RIVER CRUISING
Storage space is limited, but cases can be stored in a trunk room. All have bunk beds, except for a single ‘honeymoon cabin’ on the main deck, which has a queen-size bed. Two shelter-deck aft cabins have slightly more generous dimensions. Each cabin has a washbasin while the immaculately kept toilets and showers are a few steps along the deck. All cabins are on the outside and above the waterline, and those on the shelter deck and bridge deck open on to the deck. Passengers in category A cabins on the bridge deck find Champagne, fruit and a bathrobe in their cabins. The modest size of cabins matters
little when they are used only for sleeping; life aboard revolves around the
78 WORLD OF CRUISING I Spring 2012
shelter deck and its comfortable Lloyd Loom chairs beneath a canvas awning, as well as the forward saloon beneath the bridge. This has a small library and board games, with frequent supplies of coffee and teas. The cinnamon buns at tea-time were the most scrumptious I have tasted and the Swedish breads and pastries a revelation.
T
he crew, from the captain to our steward, were delightful, with the perfectly judged service and
warmth that seems to come naturally in Sweden. Set-menu meals in the shelter- deck dining room seemed all too short, thanks to the convivial Swiss couple – one of five nationalities aboard – with whom we were seated.
Food is wonderfully fresh, helped by additional provisioning at locks en route, and a typical dinner was smoked sliced duck served with chèvre drizzled with honey, and fig bread, poached pike- perch served with shellfish sauce and steamed new potatoes, and a dessert of cheesecake with wild strawberries. Sadly, the Juno lost her steam engine during a 1956 refit, but she still carries an original anchor cast at Cradley Heath in England and a brass engine telegraph made in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her current appearance dates from 1963 when adjustments were made to the upper decks, but she and her younger sisters look every inch classic river steamers. Within hours of easing up the Göta Älv River and leaving behind the wharfs
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100