Christmas Day

[lidorose]

Has anyone cruised over Christmas Day? We are looking at several Danube itineraries, and I wasn't sure if cruising on Christmas Day would essentially be a "lost" day if things are closed for the holiday. I think we would be in Durnstein/Melk that day.

[SOShrink]

Lidorose, a "lost day"? I think not! We will be on the Enchanting Christmas/New Years cruise in Dec. on Uniworld. On Christmas Eve, you go to mass and a concert at St. Stephan's Cathedral in Passau. On Christmas Day we dock in Linz, Austria and we are taken to Salzburg followed by Oberndorf to visit the chapel where "Silent Night" was first performed in 1818. But even if your trip finds you docked in Melk or Durnstein, they are such delightful towns to walk around in, you will not consider that a lost day especially if they have the organ concert at the Melk Abbey.

[firstplacechef]

We will be on Viking Spirit and docked in Rouen Christmas Day and Evening. I was wondering the same?

[caviargal]

Has anyone cruised over Christmas Day? We are looking at several Danube itineraries, and I wasn't sure if cruising on Christmas Day would essentially be a "lost" day if things are closed for the holiday. I think we would be in Durnstein/Melk that day.

]

 

We have been in Europe several times on Christmas Day and this is very much dependent on the town/city.

 

Durnstein and Melk are very small towns. I really doubt anything except churches are open on Christmas Day. We were in Melk on a Sunday afternoon last year and the town was shut down. I assume Christmas would be at least the same. While it is pretty to walk the town, we did not find particularly enjoyable when all shops and cafes were shut down. This was our 3rd visit to Melk and previously we have gone to the Abbey.

 

The 24th is the bigger family holiday so much is also closed then.

[lidorose]

Is Melk Abbey open on Christmas day?

[SOShrink]

Rose, I looked up Melk Abbey and they are open daily 9 to 4:30 in the colder months and to 5:30 in the warmer months. They don't mention anything about being closed on ANY day, not even New Years. I would email them at Tours@stiftmelk.at directly and they should answer you right away.

Steve