ural guy

Treasures of the Rhine, 9 N, AMS-Basel.

We'll do some of the included Viking tours, and venture off on our own for others.

Christmas day they have an included tour to Palais Het Loo.  They list the tour as 3 hours, and Google maps has it taking 40 minutes from Arnhem docking to get there, so you might be on site 900/100 minutes?  The Arnhem zoo is open, and has quite a few indoor exhibits.  I've been there before, and my daughter would like to try and visit there.

The Technik Museum in Heidelberg, we'll probably walk over and do that on our own as well.

On Oceans, we're taking a 14N cruise that kinda boards in Rome, and kinda ends in Athens.  I say kinda, because if you want to see either place, you need to fly in early to do the Viking pre and post cruise, or independently.  The cruise itself makes no stops in either place.  That planning seems to exist just to draw more people to sign up for the per/post cruise.

27 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

It will feel very different than any ocean ship - mega or not.  It is a totally different vibe.

 

We have sailed both Viking Ocean and River and leave on a River cruise in just under two weeks.  We love both but you really cannot compare them.

 

On Ocean we can be totally to ourselves and sit in all dining venues at tables for 2 and kind of be anonymous to an extent.  On River, you really cannot do that.  Most River ships don't have tables for 2, and there is no place to really get away from people.  One dining room, and one lounge. 

 

Many people do both, but we find the people that do River cruising are far more friendly and ready to introduce and talk and that really starts with the first meal at a table for 6 or 8.

 

Hope you will love it.

Thanks for posting this, we've only been on river cruises, and have a Viking Ocean cruise booked for Jan 25.  I'm very much looking forward to all the space the ship has. 

We sailed Viking in 2014, and board a Viking Christmas cruise in 2 weeks.  3 Vantage cruises in the interim.  What really jumps out to me about Viking is the huge number of optional tours.  That must be a huge profit center for them.  Vantage had few optional tours, and the included tours seemed to include more.  Vantage Amsterdam we did a canal cruise, then went for a guided tour of Rijksmuseum on the included tour.  On Viking, just the canal tour is included.  The Breisach Black Forest day seems like a drive to take you to demonstrations followed by shopping. 

We're also back in aquarium this cruise, I think we will miss the French Balcony and larger Vantage Cabin, but the Viking $ jump to true balcony was too much, especially buying two cabins (daughter is coming as well).

Jazz also pointed out passenger #'s/cruise line.  That's really a big factor.  On our 2014 Viking cruise, not everyone being able to fit into the lounge wasn't great, especially as the CD couldn't get the cabin feed to work.  I'm thinking they got this worked out. But 190 on Viking compared to 170 or fewer on other lines does make a difference. 

Unfortunately I think our cruise is sold out...we were on one of Vantage's last sailings last November, with only 128 people.  Yeah, we were served chicken nuggets for a welcome snack, but they got some stuff right (our Prague hotel had an orange juice squeezer machine in breakfast room, pretty awesome; in Bucharest we stayed in same hotel as Tauck).

23 hours ago, pinotlover said:

I thought I had read that many of those already highly visited Cities were in the process of limiting, or reducing, the number of river boats coming in. Viking seems to be saying “ We’re going to raft them 5 deep”! Someone is not on the same page or singing from a different song book!

 

Who’s going to drive all those tour buses? Just what many of these towns need, 4-6 more tour buses picking people up and dropping them off every 200 meters!🙄

We're doing our part to lower the congestion, we board our next river cruise 23 December, AMS-BAS.  I can't imagine much, if any, rafting.  Hopefully the Rhine isn't overflowing the banks and we can sail.

I'm guessing/hoping that Viking has a volunteer crew for the two ships that will be sailing over the Holidays, and that they are giving a pay bump for staying on task.

I went to East Berlin for a day when on a Army orientation tour in 1987.  They turned us loose in a department type store, I guess they wanted hard currency?  I bought a little clock, gold plated/pewter looking shot 'glass' set (that probably leached out nasty stuff when used), and the nicest looking pellet gun, all roughly $20 each.  No one said I couldn't buy a pellet gun, so young and dumb, I did.

The duty train heads back to Frankfurt, traveling at night, blinds down, so you can't see the countryside.  We stop at the border check point heading back into West Germany.  the East German border guard checked our bags, did a double take at the pellet gun (just fits in a duffle bag), I shrugged, he grumbled and I got to keep it.  The seal finally went bad on it, and I tossed it a few years back.  One pump, quite accurate.  Fortune favors the bold, and sometimes the stupid as well.

