beesKate

If you are on included walking tours, the guides will normally point out where you can find WC's and if you'll need to pay. A 0.50 E coin is normally enough. Actually downtown Vienna has famous public toilets -- the Graben Toilets where an attendant takes your coin to let you in. We would also venture to department stores, but they normally would have an attendant expecting a coin.

When in Budapest, we never got forints, and just gave attendants a euro coin. If you're spending extra nights in Budapest it may be worth getting some forints as the exchange rate will be better. Stores will accept euros, but the exchange rate will be rounded up to their benefit.

I wouldn't both to look at the "family friendly" cruises on river cruises, these seem to be geared to grandparents bringing elementary-aged children. That opens up your universe of options to any cruise line and like others said, just pick an itinerary that appeals to you.

However, if you were looking for a ship where all four of you could stay in one cabin... I'm not aware of aware river cruises with that room configuration.

An option to trying to fit 3 people in one cabin could be to look at cruises where the single supplement is waived. Uniworld does this fairly regularly, and just announced 2016 single-supplement waived cruise dates. That way, for the same price (kind of, I don't know how a 3-per cabin room would be priced)... anyway, you'd get 2 cabins.

I only have Uniworld experience, but we have been impressed with *almost* all the tour guides on everyone of our excursions. You get the speaker system where you follow your guide, and you can ask questions, etc. But with the ear phone and transmitter, you can wander away a bit and catch up with them.

I've been very impressed with Uniworld's standard for service while on the cruise. I think you'd be very pleased with Uniworld. If you wanted, you could about just pack your bags and show up at the arriving airport and do very little planning of your own. They do take care of you. You will eat (and drink) very well and thoroughly enjoy yourselves.

August may be less because much of Europe goes on vacation in August and it is more crowded. Plus, it can be considerably warmer. September is more pleasant and there will be less crowds.

I recommend looking at Uniworld's cruises where they waive the single supplement. http://uniworld.com/solo-travelers-savings

I think most river cruise lines will not provide specific information on amount of time in port and the amount of free time. Although they plan for a "morning" here or an "afternoon" there... they don't want to report exact times because things on the river can fluctuate.

It's a situation of managing expectations... if they told passengers they'd have 3 hours in a specific port, and they ended up needing to pull away 15 minutes early because of water levels, lock issues, who knows what... they'd have people complaining. I can understand their approach of not giving this kind of specific information.

Even though I am a big fan of Uniworld cruises, contacting them directly just leads to frustrations... look at their online "forum" where few answers are directly given nor do they seem to moderate their boards. You can email them, but we've never done that so I don't know how responsive they are there.

I would say what you experienced is not unusual.

We did a similar cruise in early October a couple of years ago. I've added hyperlinks to my facebook pictures in my signature. When we arrived in Munich they'd had (their first?) snowfall of the year. For Texans who rarely get to see snow, we enjoyed it. Especially on our pre-cruise tour of Ludwig's castles with grounds covered in snow. Throughout the duration of the trip, the weather varied between warm & sunny to cold and wet.

As long as you're prepared for the weather... “There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.”

I will say, when we were cruising the Wachau Valley, it was cold and blustery, but we were wrapped in the very warm Uniworld blankets on the top deck. Not quite as pleasant as our early September cruise down the Rhine on a sunny day, but we still enjoyed the scenery.

Lands End just came out with a few longer-sleeved tunic/dresses made out of swimsuit material.

http://www.landsend.com/products/womens-swim-cover-up-tunic-dress---rosette/id_282975

For hair, especially if you have colored hair, you probably don't need to wash it daily. Before I stopped coloring my hair, I put conditioner in my hair (just straight from the bottle, about a dime-nickel size squirt) to calm it down when there's humidity.

