Flamencacha

On 8/20/2020 at 6:21 PM, Sthrngary said:

I LOVE cruising and have for over 40-years.  In late May 2021, my family of five (5) and I will be going on our “Bucket List” cruise to Alaska, on the New NCL Encore.  This will be my wife and my 41^st wedding anniversary.  Our 40^th anniversary cruise, was cancelled, like many of you.  After 23 cruises in 40 years (the first was our honeymoon on the Norwegian SS Norway), I wanted to give some opinions on a couple of items that folks ask about all the time.  I wrote a cruisecritic.com  op-ed months ago, about the NCL Haven Experience.   It had GREAT readership and feedback.  So I thought I would write about another topic. Upgrading from the NCL perk for the “Premium Adult Beverage Package” to the “Premium PLUS Adult Beverage Package”.

 

If I have learned anything over the last decades of cruising; there is “No Free Lunch”.  Another words, there is a COST for everything. Many cruisers feel that purchasing a drink package at the retail price from most main stream cruise lines is ridiculously high.  I agree, yet most cruise lines provide an normal adult drink package as a perk (Premium Adult Beverage Package on NCL). From a full disclosure standpoint, this perk with NCL is NOT FREE.  You have to pay the tips on the package which is a confusion point when this perk is offered.  Still a bargain, if the perk is given. What my wife and I ALWAYS do is upgrade to the “Premium PLUS Adult Drink Package”.  The question is WHY?

 

Please understand your situation may differ, so this is just our preferred preferences. My wife LOVES, did I say loves, to drink wine.  At home, we sit on our roof deck almost every night and she takes a bottle up there so she does not have to go down three flights of steps in our town home, to get another glass.  On a cruise ship, my bride loves to sit on our balcony, and sip her wine.  However, when you get all the wine glasses you want with the Premium Adult Beverage Package, you still have to go to the bar to get another one.  If you want a bottle, you can ONLY get it from room service and there is a cost.  When you are dining, you have to keep on asking your waiter for another glass.  If that is all you know, you are fine with it.  However, when I go on vacation, I want to be pampered and so does my wife. I also do not want to have one item on my ship portfolio when the cruise is over.  Been there and done that way to many times.

 

When you upgrade to the “Premium PLUS Adult Beverage Package”, you can order a FULL bottle of selected wines with any of your meals.  You can take the unopened bottle back to your suite or have it delivered.  This allows there to be a bottle of wine (or two) in your room for the night time balcony ritual. Seems like a little thing, but it really made a HUGE difference for my wife’s experience on our last few cruises. 

 

I love premium bottled water.  Especially the nicer brands.  With the Premium PLUS Adult Beverage Package, bottled water is provided while dinning or in any bar.  I always bring these back to the room, just like the wine.  We love lots of water in the suite, especially at night.  Add to this, specialty coffee.  Normal coffee is always complementary for everyone on the ship.  Specialty coffee is NOT.  Every night, after dinner, I order a specialty coffee.  On some ships, there is a Starbucks also which may or may not be included in the Premium PLUS Adult Beverage Package.  Am I spoiled, YES I AM. 

 

Finally, drink cost limits.  We a very few exceptions, most every brand is available to you at NO addition add-on cost when you have the Premium Plus Adult Beverage Package.  If you just had the Premium Adult Beverage Package, you are limited to $15.00 per drink total.  Seems like a lot per drink? It is.  However, what I personally like to do is try the better premium brands.  I want to know what I am missing.  I assure all of you, I look for every opportunity to get the high-end stuff during my cruise, with this package. If I were to put this expense in to a phrase, it would be; “I want to feel like a rock star for one week a year!”  Is it worth the extra money, probably NOT.  Do I do it every time, YES I DO!

 

Feel free to comment and ask any question on this topic. I hope my experiences help some of you make a choice.  Cruise well, be safe and stay healthy.

Thank you for your opinion. A friend of mine and I were discussing  just that the other day. 
He has had it before, I haven’t.  Though it makes sense… my cruise is 18 days …and the upgrade, is quite pricey.  Tack on a 100% Solo Supplement… it hurts.  But definitely will heed your advice on one of my shorter 7 day cruises. 
 

Thanks again and Bon Voyage. 

On 4/13/2019 at 4:13 PM, racknlube said:

We are booked on the Blue Danube and Jewish Heritage cruise beginning August 13 on the Imagery 11, and have extended our Budapest and Prague days before and after the cruise. Has anyone else been on this cruise to recommend certain excursions or sites to see? Is anyone else booked for this cruise?

