Just back from the Danube!

We just returned from a quick 5 night Avalon Danube cruise (Vienna to Passau) sandwiched between Salzburg/Vienna DIY land experience and Munich DIY land experience. Weather varied from 68 and sunny to snow showers! Saw a lot-most of it on our own.

As far as Avalon goes, it isn't for us. We definitely prefer Uniworld. I just submitted a detailed review, but, it just missed the mark across the board. As a company, it seemed more corporate focused than customer focused.

I think we definitely challenged JP and Chris on their climbing conquests, as we conquered St. Stephens in Vienna (341 steps), The Gloriette at Schonbrunn Palace, the castle ruins in Durnstein, the castle and gardens at Cesky Krumlov, Veste Oberhaus AND the Pilgrimage Church of Mariahilf, both in Passau, Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Linderhof, and, finally, St. Peter's in Munich (306 steps)......I'm happy to report, I gained no weight:-)

As soon as I get pics downloaded, I will give a more detailed review, but, needless to say, we got around easily with our 25 inch spinners, and enjoyed Austria's Railjet service quite a bit!

Robin

Any problems with water levels? We leave in the morning for Uniworld's Danube Discovery and Prague.

And we will not try to compete with you or JP and Chris in the tower climbs. Maybe in the category of number of different beers and wines consumed ? Types of street food tasted? Shops entered?

RB

Any problems with water levels? We leave in the morning for Uniworld's Danube Discovery and Prague.

And we will not try to compete with you or JP and Chris in the tower climbs. Maybe in the category of number of different beers and wines consumed ? Types of street food tasted? Shops entered?

RB

No problems with water levels. We aren't wine drinkers, so would lose there (though we did do an on-ship tasting), but could easily challenge on the beers:-) (though I couldn't wait to get home and have an IPA!) Also did a lot of street food/biergarten food. Shops, very few....just enough to buy a few souvenirs.

Robin

Welcome home (again) and glad to hear more about you did while you were away. You may have been more active than we were with tower climbs this trip...we have done almost all of those climbs, on past trips!

Now, I have to get a move on and finish my review. Keep up the great work with yours, and hope to see some pictures.

Ritabob, have a fantastic time!

We just returned from a quick 5 night Avalon Danube cruise (Vienna to Passau) sandwiched between Salzburg/Vienna DIY land experience and Munich DIY land experience. Weather varied from 68 and sunny to snow showers! Saw a lot-most of it on our own.

 

As far as Avalon goes, it isn't for us. We definitely prefer Uniworld. I just submitted a detailed review, but, it just missed the mark across the board. As a company, it seemed more corporate focused than customer focused.

Totally agree with your comments on Avalon in general and also Avalona as compared specifically to Uniworld... not even in the same ballpark IMO (same goes for Avalon as compared to AMA and Scenic, no contest).

We are headed to Salzburg this fall for what will be my 7th visit (not counting my semester abroad there many years ago). It has grown more commercial but we really enjoy it, both as a base for exploring the Salzkammergut and for what the city itself has to offer.

Thanks for posting!

Here are a few pics from our hike to Burgruine Dürnstein. There are two ways up...the gentle, paved (most of the way) up, with signs along the way, so you can read about the history of Richard's imprisonment (also strategically placed so that you can catch your breath:-) ), and the quicker, but more treacherous route (demonstrated by the pic with the flowers and rocks). We took the gentle way up, and the treacherous way down. At 301 meters of elevation, it was quite the hike. There is a picture, from a distance, of the Benediktinerstift Göttweig, which we just happened to see from the ruins. The view was beautiful.

I'm still learning this picture posting process, so, be patient with me....some don't want to show.

Robin

Not a model railroad:-)

The gentle path

The Monastery, mentioned in the prior post

We made it!

It really was pretty sizable

Totally agree with your comments on Avalon in general and also Avalona as compared specifically to Uniworld... not even in the same ballpark IMO (same goes for Avalon as compared to AMA and Scenic, no contest).

 

We are headed to Salzburg this fall for what will be my 7th visit (not counting my semester abroad there many years ago). It has grown more commercial but we really enjoy it, both as a base for exploring the Salzkammergut and for what the city itself has to offer.

 

Thanks for posting!

We were lucky enough to be there for Saturday Market-loved it! Felt like a local, which is what we like.

I am actually looking at an early season Rhine Cruise on AMA for next year. The prices are good, and the itinerary is the best of all the Rhine cruises I've researched. We would add on our own land portion to Lucerne at the end, as we feel confident traveling by train, after this trip.

I'll post some more pics tomorrow, now that I've learned how. I'll try not to duplicate anything JP has done.

