Rhine River Cruise

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Arrived safely in Cologne this evening after a direct flight from Edinburgh Airport. Our cruise ship for the next week is not this one, but looks very similar apart from the colour. She is the MS William Shakespeare and this is her maiden voyage, so everything is brand spanking new and even the carpets have that lovely new fresh smell:-)

The ship is the epitome of luxury, with quality fittings and equipment and the staff from many nations are all delightful and eager to assist in any way they can. I could easily get used to this lifestyle and can't think why I've resisted the idea of a cruise for so long! Small is definitely beautiful and there are only about 140 passengers on board and 40 crew.

Dinner this evening was a buffet, as people were still arriving until late at night, but it will usually be a waiter-service meal. If the food is always this good, I don't know how I'll avoid putting on pounds:-)

We were moored overnight in Cologne and experienced the only drawback of a busy river - another ship moored alongside! The noise from her generators gave us a disturbed night, but fortunately this only happened on one other occasion, so we slept well most nights.

We leave for Koblenz, our first port of call, early tomorrow morning!