Viking Romantic Danube - Historic Nuremberg or Munich Highlights excusion

[mialeighs]

My husband and I are going on our first river cruise at the end of March, Regensburg to Budapest with a Prague add-on at the beginning. The Regensburg stop offers two excursions we're interested in: Historic Nuremberg or Munich Highlights. Any thoughts on each of these? They both cost about $300 per person. We tend to like museums and history, but we do also like the energy of a city. We like the structure that excursions offer but we are in our 50s and fairly mobile, and don't want to be held up too much by waiting for the group, if you know what I mean. $300 per person is an expensive addition, but I've read a lot of warnings about the challenges of booking a third-party tour, which might not be any cheaper anyway.

 

We've been pretty slow with our research, so I welcome any thoughts about Danube cruises and our stops in Regensburg, Passau, Krems, Vienna, and Budapest.

[Host Jazzbeau]

That’s the most expensive river cruise excursion I have ever heard of!

[Kristelle]

leaving aside the cost since you said both are about the same anyway - I would vote for Historic Nuremburg if it is the one that includes the *** rally site and war trials musuem

 

That was really interesting and was different to anything else - I found general history/city walking tours can get a bit 'more of the same' and good to look for tours with something different.

 

Will also add a plug for Hospital in the Rock when you are in Budapest rather than general city tour - same reason

[Kristelle]

sorry, didnt realise that was a banned word - hope you can tell what I mean from context.

[notamermaid]

It sounds a lot of money and from what I have seen over the years Viking excursions tend to have high price that I am not sure that I could justify paying. Have never been on one but I could go a lot of places for 300 dollars with just four people sharing a car than being on a full coach...

 

But if I had to choose I would go for Nuremberg. Having been to Munich I am not sure what you could see in "highlights of". Sounds like a drive-by or drive-through that is going to leave you hungry, so to speak. Munich needs more time.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Roz]

What exactly do you get for $300?

[mialeighs]

2 hours ago, Kristelle said:

sorry, didnt realise that was a banned word - hope you can tell what I mean from context.

Yep, I got it. I thought you'd done it on purpose b/c you know these boards better than me! 😆

Edited January 21 by mialeighs
mistakenly said "reddit"

[mialeighs]

1 hour ago, Roz said:

What exactly do you get for $300?

For Nuremberg: Full day excursion includes travel from Regensburg, but from there it's a little vague: "After you see the grounds on which *** rallies were staged and pass the Palace of Justice, admire the Imperial Palace, one of Europe’s most formidable fortresses. Then, stroll down the castle hill past half-timbered houses and browse the stalls at the Market Square." Lunch is included. Time to explore on your own in the afternoon.

 

For Munich: Full-day excursion includes travel and lunch. Again, it's a little vague. I guess you're mainly paying for travel, lunch, and a guide for the morning.

 

Interesting that this is considered expensive b/c I thought so too, but what do I know?! Since I've never been on a river cruise before. 

 

Should we just stay in Regensburg? Or would it be better to find our own travel to Nuremberg? We are not experienced travelers outside of the States.

[Kristelle]

So do you go into the War Memorial where the trials took place? That was good and includes a short film ( ,maybe 20 minutes) of actual footage from the trials 

 

 

[vada_9]

If it was me, I would stay in Regensberg. I have never been there and I assume you haven’t either. I am sure there would be interesting things to see and do. Would just need to do some research. 

[CielBleu]

Is there any way you could just take Viking's free excursion (whatever that is) and then go to either Nuremberg or Munich after the cruise ends and do that town on your own?  $300 per person sounds ridiculous.  

[Roz]

Is there an included excursion in Regensburg?  If so, I would do that. 

 

Is $300 the typical cost for a Viking excursion?  I think that's steep.  On my recent Tauck cruise, there were no added cost excursions.  Even when we were bussed to Bruges, Ghent, and Delft, it was included. 

 

To the OP, I'm not criticizing your choice of Viking.  I'm merely providing a basis for comparison for those interested. 

 

 

 

 

 

[puppymama1]

14 hours ago, Kristelle said:

So do you go into the War Memorial where the trials took place? That was good and includes a short film ( ,maybe 20 minutes) of actual footage from the trials 

 

 

We have booked the Nuremberg excursion for our Romantic Danube cruise in May.. I could not find another tour (not through Viking) that would get us from Regensburg to Nuremberg.  I am also more hesitant to book private tours on river cruises because you never know when the departure time or dock location will be changed due to river conditions.  

 

If anyone has done this excursion with Viking, do you know if it is possible to see the War Memorial on your "free time in the afternoon"?

[JordanF]

Regensburg is historic and very nice.  Not a bad place to spend the day (no doubt with the included tour), especially with an "extra" $600 in your pocket!

[mialeighs]

Thanks for your thoughts! Since we haven't done a river cruise before, we weren't sure about the pricing. $300 pp sounded pretty pricey to us too, and we're glad to hear from others that that IS a lot off money for an excursion. I'm leaning toward staying in Regensburg.

