Roll Call - Christmas Markets 2008 - all lines, all dates

[AZPam]

Hello fellow travelers!

 

I know the roll calls for the river trips never seem to take off, so thought I would combine the group so at least we could chat and see who is doing what.

 

My Mother and I will be returning on the GCT Christmas Markets on the Rhine with the 3 day pretrip in Basel to Amsterdam leaving home the day after Thanksgiving. The actual river trip is Dec 1-12th on the River Harmony. We did this same trip 3 years ago and this year we are bringing along 15 friends! Most of us are desert rats from the Phoenix area and are really looking forward to some cold weather, hoping for snow, to get us into the Christmas spirit. No men/husbands allowed on this trip so you can bet that it's going to be a total girl fest with lots of shopping in the markets.

 

Hope to hear from others that may be taking this trip or other Christmas Markets trips!

 

Pam

[Bill S]

Hi Pam!

We will be taking a Christmas market cruise with Avalon, on the Tranquility, Nov 30-Dec 9, 2008. We start in Prague and end up in Vienna and will be cruising with a group of 28. We are all excited about this adventure! :)

Thanks for starting this thread!

[AZPam]

Hi Bill! Your trip sounds like a lot of fun too! Are you doing any pre or post trips? I've always wanted to go to Vienna and one of these days I will!

[Bill S]

Pam-we are going over a day early so we can have a little extra time to explore Prague. At the end, we are staying over in Vienna for two nights. We are considering taking a day trip via train to Budapest from Vienna, and we know that we would have only a few hours in Budapest. We will have to decide if it would be worth it.

Your cruise sounds like a real hoot! We had to twist some arms up here to go, due to folks up here also being spoiled with our mild winters.

[tickleddpink]

Hi Pam -

 

Thanks for starting this. There's not a lot of messages on cruise forums about these trips. Cruise Critic was an invaluable source of information before my Alaska cruise in May 2006.

 

I'm taking a Christmas Markets cruise with Amadeus Waterways on the Amalegro. It starts in Budapest on 12/7 and ends in Nuremberg on 12/4. I'm doing 3 extra days in Vienna before the cruise and 3 days in Prague afterwards with a group from the Travel Insider web site. Amadeus has a guaranteed single for the price of a double in category B cabins. David (Travel Insider) told me 9 times out of 10 they don't have anyone, so it ends up being a single.

 

I'm really excited - this is something I've wanted to do for years! I'll bet the the goodies in the market are really tempting - I already have about 10 bins of Christmas stuff and want to be choosy.

 

And the weather! I'm a SoCal native and not used to cold. So I'm already stressing about how many warm layers I'll need! ;-) To tell the truth, I'd rather be in cold weather than super hot, and agree that some snow would be great.

 

Hi Bill - I'll be taking the train from Vienna to Budapest and it's about a 3 hour train ride on the nonstop express. Your trip sounds like it will be the reverse of mine.

 

And I'm brushing up my German. It's been more than a few years since I used it!

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Jane

[WIT]

Pam - We are looking forward to our third AMA Waterways (Amadeus) cruise this Dec. 6th - Amsterdam to Trier on the boat, then three days in Paris. We enjoy your posts.

 

WIT

[AZPam]

Welcome to the "group" Jane & Wit! I have read/heard that Nuremberg has the best Christmas Markets, so really wish my trip was making a stop there too. So, we now have GCT, Avalon and Amadeus represented! Bill, I am very impressed with the size of your group. How in the world did you manage that? We had to really twist some arms as a few husbands weren't too happy to be left home with the kids!

 

Wit, the few extra days in Paris should be really magical. Another place on my long list to visit. What part of Chicago are you from? I just LOVE Michigan Ave! :D At least you wil be prepared for the cold weather.

 

And how funny is it that there are a few us of from warm weather states going on this type of trip? I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so SICK of the heat, I really enjoy going on cold weather trips. Seems wierd to be leaving when the weather is nice here, but with my job, summer is usually the worst time of the year for me to be gone, so I have to stick it out.

 

And since we will start working on the German, I will say, Cheers!

[Bill S]

Hi Jane and Wit

[Bill S]

Hi Jane and Wit!

I guess there will a few of us CCers over there. It would be neat if some of our ships were at the same cities at the same time.

Pam, I know what you mean about the heat-we're more than ready for the cool weather to arrive! Enough! Well, a good portion of our group are retired USAF families -- many of us were stationed together and we all enjoy traveling. 12 of us took a Tulips and Windmills river cruise in 2006 and had a great time. We recruited a bunch of "newbies" this time!

My German is very rusty, too --- just enough to make Germans either wince or laugh! :)

[fred111]

Hello everyone.