Went back to Berlin last May, and when you stand with your back to Checkpoint Charlie to have a picture taken, the McDonald's Golden Arches stand proudly just over your shoulder.  

Jazz-  You know that Northern Ireland is part of the UK.  Nowhere does the article mention the UK.  I get that the article and idea is odd, that they chose to market in North America prior to Ireland, but your misleading intro doesn't help.

12 hours ago, JourneyJim said:

Thanks, @Steerpike58, for this detailed report! I'm thinking of going on this river cruise, but I'm also considering going on a trip to the Czech Republic only. 

We did 9 days precruise in Czech Republic last November, highly recommend.

We spent 3 nights in Karlovy Vary, a beautiful old spa town, then 3 nights Pilsen and 3 nights Prague.  A nice triangle using a train/bus/airport transfer.  Plenty on Youtube about all three.

Bucharest:  Vantage put us up at the JW Marriot.  As other pointed out, it's a walk to the 'downtown'.  The old part being very small, as so much was destroyed for the Parliament and just because.

BUT, what a neat, huge hotel.  All the rich shops, weddings going on with people all dressed up.  Our CD was from Bucharest so it was nice hearing of what all the parties were.  

We later took the train to Brasov, and the Bucharest train station was the only place we felt creeped out.  That was in 2016, no idea of now.

JP-  Great for you and Chris, 'pull the pin' when you still have health and obviously a sense of wonder and adventure.

CA-  Thanks, but I'm guessing the hard work is now of our husbands choosing.  That freedom is what I'm after.  

JP- Looks like a very neat adventure, good you got to see so many animals.

My last day of work was 2 November, and started 'terminal leave', using up the last of my annual leave until 30 November.  That evening the spouse dropped me at the local airport, and 1 flight connection, subway followed by train, then 5E taxi, hello Coimbra Portugal.   Spouse and I were there in April.

I figured if I was taking leave, I needed to do something with it.  I wanted some sun, and easy.  That's Portugal to me.

Just a few notes:  Lisbon to Coimbra: 4 stops of red line subway to Oriente station, train is around 3 hrs and was 22E. Hertz has a rental office 1 km from main square.

From Coimbra, an hour north to Aviero, the 'Venice of Portugal'.  It's a stretch, but they do have 45 kms of canals with gondolas.  13E for an hour tour.  I enjoyed my time here.

Took a day trip up to Porto.  Google lists it as a 35 minute train ride from Aviero, its closer to an hour with rail work.  The train got up to 230 kms/hr for just a small stretch, mostly it was 40/50 km/hr.  6.5 E for the 'fast' train, others are cheaper.  I just mention that as a day trip in either direction would be nice.

The Douro Serenity and Elegance were in port along with VIking Osfrid and Helgrim.  Amavida had the outside third spot and couldn't catch her name.

Lastly, I know some of you have been to Tomar for the convent, which is amazing.  Just a few kms outside of town is Aqueduto dos Pegões, which feed water to the convent.  400 years old, remarkable engineering, and I was lucky enough to get great weather that morning.  This was a revisit for me, still jaw dropping...especially the last bit that doesn't have a curb along the walkway.  In the shadow pic, I'm the little bump on top.

Another nice trip to Portugal.  Just try to get out of the two big cities if you can.

18 minutes ago, sharkster77 said:

The shelf in Viking aquarium cannot be sat on , unless you bring a ladder!---it is a solid wall that juts out at least a good foot or more from right under windows.  It can be used as shelf space, that's it.

Unless you are a 20 year old girl.  Not sure how, but my daughter curled up there to read a few times on our AMS-BUD cruise.

We also enjoyed our day in Pecs.  They had a small festival going on, so that was a big plus.

When I got back to states, I found out my buddy's mom was from Pecs.  I knew she had managed to escape during the 1956 Hungarian revolution, over the Andua bridge into Austria, and eventually into the US.  My buddy had shared a few pages of notes that his mom wrote about her experience running guns and ammo as a 15 year old girl.  The mom was living with them at the time, so I put all my pictures on a .pdf and printed them, so she and her grandkids could see.  She was a tough lady, married into a Navy family and raised great kids.  End of story.

