DIY tours on Rhine and Danube?

[new2cruise]

We are long-time ocean cruisers, but we will soon be going on our first river cruise. I understand that many tours are included, but that you can also choose to take optional tours.

 

We have found on our previous cruises that when we arranged our own tours rather than taking the cruise line's excursions, our tours were much better, had smaller groups of people, and were also less expensive.

 

We will be on the Viking Grand European and will be going to the following ports. Does anyone have experience with arranging your own tours at these ports instead of taking the cruise line's optional tours?

 

Amsterdam

Kinderdijk

Cologne

Koblenz

Miltenberg

Wurzberg

Bamberg

Nuremberg

Regensburg

Passau

Melk and Krems

Vienna

Bratislava

Budapest

 

Thanks for your help!

[beesKate]

Although I have no experience booking personal tours, I have been on river cruise tours of many of the locations you listed (although not Viking). I encourage you to try the included tours, if they don't work, your cruise director should be able to connect you with a local guide.

River cruises are a different scale all together from ocean cruises. The guides they engage are generally excellent, the groups are smaller (see the reply from the Viking rep on the thread titled "size of groups on excursions" -- they indicate they are generally 20-25 people). You may want to contact Viking directly to ask specifically for your cruise and ports. I'd say for Koblenz, Miltenburg, Passau, Melk and probably Wurzburg, Bamburg and Bratislava you'll enjoy the cruise tours. These are smaller ports and there just isn't going to be that much difference except you'll pay for your personal guided tour. If you want a personal guide for larger ports, I'd recommend using your cruise directors resources or jump over to trip advisor and search for private guides for larger ports. Your cruise director will know the guildes they use for the groups and should be able to find one that isn't booked for the larger group.

[new2cruise]

Thanks for your response. Could you help me find the thread you mentioned? Is it on this board or the River Cruise ports board?

 

I don't necessarily need a private tour guide. For instance, on another thread, someone mentioned that it was better and much less expensive (even adding in the cost of transportation) to go on your own to the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna because you could choose what you wanted to see, rather than having to go at the group's pace and see what they wanted to see. I checked on Trip Advisor, and it seems relatively quick and simple to get there using public transportation that leaves from very near the dock. This is just one example.

[boater3]

We booked tours on our own when in the Caribbean and liked them better and they were cheaper as mentioned than the ocean cruise tours provided. We are back from the Grand European trip on Viking Var which we thoroughly enjoyed (Budapest-Amsterdam). The only private tour we booked was in Budapest as we did the pre-cruise and checked sights out on our own. From another cc member we got the website and did a city walking tour which was great - think 7 or 8 of us with a local guide. That cost us $22 pp, included subway fares to some sights and coffee/pastries! Website is http://www.viator.com. I see it now is a little more than what we paid in October, however, we thoroughly enjoyed that and had a wonderful guide. As for tours on the cruise, we did the daily shore excursions and did book several optional ones through Viking. I agree it might have been cheaper to do it on your own (e.g. Schoenbrunn Palace in vienna cost us E49 pp) however, those who went did it through Viking as it was less hassle and the bus was right there at the ship. I didn't hear of anyone who booked the same tours on their own. In Cologne, we did go out in the evening to a couple of pubs rather than go with the group. It was good in that the bars/restaurants are right there within a 5 min. walk. Those who did the tour through Viking with a guide said it was good. We found that other in Budapest, by the time we did the ship included tour, we liked going back into town on own to explore and did not really want another tour. We did take however, the full day tour to Rothenburg and thoroughly enjoyed that. My husband also took the WW2 optional tour in Nuremburg whereas I did the ship provided one there. There were not too many optional tours through Viking for ports on this trip. A number of people did take the concert in at Vienna and everyone we talked to really enjoyed that. We did not do that one. It was a great trip! Hope this helps and you enjoy your trip! Pat

[beesKate]

This is the thread with the reply from Viking, I think it's on page 2

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1935722

 

For Schonbrunn Palace, we did exactly what you mentioned. Our ship was in Vienna for 1 1/2 days. The first day, we did the included tour and just enjoyed free time in Vienna. The morning of the 2nd day, we took the subway to the Schonbrunn stop and were able to hike up to the Gloriette and enjoy the view and the autumn colors. We left the ship as the busses were boarding for the optional tour and arrived at Schonbrunn about the same time as the busses arrived. We did not take a tour inside the palace, but just explored the grounds. The people on the tour said that although they had free time after touring the building, it wasn't enough time to enjoy the gardens and go up to the Gloriette.

 

We did do the optional Vienna concert. Although the concert was enjoyable, if we'd found something else to do (a concert or opera on our own or just walk around) it might have been time better spent. Although the ships are docked within 15 minute walk to the subway station, I don't think I'd walk there late at night. I'm sure the ship would call a cab for you if you wanted a free-time option to the optional concert.

 

Nurenburg is one of the those places that is so filled with history, it would be a good place to target touring to your interests. However, in Nurenburg you are not docked in the middle of town and need some kind of transport to get to the sights.

 

In Budapest, if there is an optional Parliament building tour, I recommend that. We did one (with Uniworld) which took us through the Parliament buiding, the Great Market and a couple of other sights -- including the subway system. The people who did the general Budapest tour said there was a lot of time in traffic on the bus (it was a Saturday). We were able to walk up to Castle Hill and explore that area on our own very easily during free time.

[caviargal]

 

Amsterdam

Kinderdijk

Cologne

Koblenz

Miltenberg

Wurzberg

Bamberg

Nuremberg

Regensburg

Passau

Melk and Krems

Vienna

Bratislava

Budapest

 

 

We do not cruise with Viking so I cannot comment on their included tours. However, we have been to all of the cities you list and several more than once.

 

In Melk you will want to visit the Abbey and I would imagine Viking includes that.

 

Passau is tiny and IMO the included walking tour would be more than adequate.

 

Miltenberg is tiny - I would take the included tour if you are interested. We wandered about on our own.

 

If they include a tour of the Residenz in Wurzburg, it is definitely worth seeing.

 

In Amsterdam, I would book a reservation at the Ann Frank house as it is well worth seeing if you have an interest in that period of history.

 

We booked a private guide in Budapest and highly recommend doing so. We booked a guide and van and saw a lot in about 6 hours. We were there for 4 days.

 

Bamberg and Bratislava, are also small and I would not bother with a private guide.

 

We love Regensburg and have always explored on our own.

 

Vienna may be worth a private tour guide but I find it easy to get around and see things of interest independently. You may be interested in seeing the Spanish Riding School which is a lot of fun and the horses are quite amazing.

 

 

We did Koblenz and Cologne on our own and really enjoyed Koblenz.

 

We opt out of the included tours more than half of the time. We cruise with AMA and they offer active pace tours which are our preference, as well as biking tours. We participate in the included tours when it suits our interests and our pace.

Edited November 5, 2013 by caviargal