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Day by Day Uniworld's Christmas Market Cruise Budapest to Passau Dec 1-8


papa B me
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After over a year of planning we begin our Journey today as we fly from Knoxville TN to Munich Germany(via Atlanta). We will spend two days at the Mandarin Oriental in Munich while touring. We will then take a night train from Munich to Budapest arriving the morning of Dec 1. We will tour the Central Market, Parliament Bldg, and attend the Nutcracker at the Hungarian Opera House before beginning our cruise with Uniworld. We will be sailing on the SS Maria Theresa which Uniworld launched earlier this year. We will be staying in a suite and will report on the amenities included.

 

I have never attempted a day to day journal of a trip. I decided to do this because I have found others so helpful in my planning. This has been one of the more stressful times of planning with the Refugee crisis, low water, and now recent terrorist activity and travel alerts. So I'm hoping to report that all of the stress I experience in planning was worth it all and to reassure those who are still in the planning stages or are sailing over the next few weeks.

 

I'm sorry to say I'm not much of a Photgrapher so this will not include photos. For those that follow this forum closely you will have to wait until JP and Chris do this itinerary in the Spring for a quality trip report-lol.

 

I will attempt to post daily if the iternet connection allows. If not, I will do a day to day post upon returning. So thank you to all the contriubters to this forum for the help over the past year and I hope those reading find this thread helpful. Hopefully more to come tomorrow after a successful flight to Munich

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Have a great trip, papa B me! Looking forward to hearing about our future itinerary. We are on River Beatrice, not SS Maria Theresa, so it won't be quite the same as your trip but it will be great nonetheless.

 

Safe travels and I hope all is smooth and relaxing for you.

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I've done that same itinerary twice and it's magnificent! Budapest has one of my favorite Christmas markets as the all of the crafts and ornaments are locally made. This doesn't hold true along the entire route though as you will find items at the markets en masse from other countries. This doesn't take away from the magic of the markets though.

 

The Gottweig Abbey is especially beautiful and I loved the organ recital there. I've done both the Salzburg and the Linz/Steyr option and they are both fantastic. You can't go wrong there.

 

I have two clients on that cruise and they are the absolute nicest ladies. Please say hello to Flo and Gundy if you happen to meet them. :)

 

Have an amazing trip!

 

By the way, excellent choice of Mandarin Oriental in Munich! That has been one of my favorite hotels ever. The service is impeccable. The markets in Munich cannot be missed either. You must not miss the Glockenspiel clock tower at the larger market. It does a show at 11am each day and is an absolute wonder to watch!! The concierge at Mandarin can direct you to it.

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Have a wonderful trip! We are in a suite on the Maria Theresa next December, from Vienna to Nuremberg and we're planning possible side trips to Budapest and Munich so we're very interested in reading about your trip. Enjoy!!

Edited by bubbulz
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I've done that same itinerary twice and it's magnificent! Budapest has one of my favorite Christmas markets as the all of the crafts and ornaments are locally made. This doesn't hold true along the entire route though as you will find items at the markets en masse from other countries. This doesn't take away from the magic of the markets though.

 

The Gottweig Abbey is especially beautiful and I loved the organ recital there. I've done both the Salzburg and the Linz/Steyr option and they are both fantastic. You can't go wrong there.

 

I have two clients on that cruise and they are the absolute nicest ladies. Please say hello to Flo and Gundy if you happen to meet them. :)

 

Have an amazing trip!

 

By the way, excellent choice of Mandarin Oriental in Munich! That has been one of my favorite hotels ever. The service is impeccable. The markets in Munich cannot be missed either. You must not miss the Glockenspiel clock tower at the larger market. It does a show at 11am each day and is an absolute wonder to watch!! The concierge at Mandarin can direct you to it.

 

Thanks for the info and support. At airport and all appears on time so good start. Would you pick Salzburg or Linz for first trip? I'm leaning toward Salzburg. I will look for Flo and Gundy.

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Can hardly wait for your reports. Could you sort of notice what people are wearing for warm jackets on the tours. I'm getting really tempted to just bring my heavy North Face ski jacket, but its red & black and I'm afraid I'll stand out even more.

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Thanks for the info and support. At airport and all appears on time so good start. Would you pick Salzburg or Linz for first trip? I'm leaning toward Salzburg. I will look for Flo and Gundy.

 

I personally like Salzburg over Linz, but the market can get very crowded and sometmes the police will stop people from entering.

