Our 1st river cruise...as it's happening.

After many ocean voyages, we decided to try the river. Ours is on the Avalon Luminary with 2 pre & 3 post days in Budapest & Prague respectively. We left Vancouver on June 27, arriving in Budapest on June 28, at approx 10 AM. A signage holding Avalon rep was waiting for us, just as we exited the Custom area. Our Avalon transfer to the the Corinthia Hotel took approx 40 minutes.

The Corinthia reminded us of old world elegance. Upon entry you are greeted by a marble entryway & an impressive marble stairway leading from the lobby area to the 1 st floor. Although checkin is not until 3 PM, we were in our room by 1:45 PM.

Our room was on the backend of the 4th floor wing with view of othdr guests rooms & a courtyard of sort below us. The room was very clean, quiet, comfortable & sufficient in size for the 2 of us. The room was furnished with among other things, a very comfy king bed, sofa chair, flatbed tv atop a 4 dresser drawer, writing table & cushioned chair. There are 3 European outlets available to charge your devices, along with a 115 - 240 v outlet for your shaver, but it worked also for charging your batteries & phone. The room also has a safe, hair dryer, stocked mini fridge, iron & ironing board. Complimentary tea/coffee & strong wifi.

The included breakfast bucfet is 2nd to none. Egg station, bacon, sausage, assortment of cold cuts, cheeses, bread, pastries, hot & cold cereal.

The staff in general were friendly & helpful.

ATMs are all over the place & easy to use. A simple rule which I learned & followed is when withdrawing money, choose to be charged in the local currency of the country you are in. If in Budapest, take out Ft & do not choose the option where you let the ATM calculate the exchange for you. I was lead to believe houget a better rate that way. However, tske this info of rats exchange at your own risk.

The include Avalon tour k. Budapest took around 3 hours (8:30-11:30 AM). After returning & freshening up we took a 2000 Ft ride to the central market. If you like farmer type markets, this is for you. Lots of meats, fruits, vegetables for sale on the 1st floor with lots of souvenirs & food stalls on ths 2nd. Took a leisurely 45 minutes stroll back to the hotel.

Today (June 30), we did an excursion to the countryside o visit a horse farm & lunch with the tour finishing up at the the river boat. We arrived at ths boat around 3: PM.

Thats all for now.

By the way, our cruise director said that there will not likely be a water level problems during our trip.

Sounds like things are going well. You should start a fresh thread with a "Live Trip Report Title" so everyone will know it's there and it won't get lost in here.

After many ocean voyages, we decided to try the river. Ours is on the Avalon Luminary with 2 pre & 3 post days in Budapest & Prague respectively. We left Vancouver on June 27, arriving in Budapest on June 28, at approx 10 AM. A signage holding Avalon rep was waiting for us, just as we exited the Custom area. Our Avalon transfer to the the Corinthia Hotel took approx 40 minutes.

The Corinthia reminded us of old world elegance. Upon entry you are greeted by a marble entryway & an impressive marble stairway leading from the lobby area to the 1 st floor. Although checkin is not until 3 PM, we were in our room by 1:45 PM.

Our room was on the backend of the 4th floor wing with view of othdr guests rooms & a courtyard of sort below us. The room was very clean, quiet, comfortable & sufficient in size for the 2 of us. The room was furnished with among other things, a very comfy king bed, sofa chair, flatbed tv atop a 4 dresser drawer, writing table & cushioned chair. There are 3 European outlets available to charge your devices, along with a 115 - 240 v outlet for your shaver, but it worked also for charging your batteries & phone. The room also has a safe, hair dryer, stocked mini fridge, iron & ironing board. Complimentary tea/coffee & strong wifi.

The included breakfast bucfet is 2nd to none. Egg station, bacon, sausage, assortment of cold cuts, cheeses, bread, pastries, hot & cold cereal.

The staff in general were friendly & helpful.

ATMs are all over the place & easy to use. A simple rule which I learned & followed is when withdrawing money, choose to be charged in the local currency of the country you are in. If in Budapest, take out Ft & do not choose the option where you let the ATM calculate the exchange for you. I was lead to believe houget a better rate that way. However, tske this info of rats exchange at your own risk.

The include Avalon tour k. Budapest took around 3 hours (8:30-11:30 AM). After returning & freshening up we took a 2000 Ft ride to the central market. If you like farmer type markets, this is for you. Lots of meats, fruits, vegetables for sale on the 1st floor with lots of souvenirs & food stalls on ths 2nd. Took a leisurely 45 minutes stroll back to the hotel.

Today (June 30), we did an excursion to the countryside o visit a horse farm & lunch with the tour finishing up at the the river boat. We arrived at ths boat around 3: PM.

Thats all for now.

By the way, our cruise director said that there will not likely be a water level problems during our trip.

moved to new thread

Yay! Hope we hear more.

Hope your wifi signal is strong enough as you cruise that we'll get more updates. Looking forward to it.

..

ATMs are all over the place & easy to use. A simple rule which I learned & followed is when withdrawing money, choose to be charged in the local currency of the country you are in. If in Budapest, take out Ft & do not choose the option where you let the ATM calculate the exchange for you. I was lead to believe houget a better rate that way. However, tske this info of rats exchange at your own risk.

...

Can you explain what you mean by "do not let the machine calculate the exchange for you"?

Thanks and have a great cruise.

We are doing 4 days pre cruise on our own in Budapest in 3 weeks.

Can you explain what you mean by "do not let the machine calculate the exchange for you"?

