Avalon Tranquility, Budapest to Prague

We flew Delta non-stop from JFK to Budapest arriving on a Thursday afternoon and stayed 3 nights at the Hilton Hotel in the Castle District. We (4 persons) had arranged a private pick up from the airport and 2 half day tours with Andras "Andrew" Illes, a private guide. He drives a new Citroen vehicle. His web site is http://www.guideinbudapest.com and e-mail address budapesttours@gmail.com . He picked us up each morning and we spent 4 hours visiting his city. He was an excellent guide and highly recommended.

The hotel was right next to major sites in the area. We quickly learned that the # 16 bus which ran from the Chain Bridge to the top of the Castle District stopped close to the hotel. We very much enjoyed the sites in Budapest.

On Sunday morning about 9 AM we took a taxi with our luggage to the Intercontinental Hotel which was being used by Avalon for their group and left our luggage. Our luggage was delivered to the river boat by Avalon. Transportation for passengers was scheduled for 3:30 PM from the same hotel. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wandering around Budapest.

We boarded the Avalon Tranquility at 4 PM, unpacked our luggage and changed for the 7 PM dinner. Our cabin was a standard size with the French sliding door, about the size of an "Inside" cabin on a large cruise ship. The cabin was crowded but comfortable. The ship is well appointed, clean and neat but with very few public area options. The "Sun" deck was open for outdoor sitting, weather permitting. The Lounge / Bar was open for indoor sitting and a small outdoor area at the bow of the ship was available for viewing and smoking. The Dining Room was open 7 AM for breakfast, 12 noon for lunch and 7 PM for Dinner but closed at other times. Breakfast and Lunch were buffets and there was plenty to chose. The only complaints I heard and agreed with were concerning dinner. Only 3 entrees were offered, fish, meat and vegetarian. Additionally, salmon and steak were options every night. My wife liked the salmon but I found the steak like shoe leather. The dinner staff would make an effort to serve variations of the menu as requested. The staff of the ship was friendly and efficient. The cabin stewards were waiting to clean our room as soon as we left for breakfast.

As advertised, wine is freely served with dinner as is beer and soda. The 1st night, after dinner we went into the Lounge and found that almost everybody had gone to bed. After 10 ocean cruises we found the after dinner hours on the river boat very very quiet. A piano / keyboard player was playing dance music each evening for the 10 to 15 people still awake. One evening entertainers were brought abroad from Bratislava and they were very talented and entertaining. On another evening a single electric violin player came aboard. The crew put on a very funny show 1 evening and there was an afternoon speaker about the workings of the Locks that raise and lower the ship. That was the extent of activities all week.

We very much enjoyed the sightseeing, the places we visited every day. Avalon gave a city tour for each scheduled stop and free time to wander around. They also had some optional tours. We signed up for 4 optional tours and enjoyed them, some more than others. All charges aboard ship were in Euros. The Internet was 15 Euros for the week, inexpensive but also extremely slow. Bar drinks were reasonably priced but contained very little alcohol. Most evenings at 6 PM was "Happy Hour" when a special menu of drinks were discounted.

Overall, we found the river cruise enjoyable but after 7 days we were looking forward to getting off the ship. If you are looking for a quiet relaxing week with nice sightseeing I would recommend the Avalon Tranquility.

We arranged for a private transport from the ship in Nuremberg to Prague with a stop for lunch in Karlovy Vary, a spa town formally known as Carlsbad. We used "Mike the Chauffeur" reachable at info@mike-chauffeur.cz

We spent 3 nights in Prague at the Old Town Hilton. We arranged for a private guide for walking tours in Prague. Zuzana Tlaskova, reachable at tlaskovaz@seznam.cz was our guide and she was great! She's an educated young lady who speaks 7 languages who is studying for her PhD. She took us on public transportation to the Castle District and we spent 3 hours wandering into places we never would have found. We spent another 3 hours with her touring the Jewish Quarter. We loved Prague and thought it the highlight of our 2 week trip.

This trip required lots of walking and many hours walking on cobble stone streets. It would not be recommended for persons with mobility issues.

