Our Christmas market Honeymoon River Cruise just cancelled…Now what?

[Ja9Clay]

My husband and I got married in October, and we were fortunate that we were able to have 50 of our closest friends and family in Lake Tahoe to send a weekend together and it was perfect. 
We pretty quickly came up with the idea of a Christmas Market River Cruise over thanksgiving break and the first two weeks in December. I have been to Europe several times but my husband had only been once. We also live in Southern California so cold,

snow and a non-Commercializes Christmas would be different experience.
 

Our plan was to fly out on Thanksgiving (also avoiding trying to figure out family to go to for dinner) spend a few extra day in Budapest, The Scenic River Cruise, then a week road trip through Baveria and Salzburg. With COVID’s number rising and the River Cruise cancelling, we understandably have cancelled. I don’t know if it is Covid fatigue, or just sadness that our Honeymoon was cancelled, but we are struggling to come up with new ideas (plan B/C/D). 
 

We are asking for your help, ideas and maybe some inspiration on planning a fun unique honeymoon. A little bit about us, we are 40/38 years old, we live seven miles from the beach so beach vacations don’t interest us, we are foodies but prefer meat and potatoes and do not drink. We enjoy cruising, our favorite cruise together so far was Alaska due to the scenery and the ability to hike right off the ship. I love Europe for more the culture than the art galleries.
 

Our budget is about $7,000 excluding airlines and some hotels (flight vouchers and hotel points). Ideally we want to do our honeymoon in the next six months and we have about two weeks of PTO we can used from our jobs. Some ideas that we have had in the past were an Antarctica exploration cruise, an Africa Safari, a week in Paris and London, and a transatlantic cruise but none felt right. 
 

Thank you all in advanced for your help and ideas. 
 

[BPCruiser]

Sorry your honeymoon Christmas Markets cruise cancelled. We have done the markets previously and it is truly beautiful and so festive. Imo, it would be virtually impossible to do a safari or Antartica for $7k. Both very expensive itineraries, especially Antartica. Have you considered just flying into Budapest for a few days of their Xmas markets and then on to Prague maybe via train. Markets in both of those cities are wonderful and so much to see & do in those cities. Vienna/ Austria are currently closed.

what about flying to CapeTown? It is beautiful and much to do as well.

There is also Moorea and Bora Bora in French Polynesia. The water is the prettiest imo of anyplace in the world. I hope you find someplace special to celebrate. Good Luck!

[Coral]

I just want to say I am sorry.

 

While this doesn't fit into your schedule now - if your favorite trip so far has been Alaska, in the future, I would strongly recommend you put Norway on your list to hit in the future. It is almost like Alaska on steroids, except for the glaciers being different. Plenty of hiking, gorgeous fiords, beautiful scenery and cooler temps. I did a cruise from London RT up to North Cape and absolutely loved it.

 

Someone mentioned Asheville, NC in another post. I was there years ago and thought it would be great to go when it is decorated for Christmas. While not a full honeymoon - it may work as a getaway in December until you can plan a bigger honeymoon.

 

I hope you come back and let us know what you did decide to book even if it is several trips! Congrats on the wedding.

[Wings55]

@Ja9ClayI too am so sorry your plans have been spoiled but hopefully you can find something that feels special for your honeymoon. I think @Coral had some good points. Do something simpler right now and then go for a 'big trip' later when things calm down.

Like you we fell in love with cruising after a 10 day Cruise/Tour in AK back in 2008. After that trip our next big trip was a two week Norway cruise, round trip Amsterdam. Like Coral said, if you liked Alaska, you're gonna' love Norway.

Good luck with your honeymoon plans and do keep us updated on your plans

Paul 

 

[FLGators#1]

Quebec.  Stay at the Frontenac. They have Christmas Markets. And maybe SNOW!

[Daisi]

17 minutes ago, FLGators#1 said:

Quebec.  Stay at the Frontenac. They have Christmas Markets. And maybe SNOW!

 

Montreal also has Christmas Markets...You cold split between the two, they aren't that far apart.

[Coral]

28 minutes ago, FLGators#1 said:

Quebec.  Stay at the Frontenac. They have Christmas Markets. And maybe SNOW!

I was there in October during a blizzard. The only thing I saw was the inside of the Fairmont hotel. Thankfully it was a huge hotel so I wasn't bored as we spent our entire time in Quebec City at that hotel.

