Included tours or on our own?

I've read several people say they generally skip the included city tours and make arrangements for private tours. We (two couples) will be on our first river cruise this fall - Viking Bucharest to Budapest - and would appreciate opinions from experienced cruisers.

My one hesitation about river cruising is we've always done independent travel and not sure we'll like more group tours. Any generalizations about numbers of people on each tour? Do ship tours lean towards "cattle herding" feel?

I've read several people say they generally skip the included city tours and make arrangements for private tours. We (two couples) will be on our first river cruise this fall - Viking Bucharest to Budapest - and would appreciate opinions from experienced cruisers.

 

My one hesitation about river cruising is we've always done independent travel and not sure we'll like more group tours. Any generalizations about numbers of people on each tour? Do ship tours lean towards "cattle herding" feel?

You don't say which cruise line you will be on -- the answer to your question varies dramatically with that information. Some of the most upscale lines limit the groups to about 15, the more mass market heavily-advertised lines can have up to 40. But they all use the QuietVox (or variation) devices that allow everyone to hear the guide, even if you drift off a bit to take pictures or linger over something of particular interest.

Viking Bucharest to Budapest

I figure Viking might lean towards larger groups, which is part of my concern. Would appreciate any insights!

I moved this thread to the main River Cruising board in the hope you will attract more answers.

On Avalon, most of the groups I have been in, are about 20 to 25 people, thanks to the quietvox you are not forced to crowd up to hear the tour guide. I used to hate tours on ocean cruises because of this, River cruise tours are much better.

We do a lot of independent touring still, but I have yet to have a bad River cruise tour.

JC

Karen - we're on the same cruise this spring but in the opposite direction. We're thinking we're OK with Viking's tours for this particular cruise, except in Budapest and Bucharest we'll be doing a bit more on our own. Since many of the towns along the river seem to be small, the included walking tours will probably be sufficient, and allow us to veer off on our own (except for the one where we go see the horse-back riding - kinda trapped there). We're doing the Transylvania extension, but not with Viking. We're hiring a private guide, car, staying in the same hotel and staying an extra day - all for slightly less than the Viking price. We've found Viking's extensions to be generally overpriced.

In our experience, the tour groups can vary from 20 to 40 people. If a walking tour, they seem to be smaller in size, but if a bus is involved, they tend to fill up the bus, which means 40. But occasionally, you'll luck out and the group is only 15, but that's rare. As Jazz Beau says though, because of the Quiet Vox system, the "herd" can spread out though. My pet piece is when the group is supposed to be back at a certain spot at a certain time, there's always a couple who consistently is late, wasting time.

We always prefer private tours if we can, but as we travel as a couple, and it's hard to find other travelers on our exact cruise, it's often not economically viable. If it's 4 of you though, it might make sense economically.

I have no experience with Viking so cannot comment on their tours specifically.

We are independent travelers and sometimes will join a ship's tour and sometimes not. We enjoy active level tours the most as often the walking tours are just at too slow a pace for us.

If the tour involves a bus ride or admission tickets to something we are interested in, we will take advantage of the transport and/or tickets.

If we do join a tour that bores us or moves too slowly, we will just advise the guide that we are going off on our own.

I've read several people say they generally skip the included city tours and make arrangements for private tours. We (two couples) will be on our first river cruise this fall - Viking Bucharest to Budapest - and would appreciate opinions from experienced cruisers.

 

My one hesitation about river cruising is we've always done independent travel and not sure we'll like more group tours. Any generalizations about numbers of people on each tour? Do ship tours lean towards "cattle herding" feel?

Been on four river cruises so far and in my opinion most (the vast majority) take the included tours.

Karen - we're on the same cruise this spring but in the opposite direction. We're thinking we're OK with Viking's tours for this particular cruise, except in Budapest and Bucharest we'll be doing a bit more on our own. Since many of the towns along the river seem to be small, the included walking tours will probably be sufficient, and allow us to veer off on our own (except for the one where we go see the horse-back riding - kinda trapped there). We're doing the Transylvania extension, but not with Viking. We're hiring a private guide, car, staying in the same hotel and staying an extra day - all for slightly less than the Viking price. We've found Viking's extensions to be generally overpriced.

 

In our experience, the tour groups can vary from 20 to 40 people. If a walking tour, they seem to be smaller in size, but if a bus is involved, they tend to fill up the bus, which means 40. But occasionally, you'll luck out and the group is only 15, but that's rare. As Jazz Beau says though, because of the Quiet Vox system, the "herd" can spread out though. My pet piece is when the group is supposed to be back at a certain spot at a certain time, there's always a couple who consistently is late, wasting time.

 

We always prefer private tours if we can, but as we travel as a couple, and it's hard to find other travelers on our exact cruise, it's often not economically viable. If it's 4 of you though, it might make sense economically.

