rcaruso
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Posts posted by rcaruso
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Palace of Justice is the court room, and yes only open when trials not taking place. Take the train and the Bayern pass and 2nd class around 39 euro for two each way or less (I don't have my phone right now to check on exact). Also staying in Nuremberg after or before cruise is a thought, or Munich. We stay at a hotel right by the train station in Nuremberg and very easy to get anywhere in the old town by foot, and plenty of other transportation to get where you want to go. Same as in Munich.
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If you go to County Wicklow. Check out the old series of Ballykissangel from PBS or BBC. It is set in the town of Avoca (but they call it Ballykissangel) Beautiful countryside and a lovely 7 season series of an English priest and the inhabitants of this small Irish village.
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20 minutes ago, notamermaid said:
Grin. Sorry. Was actual not my intention. I mentioned it - not sure - three years ago?
Dinner for One.
It really is true, until a few years ago it was virtually unknown in Britain. Here is a short clip about the phenomenon, which I have only just found:
I cannot find a version with the German introduction. Here is one without: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORvvK47EZqw
notamermaid
Happy New Year! I was just going to mention a Dinner for One. My German friends turned me on to it several years ago. Also, the marzipan pink pigs for luck.
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12 hours ago, Murt22 said:
On an Alaskan cruise in August, they had Jaquart Brute by the glass that qualified for the SS package. I made sure to get my money's worth of that!
Same on the River Cruises this year too.
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1 hour ago, notamermaid said:
One can see the volume of water of the Main rushing through Würzburg right now. It is very high. In the menu you can choose the archived short videos of previous days. The difference becomes clear:
https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/wuerzburg-hotel-alter-kranen.html
The highest level for river traffic is 340cm:
The level now is 455cm.
notamermaid
My friend sent pictures from Karlstadt yesterday. I love the webcam from the Alter Kranen, that is our favorite hotel in Wurzburg, we stay there all the time.
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2 hours ago, notamermaid said:
Yes, the middle of Germany has been hit hard, stretching into Lower Saxony and then towards the coast, i.e. the rivers draining the mountain ranges as well as the rain that fell in the coastal regions. The Danube has to take a lot of water but this time as you say the Main is getting a lot of work too. That volume of water contributes to the high levels we will see this time in the Middle Rhine valley, a couple of weeks ago the Main did not feed the Rhine with such high volumes.
notamermaid
My friends in Karlstadt am Main have posted pictures, it is very high on the main, so no ships sailing, can't get under bridges. A poster on the Viking Rollcalls just reported that he is on his 2nd or third ship from Budapest and will transfer to the Viking Ve in Mainz and then get to Amsterdam.
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2 hours ago, notamermaid said:
Interesting - sorry to read that.
I remember @ural guy 's adventure from 2018. It was a bad year for cruising. This bussing to get you from port to port is a nice idea on the one hand to give you the experience you were looking for. But it also gives a company the chance to claim they took you to all the ports and reduce refunds and financial niceties. Let us say, that is what I have read from no other than "ze big boss" of Viking.
But enough of that for now. I hope Strasbourg is utterly splendid and you can enjoy some countryside as well.
Not sure that it helps you now but here is a town that from what I have been told by dear people is great and that I think Viking should offer a bus tour to: Gengenbach in Germany with its giant Advent Calendar. It is only 45 minutes from Strasbourg: https://www.stadt-gengenbach.de/kultur-tourismus/tourismus
notamermaid
I have seen posts that the Christmas Market Viking Rhine cruises do offer an excursion to Gengenback, there has been a lot of reporting of that and some very nice pictures.
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1 hour ago, iticlaudia said:
Winter travel is always interesting.
The winters in Germany have really been very mild/dry in the last several years that this is a bit of a surprise. But then it will be wonderful for the folks going skiing in the Alps. 🙂
I just hope that this last-minute trip I've planned for my father doesn't get complicated by the weather. My plan is to land in MUC on Saturday the 9th and take the train to Passau. Stay in Passau for a couple nights (still have to book a hotel) before boarding the boat. It's a 4-night cruise that drops us off in Vienna on the 15th. My father will fly to Stuttgart to go be with his brother for the holidays and the hubby and I will fly to MUC to head back home.
Hope your DH doesn't have any issues on Tuesday. Now a days the airlines are great at pre-planning and pre-canceling to get things back on track once the weather clears. Only issue is for those that have cancelled flight the loads are so high that rebooking can be difficult.
