Viking Danube cruise update #2

we are starting day 3 on board the Viking Idun….the walking tour in Passau ….and yesterday to bus tour saltsburg were both very good . our local guides were both excellent. In Saltsburg it was a 1 and 1/2 hour bus ride and unlike our ocean cruise, we did not feel the "herding" of humanity from spot to spot. we enjoyed the city of Passau more than Saltsburg…. which surprised both of us. I would have preferred more time in Linz (where we docked) than the all day in Saltsburg…but thats just my opinion…Saltsburg was clean and had a lot of history but just seemed to commercialized..wasnt what we expected…

today is some cruising with 2 stops which i will advise on later.

On the question of bicycles…i haven't seen any tours so far but i will check…the staff is so accommodating there is no doubt they would find you a spot to rent bikes along the way….

the food and service remain very good. as reported here before…the food portions are small compared to ocean cruising but we have tried 2 entrees at once... steak AND scallops…both were very good…

Our only negative so far…the noise from the pipes and/or vacuum toilet system (not sure which) is mildly annoying to downright loud….we are seasoned cruisers and are aware of the noise that comes with a moving ship in the water, anchor dropping, loud passengers in the hallway etc…we accept that as part of the cruise. we always are very selective in our choice of room location…….

the noise got annoying enough where we ended up last evening talking to the desk staff. we had our first "quiet night" last night…until 0545 hours today…when it started again…we are on the bottom floor but i don't think that makes a difference…we will see how it goes the rest of the trip.

Our only negative so far…the noise from the pipes and/or vacuum toilet system (not sure which) is mildly annoying to downright loud….we are seasoned cruisers and are aware of the noise that comes with a moving ship in the water, anchor dropping, loud passengers in the hallway etc…we accept that as part of the cruise. we always are very selective in our choice of room location…….

 

the noise got annoying enough where we ended up last evening talking to the desk staff. we had our first "quiet night" last night…until 0545 hours today…when it started again…we are on the bottom floor but i don't think that makes a difference…we will see how it goes the rest of the trip.

Is your cabin near the back of the ship? I have heard on many ships that these cabins are noisy -- but it was usually attributed to the engines.

Thanks so much for your very informative posts. I look forward to each day's report. I'm sailing on the Viking Njord late May with extra days in Prague and Budapest. This will be my first river cruise and I assume our tours, food, etc. will be similar (if not identical) to your experience. The exchange of ideas/opinions regarding "proper"dress on board is very interesting too. I hope to find some photos posted by passengers that show on-board experiences in addition to the usual tour sites.

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Belle214, for a good, long review of an AMAWaterways Danube cruise, check out: thepreismans.com

It's very extensive, including port restaurants and sights not included on city tours.

tml1230:

It is going to get confusing if you keep starting a new thread for each day. Do you mind if I combine the threads into one? Would you like a different title for the new thread?

Host Jazzbeau

tml1230:

 

It is going to get confusing if you keep starting a new thread for each day. Do you mind if I combine the threads into one? Would you like a different title for the new thread?

 

Host Jazzbeau

I see that you've taken on the challenge of organizing the numerous topics, conversations and threads in the River Cruising category. Whew! What a job.

I appreciate the variety of information presented. But I'm especially interested to read Tml1230's posts about his experiences now cruising the Danube on Viking. Would you please direct me back to it if anything changes? Right now yesterday's "DayTwo" post is the only way I know to find it.

Thanks,

Rebeccah

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I see that you've taken on the challenge of organizing the numerous topics, conversations and threads in the River Cruising category. Whew! What a job.

Thanks!

I appreciate the variety of information presented. But I'm especially interested to read Tml1230's posts about his experiences now cruising the Danube on Viking. Would you please direct me back to it if anything changes? Right now yesterday's "DayTwo" post is the only way I know to find it.

Thanks,

Rebeccah

I think you've shown what I mean. There are two other threads by tml1230 about this cruise, but it is hard to find them all (or even know how many you should be looking for). If there were one thread called something like "Viking Danube Cruise March 2014" if would be much easier to find all the posts.

