Included tours or on our own?

[id4elizabeth]

Glad you enjoyed it. And yes, I plan on keeping it up with a blog on Eastern Europe once we get back.

[franski]

I agree! We never try to share rides on arrival because I know we'll be tired from the trip and just want to get to our destination!

 

Could you go ahead and share your Prague contact so that I can keep that with my notes?

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

Hi Chris -

 

This is who we booked with.

 

http://www.prague-airport-transfers.co.uk/

 

For some reason, I think we may have booked the shuttle service, as we didn't care if we shared the ride - but we ended up being the only passengers.

 

Fran

[stonepebble]

Thanks Fran!

 

I'm considering staying an extra night on both ends after reading some of these posts...so transfers by Avalon wouldn't even work for us!

 

Chris

[stonepebble]

Our Prague guide is http://www.ninapragueguide.com . She arranged our airport pickup in Prague for $31 USD. She's also arranged several days of private guiding in Prague, as well as a private guide and car to Cesky Krumlov for a day trip out of Prague, and a guide and car transport to Budapest where our cruise starts, with several stops along the way in some small towns. We haven't taken this trip yet, so can't give a 100% recommendation, but Nina has been totally great to work with pre-trip.

 

Hi Again,

 

I know you must be getting excited!

 

I wondered if you're planning on going to Kutna Hora and if it's doable in a day combined with Pesky Krumlov?

 

We will have a completely free day & night and Prague and I'm trying to decide if we should just do Pesky Krumlov...

 

Thanks,

Chris

[capriccio]

 

We haven't (yet) seen the Synagogue - but hopefully next visit.

 

 

Fran

 

The Synagogue and the Jewish neighborhood are very interesting. We picked up a guide outside the Synagogue for a small group (3 of us plus 4 others) walking tour of the neighborhood.

[pinotlover]

In towns, where we spent the entire day, I have found private (or small group, 8 or less) tours to typically be far superior to the cruise line tours. We can travel and see what we want to see, at out pace. This is very important when you have river cruise line tours with people that need to be in the "slow group "and refuse to do so, thus bringing the entire group to a near stand still. I've been on tours where barely over 50% of the described tour was covered because people in my ship defined tour group could not a mile over 3.5 hours and were always needing to stop and rest! I'll gladly pay the small additional fee , for a private guide, to see the sights of a city that I have paid $1000s of dollars to get to. Also, by doing so, I get to see the sights that I want to see! Many of these places, I will never return to in my life, and I want to see the sights of the city, not be dropped off in some touristy shopping area, and told the bus will pick us up in an hour! While some enjoy that, I'll gladly pay to do something different!

[Hydrokitty]

Hi Again,

 

I know you must be getting excited!

 

I wondered if you're planning on going to Kutna Hora and if it's doable in a day combined with Pesky Krumlov?

 

We will have a completely free day & night and Prague and I'm trying to decide if we should just do Pesky Krumlov...

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

We did Kutna Hora and the Ossuary. Kutna Hora is a beautiful small town with a magnificent cathedral, St. Barbara's. Walking is NOT for the faint-hearted...we also went to the Ossuary which I found fascinating and beautiful, but others in our group found it unsettling. Google it before you decide. I can't speak for Cesky Krumlov since I haven't been there but I would suggest you check google maps to see how far they are from each other as to whether they could be done in one day. I do know we spent 1/2 day on Kutna Hora. As previous poster said, the Jewish Quarter in Prague was very moving and I'm not Jewish but I found myself in tears at the Synagogue.

