Danube River Cruise Meets Thread

[Team Renshaw]

I haven't heard anything on this Forum about a Fish Extender exchange for any of the river cruises. The riverboats do not have any sort of hook, of a fish type or otherwise, outside the cabins, and magnets don't work on the doors, so I don't know physically how you'd do a traditional FE exchange even if there were enough people from the DIS on your cruise.

Not to say someone might not come up with an answer, but it's a bit of an obstacle.

It's a fabulous cruise, and a beautiful ship, and a wonderful cruise, and, of course, fabulous Adventure Guides. You'll love it!

Sayhello

Thanks, Less stuff to pack.HA HA

 

[dvcjane]

The River Cruise sounds amazing! Can't wait to go in the future

 

[d2lane]

just booked my flights from SFO to Munich for the 12/20/17 Danube Christmas Markets cruise. (and my flights from Dublin to Orlando for post cruise, now I just have to find something for Budapest to Dublin) Is there a special meet up thread? Or is there anyone interested in participating in one? It's just my soon to be retired husband and I, no kids on our first river cruise, but we are well seasoned DCL cruisers.

Lynda

 

[60+yrs of disney]

just booked my flights from SFO to Munich for the 12/20/17 Danube Christmas Markets cruise. (and my flights from Dublin to Orlando for post cruise, now I just have to find something for Budapest to Dublin) Is there a special meet up thread? Or is there anyone interested in participating in one? It's just my soon to be retired husband and I, no kids on our first river cruise, but we are well seasoned DCL cruisers.

Lynda

We booked the August cruise and can't find anyone else going either. DCL is much easier to find others going on same ship.

 

[d2lane]

That's the unfortunate (and fortunate) difference between having 2,000 plus passengers and 160 passengers on a cruise.

 

[60+yrs of disney]

That's the unfortunate (and fortunate) difference between having 2,000 plus passengers and 160 passengers on a cruise.

I guess it is. We are headed to Helsinki after our cruise. I still need something around the end of the year because our next cruise on DCL isn't until June.

 

[tink1970]

I hope y'all enjoy your trips! We were on the Christmas cruise this year and it was wonderful (cold, but wonderful!).

Shay

 

[Lou L]

We booked the Christmas cruise for Dec 20/17 and pre-cruse to Prague with my husband my son who will be 8 by then.

 

[mmouse37]

Looking to book the July 12-19th MUN to BUD river cruise this week. Anyone have any info to share...seems like everyone is doing the Christmas Market cruise!!! Wondering about a pre-night hotel in Munich and if ABD has a preferred one or if booking on your own is preferable. Also, is airfare through ABD typically much more through them than on your own?

I am a pro at DCL but this is new territory!!!

Edited to add....I had the itinerary wrong...it is actually BUD to MUN on the 12th. Have to change my flight search!!!

MJ

 

[sayhello]

Looking to book the July 12-19th MUN to BUD river cruise this week. Anyone have any info to share...seems like everyone is doing the Christmas Market cruise!!! Wondering about a pre-night hotel in Munich and if ABD has a preferred one or if booking on your own is preferable. Also, is airfare through ABD typically much more through them than on your own?

I am a pro at DCL but this is new territory!!!

MJ

MJ, ABD has a hotel where they will book you if you book a pre-night through them. In general, ABD's prices are much higher than you can book yourself, but includes transportation from the airport to the hotel, breakfast and transportation to the AMAViola. (GORGEOUS ship!!!) I can't help you with the hotel for Munich, because I did the Budapest to Passau route, and then added on Prague, so I didn't go to Munich at all. You can call ABD and find out what hotel they use, get a price quote, and if you don't like it, book it yourself. If they run it the way they ran it in Budapest, you'll meet at that hotel in the morning, and get all your information about the transfer to the ship later in the day. But you'd best make sure you can take that transport if you don't book the pre-day with them. I really just don't know because I booked the pre-day through ABD since it was an early booking bonus for ABD Insiders (people who have taken at least one ABD already).

