50_state_tour_momma

My husband and I just took our first river cruise, Viking's Danube Christmas Markets from Passau to Budapest, last December. We had taken a number of ocean cruises before.

As to the shore excursions, it kind of varied. Viking always deivided the group into smaller groups, but they did use the usual coach buses. That gives you some idea of size of groups, although our buses (in December) were never full. Once at the location, the groups do scatter as much as possible for the venue.

We liked the Viking-included walking tours, especially those in the smaller towns, best. Since many of the guides were local people, I'm not sure you could get better people by hiring on their own, but you could get a smaller group. I found the tours to be interesting and well-organized. Other than the obligatory bathroom stop (when they always had something interesting to look at so you didn't just waste time waiting), I didn't find the group size obnoxious and I am not a big-group person.

The Budapest city tour was our least favorite --- it was a larger city and alot of bus time to do the overview of such a large city. Once we got to the cathedral and got out to move around it was fine, but the bus part of it was just not good.

Viking uses an audio sound system for their tours. You keep it in your cabin and plug it in overnight, bringing it with you on your tours. When you get to your tour, your specific tour guide will give you a channel number that you key into. The guide's narration comes through your headset. I'm explaining all this because it lets you spread out from the tour a bit, so it is not so crowded together to hear what is being said. That makes it a lot better.

River cruising is different from ocean cruising, especially as to the shore excursions. Others on the boards tried to tell me just to calm down and let our trip happen and not worry so much about the shore excursions. I had a hard time believing it, but they were right. On the river cruise, the events just kind of come to you. It is not as much about doing fabulous things (like ziplining or sailing or scuba or whatever) and more about being where you are and soaking it in. That all said, there are some (many) fabulous independent guides in these cities and we hired a couple of great ones for our pre-cruise in Prague. Have a great cruise!

Thank you so much for the information. My blood pressure went down (although the comment about low water levels now has my attention, thanks, JazzBeau) and I am working hard to get my need for control under control. I am going to chill-ax. I am really looking forward to the trip and all the details you provided on the general flow of the trip and your knowledge as helped alot. As usual, Cruise Critic comes through. Thanks to all.

We are taking Viking on the Danube from Prague to Budapest for the Christmas markets this December. This is our first river cruise, although we have taken a number of ocean cruises. I don't understand the schedules and inclusions at the ports. I haven't gotten any specific on arrival/depart times or about the shore excursion offerings. Is this common for river cruising? How do I know if I want to book something separately ahead of time if I don't know what is offered? For example, I have heard that there is an optional offered by many lines in Vienna that is a little concert, but I have no details to figure out if planning on that versus doing our own reservations is a better plan. Likewise, what time do we get into Budapest (last port)? As a controlling type, this is making me kind of crazy. Suggestions?