[id4elizabeth]

Stonepebble - yes - getting totally psyched! Our "first" day in Prague is basically a wipe-out as we get into the airport at 11:00 am after flying all night. By the time we get to the hotel and drop our bags and get something to eat, I don't figure we'll see much, but do have a few things planned to see close to the hotel if we're up for it. The next day we plan on spending the whole day in the Jewish Quarter by ourselves, just following Rick Steves. We might take in the Medieval Art Museum if there's time. The next day is with Nina exploring the whole Castle area, the Monastery Library which is supposed to be awesome, and Little Town, which is below the Castle. The next day is with Nina again in Cesky Krumlov, and based on the schedule for the day, I don't think combining it with anything else would be possible. The next day, we are going to see the Old Town on our own, walk across the Charles Bridge, and hopefully take in the Mucha Museum, of course stopping in at chuches, Old Town Halls and everything else there is to see. Our final day we're picked up at the hotel by Nina and transported to Budapest, stopping at two small UNESCO listed Czech towns along the way. In Budapest we pick up our Viking cruise to Bucharest.

 

From my reading and other friends who've been there, there is so much to see in Prague, I would think the one outing to either of the two towns would be all you'd want to do. I'd love to have another week in Prague to be honest. Note: Re the Jewish Quarter - it's closed on Saturdays and any Jewish holiday. They have a web-site that says what days the are closed. Hope you have a wonderful time!

[Got2Cruise]

In towns, where we spent the entire day, I have found private (or small group, 8 or less) tours to typically be far superior to the cruise line tours. We can travel and see what we want to see, at out pace. This is very important when you have river cruise line tours with people that need to be in the "slow group "and refuse to do so, thus bringing the entire group to a near stand still. I've been on tours where barely over 50% of the described tour was covered because people in my ship defined tour group could not a mile over 3.5 hours and were always needing to stop and rest! I'll gladly pay the small additional fee , for a private guide, to see the sights of a city that I have paid $1000s of dollars to get to. Also, by doing so, I get to see the sights that I want to see! Many of these places, I will never return to in my life, and I want to see the sights of the city, not be dropped off in some touristy shopping area, and told the bus will pick us up in an hour! While some enjoy that, I'll gladly pay to do something different!

 

We were never dropped off in any touristy shopping area on our Avalon tours nor were we ever held back by any slow walkers. Which itinerary and towns are you referring to?

[stonepebble]

Stonepebble - yes - getting totally psyched! Our "first" day in Prague is basically a wipe-out as we get into the airport at 11:00 am after flying all night. By the time we get to the hotel and drop our bags and get something to eat, I don't figure we'll see much, but do have a few things planned to see close to the hotel if we're up for it. The next day we plan on spending the whole day in the Jewish Quarter by ourselves, just following Rick Steves. We might take in the Medieval Art Museum if there's time. The next day is with Nina exploring the whole Castle area, the Monastery Library which is supposed to be awesome, and Little Town, which is below the Castle. The next day is with Nina again in Cesky Krumlov, and based on the schedule for the day, I don't think combining it with anything else would be possible. The next day, we are going to see the Old Town on our own, walk across the Charles Bridge, and hopefully take in the Mucha Museum, of course stopping in at chuches, Old Town Halls and everything else there is to see. Our final day we're picked up at the hotel by Nina and transported to Budapest, stopping at two small UNESCO listed Czech towns along the way. In Budapest we pick up our Viking cruise to Bucharest.

 

From my reading and other friends who've been there, there is so much to see in Prague, I would think the one outing to either of the two towns would be all you'd want to do. I'd love to have another week in Prague to be honest. Note: Re the Jewish Quarter - it's closed on Saturdays and any Jewish holiday. They have a web-site that says what days the are closed. Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

Thanks so much Elizabeth for taking the time to share your plans!

You've definitely helped me make up my mind to just do Cesky Krumlov (spell ck really got it wrong!). And you've given me some ideas about the rest of our time in Prague! I think the only ports we'll have in common are Prague and Budapest as we're doing the Danube Budapest to Prague. I can't wait to read your report! I hope Nina turns out to be good as we may try to use her as well!

Chris

Have a great vacation if we don't talk before you sail!!

 

Thank you to Hydrokitty as well...we'll definitely be spending some time in the Jewish Quarter based on the advice of both of you!

Chris

Edited April 11, 2016 by stonepebble
Add something

[Hydrokitty]

We were never dropped off in any touristy shopping area on our Avalon tours nor were we ever held back by any slow walkers. Which itinerary and towns are you referring to?

