Daisi

Welcome! As Jazz says, Prague isn't on the river (Danube) for cruising, and his suggestion to fly in early (or stay a bit later) to see Prague is probably your best bet. If you would like to actually see more of Budapest, then I really would suggest a cruise that includes extended stays at both ends. Otherwise, you will be getting a short tour of the city, and then wander on your own with the ship leaving later that day (if you start in Budapest). We will be doing Avalon's Blue Danube Discovery in Sept with 2 nights in Budapest and 2 nights in Prague. Just from researching what to see in the two cities, I know we should have more time, but I'm worried that I will find them to overpowering (I'm not used to big cities) to spend much longer. Our travel will consist of about 20 hrs from leaving home to arriving in Budapest, so the 1st day is going to be very limited as to what we do. This is the cruise we will be doing, I really wanted to see Nuremburg, otherwise I would be ending at Vishofen as Jazz suggested. https://www.avalonwaterways.ca/river-cruise/the-blue-danube-discovery-with-2-nights-in-budapest-2-nights-in-prague/WBNY/?season=2023 May I suggest, if you haven't done a river cruise before, you read the stickies that Jazz posted at the top of the main page? Very helpful information there as to what to expect - tours, water levels, what is included or not etc. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions here. I know we haven't provided you with what you wish, but this is a friendly board, and most are very willing to help out.

I agree, my 2nd Father is Swiss, and the German I am learning is very different from what he speaks. Mind you, my F-I-L and (Step) M-I-L were from towns about 20 miles apart, and I remember them saying they couldn't speak Dutch to each other because of the different dialects. She taught me a bit, I used to read her letters from the family when her eyes were bad and he was always telling us we were wrong with the words. 🙂 As for Quebecois, there is so much "slang" that is considered everyday ( oui being pronounced more like "way" than "we" , bonjour as "onn jour" instead of "bon joour") French, as well as the new words the Gov't. brought in because you can't use English words ("chein chaud" for "hot dog") that you basically can't call the two languages the same. Quebecois has stayed "old" while Parisienne French has evolved with time.

Following along, we leave for our cruise in a month, and getting excited. We have an extension in Prague, so have been busy researching what to do. Have a great trip.

A picture from when I was 1 1/2, he would be 3. We say we had an arranged marriage, figure our Mum's would have sat watching us play and planning our future. 🙂

George Bernard Shaw - "England and America are two countries separated by the same language.". I tend to mix my English and French up in sentences, especially if I'm in an area where there are French signs (yes, we have them all over here). I also am getting German down a bit where it comes out occasionally. My husband just shakes his head, and nudges me if I get to confusing. 🙂

No, but if we had had some I probably would have. Mind you, we look at what we did as kids and wonder sometimes how we survived. Both my husband & I grew up together, we've know each other all our lives. I joke he's well trained because I started early. 🙂

Our first cruise was just after bad water levels....I swore I was going to have a good time even if it killed me. 🙂 We did!

Some of the cruises will still do the evening tour of the lights, but I found our our Avalon one leaves around 6:30. That is OK, as I have planned on doing a local tour the night before as we have 2 nights in Budapest included in our tour. I figured I would do that and if we got surprised by the ship doing it, it's a win win situation.

I agree, I think I would have told them that I didn't want to catch anything and politely move away. Some people just don't care, so if they didn't care about possibly infecting other passengers, they probably wouldn't notice. Sorry you got sick, not how you want to do a cruise. I was more worried about the troubles in Paris that were going on while you were there, I hope they didn't interfere with your trip.

@braemar12, if you don't mind me making a suggestion, copy & paste your post into a new post. You will probably get a better response, as things can get buried in this thread. Most cruisers checking in here stop in Budapest. Good luck with your cruise, it sounds interesting.

We download the maps to use offline, so they are usually OK. We use them a lot for touring by car as well as wandering around when travelling.

Special booking for 2 Cdn chefs, I'm guessing you will be on one of the few cruises where Canadians are a majority! Enjoy, and have fun.

Ahh.. I think I understand... you were wandering without a map and got a little "lost" (we never get lost, just discover new things to see 🙂). One of our favourite things to do is drop a pin on our map for where we wish to go, and just wander, so yeah, you can discover a lot of interesting things on your way back.

The ships can only carry so many bikes, most will hire out for tours. If you wish to bike, speak to the CD when you board, they will let you know the procedure of booking one if needed.

Interesting...we grew up near this place : https://www.maritimesmaven.com/new-blog-1/3/31/2021/the-pei-bottle-houses We went there a lot, as all "visitors" wanted to see it.

My S-i-L wouldn't believe me when I mentioned Viking's payment policy, as they are also big fans. They also usually book the year they are travelling, so never really noticed much. Last year, they decided to book for a cruise this fall, and were surprised that yes, they did have to pay well in advance. Like you, they enjoy Viking's product, so decided to go ahead.

I keep checking the weather app, looks like Nuremburg is expecting rain next week...hopefully enough!

I think you'll have to contact them. I looked all over their site as well, couldn't find anything. Good luck.

It's raining in Nuremburg! Weather app says warnings for strong to severe t-storms and they are calling for 11.4mm of rain tonight, with a chance of another 5 mm tomorrow. Now if only it would cool down (35C right now), it may help.

Just checked Marine Traffic, the Viking Egdir looks like it's heading from Nuremburg to Regensburg, and the Gymir is in Nuremburg. 2 Avalon ships docked at Regensburg (the View and Illumination), but could be parked for tours. Cross our fingers guys......

Just checked our invoice for Sept - Budapest to Nuremburg. Our gratuities are $368.00 for the two of us. This also includes the guide & driver for all our tours, not just the crew and CD. To me, it's worth it just so we don't have to sit there on the last night trying to figure out what we owe. We do our air with Avalon as well. My TA and I look at available flights, and we know when Avalon sends us the selected flights what is available for booking - I'm fussy about what airline and route I want. This year we are doing KLM from Montreal to Amsterdam to Bud, and home Prague to Amsterdam to Mtl. These weren't the flights Avalon first sent us, but they arranged them for us. We also chose a later departure in Prague (didn't want to fly out at 5:00 in the morning then sit in Amsterdam until the afternoon to fly home). No problem, and the cost was better than what we had found online. I then went online with KLM and choose our seats, upgraded from economy to premium economy for a bit more. Everything was done seamlessly, once they were given the flights we wanted, they sent us the booking # so I could do so. You may wish to have your TA look into this. We did the same with our air last time, but with no transfers as the hotel we were staying in provided transfers. Good luck, Avalon is a great line to sail with, and are really great at handling water issues... which I hope we don't have to do this year. 🙂

@3CanadianBears yes, you can pre-pay your gratuities. Either your TA will do it for you, or if booking on your own, you can do so on the first page where you fill in how many rooms are required etc. They have some deals on for 2024 if you choose the right cruise - air at $699 (which sounds good until you add the air taxes and everything else on, but at least you are guaranteed that flight cost), and also single supplement is waived. Gratuities are waived on 2023 cruises, however you have to have a new booking.

We buy something small (drink, snack) at the airport, they take Euro's and give back local currency. You may need it for restrooms or small purchases.

Thanks @notamermaid, really appreciate it!

Is it possible to get a link to that map? It will be very helpful for our cruise to keep an eye out. Thanks, and I understand if you can't post the link.