£1245pp—Deluxe Rhine river cruise with drinks & tours

Emerald Cruises just slashed a deluxe week-long Rhine river cruise to nearly half the regular price, with some dates reduced by over £1200. You'll cruise through whimsical landscapes straight from the pages of a storybook — think sleepy villages, cuckoo clocks, turreted castles, fairytale forests, and cherry gateaux. You'll also get guided tours, all your meals, and local wines hand-picked by a sommelier. 

What's included

• Return flights
• Return transfers
• A 7-night Rhine cruise on an Emerald Cruises Star-Ship, in a Category E Emerald Stateroom
• Daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Wine, beer, and soft drinks with lunch and dinner
• Excursions in every port, including walking tours, canal boat rides, wine tasting, and visits to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress and Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum
• A choice of EmeraldPLUS and EmeraldACTIVE experiences, including guided bike tours of Koblenz and Colmar, and a canal boat tour in Strasbourg
• All tips and gratuities

When
Fly from London, Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle or Norwich on 2, 23 April; 5, 26 June; 14 August; 11 September; 16 October, 2022**.

For more information and a list of all options, see the Emerald Cruises website. Select "Majestic Rhine" to learn more about this itinerary. Call 0808 231 5736 and quote TZOO21 to speak to a consultant.

Itinerary

• Basel... you'll arrive at the airport and transfer to your Emerald Cruises Star-Ship, where you'll get to know your fellow passengers over dinner and drinks
• Colmar... on the first full day of cruising, you'll get a guided tour of Colmar, the gorgeous half-timbered town that is the capital of the Alsace wine region
• Strasbourg... next, you'll dock in Kehl and transfer across the river to Strasbourg. You'll get a canal tour through the UNESCO World Heritage-listed centre, so you get the very best views of the Medieval architecture. Afterwards, you'll have the afternoon to wander at leisure
• Baden-Baden... the following morning, you'll dock at Rastatt, then transfer to the peaceful and secluded spa town of Baden-Baden. Once famous as the "summer capital of Europe", the old-world resort has been a haunt of the rich and famous since the 19th century. Queen Victoria once bathed in its hot springs
• Heidelberg... next, you'll visit the birthplace of German Romanticism, the Medieval city of Heidelberg. You'll start the day in Heidelberg Castle courtyard, where you'll sample some regional wines, then choose between a guided tour of the city sights or a scenic mountain hike
• Koblenz... this pretty village is at the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle. You'll tour the fairytale Marksburg Castle, then head to the Imperial Castle in Cochem, one of the highest hilltop castles on the Moselle
• Rudesheim... is the centre of the Rhine Valley's wine production industry, and home to the cobbled street of Drosselgasse, nicknamed the Merriest Street in the World for its cosy taverns and live music. You can choose to tour of the nearby Eberbach Abbey, or hike through the vineyards to Niederwald Monument
• Frankfurt... you'll enjoy a farewell dinner with the captain, then sail back to Frankfurt to disembark the following morning

Ship details
You'll sail aboard an Emerald Cruises Star-Ship — part of an award-winning fleet of 180-passenger river cruise ships. They are praised as "state of the art" by Which? magazine.  

Facilities aboard each vessel include a restaurant, a lounge bar, a putting green, and a heated swimming pool with a retractable roof that converts into a cinema on selected evenings. Entertainment includes live music from traditional local bands.

You'll enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the elegant Reflections Restaurant, which has open seating and floor-to-ceiling windows. Dinners are multi-course and take inspiration from the destinations you'll visit, and an on board sommelier chooses local wines to feature each evening. If you fancy something more casual, you can visit The Terrace for light bites at breakfast and lunchtime, or enjoy free hot drinks at any time of day.

Excursions are included in every port. The ship also has a fleet of bicycles so you can explore the waterfront with the wind in your hair. 

Other options

• Sail in a Panorama Balcony Suite (Category C) from £1945 per person
• Sail in a Panorama Balcony Suite (Category B) from £2145 per person
• Sail in a Grand Balcony Suite (Category S) from £2845 per person
• Sail in an Owners One-Bedroom Suite (Category SA) from £3445 per person

Transfers & baggage
Both are included.