Netta7

In Passau the Crystal Mozart was too large to park right in town and we were at the farther dock.  It was a 5 minute bus ride to the place the other ships were docked in town.  I don’t know if this varies with river conditions or it is always this way for the Mozart.  

We were very fortunate to get a bridge tour while we were on the Mozart.  I learned a lot about the locks, the ships navigation process and the limited itineraries the because of the width of the ship.   I liked being on the larger ship, but it’s not possible for many of the other rivers and even some parts of the Danube because the Mozart won’t fit in the smaller locks.   This will stop my plan of finding another large ship for some of the places on my list to see. 

We just returned from. Crystal Danube cruise.  In each port crystal provided a map.  On the back of the map there were descriptions of the top sights In the area.   The concierge on our ship was very nice but did not have the deep knowledge of a hotel concierge.   For example, I asked where we would be able to eat lunch in Salzburg during our Christmas Day excursion.   She had no idea and was surprised by the question. She got back to me a couple of hours later and let me know the Christmas market would be open on Christmas Day.   In the meantime, I had googled, found the Christmas market hours, found open restaurants and made a reservation.  

In ports where the ship docked away from the main tourist  areaor city center, Vienna and Passau on our cruise, Crystal used one of its buses as a shuttle and had the shuttle times on a printout with the maps.   This was helpful when we explored on our own.  

I heard the passenger count was 139 from one crew member, but I don’t know how accurate that is.   There are many people on board, including us, who were moved from the cancelled Mahler cruise.  Crystal moved the Mahler to take the place of the damaged Bach.  The Mozart couldn’t have been full if Crystal was able to accommodate so many Mahler passengers.  The only place that ever feels crowded is the laundry room.  Everyone seems to want to do laundry.  

We didn’t make it to the Christmas Eve mass.  The expected 1:30 am return to ship was too late with our jet lag.  Christmas day excursions were offered to Salzburg and Cesky-Krumlov.   There was also a morning tour of Linz with a tram ride. We chose Salzburg.  The Christmas market was open and it was a lovely day.   On December 26 the same full day excursions were offered and we went to Cesky.    Everything seemed to be closed in Linz, so we couldn’t have dinner off the ship or do any shopping even though we were parked overnight.   

Today has has been a quiet travel day with only few activities offered.  

Crystal Mozart 12/20 sailing to 1/2.  Christmas Eve (today) was morning in Passau.  The ship offered a shuttle to the Passau city center and the only offered excursion was a Christmas concert by German tenor Josef Baierl in the morning.  All aboard was 12:45 and we have been sailing since.   Carol sing along was offered late afternoon and a shuttle to the Linz cathedral is offered tonight for midnight mass.   We are supposed to dock at 9 pm.  

The docking schedule is different than the original schedule and the schedule in the cruise planner up to the last time I checked on the day before we boarded.  The original schedule had us in Passau all day with the sailing to Linz to take place overnight.   

I have had so much help from this board with everyone answering my questions and helping me plan.  I am on board the Crystal Mozart now - Jan 1.  This is my first river cruise after several ocean cruises on a variety of lines.  Can I help with any questions while I am here? 

Happy holidays! 

We are currently in Passau and everything is going well.  No word of delay or problems. 

Can you send some information on the current spa prices and services?  

Thank you!

Everyone has mentioned how expensive the spa is.   Does anyone recall some prices or have a price list?   I looked online and could not find one.  

We thought we called Crystal immediately, but I guess we were not fast enough to get on the Ravel.  We are now on the 12/20 Mozart sailing.  Wonderful ship and cabins.  It has just been hard and expensive to sort the flights.  It’s done now and I am ready to sail!

Mangiantini - I am envious you were able to get on the Ravel.  You are lucky!   Even though my agent responded quickly, I was told it was full.   Rebooking flights was complicated and added almost $2,000 to the trip cost because Crystal’s flight compensation will not be not enough to cover the changes with holiday airfare pricing.   We can’t arrive until 12/21 which shortens the trip, but on the Ravel we could have stayed longer!     

On the plus side, I am hopeful the rain keeps us out of hotels and we have experienced all of our disappointments up front.  I am looking forward to the good Crystal service I have heard so much about because so far this trip has been one giant stressor!  

Mangiantini - thank you for the info on the itinerary change on the 12/22 cruise.  I agree with you on the itinerary.  If I had wanted 4 nights in Amsterdam, I would have booked a hotel, not a river cruise.  What a disappointment!!  