I fell in love with Budapest and it’s rich history.  

I want to recommend a restaurant I ate at twice. https://www.google.es/search?q=macesz+bistro&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-es&client=safari#fid=0x4741dc69b6afdc4d:0x4660edc90c3ae78b&fpstate=luuv&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipM89LGNcUbpDLrLAmKqTxUXuAakess1NxldNAx_&viewerState=ga

Its in the old Jewish quarter and has a mix of Hebrew and Hungarian Food.  Portion sizes are  Large.  Food is made fresh.  

I love hurgarían  wines.  Very crispy Rose’s I took an optional tour of a few vineyards in the country side.  

If you like like antiques I ran across a gem 

On 4/3/2019 at 7:29 PM, Europeantraveler1 said:

We have to be out of our centrally located Amsterdam hotel by 12 noon so that gives us a very generous amount of time to have breakfast and get packed and checked-out the day we board Expression. 

I’d be surprised if our hotel would not store our luggage for a few hours after we check-out until we hire a taxi to the ship.  

We will have been in Amsterdam for four, full days prior to embarkation (we got a much, much better deal on our plane tickets by going one day earlier than originally planned) so I think by embarkation day, we’ll be ready for different surroundings (the ship). So we might go to the ship around noon....have the light lunch and linger around until our rooms are ready. 

Of course, what I find interesting.......our embarkation takes place on a Tuesday but we are still docked overnight in Amsterdam with a canal cruise excursion in Amsterdam on Wednesday and finally.....in the p.m. we begin cruising!   

Those of you who are “ocean” cruisers AND “river” cruisers .....do you feel you are getting a lot of “bang for your buck” considering the fact that river cruises are SO much more expensive?  Just curious to know your thoughts.   

 

 

I have only done one river cruise, and over a dozen Ocean Cruises.  IMHO, comparing the two is like apples and oranges. 

Bang for a buck.  To me  it’s about the same. Mind you I don’t cruise the Caribbean.  When I cruise it’s usually places I have never been.  I don’t need a wild time, I usually travel on my own, food was fine. Entertainment was local and the service was great. 

I think I just like being catered too. 

9 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

 

Thanks so much Crzmomc2. I’m really hoping they will take us straight to the ship. 

In Deggendorf, they had a setup in a hotel near embarkation area.  It was a short walk to the ship.  I took my luggage to the ship, they took it but they were not ready for boarding so I went sightseeing til about 1:30. The cabins are not ready til later, they did offer a light buffet lunch. 

And then we waited for the bus loads of the pre cruise itinerary. 

Enjoy!!! 

On 12/3/2017 at 8:05 AM, buchhalm said:

Don't know about the exchange rate.

The packages were available on board when we cruised earlier this year. Our sommelier also offered a daily red/white bottle special.

The prices for the daily specials were very good.

Don't forget that you can bring a bit of wine on board with you.

I think if you drink your wine "in oublic" rather than your cabin, there is a corkage charge, but nobody can stop you if you take a glass of your wine to dinner with you...

The daily wine was it any good? 

2 hours ago, Bgreco1 said:

 

I did find out one important piece of information. So being Riveria is a smaller company or perhaps just a smaller presence on the Danube, if the water levels are too low to cruise the trip will be cancelled. There is no alternative bus tour option like with other companies. I was told they usually don't make the call on whether it will be canceled until a week out. Luckily its a full refund if they cancel but its also a pain not knowing if our plans will have to change until 7 days out. We are planning this trip regardless but will be looking to scramble and book hotels if the cruise is cancelled. I will post on here once I hear if we are cruising but I don't think its looking good for us based on what others have posted. Perhaps being a week later you may have better fortune. 

Many have opted for a plan B.  Reserve your hotels but insure they can be cancelled if all goes well.  Also plan a route for yourselves. Most of Europe can be accessed through trains or if need be rent a car. If you have travel insurance it shouldn’t be too much of an issue, except a cancelled holiday. 

Best set of luck to you. 

6 hours ago, Crowefamily4 said:

LOL,  yeah that’s what I thought, too far out to be sure, but appreciate the response.  Our first river cruise, so doing the first timer panic nail biting having read the busing stories from this past summer and current sailings.  Trying to decide if to just cancel the cruise and follow the city route, Budapest to Nuremberg, on our own via train.  Hmmmm

I feel your pain, just did my first River cruise. Stressed for two months, and in the end sailed the whole way through.  