[notamermaid]

Just for comparison. You can get to Nuremberg from Regensburg by train for less that 30 euros per person, so return for two is less than 120 euros. A taxi one way from Regensburg to Nürnberg is about 240 euros. You can also book what is called a Großraumtaxi, meaning an eight-seater together with other people. Several options but I agree about not booking private guides in advance.

 

Lunch is apparently included in your excursion but I still cannot see what justifies the 300 dollars when travelling in a large group.

 

notamermaid

 

[mialeighs]

On 1/22/2024 at 6:36 PM, notamermaid said:

Just for comparison. You can get to Nuremberg from Regensburg by train for less that 30 euros per person, so return for two is less than 120 euros. A taxi one way from Regensburg to Nürnberg is about 240 euros. You can also book what is called a Großraumtaxi, meaning an eight-seater together with other people. Several options but I agree about not booking private guides in advance.

 

Lunch is apparently included in your excursion but I still cannot see what justifies the 300 dollars when travelling in a large group.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks again for your input!

[mialeighs]

On 1/22/2024 at 11:08 AM, puppymama1 said:

We have booked the Nuremberg excursion for our Romantic Danube cruise in May.. I could not find another tour (not through Viking) that would get us from Regensburg to Nuremberg.  I am also more hesitant to book private tours on river cruises because you never know when the departure time or dock location will be changed due to river conditions.  

 

If anyone has done this excursion with Viking, do you know if it is possible to see the War Memorial on your "free time in the afternoon"?

There's so little detail about the excursion! Another reason we're hesitant to book. I don't want to just be wandering around all day. I think we'll stay in Regensburg or possibly take the train to Nuremberg as notamermaid mentions above.

[mialeighs]

On 1/21/2024 at 8:48 PM, Kristelle said:

So do you go into the War Memorial where the trials took place? That was good and includes a short film ( ,maybe 20 minutes) of actual footage from the trials 

 

 

There's not enough details about the excursion so I'm not sure. I think we'll stay in Regensburg or take a train to Nuremberg to see what we want to see.

[franski]

Having been to both Nuremberg & Regensburg on a river cruise, I would suggest you stay in Regensburg.  I really enjoyed Nuremberg, but $300 is a lot of money for what is (in essence) a bus ride and a half day tour.  And depending on how much "free time" you have, you may not really have time to do anything extra (ie: see the art bunkers).

 

The War Memorial is *not* where the trials took place.  That is (unless something has changed...) still an active court room, and you can only visit if there are no trials on that day.

 

It says you "admire" the Imperial Palace...  Does that mean you get a tour inside?  It seems as if most of the day is spent driving by - or stopping to admire from the outside - the places they identified.

 

Lots to see & do in Regensburg, IMHO.

 

Fran

[Kristelle]

Maybe War Memorial is wrong term - where we went is where the trials took place

 

from Scenic  literature Start by taking a drive to the Rally Grounds and explore the Memorium Nurnberger Prozesse, where subsequent trials of *** party members took place.

[rcaruso]

Palace of Justice is the court room, and yes only open when trials not taking place.  Take the train and the Bayern pass and 2nd class around 39 euro for two each way or less (I don't have my phone right now to check on exact). Also staying in Nuremberg after or before cruise is a thought, or Munich.  We stay at a hotel right by the train station in Nuremberg and very easy to get anywhere in the old town by foot, and plenty of other transportation to get where you want to go.  Same as in Munich.

[BMoreE]

Came across this as we are planning a July trip with an identical situation - @mialeighs what did you end up doing?

 

We are an "explore on our own" type and would have no problem hopping a train to Nuremberg, but definitely find value in having an experienced person telling you about what you're looking at. Perhaps there are guided tours available for purchase on site?

 

As an aside, does anyone know which, if any, of the stops on this cruise are closest/best for taking a tour of a concentration camp memorial?

[mialeighs]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:26 AM, BMoreE said:

Came across this as we are planning a July trip with an identical situation - @mialeighs what did you end up doing?

 

We are an "explore on our own" type and would have no problem hopping a train to Nuremberg, but definitely find value in having an experienced person telling you about what you're looking at. Perhaps there are guided tours available for purchase on site?

 

As an aside, does anyone know which, if any, of the stops on this cruise are closest/best for taking a tour of a concentration camp memorial?

Hello! Just making it through emails after our cruise.

 

We stayed in Regensburg, and although we're glad we didn't do the $300pp excursion to Munich or Nuremberg (partly b/c it turned out we were there on Easter Sunday, so lots of places were closed, or so we heard), we also didn't love Regensburg. In large part that was because the tour guide happened to be our least favorite of the cruise and partly bc we loved Prague so much, and Regensburg was a bit of a letdown.

 

If I could do it again, and if it weren't a Sunday (apparently lots of places are closed on all Sundays in Germany) or if we could guarantee the places we wanted to see were open on Sundays, I might take the train on my own to Munich and see some sites there or perhaps make arrangements to visit Dachau, which would be a way to visit a concentration camp memorial. 

 

There was another excursion to see a memorial from Prague, but we didn't want to give up one of our three days there.

 

Enjoy your cruise! We really loved it.