Later this Evening [River Cruise: Day 16]

Monday, 11 May

Poor cruise director! He knew very well the messenger was going to get shot. Luckily the passengers were armed with nothing worse than loud voices and some stroppy attitudes. The final result came down to two options:

(1) carry on with a bus tour which would stick as closely to the 'places to visit' as possible (all expenses paid, plus a refund of the days not spent on the boat, 50% in cash and 50% in credit for other cruises), or

(2) abandon the trip with a bus trip to Vienna (2 hours) and have three nights in a hotel there, fly to Amsterdam with four nights in a hotel there and then fly out on the previously arranged flights (hotels, flights, and breakfasts paid, plus 100% refund of the days not spent on the boat).

We're going with option (2). A bus tour is exactly what we didn't want to do; for us it was far more about the boat than it was about seeing Europe. And I'll still get from the Black Sea to the North Sea ... just not the way I'd planned.

So, everybody off the boat by about 9am tomorrow. A bit sad to break up the cruise but not as sad as it was when we said goodbye to the passengers who had been with us from the Black Sea and weren't going on the second-half of the cruise.

But, all the same, we had a lovely last evening aboard, saying goodbye to many of our fellow passengers and enjoying the lighted buildings either side of our dock in Linz.