Liveish Gate 1 Monarch Queen- Prague to Budapest- Trip Report

[Canal archive]

 

A little fuzzy but this is the part of the illuminated night time cruise.

[CruiseIreland]

Our final day: We took the included bus/walking tour. This began with a drive across the river to the Buda side and our guide pointed out sights of interest and the bus stopped for a minute or so to enable photos of the Parliament Building from inside the coach. This was not a great idea as the sun had risen in that direction so the Parliament was in shadow. We crossed back to the Pest side and got stuck in traffic due to the World Athletics Championships staging the 35km walking race. This may have impacted on the time available as the guide seemed to rush the walking tour, to the point that a couple of shipmates asked her to slow down. The tour ended at the synagogue which we only viewed from outside. Back on the bus and delivered back to the ship a whole hour ahead of time! A few passengers were grumbling over lunch. Some pics:

Statue of Liberty 

Danubius

Statue of Sisi, one of the ruling family, much loved in Budapest - had a bridge named after her rather than Chuck Norris!!

Dohany St. Synagogue, where our tour ended yesterday. We went back today.

 

After lunch, we went to see the Whale building which, our guide informed us, was used as NASA headquarters in the movie The Martian. As I liked the movie, we walked the few minutes from the ship. Very disappointing, seems to be an army exhibition or recruitment centre.

We walked on the the Central Market which is a lively indoor shopping area, followed by the pedestrian Street where we had a beer.

 

Last night's dinner was nice but nothing special. There was an Operetta show after dinner, very good classical music and singers. Many passengers had very early checkouts and flights so the ship quietened down very quickly. Check out and disembarkation on Friday morning. Ken 

Edited August 25, 2023 by CruiseIreland

[Daisi]

18 hours ago, ural guy said:

 

 

Or just wander along the Danube, and later go look for the Columbo statue, and if you find it, reward yourself with ice cream.  If you fail, console yourself with ice cream.

 

Enjoy.

 

 

My kind of plans. 🙂

 

[CruiseIreland]

Well, it transpires that the aforementioned statue is about 300m from our hotel, so we walked up and paid our respects before dinner;

Dinner was Caprese Salad and Pizza Otto e Funghi, accompanied by a bottle of Hungarian Sauvignon Blanc. All excellent! Pics;

Caprese Salad and bread starter

Excellent pizza

 

A couple of drinks in the Tarpa bar which was showing Chelsea v Luton. Up early for flight tomorrow. It has been shocking hot here  35/36°, giving 37° tomorrow. I will regret saying this but I'm looking forward to more temperate weather in Ireland. 

 

After we get home, I will post final thoughts and photos. Thanks for following along! Ken

[CruiseIreland]

Our accommodation for last night was the City Hotel Ring. I'll admit that I didn't do much research on it until we were about to disembark the ship. Then, the doubts began to creep in. Reviews were not great. It is an uninspiring facde on a busy street not far from the Parliament buildings and the Margrid Bridge. However, staff are friendly and, most importantly, our room was available at 10am! Ice cold aircon, spacious room, very quiet. One drawback is that the elevator only commences on the 1st floor, so we had to drag our cases up the wide stone steps. Not a real problem but something to bear in mind. The reception and breakfast room are in one building while bedrooms are spread across 2 buildings. Our room was in the adjoining building with external walkway around a central courtyard. While I might not book it again, I have no real complaints. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by CruiseIreland

[CruiseIreland]

Well, we were welcomed home by a kiss wetter than that of a Spanish soccer chief! Torrential rain and temperatures half of what we had in Budapest but we are happy to be home. I will do the recap tomorrow, probably! Ken 

[ural guy]

Thanks for posting, no matter how great a trip it is, it's good to be home.

 

Slainte.

[CruiseIreland]

Final thoughts: A bit delayed but you know how it goes, you're away for 2 weeks so some catching up is required when you get home! I'll summarise our views by category:

Pre-cruise stay:

Our trip with Gate 1 included 3 nights in Prague. This was in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. This is a fine hotel which is reasonably well located, about 20 minutes walk from Old Town Square. Great staff and the breakfast was excellent. Included was a coach and walking tour of Prague on one morning. 

