AMAPrima Prague to Budapest

[alidor]

There are 2 of us. We also are staying 3 nights in Prague before the cruise and purchased AMA's transfers. We are spending 2 nights in Budapest.

 

Booked this a long time ago and glad to see it's coming up!

[purduemom1]

So we are up to nine CC members on this cruise. Does that qualify for a Cruise Critic party? OK, I'm joking. It won't be long now-time seems to be flying. Interesting that all of us are doing pre and post tours DIY. Based on what others on this forum have reported, most cruisers book the extensions thru' the cruise line. I for one am very grateful for all the information and help from CC members.

[lottapud1]

So we are up to nine CC members on this cruise. Does that qualify for a Cruise Critic party? OK, I'm joking. It won't be long now-time seems to be flying. Interesting that all of us are doing pre and post tours DIY. Based on what others on this forum have reported, most cruisers book the extensions thru' the cruise line. I for one am very grateful for all the information and help from CC members.

 

Where are you both staying during your time in Prague and Budapest. I thought it less expensive to be on our own and I like the ability to choose what we want to see and when we see it. It is coming soon, but not soon enough!

[purduemom1]

Where are you both staying during your time in Prague and Budapest. I thought it less expensive to be on our own and I like the ability to choose what we want to see and when we see it. It is coming soon, but not soon enough!

 

We are staying at the Hilton Old Town with a good rate that incl breakfast same hotel that AMA will be using. Looked at many in the Old Town area and finally decided on the Hilton. Should also make it very easy to join the larger group when we transfer to Vilshofen.

 

I see you are from Long Beach-Ca or NY?

[alidor]

We are at the Savic Hotel. Have read many very good reports about the hotel and it's supposed to be in a great location.

 

Wanted to stay at a local hotel while there.

[doglover214]

Can anyone suggest a private guide to use in Prague?

[caviargal]

Can anyone suggest a private guide to use in Prague?

 

Andrea Reznickova

Licensed guide in Prague and the Czech rep.

Andrejka2002@seznam.cz

tel. +420777930024

 

We have spent several days with her over the course of 2 visits and she is wonderful!

[sippican]

Can anyone suggest a private guide to use in Prague?

 

Without a doubt, one of the best private guides we have had in our many travels! She is flexible, a wealth of knowledge, funny, has excellent command of the English language, makes the content relevant from the past to the present, and will listen to your wants and needs. She guided our group of 10 and we all thought she was fantastic.

Dana Chaloupka

Your Tour guide in Prague and the Czech Republic

E-mail: danaguide@outlook.com

Cell Phone: +420 608 819 270

http://danatourguide.webnode.cz

[moatenote]

We were on the AMA Prima from Budapest to Prague (disembarked in Vilshofen) in late May and loved it! (we also had the Omelet guy who was a real pain). We stayed in the Budapest Marriott, right on the river, and felt the extra cost was worth every penny, for the wonderful views across the river of the castle, etc. We spent 3 nights in Bud and still didn't see everything.

 

In Prague, we stayed at the Arcadia Residence, right in the middle of Old Town and a true hidden gem (rated #1 on Trip Advisor for B&Bs). They even served breakfast in your room at your chosen time. The staff there were the best ever. The attic apartment was super.

[lottapud1]

We are staying at the Hilton Old Town with a good rate that incl breakfast same hotel that AMA will be using. Looked at many in the Old Town area and finally decided on the Hilton. Should also make it very easy to join the larger group when we transfer to Vilshofen.

 

I see you are from Long Beach-Ca or NY?

 

We are from Long Beach, CA...you?

[purduemom1]

We are from Long Beach, CA...you?

 

We are also from CA. I grew up in OC but these days we only visit a couple times a year. I see that the winery that is hosting our cruise is located in Temecula and advertised this cruise to their wine club members so there might be others from CA on board. It would be a bit of a hike for you but do you belong to that wine club? We do not.

[lottapud1]

We are also from CA. I grew up in OC but these days we only visit a couple times a year. I see that the winery that is hosting our cruise is located in Temecula and advertised this cruise to their wine club members so there might be others from CA on board. It would be a bit of a hike for you but do you belong to that wine club? We do not.

 

No, I don't belong to it, but have been there several times. They have an almond sparkling wine that everyone I have met loves. I think there will be other people from our area on the cruise since it is being hosted by that winery. I haven't been on one of AMA's wine cruises but am so looking forward to it because I love wine.

