Danube River Cruise - Preferred direction?

[skinnylegs]

We will be booking a Danube cruise for 2022 (most likely on Uniworld). My inclination is to travel from Passau to Budapest and spend a few days in Budapest post cruise on our own. Since I am organizing this trip for a small group of people Is there any reason to that would make Budapest to Passau the preferred direction? Thanks!

[Gourmet Gal]

I would prefer the reverse…pre cruise in Budapest and then travel on to Prague post cruise from Passau.

[ljandgb]

This is very specific, but we just did a Danube cruise.  We were in a royal suite on Avalon Artistry which was only available on the port side of the ship.  We went down stream, Germany to Romania, so had afternoon sun.  That was a real issue whenever the ship was docked for the afternoon.  The room got sooo hot.

 

Not at all anything I would have thought about pre-cruise, but given a choice, I'd go for an eastern sided room, since I think morning sun would not be so intense.  Because the royal suite was only port side, the only way to avoid hot afternoon sun would be to go upstream.  

[Canal archive]

Just a query was there no air con?

[Travelw]

We were on the cruise with ljandgb, also the port side, room was way to warm during the afternoon.  There was air con, but room was still warm.  We did pre cruise in Prague and post cruise in Budapest, it is a personal choice, we liked Prague over Budapest.  Both were beautiful though.  Have a great Danube cruise

 

 

 

[skinnylegs]

Thank you all for your insights! I wasn't planning on visiting Prague but may add it on the itinerary.  I thought sailing into Budapest would be a nice finale but I do't think we can go wrong with either direction.

[ljandgb]

There was AC, which worked great at night (I need my room cold to sleep!), but seemed to work less well when the ship sat still, which was compounded in the daytime.  Design flaw?  Something wrong with the system?  Who knows.

 

I liked Prague and Budapest.  Both have their highlights.  Truly, Budapest at night is not to be missed.  It's gorgeous.  Prague is like a slightly scrappy little brother - vibrant with hidden gems, but not nearly as flashy.  If you have time in Prague, we did a beer tour with WithLocals.  Milos was our tour guide and he was fabulous.  We saw parts of Prague you wouldn't necessarily see as a tourist, had good beer, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

[Canal archive]

If your ever in this situation just ask your cabin steward to close the window coverings. Then your air con doesn’t have to work so hard.

[Roz]

My personal preference is to do independent sightseeing before the cruise, which is why I chose the Budapest to Passau itinerary.

[ljandgb]

24 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

If your ever in this situation just ask your cabin steward to close the window coverings. Then your air con doesn’t have to work so hard.

This was obvious.  We'd close our drapes completely before heading out for the day.  It would still be warm enough to break a sweat just sitting in the room.  I really think part of the issue was that the AC didn't work well anywhere when we were docked.  There were a couple afternoons when the lounge and dining room were also overly warm. We really never had a problem while we were underway.