Kristal Blade

Hi Tigerlily, We will be on Westerdam in March so following along with you. Hope you and your daughter have a lovely time. Looking forward to hearing about your onboard experience as well as your ports of call. Enjoy every day!

No problem, reading CC posts is more entertaining that the Royal Variety Performance!

Hi Villauk, we have never taken malaria pills for India. Check the government site carefully as the recommendations may be for specific areas at certain times of year, perhaps at monsoon time. We have visited in December to March. In December it’s lovely weather. Warm, not too humid and clear skies. But if you are in Mumbai you may find it a lot more humid than home. I would imagine November would be similar. You are well out of monsoon season by then. In Mumbai we did a terrific private tour, just me and my husband, where we went with a guide to about 3 or 4 restaurants plus Crawford Market. It was good to have a guide taking us into restaurants that we wouldn’t have gone into on our own! But if you want a taste of luxury book yourself in for afternoon tea at the Taj Palace Hotel. We stayed there for 3 nights and it was the best hotel we have ever experienced. I hope you enjoy India, the people are lovely and the sights are wonderful.

We always decorate our door. My husband has memory problems and it helps him know when he is “home”! We have an Easter cruise this year and the chick decorations will be on our door.

Thank you, I have spent a happy few hours reading through the review. Definitely got me thinking seriously about this as our next river trip and Scenic sounds like our sort of company!

Thanks for this very comprehensive review. Im going to look at Scenic as a possible provider of our next river cruise. Your trip looks exactly what I want to do next, my husband will just follow along!

I am wondering about northern France. Not so bothered by the wine cruises but fancy seeing Giverney. We have had a land tour in Cambodia, visited dozens of temples! Having done lots of ocean cruises we appreciate unpacking once then being transported to each new destination without having to think about it so river cruises are a great alternative.

Good to know about the Douro, we are trying to decide which river to visit next. Going to stick to Europe as we have Japan and Australia cruises in the pipeline. Any suggestions??!

Thank you, notamermaid, We really appreciated your river info while we were pre cruise and also during our trip. We have returned home after a lovely cruise and are thinking about where to go next. All the best to you

Hi BillY There were lots of different river ship groups at the castle when we were there, including Viking and Ama. What was good about our trip was that there were different points where you could opt out. You just decided yourself where you wanted to spend longer. So lots of people stayed at the castle (maybe half the group) then some left at Heroes’ Square and our departure at the Chain Bridge was the last drop off before the return to the ship. I think maybe 6 or 8 people did the entire circuit. we are waking up at home after a full day of travel. We went from ship to coach to plane to 2 trains. But all went smoothly in spite of a delayed take off and landing time. Would we choose this time of year again? Good question. We loved the trip, it was lovely weather, much warmer than we had anticipated but the early darkness was annoying. I would think September or early October would be a great time to do this itinerary, but nobody seems to go at these times. It was pitch black by 6pm at the very latest, sometimes 5pm so not much to see out of the windows. I have returned home with a cold. Runny nose but no cough. One of our table mates lost his voice completely but had no sore throat. Lots of coughing round the ship so I’m not surprised I caught something. There was a real reluctance to “cover your cough” never mind mask up! Now to get back in the home routine! The washing machine will be on duty and we need to do the shopping, but I’m going to start my day with a yoga class!

We had a lovely final day In Budapest. Took the ship tour up to the castle and enjoyed lots of free time around the Fisherman’s bastion. We found some new statues and the Buda Tower which we had never seen before. Back on the coach we went to Heroes’ Square then jumped off the coach at the Chain Bridge we walked back to the Parliament via the Jewish shoe memorial. Such a simple monument, but so effective and poignant. We strolled slowly back to the ship and picked up what I think is a fun local gift for friends… you’re thoughts may vary. Anyway, paprika is everywhere, but not everyone would welcome 50g or more so I went slightly off piste and bought single packs of Knorr goulash flavour soup! I can pop one in an envelope and post to the friends I won’t see for a while. Back on board we did the dreaded packing. Managed to squeeze everything in, including all the soup. We had a folklore music and dance show before dinner. Very well done. It included a bit of audience participation which was fun. Our last dinner was good. We gave some additional tips to our servers. I know they are included but these ladies have worked hard to meet our preferences every night. Had one final night cap in the bar and a boogie with our Australian chums to AC/DC!

