May 30, 2026 to May 31, 2026 - Fort Collins, CO to Vilshofen, Germany

We started our trip for our Danube River Cruise today. Though a scheduling mix-up, Wendy got booked on a different flight from Denver to Newark so she had a 5:30am shuttle to the airport while Tobey and I had an 8:30am shuttle with a later flight to Newark. She was stuck waiting in Newark for almost five hours before we arrived!

Our departure from Newark was about 8:30pm and we arrived in Munich at 10:00am today. Navigating that airport took a few wrong turns, but we managed to get through customs and retrieve our luggage in time to catch the 11:00am transfer to our ship. Our trip was originally supposed to start in Regensburg, Germany but the water levels on the Danube are low that the ships cannot get through that section of the river so we are taking off from Vilshofen, Germany instead. 

The weather when we arrived was HOT and sunny. After we had a small lunch and unpacked most of our things we planned to walk into the town town. That changed! We came up to the main deck there was thunder, lightening, strong winds, and the rain was pouring down. We took a quick tour of our ship, the Monarch Queen, and decided to wait out the weather before venturing out.

About 4pm the rain let up and we decided to check out the little village area near our ship. You can see how dark the sky still was! There is another boat docked right next to ours. They have to pass through our ship to get to theirs!

Vilshofen lies at the confluence of the Vils, Pfudrach, and Wolfach rivers, about 20 kilometers upstream from Passau. Because of these tributaries flowing into the Danube, the town is also know as the "Little Three-Rivers Town," taking its name from the three-river city of Passau.

This is the Vilshofen Town Tower which we walked through and along many of the shops - most of which are closed because it is Sunday.

This is a view of the parish church at the opposite end of the street from the Town Tower.

In town we noticed lots of statues along the walk.


Along our walk.

We spotted a couple of swans along with their cygnets.

Wendy spotted this beautiful snail in the street!

The rain started back up so we headed quickly back to our ship! We unpacked some things and I heard a weird noise. I realized the boat next to us was taking off so I went up to watch it pull away. In a matter of about 10 minutes it was turned around and motoring away.


The tour company had about an hour presentation along with appetizers and champagne to introduce staff and folks on the cruise. A five-course dinner followed! The cheese appetizer was delicious followed by a yummy soup and another hot appetizer. We all picked a different entree - beef, fish, and spring rolls. The entrees were good, but the other courses were better. Dessert was hot lava cake with vanilla ice cream - a perfect way to end the meal.

Wendy and I called it a night at 9pm while Tobey went up to the lounge to check out the rock-n-roll musician. We are all exhausted after not much sleep in the plane so we are thankful our tour doesn't start until noon. Good night for now!

January 14 - 16, 2026 At Sea - Fort Collins, CO

January 14, 2026 - Last night at Sea

We went to the show Wednesday evening. The singer had a great voice and we enjoyed the music of Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. From there we headed to Cagney's for a great steak dinner before calling it a day. Back in the cabin, I finished packing everything except what we needed for our trip home.

January 15, 2026 - Tampa, FL to Fort Collins, CO

We were up early - 6am - and off to the Versailles Restaurant for breakfast will Phil and Marcia. When we finished and left the restaurant, Christine gave us hugs and smiles and told us to come back soon. She was very sweet. We said our goodbyes to Phil and Marcia and headed back to our cabin. They drove to Florida and were meeting up with cousins before starting their journey home. We gathered our suitcases and headed to Deck 7 to exit the ship and clear US Customs. The line wrapped its way down and inside corridor then outside along the promenade deck to the exit. It actually went fairly quickly and customs was a piece of cake.

We found our shuttle van to the airport and arrived quite early for our 12:30pm flight. Then we received the text from United that our flight was delayed and we wouldn't be departing until 1:10pm. Ugh. Fortunately, the flight did depart on the delayed departure time and we arrived back in Denver with just enough time to gather our suitcases and get to our shuttle to Fort Collins. We grabbed an UBER and finally got home about 6pm. Needless to say, it was a long day.

We both managed to catch colds at the end of the trip, so it will be a few days before we are back to normal. Now it's time to do laundry, catch up on emails, and make a grocery list!

Until the next journey, we hope your 2026 is filled with fresh starts, second chances, and a year of beautiful surprises.

January 11 - 14, 2026 - Cruise

January 11, 2026 - At Sea

Today was another at sea day, so … eat, drink, walk around the ship, repeat! Tomorrow we arrive in Jamaica and have a shore excursion, so we will be fairly early. Good night!

