Aboard Peter Deilmann’s Heidelberg

Together with four couples, my wife, Ana Maria, and I traveled through the rivers and channels of the Netherlands and Belgium, May 10-17, 2008, on a cruise aboard MS Heidelberg booked with Peter Deilmann Cruises, or Deilmann Cruises Europamerica (Alexandria, VA; 800/348 8287, www.deilmann-cruises.com).

The cruise started and ended in Amsterdam. Pre and post cruise we stayed at the Radisson SAS, a good choice since it is located within reasonable distance of the many interesting sights of the city, including museums, shops, the Concertgebouw and a few churches, which were open only over the weekend. We booked a business-class room through Travel­ocity at €349 (near $550) per night, and it included an ample breakfast.

For our cruise, obtaining a cabin reservation and the final documentation was an experience worthy of Kafka. Deilmann didn’t publish its 2008 schedule of cruises until September-October of 2007, and by then all their competitors were up and running. At that time I was unable to obtain a reservation through my Florida-based travel agency, so, anxious not to be left without a certain type of cabin, we tied up with the friends traveling with us, who had no problem booking through their Europe-based travel agency.

For a superior cabin on the Heidelberg deck, we paid the brochure price of €2,340 (near $3,691) per person plus some €100 per person for travel insurance. During January ’08 the same cruise was offered by an Internet discount travel agency at a significant discount, but we did not receive any credit, which some other cruise lines do grant their passengers should they have bought tickets at an earlier moment in time.

The cruise took us to some very interesting cities, such as Delft, Rotterdam, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp. The beauty and importance of these cities has often been described before, so I will not comment on them.

MS Heidelberg is a fine ship and carries about 130 passengers, although on our trip there were only some 90 guests on board.

The ship’s decor is retro, best described as neo-Art Nouveau, possibly trying to reflect Deilmann’s adopted slogan of the “German cruising tradition,” which really belongs to other German cruise ship companies, notably Hapag-Lloyd.

Be that as it may, we found the environment on board to be nice and cozy, matching the excellent service delivered by the restaurant and bar staff. Unlike with other cruise lines, there was a notable presence of outmoded features, such as the cabin keys, which were not of the credit-card type but old-fashioned, regular keys.

The cabin we had (N-117) was nicely laid out, with ample closet space. There was good insulation between the cabins, making them very quiet during the night. The air-conditioning was excellent, quiet and responsive, even when the thermostat was moved by only a couple of degrees (Celsius, that is).

The beds were very narrow and not at all adequate for people of a more “prominent” size and height.

The bathroom was unexpectedly large, considering we were aboard a river cruise ship, and had ample space. There was no need to shrink or go into contortions when using the shower stall, which had excellent water pressure at all times.

Except for the ludicrous soap bar (very small, unwrapped, unbranded and badly smelling), the toiletries were of very good quality. The size of the shower cap should be increased; it was too small for a regular hairdo. Installing a makeup mirror in the bathroom would be a welcome addition for the ladies.

The in-cabin entertainment was mediocre. On TV there were a lot of German stations plus CNN. It would have been nice to watch a movie once in a while, especially when bad weather prevented us from being on the Sun Deck.

The music piped into the cabins came from two Dutch (and/or Belgian?) commercial stations with only pop music. Dedicating an additional radio channel to classical music would have been nice.

The entertainment in the lounge was unexpectedly very good, including classical music by a violinist and by a pair of pianists playing 4-handed compositions. Further, an onboard pianist played evergreens for the (mostly) German passengers; a very gifted waiter sang a great variety of (mostly) American songs, and the Crew Choir, which included the captain, performed very nicely with assorted German and British songs mostly related to sailing and the sea.

The passengers were mostly German speaking, with only a handful of U.K. and U.S. origin. Announcements were always made in both German and English. It would be my suggestion that the announcements in German be delivered by a crew member speaking German without an “Eastern European” accent. Lufthansa always does it, and Deilmann could do likewise.

It was promised there would be German and English newspapers every day. This was true; however, there usually were only two or three found in the lounge. Avid passengers believed they could take them into their cabins and not return them. Those not among the first to grab a newspaper had to rely on CNN transmitted from the U.K., with the expected profile of news biased toward Europe and very little from the U.S.

