AmaWaterways AmaMagna: Vilshofen to Budapest - Excursion Thoughts?

[Hanse4]

Hi All - Going with friends this year on the AmaWaterways AmaMagna.  (Vilshofen to Budapest)    

 

We are looking at the various excursions and while does not look like any would be a mistake, would be interested in the thoughts of those who have already completed.  We are open to any including the biking excursions.  

For Passau we are pretty sure that we would do the 'three cities walking tour, and think we are set on Vienna during the day (Imperial Vienna Tour and Schönbrunn Palace & Gardens) but currently have not settled on Linz or Melk/Spitz.

 

For Linz -  options are the 1/2 day excursions in morning  (so choose between two excursions ) and the one 1/2 day in the  afternoon or full day in Salzburg.  

For Melk/Spits -options are again choosing between two 1/2 day excursions in the morning and the choosing among 3 different 1/2 excursions in the afternoon. 

OK - for Vienna   We also know there is an option Mozart & Strauss concert in Vienna at night.  Has anyone done?

 

[jsn55]

1 hour ago, Hanse4 said:

Hi All - Going with friends this year on the AmaWaterways AmaMagna.  (Vilshofen to Budapest)    

 

We are looking at the various excursions and while does not look like any would be a mistake, would be interested in the thoughts of those who have already completed.  We are open to any including the biking excursions.  

For Passau we are pretty sure that we would do the 'three cities walking tour, and think we are set on Vienna during the day (Imperial Vienna Tour and Schönbrunn Palace & Gardens) but currently have not settled on Linz or Melk/Spitz.

 

For Linz -  options are the 1/2 day excursions in morning  (so choose between two excursions ) and the one 1/2 day in the  afternoon or full day in Salzburg.  

For Melk/Spits -options are again choosing between two 1/2 day excursions in the morning and the choosing among 3 different 1/2 excursions in the afternoon. 

OK - for Vienna   We also know there is an option Mozart & Strauss concert in Vienna at night.  Has anyone done?

 

I'd go back to Salzburg in a heartbeat.  Melk's famous abbey is quite something.  If I had the stamina, I'd book everything they're offering for Vienna.  A bike tour anywhere in Europe is always a treat.  And you are RIGHT, no ShoreX on that itinerary would be a mistake.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

After our cruise, which ended in Budapest, we hired a driver to take us back to Vienna for a 1-week post cruise stay.  We had two days in Vienna on the cruise, but we wanted more. It was not an AmaWaterways cruise; different line.

 

Vienna was wonderful.  We attended an opera and an orchestral performance.  We overate Manner cookies from the Manner Shop on Stephansplatz.  

[CastleCritic]

6 hours ago, Hanse4 said:

Hi All - Going with friends this year on the AmaWaterways AmaMagna.  (Vilshofen to Budapest)    

 

We are looking at the various excursions and while does not look like any would be a mistake, would be interested in the thoughts of those who have already completed.  We are open to any including the biking excursions.  

For Passau we are pretty sure that we would do the 'three cities walking tour, and think we are set on Vienna during the day (Imperial Vienna Tour and Schönbrunn Palace & Gardens) but currently have not settled on Linz or Melk/Spitz.

 

For Linz -  options are the 1/2 day excursions in morning  (so choose between two excursions ) and the one 1/2 day in the  afternoon or full day in Salzburg.  

For Melk/Spits -options are again choosing between two 1/2 day excursions in the morning and the choosing among 3 different 1/2 excursions in the afternoon. 

OK - for Vienna   We also know there is an option Mozart & Strauss concert in Vienna at night.  Has anyone done?

 

Magna has a few itineraries, but in general having done an AMA itinerary through there in 2019.

 

Vilshofen you wont spend much organized time in , generally you will do the Oktoberfest the first night then have a few hours the morning before the ship leaves for passau.

 

Passau, really its see the town or walk past it and see the castle, your choice, no in general there are no bad choices at any point on the cruise

 

Linz, I did Salzburg, there is a mid tour stop at or around mondsee which is picturesque. Know this is a long bus ride both ways if you are adverse to that.  Next time will be Cesky Krumlov but thats just because I didnt last time.

 

Melk, you want to see Melk Abby, the only thing to know here is no interior photos

Durnstein, Cute small town, the castle here is ruins and its a STEEP climb.

