Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 123 Transcript

Must-Try Lake Lucerne Cruises for an Unforgettable Swiss Getaway

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Intro  

Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which of the many scenic cities, towns and villages to visit, which mountain top excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland and of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your time frame? If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the holidays to Switzerland travel podcast. And in each episode, your host Carolyn Schönafinger chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations, and, of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let’s get started.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Hi there. Welcome to this week’s episode. How’s your Swiss vacation planning coming along? Have you made a list of all the must do activities that you want to experience when you’re in Switzerland? If you’re like me, a lake cruise will be high on your list of priorities. No matter what time of year I visit Switzerland, I always make sure I enjoy a lake cruise. To me, there’s nothing more relaxing, and one of my favorite lakes to cruise on is Lake Lucerne, which is why I’ve invited today’s guest to join us. When it comes to cruising on Lake Lucerne, there are lots and lots of options from different durations of cruise to different types of boats and even different destinations. And Sabine Föhn from the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company, is going to tell us all about them today. If a cruise on Lake Lucerne is not already on your Switzerland itinerary, I’m pretty sure it will be by the end of this episode. Hello, Sabine, welcome to the holidays to Switzerland podcast. It’s very good to have you here with us today. Would you like to introduce yourself and tell our listeners a bit about your role with the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company.

Sabine Föhn  

Hello, everyone. To all the listeners. My name is Sabine, and I work for about seven years now for the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company, and I’m in the role of the Sales International. So it’s my business also to travel, for example, to North America to meet some B2B clients for Lake Lucerne.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Okay, fantastic. Now, I guess that when people visit Lucerne for the first time, they probably find that the lake is actually a whole lot bigger than they imagined. So can you tell us a bit about Lake Lucerne?

Sabine Föhn  

So for me, the lake, the shape of it, is quite special. So that’s what plays into being a big lake is really like. When you look at it, at the map, you can actually see kind of four arms, and there is a lot of mountains surrounding the lakes. And you actually you never get bored, because when you see the different arms and the size, there’s always something new to discover. So we have even Swiss that really enjoy to do the five and a half hour screws from Lucerne to fleeland and bank. And of course, like Lucerne, it’s also called the region of Central Switzerland, because there is where the birthplace of Switzerland is. There is actually Switzerland was founded in this area. And, yeah, this is historically, geographically. It’s a very special place.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Now, in Swiss German, the lake has quite a different name. It’s not known as Lake Lucerne. So can you tell everyone what the local name is and what that actually means.

Sabine Föhn  

Yeah, actually, when I pick up the phone, it takes a while, because the German name is Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees. It’s my company’s name, and the lake name is Vierwaldstättersee. It’s more based on the regions which surround the lake. So these are they did. There were four big regions. So that’s why it’s called The Four Forest Region Lake translated very badly from my side, but in Italian and French, yes, this also called differently, but Lake Lucerne is the easiest way to remember the leg, especially when you’re a foreigner. 

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Absolutely. And it’s been described as a bit like a fjord, isn’t it? So I know people have probably seen photos of the Norwegian fjord, and with all those four arms that you mentioned, it does actually look similar to a fjord. 

Sabine Föhn  

Yeah, that’s true, especially a part of the. Lake. Now it’s getting more complicated. It’s called Lake Uri. It’s also part of Lake Lucerne, but URI is a region which is like very historical, very traditional, and in this part of the lake, the mountains are very close by, so it’s more narrow than other parts of the lakes. Actually, the color is different, and there is a lot of wind. So we also have wind surfers in this area. And Lake URI, that is the part where you can see where it looks like fjords. And also in Lake Uri, that’s where the birthplace of Switzerland is, is really there is also a big story about William Tell So, yeah, very traditional and beautiful part of the lake.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Now, many people coming to Lake Lucerne would no doubt like to go on a cruise, but not all the boats that operate on the lake are purely for leisure, are they? I mean, I know that some of the boats provide a vital link in the public transport network. So can you explain a bit more about that.

Sabine Föhn  

So this is kind of different between the lakes in Switzerland, our lake, most of our business is definitely leisure business, we think, or we counted, around 2% of clients. They really use it to get to work. So for example, in early morning from Weggis to Lucerne or vice versa. But most of our boats are leisure business. I think the biggest difference is that from spring to autumn, especially in summer, we have the paddle steamers, the historical ships, and all year long, also in winter, you’re able to cruise on Lake Lucerne, but on our motor vessels, and we do have 19 ships, and almost each ship looks different, so we have something for every taste.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Fantastic. Now we touched on there about some of the boats being part of the public transport network, and I know that Switzerland has a huge focus on sustainability, I think something like 90% or more of all trains are powered by electricity generated from renewable energy, which is just outstanding. So what actions are the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company taking to reduce emissions? 

