Has anyone done an Elbe River Cruise?

[cruisingmimi]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I would like to do a German river cruise but I need some advice on which river we should cruise. I have been researching itineraries, ships, etc. using this forum for advice. Many excellent suggestions here.

 

Ok, here's the problem. In conjunction with the river cruise my husband would like to visit the area where his grandfather came from. I do not have much information except that it was the town of Crimmitschau in the German state of Saxony (not sure what this means). I have received some information from other posters on the TA website which has been helpful. I was able to find a couple of excellent websites doing a search on my own. Any additional websites much appreciated!

 

From the information I have received, it appears that the best river cruise would be the Elbe River to bring us to the closest proximity to Crimittschau. I know that not many cruise lines do the Elbe (I believe only Viking and Deilman).

 

What we would like to do would be to fly into the closest airport to Crimmitschau, find transportation there (need help here, do not want to drive), and perhaps a nice hotel for a night or two so we can explore the area.

 

So this is where I need advice: 1) what airport would we fly into from Boston); 2) how far a drive from airport to the town; 3) if anyone is familiar w/ the town, what to see and do); 4) what cruise itinerary should we select?

 

Alternatively, if this is going to be too complicated, then we would scratch the visit to Crimittschau and just do the river cruise. It would make more sense financially to see if we could combine both the cruise and town visit at the same time.

 

I have a Viking catalog and the Elbe itinerary would be: Berlin, Potsdam, Magdeburg, Dessau, Wittenberg, Torgau, Meissen, Dresden, Saxon, Switzerland, Litomerice (Czech Republic), Melnik, & Prague - seems like an interesting itinerary. Anyone been to these places & what to see there?

 

Just wondered if anyone has done the Elbe and how it compared to Rhine & Danube. Seems like more people do Rhine & Danube vs Elbe. Any other info would be appreciated. I have to do some further research/geneology to see if I can find out the exact location in Crimmitschau the grandfather lived.

 

I would like to try to do this cruise this year but we may have to wait til 2010 if I can't get all my family information b4 we go.

 

Thank you for any assistance. Sorry this is so lengthy!

 

Mary

[pacmom]

We took the Viking cruise in 2007. The cabins are small, but newly refurbished. All cabins are alike. The cruise was very good, food and tours very good.

 

In reading about crimmitschau found that it is part of the Dresden-Meissen diocese of the catholic church. If you really want to find the town on your own and use Viking, it would mean leaving or joinin the trip in Decin--forgoing Prague. Or go at the beginning of your trip--fly into the nearest large city, train to Cri. and then train to Berlin to start trip.

 

You also could to narrow the grandparent search by using family search.org or go to a Mormon family library in your area. It was very helpful in finding my grandparents.

 

The cruise is quite leiserely thru some beautiful country.

Am sure that when Steamboats reads this thread, she will have some better thoughts. She and her family live in Germany. Good luck. Pat

[jacksonnh]

Hi Mary,

We took this cruise last Sept and I agree with pacmom about the ship, food, etc. The water levels were very low and we ended the cruise in Decin and were bussed to Prague. Perhaps you could start in Berlin and not do the Prague extension. That would mean getting from Decin or Litomerice to your final destination probably by train. Would it be worth going to a TA and have them map the trip for you?

Dave

[steamboats]

Hi Mary,

 

We´ve done an Elbe river cruise with Deilmann. You´ll find my review linked in my signature. The ship we´ve been on was the MS DRESDEN cruising from Dresden to Hamburg. This cruise is not available in 2009 as Deilmann had laid up the MS DRESDEN due to a lack of bookings. The other two Deilmann river cruise ships KATHARINA VON BORA and FREDERICK CHOPIN are up and running in 2009.

 

Crimmitschau is a city in the state of Saxonia (one of the 16 states of Germany). It´s located between Gera and Chemnitz. South of Crimmitschau is Leipzig/Halle. There are two possible airports within an hours drive: Leipzig/Halle and Dresden. As Dresden is such a wonderful city which is worth staying more than just a day I´d suggest to fly into Dresden and get a rental car there to drive to Crimmitschau. Both cities are connected by an Autobahn.

 

I´d drive back to Dresden and take the train along the Elbe river through the Saxonian Switzerland valley up to Prague. It´s about 2:30 h depending on the kind of train you´re using. And the fare should be app. 30 Eur pp.