Thanks!

 

 

 

I think you've shown what I mean. There are two other threads by tml1230 about this cruise, but it is hard to find them all (or even know how many you should be looking for). If there were one thread called something like "Viking Danube Cruise March 2014" if would be much easier to find all the posts.

Yes, but it's more confusing than that. The page this post is on offers the choice of continents to identify the river cruise location and then there is another category/thread under roll calls titled "Roll call for Budapest to Nuremberg and reverse ".

Is there some sort of directory or table of contents to help me find things ?

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@tml1230 - Thank you so much for doing this and thank you so much for your positive attitude! We're going the opposite direction in May. I was interested to learn that the tour in Passau was a walking tour since my mom has back problems and can't walk for long periods. Was it a long walk?

How is the shower? Can you turn around in it? Is there plenty of light in the bathroom?

Sorry about the noise problem. That's why we always travel with ear plugs. They don't block all the noise but they do block out a lot.

Thanks for the info. I hope to continue following your daily posts. Will you just add to this one or do I need to search for new ones? Thanks much

@tml1230 - Thank you so much for doing this and thank you so much for your positive attitude! We're going the opposite direction in May. I was interested to learn that the tour in Passau was a walking tour since my mom has back problems and can't walk for long periods. Was it a long walk?

 

How is the shower? Can you turn around in it? Is there plenty of light in the bathroom?

 

Sorry about the noise problem. That's why we always travel with ear plugs. They don't block all the noise but they do block out a lot.

I have been on 4 Viking cruises and all the bathrooms have good lighting and you can turn around in the showers..

Have a wonderful cruise.

We leave Budapest on the 6th going to passau. Looking forward to your updates. Thanks for your info.

Have I missed something? Has tml1230 posted again since 3/26/14? I'm very interested to read about his experiences on the Viking Odin "Romantic Danube " Prague/ Nuremberg to Budapest river cruise.

I am sailing the same route on my very first river cruise. We set sail on the Viking Njord leaving Nuremberg May 31.

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thank you for sharing this site it is really informative the preismans.com I got all the info I needed for my coming Viking Odin Danube Waltz river cruise on April 12-19,2014.

Blessings to us all our travels

Have I missed something? Has tml1230 posted again since 3/26/14? I'm very interested to read about his experiences on the Viking Odin "Romantic Danube " Prague/ Nuremberg to Budapest river cruise.

 

I am sailing the same route on my very first river cruise. We set sail on the Viking Njord leaving Nuremberg May 31.

Right. tml1230 has been on Cruise Critic lately, but hasn't posted since 3/26/14. Don't know what is up. This would have been a review worth reading. Hello? Anybody home?

Please let me apologize for the delay in posting follow ups from the cruise on the Danube on the Viking Idun. When we disembarked we had 2 days of train travel thru Munich to Paris,... and then a series of computer issues popped up…. No one will ever accuse me of being a computer whiz …..Bill Gate's job is not in jeopardy from me!

We are finally settled into our rental apartment and are spending the month of April here in Paris…Our goal is to hit every open air food and flower market in this wonderful city that we love before we return home. For us it is a yearly trek since we are finally retired.

Now back to the Viking cruise and the Idun…. someone asked if the walk in Passau was long and arduous…It was not and even someone with mobility issues can make the journey… it was a wonderful excursion. Passau was one of our favorite places on the cruise, and the city is easy to get around in and the residents wonderful.

Some general thoughts on the second half of the cruise….as i said before, this was our first river cruise and we were well prepared thanks to the folks on this board who shared their advice and wisdom.

Our tour director Mario was incredible beyond words…he did everything... was everywhere….had a great sense of humor and he had a heart of gold.