This is with Travelmarvel?  I looked up the route, it looks great.  We did BUD-BUC in November 2016 with Vantage, and next October doing a Budapest-Black Sea-Budapest with Riveria.  Lots of history, some very recent, along that stretch of the Danube.

Thanks for posting.  Hope you luck into the same nice weather we had for most of our November sailing.

We had to give up our passports back in '16.  I think we had one face to face check, can't remember the country.  Your passports is well stamped when you get it back.

12 hours ago, momto3sons said:

We are going on the AmaLea leaving Nuremberg November 26th and ending in Budapest.  We are also doing the pre cruise in Prague. We have been trying to do this bucket list trip since 2019! This will be our second river cruise with AMA and we are beyond excited!  We are from the southern US and are not used to cold weather. We have purchased heavy coats and are ready to go! 

Heavy coats are nice, but think layers.  Windproof outer, then a sweater or fleece, a long sleeve shirt, maybe something light weight and wickable to wear against your skin.  Some kind of wool cap/knit cap, gloves, and scarf (huge, keep your neck warm, put your hand there and notice all the veins?, gotta keep the blood warm).  I also like a light weight vest to help keep core warm.  The humidity along the river makes it feel colder, along with the wind.  Wool socks and good grippy soled shoes or light boots for wet cobblestones.  Cheap socks and non breathing rubber boots, your feet will get damp and you'll have a bad day.

Point being, you're on a bus, off a bus, walking tour, into a museum or shop.  You want to be able to adjust to conditions.  Carry a bag so you can remove a layer as it warms up during the day.

I live up by Canada, I don't own a heavy coat, except for my motorcycle jacket. And I have a heated liner for that!

Enjoy your cruise, we board Viking in Amsterdam on 23 December, so a Christmas cruise.

Notamermaid-  I was telling the spouse I would love to go to Gdansk.  Looks like a great area to explore.

While in Krakow, I told the tram about 25 minutes out to the suburbs/planned community of Nowa Huta.  It was built by the Communist Government in the early 1950's to house 200,000 people to support the new steel works plants (litterally the meaning of Nowa Huta, New Steel).  When you look on Google maps, it appears like a Tetris board, the way the buildings form common courtyards for playgrounds and outdoor space.  I've seen them featured on history and travel shows, Rick Steves has had quests on his radio show that grew up there and talk about it.

So I go to the museum, which has a display on child hood life (it apparently was very nice from the kids perspective, lots of other kids to play with, always something to do), and the bombshelter under the building.  The women who I bought my ticket from gave me a map, and told me to be sure to visit the second fallout shelter, its part of the museum, about 1.2kms, and UNDER the high school.

Oh yeah, you just walk in the building, dodge the kids changing classroom, head down the stairs following not great signage, and at the end of the hallway is another fallout shelter you can explore.  They had a nice display of the number of spaces/per country's population, schematics of different classifications of shelter by shielding, etc.  Vaguely interesting, being a soldier on the other side of wall in the mid 80's, so glad we never had to use any of the stuff.

Anyway, the part of that I found amazing in that a tourist from wherever can just wander into a school with kids in it, and head down to the museum.  Only issue I had was the lady running the little snack bar/canteen at the schools entrance did not want a picture taken of it, whether she was in frame or not.  I complied and left.

Walking around the area, all the trees were mature and it was very quiet walking through at 11 am.  I would have really liked to have seen inside a few people's apartment, but without doing that, it surprised me as it looked like a nice enough spot to live (if you have to live near a city).

For the record, I'm 318 miles from Central Park NYC (or the big scary city as I call it), and it's 146 miles down the Hudson from Albany and JP to the Park.

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

That must have been stressful! 

 

Poland is on Chris's list for sure. I'd love to go there. Thanks for the pics.

Wallet:  Not really, I was at a Panarama Painting with timed entry.  Just as I entered the exhibit, the guide came up, asked if I was Brian XXX, and if I could checked for my wallet.  I told her sure, but I was pretty sure I had lost it if she was asking and knew my name.  She said yes, they had it in the office, I could pick it up following the showing.

So not stressful, as I didn't know it was missing.  When I picked it up, I told the ladies it was all my wife's fault, as she didn't come with me, so now I myself was lost.  That gave them a chuckle.  Didn't tell my wife until this am, she is so use to me misplacing things.  I also had spare credit and debit cards back in room, so I would have survived.

