fmax

I've read that Royal will only do it for cruises of 5 days or more. Can anyone confirm this.

It's probably 10 years since I was there pre-cruise and saw some of it.  The Giant's procession was neat. Also recall catching, by accident, Correfoc

Given the later arrival time in port, wondering for those who have done that, what did you do with your time.  From some research I'm seeing it's wandering the town shopping, eating and drinking, or there's a few bioluminescent bay excursions.

Does the late arrival give you time to visit either of the Forts?

I know there is a trolley around town, does that run at night?

Restaurant/Bar recommendations?

Thanks,

Do you recall who you did the walking food tour with, it's something I'm contemplating when in Budapest a few days before my river cruise end of November.

A few years back i got a camera purse as a gift from my sister that's come in handy when travelling. I use it as my main purse/bag when travelling and it takes two cameras, ipad, passport, wallet etc. Think the company was cheeky lime but sure there's other similar items out there. I used that plus a carryon case when taking trains through italy and it worked well. And last year she gave me the retractable lock for future travel.

Following along with this thread as will be doing the budapest Nuremberg trip at the end of November to catch the christmas markets.

thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. doing a Viking christmas market cruise in late November and will visit some of the places you highlight in this thread. the photos definitely add to it, and can't wait to see some of these sites.

I was in the same boat, so to speak, going from Ocean cruising to contemplating christmas market river cruise.

I read all the relevant posts on these boards and googled as much as a I could. I created a note page for each line and copied and pasted comments from these boards that I came across from each and then compared them.

Considerations

Basic price comparison

All inclusive or additional onboard costs

Corkage fee or not when bringing your own drinks onboard

Food/drink available outwith regular meal times

Buffet or table service at meals

Full cost up front, or instalments

Ports of call

Lines I'm aware of, in no particular order

Uniworld

Amawaterways

Avalon

Viking

Tauck

Grand Circle Cruise

Scenic tours

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CroisiEurope

Taking all the above into consideration, I decided on Viking Romantic Danube (christmas markets). I've doing a couple of extra days in Budapest at start of cruise and going from Nuremberg to spend a few days in Prague at end of trip.

I tend to lean towards red, rather than white. Did pick up a Gruner Veltliner at the weekend and thought it was okay, but not something I would generally drink. Can't get Franken at our local iiquor stores and one Zweigelt only available online with additional shipping costs.

i think I'll go the route of purchasing off the ship and bringing onboard.

Thanks again for the input.

Yes, any grocery store in the cities toured have the local wines. Before you go, do a search, Google or Bing, with Something like "best places to buy wine in ( city)"- you get a list of stores with a map. Like in Passau, a good gift/variety store was just 4 blocks off the northern cruise ship docking area, half a block from the river.

Thanks, that's helpful. I'll do that. I generally try to create my own google map for places I visit so can add to that.

We preferred buying better local wines at each port. No problem bringing them on board and to dinners, no corkage fee and waiters would immediately offer to open. Try some of the Franken Wines from the Nuremberg area. Gruner Veltliner from Austria. These are whites, can't say much for the few reds of this area, better to go with Italian or French reds. We also brought on a couple of whites and red from Hungary.

Was it relatively easy to find places close to ship to purchase wine?

Thanks for the feedback. The friends I'm travelling with are debating whether it's worth opting for the silver spirits package, or not.

Looking forward to doing the christmas markets cruise later this year from Budapest to Nuremberg.

I've read on several threads that the wine provided on the ship is the same each day. just wondering if anyone can advise what the wine served actually is.

Thanks everyone for the input.

We are leaning towards Viking, after reviewing and pricing out many of the others. those I personally know who have sailed Viking have only good things to say about it.

As it's canadians and americans travelling we need to ensue what we pick is a good deal for all of us and currently Viking is including air for both canadians and americans for $100 pp.

Air is going to be an issue I'm sure as I tend to do my own for the most direct option but that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it. Will probably look at any pre or post cruise option independently so another $100 for flight deviation hopefully gets me a better flight of my choosing if I go with a deal that is including flights.

p.s. alexkrn46 - what book were you referring to when you said "We left the cruise with a $12 bill due to a book I purchased."

I read a lot of the threads and reviewed the table indicating comparision between lines and hotels/ocean cruisers which provides a big picture, but not really the details of the difference as to why one 8 day is worth $1300 more than another.

For example, on ocean cruises, when i do a precruise night stay I like 4 star accommodation at a substantial discount (bidding on priceline). Carnival, Royal and Holland America are all different standards yet I've sailed and enjoyed all of them.

Although Carnival is the cheap end, it gives me a cabin comparable to the others, good itineraries (normally why I choose them) and at a good price.

Many of my initial cruises were on Royal and they were the yardstick. Lovely ships, lots of amenities, good food and reasonable pricing. However, having gone on Allure and seen the nickel and diming, they just went down in my estimations. The food was also so, so. Probably would have thought food was really good if I hadn't cruised several times before when it was much better.

