My Shearings River Cruise

As you will have read in a previous entry myself and 3 of my colleagues were lucky enough to be invited to join the MPS Rotterdam on Battlefields of World 1 and 2 River cruise with Shearings and have just returned back from our 4 day trip.

I have to be honest when I first heard I was going on a Shearings trip my first thoughts were I would be going on a coach trip with a group of old people and be herded around like sheep all day long. I would say the average age group on this particular tour was between 55-75 years old and were all a really friendly group of people. Being on a river cruise ship which only holds 107 passengers, and also being on a coach does mean you get more chance to talk to fellow passengers and build more friendships.  There were tours included within the price paid and then there is optional excursions you could pay extra to join in.  Here is a day by day guide day of my trip

Day 1: Shearings offer local pick up points on their river cruise tours, and I was able to be picked up from my home town in Chichester. I was taken by a mini bus at 07:48 with 2 other couples to Worthing where we then joined the feeder coach to take us to the Interchange point in Hythe. We only had two more pick-ups after Worthing and arrived into the interchange just after 12pm. As the connecting coaches were not departing until after 13.15 we were invited to go into the services where there was various food outlets, a WH Smith and a Bureau de Change for any forgotten Euros.
We were then called to take our coach which was parked in Bay 14 and took our seats, ready for the short drive to Dover where we then proceeded to take the 14:45 Dover – Calais ferry. We docked at 5.15 and were soon on our way to Antwerp to join the MPS Rotterdam. We arrived at 20:15 (19:15 UK time) where we checked in and then was straight to dinner. From leaving my front door to joining the ship – took just over 12 hours –  I could have flow half way across the world in that time and have to say the length of travelling time did certainly make the day drag but was a good chance to catch up with a book and the  gossip magazines.

We had our 5 course dinner which was a set menu and had no choices, so if you didn’t like a particular course then you just went with out. Then we had to proceed straight to the bar for our welcome meeting at 10pm as well as a safety drill. After a glass of wine it was time to retire for the evening as the long journey had worn us out. We were lucky enough to have our own cabins on board – I was on the lower deck which was below the waterline but was certainly very spacious and plenty of room to move around in. My cabin had fixed twin beds and also had a separate toilet room and also a separate shower. I would have said this cabin was originally going to be  a disabled cabin as there was an alarm button half way down the wall but the stairs were so steep they couldn’t fit a chair lift and so is unsuited for anyone with mobility needs.

Two of my colleagues were in a grade B cabin on the promenade room and although this is a higher category, the cabin was much smaller, the beds were pulled down from the wall at night and then during the day folded away so you could then have a seating area.

Day 2: After a long traveling the day before, Shearings had decided there was no time for a rest and had planned a whole day’s excursion for the ship. After having breakfast we then boarded the coach to leave at 08.30 for the journey to Ypres where we were going to spend the day visiting the Tyne Cot Cemetery (the British Cemetery) , the Langemark German Cemetery, having our packed lunch supplied by the ship in Ypres and then visiting the In Flanders Field Museum. Our small group then decided we wanted to see more of Ypres so we stayed behind whilst the rest of the group visited the Essex Farm Cemetery and the Lijssenthoek Cemetery.
We all then met up for dinner in a restaurant in Ypres before joining the daily evening Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate. Every evening at 8pm the Bugle players can be heard/seen and poppy wreaths are laid to commemorate the fallen soldiers who fought for their countries in World War 1
It was then time to join the coach – only no-one had told our little group the meeting point had changed, so we were waiting in the wrong place for 10 minutes before we turned round and called our group host who then came to meet us. Unfortunately one of the ladies on my coach had fallen and hit her head at the Menin Gate so had to be taken to hospital, so all though we were late back – the coach wasn’t waiting for us.
We finally arrived back to the ship about 22:45 where we proceeded to the bar for a glass of wine and then bed.

Day 3: As we had chosen to opt out of the Beer and Cheese tasting excursion (this was the optional tour) we were able to take a later breakfast at 9am before heading off into Antwerp independently on our own with the map. We walked into the historic part of the city where we saw the town hall and the fountains. The weather was not on our side so the heavens opened and we quickly rushed into a local café for a lovely Belgian hot chocolate. We then headed back to the ship for our welcome cocktail and to meet the crew. Afterwards lunch was then served in the restaurant
After lunch I sat on top deck watching Antwerp disappear and watching how the ship went through the locks. There was then a talk in the lounge by the guest speaker they had on board with regards to the First World War. It was then time to get ready for dinner.
After dinner whilst we were approaching Gorinchem we had Karol the keyboard player play to us, then followed the evenings Trivia Quiz to win a Shearings cool bag – unfortunately my team did not win. We had then docked in Gorinchem at 22:00 so our group decided to go for a wander round the town, this was a very quiet town with cobbled streets. We stopped for a drink before heading back to the ship and having a nightcap before retiring for the night.

Day 4: This was our last morning on board and we are sailing to Nijmegen. So the morning had in store breakfast, followed by a second talk by the guest speaker, watching the scenery go past on a rather foggy morning and then time for lunch before we disembarked. We are due to dock at 1pm where we then took a taxi to the train station and then took the train to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport which was supposed to take 90 minutes. My return flight was at 17:25 back to London Gatwick.  The ship was continuing on to Amsterdam. We had a bit of a nightmare with the trains – but will write about this next week.

The point of the trip was for me to gain experience of a river cruise – as I am used to the big cruise ships with all singing, all dancing facilities such as flow riders, casinos, roadway shows, and I also got to experience the Shearings product.  This cruise was all about the theme rather than the scenery and I think I would definitely like to take one along the Rhine visiting the Christmas Markets. I was very surprised at how organised the Interchange was with regards to changing from the feeder coaches to joining your main tour coach. Your luggage was automatically transferred over and all seemed very smooth and simple process.

The one main negative point I had was with regards to the food options – obviously before you travel you advise them of any food allergies etc so you shouldn’t be served anything with those foods contained within them, but I am a bit of a picky eater and you can’t give them a whole list of foods you don’t like/eat, so I did turn away some of the courses and I was disappointed there was no alternatives available and wonder if this is the case on all river cruise line?

More photos can be seen on https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1483594598521953.1073741829.1421207261427354&type=1

Would I go a on Shearing river cruise again? – Yes i would but next time I would probably opt for the fly option rather than coach. Can I sell the Shearings product and the MPS Rotterdam with confidence now – yes i can.  Would I go on another river cruise – I would certainly like to do a more scenic route next time, and would be great to experience another cruise line to see the  comparisons.