HawaiiTraveler

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

No problem. It appears that our esteemed host has already been fiddling with the delete button.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for your understanding. 🙂

16 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

@HawaiiTraveler has some text gone missing from your post perhaps?

 

notamermaid

 

My apologies notamermaid. I accidentally hit the “Submit Reply” button as I tried to clear a pop up notification on my iPhone. When I tried to edit my reply it said that too much time had passed since my reply, and it would not allow me.

However, my reply was that we will offer prayers for those who were lost and prayers of comfort for their families and for all of those who were injured. I have been following your posts on this tragedy and also on Reuters and other major news services. It is truly heartbreaking. We were just at Komarom and sailed through the Danube bend last year in October and will be returning again in November of this year, and will remember those lost as we are near Veröce.

Aloha notamermaid,

Last year in October we were booked on a Viking River Cruises Grand European Tour that was supposed to start in Budapest and end in Amsterdam. However, I received an email from Viking the evening before we were scheduled to depart from Hawaii where we live for Budapest, advising that the Danube water level was too low for our ship to get through to Budapest and we would be picked up at the airport in Budapest and taken by bus to Komarom where we would board our ship, the Viking Skadi. It took us over 24 hours and five flights to get to Budapest and needless to say, after a 1-1/2 hour bus ride we were too exhausted and to ride the bus back into Budapest for sightseeing that evening. So, our cruise started in Komarom instead of Budapest, but it worked out great as Viking handled it very efficiently. I feel fortunate as we made it all the way through to Amsterdam without any further delays or having to be bussed from other ports due to low water levels in the rivers, as we ran into people who were traveling on other river cruise lines who were being bussed due to low water.

We are returning to Budapest in November to take another Viking Grand European Tour, but this time we are extending our cruise by three days before boarding our ship in Budapest and at by three days at the end of our cruise in Amsterdam. This gives us time to visit the sites that we missed last year, as well as visit the Kriskindlmarkt's in the various cities that our ship the Viking Bragi, stops at. God willing the water level will not be too low by November to board the ship in Budapest, nor too high to sail under the low bridge in Passau. Thank you again for the fine information and valuable insight on river conditions in Europe. It is much appreciated. 

Regards,

HawaiiTraveler

On 5/6/2024 at 11:26 AM, notamermaid said:

Bayern Erleben - Experience Bavaria - is the title of a documentary that I have enjoyed watching, a series actually, this episode is set on the Danube, the Canal and the Main. This German river cruise on the "Elegant Lady" started in Passau and ended in Aschaffenburg if I have understood it correctly. It was filmed in 2017 but I have only found it recently in the broadcaster archives. Perhaps this is interesting to compare a German cruise company (Bulgarian flag) ship to an international one. Lovely footage of towns and some interesting shots of a lock in action. I must say, the Main looks so narrow compared to the Rhine. It is in German but the scenery can of course be enjoyed without the commentary.You can put the subtitles in German on. If you have any questions about the text, let me know: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/bayern-erleben/eine-flusskreuzfahrt-durch-bayern/br-fernsehen/Y3JpZDovL2JyLmRlL2Jyb2FkY2FzdC9GMjAxN1dPMDA3ODU1QTA

 

notamermaid

 

Aloha notamermaid…thank you for posting the link to the episode of the Bayern Erleben “Experience Bavaria” documentary…I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video this afternoon…it was so interesting to see the same cities and sights that we have visited while on the previous Viking River cruises we have taken, but viewed through the eyes of passengers aboard the boat of another cruise line …it was also very interesting to compare the layout, facilities and activities aboard the Viking long boats themselves with the layout, facilities and activities aboard the “Elegant Lady”…as always, I really appreciate your posts with reports and updates on river conditions here on CruiseCritic…as I mentioned in a prior post, we are returning to Europe again for another Viking “Grand European Tour” that will coincide with the Kriskindlmarkt’s in various cities that we will stop in…we arrive in Budapest in mid-November and depart Amsterdam in mid-December…the cruise is fifteen days but this time we are extending our visit in both Budapest and Amsterdam, so we can spend more time in both of those lovely cities…thanks again…🙂

44 minutes ago, smlri said:

Hello

Thinking of taking a Viking Danube cruise in October. What is the weather like there then?  Thanks

Aloha. We did a Viking Grand European Tour cruise last year from Budapest to Amsterdam that started on October 21st and ended on November 4th. The weather was a nice combination of dry, sunny/overcast weather in the upper 50°-mid 60° Fahrenheit range and occasionally wet, blustery weather in the mid 40°-mid 50° Fahrenheit range. We scheduled our cruise for October as the low water conditions seem to be less likely after September. I think it was perfect fall weather and the cooler temperature made the excursions easier. We are also doing the Viking Grand European Tour again this year from Budapest starting on November 25th as we wanted to visit the Kriskindlmarkt’s in Germany which open from

late November. Hope you have a great cruise. Aloha!

