Danube Cruise or Central Europe or Baltic DCL?

[travelinglibrarian]

Hello! Sorry for the long post, but I am new and sorting through several options.
With the Danube cruise sailings beginning this summer, I'm hoping to get some input. First, my family (DH, DD 20, DS 15 & DD 12) just returned from ABD South Africa and it was fabulous - you know it's wonderful when the kids are crying when it ends. It was our third ABD trip - we did Greece in 2014 & Italy in 2011 - all fantastic!
I am considering a trip for next summer and have narrowed it down to a few possibilities: Danube Cruise, Central Europe ABD, or Baltic DCL with ABD add on. The Baltic hits a lot of the places we want to see, but I'm concerned about being in a flood of cruise ship day tourists. I'm not sure you can have the same personal experience that we have experienced with ABD if there are hundreds of day-trippers overwhelming a port city. I have noticed concerns about this add on, and it seems as if the numbers have been too high for a good ABD experience. While I'm sure Disney could improve the situation, I wonder if part of the problem is the nature of large cruise ships - lots of tourists with too little time in a famous location.
The river cruise appeals - the pace seems nice and the numbers less overwhelming at each destination - and I love not needing to pack up every 2 or 3 days. My concern here is finding a good peer group. One big perk of our previous ABD trips has been meeting the other families in our tour group. Our kids love meeting others their own age, and having a break from 24-hour a day family time. Several years ago, my husband and I took an anniversary trip on a Seine river cruise. The destinations were fabulous (Paris, Normandy, art & wine - what's not to love?) and it was a wonderful way to travel. Only hitch - we were in our early 40s at the time and the youngest people on the trip! We met some lovely people (and some unbelievably cranky ones), and it was not kid friendly. I know Disney is targeting families with their new itineraries, but I'm curious how this will work. The boat holds 158 - how many of these are Disney? Less than 40? Are the remainder all retirees? Are the Disney travelers a variety of ages, or is it primarily teens and adults? Do the Disney travelers dine together, or is there a "kid's table"? Will the jokes and laughter of our somewhat loud family garner glares from the other passengers?
Or, should we just consider the Central Europe tour? I feel like I know exactly what we would be getting with the traditional ABD tour - and our kids would definitely feel comfortable and find friends. If you've done any of these, or will be this summer, I would love to hear your thoughts!

 

[sayhello]

ABD has booked the entire ship for their Danube (and Rhine) River cruises. Everyone on it is doing an ABD. There are a max of 158 Adventurers and 8 Adventure Guides. So the ages will probably skew pretty close to regular ABD's I'd assume (I can let you know for sure in a few days!) For the excursions, you are broken up into smaller groups.

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

We did the DCL Baltic cruise w/o ABD last year. We were scheduled for the ABD river cruise, but had to cancel, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, though the river cruise facts I'll give you are what we were told by ABD.

The river cruise is 100% ABD. They "rent" the boat for the cruise and only ABD can fill it. There is a good trip report by Calypso for the river cruise she just finished on this forum, and she has been good about answering specific questions. On our planned trip, there was an age range of around 7-17, with the slim majority being tweens to early teens. You can look at the river cruise roll call for an idea of ages. At one point I had listed out the exact age breakup for the kids with specific numbers in each range.

I can say that we thoroughly enjoyed the Baltic cruise, including the ports, despite no ABD (which we were waitlisted for.) We did 3 days in Iceland, then 3 days in Copenhagen (all DIY thru trips found on TripAdvisor.) Both of these cities were ridiculously easy to navigate. Two of the ports on the cruise we did DCL excursions, 2 ports we did DIY excursions (again thru TripAdvisor.) We unanimously decided we liked the DIY excursions much better. We were able to do private tours for our family of 8 for less or equal to the cost of a DCL excursion, but with longer times, more flexibility, and personal service. There is a bit more stress involved, as you have to do the planning ahead, but we had no issues with any of the companies we worked with. And all this was WAY less expensive than what it would have cost for the ABD add on. So for the cruise, when the majority of time you are on the cruise ship, I'm not sure paying for ABD would have been "worth it" for us.

I'm still hoping to do the river cruise. It sounds like an ideal way to see all those cities without having to move hotels every night, to have peers for our kids, and have the excursions already planned out.

From an old post of mine regarding our planned river cruise:

I was curious how our July 21 sailing was filled.