The was the last of our Covid canceled trips.  I can highly recommend Poland to those like JP and Chris that have already down a lot of the Tier One stops, and also to reassure anyone that it is a safe, easy to navigate country, that is currently a great value.

Just back from 11 nights solo in Poland, great trip.  I was in Wroclaw for 3 nights,

then rented a little Fiat 500 and headed off to Lower Silesia to explore.  I stayed a night in Swednica and saw the famous wood church, which is amazing...but what really impressed me is the city park I visited, Park Centralny.  Great trails, bridges, mature trees, playground.  All lite up at night and well maintained.  Litter free, and any stray pieces would be picked up by the public works crews (that was true almost everywhere I visited.  Gorgeous and relaxing.  For a city of 55,000 it was impressive, as were many of the parks in Poland.  And you always felt safe.

I then spent two nights in Karpacz on border with Czech Republic.  This is a ski area, and being off season I got a great hotel room with breakfast for $61.  Much to see in this region, truly beautiful.

Dropped the car off back in Wroclaw, then took the train to Krakow for my last 5 nights.  $20 for a first class ticket, and I wound up in a carriage by myself.  When the coffee trolley came by, that I wasn't expecting, I was in heaven.

Both cities Tram systems were great, and you could get anywhere in city easy enough.  Although in Krakow I walked almost all the time as their ring park was so nice.  They also had the a very neat pedestrian bridge, two connected spans, bikes on one side, walkers on the other, with a circus in between.

I've seen more and more mentions of Poland in travel media, I think their PR people are out trying to get travelers to visit who may have concerns over adjacent 'issues'.  Just want to say that my experience was high bang for buck, efficient public transportation, lots to see, fascinating history with a land that has been part of so many different countries, and safe to walk the streets.  Or leave your wallet at a museum gift shop, and have the staff track you down.

That's too bad, thanks for the answer.

Great write up, sounds like you had a great time.

I do agree with your comment about Maria Theresa.  I would have liked to have heard more modern history when we've cruised through this region, but no, people are fascinated with her story.

It sounds like the Irish Pub was used as a less formal dinner spot, is that the case?  If so, what was that menu like.  Between Viking and Vantage, we like the shorter, less formal dinners, so it would be nice to have that option.   Thanks for posting.

Lots of great vacations planned, safe travels to all.

JP-  We've driven to Montreal, Toronto, Newark, JFK and Stewart in Newburgh all to get better connections and prices.  AirTransat out of Canada had some great direct flights at good prices.  It all just depends on how many of us are traveling.  That and our weather.  Two of the daughters were to join wife and I in Brugge.  Trip was late November.  Should be safe flying out of Newark, right?

Nope, a snow storm that hit the east coast shut everything down, they lost 2 nights in Brugge.  No idea how they didn't kill each other, that was super stressful for them at 19 and 24, along with Ma and I.   I did sleep in extra room at hotel and wife was spared some snoring.  

We can occasionally take advantage of flying out of Watertown NY, with its two flights a day to Philadelphia (American/One world) on a 50 seater.  You sometimes wind up with 5 hr layovers at Philly, or the flight won't line up with a Dublin connection as they take off early and land around 0550.  Even if you could make it, a long first day and I'd be a zombie.  When it works, with the free parking and it being 15 minutes from the house and a points flight, so very sweet.

Welp, no dog in sidecar pictures then, thanks T-Mobile.

Spouse and I are heading to Colorado/Utah in a week, we fly into Denver and the next morning board Amtrak and head over the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction.  We took this train a few years back, it's gorgeous.  You take a different route over the mountains then the highway as I-70 path is too steep.  Jaw dropping views.  This is a 9 night trip.

For whatever weird travel reasons, I was looking at where you can go direct from Denver...and it includes Munich.  So after a quick ticket change, now my wife flies back to Syracuse solo (and direct now with United, nice), and I fly to Munich, and continue to Wroclaw Poland, just the one connection.  I'll spend 4 nights there, 3 nights wandering Silesia region, train to Krakow, 4 nights there and fly home from Krakow, with the typical two connections to get home.

Very little planned.  Poland is the last of our canceled covid trips.  Very excited.  I've had good luck on other solo expeditions, so fingers crossed.

