Is this ridiculous or a good idea?

Wow.... EXCELLENT IDEA..☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

?

No links in the cruise thread, so a note here that Lyon is featured in Google street view.

? well done

www.gransnet.com/forums/chat/1311451-Virtual-cruise-Lyon-to-Avignon-and-Arles

You don’t need any more consensus SD!
You don’t need permission to start a thread.
Lots of posters have already expressed an interest.
Especially me, CS and Joseanne
Just start the blooming thing!

FannyCornforth

Just get on with it SD!
You’re losing your crew and passengers.
CS has given you a plan, just use it.
This is starting to feel like very hard work!

Well, it needs a consensus.

Shall we have the suggestion by CaravanSerai starting with a few days in Lyon before we depart?

No links, as suggested by Fanny.

If people agree I will start a new thread for the virtual cruise, with a few days in Lyon, then on Monday we can head south towards Avignon.

Bon voyage!

I think I agree FC. No links else we'll get into a protracted discussion about how many is a few. Meantime, I'm channelling my inner Ed Burra and off on a virtual trip to Marseilles for a few days to check out the docks! I can get a train from there to Lyons for ten euros in time for Joseanne's horses doofers with a glass of bubbles.

No links. None.

Just get on with it SD!
You’re losing your crew and passengers.
CS has given you a plan, just use it.
This is starting to feel like very hard work!

CaravanSerai

I agree FC. This could all get overly-complicated very quickly.

MaryDoll has provided an excellent start with her picture of Lyons. Viking offer Avignon to Lyons with three days in the latter. As we don’t have to worry about logistics of getting to and from start and end points, why not switch it around?

Two-three days in Lyons. Much to see and do and to chat about. Plus, for new or non-cruisers, plenty off time to get acclimatised before the boat gets underway.

Then stops in Tournon and Viviers towards Avignon then a branch off to Arles before returning to Avignon.

What you want here is discussion and imagination but NOT a lot of links as we can find information ourselves.

I would hope that some of the contributors have been to these places and can offer some real life experience. (I can only offer Aix en Provence and surrounds if there’s time to go off-piste.)

Most importantly, it’s a holiday of which food and drink are a part. Joseanne is offering to be meal planner and sommelier so how about an onboard get-together to discuss the first afternoon or day ahead?

Just a suggestion and not set in stone.

There is a balance between

"Argh, it's complicated, waah! Ha ha ha do nothing! Just watch the telly."

and

"Hey fellow geeks we can do this, then that and then ..."

This thread can continue as well, but I feel that once a basic plan of where to start, and a route is decided upon, that a specific thread is needed with a structure.

I know it may sound like restriction, but I think of it like trying to find rhymes for a poem can make the result better than if it were unrhymed. I know that poetry does not need to rhyme, I am just trying to convey my meaning.

I like the idea of starting off with two to three days in the start location.

How do people feel bout including links? Lots, none, some, few, what?

/

I agree FC. This could all get overly-complicated very quickly.

MaryDoll has provided an excellent start with her picture of Lyons. Viking offer Avignon to Lyons with three days in the latter. As we don’t have to worry about logistics of getting to and from start and end points, why not switch it around?

Two-three days in Lyons. Much to see and do and to chat about. Plus, for new or non-cruisers, plenty off time to get acclimatised before the boat gets underway.

Then stops in Tournon and Viviers towards Avignon then a branch off to Arles before returning to Avignon.

What you want here is discussion and imagination but NOT a lot of links as we can find information ourselves.

I would hope that some of the contributors have been to these places and can offer some real life experience. (I can only offer Aix en Provence and surrounds if there’s time to go off-piste.)

Most importantly, it’s a holiday of which food and drink are a part. Joseanne is offering to be meal planner and sommelier so how about an onboard get-together to discuss the first afternoon or day ahead?

Just a suggestion and not set in stone.

Here’s a beautiful French one for you Joseanne

‘Off to the Happy Danube Cruise!’

I ♥️ vintage travel posters

No worries folks. We'll just steer our way through the murky waters and sling anyone overboard who rocks the boat!
I like the idea of being in charge of the meals for a day, all local produce and specialities. Wine too, but I won't turn it into a booze cruise.
France or Germany preferably for me.

Hello SD
It’s just that for most posters the thread is already on the go, or sailing for that matter.
For instance see Marydoll’s post from yesterday.
Posters are here already and talking about their experiences.(unfortunately I have none).
Whereas you are at the planning stage.
You can’t really plan a thread.
And you definitely can’t predict it.
It’s an organic and collaborative thing.
Threads go their own way.
If a thread hasn’t ended in a all mighty barny, and hurt feelings all round; then it’s been a roaring success!

So, God bless this ship and all who sail on her! ? ?

FannyCornforth

I think that there may be a conflict of interests here…

Hello Fanny

Can you explain please?

So now we need to choose which river we cruise upon, the start location and the destination and the stops along the way, and when the cruise will start.

I think that having one day for discussion of each stop would be good, focus on that place for the day, then move on. With on-going discussion of activity on the vessel itself.

Then there can be a new thread for the virtual cruise itsel, and the journey can proceed.

There are web sites for cruises, there are YouTube videos about cruises - some advertisements, some videos of people's experiences. We need to be careful and not provide what may seem like advertising links, just gather information of the places.

I think that there may be a conflict of interests here…

Luckygirl3

Is this virtual cruise even technically a possibility? If so, I will jump aboard!

It depends.

It is theoretically possible in general terms at various levels, though many of those levels simply cannot be done in a Gransnet thread.

Yet we can do what we can with what we have available.

For example, consider if someone is reading the novel Don Quixote.

There is no windmill, there is no inn, there is in reality just some pieces of paper with black marks upon them.

Those black marks providing meaning, the windmill, the inn, are all in the mind of the reader.

In the same way here - there is no purpose-built river cruise vessel, its dining room does not exist, yet if we suspend our disbelief we can, in our minds, be on that cruise vessel as it proceeds on its journey.

Much can be achoeved in communication using just text, yet a Gransnet thread can have more than just text, images, links, and many-way communication among people.

Budapest is an amazing city.......I would like to see it again. Happy to join the cruise wherever it may sail though!

I’m off on one week after next on the Douro, it has been rescheduled from 2020 which was our 30 wedding anniversary. So looking forward to it, we did one from Nuremberg to Budapest 4 years ago and loved it.

Joseanne

PS I don't mean posters need to have actually visited, just digging out some interesting or appealing facts is enough.

Yes, a good idea.

It could be like a short version of a book review in a newspaper or magazine.

Some writing by a participant with the link added at the end for those who choose to read the original text or watch the original video.

Good idea.
I did a short half day cruise on the Danube once and would love to do a full one.

Sounds fun. No cabin tidying required!