 

The Danube levels are falling again (below their avareage levels), looks live the recent rain only put a plaster on the problem and did not cure it. Even if there is no rain for then next 7 - 10 days , you should be OK.

 

I'll look out for you on the Passau Christmas Market.:D

 

Have a great cruise.

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Can hardly wait for your reports. Could you sort of notice what people are wearing for warm jackets on the tours. I'm getting really tempted to just bring my heavy North Face ski jacket, but its red & black and I'm afraid I'll stand out even more.

 

I went to the Christmas markets in Munich a few years ago. I wouldn't worry about wearing a red and black ski jacket. You're not going to "pass" as a local anyway, so just wear what's comfortable and keeps you warm. I wore a grey pea coat and my husband wore an orange/black Columbia jacket. No one cared.

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Thanks for the info and support. At airport and all appears on time so good start. Would you pick Salzburg or Linz for first trip? I'm leaning toward Salzburg. I will look for Flo and Gundy.

 

Easy, Salzburg in magical while Linz is not. If you are able DYI Salzburg and miss the very touristy tours. eNjoy!

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So happy to come upon your thread. We are joining the Maria Therese the day you get off, so we definitely will be looking forward to your comments. Like you, we've been a bit distracted by world events and hope the trip will be as smooth as can be. We opted to partake a pre-cruise program in Prague and will be flying next Wednesday. Thank you for taking us along on your journey

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About 2 hours away from boarding our connecting flight in Atlanta to Munich. Everything is running smooth and I haven't noticed any additional security. Also crowds are very light in the international terminal.

 

Salzburg is a must so Linz another time

 

I look forward to sharing our journey.

 

Brian

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Can hardly wait for your reports. Could you sort of notice what people are wearing for warm jackets on the tours. I'm getting really tempted to just bring my heavy North Face ski jacket, but its red & black and I'm afraid I'll stand out even more.

 

My wife and I both have our Northface jackets so I'll let you know if we draw any stares in the markets. But you need to know that I don't care what people think if I'm warm and comfortable. So I'll ask my wife before I respond since she is more aware then me lol

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Also would love to hear how good the Internet functions and also how dressy evening attire is. Due to limits onboard for luggage, I'm taking a very versatile wardrobe. No dresses, just slacks. My Husband will have a sport coat for evening.

 

Will let you know what we find. I did bring a suit but for the opera house in Budapest. My wife and I both brought mostly sweaters for dinner.

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I often fly for business where I running tight on connection times and just trying to get to my destination and back home as quickly as possible. I approach leisure travel completely different. We're sitting here at the out door terrace of deltas sky club at 71 degrees with free drink and food before our departure in an hour. I chose the airline, airport and flights on my own vs the cruise lines options. Not saying one is better or worse and that something can't go wrong but at least it will be totally out of my control if something does. My advice to those who will be flying over seas(from US) for first time is put a good deal of thought into what would make you journey less stressful and book accordingly. Travel can be challenging but with a little planning and a lot of luck it can set a relaxing tone for the whole trip. Better stop blogging and start toward my gate or will ruin the whole relaxed vibe as I sprint to the gate ha.

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Arrived about 7:30 local time in Munich. It's amazing how easy to move through immigration and with nothing to declare you just walk out with your luggage and don't speak to anyone else. Was through immigation in less then 5 minutes. Luggage arrived within about 15 minutes of landing. So all in all a good experience.

 

I hired John's Bavarian Tours to pick us up at the airport and provide a half day tour of Munich. Knowing it was Sunday and much would either be closed or opening later we stoped for a coffee and pretzel to get the day rolling. He took us to many of the sites with mostly a drive by as it was quite cold and rainy most of the day. Our last stop was BMW Welt where I drooled over the cars and motorcycles then a nice lunch on site. We arrived at the Mandarin Oriental about 2:00

 

The Mandarin Oriental is a beautiful Hotel right around the corner from Marienplatz. We chose this through the American Express Platinum Card. We received an up grade due to the card to the 7th Floor deluxe room overlooking the old city. Beautiful view. As I type we decided since jet lag is setting in to order room service. The Amex Plat provide 85 Euro's in food credit. It will use up much of that for dinner. We also have breakfast provided which I believe is normally about $45 a person. So needless to say I'm receiving my monies worth for the card.

 

Was about a 5 minute walk to Marienplatz for our first Christmas Market. Beautifully lit up this evening but quite windy and cold. It took about 2 hours to cover the market. It was quite crowded but festive. A reminder to have euros in change for the WC's. You can easily go down to the subway to find them and they are clean and easy. It was 60 cents.