22 hours ago, ginnyks said:

I am so happy to read your recent experiences on the Ullur and the Passage to Eastern Europe!  We will be doing the cruise in November 7 startng with a hotel stay Bucharest.(JW Marriot). We plan to say a few days "on our own" and wonder if we should stay near the Parliament or in the Old town area.  We have been reaearching restaurants, cafes, hotels and of course sights to see and experience.  Any suggestions for Bucharest?  We have been to Budapest a few times and can not wait to experience the area again!  

Any thoughts on venturing out to Transylvania region?  After our 2016 Lower Danube cruise, we took the train up to Brasov for 5 days.  A private driver took us around to the fortified churches one day, which was great.  On the way back to airport, the same driver stopped in Sinai so we could check out Peles Castle.  One of the few castle/palaces that I would really like to live in, the woodwork was phenomenal.  The people who took the cruise extension by bus to Brasov got stuck in a several hour traffic jamb (and paid a bit more for one night less).

In Bucharest, we visited the outdoor museum on our own and enjoyed that, along with the long walk back to the JW Marriott.  We just like Budapest a lot more.  Would love to return to Transylvania to explore more.  Enjoy your cruise, a very interesting route.

18 hours ago, pontac said:

Thanks

 

I didn't rant.

 

I stated what happened, how it didn't match the description, that I thought it overpriced, and proposed an amount I thought it worth, and requested a refund of the difference. Viking were more generous.

Great, that's the definition of how to approach these things.  A CD with Viking told me that it is surprising to him that people will complain and complain, and never simply tell him what will make them satisfied.  He thought they enjoyed the rant more?  

Great write up, thanks.

Nice that Viking took care of you after your poor experience on the optional cruise.

From a business sense, it would be foolish of them not to respond to legitimate issues from such a long term customer as yourself.  Judging by the tone of your writing style, I'm thinking it was a non-ranting style note you sent, and you were taken care of to your satisfaction.  Cheers!

Wound up booking a September 2024 sailing on Riviera's Budapest to Black Sea cruise, a 14 night RT from Budapest.  On 2024 sailings the drinks package is included for North Americans, not sure about other places.

Interesting, they offer no pre or post cruise stays, nor optional tours.  I'm fine with that, we book our own extensions, just surprised as that seems to be a big money maker on other lines.

We had to put down roughly a 10% deposit, with final payment 100 days out.  10% discount for early booking a second deck cabin.

We selected an 'oddball' cabin (one of 4 that either back up to the lift or a public bathroom), due to it's odd shape it's roughly 60 sq ft larger than the other French Balcony suites on the ship (Emily Bronte), and they tilt the bed towards the sliding door.  Hopefully the lift noise doesn't have us regretting this choice.

Wanted to try another line with Vantage going under, and we like the longer cruises, and chance to revisit a few spots we saw back in 2016.  

Retirement looks to be good, just booked a Viking Ocean cruise boarding 20 Jan 2025; Italy, the Adriatic and Greece, 14 nights.  Due to time of year the price/day was low (for Viking Ocean, not really low).

Also looking to book a 14 nights Riveira September 2024 cruise, Budapest to the Black Sea, it's a round trip from Budapest.  It is scheduled to stop at a few places our 2016 Vantage Lower Danube didn't, and it will be interesting to see how Vukovar is doing in their rebuilding effort.  Spouse still will be working at this point, so had to clear with her work. 

With the 9 night Viking river cruise down the Rhine over Christmas coming up this December, that will be a full dance card as far as cruising goes...now just have to hope our dog sitter plan stays solid.

Wertheim, yes I remember now, in '14 Viking picked us up there, and we had a short amount of time.  I think it was combined with a glassblower demonstration/sales event.  When we went independently, we caught up with an old friend at a local festival, she lives just outside Wertheim.

Ochsenfurt, I think they do a small walking tour in town, after Rothenburg.

Either way, that area along the Main and the Tauber River, you could definitely spend a week or two wandering around.  I extended twice to stay longer, and that was after 3 years being there.  

Mespelbrunn Castle, 1/2 way between Frankfurt and Wurzburg would be a great spot for any line to add.  It's a short bus ride off the Main, maybe checking out .Aschaffenburg, board buses to the Castle, then get on boat in Wertheim.  63 km's on the road.

https://www.gettingstamped.com/mespelbrunn-castle-germany-water-castle/