Our beautiful view… it’s great to wake up in Budapest!

I think both the clips should be ready to watch! The light levels were low, but it should give a better idea of the events.

I’m going to try adding a video now so you can get a better idea of the horse show. IMG_2232.mov IMG_2227.mov

We had a brilliant day yesterday. In the morning we won the quiz. The theme was Europe and the questions were a real mix of fun and general knowledge. Our prize was a bottle of fizz which we shared straight away. About 3 we arrived at Kalosca and we went straight to Pusta to the farm where we had a horse show. That was terrific! It was a windy, rainy day, but the rain stopped and we had seating under cover to watch the events. The arena was very muddy but the horses just galloped through it. We were given wine, palinka, bread spread with pig lard and sprinkled with paprika and a cheese scone. The bread with pig lard tasted better than it sounds. Back on board it was a quick change then off to the farewell gala dinner. We have just arrived in Budapest so the trip is nearly over, but we have had a fun time.

A misty start to our morning…

Yesterday was busy. We had a great visit to Novi Sad in Serbia. A very pretty town centre with a big central square with well preserved buildings. We visited the fortress first then moved into town. We took the bus tour organised by the ship. Mid morning there was a break at a little cafe and we split off from the group after that because it was an easy stroll back to the ship. We enjoyed visiting the outdoor market. Some delicious looking fruits and veg including some we didn’t recognise! We got back on board in time to get some lunch then spent the afternoon playing board games. The temperature has dropped a lot. It was only 11C first thing and we had on our hats and gloves as well as thicker jackets. We had a sprinkle of rain, but got back before the heavy rain started. Sadly we had our disembarkation talk in the evening. I think I will do some packing today as we don’t reach Kalocsa till the afternoon. I will try to post some pics from there later.

A very relaxing day on the Danube today. We woke up to mist but it cleared just enough for us to see this fortress. We spent the day chatting, eating crepes after a cookery demo, playing scrabble then being in a winning team in the music quiz. The prize was a bottle of palinka. We had a very pretty sunset tonight. We are getting ready for dinner now. Back to Serbia tomorrow.

Vidin was an interesting port stop. But we had rain! Only the second time this cruise so we aren’t complaining. Our first stop was the fortress. We enjoyed that a lot because you could clamber around inside looking into the different rooms. Several people gave upon that because the floor is made of big cobbles and in the rain they got slippy. The guide told us to make our own minds up about whether we should walk up the steep sloping floors or not. From there our bus took us to Belogradschik. It was a lovely drive. The last 25 minutes or so was along a twisty road up the side of a mountain with beautiful autumn trees lining both sides of the road. I loved it! Once in the town we were dropped at the fortress which gives great views of the unusual sculptured rocks. The pathways here were even more challenging. More slippy stones and lots of steps cut into the rocks. With the rain still being on it was quite treacherous in places but there were handrails at the worst bits. I have to admit I didn’t get to the top. The final staircase was a steep metal ladder type stair. I chickened out because I’m a bit of a pussy about heights! But I sent my hubby on to take some photos. The hour long drive back was made interesting by the guide playing some traditional folk songs and telling us about her life before communism. We were back right on time for lunch and there was a lovely, warming potato soup on offer. We have dried off our wet gear, but we won’t be needing it tomorrow because we don’t go ashore, we are cruising back through the gorges.