Tough choice!  It’s nice not to have to pack and unpack.  

1 hour ago, Jcat2010 said:

Is it only me having too high expectations ?   We signed up for a river cruise.  We expect to spend time cruising on the rivers, not riding a bus across Europe.   Viking commercials, even the ad at the top of this page, show boats cruising on rivers, not busses driving around Europe.    A short ship swap is one event, totally missing significant parts of the itinerary, like Wachau and Danube Bend and nightime cruise through Budapest, is a totally different thing.  I realize that river levels are a natural phenomenon, but clearly this is no surprise.  It has been happening for months, and yet, at least Viking, has not been very open about the impacts.  They refuse to provide details regarding recent cruise "adjustments", this board is a more accurate source than the cruise line. Seems their strategy is to get you on the boat, then tell you you're screwed.  What happened to the 100% satisfaction guarantee?

I wasn’t on Viking, but my last night in Budapest I ran into a couple that had been. They were ship swapped and bussed quite a bit and not Particularly pleased.  No hotel room in Budapest, just transferred to another Viking ship. 

So no , you are not alone. Most cruisers on my cruise were not aware of the water levels.  First hint was a few days before changing the embarkation port. Luckily that didn’t happen. 

Good luck. 

26 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

It was the breaking out the vintage sherry and toasting the river gods that really helped.🍷

The fact it was a wine cruise probably helped too. 

7 hours ago, Judy845 said:

We just returned Nov. 2nd from our week on the Danube river with Viking. We were so lucky because we were originally told we would be bused and changing ships several times but the only busing we did was the first day where we had to be bused from Budapest to Komarno, Slovakia (about 60 miles away) to get our ship. All week we were on edge thinking we would have to be bused  from one city to another and change ships but  just the day before the transfer, we were told the river level was high enough for us to continue on our cruise. This happened on each leg of the trip and we were able to cruise all the way to Nuremberg. We were told that one leg of the trip we cruised on Tuesday, another Viking ship tried on Wednesday and they were unable to get through. I was dreading the trip because of all the problems I read about from other people doing the Danube but it turned out wonderful. I hope that for those of you planning on taking this trip in the near future that you will be as lucky as we were.

I was very fortunate too, did my whole cruise as planned. Being my first River cruise I didn’t know  what to expect. 

I too hope everyone else has the same fortune for your cruises. 

Happy to report Avalon Panorama has made it to Budapest. 

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

 

This is one of the occasions where the sheer size of the Mozart does give it a few more limitations.

 

Looks like some other ships are still OK for the moment but I suspect, not for long...

Yes, sometimes bigger is not always better. 

55 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

 

I hope you make it.

 

Looks like it is just your ship and a couple of Viking ships that are already closer to Budapest that are still showing they will head that way.

 

All the other large cruise ships have already left Budapest it seems.

 

Good luck, I hope you make it as planned.

Thank you, we arrive Bratislava in a couple hours.  No rumors yet that we won’t make it. 🤞🤞🤞🤞.  This the final cruise for the Panorama this season. 

3 minutes ago, seaworthy98 said:

We are on the Crystal Mozart and just learned last night that we will NOT be cruising to Budapest. It will be busses and a hotel. No more information was given. The officers hurried from the room before passengers could ask questions.  More info is supposed to come today. We leave Passau at 1 pm today and cruise to either Bratislava or Vienna. Don't know which one.

We are on the Avalon Panorama between Vienna and Budapest. We leave for Budapest Tonight  from Bratislava and all on cruise feel we are truly lucky and or blessed. 

Its a difference of a a few Days

So do I, Avalon Panorama was notified in writing that we will also be going to Budapest via the Danube. 

47 minutes ago, bubbulz said:

Uniworld's SS Maria Theresa made it into Bratislava and now is in Budapest for the first time in ages. Hope this trend continues!

1 hour ago, Begete said:

Has anyone seen or heard anything from or about Uniworld? We are supposed to board the River Duchess in Budapest November 9 and head norther the evening of November 10.

Hey on the Danube down stream.  They wouldn’t let me on board but she appears to be down stream from Linz,  she rafted with us on the Panorama. 

23 minutes ago, jgrahamiii said:

We sail tomorrow (11/1) from Budapest to Passau. Crew all seem to think we will have no issues at all (and weather is fantastic)!

We are currently opposite direction with the same optimism. 

7 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

The Danube is slowly falling, but it will be sometime if at all before it reaches the last pre-ra levels.

 

Saw several freighter today, lying very deep in the water,  a very good sign.