Happy New Year notamermaid…glad to see you have a continuation of this topic for 2024…we are returning to Budapest later this year for another Grand European Tour…we did this same cruise last year (2023) and have already booked to do it again this year…I look forward to seeing your valuable and insightful posts here this year…aloha!

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Occasionally I look at the river cruising roll calls. It is fun to read when people enjoy themselves planning, cruising and giving advice to past cruisers. Lately I have been reading more not so happy comments about passengers being ill on the cruise with colds. But what comes up again and again is on the long European journeys passengers saying that they did not realize you cannot always dock in town and need a bus ride. So let us see for the Danube. It actually is the case that you dock in towns. Depending on company, how busy a place is, the harbour master's orders and water levels. It works all the way from Straubing to Budapest, Regensburg does but ships also seem to be in a harbour area further out. Granted, in Vienna much of docking is in Nussdorf, a suburb, these days. But several companies still dock in Vienna proper.

 

The bigger issue is the Canal. Ever seen a river cruise ship in front of the skyline of Nuremberg or Bamberg in brochures? Yup, you guessed it, the rivers do not lend themselves to it. Bamberg is not too bad for docking I would say as regards distance. The problem with Passau is that it is very busy and needs to move ships out to other harbours. Check out the docks and the blue dots on marinetraffic.com and you can see how it looks in the various places. Here is the example for Nuremberg, arguably the worst docking spot, this morning:

Remember it is correct to say you dock in Nuremberg as the commercial harbour is in the outskirts of Nuremberg. Just not in the city centre.

 

"My" Belvedere is in the harbour this morning. 🙂

 

notamermaid

 

 

Notamermaid, I want to thank you for your consistent reports on this site, as your posts kept us informed on the river conditions and what to expect prior to leaving our home in Hawaii to start our cruise in Budapest, as well as all during our cruise…your valuable insight and river condition updates took away worry about what lay ahead of us each day…again, thank you for your dedication and service to us wayward travelers that find our way to the rivers that you monitor…♥️

4 hours ago, clugo123 said:

We have been lucky as we left Budapest on 11/3 and are due to arrive in Amsterdam on 11/17. We have had wonderful weather and only had rain in Wertheim. We are on the Viking Mimir. Per the crew, this has been the first Viking ship to make the Grand European B to A successfully in three months.

We were on a prior Viking cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, scheduled to depart Budapest on 10/21 and arrive in Amsterdam 11/04…however, upon arrival at Budapest we were bussed to Komárom, about 1-1/2 hours up river from Budapest where we boarded our ship the Viking Skadi, as she couldn’t make it to Budapest due to low water conditions…however, from Komárom all the way to Amsterdam we did not have any other issues or ship swaps, as earlier cruises had required…it was a great cruise with cool temperatures and occasional rain, making the excursions easier and more pleasant than if it had been hot weather…we are planning on doing the same cruise again next year in late November into December so we can hit the Kriskindlmarkt’s along the way, spending some additional days in Amsterdam at the end of the cruise…hope you have a great time on your cruise! 

We arrived in Budapest on 10/21/23 to expecting to board Viking Skadi for the Grand European Tour cruise to Amsterdam…however, the water level was too low for the ship to get to Budapest, so we were bussed upriver to Komárom, where we boarded…Viking gave us the choice of being bussed back to Budapest that evening and the next day for excursions, or to receive credit/refund for those excursions if we did not want the 1-1/2 hour bus ride each way to Budapest and back…we chose to stay on board in Komárom and just walk around the town there, as three additional hours of bus rides the first two days didn’t sound good to us…the rest of the cruise was great, with enough rain in Austria and southern Germany to raise water levels further upriver in the Rhein-Main Danube Canal, and Main and Rhein rivers, so that we did not have to deal with a ship swap, which we were very thankful for…other than having our luggage not arriving in Budapest when we did and finally catching up with us in Passau a full week later, the cruise was great…the temperatures were cool and the rain was not heavy, which made the excursions very comfortable…we did run into high winds at Cologne which persisted all the way to Amsterdam, but didn’t cause any major problems with the cruise…the crew on Viking Skadi were great, took really good care of us and made the cruise wonderful…we are now looking ahead to November/December next year when we will do the same Grand European Tour cruise again, but starting in Amsterdam this time…until then, Aloha all…🙂

51 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

For those who enjoy tracking. Check out the Viking Gullveig. She has left Passau and is sailing upstream. Signal is lost but the ETA says Regensburg so I believe she may be doing the passage. If all goes well a tracking website should pick her up tonight at Regensburg.

