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Royal Crown cont.

However, the farmers – studying the latest dairy technology at research institutes around Europe – had to settle for the runners-up entertainment award despite their hilarious acting attempt on the ship’s stage. The daily ‘magical’ antics of Lucian - the Royal Crown’s maitre d’ and breakfast chef – brought tears of laughter as he showed off his skills – and some occasional spills - around the exquisite dining room. And he doesn’t even get paid for his after dinner troubles!
Despite all Romanian Lucian’s frolics, the Royal Crown’s wine and dining experience is in the top bracket and would be competitive with many international fine dining restaurants.
After just one night aboard I’m already captivated by the whisper-quiet vessel – and the mighty Rhine.
A cable car ride near the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers is the highlight at one of Germany’s oldest towns – Koblenz. It takes you high above to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress located on a site that has had fortifications on it since 1000BC.
While awash with historical sites, the mighty Rhine boasts a mythological tale or two - including the story dating back several centuries of Lorelei, the maiden whose statue sits on a rock at the narrowest and deepest point of the Rhine. Legend has it her beauty and velvet singing voice would cause sailors to wreck their ships as they sailed the dangerous currents along the river’s jagged shorelines.
Arguably, the most interesting stopover in Germany is the wine village of Rudesheim, where you’ll learn that 60 per cent of vino produced in the country is Riesling, much of it from terraced vineyards zigzagging up hills along the Rhine and its tributaries.
But if you’ve had too much wine at dinner the night before, a sobering hour will jog memories at Siegfrieds Mechanical Music Cabinet. It’s an ancient noble house - now a museum - where you can see and hear one of the largest German collections of 18th to 20th century self-playing musical instruments – all 350 of them - from the tiniest music box to the giant Concert-Piano-Orchestrion.
At first, Siegfried Wendel collected and restored mechanical musical instruments just for fun, but very soon his hobby developed into the first museum of its kind in Germany, which was opened in 1969.
The ancient city of Speyer boasts a modern museum located in a historically protected former aircraft assembly hall.  Superlative exhibits at the Technology Museum include the top attraction, an original Soviet Buran space shuttle, together with Europe’s biggest space exhibition, a Boeing 747, a 46-metre long U-boat that you can walk through, as well as locomotives and, fire engines.
Dominated by its cathedral - one of the world’s most famous Romanesque monuments and a UNESCO Ruined Castles World Heritage Site - Speyer is the last of the German ports visited along the Rhine before the ship heads into France and the gorgeous city of Strasbourg with its awe-inspiring Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Construction of this pink sandstone masterpiece of Gothic art took more than four centuries – from 1015 to 1439 - and was once the highest building in Europe at 142 metres.
The capital of Alsace is simply charming with its cultural diversity, picturesque half-timbered houses and Renaissance buildings. Don’t miss the amazing Petite France district.
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  • Home
    • CRUISING >
      • Coral Expeditions
      • Majestic Princess >
        • Princess Explorer >
          • Volendam
          • Holland America Orient >
            • Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam >
              • Lake Geneva Restoration
            • Royal Caribbean Icon
            • Hurtigren
          • Paul Gauguin Cruises Tahitian Dreaming
          • Blue Lagoon Cruises
          • Sunborn Yacht Hotel
          • Captain Cook Cruises Fiji
          • CroisiEurope >
            • CroisiEurope Danube
          • Ponant Adventures in Style
          • SeaDream Visits Elba
          • Azamara Onward >
            • Azamara Pacific
          • SeaDream Memories
          • CroisiEurope
          • CroisiEurope Loire Valley
          • CroisiEurope Rhine River >
            • Turn in those trinkers >
              • Oceania Cruises
              • Silja Line
            • Rhine Part 2
          • Silversea's Wild NZ
          • The Rhine
          • Riverboats
          • Rhine Part 3
          • Riverboat Cuisine
          • Mekong Riverboat
          • Lake Geneva
        • Diamond Princess
        • Multigenerational Cruising
        • Cunard Queens
        • Norwegian Cruise Lines >
          • MSC Bellissima >
            • Luxury Boating
            • Cruise Relaunch plans >
              • Samoa Shells
              • Canadian Rail
              • Portugal Rail
              • Canada Rail
              • Ascott The Residence
              • Whitsundays Photo Essay
              • Hotel Kurrajong
              • Croisieurope paddlewheeler
              • Silversea NZ part 2
            • MSC Opera
        • SeaDream A Seven-Day Dream >
          • PNG with P&O
          • Celebrity Galapagos Cruise >
            • Celebrity Beyond
            • Celestial Eclipse. Baltic
            • Wonder of the Seas
            • Voyager of the Seas
            • MSC Seaside >
              • MSC Grandiosa >
                • HAL Rotterdam >
                  • Citadines Sydney Airport
                  • Captain Cook Fiji