WFF we enjoyed your wonderful review. We are doing the Rhine Cruise from Basel to Amstedam in April 2012. We plan to spend extra days in Zurich and Amsterdam and would like to secure a private guide. Could you give us some information about how you secured your private guides in the above write up.

Riviera Bound

Thank you for the interesting review with tour guide recommendations. We are doing this trip in reverse, Prague to Budapest, in Nov. The Delta site is not showing any direct flights to or from Budapest during the Nov time frame, I wish there were.

Can you tell me how much the chauffer from Nuremburg to Prague was. We will be going Prague to Nuremburg to get on the ship and would like to maybe stop at Cesky Krumlov on the way.

Also, how much was the guide in Prague? We are only 2 people, so I'm not sure if that would make a difference.

Also, if you have any recommendations of restaurants in Prague or Budapest, I'd love to hear them.

To answer the previous question, we located our guides on the internet and in Rick Steves tour book.

The chauffeur charged us 6500 CZ (about $350) for the transfer. It's normally a 3 to 4 hour drive but we stopped for lunch in Karlovy Vary for about 1 1/2 hrs. I don't know if Cesky Krumlov is the same price as Karlovy Vary. Both places are well worth visiting.

Our guide in Prague charged us 600 CZ per hour (about $35) and was well worth the price.

Our favorite restaurant was the "Imperial Cafe" inside the Imperial Hotel. Good food, excellent service and reasonable priced. Reservations are recommnded.

Thanks WFF for the information about finding tour guides.

Riviera Bound

WFF, In what city is the Imperial Restaurant? And also I emailed Zuzana, your guide in Prague for more information but I would love to be able to tell her who referred her, can you tell me your first name so I may tell her who referred her? Thanks

Imperial Cafe is in Prague, about 1 block from the Hilton, Marriott & Millenium Hotels.

Tell Zuzana that "Bill & Susan" from New York wrote the recommendation.

Thanks again for the recommendations. To get a bit more specific...did you spend 6 hours with Zuzana on one day or did you take 2 separate tours with her on separate days. I'm trying to decide how to plan out our time in Prague. We arrive in Prague late morning and was thinking of hiring her for an orientation type tour that afternoon. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

We found 3 hours of walking enough. We had the guide for 2 days, 3 hrs each day.

What optional tours were offered? We're doing Nuremburg to Budapest in September and am unable to find out anywhere what the optional tours are that Avalon offers.

Any help would be appreciated. Loved your candid review.

If you go to avalonwaterways.com and find your cruise you can click on a tab that shows 'excursions'. It shows the optional excursions available.

http://avalonwaterways.com/product.aspx?trip=2WBN0&content=optionals

Hope this helps and post a review. I'm interested in doing this next year.

Happy travels!

If you go to avalonwaterways.com and find your cruise you can click on a tab that shows 'excursions'. It shows the optional excursions available.

 

http://avalonwaterways.com/product.aspx?trip=2WBN0&content=optionals

 

 

Hope this helps and post a review. I'm interested in doing this next year.

 

Happy travels!

I must be blind because I've tried this several times and don't find anything that tells the optional excursions - only those included with the cruise.

I've been told by a travel agent that the optional ones probably won't be available until we are actually onboard. I'd just like to know what they are offering ahead of time because I'm a total planner - don't like last minute stuff!

Here's the cut & paste vesion with optional excursions listed.<H1 class=ProductContentTitleOptionals>Optional Excursions

</H1>Share

Important Note: the following list of optional excursions are examples only for this vacation as they are the excursions that are being offered for this vacation in the current travel year. These optional excursions might or might not be offered next year, as well as new optional excursions might be offered. Information about what optional excursions will be offered for your vacation will be available later this year into next year. If no example excursions are listed, please check back later.

Here's a list of optional excursions you can enjoy during your vacation. Whether it's a special dinner, a local show or a special behind-the-scenes glimpse into an historical site, optional excursions are a wonderful way to enrich your vacation even further. Plus, they give you flexibility. We include the must-see sites and experiences, and we also understand that people take interest in different activities and may want to craft a more personal vacation by hand-picking optional excursions that appeal to them.