 

Vienna, you could spend days here, I heard good reviews of the concert, I did Schonbrunn in that slot.

 

Bratislava, sadly I missed this, had an alternate itinerary due to it being a wine cruise

 

Budapest, basically choose to see a list of the castle site and a little of the flat side, or just do the castle.  Know that this is likely to be a LONG way to where the ship docks so if you choose the entirely walking tour(most of the options will have buses for all the major moves)...its going to be pretty far.  Ive been to Budapest twice (the last time to board the AMAMagna to head east, and I still want to go back.

Edited July 7, 2023 by CastleCritic

[Got2Cruise]

We loved the full day Salzburg. It is too far to enjoy for only 1/2 day. Shipmates did do the 1/2 day a felt like it was a waste because hardly any time in Salzburg. You make stops coming and going to Salzburg and we loved the stops also. One stop was Mondsee which has a gorgeous lake and the church used in the Sound of Music. I forget the stop going home but it was in the country. 

[RobInMN]

Here's a link to my post-cruise review. We did the full Grand Danube, so Vilshofen to Budapest is the first half.

I was surprised @CastleCritic didn't post a link to his excellent day by day review, but then realized he did the second half Budapest to Bucharest. But I'll link it below also since you are going on AmaMagna.

 

To answer your questions directly:

Passau - If you've never been there before, can't go wrong with the city walk. It's a neat place to see and tour.

Linz - I think I'd pick Salzburg. I'd also recommend going up to the fortress.

Melk./Spitz - I'm assuming the 2 morning options are he Abbey or Biking. Abbey. In the afternoon, I recommend the castle hike if you are up to it. If not, the town walk. The castle hike does give you a little bit of time to at least see the town, and it's really not that big.

Vienna - We did not do the optional concert

 

You're going to have a great time!

 

 

 

[jsn55]

2 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

We loved the full day Salzburg. It is too far to enjoy for only 1/2 day. Shipmates did do the 1/2 day a felt like it was a waste because hardly any time in Salzburg. You make stops coming and going to Salzburg and we loved the stops also. One stop was Mondsee which has a gorgeous lake and the church used in the Sound of Music. I forget the stop going home but it was in the country. 

Almost forgot to mention the importance of digging into a ShoreX to determine just how long it takes 'to get there' and whether there's time wasted 'shopping'.  My October Med cruise offers sightseeing in Florence, but it's between 1.5 and 2 hours one way om the bus.  Ugh.  

[CastleCritic]

2 hours ago, jsn55 said:

Almost forgot to mention the importance of digging into a ShoreX to determine just how long it takes 'to get there' and whether there's time wasted 'shopping'.  My October Med cruise offers sightseeing in Florence, but it's between 1.5 and 2 hours one way om the bus.  Ugh.  

For this trip, itinerary changes aside, only Salzburg/Cesky Krumlov has this problem.

 

Seine especially with land extension and the Land extensions on the end of the "gems" cruise that I reviewed and RobinMN linked (and also did that part of the river too) that I did are MUCH worse for that.

 

The Main has a decent amount of bus but its usually because the ship needs the time to move and you get to the excursion city and to the next dock faster on a bus so you sightsee while it sails...(some people hate that)

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by CastleCritic

[marieps]

If you have the time and budget, I would certainly recommend a few days pre-cruise in Prague, then a car service to Vilshofen.  We ended in Vilshofen and found a great driver who took us to Prague at a reasonable price.

 

Ama Magna is wonderful, and the only Ama ship with a guest laundry.  Also, ice machines in the hall are so convenient.  I wish they were a staple on ocean-going vessels.  Have a wonderful time.

Edited July 13, 2023 by marieps

[CastleCritic]

Some of the other AMA ships do have ice machines, but its usually one in the same area where the hotel manager/cruise director desks are on 2nd deck.

 

And yes more than once I went down to the ice machine at the midpoint on 2nd deck on AMAMagna, was nice.

[hoosier2017]

In Passau, St. Stephan’s Cathedral has the largest organ in the world.  We were lucky enough to hear it when we walked in to see the church.  It may be under renovation currently, but if it’s not and you can determine when it is being played try to go at that time.  Passau itself was charming.  

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, hoosier2017 said:

In Passau, St. Stephan’s Cathedral has the largest organ in the world.  We were lucky enough to hear it when we walked in to see the church.  It may be under renovation currently, but if it’s not and you can determine when it is being played try to go at that time.  Passau itself was charming.  

