Need help planning our Avalon Artistry Legendary Danube tours

[dessertcruiser]

We will be enjoying the Avalon legendary Danube cruise starting in Prague on 11 June. We plan to arrive a day early for some additional sightseeing, and have some planning questions. We don't want to see any sights on our own that will be repeated in the included activities.

 

The travel documents are a little unclear on what areas are included in the guided sightseeing. For instance, day 3 in Prague has a paragraph on the city and mentions several highlights; the astronomical clock, Hradcany castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Charles bridge. I assume, although it is not stated, that this is the only guided sightseeing offered in Prague. Will the afternoon be free this day? I assume the optional tours are offered on this day. We are interested in seeing Cecky Krumlov and could do it on either day 2 or 4. I understand it may be offered as on option in Passau, but we are interested in visiting Salzburg while there.

 

We will be staying 2 extra days in Budapest. Are there any optional tours offered on the afternoon of the last day? We are interested in seeing Szentendre.

 

We would appreciate any comments to help us plan our extra days.

 

Thanks

 

Rick

[traveljunky]

We are on this same cruise but 2 weeks later, starting June 25. I have called Avalon several times and managed to get some information. The included tour in Prague is in the morning, 3-4 hours and ends by lunch time. There are optional tours (Jewish Quarter, etc) that afternoon starting at 2 and the next day. The tour to Terezin on our cruise is the day after the included tour. They are not doing the Cesky Krumlov tour (at least not for our cruise dates) so you would have to arrange that privately. I have found that calling Avalon is hit and miss, sometimes I get someone who is helpful and other times, I have reached someone who has no clue as to what is going on. If you call Avalon try to get Mary Tolme at 877-245-6287 ext 7295. She was one of the few who seems to know what is going on or at least how to find out.

[jkeller527]

Well you are in luck. Just back from the Imagery down the danube. 5 total days in Prague as we stayed on. The included city tour will include the highlights that you mentioned. When you get your docs there will be some of the optional tours but as we found they had added others. Hutna Hora was one and a must see. Can also be booked from the Hilton. the hilton has a tour desk with a discount for anything you do not get from Avalon. You are a 20 minute walk from the old town or a 2 minute subway ride. Take the yellow line and get off at Mutske. the time at the castle is very short, We went back for a more indepth time and can see everything on your own. take the yellow line change to the green and then trolly 122. they do not do any of the inside tours so you can do those on your own. the changing of the guard is at noon. I would do Kutna hora and skip Celsky Kumloff. This seemed to be the better value. Prague is very nice but get your conversion charge handy. The restraunts can be one price one day and then add on things out of the blue the next. Watch out for the bread charges. The weather is warm. they had many optional tours.

Budapest you are right on the water where the ship ends. The city tour once again is very vanilla. The tour to Szentendre was one of the optional ones that were not showing until we got there. The city is very walkable. Hope you are on deck 2 or above, if not upgrade. the bottom floor door does not open. I hope this helps as I have all the info fresh.

[brandonjordan]

We are starting our Danaube cruise in Prague on 9/11/08 and want to plan our itinerary as best we can ahead of time. Someone mentioned an optional tour to Terezin (sp?). Did you take it? We are arriving a day ahead and want to fill that day without duplicating what is offered thru Avalon. Should we see Terezin on our own to leave time to include other things through Avalon? Are the Avalon tours expensive compared to 4 adults hiring a guide on their own? Avalon does a poor job providing info far enough ahead of time to make plans. Can you or anyone else help me out.

[gas]

We did the Jewish Heritage, $39, and Terezin, $49, two years ago with Avalon. Both were very good. There is much to do on your own in and around Old Town. Took a cab from the hotel to the Charles Bridge. We spent over 2 hours there, enjoying the music, art and people, then walked to Old Town. We found an open air market selling everthing and spent the last of our money. You will enjoy Prague, but watch out, it is expensive to eat in Old Town.

[brandonjordan]

Does anyone have a good handle on exactly what the Avalon City tour in Prague includes? We are spending extra days there and don't want to duplicate things that we will see through Avalon.