[CDreamer]

No, I don't belong to it, but have been there several times. They have an almond sparkling wine that everyone I have met loves. I think there will be other people from our area on the cruise since it is being hosted by that winery. I haven't been on one of AMA's wine cruises but am so looking forward to it because I love wine.

 

I was on AmaVida's Port Wine & and Flamenco cruise earlier this year and loved it. Enjoyed trying the different local wines and ports along the way.

 

Re: the Ca. vineyard: their almond sparkling wine is delicious - have you ever tried their chocolate port? If not, do so - it is really, really tasty! ;)

[purduemom1]

I was on AmaVida's Port Wine & and Flamenco cruise earlier this year and loved it. Enjoyed trying the different local wines and ports along the way.

 

Re: the Ca. vineyard: their almond sparkling wine is delicious - have you ever tried their chocolate port? If not, do so - it is really, really tasty! ;)

 

No, I don't belong to it, but have been there several times. They have an almond sparkling wine that everyone I have met loves. I think there will be other people from our area on the cruise since it is being hosted by that winery. I haven't been on one of AMA's wine cruises but am so looking forward to it because I love wine.

 

I've heard about their almond sparkling wine and wonder if they might treat us to some.....if they can ship it of course! Chocolate port...maybe that too??:)

[stretchcruz]

Sippican,

 

Did you ever have any followup from Andrea? We booked with her for April for 2 days and she has told us that she will be our guide. What was the name of the guide that you had? I believe I may email her and tell her that if she has to cancel that we don't want that guide. Thank you!!

[sippican]

Sippican,

 

Did you ever have any followup from Andrea? We booked with her for April for 2 days and she has told us that she will be our guide. What was the name of the guide that you had? I believe I may email her and tell her that if she has to cancel that we don't want that guide. Thank you!!

 

We have not contacted Andrea, nor has she followed up with me. I had hoped she would check in as I had expressed how anxious we were with the change.

That being said it is not my wish to present our guide negatively. She was a lovely person who listened to us as the day went by, but we were hot and tired, not knowing what it was we really wanted to see. Her name was Aniko Kiss; I believe she did her best. I thought that we had established our desires clearly to Andrea and somehow, that was not communicated. We saw many of the sites that the AMA group tour had covered the day before (I had sent the itinerary to Andrea). Out tour was heavy into history and city orientation, and not so much on the unique or unusual. The van was difficult to get in and out of (no step up provided). Lunch was phenomenal (which I believe Andrea arranged)!

Hopefully you will have a marvelous tour with Andrea!

[stretchcruz]

Thank you so much. I will definitely communicate with Andrea beforehand...we are doing cruise only so don't have a tour in Budapest.

We have been there before but our friends have not and we are renting an apt for 3 nights. We want to see what our friends would like to see and we are very flexible. Thanks again!!

[purduemom1]

We have not contacted Andrea, nor has she followed up with me. I had hoped she would check in as I had expressed how anxious we were with the change.

That being said it is not my wish to present our guide negatively. She was a lovely person who listened to us as the day went by, but we were hot and tired, not knowing what it was we really wanted to see. Her name was Aniko Kiss; I believe she did her best. I thought that we had established our desires clearly to Andrea and somehow, that was not communicated. We saw many of the sites that the AMA group tour had covered the day before (I had sent the itinerary to Andrea). Out tour was heavy into history and city orientation, and not so much on the unique or unusual. The van was difficult to get in and out of (no step up provided). Lunch was phenomenal (which I believe Andrea arranged)!

Hopefully you will have a marvelous tour with Andrea!

 

Thanks for the info. We are set to tour with Andrea in Nov. and I recently emailed her with as much I knew about our included AMA tour. She replied that she knew what AMA's tours included and we would not duplicate anything. I am also a bit worried about your van experience and certainly hope that Andrea's van is different. I have short legs and always have difficulty getting in and out of vans unless there is a step of some sort!

 

We have left our itinerary pretty much up to her but, like you, we aren't looking for an extensive history lesson-just enough to understand the significance of the sites we are seeing. For sure, we will not have heat to contend with......cold and maybe rain....but not heat.

[sippican]

Thank you so much. I will definitely communicate with Andrea beforehand...we are doing cruise only so don't have a tour in Budapest.