His evening briefings were really informative and helped prepare us for the next days adventure… i thought early on i would blow off the evening briefings... but if you are on a river cruise, don't miss them. I found a glass of chardonney while listening helped me absorb more information…

we were really upset about the on-going plumbing and drain noise…and lack of repairing the very obvious problem …that Viking would not be our first choice for future cruises..

BUT the little things that they did struck me….exiting the ship for a tour ...there was always somebody handing you a FREE bottle of water and a smile…every morning the captain was at the gangplank and wished you well as you left on the daily tour…a bunch of small stuff ...that made me feel good about the cruise….i shared my one dissatisfaction in the email response to Viking after disembarking and received an immediate response…i was impressed and the company offered a future cruise credit, which i did not ask for ,or expect.

The food and service was good to very good the entire cruise…the wine and beer were always cold….thats more important to me than the vintage or bouquet….we really enjoyed buying local wines and bringing them back on board for consumption without fear of strip search at the gangway.

With only 180 people on board it never felt crowded and we were never bored…tired yes, bored no….…actually i would have enjoyed a sea day!

we had a room in the cheap seats (relatively speaking) in the bowels of the Idun. (the location by the way had nothing to do with the aforementioned noise issue) Given the amount of time we were docked side by side with other ships…and time away from the ship...i wouldn't find the need for a balcony since the view frequently obstructed anyway….

After 33 years of marriage, amazingly enough ,my wife and i still like our time by ourselves. WE are not the "hi... whats your name and where are you from" type. When we wanted to be by ourselves while eating generally we could be…

we met some really good folks when we did sit at large tables….and just a couple of people who were really impressed with themselves.

The dress was casual,people walked around in jeans without fear of retribution or scorn….i liked that.

At the end of the day, we are now devoted river cruisers and we are sticking with Viking…they did a very good job…

As i sit here typing , looking out at the eiffel tower, i have just received confirmation on a Viking Rhine river cruise next March, prior to our sojourn to Paris.. Now if the University of Florida had just won the national basketball championship last week, all would be perfect with the world.

if anyone has any questions please let me know.

Thanks for the thorough report, and glad you had a good time!

Wow! Thanks for all the information, both positive and negative....and it sounds much more positive. I've read some unusual comments from other sources , including one warning to be prepared for bees. Sounds weird, but did you experience any notable insect encounters? And was your problem with noise attributed solely to your cabin location or did others have the same issue?

Thanks again .....

Rebeccah.

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I'm so glad you had a nice time (apart from the noise). Hopefully, they will get that fixed before the next cruise departs.

I have a couple of questions.

Is there plenty of counter top space or shelves in the bathroom? My mom tends to need a lot of space for makeup, lotions, etc.. I was thinking of taking a portable shelf with suction cups.

Did you take any of the optional tours? If so, what was your opinion of them?

You seem like such a down-to-earth, fun couple. I'm sorry you're not on our cruise. Good luck in Paris. If you find an especially nice market, I'd love to hear about it. If you ever make it to Nice, the market there is spectacular.

Wow! Thanks for all the information, both positive and negative....and it sounds much more positive. I've read some unusual comments from other sources , including one warning to be prepared for bees. Sounds weird, but did you experience any notable insect encounters? And was your problem with noise attributed solely to your cabin location or did others have the same issue?

Thanks again .....

Rebeccah.

 

 

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Hi Rebeccah, we never heard a word about any bee issue or for that matter any other cautionary notices….From Passau , Vienna all the way to Budapest it was smooth sailing…the noise from the pipes or the vacuum toilet system were very isolated to a couple rooms near our end of the ship….being experienced ocean cruisers we are accustomed to all the typical noises and we accept that …this was different and obviously a malfunction….as i said Viking corporate made a nice gesture and we have already booked with them for next year

I'm so glad you had a nice time (apart from the noise). Hopefully, they will get that fixed before the next cruise departs.

 

I have a couple of questions.

Is there plenty of counter top space or shelves in the bathroom? My mom tends to need a lot of space for makeup, lotions, etc.. I was thinking of taking a portable shelf with suction cups.

