Early September or October for Danube Cruise?

[dogs4fun]

46 minutes ago, thunter1224 said:

Can any of you past Danube River cruisers help me decide on a good time to take the cruise. so the river will be high enough to take the boat for most of it .. From Vilshofen an der Donau to Budapest.. we are looking into late Sept. thru the end of Oct. ..  We will be on AMA WATERWAYS .

Unfortunately there are no guarantees as to when the water will be high or low. Last year the Danube experienced record low water levels - it's a crapshoot. Spring (March through May) can bring high water levels (the boats cannot make it under the bridges in this case and the ship will transport you via bus).  June through August is when the port areas are most crowded and water levels can become low if the weather is hot and rainfall scarce.

Although 2018 experienced low water levels on the Danube in September & October, I still think this is an optimal time to cruise the Danube. Usually, by September the water levels are fine and, bonus, the tourist hordes are not quite as intense. 

[corpkid]

27 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

Unfortunately there are no guarantees as to when the water will be high or low. Last year the Danube experienced record low water levels - it's a crapshoot. Spring (March through May) can bring high water levels (the boats cannot make it under the bridges in this case and the ship will transport you via bus).  June through August is when the port areas are most crowded and water levels can become low if the weather is hot and rainfall scarce.

Although 2018 experienced low water levels on the Danube in September & October, I still think this is an optimal time to cruise the Danube. Usually, by September the water levels are fine and, bonus, the tourist hordes are not quite as intense. 

This is our plan.  We did the Rhine last May and it was nice, but was quite hot (and this is coming from a Floridian).  We're going to go for late September this time.  The upside I'm already seeing is our cruise was about 25% less than peak season, and the hotels rooms are very affordable.  Fingers crossed for good weather and stable river levels!!

[texasstar]

We did this cruise on AmaWaterways  at the beginning of June, in the reverse.  It was the perfect time, as the river had been very high a few weeks earlier.  It is an amazing trip, so definitely take advantage of your win.  We love AmaWaterways.  It is hard to know what the river will be like  between September and October, but I would look at earlier part of the span, just because the weather should be warmer.

 

[gnome12]

48 minutes ago, texasstar said:

It is hard to know what the river will be like  between September and October, but I would look at earlier part of the span, just because the weather should be warmer.

 

And I would look at the latter part for just that reason. I hate touring if it is too warm.

[slewis7]

On 3/22/2019 at 11:08 AM, Roz said:

Congratulations!  I've never seen anyone post that they actually won any of the CC drawings.  Have you ever river cruised?

 

Roz

 

I was notified late last year that I won an upcoming Celebrity “Revolution” cruise to Bermuda aboard the Summit, but I believe this is the first time I have posted about it.  We are booked for this summer and looking forward to it!

 

I am reading this thread because my wife and I are booked on the Viking Grand European itinerary for mid September.  We are hoping for good water levels and comfortable weather.

Edited March 26, 2019 by slewis7

[thunter1224]

 Congratulations on winning a CC cruise .. and I am wondering how it was working with the Cruise Critic staff and the travel agent ?  Mostly wondering since my girlfriend just was told last week that she won the grand prize for the C.C. Romantic Danube river cruise .. and she has been working with them for 3 days ..and it is going along just fine .. 🙂  we have until the end of 2019 to take the cruise.. Plus we are already booked on the NCL Bliss 13 days cruise on Dec 1,  

  

[slewis7]

2 minutes ago, thunter1224 said:

 Congratulations on winning a CC cruise .. and I am wondering how it was working with the Cruise Critic staff and the travel agent ? 

 

My contact with Cruise Critic was limited to returning a legal document and some back and forth regarding questions about the cruise, for which they mostly referred me to Celebrity.  The Cruise Critic representative was very nice, but the details were handled via a Celebrity representative who was extremely kind and helpful.  I was able to upgrade from the sweepstakes specified cabin type to an Aquaclass cabin at a very reasonable cost and they set me up with the airline flights I requested.  The whole experience has been great.  I never involved a travel agent.

 

Congrats to your girlfriend!

[thunter1224]

That is where we are now.. she picked 2 dates to travel and they are helping with the airfare ( to Germany ) plus transfers .. CC has been relaying questions to AMAWATERWAYS cruise line then I guess we will be in their hands..   You will enjoy Bermuda .. we went there last cruise .. and the cruise in Dec. is from NYC to S. Caribbean.. San Juan & south..  

[thunter1224]

We are all set and booked for the Romantic Danbue Cruise.  Oct. 4 /2019 on the AMALEA , My questions now are where do I find the free shore excursions to chose from? ( We were told we can pick 90 days out )  & is there a place on the ship to exchange money between countries, or do you do the exchange before getting on the ship ? We land in Munich around 9 am on the day of departure , But the boat won't star loading until 3 pm ..  will they allow us to stow our luggage on-board , and we can see the sights on our own ? And are there USB plugs in the cabin so we can charge our cell phones and cameras, with American Plugs ?