We have been there before but our friends have not and we are renting an apt for 3 nights. We want to see what our friends would like to see and we are very flexible. Thanks again!!

 

We did cruise only with AMA, but when we ended in Budapest, there was the usual included overview of the city. Are you beginning in Budapest?

 

Thanks for the info. We are set to tour with Andrea in Nov. and I recently emailed her with as much I knew about our included AMA tour. She replied that she knew what AMA's tours included and we would not duplicate anything. I am also a bit worried about your van experience and certainly hope that Andrea's van is different. I have short legs and always have difficulty getting in and out of vans unless there is a step of some sort!

 

We have left our itinerary pretty much up to her but, like you, we aren't looking for an extensive history lesson-just enough to understand the significance of the sites we are seeing. For sure, we will not have heat to contend with......cold and maybe rain....but not heat.

 

We had the same communication with Andrea. We repeated Gellert Hill (90 minutes), and Fishermen's Bastion to name a couple. We did enjoy visiting inside the church in the rock and participating in the wine tasting lunch.

I know what you mean about short legs, lol!

Truthfully, we did so much more the next day on our own. We rode the funicular, explored some of the back alleys of Castle Hill, took the metro over to Pest, found the Shoes by the Danube, did the Parliament Tour, shopped in the Marketplace, some visited the Gellert Baths, and just wandered.

I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.

[purduemom1]

We did cruise only with AMA, but when we ended in Budapest, there was the usual included overview of the city. Are you beginning in Budapest?

 

 

 

We had the same communication with Andrea. We repeated Gellert Hill (90 minutes), and Fishermen's Bastion to name a couple. We did enjoy visiting inside the church in the rock and participating in the wine tasting lunch.

I know what you mean about short legs, lol!

Truthfully, we did so much more the next day on our own. We rode the funicular, explored some of the back alleys of Castle Hill, took the metro over to Pest, found the Shoes by the Danube, did the Parliament Tour, shopped in the Marketplace, some visited the Gellert Baths, and just wandered.

I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.

 

We only have one day in Budapest so we hope the 4 hours we will spend with Andrea will be worth it. Just not sure how much we will see on the AMA tour because we don't arrive until 3:30 and it will be dark around 4:30. Hopefully our tour the next day with Andrea will be more comprehensive. Also hope I won't regret not packing a step stool...LOL.

[Familygoboston]

Sippican-

First, thanks for your wonderful review with details! Second, I am so glad that you had a great trip, after so much planning!:D

 

Lastly, we had enquired about Andrea Makay 9 months prior to our Sept AMAPrima cruise, and she was booked. I'm feeling glad about that now, because we instead booked her well reviewed colleague, Magdi Pelech. Since we booked her, she has been wonderful; very responsive and also has a great FB page with pictures and touring ideas almost daily! I will let everyone know how the actual touring goes after our late September trip, but I would not want to be shunted aside because someone is too busy with a bigger client or too busy because of all the notoriety that comes with being a "Rick Steve's" recommendation. I'm hopeful our actual tour experience will be as good and personal as the "pre trip planning" service has been!

 

I'm also going to investigate this cabin size issue...according to the AMA web deck plans, the BB twin balcony we booked is quite a bit larger in total square feet (220 sq ft) (AA and AB are 235 sq feet) than the traditional French balcony cat C (170 sq feet). That may not be true on other lines, I can't say, but certainly while the space might "look or feel" smaller due to the jut into the room, according to their website, the ACTUAL size of the cabin is larger (even accounting for the exterior space, which Sippi, you seem to think might even be smaller than the standard ocean balcony of 40-50 sq feet.) So, if assuming the "outside balcony" part is 50 sq feet, the BB and C cabins would in fact be the exact SAME size with the outside balcony accounting for EXTRA space with a BB cabin. Whether or not we will like this arrangement or the French balcony better, we will see after we sail, but unless their website is wrong; the BB exterior balconies isn't "taking space" from the cabin, it just appears that way.

 

I'll get lots of photos for you November folks ;)

 

Thanks again for your great review Sippican!

