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

[bubbulz]

There is a love seat in suite 407 but I looked and it wasn't a sleeper sofa. So not sure how they utilize it as a 3rd bunk.

 

Thanks for the info. And thanks again for your informative and interesting report!

[pacmom]

Papa,

 

We have taken 3 Christmas market trips--each one different. Our first on Vantage had quite a few groups of women. Our 2nd and 3rd were on AMA and one had a group of 40 who tried to take over every activity on board--finely the CD put a stop to it. On the 3rd we had 2 groups who were very congenial--one had its own TD and the other was a group of about 20 women from Canada. It can be hard when 2 are traveling by themselves to find company against those odds. Fortunately we were traveling with another couple. We did space them out so the magic was still there.

 

Your suite sounds heavenly and you seemed to have made good use of the amenities. Happy Christmas. Pat

[silkismom]

Papa, you said that you researched what was included, we are past cruisers w/Uniworld, where do you find that info. I looked on their website but didn't see anything. Thanks, packing like mad, leaving Sun.

[SOShrink]

This Silent Night thing was driving me crazy, so I went back to Uniworld's Holiday Markets Cruise Companion and solved the riddle. It is included in the Enchanted Christmas and New Years Cruise only (not the Danube Holiday Markets you went on). On this trip, they do dock in Linz, but there is only one offered excursion for that day: "Full day Salzburg and Oberndorf". You spend the morning in Salzburg and lunch is provided at the Stiftskeller Saint Peter there and you stop in Oberndorf on the way home to see where "Silent Night" was composed for Christ Eve Service. By the way, if anyone reading this has done this, it would be interesting hearing about it.

[papa B me]

Papa, you said that you researched what was included, we are past cruisers w/Uniworld, where do you find that info. I looked on their website but didn't see anything. Thanks, packing like mad, leaving Sun.

 

The first thing was a hard copy of their brochure for the year of the cruise(amenities can change year to year). I read it cover to cover. For instance the included spa treatment was basically one line about suites. The second it the cruise companion guide that can be downloaded before you received the hard copy with travel documents. The third was I read every CC Uniworld review. Finally I occassionally googled Uniworld reviews to find reviews other then those on CC. Sometimes these were travel agents who traveled with them and were posting reviews on their sites to promote Uniworld. Hope this helps

[KaraokeQueen]

Yesterday in Linz, a full day tour to Salzburg was offered ( no Oberndorf) plus there were optional tours to Streya and also a tour of Linz.

Edited December 11, 2015 by KaraokeQueen

[claypot77]

Papa B me,

 

Thank you for the wonderful, detailed posts of your river cruise! It sounds like you had some amazing experiences that you'll remember for many, many years. I have enjoyed reading it and copied down many of your tips and suggestions for future use.

 

I have only sailed on Royal Caribbean and Princess so river cruising is new to me. It has been a dream of mine to go to the Christmas markets in Europe, but always felt a bit overwhelmed at the thought of planning all the hotels, transportation, events, etc. for a full vacation, not to mention the cost. Thankfully, within just the last 2 weeks while planning for my next RC cruise in Sept., I stumbled upon the river cruising board and instantly knew this is how I want to see the markets. I've been hooked since and, like you, I'm a huge planner, so I am already slowly taking notes, researching and planning for my dream vacation for December 2018... chose 2018 as it is the 200th anniversary of Silent Night and I would love, love, love, to be in Oberndorf on Christmas Eve to hear it sung just as it was 200 years ago!!

 

Yeah, I know, I'm starting a tad early, but it helps it seems a bit more real. I look forward to learning from many of you that post on here and have the experience of past European river cruises! Thanks for sharing!

 

Michelle

[Hydrokitty]

Papa B me,

 

Thank you for the wonderful, detailed posts of your river cruise! It sounds like you had some amazing experiences that you'll remember for many, many years. I have enjoyed reading it and copied down many of your tips and suggestions for future use.

 

I have only sailed on Royal Caribbean and Princess so river cruising is new to me. It has been a dream of mine to go to the Christmas markets in Europe, but always felt a bit overwhelmed at the thought of planning all the hotels, transportation, events, etc. for a full vacation, not to mention the cost. Thankfully, within just the last 2 weeks while planning for my next RC cruise in Sept., I stumbled upon the river cruising board and instantly knew this is how I want to see the markets. I've been hooked since and, like you, I'm a huge planner, so I am already slowly taking notes, researching and planning for my dream vacation for December 2018... chose 2018 as it is the 200th anniversary of Silent Night and I would love, love, love, to be in Oberndorf on Christmas Eve to hear it sung just as it was 200 years ago!!