The HAL Cruise was a new year's cruise and chosen for it's southern carribean route when no other lines were really doing southern caribbean from Florida. Given it was new year's the demographics were more varied as more multi-generational families travelling. Not necessarily a line I would travel any other time, but would consider, with right itinerary and cost, as a holiday cruise.

One bonus is that it will be my first river cruise so nothing to compare it with and any vacation is a good vacation.

River cruise has been on my to do list and my sister really wants to do the christmas markets. Just decided this is the time to plan so need to look at 2017 as it isn't feasible for this year.

Previously have done ocean cruises - carribean eastern, western and southern. Med, Greek Isles & Turkey and Alaska. Have sailed HAL, RCCL, and Carnival.

Have read through several of these threads and looked at 2016 pricing to get an idea of what we're looking at as far as cost. Given the substantial difference in prices in some case, some questions for those who have sailed several of the cruiselines

Cabins: For lowest end cabin, anything particular gives one line an edge over the other. I've done a 9 day cruise with carryon luggage so cupboard space isn't an issue.

Food: I now it's subjective and I'm not picky. I'm not a fan of buffet but assume that's pretty much a given for breakfast and lunch on each line? Would think quite often lunch is of the ship if doing tours?

Drink: I know some do all inclusive wine, or wine and alcohol. Can I assume they all at minimum include wine with dinner. And all allow you to bring wine onboard and as long as you have corkscrew and open in room there's no corkage fee.

Excursions: What would be the major difference in excursions offered between lines on a typical danube christmas market cruise

I'm sure there's questions/comparisons I'm missing but can't think of them at this time but sure I will be on here frequently.

thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Someone just posted a promo code for last minute travel club

http://www.lmtclub.com/womanfreebies_A.aspx

Also check out hotwire and priceline. if going that route, if you link to the site through better bidding you can sometimes get additional discount.

Got Hotel Urbano for Nov 16 for $99 + tax (also $15 off by going through betterbidding link to hotwire)

don't know anything about sleep in. Just had a quick look on hotwire and there's a 3 1/2 star fort lauderdale beach that's $141 (before tax). If you use better bidding and go through their site you can sometime get up to $15 off.

I looked at the hotwire hotel listing on better bidding and there's only one 3 1/2 star listed which is Doubletree Guest Suites Gallery One.

Can't recall the best areas to check out but know any time I've cruised from there I've bid on priceline for a hotel.

Just fyi, part of the date posted as an ! so you might need to confirm the exact date.

Just an update, decided to go with the Hotel Urbano assumption, and got it.

All in CAD $142.09 ($109.68 U.S.)

Yes, I checked them out. Having seen some responses on here to similar questions I thought it would prove quicker to check here first as the hotel listings are quick to disappear.

As it happens it was as of this a.m. this one is no longer actually appearing as an option. Had I guessed correctly, the only 4 star boutique hotel I had seen listed for Hotwire in that area, I see from their facebook page there hours are:

permanently closed!!.

Casa Moderna Miami Hotel & Spa - ??? now permanently closed

$152 | 4 Star | Tripadvisor 4 of 5 | Downtown Port of Miami

Free internet | business Centre | restaurant | boutique hotel | smoke free rooms

I did however find an alternate option that might be Hyatt.

Hyatt regency miami $168

4 Star | Tripadvisor 3.5 of 5 | Downtown Port of Miami

Free Internet | Fitness center | Pool(s) | Restaurant(s) | Business center | Internet access

Think, with the help of fishywood I've worked it out.

Holiday Inn - Port of Miami

$101 ($110 total)

3 1/2 Star | Tripadvisor 3.5 of 5 | Downtown Port of Miami

Free internet | Fitness Centre | Business Centre | Pool | self-service Laundry | Accessible visual impaired | Accessible hearing impaired

Yve Hotel Miami

$132 | Resort fee 12.84 | 3 1/2 Star

Tripadvisor 4 of 5 | Downtown Port of Miami

Free internet | Fitness Centre | restaurant | boutique hotel | self-service Laundry | spa | smoke free rooms

Casa Moderna Miami Hotel & Spa - looks to be one of the only boutique 4 stars listed on a hotelsrevealed site for hotwire

$152 | 4 Star | Tripadvisor 4 of 5 | Downtown Port of Miami

Free internet | business Centre | restaurant | boutique hotel | smoke free rooms

Hotel Urbano

$106 | 3 1/2 Star | Tripadvisor 4 of 5 | Brickell - Financial District

Free internet | Fitness Centre | Business Centre | Pool | restaurant | pet friendly | boutique hotel

$99 |3 1/2 Star | Tripadvisor 4 of 5 | Brickell - Financial District areas

free internet | pet friendly | boutique hotel | fitness centre | pool | restaurant | business centre

Thanks.

I thought one of them was Urbano and better bidding had predicted the first could be Holiday inn - Port of Miami which I assume is the same as Holiday Inn Bayside.