Crystal Mozart Docking locations

I just read a review saying the Mozart docked 30 minutes outside of town in Passau on a past voyage. We thought that with River cruises, the boat always docked in town. It was a big part of our interest in the Christmas Market cruise we'll be doing in Novemeber. We are planning on doing quite a bit of sightseeing on our own, as we aren't fans of bus rides, and are now concerned that won't be easy. Can anyone else comment on their personal experience with the docking locations of the Mozart.

And did anyone arrive in Vienna via train and were transports from Crystak provided? The website isn't giving me the option of selecting a transport from the train station.

Thanks in advance for all help!

Susan

I don't have a specific answer for you, but there are two factors that may affect your cruise: (1) Mozart is the largest ship sailing these rivers, which may limit its docking choices; (2) Crystal is the newest river cruise line, which may limit its influence with the port authorities who make these decisions. OTOH, Crystal is determined to set a new standard in river cruising, so if there are fees for priority docking I'm sure they will gladly pay them.

I just read a review saying the Mozart docked 30 minutes outside of town in Passau on a past voyage. We thought that with River cruises, the boat always docked in town. It was a big part of our interest in the Christmas Market cruise we'll be doing in Novemeber. We are planning on doing quite a bit of sightseeing on our own, as we aren't fans of bus rides, and are now concerned that won't be easy. Can anyone else comment on their personal experience with the docking locations of the Mozart.

 

And did anyone arrive in Vienna via train and were transports from Crystak provided? The website isn't giving me the option of selecting a transport from the train station.

 

Thanks in advance for all help!

 

Susan

I just returned from the Mozart and whilst the ship was docked outside the town centre in Passau, regular shuttle buses were provided and the ride was nothing like 30 minutes - maybe to walk may have taken that long, I can't say as it was raining when we were there so I used the bus...

With regard to Vienna, Crystal only provide complimentary transfers to the ship from the airport, and the location of the dock is not familiar to most local taxi drivers. In theory it should be easy to get there as the Mozart's designated pier is very close to the Millennium Tower, which is a well known landmark, but the access road is actually a cycle and pedestrian way and there are no indications that it leads to the Crystal Mozart. My advice would be to get a map of the docking location from Crystal as the written location they give you on the cruise documents only gives a general area (between the named roads of the two bridges) - we had such a stressful time finding it, we would have been better off going out to the airport and getting one of the buses to the boat!!! My review will suggest they have a pick up/transfer point from the city centre for those arriving in Vienna earlier than embarkation day or not via the airport...

Anne...

I just read a review saying the Mozart docked 30 minutes outside of town in Passau on a past voyage.

 

Susan

There are NO docking facilities 30 minutes outside Passau.

There are docking in Passau old town and at Lindau (2 miles downstream), there are shuttles, local buses and taxi available to go into Passau.

The Mozart is due to Dock in Linau, 25.09.16 & 26.10.16, 08:00 - 14:00-

Ship's docking in Passau:

https://www.stadtwerke-passau.de/hafen/liegeplatzeinteilung.html

SuzCruise,

I hope I may be able to help. I am taking a wild guess (hopefully not that wild) that the place outside of Passau, 30 km away, is Engelhardzell. That is actually a separate small town and destination on the Danube with an interesting monastery. About two years ago the German company Arosa started moving their departure point from Passau to Engelhardzell. All their cruises are now correctly advertised as for example "Engelhardzell to Budapest and back". People arrive in Passau and are taken to Engelhardzell. It was a company decision based partly on customer wishes. Passau is very busy with ships these days.

G.M.T.,

so the Crystal Mozart is able to go through the lock at Jochenstein and dock in Linau. Jochenstein is the last lock it can use upstream, am I right?

notamermaid

SuzCruise,

 

I hope I may be able to help. I am taking a wild guess (hopefully not that wild) that the place outside of Passau, 30 km away, is Engelhardzell. That is actually a separate small town and destination on the Danube with an interesting monastery. About two years ago the German company Arosa started moving their departure point from Passau to Engelhardzell. All their cruises are now correctly advertised as for example "Engelhardzell to Budapest and back". People arrive in Passau and are taken to Engelhardzell. It was a company decision based partly on customer wishes. Passau is very busy with ships these days.

 

G.M.T.,

 

so the Crystal Mozart is able to go through the lock at Jochenstein and dock in Linau. Jochenstein is the last lock it can use upstream, am I right?

