Budapest-Regensberg 10/10/07 MS Bolero

[kinijane]

Hi Cruisers!

I am cruising with Gate1 travel on the MS Bolero on 10/10/07 Budapest to Regensberg. I was wondering if anyone else out there will be going on this trip.

OR has anyone else been on this trip and has any insights into having a Fabulous time?

We will be staying in Budapest for 2 days pre-cruise. Is the Folklore dinner show worth the price??

Hope to hear from you soon!!

 

KINIJANE

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Hi Cruisers!

I am cruising with Gate1 travel on the MS Bolero on 10/10/07 Budapest to Regensberg. I was wondering if anyone else out there will be going on this trip.

OR has anyone else been on this trip and has any insights into having a Fabulous time?

We will be staying in Budapest for 2 days pre-cruise. Is the Folklore dinner show worth the price??

Hope to hear from you soon!!

 

KINIJANE

 

Hi,

We are on your cruise. There are 3 of us now.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=551117

 

This is the other link.

 

What is the Folklore dinner? We are on the 13 day package with Budapest and Prague.

 

Cynthia

[kinijane]

Hi Cynthia!

We are on the same cruise but we will be going home after Regensberg. The folklore dinner is not included in the cruise but something I researched doing while we are in Budapest. It looks fun. You are taken from your hotel to a typical hungarian restaurant in the outskirts of Budapest for an evening of traditional Hungarian dancing and food. It's a bit pricy ($80 approx) but I wonder if its worth it for the experience.

Anyway, I hope to get to know you better until we meet face to face aboard the Bolero in October.

 

Jane

[Hlitner]

We just returned (Wednesday night) from spending 4 days in Budapest at the end of a 14 day river cruise from Amsterdam. Although we travel throughout the world and Europe quite frequently, this was our first visit to Budapest. It turned out to be the highlight of our entire 5 week trip to Europe and we cannot say enough good things about Budapest. We are very independent and had booked our own hotel room at the Starlight Suiten, which was perfectly located (just behind the Four Seasons) in the central part of the business district. We managed to do a lot of walking in the city, went to one of the more famous baths, and had 3 fantastic dinners. In fact, we were surprised at the quality of the restaurants. Another surprise was that English was widely understood (contrary to many guide books) and just about every restaurant had menus in English. We even discovered that Hungary produces some very nice wines. One day we decided to take the train out to Szentendre (about 18 miles from Budapest) and we really enjoyed the center part of this very artsy village. I think it might be too crowded during the busy tourist summer season, but right now Szenterdre is a charming village with some very cute shops and a fascinating Marzapan Museum. The only distressing part of our visit was that several locals told us that the country is again in Communist hands (the key members of their current socialist government has many ties to communism) and they are very pessimistic about the future of their country due to corruption and an awful economic policy. But, at least for now its a great place to visit. We did not take any tours while in Budapest (other than a 3 hour bus tour provided by our boat - The Viking Pride). Budapest has an excellent subway system that we used to quickly (and cheaply) move around the city and they also have several streetcar lines that can be used to reduce walking (we like to walk so did not use these lines). For those interested in the recent history of Hungary, the "House of Terror" Museum is quite a shocker. This is in a house that used to be a communist prison and it documents much of the awful history of the past century. Its a "dark museum" but quite an eye opener. As to things like "Folklore" shows, we prefer to avoid the touristy shows. By the way, the restaurants we really liked were Spoon (Hungarian/International Fusion, Pomodoro (Italian), and La Fontaine (Country French).

 

Hank

[LunaSeaRetreat]

We just returned (Wednesday night) from spending 4 days in Budapest at the end of a 14 day river cruise from Amsterdam. Although we travel throughout the world and Europe quite frequently, this was our first visit to Budapest. It turned out to be the highlight of our entire 5 week trip to Europe and we cannot say enough good things about Budapest. We are very independent and had booked our own hotel room at the Starlight Suiten, which was perfectly located (just behind the Four Seasons) in the central part of the business district. We managed to do a lot of walking in the city, went to one of the more famous baths, and had 3 fantastic dinners. In fact, we were surprised at the quality of the restaurants. Another surprise was that English was widely understood (contrary to many guide books) and just about every restaurant had menus in English. We even discovered that Hungary produces some very nice wines. One day we decided to take the train out to Szentendre (about 18 miles from Budapest) and we really enjoyed the center part of this very artsy village. I think it might be too crowded during the busy tourist summer season, but right now Szenterdre is a charming village with some very cute shops and a fascinating Marzapan Museum. The only distressing part of our visit was that several locals told us that the country is again in Communist hands (the key members of their current socialist government has many ties to communism) and they are very pessimistic about the future of their country due to corruption and an awful economic policy. But, at least for now its a great place to visit. We did not take any tours while in Budapest (other than a 3 hour bus tour provided by our boat - The Viking Pride). Budapest has an excellent subway system that we used to quickly (and cheaply) move around the city and they also have several streetcar lines that can be used to reduce walking (we like to walk so did not use these lines). For those interested in the recent history of Hungary, the "House of Terror" Museum is quite a shocker. This is in a house that used to be a communist prison and it documents much of the awful history of the past century. Its a "dark museum" but quite an eye opener. As to things like "Folklore" shows, we prefer to avoid the touristy shows. By the way, the restaurants we really liked were Spoon (Hungarian/International Fusion, Pomodoro (Italian), and La Fontaine (Country French).

 

Hank[/quote

 

Hank,

Thanks so much for the information especially the restaurants. We love to walk also so it is good to know English is so widely spoken. Szentendre sounds lovely but I doubt we'll have time to get there.

Cynthia

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Hi Cynthia!

We are on the same cruise but we will be going home after Regensberg. The folklore dinner is not included in the cruise but something I researched doing while we are in Budapest. It looks fun. You are taken from your hotel to a typical hungarian restaurant in the outskirts of Budapest for an evening of traditional Hungarian dancing and food. It's a bit pricy ($80 approx) but I wonder if its worth it for the experience.

Anyway, I hope to get to know you better until we meet face to face aboard the Bolero in October.

 

Jane

 

Hi Jane,

I found this link helpful. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/budapest/47_inddin.html#

On the left hand side there is a link to self walking tours that seem very helpful. Are you staying at the Hilton Budapest West End (Gate 1's choice) or did you make your own reservations?

Cynthia

[kinijane]

Hi!

 

Hank, thanks so much for the information. I will be sure to keep everything in mind when we go.

 

Cynthia...YES! We are staying at the Hilton. We will fly out on Wed. night and spend Thursday & Friday in the Hilton. I know that Sun we have a 1/2 day tour of the city included but for me...that's just not enough time. I'm hoping to go with my group (There's 6 of us) on a private minibus tour. I found a great company from the Budapest tourist board web site where you can hire a minivan & guide/driver to take you around. You pay per hour for this but divided by the 6 of us it wasn't too bad. I think I'd like this better than a whole bus load of people. This way you can spend as much time at one place as you want.

 

I tend to hit the ground running once I get to a destination...even on arrival day. I want to soak up as much of the city as I can. I've already told my mom to get her rest now because she will need it :)

 

I'm still undecided about the Folklore show. I'll check out the link you gave me and see if I can find out more info on it. I'll let you know anything I find out.

 

Jane

[p598738]

http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-baths.html#szecheni

 

Wonderful !!!! Not to be missed. Mostly Hungarians. Subway gets very close.