Do you happen to have a favorite hotel and or restaurant in Passau?
Our favorite hotel in Passau is the Passauer Wolf, right on the river in the Altstadt. Reasonable rates and good breakfast.
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6 hours ago, notamermaid said:
Look which is there - the old Viking Prestige! She is not that old actually but was replaced by the longships. Does the Prestige actually still sail?
Not much happening there yet, but see what the google image used reveals when we zoom in:
That is how many ships moored when the satellite image was taken.
There are other harbours. If you are completely bored some time in winter you can do some ship spotting of which ship docks where.
notamermaid
The Prestige is used for training. In July we met our restaurant manager from the Douro in Vienna. He was training new hires on the Prestige and it does sail a bit for training. We were supposed to be on it in 2020 which was changed to the Embla at that time.
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7 hours ago, VikgKruzer said:
I am on the Viking Ve. We are stuck in straubling due to high water and can’t get under the bridge. . We are in the midst of a ship swap with a ship just pulled from service for the season This means the crew will be part of the swap with
lots of logistics and work but Viking has been top notch throughout. I guess ithis is absolutely rare for the crew to follow. They are packing up more than most swaps and everyone remains smiling and professional.
you can’t control the weather but they are doing a great job on everything else.
My second cruise with Viking and I am becoming a fan.
I just wonder if the Ve will be the ship that picks up the passengers from the Gymir (ship that hit bridge on Main) in Nuremberg.
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Per my friend, the reason they hit the dock was the steering was out due to collision. It has been fixed and they are sailing to Wertheim. Will swap ships in Passau.
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5 minutes ago, notamermaid said:
Sorry to read that your friend has their cruise affected. Most important thing is that all are safe, but what an annoying thing to happen.
In a discussion among the folk online who know the rivers from sailing - there are some captains posting - it has been mentioned that the railway bridge is lower than other bridges. A few crucial centimetres less.
notamermaid
Viking has bused some passengers to Würzburg for a tour. They have been told they will transfer to another ship. Could be the Odin that appears on its way?
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54 minutes ago, notamermaid said:
Sorry about the link. It seems that SAT1 a television channel does not want you to watch it in the UK. I get the same with BBC iPlayer.
The ship was the big news yesterday in German media, this morning I cannot find any updates. This is the railway line bridge, so I assume that dot away from Miltenberg town and the regular docking place is the Viking Gymir, no terrestrial signal accessible:
notamermaid
My friend is on the ship. That's how I found out about the collision. Have not heard from her today, will post when I do.
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Just saw post on FB. The Gymir hit an iron bridge around lunch time today close to Miltonberg. No one was injured.
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5 hours ago, twototravel said:
@jpalbny Ref your comment about taking the train from Munich to Regensburg. We are on B2B river cruises in Dec, disembarking the first one and embarking the second one in Regensburg. Instead of going on the tour of Regensburg twice (last day of first cruise and first day of second cruise), we thought we would take the train to Munich from Regensburg one of the days. Is it easy to walk to Marienplatz from the Munich train station? I agree that it doesn't look very far from where the ship docks in Regensburg to walk to the train station.
Also, if you take Bayern Pass it will include the S & U Bahns in Munich and you can get off a train and take I think the S Bahn to Marianplatz. From there most everything is easy.
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5 hours ago, steamboats said:
Actually the train does not bypass Munich as the airport is outside of Munich to the North East - so inbetween Regensburg and Munich ;-).
@SnowshoeCat that direct train is a pretty good (and still fairly new) option. And I would prefer that over the train/bus via Freising. But the train/bus via Freising is easy to manage too. The bus station is right next to the train station. The bus can be crowded. The direct train is definitely more comfortable.
steamboats
You are so right. I meant going to the Munich HBF and taking S bahn to Flughafen by the bypass. We've done the bus also, and yes can get crowded but very easy. Was nice to see a train go direct to the Flughafen with no transfers.
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Train with O stops looks the best as it by passes Munich and goes from Freising to Flughafen. Also be cautious the db bahn can have strikes etc, but looks real easy. We only once had a strike situation that messed us up, otherwise sometimes they can be late too, just take an early one.
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8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:
This should take you to where I go to investigate excursions in advance...
