JohnKen3

11 hours ago, Lorifdavis said:

Thanks.. They really want a Yacht but there doesn’t seem to be any to charter for River..

European Rivers are not big enough for large yachts. 

The challenge is too little water or too much water (to get under bridges). River boats are built to optimal specifications. Yachts will struggle.

An interesting option is a yacht along the Adriatic coast. Lots of small picturesque towns to stop at and the experience is not too different from a river cruise.Its where tv/movie film crews go to for outdoor shoot of medieval Venice or similar locations.

You could also hire the entire river boat for private use. Some firms like Crystal only take 110 passengers as a maximum and is fully crewed with great chef, waiters and butlers. Crystal and other river firms have been known to cancel cruises and take on charters for corporate events, etc. It really depends how much your clients want to spend. Forward planning is required for this

3 hours ago, djh1959 said:

It seems to me that Vienna is much more expensive that Budapest - do I have that right?  

 

Yes.

Vienna is in  Austria uses the Euro which is stronger than the dollar and has always been part of the Western political and social world.  Being first world, it is expensive.

Budapest uses its own currency (it is not joined the Euro as yet) and is a former Soviet block country and still developing. That is why many Hungarians work in EU countries since the salary for the same job is higher. It is cheaper for the comparative equivalent; from food to accommodation.

Vienna is rich with history. Budapest has current experiences and sights. There are many things to do in both.

The Sofitel is in a splendid location and is right next to best located hotels, The Four Seasons and The intercontinental. Ideal for views, restaurants and shops. The centre of town is about a 10 min walk away. 

Crystal tends to provide congee for breakfast for all river and ocean cruises, irrespective of passenger composition.

Who did you have as Entertainment Host?

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I know on the Mozart - I sent laundry out. It was 25 Euros to have 2 jeans, 1 pull over sweatshirt type shirt and 1 t-shirt. They also had self serve laundry with free detergent. Hopefully mlozam will confirm about the Ravel. They said it would take 48 hours but I had mine back in 24.

Just a reminder that on the Mozart, the butler provide a free iron service. Useful to know after you use the self serve laundry. Suspect it is the same on the other river boats.

6 hours ago, petlover said:

Do you still think it's worth the big difference in price?

Only you can decide that. You and I may have different priorities.

Are you happy to sit in the public area (lots for space for that) and just return to the room to sleep or do you want to spend time in the room.

Also, are you good with steep stairs. All the public areas are on Deck 3 with the sun deck being on Deck 4. Yes, there is one lift but boy, is that is very slow. The pool/spa is on Deck 2 along with the laundry room. Gym and exercise room is on Deck 1. Self Service coffee and hot water machine (which I live on) is on Deck 2. Bistro service is on Deck 3.

There is a price difference in the room grade for a reason.

My only comment is you get what you pay for.

The Mozart is a much nice river boat because it is double-width. Feels more like a ocean ship with lots of personally seating areas. There is an additional lunch venue; Blu which is at the back of the promenade deck accessible by a short outdoor walk on the promenade.

The French balconies on the Mozart are so much nicer as it really gives the feeling of bring the outside in especially when sailing. The half windows on the lower deck rooms are really miserable and small. The S1 premium is worth it. Yes, you get butler service in all stateroom but you will notice the difference. That is why you do not get the half windows with the eye level view of the swans swimming on the Crystal purpose build river boats. You will be below water level up to your shoulders/head in a W1; hence with the half windows.

Great photos. 

2 hours ago, Coral said:

On Mozart - in Krems today. Our ship is going to Vienna as opposed to Bratislava. People will be bused to the tour in Bratislava for their tours or can stay in Vienna. We then are in Vienna overnight for the last full day of our tour. We leave Friday for our return flight.

There is really not a lot in Bratislava. Its just about ticking another country in Eastern Europe.  The drive is about an hour each way. 

Krems is lovely. There is lovely wine tour (very well done; a bit Disney-sque) near there 30 mins drive (?) at a spa resort. 

1 hour ago, larryfromtexas said:

We will be taking the Mozart on a round-trip Vienna cruise leaving Nov 30. From following these posts it seems we’re probably okay with our itinerary as we range from Passau (or is Vilsofen farther) to Bratislava. We are curious about weather as the forecast seems to indicate it’s getting colder fast and even the possibility of “wintery precipitation.”  Anybody currently on the Danube want to report?