 

Stay a night or two in Prague and then board a river cruise ship (maybe using the cruise companies pre cruise package).

 

Usually the Viking ships are not able to reach Prague but you´re bussed between Usti or Letomerice to Prague (and back). Deilmann´s ships are a bit smaller and depending on the river conditions they can make it up to Prague.

 

The Elbe river is a pretty difficult river as there are no locks and dams to control the water level on the German side. On the Czech side they do have locks and dams and keep the water up there (instead of letting it flow to Germany). So there´s always a risk that your cruise might be shorter.

 

Sorry, I can´t help you with any hotel in Crimmitschau. Dresden has plenty of hotels.

 

steamboats

[cruisingmimi]

Thanks everyone,

 

Steamboats, I'll read your report on your Deilman cruise. Thanks for alerting me to no locks and dams on Elbe in Germany. I have been doing a little research on Dresden, think that might be a nice area to visit. Still looking and thinking.

 

Dave, we were just up in your neck of the woods 2 weekends ago. We live in MA and did a family ski weekend in Brownfield, Maine. Talk about being out in the boonies in Brownfield. We drove into North Conway to see what was going on. So much traffic there now on Rte. 16. You have so much snow compared to what we have here (right now we are down to bare ground) but have had more snow this winter than we've had in a very long time. We have been to Jackson many times - it's a lovely area. Our daughter stayed at the Nordic Village and took our grandsons to Storyland.

 

Thanks for the info on your cruise. I guess I will sit down and do a comparison of the 3 rivers. It looks like the best solution would be to fly into the closest airport to Crimmitschau, then decide what river cruise and how to get to that destination. I was just on a Dresden website and it says they have a new airport. We could fly into Dresden and either rent a car or use public transportation. I need to do a lot more research.

 

I appreciate everyone's input. Thanks again.

 

Mary

[jacksonnh]

Mary,

I still get a thrill taking out grandchildren to Storyland every year. Memorial weekend is not to far away. Did you notice that there were many vacant stores in N Conway - sign of the times but they still seem to be building more. I often use westside or the north-south roads and bypass 16 just for the traffic reason. Due to work, I still maintain a home in Ma but I love Jackson.

I've only taken one river cruise and will be doing the Rhine this spring also with Viking. The Elbe cruise was interesting in that most of it was through areas that were under communist control and many of the buildings still retain that flavor. Most of our guides lived under their rule and had facinating stories. After reading many posts, people seem to like the Rhine and Danube for beautiful views. I'll know better once I see for myself. The views were good but the people I met alone made it worth the price.

Dave

[pacmom]

You could take the Viking trip from Prague to Berlin and then take the train to Dresden and the area you are interested in. The area visited is very nice with it's share of beauty. There was only one day that was rather bucollic--sailing thru the bioshpere. We had a party on the sun deck that day. Pat

[cruisingmimi]

Thanks guys. Gives me lots to think about. I have also received some good advice from German experts on TA board. I need to focus on finding more info on my hubby's grandfather b4 I continue with my planning. Guess I'll head for the records dept. in the town the grandfather last lived to see what they have.

 

Steamboat - great review of Deilman. You noted that most of the passengers were German and I wondered if this might be a problem if you aren't from Germany and/or don't speak the language. Just wondering.....

 

Pacmom/Pat - thanks for the advice. I have been researching Dresden and it looks like that might be a good base for a few days. I will check out Viking to see what they offer.

 

Yes, it does seem as if there is more interest in Rhine & Danube cruises & I guess the attraction is the scenic beauty of the shoreline. I personally like to see and learn about different cultures, etc. so the Elbe would be more appealing to me. We have been to some really interesting ports on our cruises. My favorite was Istanbul, simply amazing things to see there. So Old World. We got to visit a mosque and learn about their religious beliefs. I would go back to Istanbul in a hearbeat but want to see Germany next!

 

I am finding that river cruises are not inexpensive. We have done a lot of ocean cruises and those cruise lines are offering some great deals right now. I guess people still have money for river cruises! LOL

 

Dave, yes, our daughter has taken our 2 grandsons (now almost 11 and 8) to Storyland every year and the boys love it there. They did the Christmas Polar Express last year and the boys loved that also. My daughter made reservations for that way in advance.