Availability is subject to sufficient participation, weather conditions, seasonal suitability, days of operation, group interests, and general feasibility for your vacation. The approximate value listed gives you a good, general idea of what you can expect to pay but may vary once you are on your vacation. Some information provided might be in a foreign currency; you can use our online currency converter for exchange rate information.

CITY: Linz

Salzburg - Mozart's Sound of Music with Lunch

True, Salzburg is the birth-place of Mozart and you will find the face of the city's most famous son everywhere. Salzburg is also the setting for the Sound of Music movie, which has shaped the city's perception in the minds of generations. But Salzburg is much more. It is a city with history based on the salt trade from the nearby Alpine Mountains, it is a city of beautiful baroque buildings, and a city perched between the mountains and green waters of the Salzach river. It is a city with a long cultural heritage and in the small busy lanes like the "Getreidegasse" with its wrought iron signs you might get a feeling, how busy this city always was. Today we would like to show you Salzburg and its past, we will show you the Austrian Lake district and our local experts will talk about what it takes to be Austrian and to live in this country today.

Approximate value: EUR €69 per person

CITY: Regensburg

Excursion to Weltenburg Abbey and the Danube Gorge

The Danube Gorge has both a gentle and a strange beauty. In a magnificent show of force, the Danube has carved its way through the Swabian Alb to create a stunning landscape - a wild, romantic stretch of river with sheer cliffs rising over 300 feet out of the water. At its upper end the Weltenburg Abbey is located on a peninsula directly beneath the cliffs of the Gorge. It was founded by Irish or Scottish monks in 620 and is one of the oldest abbeys in Bavaria. The present Benedictine abbey dates back to the 18th century when it was extensively rebuilt in baroque style. Their ceiling frescos of the Heavenly Jerusalem blend seamlessly with the abbey interior and are particularly noteworthy. Important is also that Weltenburg Abbey houses the oldest abbey brewery in the world, as the monks have been brewing beer since 1050. A beer and a "pretzel" are a welcome refreshment.

Approximate value: EUR €39 per person

CITY: Vienna

Royal Waltz Concert

Would a stay in Vienna be the same if you were not able to listen to the tunes of the "Blue Danube Waltz" or the "Radetzky" March? Your Cruise Director will accompany you to one of Vienna's famous Concert Halls. Avalon will make preferred seating arrangements. In order to celebrate this evening in style, have a glass of sparkling wine in the intermission, before you listen to the famous tunes brought to you by opera singers and watch the elegant ballet dancers as they interpret some of the most well known classical tunes from Vienna.

Approximate value: EUR €49 per person

A Visit of Schönbrunn Imperial Palace

Schönbrunn, the former summer residence of the Imperial family, is considered one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Europe. The Habsburgs resided here for the better part of the year in numerous rooms to house the large Imperial family in addition to representational rooms. Emperor Franz Joseph, who later married the enchanting Sisi and reigned from 1848 to 1916, was born here in 1830. The monarch spent his last years entirely in the palace, which became the property of the new Republic of Austria only two years after his death. Today, the palace is part of UNESCO's cultural heritage due to its historic importance, its unique grounds and its splendid furnishings. Follow our local expert and visit Empress Sisi's former summer residence, afterwards take your time to stroll through the park or enjoy a demonstration of how the famous Viennese Apple Strudel is made - Samples to taste included. . .

Approximate value: EUR €44 per person

My favorite optional tours were in Vienna; we took and enjoyed both tours especially the evening concert.

We took 2 other optional tours. Cesky Krumlov, and the Weltenburg Abbey and Danube Gorge.

Cesky Krumlov was very nice but the walking was tough; cobblestone streets and hills.

The Weltenburg Abbey and Gorge boat ride was just ok. At the end of the tour you sit in a Beer Garden and they give you a nice cold beer and a fresh pretzel. It was the highlight of that tour. :)

Thank you so very much for the cut and paste. This is just what I've been looking for.

Can't wait until September.