[sippican]

Sippican-

First, thanks for your wonderful review with details! Second, I am so glad that you had a great trip, after so much planning!:D

 

Lastly, we had enquired about Andrea Makay 9 months prior to our Sept AMAPrima cruise, and she was booked. I'm feeling glad about that now, because we instead booked her well reviewed colleague, Magdi Pelech. Since we booked her, she has been wonderful; very responsive and also has a great FB page with pictures and touring ideas almost daily! I will let everyone know how the actual touring goes after our late September trip, but I would not want to be shunted aside because someone is too busy with a bigger client or too busy because of all the notoriety that comes with being a "Rick Steve's" recommendation. I'm hopeful our actual tour experience will be as good and personal as the "pre trip planning" service has been!

 

I'm also going to investigate this cabin size issue...according to the AMA web deck plans, the BB twin balcony we booked is quite a bit larger in total square feet (220 sq ft) (AA and AB are 235 sq feet) than the traditional French balcony cat C (170 sq feet). That may not be true on other lines, I can't say, but certainly while the space might "look or feel" smaller due to the jut into the room, according to their website, the ACTUAL size of the cabin is larger (even accounting for the exterior space, which Sippi, you seem to think might even be smaller than the standard ocean balcony of 40-50 sq feet.) So, if assuming the "outside balcony" part is 50 sq feet, the BB and C cabins would in fact be the exact SAME size with the outside balcony accounting for EXTRA space with a BB cabin. Whether or not we will like this arrangement or the French balcony better, we will see after we sail, but unless their website is wrong; the BB exterior balconies isn't "taking space" from the cabin, it just appears that way.

 

I'll get lots of photos for you November folks ;)

 

Thanks again for your great review Sippican!

 

I am glad you enjoyed my review.

I am sure you will enjoy your tour of Budapest, I have heard wonderful things about your guide. I still feel badly about our experience because I had booked it for our entire group of friends. But, lesson learned, in the future I will inquire as to cancellation policies of private guides. It was probably too late for us to make alternate plans, but as an "uberplanner" I like to be in control. :)

I am looking forward to hearing your impressions of the cabins regarding the space issue. The outside balcony is teeny, definitely smaller than any ocean cruise balcony; nowhere near 50 square feet, I'd be surprised if it's 20! Our cabin was wider than our friends' French balcony cabin, so the website figures seem accurate. Either way, they are very nice cabins.

Have a wonderful trip, I can't wait to hear all about it.

[wednesday]

Sippican-

First, thanks for your wonderful review with details! Second, I am so glad that you had a great trip, after so much planning!:D

 

Lastly, we had enquired about Andrea Makay 9 months prior to our Sept AMAPrima cruise, and she was booked. I'm feeling glad about that now, because we instead booked her well reviewed colleague, Magdi Pelech. Since we booked her, she has been wonderful; very responsive and also has a great FB page with pictures and touring ideas almost daily! I will let everyone know how the actual touring goes after our late September trip, but I would not want to be shunted aside because someone is too busy with a bigger client or too busy because of all the notoriety that comes with being a "Rick Steve's" recommendation. I'm hopeful our actual tour experience will be as good and personal as the "pre trip planning" service has been!

 

I'm also going to investigate this cabin size issue...according to the AMA web deck plans, the BB twin balcony we booked is quite a bit larger in total square feet (220 sq ft) (AA and AB are 235 sq feet) than the traditional French balcony cat C (170 sq feet). That may not be true on other lines, I can't say, but certainly while the space might "look or feel" smaller due to the jut into the room, according to their website, the ACTUAL size of the cabin is larger (even accounting for the exterior space, which Sippi, you seem to think might even be smaller than the standard ocean balcony of 40-50 sq feet.) So, if assuming the "outside balcony" part is 50 sq feet, the BB and C cabins would in fact be the exact SAME size with the outside balcony accounting for EXTRA space with a BB cabin. Whether or not we will like this arrangement or the French balcony better, we will see after we sail, but unless their website is wrong; the BB exterior balconies isn't "taking space" from the cabin, it just appears that way.

 

I'll get lots of photos for you November folks ;)

 

Thanks again for your great review Sippican!

 

I have a BB on the Prima in December, can't wait to see your photos and get your insight on it!

[stretchcruz]

Sipping yes we begin in Budapest

[Familygoboston]

I don't usually do live reviews or blogs because on most trips I've got to pay for Internet service, but since we have free internet on AMA, I'm hoping to do a at least a brief blog post each night...we will see how busy I am and how reliable the service is in various countries ;) but when I return I will definitely have a full review with hubbies photos and lots of info, as I do for most of my trips. I hope to have extra info on my own blog too (still working on getting my web blog established) :D