Denise:

I know what you mean about the captain. Ours at least did appear at both the welcome and farewell events, shook hands with everyone, smiled and provided a photo op. But nobody ever sat at the captain's table. Not once. And that was the only time we saw him, at those two events. And the champagne flowed more freely at those events, too, than it apparently did on yours. (I think J commented on that and the surprisingly small amount of hors d'ouevres being provided in his detailed review on CC's river cruises board.) And we got a glass of bubbly on embarkation, also. But I got the feeling that the captain's English wasn't as good as some of the staff members' English.

We had different and local guides in each town -- which was kind of nice since they were from the towns we visited. Wonder if local guides who are fluent German speakers are hard to find in France?
I'd think it would be harder to find guides fluent in English. Strange difference.

There was something else I wanted to comment on -- I forget what. I'll add it later if I remember it. (Oh, right, it was my sister's birthday last week, not mine. She's now only 1 year different from me instead of 2. OK, she's younger than I am. I keep forgetting/blocking that. :D )