 

Yeah, I know, I'm starting a tad early, but it helps it seems a bit more real. I look forward to learning from many of you that post on here and have the experience of past European river cruises! Thanks for sharing!

 

Michelle

 

Welcome to CC, Michelle! and No, it's not too early to start planning a Christmas markets cruise....I think these are probably one of the fastest selling cruises on the market. Since you have time, I would suggest you check out as many lines as possible, including the ones that don't use travel agents, like Vantage (my personal fav) until you find the one that goes to Oberndorf, although I'm willing to bet that for the 200th anniversary of Silent Night, a lot of cruises will add that as a stop if they haven't already. I can't help you with Christmas Market cruises, but any general questions about river cruising I can handle (I've done 8 all with Vantage) so don't hesitate to ask. If there's one thing we CCers love to do, it's answer questions and offer opinions! :D

[purduemom1]

Papa B me,

 

Thank you for the wonderful, detailed posts of your river cruise! It sounds like you had some amazing experiences that you'll remember for many, many years. I have enjoyed reading it and copied down many of your tips and suggestions for future use.

 

I have only sailed on Royal Caribbean and Princess so river cruising is new to me. It has been a dream of mine to go to the Christmas markets in Europe, but always felt a bit overwhelmed at the thought of planning all the hotels, transportation, events, etc. for a full vacation, not to mention the cost. Thankfully, within just the last 2 weeks while planning for my next RC cruise in Sept., I stumbled upon the river cruising board and instantly knew this is how I want to see the markets. I've been hooked since and, like you, I'm a huge planner, so I am already slowly taking notes, researching and planning for my dream vacation for December 2018... chose 2018 as it is the 200th anniversary of Silent Night and I would love, love, love, to be in Oberndorf on Christmas Eve to hear it sung just as it was 200 years ago!!

 

Yeah, I know, I'm starting a tad early, but it helps it seems a bit more real. I look forward to learning from many of you that post on here and have the experience of past European river cruises! Thanks for sharing!

 

Michelle

 

Welcome, Michelle. As hydrokitty says, it's never too early to start your planning. You can collect a lot of good info on this board and hopefully it will make your choices easier. It seems that the more you read and learn, the more there is to learn as one piece of information leads to more questions and more information. Lots of fun if you are a planner as are most of us whom post here.

[SOShrink]

Michelle, this is juming the gun a bit, but if you are intent upon being in Oberndorf for Christmas Eve, make sure that's the exact day they dock in Linz, Austria. They would have to time it so that their itinerary makes that happen. It wouldn't hurt you to email customer service of Uniworld, for example, and see if they know at this point.

[purduemom1]

Welcome, Michelle. As hydrokitty says, it's never too early to start your planning. You can collect a lot of good info on this board and hopefully it will make your choices easier. It seems that the more you read and learn, the more there is to learn as one piece of information leads to more questions and more information. Lots of fun if you are a planner as are most of us whom post here.

 

Ouch! I reread my post and realized that instead is hitting the space bar, I hit the letter m so my last sentence has whom where who should have been. That m thing happens a lot to me when I use my iPad:mad:

[Hydrokitty]

Ouch! I reread my post and realized that instead is hitting the space bar, I hit the letter m so my last sentence has whom where who should have been. That m thing happens a lot to me when I use my iPad:mad:

 

I type all kinds of weird stuff on my iphone...only none of it is legible!!! I think we're used to typewriter keys that actually fit our fingers!! :D

[claypot77]

Thanks Hydrokitty, Purduemom1, and SOShrink for the welcome and helpful advice!!

 

I don't know if I should post this here or start a new thread, but as you suggested Hydrokitty, I have already been researching all the different cruise lines that offer Christmas Market w/ Oberndorf included. I am single so I will most likely be traveling on my own, unless of course, I meet the man of my dreams and we date, get engaged, and married all within the next couple of years... not ruling it out at least. lol! or if I can talk one of my friends in to joining me... [edited at poster's request]

 

SOShrink, I'm glad you made the suggestion of calling the cruise lines once I have a few narrowed down as I had thought about doing it but then wondered if the co. would think I'm nuts asking about 2018 cruises. :p You're suggestion made me feel better about my original thought, so once I have it narrowed down, I think I will call and confirm about the date of being docked in Linz.