Mark Farris posted a Facebook video of snow flakes at night in Austria. He is the Entertainment Host on the the Crystal Ravel. There was a passenger on the deck in shirt sleeves but crew members were totally wrap up.

On the Mozart, they provide a box of liquids tabs of soap. You just throw one sachet into the machine and then load it up with your clothes. A lot tidier than using powder. We use this all the time at home. I trust this more that the liquid soap automatically pumped into the washing machine on the Symphony/Serenity.

Loads of little shops who are authorised money changers in Prague and Budapest. For small amounts, just bring US$ or Euros. You will get a better exchange rate than in the US.

There are so many tourist in Prague and Budapest, there is no issue not having local currency apart from having the right coins to visit the public toilets.

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/plan-your-visit/tickets-and-prices

I suggest you find a better travel agent. Someone is ripping you off unless you booked a private car to wait for you all day there.

If you the weather is good, you can spend a good portion of the day just walking the gardens/grounds. The palace is merely the icing on the cake

Unlike an ocean cruise, you are not really trapped on board a river cruise. There are daily stops so you can choose to do a group excursion or do you own thing.

There is less need to feel that you have to fit in.

What matters is the service from the staff, quality of food and speed of bar service.

Meal times are the group activity so check if you have to share a table or not. Different river cruise lines operate systems. On Crystal River Cruises, you are never asked to share a table at any time. It’s open dining so you just walk in whenever. On other river boat the passengers tend to go into the restaurant at the same time of the staff cannot cope.

If you have tired yourselves during the day then evening entertainment/ distractions are less important.

What do you like about river cruising?

If it is going ashore and doing something different every day, then consider kicking off with a Med cruise that will offer you the same opportunities. It might be a shock to the system if you have several sea-days in a row where you might feel trapped on boat the ship.

Then the other key issue is the size of ship. River boats are small so you might wish to try out a smaller ship rather than a vessel that takes 3000-5000 passenger which can be very overwhelming. If you like the personal touch of the staff on board a river cruise then consider a small ship as your first cruise.

The more passengers, the more facilities there are on-board but if you like getting off the ship daily, then maybe such amenities are less of a concern.

On our NYC to Southampton cruise in July 2018, there were 17 dogs and 1 cat. We got the full run down when the captain gave his breakdown of passengers from each country in his welcome speech.

You need to show all the UK vaccination paperwork for the cat. A pet passport so to speak. That is a specialist subject in its own right.

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They offer 3 Michelin restaurants on our sailing in Vienna.

 

 

 

I am going to hold off on booking privately due to the Danube situation. Just hoping to clear!

Michelin have a grading system

Recommended

1 star

2 star

3 star

Singapore has food court style venues which are 1 Michelin star with massive queues to order.

1 star is about the food not about restaurant ambience. Do not be surprised by wooden tables and chairs

2 Michelin star must have decent front of house service.

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From my experience on the Mozart, no extra cruises offered on board. Crystal does not push excursions or sales pro-actively on-board. You have to approach the concierge.

Never experienced wait-listing for excursions. In that situation, I will make my own arrangement. There is no guarantee with the local guides used. We have had good ones and lousy ones (mainly strong accents or those that take the background details too seriously)

Cannot speak for other Crystal river boats.

Personally, I would book the Michelin restaurant myself where I get a full choice of their menu and not book with Crystal. Crystal get a standard set menu which I think is not value for money. Personally, for me in Vienna, there are much better Michelin star restaurants around not offered by Crystal. Crystal only offer one Michelin star restaurants in Vienna and Budapest. Think about it, any respectable Michelin star restaurant should not be encouraging groups.

Not all excursions are included. Some excursions carry a cost (e.g. Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna)

At the Waterside (main dinning room), there are complementary wines but also a Connoisseur Wine List with reasonable prices. There are two sommeliers to advice you accordingly.

The Vintage Room is not guaranteed unless you are booking the entire room. One Mozart cruise I was on it was cancelled. However, it was held on my second Mozart cruise.

There are salon/massage services if you are interested.