 

I never had that experience either and I AM a slow walker!! Vantage gives each passenger a short questionaire to complete at the welcome meeting which asks which walking group you prefer and what your interests are. That way the slower walkers are not mixed with the faster ones and shoppers aren't mixed with sightseers! I can't imagine why a slow walker would deliberately choose to be with a bunch of fast walkers...besides the slower group gets more time to take photos of interesting things along the way....and I've NEVER been dropped off in a touristy shopping area. :D

[Rebel54]

I am pretty sure you can't do Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora in the same day. Cesky Krumlov is a long day as it's a couple hours each way and then you want time to enjoy the town. We were going to go to CK when we were in Prague but decided not to because I didn't want to spend so much time in a bus. Decided to do Kutna Hora and Terezin. Not a big deal for me because I've been to CK before and DH really didn't care either way.

 

I hope you have a great trip. Look forward to hearing your experiences. :)

[stonepebble]

Thanks for your advice too! After beginning my planning and really understanding time and where things are we probably won't make it to CK at all :(

We will really only have 2 full days and 2 half days in Prague...

 

I popped onto your blog as well! So nice!

 

I'll be cking your blog as well!

Chris

[pinotlover]

Got2Cruise and Hydrokitty;

 

The answer to your question is Viking and the cruise was the Southern Rhone.

 

This has been discussed in the past. The Viking Longboats, when full typically require six (6) tour buses to handle the entire passenger list. Viking offers a "slow group" option, and that group gets one of the buses. Viking assigns the rest of the passengers, daily to a different bus with a changing group of fellow passengers. Groups that are traveling together can opt to stay in with that group, but will then be still rotate with the other passengers.

 

Unfortunately, not on we on that cruise, but others on different cruises, typically find fellow passengers that absolutely refuse to be assigned to the "slow group", regardless of their mobility issues. Complaining to the CD does zero good, they will not put passengers into the slow group unless they volunteer to go. It is painful, but fellow passengers can and do bring some of the walking tours to a near stop. We now cruise Uniworld for a multitude of reasons, but this Viking policy is what primarily drove us away.

[LYNNF]

Can anyone give examples of slow group versus fast group? I had a knee replacement one month ago, doing Viking cruise in 4 months. I don't know where I will be with walking ability by that time and certainly wouldn't want to hold people up. Do you need to be able to walk 1 mile, 2 miles, etc. This is very confusing. Appreciate any help.

[JVilleGal]

We were never dropped off in any touristy shopping area on our Avalon tours nor were we ever held back by any slow walkers. Which itinerary and towns are you referring to?

 

 

I agree this was never our Avalon experience either.

[Harley0711]

Karen - we're on the same cruise this spring but in the opposite direction. We're thinking we're OK with Viking's tours for this particular cruise, except in Budapest and Bucharest we'll be doing a bit more on our own. Since many of the towns along the river seem to be small, the included walking tours will probably be sufficient, and allow us to veer off on our own (except for the one where we go see the horse-back riding - kinda trapped there). We're doing the Transylvania extension, but not with Viking. We're hiring a private guide, car, staying in the same hotel and staying an extra day - all for slightly less than the Viking price. We've found Viking's extensions to be generally overpriced.

 

In our experience, the tour groups can vary from 20 to 40 people. If a walking tour, they seem to be smaller in size, but if a bus is involved, they tend to fill up the bus, which means 40. But occasionally, you'll luck out and the group is only 15, but that's rare. As Jazz Beau says though, because of the Quiet Vox system, the "herd" can spread out though. My pet piece is when the group is supposed to be back at a certain spot at a certain time, there's always a couple who consistently is late, wasting time.

 

We always prefer private tours if we can, but as we travel as a couple, and it's hard to find other travelers on our exact cruise, it's often not economically viable. If it's 4 of you though, it might make sense economically.

 

can you please contact me at the email below,,,, we are booking a 23 day Viking and wanting to do the Pre tour from Bucharest and do the Transylvania

 

Thank You