[SML123]

If I were in same situation I would grab a last minute flight to Paris, book the Hyatt Hotel du Louvre and fall in love with the city for a week. I got home from this trip last week and the town was already being decorated for Christmas. Just spending each day walking and exploring was amazing! It will be cold enough for be different for you but not ridiculous. Food? It’s Paris and in the first arrondissement there are more bistros and brasseries than you could cover in three months. Just the historic buildings and parks… so romantic. Covid is under control and all restaurants require vaccine cards so risk is lower. Completely doable for $7000 as well. 

[Psoque]

Unless you are about to lose your PTO for the calendar year or something like that, I would either do a simple self-drive vacation or move this to until the winter season is over.  From what I can tell, things are already getting worse again in terms of this outbreak all over the world, and I don’t expect this to suddenly get better.

 

And I would strongly recommend using a travel professional if you want to plan a complex vacation to a place you have never been to.  I’m not a travel professional, but I would not hesitate to use one if I were in your shoes.

 

[Daisi]

16 hours ago, Coral said:

I was there in October during a blizzard. The only thing I saw was the inside of the Fairmont hotel. Thankfully it was a huge hotel so I wasn't bored as we spent our entire time in Quebec City at that hotel.

 

That's the best time for exploring.... 🙂

 

 

[Coral]

13 minutes ago, Daisi said:

 

That's the best time for exploring.... 🙂

 

It was sort of funny - the cruise lines were doing tours of the hotel because they couldn't go anywhere else!

 

I would love to go back. The night we arrived at 9 pm, the weather was gorgeous but 4 hours later, the snow started and didn't stop. When we boarded the ship, there were snowman on Lido deck. It was one really weird cruise.

[Ja9Clay]

Thank you so much for some of your ideas and suggestions. 

We are going to do a quick 3 day Royal Caribbean Cruise from Los Angeles next week as a quick get away and move the Honeymoon until around Memorial Day.

We are going to try to work with Scenic to try to rebook either the Danube or the Rhine as our first option. 

Are alternative options was a Artic Exploration in Norway which is a little bit more but doable but not sure if it really romantic. 

   

[BPCruiser]

The idea of a NorwegianFjords cruise up to the North Cape is a great suggestion. Beautiful territory and scenery. The North Cape was amazing! We did it from London to Copenhagen back in 2019 on Silversea. Highly recommend!!

[milolii]

Congratulations on your wedding. The European Christmas Markets are wonderful. Hopefully you can visit them in the future.

 

Here  are some Christmas Markets  or events in the US.  The Chicago Christkindlmarkets are especially delightful.   Quebec is magical.

 

https://www.tripstodiscover.com/best-christmas-markets-in-the-u-s/
 

The Dickens Fair  in Daly City just announced it will be a drive though event.
 

Good luck with your decisions.

 We are heading down your Parade of Lights on December 12.

[Ja9Clay]

Than you! 

If you are down in San Diego December 10-12, try to find some tickets to the Noel Noel Christmas Concert with the San Diego Symphony. They are doing it outdoor in the new Rady Shell on the Bay. 

[Coral]

2 hours ago, Ja9Clay said:

Than you! 

If you are down in San Diego December 10-12, try to find some tickets to the Noel Noel Christmas Concert with the San Diego Symphony. They are doing it outdoor in the new Rady Shell on the Bay. 

I hated to say the obvious. I have been to December Nights 2x before I went to the Christmas Markets on the Danube. When I was on the Danube I thought "San Diego does an amazing job introducing me to Christmas Markets!". 🙂 

[Ja9Clay]

Thank you all for the suggestions we were able to figure out our Plan B (or C or D). 

 

We were able to rebook the Scenic River Cruise in May 2022 from Nuremburg to Amsterdam. We are looking forward to spending a week cruising the Rhine and Main River with a little bit warmer weather. We are going to take the weekend before the river cruise to go to Salzburg as my husband really wants to do the Sound of Music Tour. 

 

Instead of doing a road trip the week after the cruise, we decided to book a Norwegian Fjord Cruise on Azamara for the Fourth of July week. Thank you @Coral and @Wings55 for the idea. We are going to do a mix of hiking and outdoor adventures from the cruise ship (similarly we did in Alaska on our first vacation together) 

 

At the end of the day, we feel like it is a great compromise that allows us to get an epic honeymoon. Thank you for all your help and ideas. Now fingers cross that we are able to travel by next summer.  

[Wings55]

@Ja9ClayWow, that sounds like an amazing trip and I'm sure it will be well worth the delay. Two of our favorite cruise vacations have been coastal Norway and our first Scenic river cruise. I will be looking forward to a full report after you get home next summer. Congratulation. 

Paul