 

notamermaid

The Crystal Mozart can go through the Jochenstein lock but it is a close call - the Vista Deck (sun deck) is cleared of passengers beforehand and the wheelhouse and pop-up bar are lowered into the deck, and all wind shields and sun shades lowered flat to the deck in order to clear the bridge over the lock....I have photos and video of the lock transit but they are too big to upload here...

Anne...

Photos from the Jochenstein lock...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Beautiful area and the monastery sells beer, liqueurs and cheese! The cruise can begin on a high note. :)

Where is my ship? Docked some place on the ruver. How close is it to the town? Is there anything near the ship? When is the ship moving to another location? These are questions that are common on riverboat cruises. Unlike ocean cruises which usually dock in a soecific location and stay there, riverboat often move while guests are on excursions. Sometimes guests are picked up from an excursion at a location away from where they disembarked. On my last river cruise, we were in Nuremburg on a very hot day. 90-100F after a nice bus tour in air comditioned comfort, we were left in town at 3pm and told that we would board buses again at 6pm. The heat was terrible. We could not find anyplace that had AC. We went to a museum thinking it would be cooler. No AC. We left. We finally found an outdoor cafe in the shade. Luckily, the service was extremely slow. Sat there for 2 hours. If we had known where the ship was docked, we would have taken a taxi back to the ship. Unfortunately, when we were dropped off the ship, we were told that the ship would move to a new location. Where? No answer. It was quite uncomfortable. Next day, when it was still hot, many people skipped the next town's excursion. We stayed on the ship as it sailed up the river. I was amazed at how many people stayed on the ship. In many ports, we were docked far away from the town. That meant that you had to take an excursion. In a few locations, we were in great locations...Cologne and Koblenz we were in town. It was a pleasure to walk off the ship and do things on our own. While excursions are nice, I also enjoy doing my own thing.

G.M.T.,

 

so the Crystal Mozart is able to go through the lock at Jochenstein and dock in Linau. Jochenstein is the last lock it can use upstream, am I right?

 

notamermaid

Notamermaid,

The Crystal Mozart was built in Deggendorf, which is upstream from Passau and the Kachlet locks. There are cruise for the Crystal Mozart that are advertised as going to Vilshofen.

The Crystal Mozart could in theory make it to Regensburg (downstream from the lock at Regensburg) but with a draught of 1.6 m it would have great diffuculties getting past Straubing (Danube currently 1.42m there).

Thank you for the info, G.M.T.

Yes, I have read the Danube is getting a little low.

notamermaid

Thanks to everyone who provided helpful info! Especially Anne. And Anne, thank you also for taking the time to share your experience via your extremely detailed blog. I have been so eager to read it and my husband and I are soaking it up as we plan for our upcoming trip! Do you mind me asking you some other details? Were there 110 volt plugs in the room? It looked from your photos that there were lots of European style plugs, but I thought I read the rooms were equiped with both. You mentioned in another post that the hair dryer was "adequate", I'm guessing that might mean it lacks a little power? I'm picky about my hair dryer. ;). Were the bikes available to use outside of excursion times? We are doing a Christmas Market cruise and there are no bike rides as excursions, and in fact the excursion choices are a bit limited and the vast majority involve long bus rides. We were thinking of touring town on our own via bike. Were either binoculars or umbrellas provided in your cabin? How was the wifi onboard? Is the signal week? And I really appreciate your advice on getting to the ship! We will be arriving via train and will take a local train to the Millenium tower station but will get directions from Crystal. Thanks again for being so generous with your time and experience!

Susan

Thanks to everyone who provided helpful info! Especially Anne. And Anne, thank you also for taking the time to share your experience via your extremely detailed blog. I have been so eager to read it and my husband and I are soaking it up as we plan for our upcoming trip! Do you mind me asking you some other details? Were there 110 volt plugs in the room? It looked from your photos that there were lots of European style plugs, but I thought I read the rooms were equiped with both. You mentioned in another post that the hair dryer was "adequate", I'm guessing that might mean it lacks a little power? I'm picky about my hair dryer. ;). Were the bikes available to use outside of excursion times? We are doing a Christmas Market cruise and there are no bike rides as excursions, and in fact the excursion choices are a bit limited and the vast majority involve long bus rides. We were thinking of touring town on our own via bike. Were either binoculars or umbrellas provided in your cabin? How was the wifi onboard? Is the signal week? And I really appreciate your advice on getting to the ship! We will be arriving via train and will take a local train to the Millenium tower station but will get directions from Crystal. Thanks again for being so generous with your time and experience!

