Looking for a 7day Danube,what ports?

[jamscckmc]

We only have time for a seven day river cruise. We would love to do the Danube. What ports are not to be missed? Best cruise line for this itinerary? Thannks!

[steamboats]

Not really sure what you´re looking into?

 

Ports along the Danube:

 

Regensburg

Passau

Linz

Dürnstein

Melk

Vienna

Bratislava

Budapest

 

And that´s the farthest you may get in 7 days depending on where you wanna start. Most itineraries are Prague - Budapest (with a 5 hour bus ride from Prague to Nuremberg). You can skip Prague with some companies and start right out go Nuremberg (which is on the Canal).

 

German cruise companies start out of Passau for a 7 night roundtrip with stops in Dürnstein, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Melk.

 

Companies on the US market do one way trips as described.

 

steamboats

[MVPinBoynton]

Tough decision. With only 7 days, you will totally miss the wonderful city of Prague and probably not see much of beautiful Budapest, except to transfer to the airport. If there is any way possible, you should try to stretch on either side of the 7 day cruise to see one of those towns, probably Budapest, since it is on the Danube. The below cities are the ones that I wouldn't want to miss.

 

Regensburg

Passau

Melk

Vienna

Bratislava

Budapest

 

Since we didn't go to Linz, I don't know what I missed. We enjoyed Durnstein also, but it is the least required city to visit. Bottom line - there are some amazing cities to visit on the Danube and you really don't want to miss any of them. Good luck on finding what fits your schedule.

[steamboats]

Mike,

 

You didn´t miss much with Linz. It´s mainly a stop for the Salzburg tour. Passengers disembark for the bus trip to Salzburg and board again in Passau (or vice versa).

 

steamboats

[jamscckmc]

Thanks all. I have done alot of ocean crusing but want to try river. One way sounds perfect and will try and add on a couple nights in Budapest. What American companies have you sailed withand which do you recommend? has anyone gone though vantage where air and transfers and hotel is included?

[thunderbird56]

Thanks all. I have done alot of ocean crusing but want to try river. One way sounds perfect and will try and add on a couple nights in Budapest. What American companies have you sailed withand which do you recommend? has anyone gone though vantage where air and transfers and hotel is included?

 

Can't really help you with personal experience since my first cruise with Vantage will be next July; however, I can say I did a lot of research before I booked and scoured the comments on Cruise Critic. I also knew several personal friends who had used Vantage. Every comment I read or heard was very favorable. The only negatives I have seen mentioned that Vantage is an American Travel Agency and they only book American clients so you miss the international mix among the passengers. We love meeting folks from around the world too and have several friends that we have made on our ocean cruises, but I didn't consider that a disqualifier. We were very happy with the itinerary, the included tours, airfare and transfers and the total price we received. I was also pleased that we got all our flight information within two week of our booking even though the cruise was 9 months out. Good luck on your choice. Everyone on this board seems to have a favorite and I don't think you can make a bad choice.

 

Happy New Year to all the CC'ers!

 

Dennis

[MVPinBoynton]

Thanks all. I have done alot of ocean crusing but want to try river. One way sounds perfect and will try and add on a couple nights in Budapest. What American companies have you sailed withand which do you recommend? has anyone gone though vantage where air and transfers and hotel is included?

 

Everyone has their favorites. We used AMA Waterways and just loved it. The newer ships probably helped. You can see lots of photos from our Danube cruise in our review at our website www.thepreismans.com .

[jamscckmc]

Thank you all! Mike your review and pictures were great. Did you book directly with AMA or with a TA? Did AMA have better air rates than if you booked on your own? Was your tour director only for those who bought the before and after package or did she assist the cruise only passengers? thanks!

[MVPinBoynton]

Thank you all! Mike your review and pictures were great. Did you book directly with AMA or with a TA? Did AMA have better air rates than if you booked on your own? Was your tour director only for those who bought the before and after package or did she assist the cruise only passengers? thanks!

 

Glad you enjoyed the review. We did book directly with AMA. I booked with the air, which was a better than what I could get on my own. I booked well over a year in advance to be sure to get a cabin. I could have cancelled the air before it was booked. The people at AMA worked with me to get very good flights. I couldn't be more impressed with how hard they worked to make sure we were happy with the arrangements. She assisted anyone that was on the cruise before and after. She was extremely helpful and friendly. Of course only the people that booked the packages went on the excursions from the hotels and she went with us.

[jamscckmc]

Thanks Mike. Could you tell me what cabin class you booked? Did all cabins have french doors?

[MVPinBoynton]

Thanks Mike. Could you tell me what cabin class you booked? Did all cabins have french doors?

 

We were in Cabin 330, which is the next to last cabin on the Violin or top cabin deck. This is considered Category C. The cabins on the bottom floor only had small windows at the top of the walls, since they are mostly under water. These are Category D cabins.

