ural guy

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/

Notamermaid, thanks for posting.  I'm looking at an April sailing with Riviera on the Rhone, and this thread came up on my search for info.

I like the new 10 night cruises mentioned in the article you linked. 

"Cologne, the Rhine Gorge and Medieval Germany (from £2,999pp), which includes 10 guided tours of Cologne, Andernach, Rudesheim, Mainz, Miltenberg, Wertheim, Wurzburg, Ochsenfurt, Bamberg and Nuremberg. It also features a visit to Braubach, a drive along the Romantic Road to Rothenburg, and a sailing through the Rhine Gorge"

Wertheim and Oschenfurt are two interesting small towns, definitely off the River Cruise path.  Both are within 30 kms of where we were stationed in the 80's.  Oschenfurt especially, my wife and I remember as a grey town we drove through, nothing memorable.

We went back in 2013 with our two oldest daughters and revisited both.  We enjoyed both, from the castle in Wertheim that you could climb all over and the great park riverside, to the new landscaping installed along the streets in Oschenfurt.  Oschefurt had some really interesting fountains and waterways which I really liked, and was pleasant to stroll through.  

Both were such pleasant surprises, so happy to see their efforts recognized.  Combining both towns with another stop is wise because even though charming, they can't fill more than a few hours.  And the river distance between them isn't that great that they could fill time with sailing.

Lastly, this cruise is nice in that you don't have to decide between Wurzburg or Rothenburg odt.  You can do both.

Thanks for posting, no matter how great a trip it is, it's good to be home.

Slainte.

The night cruise is a good idea.

You said earlier you enjoyed history, here is a WW2 hospital you can visit:

https://budacastlebudapest.com/hospital-in-the-rock-nuclear-bunker-budapest/

We really enjoyed Memento Park, they collected Communist era statues and put them in one place.  They have them cleverly arranged, they have a statue of Lenin giving a fiery speech, and a group of soldiers are arranged with their backs to him.  It does take a subway/bus combo or taxi to get to.  Spouse and I thought this was very well done.

https://www.mementopark.hu/en/home/

If you are tired of history and castles, the Budapest zoo was a nice break.  Many of the buildings are gorgeous and constructed to look like castles and anything but a Monkey house.  The animals appeared to be very well taken care of and the enclosures are a decent size.  This was easy to get to on line one of the subway.  It's the oldest subway line, only a few feet below street grade, and has gorgeous wood and brass trimmed cars.

Or just wander along the Danube, and later go look for the Columbo statue, and if you find it, reward yourself with ice cream.  If you fail, console yourself with ice cream.

Enjoy.

Do you have extra time in Budapest?  Plenty to see and do there, one of our favorite big cities.

Yikes, that heat doesn't sound fun at all.

Thanks for asking, yes it was called the Cotton Club.  The River Voyager originally had a jazz theme.   Billie Holiday and I think Dizzie Gillespie and Louie Armstrong pictures were posted throughout the ship. 

CruiseIreland-  Looks like you had good weather for your sail through the castle area.

Can you get lunch and dinner in the small lounge at the rear of the ship?  The grill guy use to set up just outside, had some great meals there.  Not being foodies, it was perfect for us.

Glad you got to stop in Pilsen.  We stayed 3 nights there before our November cruise, a block from the main square shown in your picture.  There was a festival going on for the patron saint, and had a great atmosphere, and tons of gluhwein to sample.  A nice brewing city, the brewery tour took you into the fermentation caves and was a fun visit.

We missed out first stop also and boarded in Passau, what you experienced happens unfortunately, and sounds like you'll make the most of the change and relax a bit.

How many people are on your cruise?

5 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

Those of us who are regulars on these threads are the type who really get into researching our vacations.  It's always obvious when someone posts who has not done their homework, as they discuss river cruises as if they were exactly the same as ocean cruises-----looking for definite sailing times, wondering about booking independent tours to save money, unhappiness with only one or two dining areas with menus not as varied as on the ocean, expecting 'sea days' to sit in a lounge chair and watch the world go by, etc., etc.

 

CC regulars are folks who enjoy researching and planning a vacation almost as much as the vacation itself.  Not everyone has our "affliction".