Sabine Föhn  

So in the boat industry or cruise industry, it’s not that sure where the future is going. So in cars, perhaps it’s more known, okay, electricity could be the future. But cruise boat business is not that clear. We are very lucky, because actually our sister company is a ship building company, and we are a privatized Boat Company, and we invest a lot in sustainability and find the future way. So we are doing different things. Like, for example, we have our hybrid chips, which run on electricity and fuel, especially the Birkenstock shuttle, the smaller catamaran. Who is going to Birkenstock is the hybrid one, a newer we electrified one of our smallest boats directly. It’s just a space for 46 people. It’s doing small cruises. Very exciting. Next year, our Sapphire cruise is going to be purely on hydrogen. This is something very new, and we also took different steps, that we are going to be the first boat company in the world using solar fuel. So there is a company founded in Switzerland from the University of Zurich. They have a very special method how they do this special fuel. And our paddle steamer will be the first ship in the world where we use it. The beginning partially this solar fuel. And from 2027 the Gallia should be around 100% on the solar fuel. So you see, it’s many different things, but it’s quite exciting to work in a company who wants to be a pioneer in different kind of things, also in sustainability.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Absolutely. Yeah, there’s plenty of different sustainable ways of powering the boats, by the sound of it. Now, you mentioned earlier that there that you have some paddle steamers and a variety of different vessels, so can you perhaps tell us a bit more about them? I’ve been lucky enough to cruise on the beautiful Diamante. Is that how you pronounce it, and also the Sapphire, Saphir, as well as the Paddle Steamers. But can you just perhaps tell our listeners about the different vessels and some of the things they can expect on board?

Sabine Föhn  

Yes. So especially the Paddle Steamers, we have five of them, they are still run like back in the days. You can still look at it, how the machine work, how two people are working downstairs, communicating with the captain. So this is very historical, and each of our Paddle Steamer has their own characteristic, like we would say. Our flagship, the paddle steamer Stadt Luzern, which is the biggest one where we had Queen Elizabeth bolt. That’s why we have a queen saloon. Or, for example, the Gallia with this, with these, the fastest paddle steamer within Europe, and loads more on the other paddle steamer. Each Captain could tell you loads of stories about it. But I think it’s a really, really nice steamers, you know, with the saloon, the wooden saloons, so if you have the opportunity, you can look into the timetable, and if you see a small symbol of a paddle steamer, you can go on there. There’s no extra charge if you go in the paddle steamer, at the motor vessel, as I said, before the last six or five or six were built in Lucerne from our sister company. And there, I really love the designs of the new ones, like the MS diamond, as you said, or the Sapphire, which almost look like a yacht. But of course, also the older vessels, motor vessels on Lake Lucerne, they each have their own characteristic, which I like.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Very, very different, but all giving a really great experience of cruising on the lake. So what are some important things about the boats that our listeners should be aware of, like, for instance, can they get food on board as their different classes of travel, and anything else I should know.

Sabine Föhn  

So we have first and second class on our boats, and the second class is always the main deck on the boats, and the upper deck is first class. So I always suggest to buy first class tickets, because then you as a guest, you have the freedom to move around the whole boat, because especially in high season, in summer, when you go on the popular routes, it can be a little crowded. So that’s what I suggest. All of our boats are wheelchair accessible. I think this is a part of being sustainable, to give access to our boats to clients. And my suggestion is really like, if you use the first class tickets to have more freedom, yeah, that’s what I wouldn’t say.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Yeah, definitely. And first class seating is on the upper deck, isn’t it? Of of all the boats, or, yeah, yeah.

Sabine Föhn  

It’s all the boat except of the Burgenstock cruise that is the first class in the main deck. They say different things why it is, but the real reason, I never knew about it, but it’s the only boat where you have first class in the main deck.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Okay, great. All right, so can you tell us about some of the different types of cruises that are available we talked earlier about, as you said, Some people use the boats to commute to work, but what other types of cruises can visitors enjoy? 

Sabine Föhn  

Yeah, so our company, we do have, like, 3 million guests a year, and 66% are Swiss people, and the other 34 are international guests, and what I see or what I get to know was like that the international guests, there are three different ways how they travel with our boats. First, when they use it uniquely as a round trip, and there, especially the one hour cruises are popular, like the Sapphire, which takes place from spring to autumn, or our short catamaran cruise, which you can do daily on Lake Lucerne, which is on the Burgenstock hybrid ship. So having a short cruise is very popular. But of course, we have cruises up to five and a half hours, I would say the two hours cruises also something clients would like to do. Secondly, clients like to cruise and eat. So we do have daily lunch cruises like for individual travelers, of course, every day, and more popular in summer, from mid May to beginning of September, we have a daily Sunset Dinner Cruise. There where you can go on the ship. If you’re below 10 people, you can eat a la carte. Change the menu all the time. Our sister company, the tabulaca, which does the food on board. They cook very regional. So this is very romantic, the two and a half hour Sunset Dinner Cruise and the third way how clients like to travel with us is the combination, which is quite unique, of taking a boat and then going on a mountain. And like the most known or the top two mountains are, of course, Mount Rigi, where you take the boat and the mountain excursion and mount pilots where you can take the boat and the mountain excursion. So I think really like cruising on yourself with food or adding a mountain. 