January 12, 2026 - Falmouth, Jamaica

We arrived ashore about 8:15 for our 9:00 shore excursion and every one was early, so we were on our way by 8:30. It was supposed to be Montego Bay highlights and beach.
It was pretty disappointing – and not because of the damage from Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica on October 28, 2025. There were a few things we were supposed to go see, but they skipped them. Instead, we drove through neighborhoods and saw some of the big houses and stopped at a souvenir store. They did give us a traditional “patty“ (sandwich) for a snack. They were okay, but I would have preferred seeing the church and square we thought we signed up for!

I think this is the church we were supposed to tour.

In front of the museum:

We were dropped off at Doctor’s Cave Beach about 10:30am for three hours. Tobey and I walked the beach back and forth a few times (it was pretty short) before cooling off in the water.

This is some of the damage from Hurricane Melissa.


We were back to the ship by 2pm so we had a late lunch. We took some laps around the deck before showering and watching the ship pull out of port about 5pm.


We played cards before going to the 7pm show to see the magician again and then a late dinner. We did get treated to a beautiful sunset tonight – one of the first we have actually seen!

Tomorrow we arrive in Grand Cayman and have an early shore excursion. We need to get tickets for the tenders (shuttle boats from the ship to the docks) at 7am. The crew told us that people start lining up around 6:15, so it will be an early morning. Hopefully, we will be there early enough to get an early tender because that takes about 20 minutes, too, and we don’t want to be late for the tour.

January 13, 2025 – Grand Cayman – NOT

What a disappointment! First of all, I didn’t sleep well. Our neighbors had their TV on all night again and it woke me at 3:00am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I gave up at 5:45 and got up to get ready to head to Deck 12 to get in line for tender tickets to depart the ship. The waters around Grand Cayman are too shallow for a dock to accommodate cruise ships so you get into smaller boats (tenders) and they take you to the pier. There were three people ahead of me – Marcia was one of them. People began trickling in and when the ship representatives arrived, several people tried to cut in line in front of everyone. We all made a comment to let them know there was a queue and one woman was so rude, she just said, “get over it!” A few minutes later, the ship’s captain came on the intercom and announced that the seas were too rough causing swells at the docks making it unsafe to use the tenders, so the port was being cancelled! We did not stop in Grand Cayman. We did not get to snorkel. We did not go to Starfish Beach. We did not get to experience the stingrays swimming up to us at Stingray City. We did get to see our ship (and the other four cruise ships in the area) pivot and head back out to sea. Tomorrow was a day at sea, so now we have two.


We headed to breakfast before going back to our cabins for a while. Tobey and Phil did laps around the deck while I went to the cabin and went back to sleep until lunch time! This worker is tethered to the ship in case the ladder slips!

After lunch Tobey and I did some laps then went back to the cabin to read. We met up about 5pm and played cards before going to the theatre for the show. The show, a cabaret musical, was amazing tonight! The singers and dancers have so much energy it made us tired just watching them. At the end of the show, the cruise director brought several of the staff on stage from every aspect of the ship for recognition. The 900 crew members do a great job and it was nice they were acknowledged.

We had dinner reservations at Moderno, a Brazilian steakhouse at 8:30pm. It was a bit disappointing to us because it was so late and the restaurant closes at 9:30. We were some of the last people there and while the food was good, the service was SO SLOW and they were doing tear down and setting up for an event tomorrow! Not at all like everywhere else we have eaten on the ship. It was almost 10pm before we finished our dessert – not fun.

Today did not turn out at all like we had planned, but at least we get to sleep in tomorrow since it’s another day at sea!

January 14, 2026 - At Sea

Tobey and I slept in and had a late breakfast at the Versailles Restaurant. The hostess, Christine, is so sweet and she remembers us. They were very busy and were handing out buzzers to call when tables were ready. We had been asked if we would share and said okay. When our buzzer went off and we checked in with Christine, she asked if we would prefer a table for two and happily provided that for us! We met up with Phil and Marcia and did laps around the ship then read for a while before lunch. After lunch we did more laps and came back to the room. The show this evening is early – 5pm – and we have dinner reservations at 7pm. We will meet up with Phil and Marcia for cards around 3pm, then after the evening events, finish packing because we leave the ship in Tampa in the morning.

January 9-11, 2026 - Cruise

January 9, 2026 - Curacao

We arrived in port around noon today and were off the ship about 1:30 to catch our shore excursion, “Caves, City, and Beach.” WELL … It said to arrive 15 minutes early and departure at 2:00 pm. The meet up location was only about five minutes from the ship so we were definitely early. There were shops to look around in for a few minutes, then we found some shade because it was HOT! The guide arrived and informed us the departure was 2:30 … needless to say, I was not happy but it wasn’t his fault. Poor communication from the tour company. ANYWAY, the four of us hopped on the bus (along with 20 others) and were off to visit a cave. There were a bunch of trees outside the entrance where we waited for our guide. Needless to say, it was weird sitting under these trees!