 

notamermaid

 

We are traveling on Viking Skadi from Budapest (Komárom) to Amsterdam, and left Passau last night. We are currently on the way to Regensburg and have been told that we will not be having a ship swap and will stay on Viking Skadi all the way to Amsterdam. We docked between Passau and Regensburg in the middle of the night, and I asked the crew why we had stopped. The answer was that water levels were rising from rain near the Black Forest, and that we were waiting for the river to rise a bit more. We then departed at around 5:30am and are currently bound for Regensburg. I saw what looked like an extremely low water area near a large power plant along the river. There were a lot of rocks showing and the ship slowed down considerably as we traversed that area. Otherwise, we are moving steadily.

On 10/20/2023 at 7:23 PM, Dbpeds01 said:

Greetings: 

We will be cruising on the Viking EMBLA from 10/23, we are watching the water levels as she approaches Hungary. For now we are prepared to have to go to Komarom, we just need to see how to link with Viking to be brought to the ship. How did it work for others?  We will be getting in on 10/22 then staying the night near the usual docking spot. Thanks 

Hi Dbpeds01. We arrived in Budapest on Saturday for the Grand European Tour, sailing on the Viking Skadi from Budapest to Amsterdam. We flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, arranged by Viking. When we arrived in Frankfurt a Viking representative was waiting as we disembarked the aircraft and escorted us as well as many other Viking clients to the gate of our next flight to Budapest. You should have received an envelope from Viking with round red transfer stickers with the Viking emblem printed on them with instructions to put them on your shirt, dress or jacket before you come off your aircraft in Budapest or whatever the city that Viking flew you into for your cruise. That envelope would also contain a leather luggage tag for each person on your booking as well as paper tags with your name, the name of your ship and the stateroom number, which you place on each piece of your luggage after you pick your bags up from the carousel in the airport. As you come off your aircraft, retrieve your luggage and clear customs (if you didn’t clear at a previous airport), Viking representatives will be waiting and watching for you. You cannot miss them. They watch for the red transfer sticker on your shirt, dress, jacket, etc., and they will make sure you get on the right bus to your ship. They were very efficient with our party of six, and they got us on the right bus that took us from Budapest airport to the Viking Skadi, which was waiting at Komárom due to low water downstreamv at Budapest. I have heard that folks on other Viking cruises starting in Budapest have also been taken to hotels in Budapest for two days before being bussed to Vienna, where they board their ship. So, it really depends on the cruise you are on. But the process of finding Viking representatives is the same, regardless.

3 minutes ago, TriMomma said:

Heading to the airport for our Budapest to Regensburg cruise with Emerald.  Just received an email that we will be put up in a hotel in Budapest then bused to Vienna on day 2.  We were supposed to be in Vienna on Day 4.  Don’t really know where we will end up.  

We will be heading to the airport later this afternoon for the first of four flights that it takes to get to Budapest for our Grand European Tour cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam with Viking. Like you, we received an email yesterday from Viking that our ship cannot get to Budapest due to low water conditions, and we will be bussed to Komárom which is about 1hr/58 miles upstream, where we will board our ship. I’m thankful for this, as I was worried that we would be put in a hotel in Budapest and then bussed upriver a few days later. Hope you have a great cruise irregardless of this hiccup at the beginning of it. Thats Global Warming. What can you do?🙂

18 minutes ago, kpgclark said:

Aloha! We are on the same cruise. See you soon. I really hope Viking offers routine shuttles into Budapest and not just for scheduled tours. We were, of course, expecting to dock in town and enjoy the city on our own at our own pace. As that is now impossible Viking should really offer shuttles at defined times to allow passengers to explore Budapest.

I would think that Viking will allow passengers to ride the busses to Budapest even if you are not signed up for one of the planned excursions. However, those busses will most likely be leaving at the times that correspond with the planned excursions. Maybe you could talk with the Viking cruise director to see if they can accommodate you to go exploring on your own. We had the same plan, to go exploring Budapest from the ship that would be moored there. It will take us over 24 hours and four flights to get to Budapest from where we live, so we may save our exploring for Sunday instead of Saturday. Maybe taking a walk into Komárom will suffice for Saturday afternoon, instead of getting on the bus and going back to Budapest.🙂

Aloha all. We arrive in Budapest on Saturday 10/21 for the Viking Grand European Tour. A few days ago I received an email from Viking advising that due to low water conditions our ship was being changed from the Viking Bragi to the Viking Skadi. Then today I received an email advising that our cruise will now start in Komárom instead of Budapest, and that we will be bussed to the ship there and then bussed back to Budapest for any excursions we are signed up for. Since Viking changed the ship we will be sailing on, I would imagine that they might be planning a ship swap somewhere upriver in Germany, but are not confirming it just yet. Komárom is not that far from Budapest, so we are ok with the short bus ride to and from there. But I am concerned about the potential for a much longer bus ride if we have to do a ship swap upstream. If any of you are currently in transit to Budapest from Amsterdam or from Amsterdam to Budapest and can share updates on river level conditions as well as whether Viking has been doing any ship swaps on your cruise, I would appreciate it much. Thanks!