Carolyn Schönafinger  

We might talk a bit more about those excursions in a moment. But I think I’ve read somewhere that you’re going to be starting a new cruise this summer called The Legends of Lucerne. Can you tell us more about that?

Sabine Föhn  

Yes, so we are actually working on it for about when I started to work on it was two years ago when the ideas part, because we were we were thinking, we are always thinking of new products, new services, and then the ideas part of offering a premium cruise on Lake Lucerne. This is something in the public cruise business we don’t do yet or not any Swiss boat company is doing. So we are created this cruise called Legends of Lake Lucerne, and it really gives you the unique views of Lake Lucerne. We cruise from Lucerne to the replay and further. So you really get the historical history of Lake Lucerne. You’re going to get many legends told in a very surprising way, an excellent five course culinary service, very regional. Of course, all drink included. And we really want clients to have a five hours experience which is diverse to what they experienced before. And I think one of the one of the things which makes it so special is the exclusivity, because you’re going to be in the Paddle Steamer Gallia with a maximum of 65 people, because usually they are seven to 800 people. So you really have a pedestal for yourself. And of course, with 65 people, our crew is able to take much more time for the client. So you really get the personal service. You meet the captain, you get the inside stories. So Legends of Lake Lucerne is really an opportunity to experience Lake Lucerne on a very different way.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Yeah, that sounds wonderful. And so when is that cruise going to operate? And will it be every day or every evening? Or what’s the timing of it?

Sabine Föhn  

So it’s every day from 15 of May until 15 of September, and it starts nine o’clock in the morning until around two o’clock. So this gives, gives you, easily, the opportunity to add another destination, or a city toward the Lucerne, and a small suggestion you should just have a small breakfast in your hotel when you come on legends.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

That sounds like a good idea, so you can take full advantage of the beautiful regional cuisine that you served. Okay, so let’s talk a bit more about those two mountain excursions that you touched on, because I know they’re, as you said, they’re the two most popular excursions for people coming to Lucerne, can you just sort of go through the how those excursions work? Like you get the boat, obviously, for part of the journey, and then do you come back by boat? Or do you come back by another means. 

Sabine Föhn  

There are different ways, how you could do it or enjoy it? I think one of the main difference between the two mountains is the season. So in Rigi, you can always do with the boat all year long. And mount Pilatus you can do from May to October. Mount Pilatus is still open in winter. You can do the excursion, but without the boat, because they close one of the part so how I would suggest this is first when we talk about Mount Pilatus. It’s called the Golden round trip. This is the one which is the most of clients do. So you can start either way. My suggestion is my personal one is starting when you take in the city the bus to get to creates, and then you go to the cable way of Mount Pilatus, and then you go to the top. You first you have the gondolas, and then you have the dragon right. And then you are on cool. And of course, you can enjoy your time on Mount Pilatus. And then you come down from com to Alpnachstad. And this is the steepest funicular in the world. And then when you’re in Alpnachstad, you can board the boat and come back to Lucerne. And depending on the cruise, we have different ones. This from one hour to one and a half coming back on this routing. But of course, you can do it visa versa. You can start in the morning by boat and go to Pilatus. This is possible from May to autumn and mount Rigi. This is possible every day, all year long, with the boats, I suggest to go by boat from Lucerne to Vitznau. Now you go up by the oldest mountain railway in Europe. We have a lot of superlatives in central Switzerland, we have the oldest and the fastest and the steepest. So come here and enjoy it. So as I said, you take the mountain railway to go up on top of Kulm. You can enjoy the mountain. You can take a hike or go to the restaurant, and then you can take back the. Train to Vitznau now and come back, or you decide to take the mountain railway, change to the gondola, where you come down by Weggis and back to Lucerne.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

I did that route recently when I was in Switzerland, yeah, just last month, or a couple of months ago, yes, we took the boat to Vitznau now up on the cogwheel train, and then took the cable car back down to Vegas and and the boat back. And, yeah, it’s, it’s so easy. It’s, I mean, the boat station is quite close to the, well, it’s right next door to the train station at the cogwheel train. And if, when you’re coming back down by cable car, it’s just a very short walk and very well sign posted, so you can’t miss finding where the boat is, why going to be pulling up? So it’s very, very easy. 