                  • Luxury Whitsundays
                  • Holland America Koningsdam
              • Sponsors >
                • Destinations - Overseas >
                  • Patagonia
                  • Ireland
                  • African Elephants
                  • Guernsey
                  • Salzburg
                  • Austria's Silent Night
                  • Ethiopia
                  • Yorkshire
                  • Bryce Canyon
                  • Macao
                  • Dubai Taj
                  • Return to Sri Lanka
                  • The Copper Coast
                  • Nepal
                  • The Balkans Tour
                  • Disney Star Wars
                  • Indian Motorbike
                  • The Falkland Islands
                  • Rajasthan
                  • Marrakech
                  • Europe
                  • Ganges Odyssey
                  • Hokkaido
                  • Würzburg
                  • Samoa
                  • Tripura India
                  • Hong Kong Park Lane
                  • A Day in Hong Kong
                  • Zagreb Croatia
                  • Paris Hotels
                  • Majorca Hotel
                  • Dubai Hotel
                  • Croatia
                  • Flanders >
                    • New Zealand
                    • Switzerland
                  • Wales
                  • The Sahara
                  • Rabat, Morocco
                  • Ireland's Movies
                  • Morocco Adventure
                  • Milwaukee
                  • Hong Kong Peak Tram
                  • India's Golden Triangle
                  • Peru's Colca Valley
                  • Destination Africa
                  • Samoa Paradise
                  • Italy's Amalfi Coast
                  • Sri Lanka Eco Lodge
                  • Cuba Cars
                  • Caribbean Airport
                  • Jasper Canada
                  • Kuala Lumpur
                  • Antarctica
                  • Cuba Revolution
                  • The Netherlands
                  • British Columbia Bears
                  • North to Alaska
                  • Winnipeg Canada >
                    • Finland 'Escape'
                  • Thailand
                  • Germany
                  • Finland
                  • Malaysia Medical
                  • Stockholm >
                    • CroisiEurope Canary
                  • The Havannah Vanuatu
                  • Deadwood, USA
                  • Helsinki cool
                  • French Village
                  • Vietnam
                  • UK Film Locations
                  • Cumbria England
                  • Doha Qatar
                  • Archives >
                    • Blue Lagoon Photos >
                      • Paul Gauguin Photos
                      • Cook Islands Photos
                      • SAMOA PHOTO JOURNEY
                      • Lonely Planet Dark Skies
                    • TECHNOLOGY >
                      • The New Paklite Collection
                      • Travel Books >
                        • Latest Lonely Planet Kids
                        • Lonely Planet Kids’ Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts
                        • Lonely Planet Kids Stickers
                        • Lonely Planet Kids cardboard
                        • Lonely Planet Atlas
                        • Lonely Planet Dinosaurs
                        • Hardie Grant Books
                        • New Holland Publishers
                        • The Pacific In the Wake of Captain Cook
                        • Endeavour
                        • Political Correctness
                        • Lonely Planet Wellness
                        • Child of Africa
                        • Where the Murray River Runs
                        • Lonely Planet’s Cruise Ports >
                          • Air Asia
                        • Lonely Planent Cuisines
                        • Lonely Planet Earth
                        • Lonely Planet animal
                        • Stealth Raiders Book
                        • GOLF RESORTS BOOK
                        • Lonely Planet Kids
                        • Roped In from Hardie Grant
                        • Hawaiian Airlines
                        • The Steamboats of Lake Geneva
                      • Editorial Plan
                    • Contact
                    • Advertise
                  • Hong Kong
                  • Costa Rica Lindblad
                  • Ottawa
                  • Tokyo Disney Park >
                    • Tokyo Disney Sea Music
                    • CHINA >
                      • China Shore Tour
                    • FASHIONS $ GEAR >
                      • GROUP TOURS >
                        • Fiji with Peter C >
                          • UK & IRELAND >
                            • Singles Travel
                          • Grey Nomad Awards
                        • Holland America Home
                        • Princess Cruises
                    • AIRLINES
                    • Tokyo DisneySea Dining
      • Royal Caribbean >
        • European Waterways >
          • Byron Bay
      • MSC CRUISES
      • CROISIEUROPE
      • Lonely Planet Books
      • CAMERAS
      • TRAVEL FINANCE
      • DISABILITY TRAVEL
      • Hawaii with Dal >
        • Royal Caribbean restarts
        • Cruise lines return
      • Kimberley Quest
      • Las Vegas
  • Magazine
  • Fiji with John
  • Media Kit
  • Italy
  • Rottnest quokkas
  • Coral Princess
  • P&O Brisbane
  • NZ OPENS