 

Did you take any of the optional tours? If so, what was your opinion of them?

 

You seem like such a down-to-earth, fun couple. I'm sorry you're not on our cruise. Good luck in Paris. If you find an especially nice market, I'd love to hear about it. If you ever make it to Nice, the market there is spectacular.

Hi …we were really pleasantly surprised by the size of the bathroom…i thought it much larger than what we are used to on Princess ships…plenty of counter space and a GREAT shower with a REAL door…

we didn't do any optional tours but others we talked to said they were good..we about had the ship to ourselves the evening of the Vienna choir and symphony tour…everyone said it was excellent…my music tastes go more towards Luther Vandros and Alan Jackson so we didn't attend.

Thanks for the good luck wishes here in Paris…every day we hit a different market, all are very good …some incredible…if you are headed to Paris let us know we can steer you to some…this is our 5th trip…

also not sure if i mentioned it but the free internet on Viking is outstanding and quick...

Did other ports besides Passau surprise you.....pleasantly or otherwise? I appreciated your earlier comments preferring staying and exploring Passau to a 4 hour round trip bus ride and tour of Salzburg. I recognize this is personal preference, but I really dislike huge crowded bus tours. Do you have other similar recommendations?

And thanks again for sharing your experiences......

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tml -

Could you comment on the tour in Budapest? Did you visit any interiors or was it just a drive by? How long did it take? Around what time did you get back to the boat? Any comments on the afternoon optional excursions?

BTW - did Viking use the Marriott as their post-cruise hotel in Budapest? We are staying there on our own. I read somewhere that the ship docks practically across the road from the Marriott, is that true?

Thank you.

Did other ports besides Passau surprise you.....pleasantly or otherwise? I appreciated your earlier comments preferring staying and exploring Passau to a 4 hour round trip bus ride and tour of Salzburg. I recognize this is personal preference, but I really dislike huge crowded bus tours.

 

I did this itinerary in December '13 and the tour to Salzburg was from Linz, not Passau. I was one of the six passengers that did not go to Salzburg. The city was pretty much closed as we were there on December 26th, but it seems that there are quite a few things to do. I took the Pöstlingbergbahn, a narrow gauge tram that can be boarded at the central plaza, to the top of the hill. You should be able to see the church from the ship. Had a wonderful pastry (and took several back to the ship), coffee and enjoyed a spectacular view of the Danube. The light show on the Ars Electronica building was interesting. The weather was glorious that day and I spent much of it on the verandah watching the people in the park along the river.

 

By the time we got to Linz, we'd been traveling for a couple of weeks and I needed a day off. No sea days on a river cruise. For the rest of the trip, I didn't find the touring by bus to be that uncomfortable. The groups were 25-40 people and, with the headset systems, people seem to wander away from the guide. I never really felt herded.

tml -

 

Could you comment on the tour in Budapest? Did you visit any interiors or was it just a drive by? How long did it take? Around what time did you get back to the boat? Any comments on the afternoon optional excursions?

 

BTW - did Viking use the Marriott as their post-cruise hotel in Budapest? We are staying there on our own. I read somewhere that the ship docks practically across the road from the Marriott, is that true?

 

Thank you.

We were in Budapest with Viking in Dec '13.

The tour of the Pest side was mostly a riding tour as I recall. The bus then went to the Buda side, up to the Citadel for a quick stop and a great view. Then up Castle Hill where we were given a tour of the Mathias church and a couple of hours of free time. The hot chocolate at the shop on the corner by the bus stop is not to be missed. I thought the tour was a good overall orientation to the city. We also used the local Hop On, Hop Off bus and took the night river cruise. Very pretty.

Viking used the Hilton on Castle Hill and Le Meridian on the Pest side for post stays. Our ship docked near the Chain Bridge on the night we arrived, but moved close to the Elizabeth Bridge the next day. I had booked the Hilton on my own and thoroughly enjoyed my stay. I can't wait to go back to Budapest.

Hope that helps.