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Danube River water levels

listaLolis

By listaLolis,
in River Cruising

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SeventhOne

SeventhOne

Posted
Posted

We leave a week from Saturday and we are now allowing ourselves to start getting excited about the trip! We leave from Budapest on the Romantic Danube trip. It sounds like the water levels are up and that there is little to no bussing and perhaps just one ship swap at the most?:)

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dln929

dln929

Posted
Posted
Are Viking boats still making through all parts of river? Still have three weeks until ours, but worried.

 

Ours did, from Budapest through Nuremberg. You know you can check on Viking's website for daily updates to see if there are any changes in your sailing.

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rrgator

rrgator

Posted
Posted

We got an email this morning from Viking telling us that our ship the Viking Freya for our Romantic Danube cruise leaving Budapest this Saturday, 12/12/2015, had been changed to the Viking Lofn. In the email it says:

 

"Note also that water levels are now returning to normal and at this point we anticipate no issues during your cruise." :)

 

Hopefully, this change will have no adverse impact on our trip. I will try to keep the board informed as we progress.

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rrgator

rrgator

Posted
Posted
the Lofn is lovely only two months old. The crew is from the Freya. Apparently it had generator problems. The crew said we were lucky to be on the Lofn instead of the Freya. It is a lovely ship and a lovely crew. You will have a great time!

 

Thanks for your comments. That is very encouraging and concerning at the same time. :confused:

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JVilleGal

JVilleGal

Posted
Posted (edited)
"The crew said we were lucky to be on the Lofn instead of the Freya."

 

 

Sounds like the Freya had some issues at the time. Good thing Viking has so many ships they can move them around and reposition them. This is s good thing and by now any issues the Freya was experiencing have likely been resolved!

Edited by JVilleGal
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QueenofEverything

QueenofEverything

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"The crew said we were lucky to be on the Lofn instead of the Freya."

 

Nothing to worry about! Think of it like a car - would you rather drive a 3 year old car or a 2 month old car? I think it was fun for the crew to be on a brand new ship. I am sure the Freya is great also, 3 years is not very old for a ship. We are back today. Been awake for 23 hours now and spent 12 hours on planes, so ready to go to bed!

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Radar1

Radar1

Posted
Posted
At the end of the most wonderful,cruise we've ever taken. Kudos to Viking Tor for taking us from Budapest to Nuremberg in one joyous Christmas cruise.

 

We must have been on a very similar schedule, as our ship Embla (which replaced our original Mimir) was tied up next to or behind the Viking Tor at just about every stop. It seemed every time we docked and opened our balcony window we were looking into the Tor's staterooms.

For some reason, it seemed we would leave the port before the Tor left, but the Tor would pass us on the way to the next port and passengers from the Tor would be on shore before we arrived. That was my main complaint about this cruise, that our travel times were slower than expected, giving us less time to explore each city.

I was very relieved to find that our ship would make the entire trip. Budapest, Melk, and Nuremberg were our favorite cities.

For Melk, I would recommend asking for your Abbey tickets and then walking through town to the Abbey rather than waiting for the bus (especially if you can't get in the first group), it's a pretty little town and not a bad walk at all.

Perhaps ships that head downstream from Nuremberg to Budapest can make better time since they don't fight the current and may allow more time in cities?

We extended our stay 10 days which caused Viking to rescind our original transfer to the airport, but fortunately our concierge decided to let us ride the bus to the airport with our traveling companions, where it was easy to grab a train to the Nuremberg train station, where our train connection to Stuttgart was. We were originally told that we would disembark in Erlangen, but actually disembarked in Nuremberg.

Overall, a great trip and we loved the Christmas markets. Take advantage of any extra time they offer in Nuremberg, my sisters declined the morning trip and regretted not having that extra time there.

 

John from GA

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dln929

dln929

Posted
Posted

I dunno about Tor sailing past Embla, John. It seems to me like it was the other way around. I took a look at my photos and, for example, Embla overtook us in the Wachau Valley and later on the day we were in Melk. I was one of the few people who bundled up and actually went on the top deck every now and then for photos so I have proof! ;)

 

About your comment on getting the tickets to the Abbey at Melk--if you do that you'll miss going with the guide for your group. Ours was wonderful beyond words and I know we wouldn't have enjoyed the Abbey half as much had we not had her room-by-room commentary. We skipped the bus back, preferring to walk through the town back to the ship. It is a nice little walk. We're booked on the Danube Waltz cruise in April 2017 (excellent sale going on now that includes $200 discount & free air, which makes up for the bite of having to pay so far in advance). I look forward to going to that biergarten by the ships' dock that was closed for the season. It looked like a fun place to have a beer or two.

 

What surprised me most about this Danube cruise was how much I liked going through the locks. We stayed on board the last morning when we passed through the deepest of them and it was fascinating. That particular day it was mild enough to watch from the deck forward of the buffet. (It was also very nice having most of the ship to ourselves while everyone was in town. So relaxing.)

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Viking Cruises

Viking Cruises

Posted
Posted

Dear Radar1,

 

Welcome home! We are delighted to hear you found your overall experience aboard Viking Embla to be enjoyable. Those Christmas markets are magical, aren’t they?

 

We noticed your concern about the long travel times and wanted to reach out and provide you with our contact information should you be interested in discussing further. You may reach us directly at TellUs@vikingcruises.com.

 

Radar1, thank you for your feedback and suggestions for future travelers. We look forward to welcoming you aboard again soon!

 

Best regards,

Viking Cruises

 

 

We must have been on a very similar schedule, as our ship Embla (which replaced our original Mimir) was tied up next to or behind the Viking Tor at just about every stop. It seemed every time we docked and opened our balcony window we were looking into the Tor's staterooms.

For some reason, it seemed we would leave the port before the Tor left, but the Tor would pass us on the way to the next port and passengers from the Tor would be on shore before we arrived. That was my main complaint about this cruise, that our travel times were slower than expected, giving us less time to explore each city.

I was very relieved to find that our ship would make the entire trip. Budapest, Melk, and Nuremberg were our favorite cities.

For Melk, I would recommend asking for your Abbey tickets and then walking through town to the Abbey rather than waiting for the bus (especially if you can't get in the first group), it's a pretty little town and not a bad walk at all.

Perhaps ships that head downstream from Nuremberg to Budapest can make better time since they don't fight the current and may allow more time in cities?

We extended our stay 10 days which caused Viking to rescind our original transfer to the airport, but fortunately our concierge decided to let us ride the bus to the airport with our traveling companions, where it was easy to grab a train to the Nuremberg train station, where our train connection to Stuttgart was. We were originally told that we would disembark in Erlangen, but actually disembarked in Nuremberg.

Overall, a great trip and we loved the Christmas markets. Take advantage of any extra time they offer in Nuremberg, my sisters declined the morning trip and regretted not having that extra time there.

 

John from GA

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kwbts124

kwbts124

Posted
Posted
Is the low water level the reason you might not be able to dock in Budapest?

 

We are on Vantage's River Splendor and have just boarded our ship just 5-min north of the Chain Bridge. No Viking ships at any of the Viking docks and we've been here in Budapest for 3 days. Wonderful pretrip - just starting our river cruise portion - fingers crossed - water levels are low but hopefully not too low.

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