River Empress Budapest Amsterdam Roll Call

[bgp]

Any CC members on board River Empress lv Budapest June 6?

Anyone have info on River Empress?

BGP

[jollyroger2]

Any CC members on board River Empress lv Budapest June 6?

Anyone have info on River Empress?

BGP

Hi, we took our 1st river cruise Ams. to Budapest on the River Empress. We were lucky to have only 80 passengers instead of the 134! The trip was amazing. Captain Anton de Bot and the whole crew were so personable. We couldn't get over just being able to just walk off the ship in each town we docked. (after all the security of a NCL trip!) all included tours were very good, but being only 56 we did strike out on our own and climbed to castles that the tour guide could not take less able people to. The food was all good, we actually enjoyed some of the lunches better than dinner. I think (and my DH would agree) one of the best things was meeting so many different people and having them all become one big family just a few short days into the trip. The ship was completely renovated over the winter and is now (from the pictures) looking fantastic - not that it wasn't beautiful before. I could go on and on. The laundry area worked very well and do plan to take some of the extra tours,they were all worth the money (and not that expensive) I can be emailed at

whiskey_flynn@msn.com (underscore between the "y" and "f") if you have more questions. We took over 800 digital pictures (tells you how impressed we were!) We have booked Amsterdam to Basel on the River Queen for Sept. 29 this year and can't wait to go with Uniworld again. Stayed precrusie at the RHO just off Dam Square in Amsterdam - more than a 2 star great location good breakfast - only 10E for cab to ship booked thru the front desk. We splurged on Grand Hotel Corinthia in Budapest and upgrading to the executive section with free food and drinks was worth every penny. (we actually got chosen as guests of the day and were upgraded to a 2 room suite w/fruit and wine!) Uniworld uses the Corinthia as their postcruise hotel (but we found the postcruise price too much) so booked on our own. We walked our feet off all over Budapest and wanted to stay more than the 3 days we had booked.!!! I'm rambling on.