Correct, merely by us being here, we've put more due diligence into this vacation than many.  People book a river cruise so they don't have to plan much of anything, and they take the commercials at face value.

Over on the Vantage Bankruptcy Facebook, there are still stories from nieces/sons/etc, writing in as their granny was supposed to be on a cruise sailing Thursday, and Tuesday when they went in to check in for flights, they get their fist clue that Vantage is no more.  Many find overseas travel daunting, so they go 'set it and forget it' mode.  When it goes south, they take the time to find various web forums to make their first post and the rant begins.

For the record, we had lived overseas for a few years, and taken 5-6 independent trips at the time when we booked our first cruise of any type, one month prior to sailing.  I researched out independent trips, not this cruise (AMS-BUD).  Took two 20's daughter.  They really missed that upper deck, lots of pent up energy.  We somehow survived and had a blast.

Docking:  Viking does seem to double/triple raft more then other lines, at least from what I noticed.  Vantage not owning their docking spots seemed to help, in our three trips with them we rafted infrequently.  We did late season sailings that might have given us a different experience....

Yorkshireoldlad-  good points, and you bringing them up, maybe somebody new notices them.

Yes, she was the River Voyager, and I see she is heading upstream from Vienna.

We liked our FB cabins, not huge but well laid out.  We sailed the older sister ship of the Voyager last November, and it didn't have the second staircase back by the Captains Club/second dining venue.  Made a long hike to get to the coffee machine.

If you are into history, with your three days in Prague, you may want to check out St Cyril's Church/Museum for a sobering experience.  Well done exhibits.

Looking forward to hearing about your cruise, thanks for posting and taking us along.

CruiseIreland-  Have a great trip, we enjoyed our Prague stay last November.   

We sailed twice on your ship when she was with Vantage.  We really enjoyed our time on board, and I think some refurbishments were done during Covid.  Are you in aquarium class or French Balcony?

We were on a 2016 cruise that was supposed to go to Constanta, but low water prevented it.  The good part was that when we left the ship to drive to Bucharest, we had to take a back route that really highlighted what bad shape the countryside was in.  All the young people had left, only older people on pensions remained in the small villages.

Vukovar was still recovering, and to me that made it more interesting.  This was history that was only 20+ years old.  Visited a family who had been removed from their home so that Bosnians could live there.  They returned 7 years later, and were happy that their photos had been preserved by the residents.

So I agree with RobinMN, it's definitely not a Castles on the Rhine cruise but to us, it was still interesting, maybe more so as we had been stationed in Germany back in the 80's, when we thought this region was part of the evil empire.

We were able to head up to Brasov for 5 days on our own, and Transylvania was really interesting...but not for you if you're ending in Passau.  Have a great time, Passau is also a great spot to spend some extra time if you can.

Only thing I haven't seen mentioned is that 'lounging on the sun deck'...on certain cruises, the sun deck can be off limits due to low bridges quite a bit.  That came as a surprise to me on our first cruise, which was AMS-BUD.  

I canceled one of those deals a few months ago, I only lost the $25/person.  They did not ask for extra money.

Received notice last week of our flights for our 23 December cruise.  They had missed our deviation request, which I was able to fix with a phone call and $100/person.  Our airfare was part of a Viking promotion and $600/person.

Today received our flights, SYR-Dulles-AMS, and return of Basel-LHR-BOS-SYR.

Outbound on United, Return on American.  Decent flights and connection times.  Checking google flights, I couldn't have done better, especially if I booked myself it would be either United or American flights, not a combination.  Able to pick all seats except one leg, which I'll try and line up.

I was surprised as I wasn't supposed to get flights until 90 days prior to sailing.  So we got them 2 mths ahead of schedule.

bundtkate-  Great review, you stated what you liked and didn't and why, thanks.

I often break away, or don't start the included tour.  I've used the onboard bikes (defunct Vantage), or taken the train to a nearby town that interests you.  My spouse would typically take the tour.  Having the options was great.  Some of the German lines offer the tours as add ons, Rad Reisen Eurocycle has cruises where you can rent a bike, or bring your own.  Following the Red Lolipop, even with the QuietVox setup, is always going to feel like sheep being herded.

