an opening ceremony where the kids meet their teachers with flowers or gifts and after a few hours they all go sit in cafes and talk. Or as we saw in Brasov, have coffee or drinks and cigarettes!

We went to lunch aboard about 1 pm. I've had chicken breast and potatoes for 2 meals of 3 now. I had yogurt and waffles for breakfast. I won't starve but we were eating better on our own in my opinion.

We are docked here beside Rousse, Bulgaria until 5:45 pm. Assuming the bus with the full-day Bucharest tour returns on schedule. Our guide today told us that 2 days ago the locals shut down the Friendship Bridge in protests over clean air. That bridge is the only Danube border crossing between Bulgaria and Romanian. It was slow the day we crossed with a private tour. I can't imagine it in a bus. Hopefully, they'll have a smooth time of it today.

I'll post this now as we have a restful afternoon and a late night expected.

Photos