Uniworld River Beatrice, 4/10/16 Budapest to Passau

[dodger1964]

Wow. Great review. Thanks for taking the time. Very informative!!

 

We are doing cruise in July from Budapest to Nuremberg. Originally we were going to arrive 2 days early, but I was able to change flights so we get there 4 days early and the ship overnights the first night. So we really have 6 days, including two partial days.

 

We are using Airbnb for the first time. Apartment right behind the intercontinental and 4 seasons hotels.

 

We just booked trip (booked about 6 weeks before travel date), so am doing mad dash to get Budapest figured out.

 

There will be 4 of us, so will probably use uber and do a lot of walking.

 

 

Have u considered putting your "notecards" on your phone. My wife uses some king of a free app that does something very similar.

 

Another option would be to take phone pictures of the cards. That way if the river ever eats another card you will have backup at the ready.

 

Thanks again for a great review.

Edited June 25, 2016 by dodger1964
Add hotel info

[jpalbny]

re: Hungarian Parliament

 

I was about ready to purchase advance tickets and then started reading the reviews. Now I'm torn about whether to pay about $20 pp for the tour. It seems to get mixed reviews, with most saying that it's too disorganized and rushed, especially later in the day. On the other hand, it sounds like it's the only way you get to see the inside of the building.

 

So much to see, so little time ... ;) (And thanks again for the wealth of information in all of your reviews!)

 

You are welcome...I enjoy doing these reviews. And I am glad that you picked up on the definite sense of ambivalence that I put into that statement... :D

 

There is a lot of advice out there saying that Parliament is a "must see" and I will say, the exterior of the building is striking. Going inside is pretty neat, but no getting around what it is - a quick tour and relatively expensive. I would have been happier with a longer, more in-depth tour, and we did feel a little rushed - but we saw nothing else like it in Budapest.

 

The quick look at the Hungarian crown jewels is cool; they are very old and quite impressive. The decorations inside are ornate and worth a look. The tour is nice, and Ft5400 is not much in the scheme of things. Expensive for Budapest, yes, but not exorbitant.

 

I did not think the tour was disorganized, but then again we were early in the day. And come to think of it, our guide was about 5' late, so maybe I should have thought that it was disorganized.

 

So, good luck making your decision! :cool:

[jpalbny]

On point. :-)

 

Our host cleans up well, doesn't he? ;)

[jpalbny]

Wow. Great review. Thanks for taking the time. Very informative!!

 

We are doing cruise in July from Budapest to Nuremberg. Originally we were going to arrive 2 days early, but I was able to change flights so we get there 4 days early and the ship overnights the first night. So we really have 6 days, including two partial days.

 

We are using Airbnb for the first time. Apartment right behind the intercontinental and 4 seasons hotels.

 

We just booked trip (booked about 6 weeks before travel date), so am doing mad dash to get Budapest figured out.

 

There will be 4 of us, so will probably use uber and do a lot of walking.

 

 

Have u considered putting your "notecards" on your phone. My wife uses some king of a free app that does something very similar.

 

Another option would be to take phone pictures of the cards. That way if the river ever eats another card you will have backup at the ready.

 

Thanks again for a great review.

 

dodger1964, thanks for your comments. We booked this one far in advance (and we had actually started researching the itinerary in 2013, when we first booked the Danube, but that's a long story). Six weeks is a short amount of time to plan, but you'll find plenty to do regardless.

 

You have tons of time to see Budapest; wish we'd had that much time! Don't be afraid to use public transport to get around some; it's easy to use.

 

We hadn't lost a card in many years before this latest fiasco. I think we'll be taking cell phone pictures next time! Probably won't convert to all digital because Chris loves to check the items off our list after we come home.

[stonepebble]

Hi JP,

 

I'm doing my final planning....(meaning very soon I'll stop asking questions about the Danube!)

 

You mentioned that you used some Dabube quide books...I'm looking for info on the small towns we'll pass on our cruise. I've researched and found very little.

 

I did find one...The Danube, A River Guide by Rod Heikell. Did you use it or can you recommend another?

 

Thanks,

Chris

[jpalbny]

Hi JP,

 

I'm doing my final planning....(meaning very soon I'll stop asking questions about the Danube!)

 

You mentioned that you used some Dabube quide books...I'm looking for info on the small towns we'll pass on our cruise. I've researched and found very little.

 

I did find one...The Danube, A River Guide by Rod Heikell. Did you use it or can you recommend another?

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

All good - you are right that there is little info about the small towns. I'm not familiar with the book you've mentioned.

 

We actually found the most information in a Rick Steves guidebook entitled, "Rick Steves' Vienna, Salzburg, and Tirol." That had information on Dürnstein, Melk, and Linz as well as a bit on Bratislava, IIRC.

 

We used the Eyewitness guide to Budapest for the majority of our Budapest sightseeing, and got a little bit more from Rick Steves' Budapest. We did not find the Lonely Planet Budapest guide to be particularly helpful.

 

We did NOT ever find a guidebook that had anything on Passau. Chris searched the web high and low and came up with stuff to do.

 

Have a great time! Be sure to come back and tell us all about it. :D

Edited August 3, 2016 by jpalbny

[stonepebble]

Ok...I'll ck out the Rick Steve's book! Thanks JP!

 

I got so much info from you on Passau that if I decide to skip Cesky I know just what I want to do there!

 

I was searching for your thread and think I found that you were looking at Asia???

 

We're going on a China/Japan cruise on Celebrity after our Danube cruise...so I'll be checking out that thread!

 

Hope you don't mind if I ask a few more last minute questions!!

 

Chris

[jpalbny]

No problem...ask away.

 

We're going to India in February 2017, for two weeks with Uniworld. Half land, half river boat. There's very little information about this trip, so hoping that I can blog it to get some info out there.