There are 141 currently booked on our sailing.
105 adults
36 kids total:
20 kids ages 4 to 12 (only 3 are under 8)
16 kids ages 13-17 (three of those are mine)

 

[travelinglibrarian]

ABD has booked the entire ship for their Danube (and Rhine) River cruises. Everyone on it is doing an ABD. There are a max of 158 Adventurers and 8 Adventure Guides. So the ages will probably skew pretty close to regular ABD's I'd assume (I can let you know for sure in a few days!) For the excursions, you are broken up into smaller groups.

Sayhello

Ah, thank you! Are you on the next / current sailing? I will watch for your posts! I am curious if I can get as much "Sound of Music" touring on the cruise as on the Central Europe trip. Sounds corny, but I'm a huge Sound of Music fan

 

[travelinglibrarian]

We did the DCL Baltic cruise w/o ABD last year. We were scheduled for the ABD river cruise, but had to cancel, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, though the river cruise facts I'll give you are what we were told by ABD.

The river cruise is 100% ABD. They "rent" the boat for the cruise and only ABD can fill it. There is a good trip report by Calypso for the river cruise she just finished on this forum, and she has been good about answering specific questions. On our planned trip, there was an age range of around 7-17, with the slim majority being tweens to early teens. You can look at the river cruise roll call for an idea of ages. At one point I had listed out the exact age breakup for the kids with specific numbers in each range.

I can say that we thoroughly enjoyed the Baltic cruise, including the ports, despite no ABD (which we were waitlisted for.) We did 3 days in Iceland, then 3 days in Copenhagen (all DIY thru trips found on TripAdvisor.) Both of these cities were ridiculously easy to navigate. Two of the ports on the cruise we did DCL excursions, 2 ports we did DIY excursions (again thru TripAdvisor.) We unanimously decided we liked the DIY excursions much better. We were able to do private tours for our family of 8 for less or equal to the cost of a DCL excursion, but with longer times, more flexibility, and personal service. There is a bit more stress involved, as you have to do the planning ahead, but we had no issues with any of the companies we worked with. And all this was WAY less expensive than what it would have cost for the ABD add on. So for the cruise, when the majority of time you are on the cruise ship, I'm not sure paying for ABD would have been "worth it" for us.

I'm still hoping to do the river cruise. It sounds like an ideal way to see all those cities without having to move hotels every night, to have peers for our kids, and have the excursions already planned out.

From an old post of mine regarding our planned river cruise:

I was curious how our July 21 sailing was filled.

There are 141 currently booked on our sailing.
105 adults
36 kids total:
20 kids ages 4 to 12 (only 3 are under 8)
16 kids ages 13-17 (three of those are mine)

Sounds like a great age break down for the Danube trip - at least it would be great for us .
We don't always travel with Disney, and I have planned several trips before using Trip Advisor, so I am perfectly comfortable doing that. A few of the stops on the Baltic tour - Amsterdam in particular - are places where I would want to see as much as possible during our time there, so I don't want to be bogged down with figuring out transportation, but I might be willing to do it after more research. My daughter visited there recently (of course she didn't plan ahead) and couldn't get in the Van Gogh museum because of a very long wait. The ABD appealed, in part, because of access to high traffic museums like the Van Gogh and Anne Frank House, but I'm not sure it would be worth it for us if it didn't include a group component onboard - such as dining with other ABD families, or early / behind the scenes access to popular sites.
I hope you get to do your river cruise someday - it does sound like a wonderful way to travel!

 

[Cousin Orville]

We did the 2010 DCL Baltic and hired out private guides for most of the ports except Berlin (not sure if DCL goes there anymore). Fabulous cruise. I'd love to go back. We've done Prague, Vienna, Budapest on our own. Again fabulous.
I'd probably lean towards central Europe with ABD, but if you have the chance, the Baltic cruise (our first DCL cruise) was still one of the best we've been on out of several DCL cruises in Europe (best was probably the Greek Isles FWIW, followed by the Baltic).

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We did the ABD Baltics Add-on last year, and it actually caused me to switch our trip this year from the inaugural river cruise that Calpyso was just on to ABD Greece, which we loved. We were worried after our Baltics experience that with the first year they river cruise wouldn't have worked out the kinks, although from Calpyso's report it sounded like it went off well. I just didn't want to risk it! Anyway, here is my report of the add-on: http://www.disboards.com/threads/23...ics-with-abd-add-on-updated-complete.3427323/

There are rumors that ABD made two groups this year for the add-on, possibly to lessen the numbers of the groups? I'm not sure. No one has posted yet who was on this year with the numbers. My friend Calfan was on the add-on with us, and she posted her thoughts on it as well (you can find the link in my trip report above). She's in China right now, but when she gets back she'll probably also be able to comment on Central Europe as they went on that in 2014.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Ah, thank you! Are you on the next / current sailing? I will watch for your posts! I am curious if I can get as much "Sound of Music" touring on the cruise as on the Central Europe trip. Sounds corny, but I'm a huge Sound of Music fan

We are doing the Central Europe ABD in September, unfortunately I won't be able to speak to the Sound of Music portion as we are skipping that part of the itinerary in Salzburg and touring that particular city on our own that day. Much more of interest for us to see and do in Salzburg that doesn't include Sound of Music as we are not fans.