Sabine Föhn  

Yes. And I think what’s very important to say is also, I’m sure we are going to talk about it more is the Swiss travel pass, the ticket where our boats are actually included all of them, except of the one hour sapphire cruise, and in combination with these mountains, like Rigi is fully included and the mount Pilatus, you get 50% so with this ticket, you can cover also a lot. 

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, let’s talk a bit more about the Swiss Travel Pass, because, as you mentioned, a lot of people use it. So if they’re in the Lucerne and they decide, yeah, we’d like to do a cruise, or whether it’s just a one hour cruise, or whether they want to go, say, to Weggis and then catch the train back. You mentioned that the cruise is included with the Swiss Travel Pass. What happens when they get on board? Do they need to buy. You know, have some sort of ticket. Or how does it work?

Sabine Föhn  

So the boats are included, except the Sapphire cruise, you can just go. We don’t control the ticket at the beginning of the cruise, so usually we let the clients just get in on the boat. You can choose your spot, where you would like to sit or be, and during the cruise, we control the tickets. You don’t need additional tickets. You only would need to buy additional tickets. Let’s say if you have, like, a second class Swiss Travel Pass, and you would like to be in first class, you need to buy a ticket just for the upgrade.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Okay, yeah, so you hop on board and you just wait till the ship crew come around and ask to see your ticket, and you show them your Swiss travel pass, and that’s all you need to do. 

Sabine Föhn  

Correct. Yes. 

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Perfect. Very good. So do you have any tips or suggestions? Anything we haven’t covered for someone who’s visiting Lucerne and is considering taking a lake cruise?

Sabine Föhn 

Yeah, I think Lake Uri, as I said in the beginning, is lesser known. Most of the people tend to take the cruise or do the excursions more close to Lucerne city. But if you take the opportunity, like to go to Brunnen and then cruise on the lake, you see the birthplace of Switzerland, the Rütli Meadow. You see the fjords. You can also have a launch cruise, starting in Brunnen and going to Flüelen and back. Yeah, definitely Lake Uri. And the second thing, I think, which is more coming up now, I think it’s well known in Australia and North America, is like the Gotthard Panorama Express, which combines the South and Central of Switzerland, where you either way, go on the whole lake Lucerne to Flüelen, or vice versa, which is two and a half hours, and you add the train to go to the Italian speaking part. Yes, I think these two Lake Uri and GoPEx are definitely excursions which are going to surprise clients or guests? 

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for sharing all that with us. Sabine, it’s I know anyone listening is probably thinking they can’t wait to get to Lucerne and hop on board one of your beautiful ships and sail across the water taking all those views. So where can people find out more about Lake Lucerne cruises?

Sabine Föhn  

It’s Lakelucerne.ch

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Okay, perfect. Very easy, and they’ll find, I guess, on their timetables and details about any of those culinary cruises, which, assuming they’re not included with the Swiss Travel Pass. Is that right?

Sabine Föhn  

So the Sunset cruise and the lunch cruise I talked about, you just pay for the food. Okay, so the cruise is included, so this is quite nice. And I have to say, we have a great reservation team, Isabelle and her team, so you can always email us for questions or chat with us. So they’re really doing an amazing job. I have the luxury to just show you the pictures or talk about beautiful lake, but they really do the big work. And just if you have questions or so, email us or chat with us, they are, yeah, they are really, really helpful. They help me all the time too. 

Carolyn Schönafinger  

Oh, that’s great to know. Well, I hope everyone listening joins those 3 million visitors per year, did you say, that you welcome on board the ship? Yeah, yes, that’s amazing. A lot. Yeah, it is a lot, but yeah, what a wonderful job you do. Well, thank you again. It’s been great chatting to you. 

Sabine Föhn  

Thank you for the opportunity. I enjoyed it a lot.

Carolyn Schönafinger  

With so many choices, which Lake Lucerne Cruise is going to make it to the top of your list. It’s a hard choice, isn’t it? If you’d like to see some photos of the different boats that operate on the lake, take a look at the show notes for this episode. You’ll also find a link there for the Lake Lucerne navigation company’s website, where you can check timetables and get further information about the different cruises, including those culinary cruises. I’ll also include details about the Swiss Travel Pass, that transport pass that Sabine mentioned, that includes travel on almost every boat on Lake Hussein, so that you can start planning your travels around Switzerland. But if planning everything yourself sounds a little difficult, or you don’t have the time to do it, the holidays to Switzerland, partners can help. I’ve teamed up with some of Switzerland’s most reputable travel companies who specialize in rail packages, self drive packages, small group tours and private tours. So there’s a vacation style to suit everyone. These partner companies also offer generous discounts to listeners of the podcast, so you can save money whilst planning and enjoying a hassle free trip. Details of the discounts available are also in the show notes at holidays to switzerland.com/123, thanks very much for joining me today. Next week, I’ll be back with some handy tips about taking your spending money to Switzerland. I hope you’ll join me then. Tschüss.

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.