A rather quiet contribution to onboard enrichment and a fine plus for your guests.
Books that go well with the itinerary!
“Cruise ships are stocked with a carefully curated selection of books.
The books are closely thematically linked to the river itinerary, thus refering to countries, cities and culture, taking place locally, or providing interesting travel information.”
Bernhard Traut
The ship’s library ensures that guests on a river cruise who are looking for travel tips or something to read in bed, will find inspiring, entertaining and exciting reading material—allowing them to immerse themselves in the journey through literature.
It provides plenty of material for conversation with others on board, all without need for the internet; books to hold in your hands and read aloud.
The selection consists of literary works by local authors, ranging from national giants of world literature to lesser-known writers, local novels and short stories, travel guides, regional crime novels, illustrated books on the culture of countries and cities, art & design, photography & architecture, biographies, local poetry, magazines, and general travel literature.
Social, historical, and culinary topics are relevant, as are excursion destinations in the program.
The ship’s library regularly seeks out books that fit the appropriate profile and perhaps offer a new perspective.
These can also be used books in very good condition.
After all, it is a small percentage of antiquarian books that makes a library truly interesting. This includes, among other things, publications that are already historical in their own right, such as older illustrated books.
PREMICON AG
VIKING RIVERCRUISES
SCENIC CRUISES
EMERALD CRUISES
If you have any questions…
In the following, we provide information on how an endowment with books works
and so may be able to answer some questions.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!
CONTACT
170-200 book titles find place in a medium-sized shelf (H: 200cm x W: 80cm x D: 30cm). With this amount, many topics can be included and there is a nice selection to browse.
A unit price per book is agreed upon. The prices for new German-language books from the trade are subject to the book price fixing. Used books are purchased at the best possible price/performance ratio (at least good – very good condition of the book).
These different prices per book are included in the calculation of the unit price.
The time spent by Schiffsbibliothek on researching book titles, compiling a suitable selection, the purchasing process, importing, handling and warehousing until all the books have arrived, receiving the packages, preparing an inventory list, as well as packaging, are then also included in the unit price per book.
So you can always easily keep track of the total price based on this unit price, depending on the desired quantity of books and the language.
Schiffsbibliothek buys the books for you. You will receive a proper invoice with tax or VAT number. If your company is located abroad and the delivery does not take place in Germany, the sales tax does not apply.
Schiffsbibliothek has gained some experience in shipping in the past. We have found a very good forwarding agent, for example, who reliably delivers goods to your ship chandler.
For other shipments, also abroad, we have mostly used DHL. For a quantity of 180 books, the delivery includes 5 large moving boxes.
Books are heavy, we make sure that each box does not weigh more than 25kg by packing lighter and heavier books together in one box.
If a ship happens to be coming to Cologne or Düsseldorf, direct delivery is possible on site at the berth, but also within a radius of 150km, e.g. in the winter harbour. We will bring your books on board if you give us a time slot.
Schiffsbibliothek is also always researching books for English-speaking guests. A complete selection of only English, or German language books is possible, as well as mixed English and German.
Tell us what ratio works best for you, e.g. 25% in English, 75% in German.
Some books (art or picture books, coffee table books) are often bilingual by themselves.
There are river cruise ships in Europe stocked with Chinese books for guests from China (simplified Chinese, mainland).
Matching French or Spanish language book titles are also occasionally available.
Books from China 2018:
Unfortunately, it has happened that there was a loss of books at the end of the season. Schiffsbibliothek has in some cases taken precautions for this by placing a sticker in each book with the request to return the book to the shelf after reading. The sticker’s design was based on the CI of the respective shipping company or organizer. In addition, a safety label was pasted into each book.
These measures contributed significantly to the fact that shrinkage was much lower in the following season.
Experience also shows that the cheaper books, such as paperbacks, are more likely to be stolen. The larger, more expensive and heavier books tend not to be suitable for theft.
Schiffsbibliothek creates in the price included an Excel file with the most important recognition features of the books: ISBN number, author, title. The ISBN number, for example, is usually found on the spine or title page. After that, the inventory list can be searched and the book can then be marked. All books in the list that do not get a mark are gone.
It certainly sounds a bit cynical, but exactly these books can be acquired again on the basis of the inventory when the library is updated, should they not be out of print by then.
The Ship’s Library:
A small feature, certainly only a detail, to increase the quality of stay on bord a bit further.
Some are happy to enjoy good food and a delicious regional wine on board. Others appreciate the spa, wellness or sports facilities, almost as if they were in a luxury resort, even though they are on a ship.
Each person is differently inclined and so individual experiences of the journey remain with everyone.
A book, especially one related to the route traveled, can become – or at least contribute to – a positive travel experience.
Whether fiction or non-fiction; what is in a good book has been carefully created by authors, lasts for years and has a consistent information value.
A new journey is created, quite incidentally, an additional journey in the mind, a journey through a book discovered on board.