kellyirwin610

Awesome, we’re the couple traveling with our two twenty something sons from California.

41 minutes ago, Rappersmom said:

We've booked a tour for all day on the 8th and the morning of the 9th. Right now it seems like there are few boats able to actually get in to Budapest and Viking has several boats stacked up in Vienna. If water levels don't improve I'm thinking we may need to be bussed to Vienna. If that happens, I'm hoping we can just stay in the hotel we already have on the 9th. But this seems to be anybody's guess at this point, so not going to worry because there's nothing we can do about it but watch and adjust when the time comes. We'll enjoy it no matter what, right?

We depart tomorrow and Viking notified us that in addition to being bused between Regensburg and Passau, we will be bused between Vienna and Budapest and spend the night on a Viking ship in Budapest. I believe we'll be on a total of 3 different Viking ships and two bus rides. The first email from Viking was sent about 10 days out, the second email arrived about 5 days out.

10 hours ago, madda said:

Very impressed with APT on how they are handling the current water level situation. We are supposed to be on the AmaVenita departing Budapest on 24/11/2018 however the boat cannot get to Budapest. We have been given three options: Option 1. A modified 11-day cruise staying in a hotel in Budapest the first night, bus to Vienna for two nights then flying to Amsterdam where we will board the AmaVenita and cruise through The Netherlands and Belgium as well as 20% credit on the value of our cruise. Option 2: Defer our cruise until 2019 and do another European tour. Option 3: Full refund. Just have to make a decision between Options 1 and 3 as we already have two holidays planned for next year. Have to decide quickly as we leave Adelaide on Monday for Prague.

That's amazing! Viking waited until one week before starting to send us messages and no offer of any kind for the 3 boat changes, two bus rides we will now have to go through on our 11/18 Romantic Danube. IF we ever do this again, will have to thoroughly research the cruise line. Thankful for this site, otherwise I would have had no clue! See rain forecast for next week in Budapest (may be a little too late for us though).

13 hours ago, mskaufman said:

Here is a link to some of our pictures

 

https://rivercruiseonthedanube.shutterfly.com/

 

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures; beautiful!

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

That is really sad to read. What a distressing situation to be in. We have seen the footage on television of the fires...

 

Hope things improve soon and you can all enjoy a well earned rest.

 

notamermaid

 

Thank you!

5 minutes ago, mskaufman said:

 

We were on the Atla (and Jarl) this summer.  We had a ship swap and were bused into Budapest. We still had a great time and saw 90 percent of what was planned.  Viking worked hard to do the best they could under the circumstances.

Awesome, that's great to hear!

We are set to leave Saturday on the Viking Atla from Nuremberg to Budapest. I can see that the Atla has been in Vienna for a couple of days; I'm assuming its stuck there and that we won't be sailing on the Atla. Husband called Viking yesterday and in the end they said no cancellations; "its in the contract." My husband advised the rep that he thought they had deceptive advertising because there is nothing mentioned about this when booking this very expensive trip. Well, we're going in with low expectations hoping for a great time regardless! On a side note, my son attends college in Malibu. He has been wearing the same set of clothes since last Thursday due to being evacuated from his residence as a result of these catastrophic fires in California. Hoping the evacuation order will be lifted so that he can grab some clean clothes before leaving on the trip. Counting our blessings!!!

This is encouraging; thank you for your input! We leave on November 18; Nuremberg to Budapest.

2 hours ago, Lggva said:

My cruise on the Alta actually leaves on 12/2.  I have a private tour booked in Budapest and my tour guide tells me the boats are getting to Budapest. Fingers-crossed for both of us. I’ll look for your updates. Have a great trip. 

Just received an email from Viking about the water levels, indicating that we won't be able to sail between Regensburg and Passau and will be transferred by motorcoach. I looked it up and it's a 1-1/2 hour drive. The email also indicates that is the water levels do not improve, they may need to dock in alternate locations or incorporate hotel stays. Finally, the message says that the river conditions today may be very different than on the day we pass through the affected area. So, we've been warned; praying for rain!!

17 hours ago, Lggva said:

Scheduled on the Viking Alta Nuremberg to Budapest on November 29. Anyone have any information on the Viking Daube Waltz?

We're scheduled to be on the Viking Atla Nuremberg to Budapest on November 17, Romantic Danube. I'm becoming an expert, haha, on Danube water levels. So far, it appears the Atla is making its way through the current itinerary; hard to be certain though.