 

Still have not been to China or Japan, so we're of no help there.

Edited August 3, 2016 by jpalbny

[stonepebble]

Will do! (Meaning ask more questions!).

 

We want to see pretty much the whole world, but India has just not been at the top of the list...

Somehow I know after reading your posts, we'll be wanting to go!

 

Chris

[stonepebble]

JP HELP!!

 

So I've made all these great google maps and they are all in "Your places" on my phone, but aren't listed in "Offline areas"

 

I have an iPhone....

 

Am I doing something wrong? I've spent the day searching the internet and trying a million things and nothing is working!

 

Are you using the maps with cellular data, but not wifi?

 

Thanks,

Chris

Edited August 16, 2016 by stonepebble
added something

[jpalbny]

Nothing wrong. You have to download the offline areas now. It's not an automatic process.

 

I have an android phone so the process may be slightly different, but go to offline areas in the Google maps app on your phone, and there should be a plus sign or some other button to add a new offline area. Download all the areas that correspond to your points of interest.

[stonepebble]

Do you have to open the specific map in "Your places" to download that map? That's what I did...

 

There's now a map listed in my offline area that I named Budapest restaurants...I don't know how to open it to see if it's the same as the one in "Your places". It's just a picture of a map and when I tap on it nothing happens.

 

Do I open it in "Your places"?

Edited August 16, 2016 by stonepebble
added something

[stonepebble]

Hi Again JP,

 

Well it looks like I don't tap on the maps in the downloaded places.

 

Offline (in the google maps app) I can navigate to a place I've saved if I can remember it's name by doing a search for it.

 

But my maps with all the gold stars (ha ha) don't show up...

 

Do you use cellular data, but just no wifi when you're using your maps?

 

Thanks!!

Chris

[jpalbny]

"Offline areas" and "your places" are different. So you don't have to have the area open in your places to download. Once you click to add a new offline area, you can pan and zoom to download the exact map area that you want.

 

In my android app, when I tap on an offline area, that app will open a mini-map to show me the area that it covers. Yours may be empty - is the size listed as zero?

 

Sorry I don't know the iPhone apps, but if you search for instructions on how to download offline areas you should find specific instructions for the iPhone.

[jpalbny]

WRT your last post...I don't use any data. The gold stars are saved in my offline maps.

 

You don't have to tap on the downloaded maps to use them. The app will use them automatically, if you have the app open and the GPS places you within the area.

[stonepebble]

Wonder if it's an iPhone problem...

 

I'm able to find the places I saved in my maps (like I said, if I can remember the name) but no gold stars!!!

 

My husband uses droids...he says they're the best!! ha ha

 

Thanks again JP!!

Chris

[ChulaForever48]

JP,

Great post with a lot of information. My wife and I read you Rhine (2014) a few days ago. After reading and seeing all the pictures, we booked a Uniworld cruise for Sept (Rhine).

I just joined Cruise Critic first post. I have also enjoyed jpalbny posts. We are on the Uniworld Castles on the Rhine cruise leaving Basel on September 11. By chance are you on the same one?

[sawtooth]

We just booked the Uniworld Cruise from Budapest to Prague (overland) so I will be re reading your posts with renewed interest.

We will spend 2 extra nights in Budapest and 2 extra nights in Prague.

Can you get to Salzburg from any point while on the river cruise?

[jpalbny]

I just joined Cruise Critic first post. I have also enjoyed jpalbny posts. We are on the Uniworld Castles on the Rhine cruise leaving Basel on September 11. By chance are you on the same one?

 

Thanks, ChulaForever48. I hope you are having a great cruise! That's the itinerary that got us hooked.

 

We just booked the Uniworld Cruise from Budapest to Prague (overland) so I will be re reading your posts with renewed interest.

We will spend 2 extra nights in Budapest and 2 extra nights in Prague.

Can you get to Salzburg from any point while on the river cruise?

 

Have a great time! You can take the Uniworld bus tour to Salzburg from Linz; it's an all-day affair and it's included (not extra). We did not do this, as we left time after the cruise to visit Salzburg independently. We hopped a train from Passau and spent a night there.

[sawtooth]

Thank you for your insightful info.

We are also using Amex Platinum for their perks. We will also book hotels in Budapest through Amex.

Since our cruise (a day land) starts in Prague staying in a hotel through Unworld as part of the package, we are considering just using the same hotel for the 2 extra days prior to the start.

They want a pretty dear price so we will probably check is Amex can book the same hotel at a better rate.

[fmax]

thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. doing a Viking christmas market cruise in late November and will visit some of the places you highlight in this thread. the photos definitely add to it, and can't wait to see some of these sites.

[jklc123]

Hello JP

 

Just wanted to let you know that your excellent trip review is still useful. We will be on the Maria Theresa for the Uniworld Christmas-New Years sail from Passau to Budapest. Our first river trip was on the "old" Beatrice, same route, 8 years ago. I anticipate that we will have an afternoon (December 31) and all day January 1 on our own, as we will not want to repeat some of the included tours, so I'm making my note cards (Chris, I do that, too) for poking around Budapest, if the weather cooperates. No museums will be open, of course, so walking many of the places you visited would be wonderful, especially on the Pest side. We did the Buda side pretty well last time, except for the hospital, which sounds fascinating. We should also have a couple of free afternoons in Vienna and time in Melk as we don't plan to visit the Abbey this time. In Passau, Uniworld is offering an optional "Bavarian Romantic Winter Walk," which we will probably use OBC for. I wonder if it's the walk you took on your tour, which was included. We fly in 2 days early to Munich to visit Christmas markets there, including one at the airport with two ice rinks and other entertainment.

 

Any way, thanks again for taking time once again to provide such a comprehensive review. Happy trails!

 

Linda