 

Susan

Susan,

First my apologies for the slow blog updates, work has got in the way of my progress this past week but I will try and get the rest of the entries and photos posted in the next few days.

No, there are no 110 volt outlets in the rooms, they are all either 220v European two pin, or USB outlets, and lots of them. Not an issue for me as I am European and apart ftom my DSLR camera battery charger which has a 220v two pin charger all my other devices charge by USB cables...

The hairdyer in the bathroom was fine for my use, it was just as powerful as my travel dryer and it was the only one I used whilst onboard. However, I have short hair and it doesn't take me long to style it so someone with long hair, or who takes time to style may prefer to use their own. There is also a second dryer provided which can be plugged in at the desk, but I never took that one out of the cupboard so don't know how it was. If I was going again I wouldn't bother packing a hair dryer.

The bikes were available for guest use anytime the ship was docked. They have quite a lot of them and when not in use they are kept in two dedicated 'parking' areas up on the Vista Deck. However there are fulltime fitness staff and they will assist you and fit you to a bike to suit...

There is a large size umbrella provided (it's in the corner of the full length hanging clothes closet) and a pair of binoculars, which are on the desk along with a complimentary copy of a European River Cruise guide book for the Rhine, Main, Danube region...

Wifi was hit and miss. Some days it worked fine other days it was painfully slow and complimentary usage is limited to one hour per day (which you get as the full amount on day one). The four Crystal coaches that accompany the ship also have wifi (which is free) but I could never get it to work on my smartphone however, on my way to the airport on leaving, my iPad logged on with no problems!!!!

If you think of anything, please ask away, I'm sure you will have a lovely Christmas Markets cruise...

Anne...

Anne,

Thanks so much for responding to all of my questions! And you have absolutely nothing to apologize for on the timing of your blog posts. As the author of at least 1/2 dozen unposted partial cruise reviews, I am aware of how life gets in the way of sharing your vacation experience with others. But I am eager to hear about the rest of your Mozart adventure. Our itinerary is a bit different than yours, going up to Vilshofen and returning to Passau for an extra day. I'm guessing that has to do with the timing for Christmas Markets, which are the focus. This will be our first river cruise, and as Crystal is rather new to it as well, hearing your experiences really help us plan.

Any other comments on the docking locations of the Mozart? We were assuming we would be right in town at each stop, but now realize that as the new kid on the block, the Mozart might not be in the thick of it. We are planning on doing a lot of things on our own instead of doing the included ship excursions and we want to avoid any unpleasant surprises. We like to forge out on our own, but after careful planning, in other words.

Thanks again for all of the help! It is much appreciated!

Susan

Hello SuzCruise,

An executive at Crystal, shared the following information : As we were able to develop a very unique itinerary, Crystal Mozart has prime docking locations in all of the ports.

Hope this is helpful. We look forward to welcoming you onboard Crystal Mozart.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply Andy! That is excellent news and we really appreciate you passing it on. My husband Bern and I are new to river cruising, and there is much to learn.

Susan

Hello SuzCruise,

 

An executive at Crystal, shared the following information : As we were able to develop a very unique itinerary, Crystal Mozart has prime docking locations in all of the ports.

 

Hope this is helpful. We look forward to welcoming you onboard Crystal Mozart.

A) in Passau

B) not on Passau

C) in Lindau

D) in Engelhardzell

Sorry but saying "Crystal Mozart has prime docking locations in all of the ports" in no way answers the question of where docking will be for Passau.

Just got off the Crystal Mozart yesterday.

Some notes:

Wtih the exception of Budapest and Bratislava (and *maybe* Durnstein & Melk? I don't remember... maybe Linz, but we took the all day Cesky Krumlov tour so got right on a bus), none of the docking locations were right "downtown" i.e. walk off the ship into the heart of downtown. Passau was maybe 2 miles downriver at Lindau. Vienna is at the Millenium Tower, in a non-touristy part of the city. Budapest was right near the market (yum), but probably a 15 min? walk to Parliment (everything was definitely within walking distance of 5 (market) to 20 min (museum), but Crystal bussed us to the sites (although we did walk back from the market). Bratislava was right downtown.

