Budapest to Bucharest

[alexandra cruiser]

that would require long bus rides,or car travel to get to.Hard with all the different languages,driving,etc.

That s why we love river cruising,but we alternate with ocean too.

 

Suggest you TRY other cruise lines too, we started with Viking and sort of moved up to more luxury on AMA and trying Scenic.Fun to see how other lines compare.Others prefer to stick with one,but I like at least TRYING others.

 

Now mostly itinerary based,after 10 cruises.Loved the Egypt,Russia,Portugal,Vietnam ones too.Try France,doing a new north France one in 2015(did south)and enjoyed.it.Loads of places to see,so little time.:)

[Sparky333]

alexandra cruiser -

I'm not against trying other lines. I would like to try others and see how the lines compare. I did look at AMA for Portugal and it was a fair amount more than Viking and since I've been pleased with Viking thus far I booked with them for the Douro. I know, apples to apples comparison it may not be and you get what you pay for, etc. But for me price point is a factor (means I can take more trips!) and since so far I'm happy with Viking I don't feel I need to pay $$$ more. Just me!! Also, if I did try AMA and got spoiled it would be impossible to go back so sometimes ignorance is bliss ;)

[chb59]

Hi! We are planning our first river cruise and I am just now reading your posts - great information, thanks! We were thinking of doing Budapest to Bucharest in August of 2015, but now, after reading your posts, we may reverse that. That was one of my questions - is there a preferable direction? Our basic criteria is that we want to see Prague and Budapest, want to cruise the Danube, and are entirely open as to when we travel. We looked at weather and rain fall (I understand that there are flood concerns, and conversely, low water issues) and think it would be best to go in July or August. We were thinking of Viking as they offer balconies - we enjoy coffee in the morning and cocktails in evening on them.

 

We are 55 & 57, fit (we both work out 5-6 days a week), and want to see and do as much as possible. What did you think about Viking's shore excursions? I've read some mixed reviews on them...I'm wondering if we should participate or just do our own thing. I noticed you use tripadvisor and private guides - we do exactly the same for our travels.

 

I tried to view your pictures, but received a Google 'Internal Error' - is there some other place I can try to see them?

 

I'm going to go back and thoroughly re-read all your posts, but if you have any additional information, I would very much welcome it.

 

Thanks!! Cindy

[smeyer418]

We did the Nurenberg to Budapest cruise this fall on Viking. The top deck was closed a few times. In fact the deck house retracts to a lower level. There is also a deck at the front and it was never closed but its also used as a sitting area for lunch....

Some of the locks have low bridges...

[Sparky333]

Hi Cindy - sorry for the delayed reply - I was away for 2 weeks and just got back last night.

 

I think most people feel going Bucharest to Budapest is the preferred direction because it lets you end on a high note. When we booked that wasn't an option for the dates we were working with or we'd have done it that way.

 

I wonder if you do the Viking trip and end in Budapest - would you then go on to Prague on your own? That would be ending on a very high note, I love Prague!

 

I like traveling in hot weather so I'd rather go in July or August - even though it will be more crowded everywhere. Not sure about the water levels on that part of the Danube in those months. I guess that's pretty challenging to predict even if there's some kind of known pattern.

 

For that particular itinerary I would just use Viking's tours everywhere except possibly Budapest and Bucharest. You can do a lot on your own in Budapest and then the Viking tour would just be a little extra -- or if you also have a private guide there you could accomplish even more. In Bucharest we didn't have much free time and for the time we did have we hired a guide for the 2 of us and went outside of the city (not sure if I talked about this already in this thread or not).

 

Here's a link to my picasa album from our trip - hopefully it will work. Not sure what that error message you got means from the other link, maybe this will give an error also :o

 

If you have any questions I'll be happy to try to answer them. Have fun with your planning and have a wonderful cruise!

