Tui Skyla River Cruise
We flew to Frankfurt and was met by the Tui representative and transferred to the ship (or is it boat!) by coach. We were on the Tui Skyla and had a cabin on deck one. Deck one is the lowest of the three and has a porthole type window rather than patio doors. This deck is close to the water and you will hear a bit of “sloshing” when other boats pass by.
The cabin was well appointed with minibar/fridge (apparently not available in single cabins). Bathroom is a bit small but functional, with shower only.
Restaurant was very good, buffet breakfast with hot dishes and cooking station for eggs etc. Lunch was buffet for salads and table service for the rest. Dinner was full table service. Could not fault the food and the services was very good.
Entertainment was provided by three entertainers who were good. There were odd quiz and other games both evening and during the day. With this being a new year cruise there was little opportunity to visit the upper deck.
Travelling between ports was mainly overnight, except that we travelled during the afternoon between Boppard and Rüdesheim so that we could view the scenery. This is probably the most interesting part of the trip with some interesting castles and towns along the way.
We stopped at Mainz, Wiesbaden, Dusseldorf, Boppard, Rüdesheim, Emerich, Cologne and Koblenz. Our favourites were Cologne and Koblenz.
In Cologne the must see places are the cathedral and the chocolate museum (bookable online, you have to book a time slot). Koblenz has an interesting town centre and the cable car up to the fort is good. During the Christmas period there are lights in the fort from 1630. You can book online your cable car and lights combo ticket).
Tui do offer some excursions, but these were mainly walking tours or associated with wine or beer. There was no hard sell on excursions, in fact quite the opposite, it was very low key. At the port talks the excursion was mentioned and how many places available “if you are interested”.
Other river cruise companies, such as Riviera and Viking are available. These do tend to be more expensive than Tui river cruises. With Tui the ships are not always berthed nearest to the city or town centres. For example we had either a 25 minute walk or a 10 minute coach ride to the centre of Dusseldorf.
If you haven’t done a river cruise before, doing one with Tui on Skyla is a good way to try it out without spending too much money. What was nice about a river cruise is that you get to visit towns and cities which you probably would never have thought of visiting any other way.
Let me know if I can help further.