We are also planning on extending our cruise (with Avalon), but booking our own private tour to Transylvania. Could you share the name of the private company you are using. We would love to look at that possibility.

Cole

It is always worth while to do your own research and be willing to strict out on your own. For example, in Vienna our ship docked for two nights. One evening, we walked to the Prater amusement park and rode the worldest's oldest ferris wheel.

In Budapest we went on an included tour but later the ship called a taxi for us to take us up to St. Matthias Church so that we could go inside. Very cheap ride and we walked back down the hill via the Fisherman's Bastion to the ship.

Thanks for moving the thread, Jazzbeau, and thanks for all the responses.

Elizabeth, I'm leaning towards the same thing you're doing - striking out on our own in the bigger cities, sticking with the Viking options for smaller. I'd love to hear your thoughts after you return from your cruise!

We're doing our own add on after the cruise as well - to Prague & Paris - so we have plenty of planning to do!

Cole - we are using transylvania-discovery-tours.ro for our tour, specifically a fellow named Bodgan. He's been great to work with so far. His initial tour had us staying at a local pension type place, but we asked the cost for upgrading to the Kronwell Hotel in Brasov, and we happily paid the extra. I was told by Viking that this is the hotel they use in Brasov. Our cost was still lower than Viking and we're staying a full extra day. I'll let you know when we return (late May) how it went.

OP mentions this is first river cruise

be aware that it is not unusual on a Viking River cruise that the boat stops and loads the tour busses and then the boat continues on ... the tour busses meet the boat again farther on.

So if you decide to DIY for a tour, be sure you know where the boat will be and when!!!!

My husband and I just took our first river cruise, Viking's Danube Christmas Markets from Passau to Budapest, last December. We had taken a number of ocean cruises before.

As to the shore excursions, it kind of varied. Viking always deivided the group into smaller groups, but they did use the usual coach buses. That gives you some idea of size of groups, although our buses (in December) were never full. Once at the location, the groups do scatter as much as possible for the venue.

We liked the Viking-included walking tours, especially those in the smaller towns, best. Since many of the guides were local people, I'm not sure you could get better people by hiring on their own, but you could get a smaller group. I found the tours to be interesting and well-organized. Other than the obligatory bathroom stop (when they always had something interesting to look at so you didn't just waste time waiting), I didn't find the group size obnoxious and I am not a big-group person.

The Budapest city tour was our least favorite --- it was a larger city and alot of bus time to do the overview of such a large city. Once we got to the cathedral and got out to move around it was fine, but the bus part of it was just not good.

Viking uses an audio sound system for their tours. You keep it in your cabin and plug it in overnight, bringing it with you on your tours. When you get to your tour, your specific tour guide will give you a channel number that you key into. The guide's narration comes through your headset. I'm explaining all this because it lets you spread out from the tour a bit, so it is not so crowded together to hear what is being said. That makes it a lot better.

River cruising is different from ocean cruising, especially as to the shore excursions. Others on the boards tried to tell me just to calm down and let our trip happen and not worry so much about the shore excursions. I had a hard time believing it, but they were right. On the river cruise, the events just kind of come to you. It is not as much about doing fabulous things (like ziplining or sailing or scuba or whatever) and more about being where you are and soaking it in. That all said, there are some (many) fabulous independent guides in these cities and we hired a couple of great ones for our pre-cruise in Prague. Have a great cruise!

be aware that it is not unusual on a Viking River cruise that the boat stops and loads the tour busses and then the boat continues on ... the tour busses meet the boat again farther on.

 

So if you decide to DIY for a tour, be sure you know where the boat will be and when!!!!

Thanks for the heads up. On those days, we'll definitely go with the included tours!

The Budapest city tour was our least favorite --- it was a larger city and a lot of bus time to do the overview of such a large city. Once we got to the cathedral and got out to move around it was fine, but the bus part of it was just not good.

Interesting you should say that. I talked to our traveling partners just last night and suggested we skip the Viking tour in Budapest and do one on our own. Now that really sounds like a good idea.

We don't have all of the details of our itinerary yet, but it looks like that may be the only one we plan to skip ahead of time. Thanks again everyone for all the feedback!

I've read several people say they generally skip the included city tours and make arrangements for private tours. We (two couples) will be on our first river cruise this fall - Viking Bucharest to Budapest - and would appreciate opinions from experienced cruisers.

 

My one hesitation about river cruising is we've always done independent travel and not sure we'll like more group tours. Any generalizations about numbers of people on each tour? Do ship tours lean towards "cattle herding" feel?

Hi there -

Did Bucharest to Budapest with Viking a couple of years ago. My thoughts are as follows:

On this itinerary, it isn't really easy to do the cities on your own except for Budapest. In Bucharest - they had us moving between places and we could never have met up with the bus on our own to take us to the boat (it is moored about 45 minutes outside the city). We rotated through 3 stops - so that we didn't all arrive at the same time (and thus overwhelm the stops with tourists!!). We all met for lunch at a restaurant, and then headed to the boat.