 

Leslie

[rjscott]

Hi! We are planning our first river cruise and I am just now reading your posts - great information, thanks! We were thinking of doing Budapest to Bucharest in August of 2015, but now, after reading your posts, we may reverse that. That was one of my questions - is there a preferable direction? Our basic criteria is that we want to see Prague and Budapest, want to cruise the Danube, and are entirely open as to when we travel. We looked at weather and rain fall (I understand that there are flood concerns, and conversely, low water issues) and think it would be best to go in July or August. We were thinking of Viking as they offer balconies - we enjoy coffee in the morning and cocktails in evening on them.

 

We are 55 & 57, fit (we both work out 5-6 days a week), and want to see and do as much as possible. What did you think about Viking's shore excursions? I've read some mixed reviews on them...I'm wondering if we should participate or just do our own thing. I noticed you use tripadvisor and private guides - we do exactly the same for our travels.

 

I tried to view your pictures, but received a Google 'Internal Error' - is there some other place I can try to see them?

 

I'm going to go back and thoroughly re-read all your posts, but if you have any additional information, I would very much welcome it.

 

Thanks!! Cindy

 

Cindy,

We are doing Passage to Eastern Europe this June, and we have gotten a lot of great info from Sparky and from Fran, who have both already done this cruise. Fran (Franski) did the Bucharest to Budapest itinerary, and thought it was the best route to take, as you can quite clearly see the improvements from Communist rule as you move in that direction. As, Sparky says, "ending on a high note". ;) Here are some notes of Fran's you might find helpful:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1834579&highlight=we+ve+arrived&page=3

Becki

[Sparky333]

I thought of something I meant to say - you mentioned enjoying balconies. Just keep in mind in the mornings you might wake up to find yourself side by side with another ship and it would be very "cozy" on your balcony. Since this is your first river cruise you might not know that they tie up like that.

 

I found we didn't have that much downtime on the ship and I don't know that we'd have gotten much use of a balcony at all. When we booked only the lowest level was available which I worried might be odd since they're at the water line so a balcony wasn't an option. The bottom level cabin was perfectly fine - not damp or noisy from the engine or crew which I was concerned about. And just using the cabin to sleep in we didn't miss the bigger window or balcony. So for our next RC to Portugal I went ahead and booked an "aquarium class" cabin again and we'll hope to use the top deck for just hanging out.

[chb59]

I appreciate your input! :) We have totally switched gears and are now booked on AMA Waterways' AmaSonata from Prague to Budapest in July of 2015. We have decided to do our own thing in both Prague and Budapest, booking apartments and guides in each city based on the recommendations of both tripadvisors.com and vrbo.com.

 

We switched from Viking to AMA because of a couple of things: #1. You just have to put a deposit down to reserve your booking (final payment is not due until 90 days prior to departure) and, #2. the AMA boats have both fitness rooms and bikes on board.

 

We are really looking forward to river cruising! :D

[Sparky333]

Oh good for you! That sounds like a great itinerary and AMA will be wonderful I'm sure. To be honest I would've gone with them for our next river cruise based on the factors you mention and a few others but the price was just enough more than Viking's for a similar trip that I couldn't bring myself to make that leap.

 

Have a wonderful time :)

[chb59]

Thanks!

[mightytraveler]

Just booked AMA Bucharest to Budapest Aug. 5 and reading these posts have gotten me very excited. The DH and I have traveled AMA before and loved it. I look forward to hearing more thoughts from everyone.

[franski]

We have decided to do our own thing in both Prague and Budapest, booking apartments and guides in each city based on the recommendations of both tripadvisors.com and vrbo.com.

 

Our visit to Budapest last September was our 3rd - and an opportunity to see the things we missed out on on the previous 2 visits.

 

My husband is a "car guy" - and loves Trabants. He also wanted to get out to Memento (Statue) Park. I found a tour that included both.

 

The "Dicta Tour of Communism" had a guide pick us up at our hotel in a Trabant. He took us to Momento Park - and he stayed with us to explain the history of the statues, the meaning behind the design etc. Then - and this was the highlight for my husband - he let my husband drive... He drove back down to Gellert Hill --> quite a distance. We spent some time there, and we had the guide drop us off at the Market. We ate lunch there, picked up some paprika and then walked back to our hotel. Quite a thrill for my DH.

 

Fran