River Ship

We were on the Monarch Queen, formerly the River Voyager (the schematic on the corridor wall is the original 'Voyager' schematic). Ship was clean and well maintained. Our room was a French Balcony which was nice. 

Food

The food on the ship was excellent. Fresh omelette made to order at breakfast and a fresh pasta dish was often made to order at lunch. Dinner was served to the table except for one night when it was a buffet. Two nights were 6 courses and the others 5. All excellent food! Very stylishly presented and seconds offered most nights. Wine and beer were included at dinner only and always 3 pours, more if you asked.

Excursions 

Every port had an included, free, walking tour and coach also. These tours were very good but, mostly, started early such as 8.30am. Optional tours happened in the afternoons and one evening. We didn't take any but, by all accounts, they were very good.

Staff

Almost every cruise trip report remarks that the staff were terrific but, in this case, it is absolutely true. They got to know our names and preferences. They were always helpful. Really impressed us. The Cruise Director was Georgina, from Budapest, and she was very informative and efficient. Activity Director was Nico, from Italy, a very entertaining and funny guy.

Entertainment 

This is an aspect that didn't impress us. Only on the first and last night did they bring entertainer(s) onboard. Each other night, the hard working Nico ran quizzes and one night Karaoke. He did his best but the passengers did not turn up except for the Operetta night. I'm not sure Gate 1 could do much about this.

Fellow cruisers 

The other passengers were predominantly North Americans, most US and many Canadian, 3 Egyptians and we 2 Irish. Many in the older age group, 65+, but a few in the 50s and a few younger who were travelling with family.

 

We became friendly with and shared most meals and some excursions with an older couple from the USA, M and P. P's story is amazing. Born in Vienna just before WW2, to a Jewish couple, they fled Austria for Belgium. However, the situation became worse and they handed P into the care of the nuns in a convent. The nuns hid P and other children throughout the war and, after the war, P was adopted by a New York family. He knew nothing of his parents' fates until many years later when he found out, throught a lawyer who researched the origins of Jewish children adopted in America, that his mother had been put on a train to Auschwitz. Apparently, the train was attacked and she saw an opportunity to jump from the train. Sadly, it was moving too fast and she was killed. P never found out what became of his father. Such an amazing and sad story. This was P's first time in Vienna since he left as a baby! Now 85, he still skis and is an instructor too! 

Overall Thoughts 

We considered this to be the best of our 12 cruises, 11 ocean and this 1 river cruise. I selected Gate 1 on the basis of affordability and it surpassed our expectations. We are already looking for the next cruise but it will have to 2025 and not many are listed yet.

 

Thanks for following along, it's encouraging to have comments and likes along the way! All the best! Any questions? Ken 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by CruiseIreland

[CruiseIreland]

I neglected to post photos of our unguided walk from City Ring Hotel on our final day in Budapest. Our first target was the Dohany St. Synagogue. Then the riverbank towards the Parliament Building and then beer and hide from the fierce heat before seeking out and finding excellent pizza. Pics;

Edited August 29, 2023 by CruiseIreland

[CruiseIreland]

Beautiful fountains and monument...

[CruiseIreland]

The trams are yellow!

 

Shoes by the Danube. These victims were shot by Hungarian police who were challenged and stopped by braver colleagues. 

 

Parliament Building 

 

 

 

There are many better pics on this forum but this was our view. As it was very hot, we took cover at this stage.

[Daisi]

Sadly, it sounds as if most of the "entertainment" at night has gone, whether or not that's due to staffing problems from Covid, or just not enough people were staying there to qualify the costs, I don't know. It was nice to hear the pianist we had during times we were in the lounge, but usually after dinner, we went back to our room to catch up on what happened at home, and get our pictures sorted. 

 

Looking forward to our trip to Budapest, we have our tickets for the Parliament tour, they now do all languages at once, so you can book at any time. Much easier.

[jeppard]

I hope that you or someone else can reply. We are scheduled to take the Monarch Queen on October 20 from Budapest to Amsterdam. Trying to determine what electrical plugs are needed on this ship. Can anyone help with this? Gate one just told us 220 V.

Thanks

[CruiseIreland]

Hi. Yes, European plugs and US plugs in the cabins. More European plugs, I think. Ken