[Lucky Granny]

We just booked AMA Prague to Budapest for next July. We are staying in Budapest on our own for two more nights. We booked air with AMA because it was cheaper than we could get otherwise. (We wanted major carriers or affiliates all the way.) AMA booked our flight to include the two extra days. On two previous trips, we booked air with company and did not received flight schedule until two-three weeks before the trip. This time, with AMA, we got our flight schedule as soon as we booked. We are in Cat C on Cello deck. There are five of us so we requested rooms on opposite sides of the hall so we have access to both sides of the boat from our French balconies. AMA recommends the Sofitel in Budapest, but at a very steep rate.....we apparently can book it on our own for half the price. Also looking at the Keminski, where the Preismans stayed when they were there. It looks like AMA no longer has a contract with the Keminski, since they recommend the Sofitel. We had to buy insurance on our own to get coverage for those two days after the cruise, but we bought from Travel Guard, the company AMA insures with.

[Lucky Granny]

duplicate post

[MVPinBoynton]

We just booked AMA Prague to Budapest for next July. We are staying in Budapest on our own for two more nights. We booked air with AMA because it was cheaper than we could get otherwise. (We wanted major carriers or affiliates all the way.) AMA booked our flight to include the two extra days. On two previous trips, we booked air with company and did not received flight schedule until two-three weeks before the trip. This time, with AMA, we got our flight schedule as soon as we booked. We are in Cat C on Cello deck. There are five of us so we requested rooms on opposite sides of the hall so we have access to both sides of the boat from our French balconies. AMA recommends the Sofitel in Budapest, but at a very steep rate.....we apparently can book it on our own for half the price. Also looking at the Keminski, where the Preismans stayed when they were there. It looks like AMA no longer has a contract with the Keminski, since they recommend the Sofitel. We had to buy insurance on our own to get coverage for those two days after the cruise, but we bought from Travel Guard, the company AMA insures with.

 

I'm glad you had a great experience with the AMA air dept, like I did. They are so accommodating. So unlike the ocean cruise experiences I have had. I believe that the Sofitel and Kempinski are close to each other. You can definitely save some money booking them on your own. We loved the Kempinski and it's great location.

[Lucky Granny]

Now that I have found our intinerary online, I am not as pleased as I was with AMA's air. We are booked on British Air all the way, which means we can bring one bag or pay $40 each way for a second bag, and carry on only one bag...not a bag and a purse. What's worse, we fly through London Heathrow airport and have only one hour between flights. On other threads here, posters have indicated that we are not likely to get through security and onto our next flight in an hour, even though both are in the same Terminal and we do not have to collect our luggage. Also, online instructions from BA are to check in at the desk every time we change planes to remind them that our luggage needs to be transferred-----does not inspire much confidence that they are capable of getting us all there with our luggage.

[webfoot]

One hour may be a little short, but if your flight arrives on time, you should have no problems getting to the next flight. Heathrow has a special line for those with a short connection time. Once you get to the area where the security line starts, you will see on the left-hand side a line for short connections ... usually there is someone there to assist and make sure that you are in the proper security line. If BA allows the trip to be scheduled with only an hour connections time, then they feel that you should have no problems ... again, if the flight is on time.

 

As for baggage, last year we could each check two bags, but that policy was changed shortly after our tickets were purchased. I brought on board a purse and my carry-on bag and my husband had a carry-on. We saw others with more than one carry-on and they weren't turned away. Our trip was in May 2009 and we booked our airfare in early January.

 

This year we are flying KLM. They allow one checked bag per person and one carry-on (and purse) ... so we feel we will be OK with that. Unfortunately, we are flying through Amsterdam ... not sure what the security will be like there.

[Lucky Granny]

Thanks, Pat. That makes me feel better. I am posting about this situation on another thread, the Heathrow one, and am getting less encouraging news there. Anyway, the ticket can't be changed so we need to just hope for a flight from Chicago that is on time.

[MVPinBoynton]

Thanks, Pat. That makes me feel better. I am posting about this situation on another thread, the Heathrow one, and am getting less encouraging news there. Anyway, the ticket can't be changed so we need to just hope for a flight from Chicago that is on time.

 

If you haven't already you might want to check with AMA. They were able to change our flights after they sent us the original bookings.

[Lucky Granny]

Thanks, Mike.....I did call AMA and was told there would be a fine of a couple hundred dollars to change our reservations....this was the second day after we booked. We are just going to hope things a pretty organized, we get there early or on time, and nothing unusual has happened to throw things into a tailspin. We are flying to Prague to stay there for three nights so we should be there for most of it.

[MVPinBoynton]

Thanks, Mike.....I did call AMA and was told there would be a fine of a couple hundred dollars to change our reservations....this was the second day after we booked. We are just going to hope things a pretty organized, we get there early or on time, and nothing unusual has happened to throw things into a tailspin. We are flying to Prague to stay there for three nights so we should be there for most of it.

 

Now that is a bummer. I can't imagine that they would have already booked the air for next July.

[Lucky Granny]

Our itinerary was on the British Airlines website the next day. Our Booking Reference was included in the estimate sent for our approval before we booked. They really bought the tickets and the fault is ours for not paying more attention to what we were buying....we just looked at the price and the airline We thought we were on American because the estimate said it was booked through American. It also said BA everywhere but we didn't figure out what that meant until too late. We have decided to just not worry about it and move on to finding a hotel in Budadpest. Thanks.