Been on the Crystal Mozart a couple of times. Many tables for two. It’s open dining so just wander on any time you wish and let the maitre d’ know you are after a table for two. You can chat with people at the table next or not. There are tables for two against a wall on one side and the walkway on the other side so you can completely avoid anyone else if you wish. No one is ever asked to share a table ever. You also have a choice of Blue, the Bistro or the Main Dining Room (called The Waterside). For dinner it’s The Waterside and many new nights, the Bistro is transformed into a contemporary style tapas restaurant. No sharing at the other dinning venues as well. It may be a bit pricey but all spirits are included all day if you wish. And all the speciality coffee and teas all day long. Some excursions are complementary and there are four coaches that follow the boat equipped with toilets and WiFi on the coaches.

Crystal is essentially an ocean cruise line that has brought the values and service on a luxury cruise line to the river. The Mozart is a double width boat so it feels closer to an ocean cruise ship. Warning, cabin sizes are still river boats size not ocean ship size.

We also bring our own coffee and tea-bags whenever we are on holiday.

Starbucks Via Ready Brew packets look like large paper tubes of sugar so it is easy to transport. And its not too far off in taste from the Starbucks coffee you get at the shops.

I also drink very strong English tea so find most tea-bags offered not coming close to what I want.

We did the Crystal Mozart a couple of years ago and loved it. Christmas Markets are normally closed this time of year but we made it to a big one in Salzburg (Boxing Day) and another big one is Budapest.

We particularly liked the Crystal Mozart for 2 reasons. Good entertainment in English in the evenings with additional cost bringing external acts (English band for New Years), Polish concert pianist for Christmas and a local “Family von Trapp” group for Linz/Salzburg. Lots of Sing A Longs in English too. The Crystal Mozart is double-width giving loads of separate indoor seating areas and up to 3 separate venues for lunch and 2 separate venues for dinner.

So lots of warm on-board area on the boat if it gets too cold. I remember that the decks had to be salted daily.

Next year, QM2 on her world cruise, will also be throwing anchor in Goa, Chennai/Madras and Kochi of India. On a previous cruise we did excursions to Northern India, which have impressed me so much that I would not dare to do them again, also with some alterations to it.

India does really cope with mass group tourism very well. It copes with private groups very well.

Kochi has so much to offer it should be a primary focus for some research of your own.

If the time allows when you are in Kochi, I would suggest you looking into a private hire of Rice Barge to sail along the canals that irrigate the rice paddies. We found this to be such a tranquil setting, it was heavenly. Do not try to get more that six people on a rice barge - you will loose the mood of tranquility. Goa is a generally Western tourist trap unless you can find something that takes you up to the tea plantations on the hills nearby. Chennai/Madras is a city with mass humanity as only India can do it.

It says there is a concierge but isn’t there one for the whole ship?

No queues!

So you have

a) a new cruiser to Cunard

b) a collection of repeat customers; i.e.

Cunard World Club - Gold (completed 20 days previously),

Cunard World Club - Platinum (completed 70 days previously) and

Cunard World Club - Diamond (completed 150 days previously)

There is a free upgrade. Who gets it?

I presume someone with a guarantee booking but no stateroom allocated gets priority?

Cunard is not a new start up business and many passengers are repeat customers.

Thank you so much for posting this. My sister and I will be in QG for the January crossing. We had been wondering how it would all work—-and how it would compare to Crystal. One question : is QG dress very formal ? Thanks. Janet

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Just a bit more formal than Crystal's MDR/Waterside. Its jackets mandatory every night for men.

The difference is that Crystal's passengers are mainly Americans who prefer informality. We did the QE for Christmas 2017 where 80%+ of the passengers were British (90% of Europeans) since this was a Southampton-Southampton cruise. Coupled with the holiday cruise, I have never seen the entire ship so dressed up every night of the 14 day cruise.

On our QM2 transatlantic, there was an even balance of US and British passengers. QG passengers do not dress up any more or any less than the rest of the ship. The other half and I still managed to make an impact with our evening wear most nights in the QG restaurant so it was not that dressy (i.e. not New York Metropolitan Ball standard or even even red carpet standard).

A transatlantic has about four formal nights. The one night even all the ladies seem to make a real effort is the Roaring 20s theme nights. Very "Charleston"-style fashion by most women as you would see on Strictly/Dancing with the Stars.

Just to mention, the QG restaurant is casual for breakfast and lunch. Only evenings matters when it comes to dressing up.