Today we had a long drive from Fussen to Pasau via Munich. Munich is not a good city for cars. Streets are erratic, parking is limited and streets are narrow. After ~ 45 minutes, we finally found a spot to park outside the city center. We took the easy subway system into town and found some lunch at the Kaufhaus.
After some minor car trouble, we arrived in Passau and boarded the Amacello. This is a brand new vessel with some outstanding technology (and a few glitches). Each room has a TV/ computer with dozens of movie options (2 Euros each), TV, music, free internet, and access to a camera that takes constant video from the back of the ship showing its position. You can set up a wake up call, read about ship amenities, and watch a map tracking the ship's progress down the river. Overall, its a great system, though the remote doesn't always work consistently and internet access is spotty and slow.
Rooms are comfortable with either two twin beds or one king bed. The single bed arrangement feels larger and it preferable if you are undecided. The room also had a desk, two chairs, nightstands, a generous wall of closets and shelves, and an amazing shower with three different nozzles and exceptional water pressure. Extra blankets, slippers, bathrobes, a hair dryer, soap, shampoo, and lotion are all provided. Tap water is potable in the rooms and they also have free bottled water. Rooms also have safes and telephones (1 Euro per minute to anywhere).
Meals are 5 star with a choice of three appetizers, soups, entrees, and dessert. Special requests are honored and they offered to make special dishes for the kids as long as they had notice earlier in the day. The food is amazing and wine is included with dinner. Service is also top notch. They probably asked me at least seven times during dinner if I wanted more wine, even though I said no every time. They also brought around a few extra entrees so guests could try the things that they hadn't ordered. Meals are open seating at a single time. However, they also offered early and late riser pastries, coffee and cake in the afternoon and a late night snack in addition to three filling meals. It was impossible to go hungry.
Part of each day was spent traveling along along the river. This was fascinating as most rooms have French balcony doors where you can literally reach out and touch the shore at times. There's also a fitness center, lounge, beauty salon, games' room, and hot tub to keep travelers entertained while enroute. Newspapers from the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK were also available each day. The reception is open 24 hours to provide additional assistance and they all spoke perfect english.
There's also an elevator onboard. Laundry services are available at an extra cost. Smoking is allowed only outside on the sundeck.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.