 

Yes, I did notice the vacancies in the stores. There was not a lack of traffic though. We drove back to MA via Rte. 302 just to change the pace from the 2 lane roads.

 

Thank you all for your advice. It gives me lots to think about.

 

Mary

[steamboats]

Mary,

 

As for the crew you won´t have any problems with Deilmann. They all are speaking English very well. I think I´ve mentioned that they made a tour out of Magdeburg to Berlin for 4 US passengers only and one was even wheelchair bound. You can be sure that you´ll be treated excellent.

 

By some means on both of our cruises with Deilmann we never got in contact with any of the English speaking guests. I don´t have a clue why. Maybe they didn´t try to speak with the German passengers fearing they might not speak English. As for us I think there never was a situation coming along where we were able to show that we do speak English. So from the passenger side it might be a problem when there are only two or three English speaking couples aboard and you have to share the same table each night without liking each other (Deilmann does seat English speaking guests together).

 

But as Deilmann is a more upscale (and pricey) company you can be sure that most of the fellow German passengers do speak English pretty well.

 

As for a trip planning I´d suggest to fly into Dresden, spend some time there, visit Crimmitschau (either by rental car or by train). The public transportation system in Dresden is pretty well. The train station is in the downtown area (and BTW it´s a masterpiece of architecture). Dresden has the world largest fleet of sidewheel steamboats, the Sächsische Dampfschifffahrt. 9 authentic paddlewheel steamboats do offer various trips. Take the Schlösserfahrt (castle tour) out to Pillnitz castle. You can even ride the steamboats downriver to Meissen and back again.

 

Take the train from Dresden to Prague and enjoy the Saxonian Switzerland from the land side. Spend a couple of days in Prague and take a cruise from Prague to Berlin (with Deilmann or Viking) and spend another couple of days in Berlin.

 

steamboats

aka Carmen

[cruisingmimi]

Carmen, thanks so much for the info. I will add it to my trip itinerary folder. I really have a lot to digest right now. I think that Dresden would be the perfect place to spend some time on land and get to Crimmitschau. I have been browsing genealogy websites but can't seem to get any information on the grandfather. My search keeps bringing up my deceased father-in-law but nothing going back further to the gf.

 

Mary

[steamboats]

Mary,

 

Genealogy here in Germany is not very popular and it´s pretty tricky to find some information. Anyway lots of documents were destroyed during WWII.

 

Here´s a website where you can search for people who immigrated to the US via the harbor of Hamburg. The website is German but on the top you can see two blank spots for a search. Insert the first name into the first blank and the last name into the second (works with last name only too).

 

http://www.hamburger-passagierlisten.de/

 

This is the official website by the city of Hamburg (but as far as I remember there´s a fee for the search, didn´t check it right now):

 

http://www.linktoyourroots.com/index_e.php

 

I know that the churches do have good records. So you might contact the churches prior to your trip. Unfortunately the websites are German only. But look for email addresses (mainly "Kontakt" or "Impressum"):

 

http://www.laurentius-gemeinde.de/ (Lutheran)

http://www.kircheneukirchen.de/ (Lutheran)

http://www.kgv-crimmitschau.de/ (Lutheran)

http://www.baseportal.de/baseportal/Franziskus/startseite_01 (Catholic)

 

That´s what I´ve found. But there might be more.

 

steamboats

[cruisingmimi]

Carmen,

 

I am so very excited! I just checked out the 1st website (Hamburg) you gave me and it did come up with 4 people with our surname. The website is in German so I am unable to read it. I do not know if they are relatives and it still did not give me the grandfather's name. Our surname is an unusual one so I am hoping that one or all 4 may be relatives. I may have to subscribe to the website to gather any more information. I'll check out the other sites you gave me.

 

Will keep you posted. Thank you again.

 

Mary

[steamboats]

Mary,

 

Seems like ancestry.de is the current website for a search. You can also crosscheck with

 

http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/

 

steamboats

[happy taveler]

Mary

You may want to try out the following link for a translation. http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ You can copy the link in german then paste it to the bablelfish site in the box and chose german to english or try the second box to see if it will do the whole page. I am not sure how accurate it will be.

Dan