 

[travelinglibrarian]

We did the ABD Baltics Add-on last year, and it actually caused me to switch our trip this year from the inaugural river cruise that Calpyso was just on to ABD Greece, which we loved. We were worried after our Baltics experience that with the first year they river cruise wouldn't have worked out the kinks, although from Calpyso's report it sounded like it went off well. I just didn't want to risk it! Anyway, here is my report of the add-on: http://www.disboards.com/threads/23...ics-with-abd-add-on-updated-complete.3427323/

There are rumors that ABD made two groups this year for the add-on, possibly to lessen the numbers of the groups? I'm not sure. No one has posted yet who was on this year with the numbers. My friend Calfan was on the add-on with us, and she posted her thoughts on it as well (you can find the link in my trip report above). She's in China right now, but when she gets back she'll probably also be able to comment on Central Europe as they went on that in 2014.

Thank you - I believe I saw some of your posts about the Baltic cruise. We loved Greece as well - we did it in 2014. I'm not normally a big cruise fan - I like hotels with a little more space, and being able to spend more than 8 hours in a location. But, after 3 great ABD trips, I think I'm ready to try it again. Staying in one spot for the week appeals to me, and my kids love having the freedom to wander the ship. My son basically camped by the soft serve machine when we did our first Disney cruise. The Central Europe trip has appealed to me since they announced it, but the cruise seems a tad more relaxing. I will look to see what Calfan says

 

[BluesTraveler]

I just booked the Rhine river cruise. Like you, a good group of kids is important to me, and the vacationista was able to tell me the # of kids and their ages that are booked so far for each sailing date. I went ahead and booked the one that had the most kids so far.

 

[sayhello]

Ah, thank you! Are you on the next / current sailing? I will watch for your posts! I am curious if I can get as much "Sound of Music" touring on the cruise as on the Central Europe trip. Sounds corny, but I'm a huge Sound of Music fan

I'll be on the next sailing. I will definitely be doing a report. I'm not sure about the "Sound of Music" stuff. I'll let you know what I find out.

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

Sorry, when I said DIY tours, I meant we found our own guides. I didn't want to figure out logistics of getting 8 people, including my picky dh and the grandparents with bad knees, around multiple foreign ports. We used TripAdvisor to find guides/tours that would work around our age range and interests. It worked wonderfully, and we have great memories of that trip. I sincerely believe we saw more and learned more than if we'd done DCL excursions, or did a truly DIY port on our own.

 

[travelinglibrarian]

We did the 2010 DCL Baltic and hired out private guides for most of the ports except Berlin (not sure if DCL goes there anymore). Fabulous cruise. I'd love to go back. We've done Prague, Vienna, Budapest on our own. Again fabulous.
I'd probably lean towards central Europe with ABD, but if you have the chance, the Baltic cruise (our first DCL cruise) was still one of the best we've been on out of several DCL cruises in Europe (best was probably the Greek Isles FWIW, followed by the Baltic).

Good to know - I'm beginning to lean toward the Danube cruise, if the reports are good. I like the idea of moving in for the week and having the smaller ship experience, especially if it is all ABD / families of varying ages. We just came home from the South Africa trip - which was incredible - and we were in Ireland before, London after. We had such a great time, but I'm a little worn out from packing up every few days. I definitely want to do the Baltic eventually, though, and private guides seem the way to go! Do you have children that travel with you? Our kids have become very fond of traveling with other families on ABD, eating at a "kid's table," etc. It gives us a chance to have adult conversation & get to know new people, which is a win-win.

 

[travelinglibrarian]

I'll be on the next sailing. I will definitely be doing a report. I'm not sure about the "Sound of Music" stuff. I'll let you know what I find out.

Sayhello

Thanks -it's silly, but Sound of Music was made the year I was born, and it's a staple in our house. Lots of other things to see, too, but I have to see that darn gazebo if I can.

 

[carpenta]

The gazebo is still sitting there. We were there three years ago. The gazebo was a gift from the movie company to the city of Salzburg. What you really want to see is the view of the Alps from the top of the castle located at the highest point in Salzburg. Beautiful.