Robin

I love your pictures! Post away; the more the merrier! That looked like a fun hike - glad you got to do it, though I will admit to being a little jealous. :P

You will love the Rhine. If I did it again I think I might well skip Amsterdam and go Rhine-Mosel. Though I would like to see Cologne again...the Mosel is gorgeous. Tough decision.

Lucerne is another beautiful place and it's a place we'd love to revisit. We went once by car and had a half-day there. We stopped by Mt. Pilatus a year later just to take the cable car up, but didn't have time to go to the town again. The train station looks very conveniently located so it should be no problem to DIY.

I was interested to read your comments re: Avalon vs. Uniworld. We have only cruised Uniworld. Interestingly, our canceled 2013 trip was supposed to be on Avalon, and I was very pleased with their customer service WRT the canceled cruise. They refunded our fare very quickly and even reimbursed us for a change fee for our independent train tickets that we had to cancel, since we weren't going to Vienna to meet the boat. Very nice.

In retrospect, we hadn't researched the different cruise lines much at all and we were going totally by itinerary. Though I think we'd have fun on almost any cruise, I'm glad we found Uniworld first.

Thanks for posting. Will be first River Cruise and are booked on Avalon.

Traveling from Prague to Budapest. Counting the days.

Look forward to reading your review.

Hello jpalbny,

I love your pictures! Post away; the more the merrier! That looked like a fun hike - glad you got to do it, though I will admit to being a little jealous. :P

 

You will love the Rhine. If I did it again I think I might well skip Amsterdam and go Rhine-Mosel. Though I would like to see Cologne again...the Mosel is gorgeous. Tough decision.

 

...

 

In retrospect, we hadn't researched the different cruise lines much at all and we were going totally by itinerary. Though I think we'd have fun on almost any cruise, I'm glad we found Uniworld first.

I remember somebody last year being on a cruise, I think it was on Vantage, who started their cruise in Bonn. Vantage this year at least has an itinerary starting in Arnhem after a coach transfer from Amsterdam.

Alternatively you could go with UK-based Riviera Travel who do an itinerary Cologne to Basel.

Perhaps a bit of a search might give you the Rhine and the Moselle, skipping Amsterdam.

notamermaid

After an overnight flight to Munich, followed by a train ride, we arrived in Salzburg at about 1pm. Our hotel was in the old town, about 20 minutes from the train station. My husband wasn't pleased when I decided we should walk. After settling into our hotel, the Hotel Goldgasse, we took off with our Salzburg card (which the hotel had picked up for us) to see some sights. Though we made it our routine to walk up to anything on a hill, on this particular day, we took the funicular up to Hohensalzburg Castle/Fortress. The views the first day were amazing.

This shot is from our second day in Salzburg, taken from Mirabell Gardens, the weather wasn't as good.

This was inside the castle. Some renovations revealed this underneath:

Some outside views:

Ahhh, the Alps....

Robin

Enjoying your review and photos and hope you will continue.

So that's the view we missed from the fortress! I will post a few pictures when I get to that part of our trip - but all we saw was fog and clouds! Glad your view was better. It really looks beautiful.

We too arrived in Salzburg by train - but we bought our Salzburg card from the TI booth right there at the station. That way, we could use them to take a bus directly to our hotel. :D

We managed to make it until about 9pm Friday night, and felt good about that, as we figured we'd adjust quickly to Europe time this way. We slept 12 hours.....(except for the call we got from our college-aged son at around 11pm)

By the time we got showered and ready, it was late morning, so we decided we'd do a brunch-time meal, since we knew we were going to the Stiegl Brewery for dinner.

I don't know how many days a week they have it, but Saturday was market day. Yes....street food! (unfortunately, those pics are on my cell phone) Here are some pictures of the market. I would love it if this were more common in the US.

And, the market "entertainment". They played all morning, on more traditional instruments. This was their grand finale.

We visited several churches. Here are two photos of Petersfriedhof. The stairs were quite steep. In fact, a lady fell down the last few in front of us. We were expecting something like the Paris Catacombs. This was more like a cave. But, the views were fantastic.

Aside from the Farmer's Market, we did no shopping in Salzburg, but did walk down its "famous" shopping street, Getreidegasse. I love the signage.

Next up, the Stiegl Brewery.

Robin

We hopped on bus #10, and headed out to the Stiegl Brewery. Transportation was covered by our Salzburg card, and the bus driver made sure we knew where to get off, and pointed us in the right direction.

The Salzburg Card includes a brewery tour, museum entry, a souvenir (8oz mug, sold in the gift shop for 5 euros), and 3 "samples" of beer. And, by samples, I'm talking 5 oz....each.....This one stop literally paid for one day of the Salzburg card.

