Danube River Cruise pictures

Pictures of our Danube Christmarket cruise from Nurnberg to Vienna are now on Webshots. The last set on page 3.

http://community.webshots.com/user/rcicruisers

Not too many pics of the markets as they all look the same. We didn't go for them, anyway. Still working on a review, will post it when complete.

Hi PaulWN,

Great pics! Enjoyed the slide show!

Mary

Thanks Mary

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I enjoyed looking at them. Your Nurnberg/Vienna looked familiar. Only I think I'm glad I saw them in Aug. Skies were blue and flowers and green hillsides etc. and not cold either.

PaulWN,

It did look cold and dark in December. Makes me wonder if we should go when things are more scenic, flowers, etc. We would be going from NE and the climate, etc. would be the same. However, doing the Christmas markets is very appealing. Decisions, decisions, etc. LOL Prices are better also in Nov. & Dec.

Will also check out GCT, they are right here in Boston. Have checked out Vantage & going to check out UET also. So far Vantage has the best price.

Mary

Paul the pictures were wonderful. Thank you, Joy

Thanks for setting up the photo album. I was surprised that there wasn't more snow in Dec for the Christmas mkts. Did you just have unusually warm weather or was in just cold and no snow? Definitely encourages us to do the Christmas mkts cruise. How were the hotels as far as location in town and access to shops?The room on the boat seemed small, but that I know is the norm. Loved the pix of Vienna - brought back memories of my time there yrs ago. I also looked at your China pix as that is in our plans as well. Other friends did China just on land only but we're looking at the cruise & land combo. Any insight in planning for China - like what you would have done different if you had the chance to redo the trip - same for Christmas mkts. Love these boards for the great source of info!!:p

For the whole trip it was a damp cold with some wind. The only snow was on the way to Salzburg as the pictures show. We were lucky as a week or 2 after we came home the heavy snows hit most of that area. Mostly in the thirties (F) during the day. But, since most of us have lived in Florida for a while, we really felt it. Some folks caught colds while there. I was lucky and didn't get one until the day after we came back.

We wouldn't do anything different except maybe do the precruise in Munich. The folks that did said it was very good. I would definitely do Vienna again. Even with 3 days, we didn't see everything we would have liked to. The hotel in Vienna was in an OK location. We had to take either the subway or the bus downtown, but it was not too bad. You can buy a pass for 5 euro for unlimited use of the transportation system. Just be careful on the busses. On the way back to our hotel one night on a very crowded bus, one of our group had hiw pocket picked. Luckily all they got was one credit card and he found that it was gone right after we got off the bus. He called the company and notified them. They had already flagged his account as a withdrawal of 450 euro had been attempted. When they say watch out for pickpockets, they mean it. Luckily that was the only incident on the trip.

As for China, we saw everything we wanted to except for Guillin which wasn't part of the tour. My wife has always wanted to see the mountains there. There are some tours that include most of what we saw and also goes to Guilin and Hong Kong. If possible, we would like to go back in 2009 or 2010 to see the changes the dam has made and include Guilin in that trip. Other than that, we wouldn't change a thing. I think if you go to China and don't spend a few days on the Yangtze, you miss seeing one of the great highways of the world. There's an enormous amount of traffic on the river.

The China trip and the trip to Norway are by far our favorites so far. We hope to also get back to Norway someday.

chrismch,

I haven´t been on that cruise but I´m living in Munich and I remember quite well what weather we had as I gave Joy some hints for her pre cruise stay. Generally: do not expect much snow in December except in Austria (Salzburg might be the best place for it). Usually we get snow in late December and more in January. We had some early snow this winter in late November but exactly the weekend of the pre cruise stay in Munich it started to rain and all the snow was gone. As most of the area you´re plying isn´t quite high in elevation there´s even less snow. Sure you´ll find some in the Alps at that time of the year but not near the Danube River. Temperatures might be mainly in the 30ies at this time of the year.

Sorry, that I have to disappoint you regarding the snow!

steamboats

By the way: current temp is 16°F and about an inch of snow

Hi Steamboats we really enjoyed Germany and Austria. The information you gave me was so helpful thank you again. It is nice to see you on the boards again. Happy Sailing, Joy

Hi Joy,

I´m glad you enjoyed your trip! I´m sorry for the rain in Munich which started that weekend you´ve arrived.

steamboats