 

I purchased my first gluewein with mug for 7.50 Euros. I went with the blueberry flavor and it was wonderful to know the chill off.

 

We are off tomorrow with John's Bavarian Tours to Neuschwanstein castle for a tour, lunch, and shopping. We should see some snow in Bavaria tomorrow to add to the festive spirit.

 

More to come ...

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I am a planner by nature. I begin planning every vacation 1-2 years in advance. I rarely have surprises other then good ones when I travel. I decided a year ago that I would take the night train from Munich(about 2 hours from now-hint) so as to not waste any precious vacation time during the day, plus have an adventure I've never had before. I booked it the first day available 92 days ago. Received my tickets in the mail. Followed various blogs about the turmoil in travel due to refugee crisis(especially trains) and though all was well. I went to bed about 9 local time with severe jet lag but fell right to sleep. Then at 1 am I woke up and was wide awake with the thought I would check all of my next days details one last time then fall back to sleep(I haven't slept since-another hint). Well I looked up the train schedule and saw a "red" triangle with an exclamation point. But the writing was in German. So I got dressed and went to the front desk for a translation that I already knew was coming. My adventure turned into a nightmare with my train trip cancelled. PANIC set in. So from 1 am to 5 am I was googling driving services, rental cars, and finally plane flights. In the end I found two seats on a flight that leaves Munich at 11:15 Tuesday morning arriving in Budapest at 12:30. I am going to miss my Parliament Bldg tour tomorrow morning but all in all I think it will actually be better as we will be more rested and were able to enjoy the evening better as we are not leaving in 2 hours. Plan B should have been plan A. A few hundred dollars poorer for the lessons learned but could have been worse. The day improved dramatically by about 6 am. I'll start a new post for the "Rest of the Story"

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The wake up call came at 6 am as I was sitting in the bathroom floor having just booked our airline tickets as my wife woke from her blessed 8 hours of sleep for me to share the news of Plan B. I almost cancelled the all day tour I had planned for today due to fatigue, stress, and a bit of pouting. So glad I didn't. I went down for breakfast that was $44 but wait - my Amex Platinum card gave that as a perk. My day was already a little brighter. Our guide was waiting in the lobby as we arrived exactly at the appointed time of 7:15 am for a drive of an hour and half or so to Fussen to visit King Ludwig's Neuschwantsteins Castle(Cindarellas castle). I thought I would fall asleep from my sleepless night but strangely felt a surge of energy as our guide was sharing King Ludwig's story on the way. About half way there he made a suggestion that we make a change and only look at the outside of Neuschwanstein and instead visit his boyhood home across the street which is Oberammeragau. In addition since it would save us about an hour in hiking up the mountain and back there would be time to visit the only Castle Ludwig completed in his lifetime and is actually a one bedroom castle called Linderhof with a wonderful Austrian lunch in between. What a day. Saw all three castles from the outside and toured 2 with very few people there since our guide got us started early and it was quite windy and overcast. It was magical. Especially as we drove the Austrian side of the mountain to get back into Germany for Linderhof. This is a national park with Germany on one side of the road and Austria on the other. It was King Ludwigs hunting grounds. It was snow covered with a glacier made lake and as we arrived at the small but interesting "Private" retreat with still snow around it was breathtaking.

We were even back by 4 pm in Munich and our guide dropped us off at the "Medieval" Christmas Market. We did quite well at this small interesting market then went around the corner to a market at the Residence. Then a short walk to Marienplatz large market for a second go around and a nice glittering evening to end a day that started poorly.

 

So tomorrow begins the main event should a plan c not be needed. Not to be surprised two days in a row I actually called the SS Maria Theresa and verified she is where she was suppose to be in Budapest. So far so good. I will report as soon as possible on the ship, the Hungarian Opera House and the Nutcracker and my revamped 1st day in Budapest. But it will be at the mercy of the internet connection and time.

 

Thanks for traveling along with me and I hope you enjoy the ride.

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Ugh. The Deutsche Bahn is getting a touch unreliable these days! Our train from Würzburg to Ingolstadt in September was canceled last minute too. Glad you found an alternative pathway!

 

Excellent that you got to Linderhof. Great place! We loved it. Was the mountain nearby Zugspitze? We have not been to Oberammeragau. Some day!

 

Enjoy your trip. Hope all the surprises are over and done with. Smooth sailing!

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