As far as the airfare is concerned, ABD Air does not do group airfare bookings like DCL does. They don't have fixed flights/prices they offer you and you get whatever they give you. It's basically just like booking through a Travel Agent. You can either have them research & offer you a flight/price, which you have them book if you like it, or you can find the exact flight/price you want, contact them, and have them book it for you. If it's still available, they'll get it for you. I booked my China ABD through ABD air, and they actually found the exact flight I wanted for far less than the lowest price I'd found. They also found a flight for me last summer for the Danube River cruise that was way below anything I found. There has been a lot of debate here whether it's worth booking through ABD, but the biggest advantage is that if ABD has to cancel your trip & reschedule you (doesn't happen much, but it *does* happen on rare occasion) they handle all the (reasonable) costs of changing your flights on their end, and you don't have to worry about changing it yourself, worrying about getting reimbursed, etc. Also, airlines change your flights a lot these days, and I always get a notification from ABD when they do. I've been really happy with booking my airfare through ABD.

Let me or any of us know if you have any questions about this cruise or ABD in general! A lot of us took it last summer (which is probably why you don't see as much discussion of it this year as you do on the Christmas Market cruise).

It's a fabulous trip! You're going to *love* it!!

Sayhello

 

[mmouse37]

MJ, ABD has a hotel where they will book you if you book a pre-night through them. In general, ABD's prices are much higher than you can book yourself, but includes transportation from the airport to the hotel, breakfast and transportation to the AMAViola. (GORGEOUS ship!!!) I can't help you with the hotel for Munich, because I did the Budapest to Passau route, and then added on Prague, so I didn't go to Munich at all. You can call ABD and find out what hotel they use, get a price quote, and if you don't like it, book it yourself. If they run it the way they ran it in Budapest, you'll meet at that hotel in the morning, and get all your information about the transfer to the ship later in the day. But you'd best make sure you can take that transport if you don't book the pre-day with them. I really just don't know because I booked the pre-day through ABD since it was an early booking bonus for ABD Insiders (people who have taken at least one ABD already).

As far as the airfare is concerned, ABD Air does not do group airfare bookings like DCL does. They don't have fixed flights/prices they offer you and you get whatever they give you. It's basically just like booking through a Travel Agent. You can either have them research & offer you a flight/price, which you have them book if you like it, or you can find the exact flight/price you want, contact them, and have them book it for you. If it's still available, they'll get it for you. I booked my China ABD through ABD air, and they actually found the exact flight I wanted for far less than the lowest price I'd found. They also found a flight for me last summer for the Danube River cruise that was way below anything I found. There has been a lot of debate here whether it's worth booking through ABD, but the biggest advantage is that if ABD has to cancel your trip & reschedule you (doesn't happen much, but it *does* happen on rare occasion) they handle all the (reasonable) costs of changing your flights on their end, and you don't have to worry about changing it yourself, worrying about getting reimbursed, etc. Also, airlines change your flights a lot these days, and I always get a notification from ABD when they do. I've been really happy with booking my airfare through ABD.

Let me or any of us know if you have any questions about this cruise or ABD in general! A lot of us took it last summer (which is probably why you don't see as much discussion of it this year as you do on the Christmas Market cruise).

It's a fabulous trip! You're going to *love* it!!

Sayhello

Thank you so much...that helps me a lot. I did find some flights but non of them are great so I do want to compare what ABD finds. Thanks again and I will keep you posted!!

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

Ok, I am all booked with my friend for the Danube River Cruise July 21. We booked pre night and air through ABD. The airfare through ABD was $869 pp and the EXACT same flights I checked on my own were over $1300 pp!!! The air dept. said they do have contracted rates with the airlines. The pre night hotel was $418 including transfers and breakfast so split between 2 friends we felt it was worth it.

So excited!!!!

Edited to add I was so excited I put the wrong date!!! July 12th not the 21st!!

MJ

 

[sayhello]

Ok, I am all booked with my friend for the Danube River Cruise July 21. We booked pre night and air through ABD. The airfare through ABD was $869 pp and the EXACT same flights I checked on my own were over $1300 pp!!! The air dept. said they do have contracted rates with the airlines. The pre night hotel was $418 including transfers and breakfast so split between 2 friends we felt it was worth it.