  I've also noticed that guides are sometimes stuck on 18th/19th Century history, and shy away from more recent events as they may be controversial.  I'm more interested in recent events than Sisi mania it seems that we always hear about on the upper Danube cruises.

We eat about 80% of our meals in the Aquavit (or Captains Club, Vantage), not a fan of long meals, and typically get to 'know' the wait staff there pretty well.  Nice and relaxed to us.  So I agree with you 100% here, I hope they are full staffed for our Christmas sailing.

  You could hop a train up the Rhine from Basel, stopping at various spots and take a day cruise of the castle section.  Take a left at Koblenz, maybe rent a car at this point, and head up the Mosel.  The vineyards on the slopes along the river were gorgeous when we were there one November.

Good luck no matter where you choose to go, and via what means.

4 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

We always buy our airfare from Viking or other tour operators as soon as flights are posted.  Perhaps that is why we've had good luck getting nonstops w/o surcharge--by buying early we get in on the limited number of nonstops at no extra cost.  I see we are both from MA, so we may both benefit from the number of nonstops to Europe available from Logan.  The ease of getting to Europe from Boston has contributed to our preference of Europe to the Western US/Alaska.  Getting to Alaska or Hawaii from the east coast could be a chore, yet I can be in Ireland in 5 hrs.

Syracuse and Watertown are 'home' airport.  We've driven to NYC, Toronto and Montreal to get direct flights.  I envy your options.  Years ago, in San Francisco for a St Patrick's Day parade, they had floats advertising the direct San-Fran to Dublin flights you could book.  Spouse and I couldn't believe that.

19 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

I think the urban legend/misconception is that ALL nonstops with Viking have surcharges, when, as you say, CERTAIN nonstops have an added fee.  In our case the Delta--provided by Delta had no fee, but the Delta--serviced by another airline via codeshare did have an extra cost.

I think it comes down to if the non-stop costs more then the offered two connection flight, I believe that you are correct in that there in no mandatory fee for a non-stop flight.  Somewhere I saw that Viking is the largest purchaser of airfare in the US.  They have good deals in place for what they pay for airfare, and I don't there is a lot of relevance to the price you may see on google flights and what they offer you.

CDNPolar- On Vantage last November they had thin plastic gloves that were mandatory to use going through the buffet area.  Maybe 75% complied.

You could bring a small ziplock bag of those, for other times when handwashing isn't available.  Happy sailing.

This is nice, a question that got positively resolved in 5 hours.

Yeah team, good work!

Yep, in my mid 50's, and on Vantage, I was on the very young end.

That teasing I'll take all day long!

Notamermaid-  I'm sure Viking will figure Christmas out nicely.  

Just an odd note, we were in Washington DC for Christmas a few years back.  Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Virginia, was open on Christmas day.   It's owned by a private foundation, so no government restriction, just the drive to make $.  Netherlands is not as religious as Germany, or at least doesn't have 'Blue Laws', so a better chance for Viking, then if we were in Colonge.

My daughters were so disappointed years back when we were in Wurzburg on a Sunday.  Shops were all closed.

Dianng-  Sounds good!  Spouse and I will be with our youngest (25) daughter and her boyfriend, so we'll be easy to spot.  Should be a great trip.  I think your being from Montana, and us 30 miles south of Canada, the weather won't phase us as much.  Just bring the grippiest boots you have.  Cobblestones may prove interesting.

Hello- we're on this cruise.  Haqdeluxe is probably correct in that markets won't be open after the 24th. 

Are you able to fly in a few days early?  We're going to stay in The Hague for a few days pre-cruise, they are supposed to have a nice market.  The Hague is just a 30 minute train ride from Schipol airport, the train station is in the airport.

I'm wondering what Viking will do on Christmas day.  We're in Arnhem, which has tons to do: zoo, open air museum, Operation Market Garden museum...all great places we've visited and I would like to see again.  Pretty sure they'll all be closed. 

Notamermaid-  The Donaushiffart link may be perfect for the OP.

They have a variety of options where you can cruise from Passua to Linz or Vienna, stay overnight, return by bike or train...I noticed them when we were in Passua and went down a rabbit hole.  There are a few sailing options that don't show up in American web searches unless you are very specific in your query.  So very good of you locals to help out.  I always see ships on the river I've never heard of.  Thanks.