Just back, Emerald Waterways Splendours of Europe Amsterdam to Budapest. Review

[ChosenOne]

Andona, thanks for all the reviews. My sister & I sail early August on the Emerald Dawn from Budapest to Nuremburg...our first river cruise. You mention a digital clock in the room...is it an alarm clock? (one less thing to pack if it is) And you mentioned trivia nights. I am a trivia addict. Were the questions mostly general knowledge or did they cater to the Australians on board? or even better, is it trivia about the places were are visiting on the trip? I've heard Emerald sails with mostly Aussies on board which I think will be fun! We are from the U.S.. Love meeting people from other places. Thanks again for your help

[Old Thorny]

This isn't unique to Emerald. There are low bridges, so the wheelhouse needs to be lowered and the side railings on the sundeck brought down to deck level. When this happens they close the sundeck. I don't know how they decide whether to leave them down between bridges or bring them up and put them down again at the next bridge, but it takes time and effort, so they likely leave them down.

 

 

 

Thanks Andona. Great information.

 

 

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[Andona]

Andona, thanks for all the reviews. My sister & I sail early August on the Emerald Dawn from Budapest to Nuremburg...our first river cruise. You mention a digital clock in the room...is it an alarm clock? (one less thing to pack if it is) And you mentioned trivia nights. I am a trivia addict. Were the questions mostly general knowledge or did they cater to the Australians on board? or even better, is it trivia about the places were are visiting on the trip? I've heard Emerald sails with mostly Aussies on board which I think will be fun! We are from the U.S.. Love meeting people from other places. Thanks again for your help

 

Yes, the clock was an alarm clock :)

 

Each Game night had a different theme. The first night was called "Timelines" and the questions were mainly about events in history ( quite recent history, mainly)

 

The second was "A night with the Stars" and the questions were about mainly about movies,movie stars, songs from the movies and famous singers.

 

The third one was "Liars Club", each question was about a series of words from some of the languages we met with along the cruise, e.g. German, Slovakian, Hungarian etc. Three of the staff members would give a (usually hilarious!) definition for the word and we had to guess which was the correct one.

 

The last game was "Name that Tune" . They played snippets from a series of songs and we had to name the song and singer/songwriter of each tune. The songs were primarily from the 50s and 60s.

 

I don't remember that the questions were particularly geared towards a particular nationality, the timelines questions were about world events etc. they seemed to try to keep those questions fairy general. The "Name the Tune" night was probably pitched more to a particular age group rather than to a specific nationality - we bombed out on that one, would have done much better with songs from the 70s and 80s :')

 

They were all great fun and well organised, I don't know if they would use the same format on all the Emerald cruises but its probably somewhat similar?

 

As for nationalities on the boat , on our cruise there were a lot of Aussies ( including us :) ) and also a lot of Canadians, some Brits and a smaller group of Americans. Like you, I really enjoy chatting to people from all over the world.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy your cruise. :D For what it's worth , after our 2 weeks on board, we felt that we would probably have preferred to do a shorter cruise than the one we did, so Nuremberg to Budapest sounds perfect.

 

Andona

[FuelScience]

This isn't unique to Emerald. There are low bridges, so the wheelhouse needs to be lowered and the side railings on the sundeck brought down to deck level. When this happens they close the sundeck. I don't know how they decide whether to leave them down between bridges or bring them up and put them down again at the next bridge, but it takes time and effort, so they likely leave them down.

 

This is right, but some ships (Avalon and maybe Vantage) have an area in the front of the ship that's lower than the normal sun deck where passengers can stay even with low bridges--you may be asked to sit down! As you can see in the photo, the wheelhouse is down with the helmsman's head sticking out through the roof and the captain squatting. Nevertheless, two passengers are enjoying the view!

 

[ChosenOne]

Andona, thanks again!

[dhtteach]

This was very helpful and informative, thank you! I'm going on my first ever river cruise in August so your review is very timely for me.

 

 

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Would your August tour be August 10-24 starting in Budapest and ending in Amsterdam?? I have started a thread for our cruise only. Please check it out as we are looking to maybe book private tours a in a port or two. Deb Tudor

[dhtteach]

We are cruising the reverse itinerary - starting in Budapest and ending in Amsterdam. Thank you for your insight. I have started a thread for Splendors of Europe August 10-24. If anyone reading this is booked for that cruise, please check it out. I would be nice getting to know a few of our fellow passengers before we sail. Deb Tudor

[scluvsrain]

Hi. I'm on Tauck August 7 - 21. Budapest to Amsterdam. All of my tours are included in every port as part of the cruise fare.

 

 

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[dhtteach]

Sorry. Can't get your blog to open, Sherita.

[dhtteach]

Hi. I'm on Tauck August 7 - 21. Budapest to Amsterdam. All of my tours are included in every port as part of the cruise fare.

 

 

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Just to clarify, Emerald Waterways included tours in each port as well. These are included in the fare. I was looking at some optional tours and wondered if I could find a better price on my own. Last year when cruising the Mediterranean, we booked several private tours and saved lots of $$$. It may not be necessary this cruise as so much is included - tips, drinks, transfers and excursions. Deb Tudor

[scluvsrain]

Sorry. Can't get your blog to open, Sherita.

 

 

 

Really? I've checked it from the web directly and it opens fine for me. http://www.scluvsrain.blogspot.com.

