The Sound of Music

No, not the sound that makes the hills alive!  The MS Sound of Music is the riverboat that became our home for the next seven days.  As we left the highway and turned in to the port, we caught our first glimpse of the SOM (Sound of Music).  If you've ever sailed on any of the mega ships in the Caribbean, I'm sure that you've experienced that first breathtaking sighting of your cruise ship - it happens to me every time!

Well, this was nothing like that.  In fact, I heard people saying - OHHH, that can't be our ship!!  It was our ship!

River boats are low and long.  Some are fancy. Some are rather plain.  Ours was rather plain on the outside.

We were greeted with big smiles by the crew as we boarded.  The ship was extremely clean and had a very "welcome home" atmosphere.  We entered the lobby and the cabins were on three floors.  Ours was 310 and we ascended a short flight of steps and walked about half way back the long hall way.  Our cabin had a french balcony which means that there was a sliding glass door and a balcony large enough for our toes!  There was plenty of closet and drawer space in the cabin and the bathroom had lots of hot water (it was so hot, Dave said that you could make soup.)

There was one lounge on the ship.  Located at the front, it became a favorite place for socializing, sightseeing, port talks and other lectures by the staff, nightly entertainment and of course, sipping adult beverages!

There was one dining room on the ship that was large enough to accommodate all of the passengers - there were 114 on our cruise.  The dining room was located at the back of the ship.

Soon it was time for our Welcome Aboard Dinner!  The service was great and the food was good!  Wine and beer were complimentary at dinner and it flowed freely!  Almost every time you took a sip, the server was refilling your glass!  We were served three meals each day.  Breakfast consisted of a buffet along with daily cooked to order specials and omelettes.  Lunch was always a buffet with choices of local cuisine from each place that we visited.  Lunch quickly became my favorite meal!!!  (Like I really needed to eat that much for lunch!!!)  We were served soup at lunch and at dinner and it was outstanding!  Attire was extremely casual - no formal outfits were needed.  Some people chose to dress up a bit for dinner while others wore jeans.

After dinner, we went to the lounge and enjoyed musical entertainment, drinks and getting to know our fellow passengers.  With 70 in our group, we became a big, happy family of travelers!!  The ship remained docked overnight and on Monday morning, we would tour Nuremberg.