En route to Passau saw two other ships going upstream, one was the Viking Egil.

13 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

If you stay off the beer and würste in Regensburg you should make it to Passau.

 

The Danube levels are falling between Regensburg and Passau, even if there is no rain, passage is good for some ds to come.

 

Passau - Vienna - Budapest, the Danube is carrying a lot of water, lot of rain in the Alps and the River Inn dumping it in the Danube in Passau.

 

Have a eat cruise.

PS. What conversation are you confused about?

 

Happy to report having a nice lunch on the Avalon Panorama, here in Deggendorf, DE, could not have asked for a more beautiful day.  It appears we may make it all the way to Budapest.  

I feel truly  Blessed. 

Spoke to my Cruise Director this AM.  He confirms there is much improvement, though he hasn’t spoken with the Captain there is a Chance that my cruise will depart where and when it was scheduled.  

I would have no issues issues beinf the guinI pig  cruise that will test the stretch from Vienna to Budapest. 🤞🤞🤞🤞

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

O.k., do not shout hooray, yet, stay calm. It could be over before it begins, but the river levels on the Danube between Regensburg and Hofkirchen (before Vilshofen near Passau) are rising. I mean rising. Pfelling is getting close to that window of sailing the Danube had there between 2rd and 5th October. I hope it works. More rain please!

 

I hope the sandbanks in those photos will have disappeared in real life soon: https://hungarytoday.hu/record-low-water-level-on-danube-hungary-in-pictures/

 

notamermaid

 

If that’s the case, there is no reason my ship can’t pick me up in Deggendorf as scheduled.  

We will see what happens! 

😔 

10 hours ago, pully8 said:

Good luck with your cruise. Agree with a dislike for bus travel but love the train travel in Europe especially in Switzerland. 50% Discount for 1 day missed at least something. On some cruises it can be $1400 a night or more for 2, unless a discount can be obtained prior. When substituted with hotels and buses it is a very different experience and cost. 

Thank you, I did the math, it might cover the non covered tips.  I travel Solo. 

It is is what it is. Keeping an open mind. 

Okay Was leaving Deggendorf on the Avalon on the 31 Oct.  just got notified that I will embarking in Passau.  Ironically enough transfers to Passau will be that afternoon at 2:00 pm at the hotel I had booked for my precruise stay. 

They are advising bus trips to Bratislava and back to Vienna to overnight on the ship. We will be bussed to Budapest and overnight in hotel plus excursions.  They will give me a 50% credit of my cruise fare for one day,  for the hotel night.  I guess that means buffet for our last dinner.😡

I will Need  to make the best of it I guess.  Glad I chose the correct hotel in Deggendorf.  Did I mention I do not care for buses, I like trains better. 

4 hours ago, SuzieQK said:

Goodmorning from day 4 in Budapest. Yesterday Avalon made arrangements to have buses to take us back into town for a combination walking tour and bus tour of both sides Buda and Pest. After the tour we boarded a smaller boat for lunch up and down the Danube. It was a very nice buffet lunch. The weather was in the 40’s with light rain. The afternoon you could choose two optional tours - a winery tour or an Architectural tour- both for a price. Avalon had 3 buses available, one to take you back to the hotel at 2 and two others to take you back at 4:30 if you chose to stay in the city for a while on your own. Dinner was at 7, buffet style in the hotels restaurant. Plenty of beer, wine and soft drinks were available.

This morning we are to put out our luggage by 7:30 so it can be taken to our ship. We were informed before dinner last night that instead of being bussed to do a tour of Bratislava then onto Vienna; our ship is coming in from Vienna to meet us in Bratislava-yeah!!! We will have a buffet breakfast at the hotel, then board the busses to embark the Avalon Panorama by 11am. Let our Danube River Cruise begin!!

How does it look upstream past Passau? Are ships finally getting thru past Regensburg?

Well getting on board at Bratislava is a good sign. The cool tempatures are keeping the waters from evaporating.  ( I Hope).  

Are your accommodations 1st class and are they near the city or far out? A dinner,  buffet style is unacceptable. I have taken bus Tours before and stayed in 4 star hotels, however only paid a fraction per day that I am paying for my River cruise so I expect more. 

Well I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for your reports. 

Dont mean to Rain on your trip, actually literally hoping for more😂😂😂.  

Any word anyone  North of Passau? 

Nov 4 is Vienna, Nov 5 Bratislava, Nov 6 Budapes. 

31 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

How long before you expect to sail beyond Vienna?