So excited!!!!

MJ

Congrats!! That's great! That's interesting about the contracted rates. That's either new, or they just forgot to tell me about it.

Sayhello

 

[mmouse37]

Congrats!! That's great! That's interesting about the contracted rates. That's either new, or they just forgot to tell me about it.

Sayhello

We have a connecting flights to Budapest out of JFK and don't land until 2:00 pm the day before the river cruise. Any suggestions what we might be able to fit in that day?

MJ

 

[sayhello]

We have a connecting flights to Budapest out of JFK and don't land until 2:00 pm the day before the river cruise. Any suggestions what we might be able to fit in that day?

MJ

OK, I assume you're doing the West-bound itinerary starting in Hungary? Did you mean the July 12th cruise? There is no July 21st cruise, just the 12th and the 19th...

Anyway, you'll also have a good chunk of time the day the cruise starts to see some of Budapest (the last bus to the ship left the hotel at 3pm).

There's a lot within walking distance of the hotel (I assume they're using the Marriott again?) You can check out the castle complex on the Buda side of the river (the hotels are on the Pest side). I just walked around the castle grounds, but there's supposed to be a really nice museum there, and Matthias Church is on the castle grounds. There's a funicular to get you up the hill to the castle & church if you don't want to hike it. There's an area up there called the Fisherman's Bastion that I found out about after the cruise that is supposed to have cool architecture & fabulous views of the city.

St Stephen's Basilica is also walking distance from the hotel, and is supposed to be really nice. I did not get a chance to check it out, but the folks who went there said it was quite beautiful.

I really, really enjoyed the Dohany Street (or "Great") Synagogue. It's really quite beautiful, has a marvelous museum, and pleasant grounds. The whole area between the hotel and the Jewish Quarter is quite pretty architecturally.

Also, just walking the Promenade along the Danube is a really, really pleasant walk.

There's a Museum called the House of Terror that's all about the Communist regime in Hungary. It's supposed to be very interesting.

There was also a beautiful street (Andrassy Ave) we rode down that appeared to be a shopping/restaurant district. There's also a trendy shopping & dining area just inland from the promenade.

The other thing I found out about as we were leaving is there are apparently spas/Thermal Baths in Budapest. I saw pictures of one of the Guides there after the cruise. I'm not sure if it's the old ones we saw across the river from where the AMAViola docks the second day, or if there are others. But it looked interesting!

I really have to go back to Budapest! I feel like I only scratched the surface, but I loved what I saw!

Sayhello

 

[mmouse37]

OK, I assume you're doing the West-bound itinerary starting in Hungary? Did you mean the July 12th cruise? There is no July 21st cruise, just the 12th and the 19th...

Anyway, you'll also have a good chunk of time the day the cruise starts to see some of Budapest (the last bus to the ship left the hotel at 3pm).

There's a lot within walking distance of the hotel (I assume they're using the Marriott again?) You can check out the castle complex on the Buda side of the river (the hotels are on the Pest side). I just walked around the castle grounds, but there's supposed to be a really nice museum there, and Matthias Church is on the castle grounds. There's a funicular to get you up the hill to the castle & church if you don't want to hike it. There's an area up there called the Fisherman's Bastion that I found out about after the cruise that is supposed to have cool architecture & fabulous views of the city.

St Stephen's Basilica is also walking distance from the hotel, and is supposed to be really nice. I did not get a chance to check it out, but the folks who went there said it was quite beautiful.

I really, really enjoyed the Dohany Street (or "Great") Synagogue. It's really quite beautiful, has a marvelous museum, and pleasant grounds. The whole area between the hotel and the Jewish Quarter is quite pretty architecturally.

Also, just walking the Promenade along the Danube is a really, really pleasant walk.

There's a Museum called the House of Terror that's all about the Communist regime in Hungary. It's supposed to be very interesting.