Oops, that’s what comes of posting after dancing the night away! No idea how so many pictures got attached to the post, but I’m sure you got the gist of the update in spite of the nonsense extras. We have arrived in Vidin and it’s a showery day. That won’t keep us in, we have our brollies and raincoats. Time to get the morning cuppa…

So, today was an epic journey, starting at 8am after a 6am breakfast. I have to admit we didn’t get to breakfast till about 7! We travelled from Rousse to a couple of Bulgarian towns, we drove through the countryside to Arbanasi to taste rose brandy then continued to Veliko Tournoso. We enjoyed the drive over the Danubian plain, we saw a coyote, but it was a long time on the coach for not much return. The fortress was a great sight, but the town itself was more of a tourist trap. We forgot the wallet so we bought nothing! we had a lovely dinner tonight then spent the after dinner time dancing in McGearys bar. It was a fun night, but I’m not sure it was appreciated by Capella as there was music in the lounge which we ignored! Right now we are experiencing a very disgusting smell in the lounge , like sewage. It’s not good to enter the lounge and be welcomed by a nasty niff. The staff are going round with a spray to counteract the smell, but it’s not really beating the smell. McGearys bar is fresh and pleasant so we prefer to dance there. Here are some of the views from today. A couple were from the coach so a bit wobbly.

Today we docked in Giurgiu, which is only 2.7km from Rousse! We go back there tomorrow. We had opted for the tour of Bucharest plus a village museum. It was described as an ethnographic museum and several passengers didn’t like the sound of that so they went for the alternative; a tour of the Parliament. Well, I think we got the better deal! Our coach took us to the Parliament, for a photo stop before the museum. We could have spent all day at the museum. It was delightful! Lots of cottages, churches, workshops etc that have been constructed or reconstructed to look like the original. Our guide did an introduction showing us the different styles of buildings and pointed out some from Transylvania. There was a lake in the museum grounds, windmills, water mills, pretty painted houses… it was so interesting and well laid out. And we saw a woodpecker up a tree. We haven’t seen much wildlife on this trip so woody was a bonus for us. From the museum we went to the old town via the embassy district. The guide pointed out various buildings of interest including the arch of triumph, bank buildings, newspaper offices. Too many to remember. We had free time for lunch and the guide suggested a restaurant which most of us opted for. I had a huge chicken Caesar salad, my husband had chicken and chips. Neither of us finished our meals! Unsurprisingly we both nodded off on the way back. Another sunny day on the Danube with the temperature in Bucharest at 22C. No jackets required today, just shirt sleeves. One Australian couple have had to buy T-shirts because they didn’t plan for these temperatures. Neither did we, but we had thinner shirts with us. Sadly no shorts and it was definitely shorts weather today and yesterday. Here are some views from the village and our view of the Parliament.

Hi BillY, there were no face to face checks. I wonder if we arrived earlier than expected and the coaches were booked for 1pm so they just had to keep us on board till then. I think the river cruise demographic are all very innocent. But then we all thought that about Fred Olson passengers till that couple were arrested for drug smuggling a few years ago!

We are on the Danube right now. We are in Romania today and it is very warm and very sunny. The temperatures have been in the 15 -21C range, not sure what that is in Fahrenheit. But we have been surprised how warm it has been from Budapest to here. We packed hats, scarves and gloves and have needed none of them. Maybe later in November it will be cooler. I’m thinking if you look at local weather conditions for the cities you might visit it will give you an idea of current weather plus a couple of weeks in advance which will help you think about how cold it might get.

Today we arrived in Bulgaria to visit Rousse, we arrived about 9.30 but because of passport checks etc we couldn’t get off till about 12.30. To keep us entertained a bingo game was organised. We escaped that by grabbing a Scrabble board and heading to the bar where all was quiet. We had moored beside Amaverde so no view from our room. Lunch was at 11.30, we skipped that. We didn’t have breakfast till about 8.40 because I had been to yoga stretch. We took a stroll round the riverside area then came back to the ship in time to hop on our tour bus. Rousse isn’t very big, but with sunshine and blue skies we enjoyed seeing the sights from the coach then strolling round with the guide. We split off on our own to go back to some of the buildings we had seen from the coach. We are now back on board, looking forward to afternoon tea so we can have a snack!