Amadeus - Amsterdam to Budapest

[Oregonskier]

I am booked on the Amadante - a new ship from Amadus. I am sailing the first two weeks of June 2008.

 

I beleive this is a new ship making its first run. I am a bit concerned about that. Is this the shake down cruise? Anyone else out there going on this cruise? Do we do roll calls for riverboats?

 

I have 3 nights in Amsterdam before and 2 at the Budapest Hilton after.

 

How are the tours on this Magnificant Europe cruise? What about the extra tours of Salzburg and the Romantic Road? When do we book them and are they good? Any recomendations for good bike rides?

 

Are any other singles going on this cruise?

 

What time can we board in Amsterdam? Also what time do we have to disembark in Budapest?

 

Oregonskier :)

[gsand2310]

DH, I and our good buddy couple are booked on this cruise. I had tried to find out something earlier about the Amadante, but didn't get any replies to my post. It appears that this is her maiden voyage, but we are confident all will be well. We are staying over in Budapest several days at the Marriott Mellinium Apartments about which we have read on these boards. Though we have done ocean cruises, this is our first river cruise. We have decided not to try the Salzburg trip. You will find as many folks saying they loved it as not, but it just looks like a long day to us. We will be doing the Romantic Road, though. We are assuming the questions re times for embarkation and debarkation will be with our final travel packets, but we are arriving in Amsterdam at 6:00 AM, so we hope they don't keep us off the boat too long! This will be the trip of a lifetime for us--Looking forward to meeting you.

[Oregonskier]

DH, I and our good buddy couple are booked on this cruise. I had tried to find out something earlier about the Amadante, but didn't get any replies to my post. It appears that this is her maiden voyage, but we are confident all will be well. We are staying over in Budapest several days at the Marriott Mellinium Apartments about which we have read on these boards. Though we have done ocean cruises, this is our first river cruise. We have decided not to try the Salzburg trip. You will find as many folks saying they loved it as not, but it just looks like a long day to us. We will be doing the Romantic Road, though. We are assuming the questions re times for embarkation and debarkation will be with our final travel packets, but we are arriving in Amsterdam at 6:00 AM, so we hope they don't keep us off the boat too long! This will be the trip of a lifetime for us--Looking forward to meeting you.

 

Hi!

Great! There is some one else out there. I found out about Amadeus through the boards. I am looking forward to the bikes, hot tub and french balcony.

 

I agree with you, I beleive it is the first cruise for Amadente. I feel a little uncomfortable about that. Since it is new, maybe we will be able to board in the morning. Where are you flying from?

 

Seems like we have a roll call. I always enjoy meeting those I communicate with on line. I am in cabin #213 and my name is Judy.

 

The messages from WIT have been helpful.

 

Would love to hear from others.

 

Oregonskier

[gsand2310]

Hi!

Great! There is some one else out there. I found out about Amadeus through the boards. I am looking forward to the bikes, hot tub and french balcony.

 

I agree with you, I beleive it is the first cruise for Amadente. I feel a little uncomfortable about that. Since it is new, maybe we will be able to board in the morning. Where are you flying from?

 

Seems like we have a roll call. I always enjoy meeting those I communicate with on line. I am in cabin #213 and my name is Judy.

 

The messages from WIT have been helpful.

 

Would love to hear from others.

 

Oregonskier

Judy--I am Gerrie and we are in cabin #230. We are flying from Little Rock, Ar., so it's a long day of flying for us. We, too, are looking forward to the french balcony. My DH is very active and he will probably use the bikes more than I will--I'm more the "sit in the hot tub" type--perhaps with a glass of wine! At any rate, it's going to be a great trip and we are all excited.

[Hydrokitty]

We're on the Odyssey for the same cruise you guys are taking. You do realize that a french balcony is nothing more than a wrought iron railing outside the french doors. You cannot sit or stand on it. We have one in our cabin too and the way they show it is with a table and chairs (small) in front of the glass doors that open up. One writer described it as "you can touch the walls of the lock from inside the cabin" (not recommended!)

[gsand2310]

We're on the Odyssey for the same cruise you guys are taking. You do realize that a french balcony is nothing more than a wrought iron railing outside the french doors. You cannot sit or stand on it. We have one in our cabin too and the way they show it is with a table and chairs (small) in front of the glass doors that open up. One writer described it as "you can touch the walls of the lock from inside the cabin" (not recommended!)

 

Yes, we are aware of that. We just think it will be really neat to slide open our door and really have a sense of drifting down the river. Don't think we need to try touching the locks, though!

[Oregonskier]

Judy--I am Gerrie and we are in cabin #230. We are flying from Little Rock, Ar., so it's a long day of flying for us. We, too, are looking forward to the french balcony. My DH is very active and he will probably use the bikes more than I will--I'm more the "sit in the hot tub" type--perhaps with a glass of wine! At any rate, it's going to be a great trip and we are all excited.

 

Hi Gerrie,

 

I am so looking forward to our cruise. Have your heard what time we can board our riverboat? That will be a long day for you. Are you staying over in Budapest? I am for 2 nights at the Budapest Hilton in the Castle district. I just got home-Bend, Or. - from 4 1/2 months in Florida and now I spring ski till our cruise. I fly out Mmemorial Day to Paris for a couple of nights then on to Amsterdam.

 

It would be nice to know if any one else is going to be in Amsterdam early.