You will have some free time at various stops along the way - and we found that we took the included excursion, and then would go back on our own if we had time (and were docked close).

In Budapest, they offered us the option of a "local" tour. Some opted for the traditional bus tour - but we walked and took the tram around town with a guide. We were at Le Meridien for 2 nights, and we extended an extra day on our own.

We love Budapest - and would love to go back again (have been there 3 times so far at the beginning/end of river cruises). It is a very easy city to navigate - and there is lots to see. We have booked private guides in some cities (Nuremberg, Moscow) but feel Budapest (at least for us) was manageable on our own.

We booked our own air - and arranged our own transfers. We have found that Viking transfers can be expensive, so have sourced out private transfers and been very pleased.

If you have questions about things to do/see in Budapest - or have questions about the airport transfers - please let me know.

Fran

Hi Fran,

We're sailing Budapest to Prague in August.

Can you please share your transfer info for Budapest?

So far I've been getting better airfare rates than the cruise company.

Thanks,

Chris

Also, I would love info on Budapest...We will probably do the provided tour, but we do have some time on our own.

Hi Fran,

 

We're sailing Budapest to Prague in August.

 

Can you please share your transfer info for Budapest?

 

So far I've been getting better airfare rates than the cruise company.

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

Also, I would love info on Budapest...We will probably do the provided tour, but we do have some time on our own.

Hi -

We used Alajos Pulais - http://budapestairporttaxi.com/Welcome.html. We booked on-line before we left - quite painless actually. We have used him both arriving and departing Budapest.

For Budapest - where to start. We love the market hall - we buy our paprika there. We usually have requests for smoked paprika - and it isn't available everywhere. And, the fresh strudel in the strudel stall is to die for...

The House of Terror is interesting... Definitely a sobering experience. We have visited the Hospital in the Rock - and the Church in the Cave. The Cave Church is just across the river from the Market Hall, so easy to do both. The Shoes on the Danube Memorial is not far from the Chain Bridge - just along the shore on the Pest Side.

The funicular up to Castle Hill on the Buda side is fun. Not cheap, but if you are spending the money to get there, might as well gather all the experiences you can!!

We finally made it out to Statue Park. We combined that with a Trabi (Trabant) tour as my husband really wanted to see the park -and then got to drive the car on the way back!! We stopped at Gellert Hill on our way back, and the views were amazing. We aren't "bath" people, so didn't so any of the baths. People that went seemed pleased with the experience.

We love walking, and stopping to eat. We haven't (yet) seen the Synagogue - but hopefully next visit.

Enjoy your visit... Budapest is one of our favourite cities in Europe.

BTW - have a contact for an airport transfer in Prague if you are interested.

Fran

When you arrive at the airport, you can make your way to the taxi stand where there is a booth. You tell the person where you want to go and are then directed to a taxi. No problems.

We visited the Hospital in the Rock which is interesting. This is a very short walk from St. Matthias Church, the Fisherman's Bastion and an area were all kinds of Hungarian handiwork is sold.

Also St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Central Market.

We also visited Szechenyi Baths. This was so much fun. We tried the outdoor area and them when indoors to sample the many different pools are located indoors.

Thank You so much for the info.

We're just starting to plan this trip so I'll probably be back with questions!

Fran, do you have any idea of the difference in price of a taxi or your driver?

Same for Prague?

Chris

Thank You so much for the info.

 

We're just starting to plan this trip so I'll probably be back with questions!

 

Fran, do you have any idea of the difference in price of a taxi or your driver?

 

Same for Prague?

 

Chris

Sorry - I really don't know. I found the cost to be reasonable, so booked the driver.

Booking a driver is one of the little "extras" I am willing to pay for - especially on arrival. I find I am tired, and it is nice to have someone waiting for us.

I think that someone commented on the cost of a taxi in Budapest to the airport and it was pretty close to what we paid.

Fran

I agree! We never try to share rides on arrival because I know we'll be tired from the trip and just want to get to our destination!

Could you go ahead and share your Prague contact so that I can keep that with my notes?

Thanks,

Chris

Our Prague guide is http://www.ninapragueguide.com . She arranged our airport pickup in Prague for $31 USD. She's also arranged several days of private guiding in Prague, as well as a private guide and car to Cesky Krumlov for a day trip out of Prague, and a guide and car transport to Budapest where our cruise starts, with several stops along the way in some small towns. We haven't taken this trip yet, so can't give a 100% recommendation, but Nina has been totally great to work with pre-trip.

Thanks for the info Elizabeth...it's wonderful to be able to get advice from experienced river cruisers!

I poked around on your blog just a bit as well...it's great.

We are doing a China & Japan Cruise in '17 so it will be very helpful!

I hope you'll continue to share info!

Chris