We are also booked on the Mahler departing Budapest on December 22.   Very worried about flights.   It is interesting that they completely cancellled the December 6 cruise rather than re-routing.   Looking forward to hearing more.  

Following this closely.  Thank you for the information everyone has shared.  We are supposed to start our cruise in Budapest on 12/22.   Rebooking flights at the last minute is often very difficult.  Rebooking them during the holidays, when many flights are full can be impossible.  Trying to relax, but I will relax more when there is rain.  

Thank you!

We are traveling on Crystal in December with our young adult sons. One of them is a strict vegetarian and prefers his food very healthy with whole grains, limited or no butter, cream and sugar, etc. What can a health food vegetarian expect on Crystal? If he will starve, I still have time to rebook :)

Thank you for your thoughts!

Hi,

We are thinking of taking the Inside Passage with Glacier Bay on Pacific Princess. The dates work particularly well for us. This particular cruise is soon and not at all popular - lots of empty cabins and no roll call for our date. Thoughts everyone? Is this a bad cruise? Anything we should know?

By way of background - we are a married couple (40s/50s) and will be traveling without our kids. We have been on several cruises before - Disney, Princess (CP), HAL (Caribbean and Med).

Thank you for your thoughts.

Wander,

Thank you for the information on Easter week services. While we won't be in Ephesus for this cruise, I am happy to hear there will be services. I would love to try it in Ephesus though!

Thanks!

Does anyone know the religious services typically offered on cruises during Easter week?

Thanks

We travel with our teens. Our first HAL cruise was shortly after a Princess cruise. On Princess we paid for a kids unlimited drink package (sold in a very pushy manner btw). Switching to HAL for the next cruise, I was slightly worried about what the final beverage bill would be if I left the kids to their own devices. We decided it was vacation and didn't impose any limits on beverages other than the same family rules we always use. We are happy to report that the final bill on HAL was SIGNIFICANTLY less than the package on Princess. Teen boys can consume large quantities of food and beverages, so if they can't get value out of a package deal, who can?

It's interesting that HAL has an everyone in the same cabin rule on the drinks package. While it may make sense with some couples/age groups, the kids on our Princess cruise who didn't have unlimited drinks quickly "made" a friend that did have a drinks package. While we were able to stop this for our family, I can foresee similar friend making and it won't be just with the teenagers.

For our recent 17 day cruise we arranged our own guides in most locations. We assumed we saved a little money doing so. In Tunisia we couldn't find a guide. The ones on the various private guide websites were either unavailable or didn't respond to our emails. We ended up booking with Tours by Locals as it was the best (only) thing we found.

We had a great experience in Tunisia and with Tours by Locals. Having done it, we wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Since we used several private guides on our trip and also used tours by locals (TBL), here are the pros and cons that we saw:

- As some have said going through a broker may cost more. We did find, however, that the better known private guides in the major tourist areas were very aware of what everyone else was charging. You need to do your price shopping if that is important to you. It also helps to know what you really want to do.

- TBL let us pay with our credit card in US$ and did not pay the guide until after our tour. The guides we hired directly did not take credit cards. While we are traveling paying by credit card has two advantages - no/less worries about pick pockets and no worries about finding an ATM or being within our daily cash withdrawal limits.

- TBL requires payment in advance rather than the day of the tour.

- TBL can save you some research and organization time. For many of the locations where I hired guides for our family we did a significant amount of research and then emailing back and forth.

I am sure there are other items we are missing, but these are the big things we found.

I tried to reserve him for an upcoming trip later this summer. He quickly got back to me, but told me he was already full for our date and referred me to Sicily Life. His communications were prompt and clear, but I cannot comment on his service.

Can you tell us a little bit about what tour you did? I have been working hard to organize our day in Tunis, but the information on the web is not very good. I read one report of a recent ship's tour that wasn't very good and have had little response to the emails I have sent. Since you have recent experience, I would love to hear more about your trip.

Thanks,

Netta7

I too have been trying to find someone who has done a walking tour with them. I am trying to decide between RIL's walking tours and some of the companies that specialize in walking tours only. Anyone who has walked with them?

Silly question:

I am assuming the unlimited prices are per person not per cabin. We would need to double it assuming 2 people in the cabin, right?