Anyone sail on MS Little Prince (Der Kleine Prinz) or book with SmarTours ?

Anyone sail on MS Little Prince (Der Kleine Prinz) or book with SmarTours ?

They have an interesting cruise, different itinerary - 10 Night Cruise

Problem is I can't find any info on this river cruiseline or the Travel Agent and the price is so much lower that others.

http://www.smartours.com/danube.htm

Vienna

Bratislava

Budapest

Pec (Mohac)

Novi Sad

Belrade

Iron Gates - Turnu Severin

Vidin

Buharest

(1 night hotel) Vienna

dcl,

I doubt you´ll find anyone answering your question about the boat. I was searching for the whereabouts of this boat online and couldn´t find anything. As far as I know this boat (and a sister boat) were owned and operated by a Swiss company which went bankrupt about a year ago or so. So far this boat has been on the German market (that´s why you won´t find anyone on this board having traveled on this boat). The only thing I know is that this boat was able to accomodate a whole group of wheelchair bound travelers (o.k., this information doesn´t help you). I once read a (German) review about this cruise.

steamboats

Can you remember what the German review said?

traveljunky,

This was a very special review as the group was all wheelchair bound. I remember they liked the trip very much and also the boat. The crew was very helpful. But anyway it was an older review under the former ownership.

steamboats

I'm going on this cruise beginning 7/6 in Brasov and ending in Vienna 7/15. Looks like the reverse of what you are doing. I've traveled with Smartours before, once to Thailand (a fantastic trip and fantastic tour guide), and another time to France, which was a little disappointing (not a great tour guide).

If you google the ship name you will find some information. Here's one site for you: http://valuecruises.net/Vessel.aspx?dest=Europe&VesselID=18

I am leaving on July 4th for the MS Little Prince cruise from Bucharest to Vienna with Smartours. Do you have any pertinent info or advice. Thank you.

We must be on the same cruise . I arrive in Bucharest on 7/3 and am doing the Dracula Castle extension. The cruise I'm on begins midnight 7/6. I'm leaving Palm Springs tomorrow morning and will overnight in NY before my flight to Bucharest on 7/2. Can't think of any info or advice for you - is there anything in particular you'd like to know? I'm traveling alone. Are you?

Thanks for your reply. I will be traveling with my husband and hope that I will get to meet you. I'm from the Philadelphia area and will not be leaving until Friday. Have a good time on the pre-trip. Sorry I took so long to answer.

Yo-

I have posted a mini review in another thread in this section - encourage you to read it as it may be the only one out there-eh!! :rolleyes:

Happy Cruisin'

Mike

LindaGail 44 or Bakka: Did you both go on the SmarTours Danube Discovery cruise in 2008? If so, did you ever need local currency in the various countries other than Euros that they use on the boat? How did you handle laundry for so long? Thanks, Teresa

I am departing on the 12th. of May on the 'Little Prinze'. I am looking forward to it based on the itinerary.

I have taken a couple of trips with Smartours (they were land tours to the far East) and they were wonderful. The people who take these trips are generally seasoned travelers. Hotels are always "good", sometimes even "deluxe", with an exception once in a while. I was thinnking about this cruise... have you heard anytiong about the ship?

My friend and I are also looking at this cruise.

Papa D.. Hope you'll be able to help out. Did you enjoy the cruise? Any helpful hints or comments?

I have heard good things about Smartours, but haven't been on any myself.

Thanks to anyone who replies. :)

I'm not familiar with that ship, but I did use Smartours for a Tahiti/Sydney trip a couple of years ago. I too had trouble finding much info about the company but decided to take the "risk" of booking anyway.

It was an incredible experience! We were asking ourselves the entire trip how the company managed to do so much for so little money. It wasn't a luxury tour, but it was solidly mid-range rather than budget. Part of it clearly came from their negotiations with airlines...the Air Tahiti Nui tickets we received indicated on them that the full LAX-PPT-SYD-LAX itinerary had been purchased for under $400 per person! Quite a few people on the tour with us had used Smartours for MANY past trips and just kept coming back, which said good things to me.

Good luck, and I hope those considering this trip have a great time and report back if they go!

Addendum: The photo I use for my avatar here was actually taken from the balcony of the hotel room I had with Smartours in Tahiti!

Smartours has good value for the money. We were with them last year to the hill tribes of Northern Thailand/Cambodia. If you don't mind being on a bus it is a great introduction to an area where you haven't been. (Although we had been to Cambodia before independently) Nice clean mid-priced hotels, even up scale in some areas, breakfast and air fare included. We would use them again.

Bonnie

Tasmin and Slievedonard, thank you for your responses. I think we're going to book the river cruise tomorrow with Smartours.

One question. They charge extra to use credit cards. Did you pay by check or pay extra? I really prefer using a credit card.

Thanks again.

Hello Linda: We paid by check since the fee that they charged to use credit cards was too high. We would have preferred to use a credit card but since the trip was such a good bargain we decided it was worth paying with a check.

Bonnie

We also paid by check to avoid the credit card fee (though as I recall, the credit card fee wasn't THAT outrageous). We knew we were taking a risk in doing so and were prepared to lose our money if anything happened, but we'd probably make the same choice again. Have a great trip, Linda!

Anyone seeking current info for this ship let me know.

I just got back from the 10 night Bucharest to Vienna

10/18-28 2010

Hi!

My friend and I were scheduled to take the reverse cruise in September. Unfortunately, I broke my elbow, so we had to cancel. Would love to learn about your cruise so we can decide whether to go next year.

Thanks!

Anyone seeking current info for this ship let me know.

I just got back from the 10 night Bucharest to Vienna

10/18-28 2010

YES!!! I would enjoy reading all about your cruise......!!! :D

We are also looking at the cruise, Centavo25. I would be very interested in your feedback on the ship and the trip. Thanks

We, also, would like to hear about recent experiences on this boat.

I am also interested in this cruise, any information will be helpfull.

We were not on this river cruise, but we have done three land tours with Smartours and the Ukraine River Cruise. Every trip was very professionally organized and great value for the cost. All of our fellow travelers were well-traveled and highly educated. Many were repeaters.

They do not advertise and you need to get on their mailing list.

The river boat in Ukraine was very basic, but it was an adventure, not a luxury cruise. That was in 2007, hopefully the boats are more modern now.