For mascara, I love the L'Oreal tube mascara. It does come off with warm water, but there's actually little tubes over your lashes that you need to apply some kind of friction to remove. I use my finger and just rub my fingers around the lashes or a cloth dampen in warm water at home, when I travel I use the face washing cloths (like Neutrogena or Olay) and use them to wipe the mascara off. Conceptually, they take some time to get used to the tube residue when you do wash your face, but they do not come off on their own and the mascara is fairly inexpensive.

http://www.lorealparisusa.com/en/products/makeup/eyes/mascara-primer/double-extend-beauty-tubes.aspx

We haven't been quite the same route, but have been on some of your route on our 2 previous Uniworld cruises. I think you need to be realistic about the limitations on a moving vessel. I was always able to connect at least twice a day to update a short status to family. If I had trouble connecting at one time (like right when everyone got back on ship after a day of excursions), I could normally connect later... or first thing in the morning. I really didn't want to connect any more than that... I was having too much fun.

I would not want to be expected to work or check in at work (you are one vacation), it's better to go in expected you'll have limited access.

JP & Chris - I see you decided on the Danube cruise on the Beatrice for next year, let me know if you have any questions.

Since weather changes from year to year, I normally check weather.com or other weather websites for averages from year to year. After that I start checking before we leave... but the longer out forecasts tend towards the averages.

As for your clothing, a lot depends on what you're used to. Living in Texas with mild winters, I may need a jacket when someone from Chicago thinks it's balmy and warm.

We went Passau to Budapest last time, and we held our own passports the entire time.

Also realize a very small percentage of river cruisers are on this board. I found more success in posting a roll call for an entire itinerary for the season for a specific line. I think there's 4 or 5 of us doing the Catherine this year in France... even though we may not ever meet in person it's useful to share the information.

I finally got some packing cubes and LOVE them. Before, we'd used the roll-able space bags. But we found that we needed to be careful of which compressed clothes got in which suitcase because the bag got too heavy. Also, although I did wash the space bags, washing plastic never really works too well, and the little slidey things get lost etc.

For packing cubes, I got a mix of large, medium and small. When I'm travelling on my own I like using the small. It's amazing how much you can squeeze in there when it's bras, underwear, socks, swimsuits, pjs, rolled t-shirt or tops.

When adding shorts or pants or collapsible (rollable) hats, we tend to move up to the medium size. My husbands clothes seem to fit better in the large, but that's only if we're taking a big suitcase -- and he's taking jeans or long pants. The large takes up almost all of the roll-aboard -- but with his shoes, he really can't travel with just a roll-aboard anyway.

As the trip progresses, one of the packing cubes turns into the laundry bag. When I get home, I can just wash it too.

I also have a hanging bag I use that I try to fit most of my clothes in and roll it into the suitcase... I have 2 that came with suitcases.

My preference is black stretchy yoga-style pants, a shell or t-shirt and a cardigan. The cardigan can come in handy in air conditioned areas on the ship, or you can stuff it in your bag when you arrive in the warmer temperatures.

I like the idea of just leaving your coat in the car if you can!

Lots of good advice. We do not upgrade and are crammed in coach, but I'm normally still able to sleep a little. Here's my list:

Consider your actual flying time and time available for sleeping. Depending on where you're departing, most of the flights are "overnight", but as you hit cruising altitude they serve dinner (subtract 1 hour from sleeping time), then as you approach destination they serve breakfast (subtract another hour from potential sleeping time). Then there's announcements, drink service, movies, etc. You could end up with no sleep or real rest and be dragging your first day. I kind of plan that as soon as dinner ends, I try to get comfortable to sleep.

Benadryl. I've never taken Ambien, but I'll take one Benadryl when I board which kicks in by the time dinner is over.

Sleep mask. I like to use this, is keeps me from opening my eyes and being aware of movement and light around me.

Ear plugs. Although I have noise cancelling earphones, these are kind of bulky to sleep in, plain ear plugs work to muffle noises.

Pillows/blankets - I have an inflatable neck pillow that works -- but really the seats aren't comfortable and I just make the best of it. Sometimes I'll sit on the airline pillow (or put it behind my back). I try to stretch out my legs as best as possible, which means limiting what goes under the seat in front of me.

