Danube River Cruise

[papafets]

I was unable to find posts about experiences found on a Danube River Cruise, so after making a cruise I made this video to give others a flavor of this trip:

 

[cole]

Very well done. Enjoyed it very much. Not only were the photos and videos interesting, but the comparisons between those countries and the US really added to the presentation. :)

Cole

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, that's very interesting, including the stats! We're doing the Amsterdam - Budapest route on Tauck next year so this is really great for us to see.

[I_r_a]

Well done, Papa

 

Thanks

 

Ira

[zeen978]

This was a wonderful video, thank you for sharing it. We are dong The Danube cruise with Scenic in May.

[Got2Cruise]

Just booked AmaSonata Budapest to Munich for this summer! Yay! The stars aligned to enable us to go.

[caviargal]

Just booked AmaSonata Budapest to Munich for this summer! Yay! The stars aligned to enable us to go.

 

Glad that worked out for you!

 

We will be on Sonata Vishofen to Budapest this fall. We are planning a few days in Bavaria prior.

[Got2Cruise]

Glad that worked out for you!

 

We will be on Sonata Vishofen to Budapest this fall. We are planning a few days in Bavaria prior.

 

 

I wish you were going before me so I could use your advice. Lol. Now I'm figuring out the air. I'm dumbfounded that there are no non-stop flights from NYC to Budapest.

[Compass Rose Monica]

Nice video. Going on our first river cruise in 2017. Long wait!

 

Monica

[bigpaluka]

Just booked AmaSonata Budapest to Munich for this summer! Yay! The stars aligned to enable us to go.

 

we are on the first cruise of the season on AmaSonata March 28th. we will review when we return. 2 pre-days in Budapest and 4 post cruise days in Munich.

[caviargal]

we are on the first cruise of the season on AmaSonata March 28th. we will review when we return. 2 pre-days in Budapest and 4 post cruise days in Munich.

 

 

Both great cities! Enjoy!

[flifish]

Thank you for posting your video

 

I was unable to find posts about experiences found on a Danube River Cruise, so after making a cruise I made this video to give others a flavor of this trip:

 

[caviargal]

I wish you were going before me so I could use your advice. Lol. Now I'm figuring out the air. I'm dumbfounded that there are no non-stop flights from NYC to Budapest.

 

 

We did this same cruise 4 years ago, Budapest to Prague. Spent 4 days in Budapest prior and 3 in Prague after. Happy to help if I can!

 

We will likely fly Virgin to Gatwick and then use EasyJet for the other flights. Lufthansa has a connecting flight through Frankfurt but we love Virgin's Premium Economy and that is what we do most of the time now. That is not an option from JFK as we often travel with friends who live in NYC and they cannot get to Gatwick direct, which I find amazing.

[capriccio]

I wish you were going before me so I could use your advice. Lol. Now I'm figuring out the air. I'm dumbfounded that there are no non-stop flights from NYC to Budapest.

 

We did Dulles to Budapest last year with a transfer in Vienna (on Austrian Airlines) and it worked like a charm. We much preferred a transfer in Vienna over Heathrow or Frankfurt. We've also found transferring in Munich isn't bad. Both Vienna and Munich are much less chaotic than Heathrow and Frankfurt.

[aldukenew]

Glad that worked out for you!

 

We will be on Sonata Vishofen to Budapest this fall. We are planning a few days in Bavaria prior.

 

We took this Romantic Danube from Vishofen (started in Prague) in September and absolutely loved it!

 

Allyson

[Got2Cruise]

We did this same cruise 4 years ago, Budapest to Prague. Spent 4 days in Budapest prior and 3 in Prague after. Happy to help if I can!

 

We will likely fly Virgin to Gatwick and then use EasyJet for the other flights. Lufthansa has a connecting flight through Frankfurt but we love Virgin's Premium Economy and that is what we do most of the time now. That is not an option from JFK as we often travel with friends who live in NYC and they cannot get to Gatwick direct, which I find amazing.

 

 

I booked my flights with Austrian Airlines change at Vienna. It was the best option.

[capriccio]

I booked my flights with Austrian Airlines change at Vienna. It was the best option.

 

We were on Austrian in First/Business class (a 2 class plane and can't remember what they named the front section) last year and it was a great flight. Fully reclining pods, excellent food (like first class airline food back in the day) and wines, a special coffee menu, and great service. We would fly them again.

[cantwaitt]

We are planning a Danube River cruise for late July-early August. Is there a risk about the river height suddenly cancelling or marring our cruise? Or does that usually happen other times of the year.

 

This is the only factor holding us up from booking this cruise.

 

Other negative factors to be aware of?

 

We have literally taken dozens of traditional cruises and many land trips, so we are not novices to setbacks.

