bubbulz

46 minutes ago, sbjornda said:

On Scenic, if you pay for the high-end cabins (Royal or Junior suites) you can get room service from your butler. It's nice to socialize, but it's nice to get away from the crowds and be pampered once in a while too. 

Likewise on Uniworld, room service is an option. 

8 minutes ago, suspaul said:

 

Thanks notamermaid for following the weather for us.  While it’s not encouraging, your daily reports at least let us know what’s happening day by day which is more than we can say for our travel companies.  Still doing the rain dance but it seems there’s no need for umbrellas 😞

I'd like to add my thanks as well. Although it is not good news for the chances of starting our cruise in Budapest in 2 weeks, I'd rather be prepared with an idea of what's to come. At this point, it's not even looking like Uniworld has a boat in Budapest to temporarily swap us to. 

On 10/23/2018 at 11:27 PM, trickylibrarian said:

This is our first ever river cruise going on Uniworld SS Beatrice starting in Prague and then getting on boat in Nuremberg on Nov. 7th ending in Budapest on Nov. 14.  Sure hope all goes well.  Anyone out there think the cruise would be cancelled?

Looks like the SS Beatrice stopped in Vienna and didn't make it onward to Budapest as expected for your cruise. Any update on how logistics were handled for your cruise? Were you bused to Budapest and put up in a hotel (if so, which one)? We are due to board the Maria Theresa in Budapest soon but she hasn't made it to Budapest in many weeks as far as I can tell.

We stayed at Hotel Schweizerhof and it was fantastic!  https://www.schweizerhof-luzern.ch/en/

Perfect location with a beautiful view of the lake and great service!

8 hours ago, acwmom said:

There are a few tables for 2, and like Crystal, on Uniworld you can dine at anytime.

We've had the same experience on Uniworld and often prefer a quiet dinner to ourselves.

8 hours ago, acwmom said:

And the Savoir beds on Uniworld......sooooo comfortable!

Ahhhh, yes! Can't wait until I board soon! Heaven!

7 hours ago, TravelerThom said:

IMO the designer of CVG was an idiot. 

 

I'd have to agree with you there! 🤣

We ended a previous cruise in Basel and Uniworld provided transport to the train station, where it was very straightforward to purchase tickets to Lucerne. After your stay in Lucerne, just take the train to the Zurich airport for your flight home. (We stayed at the airport hotel the last night since our flight home was quite early.) It's much more economical to do the arrangements on your own. Sorry I can't help re: Pilatus.

1 minute ago, acwmom said:

It may be because of where customs is in Cincinnati. It isn't at the main terminal, but at one of the "outbuildings"  Perhaps they don't want passengers who terminate in CVG schlepping their checked bags through the terminal, down the escalator/elevator, onto the train, etc. If we ever move again, it's good to know we can depart immediately!

 

Robin

 

That's probably the case. Sounds like they're actually doing it for the passengers' convenience. 👍

12 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Next trip, consider bringing euros home with you to seed the next trip. At today's interest rates, not having those 1 or 2 hundred dollars worth sitting in the bank between trips will only cost you pennies in lost interest--and it is cheaper than trying to exchange leftover euros back to dollars.

We do this as well. An added bonus is that it almost feels like 'free money' when you're starting out a trip.

3 minutes ago, Alturia said:

Well, I'll be sure to avoid CVG then.

 

I travel internationally 6 to 8 times a year and have cleared US immigration and customs in BOS, EWR, JFK, LAX, SFO, MIA, ATL, IAD, DFW, IAH and have never had to recheck luggage unless I was connecting to a domestic flight.

Same experience here. I've never heard of having to pick up bags and then "give them to someone so they can send them to baggage claim."

4 hours ago, pully8 said:

Yes that is correct about the travel insurance, no cover for cancel for any reason.

A long European river cruise with land pre/post and business class airfares, its 30-40 hrs to fly to Europe, can easily cost $30-40000 for 2.

Big price for a potential mystery cruise and notification shortly before departure or in some cases after arrival.

Given the unreliability, and recent conduct some will no longer take the risk? 

Just to clarify my comment about the optional 'cancel for any reason' clause in U.S. policies: It is an extra option, is only available with some policies, is usually a very expensive option, and only reimburses about 75% of the trip cost. It's not something I usually purchase due to the poor coverage and the fact that it is pricey for what you get. My point was that some people do have this option and if the cruise companies were more forthcoming regarding conditions that they might choose to cancel. 

4 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

 

I think the key word there is ‘inform...’ more than a week out I am not sure there is very much information they honestly can give. Certainly they can’t state what will or will not be possible, so I have to commend lines like APT for giving people the option to cancel or to continue on an alternate itinerary. 

 

If lines are not giving people the option to cancel then I agree, that is wrong. 

 

I think that cruise lines that fail to inform customers in a timely manner about the true breadth of possible interruptions in their original itinerary will be judged very harshly after this season. Many cruisers have invested a significant amount in their trips (both in terms of money and time) and would/could take advantage of 'cancel for any reason' clauses in their trip insurance policies. It's all about communication and from what I've seen here, most of the cruise line companies are failing miserably.

15 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

Even with no charges, check the actual exchange rate you are getting, many make a significant profit on the spread instead of charging a fee...

Exactly. It's not always just about the fees.