This Grand European Tour runs all year, but now as we get closer to the Christmas Market season, I was expecting to see Christmas Market information - but no.
We are travelling as a group of 8 and for most, the draw of this cruise for the dates we are going are the Christmas Markets.
If you scroll day by day on the screen, you will see the excursions offered.
Last year late November we were on the GE, and there were shuttles in Vienna for the Christmas Market by the Rat Haus that just opened. Where the ship docks in Wurzburg the Market is within walking distance in the main square. In Bamburg you will walk past some. Cologne will be all over, one in the square by the Dom. You won't miss them. If you take the optional to Schonbrunn Palace there is one right in front of the palace. Depending on the dates you travel, just google the markets and you will get the opening dates. No worries.
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1 hour ago, Barb at Maple Lane said:
Viking Gymir enroute from Komarom to Budapest
It's been stopped there almost 1 day and has not moved. I think it is docked there are too many ships docked in Komaron, it is not able to get to Budapest. It debarks and embarks passengers today.
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58 minutes ago, notamermaid said:
The TUI Maya is still in Vilshofen and has not sailed further towards Regensburg.
vesselfinder says the Viking Magni is retracing her route, i.e. has sailed to Passau and is now going back towards Linz although ETA is Amsterdam 21 October:
marinetraffic.com basically confirms the track.
notamermaid
Yes, no Viking ship made it through last night. 5 sitting in Racklau the Alta went to Vilshofen and now is headed to Engelharzell, I suspect because Racklau is full of ships.
I also thought the Gymir might make it to Budapest as they passed Komaro, but they just stopped up river.
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2 hours ago, notamermaid said:
I do recall Viking passengers saying a few years ago that they were informed via e-mail prior to departure from the US that there may be itinerary changes, i.e. 24 hours before embarkation. I wonder if that is still done at least sometimes.
notamemaid
I've seen some posts on cruise critic Viking Roll Calls that people were informed they may not be embarking from Budapest and where to meet for busing to Komaron, or if they were to embark in Regensburg. Viking sends them an e-mail blast. For myself, in 2021 in late November we were on a Danube Waltz. We were leaving one day before the cruise started, but that day all of Austria shut down. We called the hotline and no help (quite rude if you ask me). I ended up with a Viking customer service supervisor who really tried to help, but she knew nothing except if we cancelled we would lose all our $$. So we took the flight and when we got to Frankfurt had an e-mail from Viking stating the cruise would be a go with revisions (all of Austria gone). We did get a partial credit for another cruise and had a great time on the ship with 65 pax and 50 crew--no one caught COVID on that cruise. But, if I had it to do over I think cancelling it would have been the right thing as Austria is a large part of that cruise.
For our July GE cruise this year no notice was given. That was due to the ships before us were able to make it through Pfelling. It was a touch and go, and the cruises after were able to go as there was more water. July was a real crap shoot, no one could predict.
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7 minutes ago, Neveragain91andout said:
Thank you! I think we are going through the Rhine Gorge on Friday afternoon and Kaub when you predicted lowest levels. Warning on talk tonight about river levels so probably not looking good for us. Had thought maybe one ship swap but not two in one journey but we can’t have hot sun in October and high water levels.
in 2015 we did 2 ship swaps on Viking. We left Amsterdam on on ship. Stopped in Koblenz and took a tourist boat (plenty big) down the Rhine Gorge and picked up the next ship in Mainz. Sailed to Nuremberg then bused to Passau for the last swap, we were able to get to Budapest at the end or that would have been our third.
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21 minutes ago, MotherDaughterTravels said:
Rcaruso, Questions about your post. Are the posts all of Budapest River Cruises or just the ones that travel past Passau? TY
All that start in Budapest. Look at Notamermaids post water levels between Budapest and Komaron are too low for them to sail, right now. If you are going on a cruise you should get notice where the ship will start by Viking. Look at CruiseMapper.com and you can see the transit of Viking ships.
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Now reporting on Facebook, the Viking ships are starting and maybe ending in Komaron/Komaro. A quick look at Cruise mapper confirmed this. So now Budapest for Viking is by bus.
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Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info
in River Cruising
Posted
Hi Notamermaid,
We were in Freilassing on April 21 and did have to walk to the bahnhof in the snow. The week before in Wurzburg was almost summery. We watched the lock being worked on in Wurzburg and saw the new iron gates they would be installing, which as now has been done. Good cruising to all!