My solo cruise with Saga River Cruises.

I wanted a short break around the end of March and so chose a week on the Rhine. The boat was the Filia Rheni II, a Dutch river boat on charter, together with her sister, Regina Rheni, to Saga Holidays. Part of the attraction was the option of flights from my local airport, rather than having to take the train to Folkestone and then coach, or the Eurostar.

Filia Rheni takes just around 150 passengers in all twin outside cabins. There were 107 on my cruise, many solos like me. Aside from a couple of moaners, the other passengers were friendly, chatty and helpful (I am currently walking with one crutch). Being Saga of course, the majority were elderly but active, ex-professional types. The cabins are all the same internally, the only differences being those on the lowest deck have a small window, the middle deck where I was have a large picture window and the upper deck have Juliet balconies. The main public rooms consist of a large forward lounge with bar and tea and coffee self-service station; the restaurant is on the lowest public deck and at the stern is a small library/games room, fitness room and Jacuzzi. The latter has to be booked as it is not permanently filled. The top sun deck is huge, with some canopies, sun loungers, directors’ chairs and a small unheated pool. There is also a roofed lounging area there with planters and rattan seats. The lounge deck, middle deck and restaurant are served by a lift but you need to be able to manage stairs to access the lowest deck of cabins and the library. The sun deck has a stairlift on one of the two external flights of stairs.

 

 

 

The captain was Italian and all the other crew, from second captain to laundress were eastern European, mainly Romanian and Hungarian. They were, without exception, friendly and very helpful. We also carried a Dutch river pilot. This was the first cruise of the season and the boat had just undergone a refit. It was immaculate inside and out.
The cabin was a good size with twin beds pushed together to make a double, bedside shelves with lamps on, a double wardrobe and two cupboards. A small drawer held a hairdryer and there was a shoe-cleaning mitt, shoehorn and flat-screen TV. The safe was in the wardrobe. I was very pleased that the shower had a glass sliding door and not a curtain! There was a Milka chocolate on my pillow every night but I wasn't so keen on the fact that the duvet was folded in half lengthways and laid on the bed meaning you had to effectively make your own bed each night. There were also two quiet-voxs in charger units. These are used on tours and hang round the neck, transmitting the guide’s commentary wirelessly. Having your own unit permanently cut down on time at the start of tours.

 

 

We had a safety briefing on the first evening but muster drill was on day 2, when we had to wear our life jackets and muster on the sun deck. I did struggle with those outdoor stairs when I couldn't see my feet! Stewardesses checked cabins.
Breakfast is an open-seating buffet; a light lunch buffet was available in the lounge or a served open-seat meal in the restaurant. Dinner was at 7pm and was fixed seating. I was on a table of 6. I found the food delicious and it exceeded my expectations, although choices were limited. There was always a fish dish and a vegetarian one. The other varied between poultry, venison, lamb etc. There was one dessert or cheese and biscuits. A choice of white, red or rose wine or beer was included with lunch and dinner. The first night there was a birthday and the lights were turned off leaving just real candles on all the tables, while a proper cake with candles was brought in and we all sang Happy Birthday. Some nice touches were the hot chocolate (with brandy) served on deck as we transited the Rhine Gorge (the weather was sunny but freezing cold) and the large amount of carefully-arranged Easter chocolates we all received. 

Unlike an ocean cruise, there was no security. If we went ashore, we handed in our cabin key (literally, a key) in exchange for a boarding pass. Frequently, river boats moor to other river boats, meaning you have to cross from one to another to get ashore. In Koblenz, this meant crossing over to another larger boat, climbing up to their sundeck and then down a very steep narrow gangway. Gangways have ropes, not rails, making this quite impossible for me at the present time. Other times it was just a few short steps ashore.

Given their small size entertainment is limited. We had quizzes, a couple of musical evenings and, in Koblenz, a local folk group came on board, but you could go ashore if you wanted most evenings. I found a week was long enough as it is quite intensive but wouldn't hesitate to go again.