Hit the ground running... well, not literally, but we always have an idea of what we want to do the first day that is interesting enough to engage us, keeps up moving and allows for an early night that first day. Adrenalin helps! I'm always excited to explore a new city.

I just got off the phone with Capital One to find out if we could get a pin & chip card. They said that this year they are transitioning all their cards to chip cards (not pin & chip, but they should work with chip readers). They've started sending out the new cards to people with mileage rewards. The cash rewards people (like me) are scheduled next. Unfortunately you can't request one to get ahead of the line. They're also transitioning to where each person has a unique card number, so if one card is compromised the entire account doesn't need to be cancelled.

We are in our early 60's and enjoy beautiful scenery and interesting cities.

Judy,

We've cruised both routes and as said before, you won't be disappointed regardless of which route you chose. Just realize you may become addicted to river cruising and decide to continue on for your next trip. :)

If you think you'd prefer cities over smaller towns or cities, you may prefer the Danube. Most of these cruises will stop at Vienna and Budapest, maybe with an optional trip (by bus) in to Salzburg. With the exception of Cologne, the stops on the Rhine were smaller cities. They still had beautiful churches and buildings.. and in the smaller cities or towns you tend to dock walking distance to town.

The scenery is sensational on both routes, but I'd give a slight edge to the Rhine/Main. We haven't been on the lower part of the Rhine (from Basel) but Strasbourg would add a bigger city, although I don't think you dock in town. We started our Rhine/Main cruise in Cologne, mainly because we heard the river north of Cologne was more industrial and not as scenic.

You will find very few people that have been on multiple cruise lines for river cruises. You will be happy with either Uniworld or Scenic... although my experience has only been Uniworld.

This fall will be our first experience with Uniworld's all-inclusive pricing, but even without the all-inclusive it was our first (and only) choice once we decided on a cruise line.

The food and staff are superior. There are different options on cabin pricing, but the only real difference in size is suites vs. non-suites. The cabins are small, but well-designed. The rooms have king-size beds (actually 2 twins put together) and the bedding is wonderful. The bathrooms are tiny, but functional.

Uniworld also includes transfers from the airport for your arriving and departing flights -- but if you arrive early they do not include transfers from other locations.

You really can't go wrong. Pick the date and price that works best for your group travelers and you'll have a wonderful time regardless of the cruise line.

Pinotlover, did you book your guide before the cruise? I'm wondering if the cruise staff could arrange something or if we should take care of it before we leave home.

Clay74, realize a very small percentage of river cruisers on this board. And a very small percentage may well be snobs. However, we've always met wonderful people on our cruises. For some reason we tend to gravitate towards retired school teachers or educators (not intentionally, they're just who we end up sitting with at dinner). I find I tend to approach people who seem open and easy to talk to.

The majority of the people on the ship will be very easy to approach because unless you arrived with a built-in group, most of us would like to meet others. That's part of what I find attractive about the cruise experience... it's the people I meet as a bonus to all the great places I get to visit.

I agree, when you're following a tour guide with a sign indicating your ship & group... no one's going to mistake you for a native. We've had people on our cruise who dressed just as you plan to... it will be August and it will probably be warm or hot. If you're the only one dressed that casually, you'll probably have others be jealous because their wives wouldn't allow them to pack t-shirts (I am presuming you are male).

At one point there were discussion about who are these people who model in the catalogs and websites as the passengers... because the people on our ship never quite looked like them.

If you go on board looking for snobs... you will find them. But if you go on board looking for people with interesting lives and a love of travel you will also find them. I'd rather look for the latter.

Bella, if you're on the Catherine this year, we have a roll call going with the 4 of us on cruise critic that will be on the cruise in 2015 (all different sailings). http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2146891

I'd love to know who you end up doing a private tour with. I really want to see the Carrieres de Lumieres.

The Uniworld Cruise Companion mentions Les Baux in the optional afternoon tour of an olive farm... but I don't know how much time you actually have there. I'm more interested in visiting Les Baux than the olive farm, so may look into a private tour or some way to get there from the ship.