EUROPEAN River Cruises

Offering Comfort with Your Exploration

TRAVEL FOR pure enjoyment is on the rise, so this may be your year to plan the ultimate dream vacation.

According to Sports and Leisure Research, 80% of people surveyed believe a vacation does wonders for mental health and travel is a top spending priority in the coming year. The survey indicated travelers want to immerse themselves in unique experiences, including new cultures, foods, and people.

For those who delight in exploring entire regions, one downfall can be the burden of packing and unpacking at each new destination. Taking your accommodations with you is a practical alternative for curious travelers.

River voyages, for example, allow travelers to unpack once and visit multiple destinations in one seamless journey, from major European cities to quaint towns and villages. These destination-focused journeys offer experienced travelers the opportunity to explore science, history, and cuisine with culturally enriching itineraries on the world’s great waterways.

If an intimate, relaxed journey is your ideal getaway, you may want to consider the revolutionary Viking Longships. These stateof-the-art river ships are engineered with guests’ comfort and exploration in mind. Sailing Europe’s storied rivers, the award-winning fleet of identical longships showcase innovative engineering, streamlined Scandinavian design, and understated elegance. River ships are also small enough - hosting 190 guests - to dock in the heart of popular destinations, making it easy to explore.

The voyages range from 8-23 days with itineraries featuring Europe’s Rhine, Main, Danube, Seine, RhÙne, Douro, Moselle, Elbe, Dordogne, Garonne, and Gironde Rivers.

Known as travel experiences for “The Thinking Person,” each Viking journey includes a shore excursion in every port and an onboard and onshore enrichment program that provides deep immersion in the destination through performances of music and art, cooking demonstrations, informative port talks, and carefully selected guest lecturers. Enjoy shore excursions that provide historical tours and visits to unique haunts, where you can experience some of the local culture, regional foods, and everyday life.

On a Viking Longship, you can expect to relax in sizeable public areas, including wideopen sun decks with ever-changing views. The ships feature spacious staterooms in a variety of categories, including true tworoom suites with full-size verandas.

Additional ship highlights include al fresco dining on an indoor-outdoor terrace and onboard amenities, including a restaurant, bar, lounge, and library. Inclusive fares that cover your port taxes and fees also mean you can enjoy beer, wine, and soft drinks with onboard lunch and dinner, specialty coffees, teas, bottled water, ground transfers, and more.

Chart your next adventure at Viking.com.

AFTER DOWNSIZING to a maintenance-free condo in late 2021, Knoxville resident Vickie Lawson knew that it was time to renovate the bathroom showers. With her husband’s health issues and a combination bathtub/shower in both bathrooms, a low threshold shower was a high priority.

“We wanted to make our home as easy to navigate and access as possible,” Vickie recalled. “Entering and exiting an older age tub can be extremely hazardous, so we started to research the available options for updating to a walk-in shower.”

The process led them to get an estimate from Knox Showers.

Knox Showers’ unique solid-surface materials come in a variety of styles and finishes, allowing a custom shower with new fixtures, niches, glass panel, and doors - at a fraction of the cost of traditional construction. Not only are their showers incredibly easy to clean, they are also mold and mildew resistant. And with added shower safety features like built-in seats and grab bars, the showers can be optimized for now and the future.

“Their estimator was so professional and not pushy or aggressive in any way,” Vickie explained. “His knowledge of their products, the timeframe from ‘order to finish,’ and the overall price was what led us to choose Knox Showers for the job. I never felt rushed while considering samples, and they were great at helping me decide which shower system would blend the best with the existing elements in the bathroom that would not be changing.”

The Lawsons decided to have Knox Showers update and install both bathroom showers, so timing was important in order to have a working shower in the home. The couple was notified when the order for the unit was placed, along with a timeline for expected delivery.

“I am thinking it was around three days,” Vickie said happily. “And

“We wanted to make our home as easy to navigate and access as possible ... Entering and exiting an older age tub can be extremely hazardous, so we started to research the available options for updating to a walk-in shower.”

– Vickie Lawson

with back-to-back shower installations in a condo built in 2008, they did run into some plumbing issues and had to drill more concrete than expected. Everything was done cleanly with no construction debris ever left for us to have to deal with.”

Knox Showers impressed the Lawsons even more by using their time wisely to do the finishing touches on the first shower installation while the second shower was being set.

Vickie explained that she is not a “patient customer” when businesses overbook by selling jobs that they cannot complete in a timely manner. “Knox Showers did what they said they would do. We got what we paid for and the quality we were expecting - we consider ourselves happy customers! I highly recommend Knox Showers, and if potential customers do their homework, they will find they are the most reasonable and most reliable.”

If you have been putting off updating a full bathroom due to inconvenience and cost, Knox Showers is your perfect resource, offering affordable, great-looking solutions - installed in days, not weeks.

Knox Showers

865.622.5088

KnoxShowers.com