It would have been nice to have some Internet connectivity on board. The majority of today’s travelers rely on staying in touch with the home base by way of e-mails rather than by phone.

The bar service was very good, but the mixed cocktails (three instances) were quite watery. It would have been nice to have regular bar service on the Sun Deck, especially during those marvelous sunny days we had.

I found the house champagne to be outright bad, and it quickly became stale once the bottle remained open (as it was at the breakfast buffet, a German tradition).

We enjoyed a mid-morning snack of German beer and herring very much — a very nice touch, indeed — and the variety of fish offered was of excellent quality.

The ship’s restaurant was beautifully laid out, and service was truly outstanding.

Breakfast selections were very good, especially the bread assortment. Variety was fairly restricted at lunch and dinner; the complexity derived from multiple sauces on the same dish. The lunch salad buffet was always the same, without any significant variety. The beef served at one dinner was touted as being Argentinean; it was much too hard and quite tasteless.

In total, our food experience was mediocre at best.

As for the excursions, the organization was excellent, with very good guides, and a brisk pace was maintained, commensurate with the age and physical abilities of the participants. However, the cost of some of the excursions was quite high.

Our cruise on MS Heidelberg was very satisfying. The landscape on this route was definitely not spectacular (like on the Rhine or the Danube), but it was still quite attractive and interesting. For those cruisers not familiar with the locks these ships have to deal with, it would be a thrilling experience.

Rotterdam, Brussels and the other cities that can be visited are very much worth a cruise like this, allowing passengers to remain in the comfort of the ship and not have to move from one hotel to the next, packing and unpacking.

Deilmann offers good service to its passengers. With a few adjustments, as suggested above, their Netherlands-Belgium cruise could be an outstanding experience.

FRIEDRICHE K. LEUTE

Miami, FL

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Peter Deilmann Cruises (1800 Diagonal Rd., Ste. 170, Alexandria, VA 22314) and received the following reply.

The MV Heidelberg is the flagship of the Deilmann river fleet and she carries 110 passengers. She was lovingly built in 2004 as the last ship Peter Deilmann furnished before his death. Mr. Deilmann believed in old-world cruising, hence the use of cabin keys, rich woods and a superior service level.

I am surprised at Mr. Leute’s comment concerning Internet connectivity. For our guest’s convenience, all of our ships have a portable laptop that can be used for Internet and e-mail access in any stateroom or the bar/lounge, so it is very easy to have communication.

The beds on the MV Heidelberg are standard-size queen beds (63"x79") or standard twin beds (32"x79"), furnished with luxurious duvets and down pillows.

What is very surprising is Mr. Leute’s reference to our menu selections and food. I am the person in the U.S. office who receives all the mail, good and not so good, regarding our ships. The one resounding positive I read over and over is how wonderful our food is, no matter which ship or voyage. We often are asked for recipes or are sent photos of the imaginative culinary presentations.

Of course, food preference is best left to one’s own palate, so I must consider Mr. Leute’s comments as substantial and I have forwarded them to our office in Germany for consideration.

Overall, Mr. Leute’s letter is a positive validation of Peter Deilmann Cruises in all but one way. I fully acknowledge that last fall, when Mr. Leute was attempting to book his voyage with us in Virginia, it is quite possible he encountered problems.

Starting in August 2007, our office was in the midst of implementing a new reservation system and the process was extraordinarily stressful. Even though we tried our best, some of our clients did suffer because our entire staff was in a training mode. At this point, I can only offer a humble apology and promise that we are back to our high level of customer service.

As for the pricing issue, I will note that Peter Deilmann Cruises’ Virginia office does not discount at any time, and had Mr. Leute called us again he would have been advised of this. The travel world is becoming crowded with Internet suppliers who offer to share their commission and therefore appear to be cutting our prices. We stand firmly behind the pricing quoted in our “Great Rivers of Europe” brochure.

We appreciate this opportunity to answer a few of Mr. Leute’s observations. It is always good for us to hear solid, objective criticism and use it to our benefit.

RENEE MOURAS, V.P. & General Manager, Peter Deilmann Cruises