 

[sayhello]

Thanks -it's silly, but Sound of Music was made the year I was born, and it's a staple in our house. Lots of other things to see, too, but I have to see that darn gazebo if I can.

I totally don't think you're being silly! I'm a fan, just not a huge fan, but I totally understand.

The description in the booklet we got says
"Salzburg City Tour with Mondsee and Lunch at St. Peter Stiftskellar Restaurant.
All day excursion.
Heat to the picturesque town of Mondsee along the famous crescent-shaped lake, with inspiring Drachenwand mountain in the background. Visit the midieval Mondsee Abbey and see the church featured in the movie The Sound of Music. Afterwards, enjoy lunch at St. Peter Stiftskellar restaurant."

There's another excursion that does the Salzburg City Tour part, but then goes to the Hallein Salt mines. Neither says exactly what the "Salzburg City Tour" includes.

The ABD website *does* say "Discover the majestic city of Salzburg with a local expert. Visit the beautiful Mirabell Gardens and other sights made famous from the movie The Sound of Music."

I'll try to remember to ask the Adventure Guides if it includes things like the gazebo, and if it doesn't, if there's any way for you to get there.

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

We have 4 kids, ages 10-16, and they always travel with us. Sometimes, if we're with other families, we do kids' tables. Sometimes not.

I LOVE Sound of Music. I could probably sing the entire soundtrack. My family thinks I'm nuts, but I totally get why you'd want to max out the SoM experience.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Good to know - I'm beginning to lean toward the Danube cruise, if the reports are good. I like the idea of moving in for the week and having the smaller ship experience, especially if it is all ABD / families of varying ages. We just came home from the South Africa trip - which was incredible - and we were in Ireland before, London after. We had such a great time, but I'm a little worn out from packing up every few days. I definitely want to do the Baltic eventually, though, and private guides seem the way to go! Do you have children that travel with you? Our kids have become very fond of traveling with other families on ABD, eating at a "kid's table," etc. It gives us a chance to have adult conversation & get to know new people, which is a win-win.

I have an 11, 6, and 3 yo. The 11 yo prefers ABD because of the other kids and the guides, but he does love the kids clubs on the ships. The younger ones have only been on DCL cruises. Not ABD. We've done 5 Med/Baltic/Norway cruises. My philosophy for family traveling abroad is generally if kids are too young for ABD, European DCL cruises are the way to go. After a certain age ABD is better. I'm not a typical cruise enthusiast either (I think), but I like how you can travel around Europe and at night or sea days the kids can enjoy their club while adults can enjoy the adult areas. That freedom and separation from time to time doesn't exist much in ABD. Having said that we've sailed most of the places now that DCL offers in Europe. We're trying to decide between the Iceland DCL cruise (one place we haven't been) next year vs DIY in Japan for our big family trip. Pro's and Con's...

I am taking my 11 yo next year (12 at the time) to South Africa so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

 

[travelinglibrarian]

I have an 11, 6, and 3 yo. The 11 yo prefers ABD because of the other kids and the guides, but he does love the kids clubs on the ships. The younger ones have only been on DCL cruises. Not ABD. We've done 5 Med/Baltic/Norway cruises. My philosophy for family traveling abroad is generally if kids are too young for ABD, European DCL cruises are the way to go. After a certain age ABD is better. I'm not a typical cruise enthusiast either (I think), but I like how you can travel around Europe and at night or sea days the kids can enjoy their club while adults can enjoy the adult areas. That freedom and separation from time to time doesn't exist much in ABD. Having said that we've sailed most of the places now that DCL offers in Europe. We're trying to decide between the Iceland DCL cruise (one place we haven't been) next year vs DIY in Japan for our big family trip. Pro's and Con's...

I am taking my 11 yo next year (12 at the time) to South Africa so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

I definitely skew toward European vacations, but we were ready to try something different and my 12 year old loves animals - of all kinds. The South Africa trip was heaven for her. She was in tears when it ended. Our game drives were fabulous. Based on my very limited experience, 12 was a great age to do South Africa.

 

[travelinglibrarian]

The gazebo is still sitting there. We were there three years ago. The gazebo was a gift from the movie company to the city of Salzburg. What you really want to see is the view of the Alps from the top of the castle located at the highest point in Salzburg. Beautiful.

We did Zermatt & Lake Como 5 years ago, and my kids loved the alps. Switzerland was probably my son's favorite place ever! I understand that there are many more impressive sights, but if I can also squeeze in a few verses of "Sixteen going on seventeen" in the gazebo (or even close to it), it will be icing on the cake