 

Again, let me know if I need to delete this question off this thread and start a new one. Not quite sure of thread/posting etiquette yet.

 

Thanks!! :D

Edited December 13, 2015 by Host Jazzbeau
removed TA reference at poster's request

[Host Jazzbeau]

Sadly, claypot77, the guidelines prohibit discussing (or even mentioning) TAs by name.

[claypot77]

Ok, no problem, Jazzbeau. Wasn't aware of the rule, however, is there a way to recover the original post as I don't want to have to recreate and type the message all over again but without the TA question? I noticed another post I wrote is also gone. Had other questions in the posts that I would still like to find out about. Thanks!

[Host Jazzbeau]

I restored your post above without the TA part. On the other thread your second post covered everything that was deleted and more. If you aren't using AdBlock ;) several travel agencies advertise on Cruise Critic, including mine who is a river cruise specialist (although you wouldn't know that from the generic ad they run). Sorry I can't help more directly.

[claypot77]

I restored your post above without the TA part. On the other thread your second post covered everything that was deleted and more. If you aren't using AdBlock ;) several travel agencies advertise on Cruise Critic, including mine who is a river cruise specialist (although you wouldn't know that from the generic ad they run). Sorry I can't help more directly.

 

 

Thanks Jazzbeau!! I appreciate you putting it back up there!! :) You mentioned AdBlock... is that something I download thru CC? Thanks again!

[bubbulz]

Papa B me,

 

One more question for you. Was it fairly easy logistically taking the flight from Munich to Budapest? The way airfares are looking right now, it's much less expensive (by about 50%) to fly roundtrip via BUD vs. into BUD or VIE and out of MUC. I figure we could take the train from Budapest to Vienna to board our cruise (giving us an opportunity to see Budapest), and just purchase a one-way ticket from MUC to BUD to fly home at the end of our trip. I don't want to make the traveling overly burdensome, but if the flight costs remain as they are it would mean significant savings. It's ironic that I can fly to BUD via VIE and it costs less than flying just to VIE.

[papa B me]

Papa B me,

 

One more question for you. Was it fairly easy logistically taking the flight from Munich to Budapest? The way airfares are looking right now, it's much less expensive (by about 50%) to fly roundtrip via BUD vs. into BUD or VIE and out of MUC. I figure we could take the train from Budapest to Vienna to board our cruise (giving us an opportunity to see Budapest), and just purchase a one-way ticket from MUC to BUD to fly home at the end of our trip. I don't want to make the traveling overly burdensome, but if the flight costs remain as they are it would mean significant savings. It's ironic that I can fly to BUD via VIE and it costs less than flying just to VIE.

 

The flight was extremely easy. Had the taxi drop us right off at the terminal. Check in was right there. Normal security. From check in to gate was less then 15 minutes. Had similar experience from Munich back home since we flew round trip to Munich. So used both terminal one and terminal two and both were easy. I was amazed at the difference between the different cities. I went through the same process as you and ended up making Munich my pre cruise since our cruise ended in Passau and the flight home was from Munich. On business class saved $1200 each as opposed to flying into Budapest and back from Munich. So the savings more then paid for the pre cruise. Good luck in all your planning.

[bubbulz]

The flight was extremely easy. Had the taxi drop us right off at the terminal. Check in was right there. Normal security. From check in to gate was less then 15 minutes. Had similar experience from Munich back home since we flew round trip to Munich. So used both terminal one and terminal two and both were easy. I was amazed at the difference between the different cities. I went through the same process as you and ended up making Munich my pre cruise since our cruise ended in Passau and the flight home was from Munich. On business class saved $1200 each as opposed to flying into Budapest and back from Munich. So the savings more then paid for the pre cruise. Good luck in all your planning.

 

Thanks. Although I can't book for our dates yet, I've been watching the flights for the latter part of next year and flying roundtrip to Budapest saves us about $6000 vs. flying into VIE and home from either NUE or MUC (unless I want to fly on Aeroflot - which I definitely do not.) Assuming things stay like that for the next month or so (when I can book our flights) I think it's going to be a no-brainer.