Judy

[Oregonskier]

I just realized you are staying over in Budapest. I went back and read previous messages, but don't know how to edit my last message. Have you lines up any tours in Budapest? Judy

[Buckland]

We went on that cruise a couple years ago. Check out "On The Amadagio" somehere in the old posts. You are wise not to take the Salzburg trip. It was very long and not very interesting, unless you are a "Sound Of Music" fan. I was disappointed in Mozart's house, but the museum is very nice.

 

We had a blast on that trip, the scenery is wonderful. I spent almost all of my time on the upper deck watching the world go by. We went under several very low bridges which required that all the superstructure on the upper deck be folded down for clearance. That included the antennae which connected us to the internet, so there was very little communication while we were under way. But at most ports of call I was able to get on line.

 

Get ready to take lots of pictures. I took over 7000!

 

Buck

[gsand2310]

Hi Gerrie,

 

I am so looking forward to our cruise. Have your heard what time we can board our riverboat? That will be a long day for you. Are you staying over in Budapest? I am for 2 nights at the Budapest Hilton in the Castle district. I just got home-Bend, Or. - from 4 1/2 months in Florida and now I spring ski till our cruise. I fly out Mmemorial Day to Paris for a couple of nights then on to Amsterdam.

 

It would be nice to know if any one else is going to be in Amsterdam early.

Judy

Welcome home to Oregon. We just got home from a ski trip to Lake Tahoe. As previously noted, I am not the skier in our family, but my husband and the others really had a good time. It was a great trip--beautiful scenery. We are staying over a couple of nights in Budapest, but have no tours lined up. The other couple coming with us is really good about doing lots of research about the places we go to and we find that going with their recommendations usually works out well. We made our final pmt. on the trip a couple of weeks ago--makes it all seem more real now.

 

Gerrie

[Oregonskier]

I leave for Europe May 18. I added 10 days in Paris, plus 3 nights in Amsterdam.

See you on board the Amadente for that glass of wine.

Is there anyone else out there on this cruise?

Oregonskier

[odblnt]

Greetings, Oregonskier,

 

While we aren't doing your cruise, we did just get back from doing the Tulips on the Amadagio. (I'd just like to thank Wit and Buckland for their comments prior to our cruise. The Amadagio was wonderful.) As a matter of fact, with the 12 hour difference, we are still jet-lagging.

 

Anyway, your boat is built on the same lines as ours and it is a well-thought design. The free internet, while slow, is great. The food was very good (and plenty of it) and the interaction between passengers was fun. We are already planning on a Christmas Market cruise in 2009 and plan on taking Amadeus.

 

What I did want to offer from our experience was that we were in Amsterdam a few days before the cruise and took advantage of the "I Amsterdam" card for 48 hours (comes with 48 hours of public transportation) to see the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrant's House and much more. It does not cover the Anne Frank House (but that is worth a tour - get an evening reservation in advance). I count it as money well-spent. As an added plus, we did so many museums that DW found no need to go to any more while we were in Germany after our cruise. :rolleyes:

 

I hope they get the locks fixed over on the Danube before your cruise starts. I know you will have a wonderful time.

 

Pete

[Oregonskier]

Thanks for your informative reply. I will see about the reservation for the Anne Franks house. Can I buy the Amsterdam 48 hour card on line? I wonder if I can find out about the locks on line?

I was so happy to hear you liked Amadeus. It was nice to know the email does work.

Oregonskier:)

[Shorex]

I went back and read previous messages, but don't know how to edit my last message.

 

The ability to edit your own post disappears after a very short time, about 5 minutes or so. During that time, an "Edit" box appears next to the "Quote" box at the bottom right of your post --

 

Enjoy your trip, and please let us know the details of your experience with Amadeus. We are booked on the Amadagio in September and really anticipating our first river cruise after many ocean voyages. Reading this board was the key to trying out a river cruise, there is wealth of information here, and WIT and Buckland have been ambassadors (but not cheerleaders) for Amadeus. Many thanks to them. :)

[odblnt]

Thanks for your informative reply. I will see about the reservation for the Anne Franks house. Can I buy the Amsterdam 48 hour card on line? I wonder if I can find out about the locks on line?

 

I was so happy to hear you liked Amadeus. It was nice to know the email does work.

 

Oregonskier:)

 

Yes, you can buy the card online and then pick it up when you arrive.

 

Links for the card are here:

 

http://www.iamsterdam.com/visiting_exploring/services/i_amsterdam_card

 

and

 

http://www.iamsterdamcard.com/

 

We picked ours up at the tourist office right in front of the Centraal Station and did our reservations for Anne Frank House at the same time. The clock on the card and rail pass doesn't start ticking until the first time you use them. We discovered that you can use the coupons in the book for longer than the period on the card.

 

I don't know about the locks. My best guess would to be to watch this forum for news. Hopefully Steamboats will help with this.

 

Pete

[Trash Queen]

Please post a report on CC after you return from your cruise. We're booked with two other couples on the Amandante, Budapest to Amsterdam, departing August 10, and will be eager to hear all about your adventures.

 

Oregonskier, I have a great schematic of the locks from a friend who did the same itinerary last year. I can FAX it to you if you have one available; send a message with the FAX number to cravenchar @ hotmail .com (omitting the spaces, of course).

 

Charlotte