Crystal Mozart over Easter - Finally Booked

[ClefsDor]

So excited that we've finally booked a cruise on the Mozart over Easter. Cruise departs on 12 April and we can't wait. We arrive in Vienna late on the 10th and will spend the day before the cruise exploring Vienna. We're flying from Australia and will no doubt be a tad jet lagged so having a day in town before embarking will be good.

 

We've never done a river cruise before but we have sailed on both of Crystal's ocean ships. I'll post every few days while we are on board. If anyone has any specific questions please let me know and I'll try to find out and answer once we are on board. I'm crossing fingers the weather will be brisk and cool with bright clear skies, but I'm not sure that will happen. In any case I think the pros of travelling at this time of year is less crowds and walking/exploring for me is much nicer and easier when it's not overly hot.

[JohnKen3]

Are you tagging on stays after the cruise?

 

Definitely do some homework for the following.

Look into booking your own tickets for the Spanish Riding School. There are proper shows at the weekends, not sure about weekday.

Consider a show at the Opera House in Budapest or in Vienna if you are into such shows.

https://www.budapestopera-tickets.com/events-month/en/1/04-2017/Hungarian-Opera-House-April-2017.html

https://www.music-opera.com/en/205-vienna?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=%2Bopera+%2BVienna

 

I have yet to work out how to see the Vienna Boy's choir sing other than on Sundays evening at the royal chapel.

 

Not sure about Vienna and Budapest, but I can tell you that Prague is already full of tourists by March.

[ClefsDor]

Unfortunately we are short of time and will need to head straight back home on the day the cruise ends - we do have one day in Vienna pre cruise but I think we will just do lots of walking and exploring on our own. Thanks for the link to the concerts in Budapest - I'll look into what's on during our stay.

[Got2Cruise]

One thing I regret not doing in Vienna is not having the time for Viennese coffee and pastries at a cafe. Try to make the time.

[ClefsDor]

One thing I regret not doing in Vienna is not having the time for Viennese coffee and pastries at a cafe. Try to make the time.

 

We will definitely be making time for this, at least once if not more! :)

[JohnKen3]

http://souvenirfinder.com/2014/03/14/best-cafes-vienna-coffee-cake-schnitzel/

 

Shirin - have you decided where you might stay the night before the cruise?

[ClefsDor]

http://souvenirfinder.com/2014/03/14/best-cafes-vienna-coffee-cake-schnitzel/

 

Shirin - have you decided where you might stay the night before the cruise?

 

Thanks so much for the link - I'm trying to gather as much information as I can in regard to coffee houses and where we should dine so this will come in very handy. I recently watched Rick Stein's long weekends episode in Vienna -

(JohnKen3, being from the UK you might be familiar with this program), and it got me even more excited.

 

This trip for us is going to be a little different as we are trying to do it on a budget. We have a lot booked this year - just did a 15 night cruise on Symphony, July we're having a vacation with family staying in an Amanvilla in Bali and doing an African Holiday cruise for 16 nights in December. I was desperate to do a river cruise on the Mozart but didn't want to go in warm weather and over Easter we don't use as much annual leave given all the public holidays. So we got the tickets on points (can't believe we managed to snag first class points tickets on Emirates A380 - that will be an experience in itself!)) booked a fixed window cabin (maybe the upgrade God will smile on us, ha ha), and staying in a modern budget hotel (Motel One in Staatstopper) this is where Rick Stein stayed and I must say for the price it looked pretty good and gets very good reviews on Tripadvisor as well as being in the city centre and walking distance to a lot of the major attractions. On our first night we get in very late so might just ask the hotel for a nearby watering hole if we are hungry and for the night before the cruise I am quite happy to go to a traditional beisl - thinking of Griechenbeisl (http://www.griechenbeisl.at/page.asp/lang%3Den/24.htm) which is one of the oldest inns in Vienna and has, as one would expect a nice traditional menu.

We will come back to Vienna, and next time we'll do a more luxurious hotel etc but for now I'm just excited to be going!

[JohnKen3]

Motel One Staatstopper is a great location. Definitely the part of Vienna I was going to recommend.

 

You are a minute's walk away from the Opera House and about 10 mins walk away from the Royal Palaces and Spanish Riding School. One of the Michelin Restaurants offered by Crystal, Le Ciel at the Grand Hotel Wien is about 5 minutes walk away.

 

You must try this restaurant! Long queues so reservations are needed. Portions of schnitzel are massive - larger than the plates they are served on. Prices are very reasonable and its typical Austrian food.

 

https://www.figlmueller.at/en/figlmueller-wollzeile-en.html

 

 

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Edited February 14, 2017 by JohnKen3

[Wirral Girlie]

Thank you for all this useful information you two!!

We shall be sailing on the Mozart in August which was a replacement for our 5 day cruise on Debussy that was cancelled.

JohnKen, I followed your recent blog which was brilliant andI'm sure I shall be asking plenty of questions before August!!

[ClefsDor]

Motel One Staatstopper is a great location. Definitely the part of Vienna I was going to recommend.

 

You are a minute's walk away from the Opera House and about 10 mins walk away from the Royal Palaces and Spanish Riding School. One of the Michelin Restaurants offered by Crystal, Le Ciel at the Grand Hotel Wien is about 5 minutes walk away.

 

You must try this restaurant! Long queues so reservations are needed. Portions of schnitzel are massive - larger than the plates they are served on. Prices are very reasonable and its typical Austrian food.

 

https://www.figlmueller.at/en/figlmueller-wollzeile-en.html

 

 

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Figlmueller looks great. Might try and book for lunch. JohnKen3, which Michelin restaurant did you choose on your cruise in December? Not sure if I remember you mentioning it on your blog? We are veering towards Costes in Budapest as we will already have a couple of evenings in Vienna.

[JohnKen3]

We were originally booked into the Wine Kitchen in Budapest but changed to Le Ciel in Vienna when they changed nights in Budapest due to the river level. The Wine Kitchen has good food but just looks like a Bistro. Le Ciel looks and feels like what a proper Michelin star should look like. It had great reviews for lunch (which we did) but mainly negative feedback for dinner.

 

Do not know about Costes.

 

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[ClefsDor]

We chose Costes over Winekitchen for exactly the reason you stated about Le Ciel - it looks and feels like a Michelin should. I thought the Michelin events were only available at dinner and not at lunch time? In any case that appears to be the case on our cruise. I will report back as I know you have another cruise booked on Mozart later this year. I can also see that some of the excursions are different too. I read some reviews where guests were taken to Cafe Sacher and there was a special reserved section for them. avoiding long queues but I don't this is on offer for our cruise.

[JohnKen3]

Sadly many of the excursions in 2017 are different to those on 2016.

 

 

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