1 hour ago, pully8 said:

Agree we always get cash/currency from ATMs, but most places are cashless these days. We carry minimal cash for safety reasons.  

Exactly what we do. 

7 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

I get them from a bank ATM at the airport when we land. NOT Travelex or an exchange bureau because that will cost way more than using an ATM, even if the ATM charges a fee for the transaction. A map of the airport will show you exactly where the ATMs are located. At the end of our trip, we make sure to go home with euros for our next trip.

1 hour ago, Alturia said:

We always use ATM's at the arrival airport to get the local currency. It is the easiest and offers the best currency conversion rates. If we need additional local currency during the trip we just find another  ATM.

+1

Thanks for the detailed report! This is a trip we've often considered. Sounds like everyone made the best of the situation given the flooding situation.

9 minutes ago, TravelerThom said:

Many of the little shops who are “authorized money changers” give incredibly poor exchange rates, some over 40% less than interbank rates. Don’t be lured in by the large “NO COMMISSION” sign - check their exchange rate before doing anything. A few of the shops might give okay rates, but none of them will give as good a rate as you can get with a bank ATM (which will be within 1% of interbank rates [assuming you have a “no foreign transaction fee” card]). 

We have found the same thing.

3 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

Unfortunately I have already bought our own train tickets from Nuremberg to Munich airport for our return flight - we will see if they will refund us that if the ship then sticks at Passau.

Be sure you check your travel insurance as you may be able to get a refund for your train tickets if your itinerary changes.

3 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

This morning it is misty and cold along the Danube, typical November day - the only thing missing is rain.

 

There is a rain belt passing over  Germany in a northenly direction, even if you were caught out in a shower you would not get wet.

There is some rain predicted over the next 6 days, but only very light drizzle, not enough to have an effect on the river levels.

 

Only 20 days to go til the Passau Christmas Market opens it's doors, run until 23rd. December:

http://passauer-christkindlmarkt.de/

 

If you are in Vilshofen, there is a floating Christmas Market:

http://www.vilshofen.de/index.php/events/schwimmender-christkindlmarkt

 

Not to forget Engelhartzell, this is more traditional Christmas Market (the true meaning of such markets):

http://www.engelhartszell.at/Adventmarkt_im_Stift_Engelszell

 

So in three weeks I'll raise my glühwein mug and toast all cruisers be they on land (in a bus between ships), sea or in the air - safe and pleasant cruising.

Thanks for the links! We should be in Passau a month from today and we're still hoping for rain in the meantime. I just downloaded the program flyer from the link you posted. 

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

Using an ATM at a local bank is still one of the best ways to get small amounts of currency when needed.

Agreed! We never exchange any currency beforehand and don't bring much US currency when we travel internationally. We get the best exchange rates and no fees with our debit cards and only take out what we need for a couple of days at a time.

32 minutes ago, Second seating said:

This is the ship I am planning on boarding Dec. 2nd in Budapest! I will hope for the best but I do have plan B all worked out.

 

Second seating

See you on the boat! We have 4 days in Budapest prior and 5 days in Prague after the cruise. We had figured the worst case was some busing between Budapest and Vienna but it’s lookimg like we will be clear for cruising throughout our original itinerary (so far, anyway!)

44 minutes ago, FuelScience said:

I understand you anxiety about low or high water levels. You might think about a Mosel cruise. You could do Luxembourg to Amsterdam or Luxembourg to Nuremberg. From my observations on CruiseCritic, both of these seem to be pretty immune to water problems. Also, I'm a real Mosel fan. I think that it as the best scenery of any of the rivers we've cruised.

 

Avalon has some good deals now offering free air for some spring 2019 sailings. Other lines offer similar cruises, but I like Avalon's cabins, and the current Avalon sale seems like a good one. Also, with Avalon you can to the standard Paris to Amsterdam or Paris to Prague which includes pre and/or post-cruise stays, or you can just book the cruise portion to save money. If you do decide to include Paris in your cruise, Avalon takes you to or from Paris via high speed rail rather than giving you a long bus ride. If you go to their web site, you can start the booking process and see what cabins are available.

 

Good luck  

Thanks for this info! Sounds like a great option to consider.

17 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi Robin, thanks...…..yes, that would be the most important thing.....having doubts about something and when you are spending ALOT of $$$ for it...….needed to do what I felt was best.  I will find something else, I do know that much

I feel the same way after the stress of watching and waiting to see whether we would be going on a river cruise or a bus tour this December. For next year we've decided to tour Scotland on our own for a few weeks vs. jumping on another river cruise. We normally book our vacations well in advance, but if we ever do another river cruise it will probably be a last minute booking.

Uniworld's SS Maria Theresa made it into Bratislava and now is in Budapest for the first time in ages. Hope this trend continues!

I am loving seeing the traffic on the river in Budapest! Much different than it has looked at any time recently! https://www.earthcam.com/world/hungary/budapest/?cam=hotelvictoria

Less than four weeks until our cruise is due to start there, and I'm finally feeling optimistic about boarding in Budapest. I know we'd have a great trip either way but the idea of being able to cruise the entire original itinerary is getting me excited about the trip all over again.

2 minutes ago, pully8 said:

Did you tell him that's fake news?? Old saying there are none so blind as those who will not see?

 

Yep, even sent him some pics. Guess he'll find out personally soon.