 

We are taking our first river cruise. We will be on the Uniworld River Duchess. We embark in Budapest on November 30, 08 and hit all the market stops until we disembark in Regensburg on Dec 9.

 

We will spend about a week in Munich (a lot of day trips throughout Bavaria) and then take the train to Budapest.

 

On the back end we will spend another 2 days in Munich, probably FedEx'ing boxes back home.

 

This should be a good trip and we are really looking forward to it.

[AZPam]

Hi Fred! Welcome to the world of river cruising. Have you done any ocean cruises? So similar yet so different but still so much fun. What part of the world are you coming from?

 

Bill, it's nice you have a group that you have traveled with before. A few in my group have gone on ocean cruises with us before but also a few newbies. Only my Mom and I have done a river cruise and I am pretty sure it will be the first time to Europe for most in our group too. I would have to guess our average age of our group will be late 40's and that's only because my Mom and a couple of her friends screw up the average :D Most of us are still working women and some with kids still at home, so this really is a big trip. I can hardly wait until I am at an age where I can travel more. Just need to get the last one graduated from university to free up some more cash!

[dmb707]

Hi All

 

I will be on the Amadeus Waterways Amalegro on the 7th December from Budapest to Nuremberg, this is my first river cruise and I am looking forward to all the Christmas Markets being a big "Kid"

 

Any info on the Amadeus river boats will be gratefully received as not quite sure what to expect and the level of luxury and quality of the food etc.

 

many thanks

 

deb

[WIT]

Jane - We have cruised twice with David on Amadeus - in December '06 we did your exact cruise, and last October we enjoyed the Black Sea Discovery from Budapest to Istanbul. I'm sure you will have a great time.

 

Pam - For our second Christmastime cruise we wanted something different and chose the new Amsterdam-Paris Christmas Wonderland cruise. We expect the Christmas markets along the way to be smaller (Nuremberg's is immense), but the holiday decor in Paris will compensate.

 

Bill S. - Enjoyed yor photos of Amsterdam.

 

WIT

[susan33]

My husband and I are scheduled on Vantage's Holiday Markets Along the Rhine & Main Rivers with the post trip in Munich. Our trip starts Dec 9 in Cologne and ends Dec 22in Munich. We are looking forward to the trip since we real enjoyed GCT Amsterdam to Basel with pre and post last year.

[tickleddpink]

Hi All

 

I will be on the Amadeus Waterways Amalegro on the 7th December from Budapest to Nuremberg, this is my first river cruise and I am looking forward to all the Christmas Markets being a big "Kid"

 

deb

 

Hi Deb - we're going to be on the same trip! Looking forward to meeting you. If you want to connect, my email is my user name @ cox dot net.

 

Jane

[tickleddpink]

We are considering taking a day trip via train to Budapest from Vienna, and we know that we would have only a few hours in Budapest. We will have to decide if it would be worth it.

 

Hi Bill -

 

I just got my ticket online at the Austrian Rail website. They're running a special for 19 euro tickets (one way) from Vienna to Budapest and it includes a seat reservation. Here's the link: http://www.oebb.at/pv/en/Travel_within_Europe/SparSchiene/SparSchiene_Hungary/Vienna_-_Budapest/

 

The only quirk is that once you get to the order page it's all in German. I used Yahoo's babelfish to translate what I wasn't sure of.

 

Cheers,

Jane

[Bill S]

Jane-thanks for the link! I'll try it !

WIT--glad you enjoyed the pics! Amsterdam is one of favorite cities.

Pam--we started cruising after our youngest son graduated from college. It was then that we realized that paying tuition, board, etc was like paying for two cruises every year and never getting to go! ;)

[pacmom]

DH and I along with a couple from college days are going with Vantage--30 Nov Nuremberg to Cologne. We picked this trip because of the stop in Nunremberg at the oldest Christmas market and the stop in Bamberg. All the churches in Bamberg will have their creches up--really looking forward to that. We have been in most of the ports, so will probably go off on our a good bit. Pat

[AZPam]

Wow! Our group is really growing! Welcome to Deb, Susan and PacMom! Fill us in what general area you live in and how many cruises you've done in the past. This will only be my 2nd river cruise and I've done about 10 ocean cruises. I have a feeling I have a lot of catching up to do with some of you. For those of you that have done the Christmas Markets in the past, what were some of the things you enjoyed buying or special treasures you brought home?

 

Pam--we started cruising after our youngest son graduated from college. It was then that we realized that paying tuition, board, etc was like paying for two cruises every year and never getting to go! ;)

 

Bill, my oldest just graduated in May from ASU and the youngest is up at NAU in nursing with about 2 years to go. I can already see a difference in our expenses with the one out, but think I have a few more years to wait.