The food was excellent. I had the roast pork (top of the menu). There were 2 casual dining rooms-one smoking-essentially empty, and one non-smoking-where we were-essentially full. In addition, there was a more formal restaurant, but I don't believe it was open yet.

The "tower of beer"

Dinner!

And, beer:-)

Awesome! Now I need to go back to Salzburg. One day wasn't nearly enough!

What dates did you travel? March or April?

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What dates did you travel? March or April?

 

 

 

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We arrived on April 22 and departed on May 3. Our actual cruise was from April 25 to April 30. Weather varied from snow showers to 65 degrees.

Robin

Thanks foe the weather report. We leave next year on April 17th.

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Before moving on to Vienna....

First up, the Salzburg Cathedral, where Mozart was baptized. We also visited Mozart's birthplace while in Salzburg, and learned a lot about him, including the fact that he was a Free Mason. After that, we seemed to see the "all seeing eye" throughout our journey.

Next up, St. Peter's Church. I found this one to be prettier on the inside, though neither church had the "wow" factor we had seen on our previous two river cruises to Italy and France.

The view of the bell/from the bell tower of St. Peter's catacombs.

And, two more market views....including street food brunch (i.e., wurst shoved into bread)

Robin

I've enjoyed viewing the reports and photos. Our only prior river cruise was on the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam a few years ago.

In July we'll fly to Munich 18 days before our Viking cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest begins.

Here's our tentative itinerary before sailing. It's very flexible at this point. I'd love to hear suggestions and recommendations.

Rent a car and visit:

Neuschwanstein

Herrenchiemsee

Berchtesgaden

Salzberg

Venice

Vienna

Prague

I learned to ski in Berchtesgaden in 1956. It'll be fun to get back there.

On the cruise itself, Viking has several free and optional excursions. I'm wondering more about hidden gems, and off-the-beaten path discoveries.

Thanks!

First of all, thank you Robin for the detailed review. Wurst shoved into bread, depending on how it is done, we call this a hot dog. I guess it did not taste like an American hotdog...

@gymnast46,

you have quite an itinerary if you stick to your tentative list, with many miles to cover! Still, I think it is doable in 18 days, it all depends on how long you want to stay in those places. Many people include Munich when they are in the area and I would recommend it if you have not been yet, seeing that you fly in there. I would not say I know any hidden gems, Passau is one of my favourite places in the area but you will see that on your cruise. I wonder if it might make sense to travel by train to Venice, the train ride looks great from what I have seen on television, best to consider this yourself depending on which route from the airport you want to take. http://www.seat61.com/ has been recommend for train travel in Europe here on CC.

You could go to Ulm and see the minster with the hightest church spire in the world. There is Nördlingen with its fantastic medieval town wall. Certainly off the (American) beaten track is the Bayerischer Wald - Bavarian Forest - North-North West of Passau. There is a tourist route called Glasstrasse that takes you along the forest and through the small towns famous for glassmaking with the places Schloss Theresiental, Zwiesel, Frauenau and Spiegelau among others. that is doable by car, let us say leaving Passau in the morning going through the forest, through medieval Amberg which is on the "route of iron" and from there to Nuremberg. According to google that is about 4 hours and 10 minutes driving by car.

By the way: if you put your question in a separate thread, something like "looking for pre-cruise road trip ideas" I am sure you will get some great tips.

And there is always google photos to look at... Any particular hobby you might be interested in, ornithology, for example?

Have fun planning.

notamermaid

Gymnast46 and notamermaid,

Thanks for reading! Work has been a little crazy, but I should have time to post some more today.

Yes, the wurst in bread was a "hot dog", and, you're right, not like an American hot dog, but we live in the Cincinnati area, which is known for its German heritage, so it wasn't a foreign taste to us.

If you're taking the time to visit Neuschwanstein, make sure you also see Hohenschwangau (right across the road). We were on a tour, so didn't have time. Linderhof is also in the area, if you haven't seen it yet. I'll get to both towards to end of my review. I would also recommend the Bavarian Castle Pass 14 day card, for 2, for 44 euros. JP had recommended it, and it will get you into these 3, plus Herrenchiemsee, and a variety of other palaces.

We had the Salzburg card and Vienna pass, and they each more than paid for themselves. Some of the Vienna attractions were "skip the line", others were not. But, there was a huge variety of options.

And, Venice, wow, one of our favorites! Go to the top of the Bell Tower, go to Murano, and, our favorite thing we did (well, besides the private night tour of St. Mark's, through Uniworld) was cruise down the Grand Canal, from one end to the other, by water taxi...

Robin