[brandonjordan]

Now that you have completed your cruise, can you please help me with mine? We will have an extra 1 1/2 days in Prague and don't want to duplicate things. Would we be better off doing some out-of-town (Terezin, Cecky Krumlov) on our own before the actual Avalon part begins so we can spend extra time wandering around the city revisiting things we had a particular interest that we saw on the initial City tour. Do you remember in more detail what you saw on the City tour.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing back from you.

 

We will be enjoying the Avalon legendary Danube cruise starting in Prague on 11 June. We plan to arrive a day early for some additional sightseeing, and have some planning questions. We don't want to see any sights on our own that will be repeated in the included activities.

 

The travel documents are a little unclear on what areas are included in the guided sightseeing. For instance, day 3 in Prague has a paragraph on the city and mentions several highlights; the astronomical clock, Hradcany castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Charles bridge. I assume, although it is not stated, that this is the only guided sightseeing offered in Prague. Will the afternoon be free this day? I assume the optional tours are offered on this day. We are interested in seeing Cecky Krumlov and could do it on either day 2 or 4. I understand it may be offered as on option in Passau, but we are interested in visiting Salzburg while there.

 

We will be staying 2 extra days in Budapest. Are there any optional tours offered on the afternoon of the last day? We are interested in seeing Szentendre.

 

We would appreciate any comments to help us plan our extra days.

 

Thanks

 

Rick

 

*******************************************************

 

Now that you have completed your cruise, can you please help me with mine? We will have an extra 1 1/2 days in Prague and don't want to duplicate things. Would we be better off doing some out-of-town (Terezin, Cecky Krumlov) on our own before the actual Avalon part begins so we can spend extra time wandering around the city revisiting things we had a particular interest that we saw on the initial City tour. Do you remember in more detail what you saw on the City tour.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing back from you.

[michaelbyrns]

We are taking the Legendary Danube Cruise Prague to Budapest package on September 3rd. Any other of you folks on that cruise as well? We are booked in for an aditional 3 nights at the International Hotel in Budapest.

For those already on the cruise, a few questions. Hard to get info from their people...

Internet - someone said that the charge is 15 Euros a day or something like that on the boat and also very expensive in the hotels. Were there any free wireless hotspots that anybody saw?

Air Conditioning - How decent was their AC in the hotels and cruise? Were you able to make it cool enough?

The balconies outside your room - big enough to stand or sit on, or just tiny?

Dress code - How did you find most folks dressed? No need to bring a tie or anything like that? For the dinners especially.

We're looking forward to the trip, as we have never been further east of Vienna.

[webfoot]

Internet charge: 15 Euros was for a week ... not an hour ... on the Artistry there are two computers. We had no problems getting on them ...

 

Balconies: The balconies are 'French' balconies, which essentially is a sliding glass door. It was nice to be able to have the door open and to watch the scenery. But don't count on sitting on it ...

 

Dress: Several men brought sport jackets as they were planning to take the optional tour to a concert in Vienna. At the farewell dinner, several men did wear their jackets, but they were in the minority.

 

Air Conditioning: Each room has their own individual controls and we had no problem keeping our room at a good temperature.

 

Please let me know if you need any other information. We loved our trip on the Artistry. Great crew!!!

[michaelbyrns]

15 Euros for a week? I heard that someone said that it was for 24 hours, I didn't mean a day, I meant in total usage. I had read that they had wireless as well. Perhaps I might then bring my laptop as well and take advantage of that. I was debating about bringing it with me, communicating with home and storing all the great photos I hope to take.

 

Regarding that concert in Vienna, I think we would go to that. I went a number of years ago when I was in Vienna the last time. So people dressed for that?

[webfoot]

We paid 15 Euros and I think we got something like 40 hours with it ... of course we didn't have a chance to use all of our hours, but it was easier than trying to find an internet cafe at each stop. Yes, they do have WiFi on the ship, but I don't know what the charge is for it. There were two folks who brought their laptops ... but we decided just to be sure we had enough camera chips along so we didn't have to worry about downloading the pictures.

 

For the concert, folks dressed up a little ... most of the men wore a sports jacket (most with no tie) ... we had been to a concert on our last trip to Vienna so we just spent the night on the ship enjoying the scenery.