Wi-fi is definitely spotty, but during our cruise they made it part of the all inclusive deal, and not just 60 min per day. Didn't really advertise it, but most of us figured it out when we ran out of minutes early in the cruise and weren't online. Trip to the front desk and we were told wifi was now included. Yeah! Except it was really really slow and spotty. Boo!

Hairdryer in the bathroom is horrid. When I saw Anne's pic of the bathroom, I knew I'd have to bring my own, which I did (it's dual voltage with a switch, but US pronged and folds in half for travel). HOWEVER...as we were packing to leave, low and behold there is a REAL hairdryer in a bag in the closet which would have sufficed for my uses (I have just below shoulder length hair). I do have a European 2 circle prong flat iron that I picked up in Thailand once when mine died (Thailand has the same voltage/2 prong). Someday I will get an European hairdryer to make my life easier...

The e-bikes are awesome! Not mopeds, but more like giving you a "boost" depending on how you set it (from eco to turbo). For the 42 km bike ride in Passau, they were awesome! You have to keep pedaling like a real bike...not like a moped where it keeps going after you stop pedaling. They were always available for use by anyone, and I believe there were even some available even during times when there were bike excursions.

Jennifer

Thanks so much for the response Jennifer! Would you mind telling me a bit about the attire you saw onboard? There has been a lot of discussion about it being quite a bit more relaxed than an ocean cruise, which Is fine with me. I do like dressing up for a special occasion, but I don't like schlepping loads of luggage around Europe for our pre-cruise adventures. We'll be cruising over Thanksgiving, so it will be quite a bit colder which will affect the level of dress as well. But I would be eager to hear about your experience.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience!

Pretty much everything goes (except sweats, t-shirts, shorts, etc.) at dinner. A couple of nights I wore nice jeans with heels and a nice blouse and a couple of nights I wore a skirt. Depended on my mood and how active we were that day. Twice I wore whatever I had on for touring as we would get back and pretty much go straight to the bar (jeans & blouse or sweater, walking shoes). People were dressier for the Michelin dinner and the Belevedere Palace thingy. (My hubby work a jacket sans tie to both, some wore ties, some wore just khaki's and oxford). I wore a silk maxi dress and heels to both.

We were on Uniworld in Bordeaux last year and it was pretty much the same thing.

Hope this helps.

Jennifer

There has been speculation on this thread that Passau docking is

A) in Passau

B) not on Passau

C) in Lindau

D) in Engelhardzell

 

Sorry but saying "Crystal Mozart has prime docking locations in all of the ports" in no way answers the question of where docking will be for Passau.

According to the Passau Harbour Authority website the Chrystal Mozart is always docked in Passau Lindau. Not my idea of a prime location.

Chrystal Mozart.pdf

Thanks Jennifer! That is exactly what I needed to know. If you have any other info you want to share about the Mozart, I'd love to hear it!

Susan

It is mystery where your ship will dock, when it will move, etc. i can understand the frustration that many people have experienced when their ship docked far away from those landmarks. Taking a bus ride from the docking location to town is not where you want to be. I can also understand why people get angry when they take long bus trips when they would have appreciated sailing on the river. Cruise lines say that they will get you closer to landmarks. That is often not true. Be prepared to dock wherever they put the ship. Accept that there will be bus rides to get to town. With the increased number of ships sailing on the rivers, it is a given that not all ships can dock in town. Just go with the flow, relax, enjoy the scenery, and have a nice cruise.

It is mystery where your ship will dock, when it will move, etc. i can understand the frustration that many people have experienced when their ship docked far away from those landmarks. Taking a bus ride from the docking location to town is not where you want to be. I can also understand why people get angry when they take long bus trips when they would have appreciated sailing on the river. Cruise lines say that they will get you closer to landmarks. That is often not true. Be prepared to dock wherever they put the ship. Accept that there will be bus rides to get to town. With the increased number of ships sailing on the rivers, it is a given that not all ships can dock in town. Just go with the flow, relax, enjoy the scenery, and have a nice cruise.

I understand what you are saying about the premium prices and how unsatisfactory it is when the cruise becomes a bus trip. about to do 9th river cruise, on 4 we had disruption from water issues.

most operators are stating/educating passengers about the potential for changes in plans.

how the interruptions are managed vary. its a risk with river cruising.