It was the hottest cave I have ever visited! The guide told us the year-round temperature ranges from 30-39C! Fruit bats occupy the cave and we were only allowed to take pictures in a couple of the rooms. The formations were interesting – much different than many caves we have seen before.



After the cave, we went by an estuary where we spotted some flamingos. It’s a protected natural area and our guide said if you were caught in the water there, it could cost you up to five years in prison! Yikes!

The next stop was the Kocomo Beach. Tobey and I snorkeled while Phil and Marcia lounged on the beach. We saw a spotted eel, a huge pencil fish that was hanging out by the dock, and several other reef fish. It was refreshing after the heat of the day. Around 6pm we headed back into town. Tobey and I got off the bus and walked a little around the town area before the 10-minute walk back to the boat.

We saw the floating bridge and the colorful buildings.




It was an interesting stop, but too short to really explore the island. Maybe another trip … For today, everyone was to be back on board by 8:30pm and we were sailing away by 9:00pm.

Tonight’s dinner was great. Tobey and I both got some mini tostadas for appetizers then the cod for dinner. He also had a chocolate cake for dessert.

Tomorrow we arrive in Aruba at 7:00am and our tour is supposed to begin at 8:30, so it’s off to bed and an early morning.

January 10, 2026 - Aruba

I LOVE when things go on time! We arrived at 8:10 and were actually the LAST people to check in for our tour! As soon as we got checked in, we boarded our bus and departed early. WOOHOO! Our driver/guide, Ricardo, gave us some information about Aruba and we drove through many of the tourist areas. The population of Aruba is 120,000 and he said they have over 1 million tourists per year PLUS over 800,000 cruise ship visitors each year. We are in the peak of high season, so it was busy.


The first stop was at Aruba Aloe. This is the oldest continuous business operating in Aruba. It was interesting to learn about the benefits of aloe and the products available.

Next stop was the Casibari Rock formation. Tobey and I did a quick scramble up to get some nice views over Aruba. It is not tropical as you would expect – it is actually more desert with only 16-18” of rainfall per year. Early settlers used cactus as fences and some folks still do!



We continued on to the Bushiribana Gold Mine. In the 1800s, gold was discovered on Aruba and this fortress was built and gold was extracted with the use of cyanide. They built the building to look like a fort to discourage the pirates in the area!

Next stop was Alto Vista Chapel. This building was built in the 1900s on the site of the original chapel which had been abandoned and fell into ruins.

Catholicism is the largest religion in Aruba – over 90% of the people are Catholics, however, the people are very tolerant of ALL religions.
 

We stopped to see the California Lighthouse at the very northwest tip of Aruba. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the East and the Caribbean to the west. Next stop was an hour at the beach. Tobey and I walked the beach and enjoyed watching the kite surfers on the hoverboards.
We didn’t have our camera or phones with us as we walked, but there was the most unusual sight – a car in the water. It was actually a speed boat that looked like a convertible zipping along. What a hoot!!

We arrived back at the ship for a late lunch, then we all walked back into the old part of the city that caters to tourists. We could have dropped several thousand dollars at Tiffany’s or the Rolex store, but opted to just save our money.

We set sail around 6:45 – 15 minutes ahead of schedule. We had planned to see the show, but the singer was not able to perform and we decided we didn’t need to see the juggler again. We had dinner at the Aqua Restaurant then Marcia, Tobey and I had a soak in the hot tub before calling it a night.

January 11, 2026 – At Sea

We slept in this morning since we didn’t have anything scheduled. Tobey and I went to the Versailles Restaurant and when asked if we minded sharing a table, we said okay. It was okay, at best. We’re not real big talkers in the morning, but felt like we had to carry the conversation. The three others never asked a question, very seldom answered with more than a brief response. Next time, my answer will be no! We met up later with Phil and Marcia and went to the magician’s “how-to” mini seminar. It was fun and we enjoyed seeing how he does some of his tricks. Who knows, Tobey may be doing magic tricks in the near future!! 😊

After lunch, Tobey, Phil and I did four laps around the ship – 1.4 miles, while Marcia went back to read. Phil went back to their cabin while Tobey and I sat in the sun, then the shade before heading back to the cabin. We watched a little football before showers and meeting Phil and Marcia. We played cards then went to the 7pm show to see the comedian. None of us really cared for his show and were happy when it ended. We were off to dinner at Aqua and it was great. We’re calling it an early night because we arrive in Jamaica tomorrow and have an early excursion.