 

Thanks and have a great cruise.

 

We are doing 4 days pre cruise on our own in Budapest in 3 weeks.

Many foreign ATMs, because they detect a debit card from another country, will ask if you want your withdrawal calculated in USD. The answer is no. Let the bank do the conversion. You may also be asked this when making purchases with a credit card. Again the answer is no. On a recent trip to Italy, one shop owner asked if I wanted my purchases converted to USD and she told me the amount in USD. Comparing that to the conversion my credit card company did, I would have spent several dollars more had I let the shop owner's bank make the conversion.

I hope I explained this so it makes sense. If not perhaps another poster will help clarify.

 

I hope I explained this so it makes sense. If not perhaps another poster will help clarify.

Perfect, but let me add to it.

It's most common at a merchant, using any card - debit, charge & credit from a foreign country that the terminal detects and offers (or should offer*) you the payment in your own currency.

Never accept, the exchange rate is always worse than if you let your card company calculate the exchange rate.

The merchant gets a cut of the exchange rate commission, as does thesupplier of their terminal - that's why it's worse for you, more people taking a cut.

*Reason I say should is that some unscrupulous merchants don't offer the choice but pre-select so you are given the terminal with the sum in your own currency. Easier to refuse if you're buying goods, but it's happened to me checking out of hotels where they've refused to cancel and said it wasn't possible as they'd already reserved a sum in one own currency...

Thanks. Such helpful information.

It's important that the issue of a merchant or ATM using dollars for a transaction came up.

On our last trip, Ireland, a merchant did this to us. The premium for this convenience was about eight euro cents . . . adds up on a hundred euro purchase or large ATM withdrawal. I had then redo my charge. When others in our group found out why, there was another line for rebelling.

Next day, our tour director/driver explained the process. By that time many people discovered they already exchanged at the ATM.

>Can you explain what you mean by "do not let the machine calculate the exchange for you"? <

In addition, my CC company said to write on the receipt and on your copy "Not given an option", to dispute the charge and to send them a copy of your receipt.

The merchant might be getting only $5 from you, but if they do it 100 times a day....

Ira

Thanks to all for the details and clarification I had no idea that there would be any kind of option like.

Another CC informational success story.

Thanks to all for the details and clarification I had no idea that there would be any kind of option like.

Another CC informational success story.

Wifi along this cruise has been strong. Weather for all intent & purpose has been sunny & 25+ C. No water level problems. It cloudy over & rained one nite, but as such giving you a fresh morning.

Our ship has only 77/138 passengers & who are all friendly & easy to get along with. Most passengers are from the US, then us Canucks, along with folks from Malaysia & Hong Kong. Breakfast, lunch & a couple of dinners have been buffet style. Only at dinner that one is asked to be smart casual, no tees & shorts. Obviously the food selection is not as plentiful as on the ocean going vessels, but it is fresh & just as tasty.

Crew are friendly, accommodating & have time to talk to you. Our cruise director is 2nd to none. The ship has adapters for loan, if needed, but I don't know how many they have.

Read pros & cons of dynamic currency conversion if you what more info respecting

exchanges.

That's it for now.

Thanks for taking the time to post. Glad things are going well. ENJOY your cruise!!

FuelSience

We are also going on the same cruise with Avalon so I look forward to reading your blog.

I encourage you to change the title and add "Avalon - Budapest to Prague"

Question: Did you order your excursions in advance or on Board. Any pros and cons of either approach?

We are on Avalon Impression going from Prague to Budapest ... The weather is fantastic and so is the ship. Today we are docked in Regensburg. Yesterday it was Nuremburg and we did the rally grounds and museum...incredibly interesting and we had a terrific guide.

Checkout time at the Corinthia Hotel, Budapest was at 11 AM. To preclude walking or waiting around, buying lunch etc., until transfer time from the hotel to the ship, around 3:30 PM, unless you want to, we went on an included lunch excursion to the countryside, that dropped us off at the ship at around 4 PM.

In general, the Avalon inclusive tours were fine, giving you the taste of the area you are in, a bit of history, along with some highlights. Understandably, the paid excursions doesn't have the umpteens varieties of the ocean voyages, the local guides were very good.

Gratuities to the crew & cruise director can be paid by cash or credit card.

The accommodations in Budapest, on the ship & so far at the Hilton Old Town, Prague have been very clean, quiet & comfortable.

Entertainment/lectures on the ship included wine tasting, beer tasting, person talking about the canals, funny musical duo, a crew show& a funny Barvian musical entertainer. Not as large or elaborate as the ocean voyages, but just as good if not better. TV & wifi never cut out, unlike on the ocean voyages.

We are now on the latter part of our trip, Praque. Weather has been hot. Bring good walking shoes, as there are lots of things you can see on foot. Feel very save here even at nite. I was walking around 10:30 PM near Old Town taking pictures & some people were just having a good time, but a bit loud & the police came up to them right away & told them to tone it down.

In general, this has been a very enjoyable experience on the river.

Glad to hear you are having a good time! Hope you are enjoying Prague!

Just wondering what facilities are available

We Realize it is not as extensive as oo a large ocean cruise ship

Hi JohnoClark,

There is a hair dresser/salon on the Avalon Luminary, on the 3rd aft deck, next to the quiet lounge. I'll attached a photo thereof.

There is an iron in the room closet, but I think & can't be sure of it, whether there is or not a laundry service offered. I know for sure, there's no "do your own" laundry as on some ocean cruisers.