[tickleddpink]

susan33 and pacmom - your itineraries sound wonderful!

 

WIT - thanks for the feedback on your trips with David. I'm sure i'll enjoy it very much. I've been getting his newsletter for years and was finally able to book the trip.

 

fred111 - you brought up a great point - FedExing boxes back home. I have an expandable suitcase and will pack an empty duffel bag and a 2 bag limit with British Air.

 

What have you experienced Christmas Markets cruisers done in the past? I'm concerned that I may go crazy buying beautiful things, in spite of 14 storage bins of Christmas stuff in my garage. I won't even mention the bedroom closet full of Dept. 56 houses and accessories. It's garage sale time.

 

Jane

[thuyronald]

Hi Pam and everyone,

 

My husband and I will be doing the GCT Christmas Market on the Rhine but doing the Amsterdam-Basel route on December 3rd on the River Melody.

 

We are southern California residents so doing a trip in the cold weather will be quite a change for us. We have not visited Germany so we thought this would be a great way to experience a river cruise. We have been on many ocean cruises and love them but there's only so many places you can visit on a big ship.

 

I would love to get my hands on an itinerary that goes from Amsterdam to Basel. All the brochures seem to have description of the itinerary going in the other direction.

 

Twee

[AZPam]

Hey Twee! I guess we will pass each other on the river! Think of your itinerary like this:

Amsterdam on the 3rd followed by, Nijmegen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Mainz/Cologne, Mainz, Heidelberg/Mainz/, Speyer/Baden-Baden/Greffern, Strasbourg, Kayserberg and finally Basel.

At least that is what mine will be, just backwards. I think we might be in Mainz at the same time???? Like you said, hard to figure out.

[susan33]

Tinkleddpink--I have lots of Christmas stuff, too, so I tried to restrain myself on purchases and looked for unusual things. I did discover "smokers". I thought they were just wooden toys until someone showed me where to put the incense. I now own a santa for Christmas and a butcher for my kitchen, and I will probably buy more smokers this year. I also looked for unusual jewelry, and I tried to avoid purchasing large items. My husband and I took 29" suitcases so I would have room to bring back treasures, and we were able to stay under weight. :)

 

Last year we did Amsterdam to Basel with GCT. We were lucky to have a guide from the Netherlands for the trip and she was with us during the pretrip. Christmas is celebrated around the 5th or 7th of December in the Netherlands, so our guide explained the traditions. If any of you are lucky enough to be in Amsterdam during that time, make sure you get downtown to the department stores to see all the wonderful decorations and shop.

[G.M.T.]

What a great thread (nothing about illnesses, gripes or comparisons of cabin sizes i.e. 184.0 sq. ft. vs 184.0001 sq. ft.) just full of C&C (Christmas Markets and cruising), just pure pleasure to read.

 

The good news for you all, I will not be on a river cruise this Christmas, the bad news I will be at some Christmas Markets. Enjoying some hot gluehwein (spiced wine) I prefer it made from white wine as it is easier on the headaches the next day, the half meter bratwurst (19.67 inches) and if it is really cols the a Jäegertee (hunter tea made from teat, rum, spices and anything else you can lay your hands on).

 

Wishing all thread participants a great cruise and memorable Christmas markrts visits.

 

Ron

[AZPam]

Thanks for the tips Ron! I am going to have to try some of that Jaegertee as I actually wasn't a big fan of the gluehwein. (but I'm not a wine drinker anyway, gives me headaches) I found it interesting on our last trip that some of the markets were more geared towards eating. Lots and lots of goodies to choose from that were super yummy. Any other specialties you don't think we should miss? And another question, what are the wood carvings that have lights in them that people put in their front windows? Any name for those? I loved them and managed to bring one back before and will find another one this time I hope.

 

Ron was nice enough to respond to another thread I had started about the weather. I think all of you will also appreciate his response:

 

The weather predictions this year for Germany is that the winter will be colder and possibly wetter than the summer (same goes for every years).:)

 

I personally do not trust weather predictions even the 3 day forecastes.:(

 

Our coldest months tend to be January and February, when we get most of our snow, but then again we have had snow at the end of October.

 

As you will be travelling in the extreme west of Germany and going south to north the weather in this area is still affected (luckily) by the Gulf Stream so it is milder with very if any snow during the winter. The further east you go (Siberia -:eek: ) the colder it gets and the chance of snow is greater. So a Danube (west to east) cruise has a far greater possibilty of snow.

 

With weather conditions permitting you may see (from afar) snow on the hihest elevation point in the Black Forest "the Feldberg".

 

Whatever the weather condition - have a great cruise.

 

Ron