 

I'll check the link in my signature. Thanks for letting me know.

 

 

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[dhtteach]

I got in this time.Thanks!

[scluvsrain]

I got in this time.Thanks!

 

 

 

Awesome!!

 

 

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[ChosenOne]

Andona: you said in your post you did the tour of Schonbrunn palace in Vienna. Since it runs the same time as the walking tour I know you can't do both. But did the bus back from the palace offer to drop people off in town so we could do our own sightseeing/shopping and then take a shuttle back to the boat later?

[I_r_a]

Than for sharing, A

 

Ira

[canagal]

Thinking about an Emerald Cruise next year. Thank you for all the information provided, how many extra excursions did you do?

[blackbird155]

Great review do know the cost of the drinks package we are sailing on emerald dawn in the summer I'm not much of a wine drinker but do like spirits just trying to way up whether it's worth getting a package or bringing a bottle of vodka on myself

 

 

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[Andona]

Andona: you said in your post you did the tour of Schonbrunn palace in Vienna. Since it runs the same time as the walking tour I know you can't do both. But did the bus back from the palace offer to drop people off in town so we could do our own sightseeing/shopping and then take a shuttle back to the boat later?

 

 

 

Yes, when our tour at the Schonbruun finished we were taken back along the Ringstrasse and the bus stopped at Schwedenplatz to drop off anyone who wanted to stay in the city. Those who didn't want to stay were then taken back to the boat. They were running shuttle buses to and from the boat all afternoon. We chose to stay in the city for a few hours and caught a bus back later.

Hope that helps

Andona

 

 

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[Andona]

Thinking about an Emerald Cruise next year. Thank you for all the information provided, how many extra excursions did you do?

 

 

 

My husband and I both did the Schonbrunn Palace tour and the Evening concert in Vienna. He also did the Brahaus tour. A couple of our friends did the Cesky Krumlov day tour .

Andona

 

 

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[Andona]

Great review do know the cost of the drinks package we are sailing on emerald dawn in the summer I'm not much of a wine drinker but do like spirits just trying to way up whether it's worth getting a package or bringing a bottle of vodka on myself

 

 

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They offered a few different packages. My recollection was that the basic package included beer and wine at any time of day and that cost around 9 Euro per person per day. There was a more expensive package that included spirits but I'm sorry I don't remember how much that was.

Andona

 

 

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[ChosenOne]

Again Andona, thanks for your help

[ChosenOne]

Andona, sorry to keep asking questions but.....do you recall how long the bus trip to Schonbrunn palace was? My sister & I are debating whether to take a private tour or not. Private tour takes public transportation and they say it is a 45 min journey to the palace. Part of the issue is that I have knee/leg issues. The Emerald tour is 4 hours. Are you only at the palace for 2 hours & the rest is travel time? Because 2 hours is long enough for me to walk around the palace! Also the Brahaus tour your hubby took..was that a lot of walking? I'm ok if it is slow or short walk & then standing for the guide to talk/point things out. My sister is a big beer "snob" so we may want to do that tour too,.

[Andona]

Andona, sorry to keep asking questions but.....do you recall how long the bus trip to Schonbrunn palace was? My sister & I are debating whether to take a private tour or not. Private tour takes public transportation and they say it is a 45 min journey to the palace. Part of the issue is that I have knee/leg issues. The Emerald tour is 4 hours. Are you only at the palace for 2 hours & the rest is travel time? Because 2 hours is long enough for me to walk around the palace! Also the Brahaus tour your hubby took..was that a lot of walking? I'm ok if it is slow or short walk & then standing for the guide to talk/point things out. My sister is a big beer "snob" so we may want to do that tour too,.

 

 

 

Hi ChosenOne, I'm happy to answer any questions [emoji4]

 

With the Schonbruun tour , the bus took about 30 to 40 minutes to get to the palace, it would have been quicker but we went through a lot of morning traffic. At the palace we were taken on a guided tour of about 20 rooms, that took roughly an hour? ( it's hard to remember exactly) we stopped in each room for a brief explanation of its use and history and decoration etc. We then had about an hour and a half of free time. We chose to walk through the gardens and up to the Gloriette and fountain at the top of the hill behind the palace. After walking back down we still had time for a coffee in one of the cafes in the Palace grounds before getting on the bus. If you didn't want to walk around the gardens there was time to visit one of the museums at the palace or to see the Strudel show in the cafe or to take a carriage ride or just relax and people watch in one of the cafes.

 

For the Brahaus tour, my husband said there was a fair bit of walking and some stairs but you did stop frequently along the way to see various parts of the process. The brewery he saw is located in a very unusual building which also houses artworks and sculptures, this added an extra interest to the tour. They had plenty of time at the end to sample a variety of different brews.

 

Hope that helps

Andona

 

 

 

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[ChosenOne]

Yes Andona, that helps a lot. :):D

[Weezo]

Really excellent review of your Emerald trip. We cruised Emerald in 10/15 from Amsterdam to Basel and had the same basic experiences. We're now considering a Danube cruise in July 2018. After reviewing options offered by AMA, Avalon, Viking and Emerald, we're thinking Classic Prague and Danube Delights on Emerald is the right choice for us. We feel it's an excellent value. We like that Emerald has a mix of Australians, British and North Americans. Do you remember what the cost was for the all-inclusive drink package?