[bubbulz]

I was circling back to reread this great thread and thought I'd bump it back up to the top in case anyone else has a similar Christmas Markets trip coming up. We did our first markets trip on the Maria Theresa a couple of years ago from Vienna to Nuremberg, but now are scheduled on this exact itinerary in just about 2 months. Lots of great suggestions and info here (and somehow it had slipped my mind about the complimentary spa treatment on our last cruise!). Hoping our favorite butler is still aboard. :)

[jklc123]

Bubbluz, thanks to you I just reread this thread. We will be on the MT for its 2018 Enchanting Christmas and New Years cruise. Christmas Day will be in Salzburg for a special lunch at the St. Peter Stiftskeller in Salzburg and a stop in Oberndorf. Getting very excited!

 

I am curious about our last day, which will be in Budapest, in case anyone has done this itinerary, ending in Budapest. We plan to skip the Szentendre excursion, having been there before, and explore on our own. I would like to know when the ship typically moves from its dock in central Budapest to the dock for disembarkation the next day. Just trying to research metro/tram/bus transportation for our day of exploration.

[papa B me]

I was circling back to reread this great thread and thought I'd bump it back up to the top in case anyone else has a similar Christmas Markets trip coming up. We did our first markets trip on the Maria Theresa a couple of years ago from Vienna to Nuremberg, but now are scheduled on this exact itinerary in just about 2 months. Lots of great suggestions and info here (and somehow it had slipped my mind about the complimentary spa treatment on our last cruise!). Hoping our favorite butler is still aboard. :)

 

Bubbulz

 

Thanks for bringing this back up. I just read through it myself and enjoyed reliving our experience. It has been almost 3 years and at the time I said I probably wouldn't do another Christmas market cruise. I think I have changed my mind. I may start planning one for the next year or two. I don't know if anyone else has this experience or not but sometimes while on the trip we stay so busy its not till afterwards I realize how much I enjoyed it. This trip was certainly that situation. The longer time passed from the actual trip the memories intensified and I realized how special a time it was. I'm ready to do it again.

 

Hope my ramblings help a few others as they plan their trips for this coming Christmas season.

[jpalbny]

Brian, that happens a lot. We run around so much on vacation. After we get home and see how much we did, we feel similar to how you have described it. It is an awesome excuse to revisit old favorites.

 

For example. We've been to London on four previous trips and we ran around like crazy. This last trip we spent a day there on each end of the cruise. Very relaxed, aimless wandering through our old favorite parts of town, time for lunch, etc.

 

In contrast, we need to go back to Brugge and Antwerp because we were too rushed there. Such a shame (not). Both kinds of visit can be fun.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[bubbulz]

Bubbulz

 

Thanks for bringing this back up. I just read through it myself and enjoyed reliving our experience. It has been almost 3 years and at the time I said I probably wouldn't do another Christmas market cruise. I think I have changed my mind. I may start planning one for the next year or two. I don't know if anyone else has this experience or not but sometimes while on the trip we stay so busy its not till afterwards I realize how much I enjoyed it. This trip was certainly that situation. The longer time passed from the actual trip the memories intensified and I realized how special a time it was. I'm ready to do it again.

 

Hope my ramblings help a few others as they plan their trips for this coming Christmas season.

 

Brian, that happens a lot. We run around so much on vacation. After we get home and see how much we did, we feel similar to how you have described it. It is an awesome excuse to revisit old favorites.

 

For example. We've been to London on four previous trips and we ran around like crazy. This last trip we spent a day there on each end of the cruise. Very relaxed, aimless wandering through our old favorite parts of town, time for lunch, etc.

 

In contrast, we need to go back to Brugge and Antwerp because we were too rushed there. Such a shame (not). Both kinds of visit can be fun.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

 

This was basically what happened with us. I think part of it was due to the fact that we spent a lot of time at the markets and found by the end of the trip that there was a lot more that we still wanted to see. We knew we wanted to revisit Budapest and spend longer there than we did the last time, plus we wanted to visit Prague and spend enough time there to do it justice. This trip helped to fit the bill on those counts, plus it added some ports during the cruise that we hadn't visited in the past. Also, since we stayed several days in Berchtesgaden after our last cruise, we were able to spend a lot of time in Salzburg so we won't feel that we've got to do the long bus ride this time around.

 

 

I've already started thinking of what I want to pack based on my experience on the last trip. I'm hoping I can pack more lightly since I'll be able to have laundry done as needed. At least we have some winter clothes available this time; last time we had to purchase a lot since we don't really have a need for it anymore given where we live.