[capriccio]

We are planning a Danube River cruise for late July-early August. Is there a risk about the river height suddenly cancelling or marring our cruise? Or does that usually happen other times of the year.

 

This is the only factor holding us up from booking this cruise.

 

Other negative factors to be aware of?

 

We have literally taken dozens of traditional cruises and many land trips, so we are not novices to setbacks.

 

River levels are unpredictable this far in advance. Last year was a terrible year for low water and it started in July. You might want to research on this forum how the various cruise companies handled the high water issue. Some seemed better than others (at least based on the comments here). See which companies' ships had the most problem negotiating low water, which companies arranged ship exchanges instead of bus rides, etc.

[jpalbny]

We are planning a Danube River cruise for late July-early August. Is there a risk about the river height suddenly cancelling or marring our cruise? Or does that usually happen other times of the year.

 

This is the only factor holding us up from booking this cruise.

 

Other negative factors to be aware of?

 

We have literally taken dozens of traditional cruises and many land trips, so we are not novices to setbacks.

 

This is a very common question here on the river cruising boards, and with good reason... Everyone worries about water levels. Understandable, but it's a risk that we have to accept.

 

There is no time interval during which the river level will be 100% safe. High or low water can happen at any time of year. It can often be forecast a short time in advance, but most definitely not far enough in advance to help with your booking. The best advice would be to have a contingency plan for any cruise that you book.

 

We have had two cruises that worked exactly as planned, and one that was canceled outright due to flooding. We kept our flights, did 2 weeks in Germany and Austria on our own instead of the cruise, and had a great time.

[cantwaitt]

Thanks for the response.

 

If it were cancelled in advance, we would be able to come up with a contingency plan for visiting other countries.

 

My even bigger concern is something I read about on another website--the river cruise converting midway to a bus tour the rest of the way. I would expect a hefty refund for that totally different experience I intentionally did not choose to book; I did those kinds of trips several decades ago.

 

Thanks again.

 

Anyone else have thoughts/experiences with this issue?

[caviargal]

Thanks for the response.

 

If it were cancelled in advance, we would be able to come up with a contingency plan for visiting other countries.

 

My even bigger concern is something I read about on another website--the river cruise converting midway to a bus tour the rest of the way. I would expect a hefty refund for that totally different experience I intentionally did not choose to book; I did those kinds of trips several decades ago.

 

Thanks again.

 

Anyone else have thoughts/experiences with this issue?

 

There is a disclaimer in your cruise documents about this very issue. Every line handles it differently, and some much better than others. Also the ship design used by certain lines (AMA is one) means that they have far fewer issues with high and low water than, as an example, the Viking Longships.

 

We have been on 11 river cruises so far and 4 were during times of high or low water. None of ours became a bus tour for any portion of the trip. All of those were with AMA. Other boats on those itineraries did become partial bus trips.

Edited January 8, 2016 by caviargal

[Got2Cruise]

There is a disclaimer in your cruise documents about this very issue. Every line handles it differently, and some much better than others. Also the ship design used by certain lines (AMA is one) means that they have far fewer issues with high and low water than, as an example, the Viking Longships.

 

We have been on 11 river cruises so far and 4 were during times of high or low water. None of ours became a bus tour for any portion of the trip. All of those were with AMA. Other boats on those itineraries did become partial bus trips.

 

 

From your lips to God's ears. :-) That's one reason we selected AMA for this cruise. On the other hand, we are prepared for a bus tour if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate. We have confidence AMA would handle it well.

[Capt_BJ]

I'm dumbfounded that there are no non-stop flights from NYC to Budapest.

 

Last summer we flew LOT (Polish national airlines) NYC to Budapest, with a transfer to Warsaw

 

The plane was a brand new 787 ... I think the sticker was still in the window

 

Service and food were top notch (we flew 'premium' the class between what we'd call coach and first . . .

 

Transfer in Warsaw was a breeze ... the airport is MODERN and there was ZERO crowd .... nada ... nothing.

 

The plane to Budapest was small (think commuter flight) but short and service was again spot on

 

When we go back I'll not hesitate to book with LOT again

 

(btw, we came back on QM2 .... a balcony cabin cost less than the plane tickets . . . )

Edited January 8, 2016 by Capt_BJ

[H2Otstr]

From your lips to God's ears. :-) That's one reason we selected AMA for this cruise. On the other hand, we are prepared for a bus tour if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate. We have confidence AMA would handle it well.

 

We were bused two years ago by AMA from Novi Sad, Serbia to Budapest. The Danube was too high for the Amacerto to continue on. We missed the couple of port stops in Hungary. We were offered a nice compensation package after we returned home.