There was also a beautiful street (Andrassy Ave) we rode down that appeared to be a shopping/restaurant district. There's also a trendy shopping & dining area just inland from the promenade.

The other thing I found out about as we were leaving is there are apparently spas/Thermal Baths in Budapest. I saw pictures of one of the Guides there after the cruise. I'm not sure if it's the old ones we saw across the river from where the AMAViola docks the second day, or if there are others. But it looked interesting!

I really have to go back to Budapest! I feel like I only scratched the surface, but I loved what I saw!

Sayhello

Thanks again!!! Yes, I edited my other post...I had transposed the numbers. This year they are using the Kempinski Hotel but I looked on Google maps and it is not far from the Marriott...only about a block or so inland from the Marriott. All those things sound great. Like you, we are going to try to stay up and go to bed "normal" time.

Funny, I am reading a novel now that just happens to talk a little about the Great Synagogue and the way they describe its beauty sounds amazing. The book is called 20 Pieces of Silver and is similar to DaVinci Code. where people are looking for the final remains of Christ and they visit many countries and landmarks in their quest all while being followed and chased down.

Anyway, thank you again and we are very much looking forward to our trip. I am sure I will be reaching out to you in the weeks to come for more info!!!

This trip was so unexpected this year....my husband and I are headed to Portugal in August for 9 days for a wedding and I never thought I would be in Europe twice in two months!!!

MJ

 

[sayhello]

Thanks again!!! Yes, I edited my other post...I had transposed the numbers. This year they are using the Kempinski Hotel but I looked on Google maps and it is not far from the Marriott...only about a block or so inland from the Marriott. All those things sound great. Like you, we are going to try to stay up and go to bed "normal" time.

Funny, I am reading a novel now that just happens to talk a little about the Great Synagogue and the way they describe its beauty sounds amazing. The book is called 20 Pieces of Silver and is similar to DaVinci Code. where people are looking for the final remains of Christ and they visit many countries and landmarks in their quest all while being followed and chased down.

Anyway, thank you again and we are very much looking forward to our trip. I am sure I will be reaching out to you in the weeks to come for more info!!!

This trip was so unexpected this year....my husband and I are headed to Portugal in August for 9 days for a wedding and I never thought I would be in Europe twice in two months!!!

MJ

You are very welcome! Feel free to ask all the questions you like!

I'll have to check out that novel. I always like reading novels that take place somewhere I've been. That "I can picture that!" moment is always very cool.

Unexpected travel! What a nice thing!

Sayhello

 

[lornak]

Hello! Just wondering if there are any group meets/threads for 2017 cruises? I just booked the July 19, 2017 Danube cruise and I would love to connect with others on that sailing! I would also appreciate any information/suggestions people have about MUC as I will be flying in alone the day before the cruise. I won't meet up with friends until I board the ship so I am trying to figure out what to do (and how to be safe) as a solo traveler!

 

[60+yrs of disney]

Hi, We are on the August 2nd Danube River Cruise. I haven't found anyone on our sailing either. I learned that our cruise is almost full so it will go forward but don't have a room number or anything else besides an email. Reading past Danube river blogs- they say some taxi's don't take credit cards so it's important to have enough euros to pay cab. I haven't traveled overseas alone yet so I can't help much there. Most hotels have a cafe or can tell you good safe places to go to eat. There are utube videos and there is a kidoctr blog that gave me some information.

 

[sayhello]

Hello! Just wondering if there are any group meets/threads for 2017 cruises? I just booked the July 19, 2017 Danube cruise and I would love to connect with others on that sailing! I would also appreciate any information/suggestions people have about MUC as I will be flying in alone the day before the cruise. I won't meet up with friends until I board the ship so I am trying to figure out what to do (and how to be safe) as a solo traveler!

Isn't ABD picking you up at the airport? They meet you right outside of Baggage claim and take you to your driver who takes you directly to the ABD hotel. Even if you didn't book your pre-day through ABD, I'm pretty sure they'll still pick you up & take you to the ABD hotel, then you can just grab a cab to whatever hotel you're staying at. I hadn't heard that that policy had changed.

Sayhello