papa B me

I cruised Budapest to Passau for a Christmas market cruise a few years ago. We are doing this same cruise the first of June and decided to stay with Budapest to Passau and do our pre cruise in Budapest. There really is a lot to do. I have been to Prague and love it so it is an option for pre cruise if you want to go Passau to Budapest. I just like the convenience of starting my trip with a short ride from airport to hotel for pre cruise and flying home from Munich. Another plus is most cruises from Budapest stay the first night in port so it really give you an extra full day there. Either is great though.

I just got a notice that my bid was accepted for our June 2 Danube cruise. We were in a Suite and I bid the minimum for the Grand Suite and got it. Was pretty surprised.

It is back up. I just booked a cruise on line

I’m going on the new Uniworld Belgium Christmas Market cruise in December. Looking forward to the Chocolate, Cheese, and most importantly Beer-ha

I’m the one who booked the Belgium Markets in 2023 with Uniworld. It really seems unique as well as Taucks. I’ve previously sailed the Danube for Christmas Markets starting in Budapest and ending in Passau. We did a 3 day stay in Munich pre cruise and really enjoyed their markets. Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava, and Passau all had unique and fun markets. Plus there was a day trip to Salzburg. Highly recommend this itinerary. I’ve sailed the Rhine but not during Christmas. I really don’t believe you can make a mistake with either. Good luck in your research

Thanks for the great responses. I’m planning on doing our pre cruise in Bruges. I think it looks like either an hour and a half car ride from Brussels or less then an hour by train. Unlike my travel idol JP, we don’t travel lightly(usually have a carryon just for shoes-ha) so will probably hire a driver to take us from Brussels and back. Thanks again and look forward to sharing and learning again with you. Brian

I finally booked my first overseas adventure since the beginning of Covid. I have a good friend who is from Belgium and I had read Notamermaid’s post on Belgium so was thinking about a trip to Belgium. But I really have been missing river cruising so decided that for 2023 I would book a Christmas Market cruise. My 40th anniversary is in 2023 and both my wife and myself turn 60 in 2023. So thought it would be a great celebration trip. Having cruised 3 times with Uniworld I decided to look at their Christmas Market cruises for 2023. To my surprise they are offering a new cruise in Belgium. It is 7 nights and is round trip from Brussels with stops in Ghent, Hasselt, Maastricht, and Antwerp. I will plan a 2-3 day pre cruise stay to explore places that the River Cruise doesn’t. Thought I would share this as it being new I thought many may not be aware of it. Will share more as the planning proceeds. If anyone has already begun research on this cruise I would love to hear what you’ve found. Happy to be back! Brian