Used to be. It no longer holds that title. However, it can still claim to be the largest church organ in the world. Even under renovation, the church is beautiful and amazing.

 

[Kristal Blade]

We were on AmaStella in April. We did the Vienna evening event to the concert in the Prince of Liechtenstein Palace. Is this the option? 
It’s fabulous. The palace is gorgeous, you get champagne on arrival and have time for photos in the opulent drawing room. They say no photos during the concert, but some people ignored that. I think if you don’t use flash then it’s not a problem. We took photos later.

The music is beautiful, it only lasts for an hour and it’s light and not heavy classical music.

If this isn’t the concert, sorry!

[riverbird]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I’m also going on the Magna on the Danube and really appreciate all of the opinions you all have shared so far. I’ve also been reading some reviews both on this site and elsewhere. I’ve put together what - I think - seems to be the consensus, and wanted to see if you all agree. I’m looking at the itinerary PDF on the AMA website, hopefully I’m reading sequence correctly: 

 

Budapest - between the “Queen of the Danube” and Castle Hill hike, you see more on the Queen of the Danube tour. The Castle Hill hike is a lot of walking, but it tends to not have as many people sign up for it, so you end up with a much smaller group / "private" tour in a way. 

 

Bratislava - options of City of Kings walking tour, Tastes of Slovakia, and Bratislava Castle hike. Seems like the Castle hike is a robust walking tour uphill but not overly strenuous. Still a lot of walking at around 8-9 miles. 

 

Vienna - “Imperial Vienna” tour or Vienna city tour by bike. Sounded like the bike tours on AMA tend to be pretty strenuous - moreso than any of the “hike” options. Haven’t seen any reviews of how strenuous the Vienna bike tour is specifically though - but did see that it's obviously very urban / biking through the city center. 

 

Krems - Durnstein walking tour or Apricots and Sweets tour or Fortress Hike or bike tour. Saw a review that said the Fortress Hike here is very, very strenuous compared to some of the other castle hikes offered during the cruise. The bike tour here is supposed to be extremely scenic but a bit tiring at around ~25 miles of biking. 

 

Melk Abbey or Spitz hike or Spitz bike tour - seems like everyone has said that the Abbey is definitely worth seeing.

 

Linz - Cesky Krumlov, bike tour, or Full-day Salzburg - seems like most people enjoy the full-day Salzburg trip and many of the people who do Cesky Krumlov go there because they have already been to Salzburg. 

 

Passau - City of Three Rivers walking or bike tour or Passau Castle Hill hike - the Castle hike offers great views, is still somewhat of a strenuous hike, but not as strenuous as the Fortress Hike in Durnstein. But it also bypasses a lot of the city walk. Doesn’t seem like there is a good/bad option here. 

 

Thanks!

[RobInMN]

6 minutes ago, riverbird said:

Budapest - between the “Queen of the Danube” and Castle Hill hike, you see more on the Queen of the Danube tour. The Castle Hill hike is a lot of walking, but it tends to not have as many people sign up for it, so you end up with a much smaller group / "private" tour in a way. 

 

Passau - City of Three Rivers walking or bike tour or Passau Castle Hill hike - the Castle hike offers great views, is still somewhat of a strenuous hike, but not as strenuous as the Fortress Hike in Durnstein. But it also bypasses a lot of the city walk. Doesn’t seem like there is a good/bad option here. 

 

Budapest - Like I wrote in my review, we did the Queen of the Danube. From what I could gather from our CM, the hike gave you no additional access or sights that you would not get with the regular tour, and in fact, less. I'm all for hikes when the hike will take you to a cathedral/castle/fort/ruin that you will not get on the other tours. I'm not so interested in doing hikes just for the sake of doing a hike, when it just leads you to the same place the bus does, especially if you end up seeing less.

 

Passau - Honestly, I would not consider this a strenuous hike at all. maybe 1/3 of the vertical is steps, the rest is a gentle inclines, and at one point (depending on route), there's even an elevator you can take. AMA has both this and the Durnstein Fortress hike as '5's. In my opinion, if Durnstien is a 5, Passau is a 3. If Passau is a 5, Durnsein is a 7-8. My wife had no issue doing Passau. There's no way she would have made it at Durnstein.

If I remember correctly, There's no afternoon excursions and the ship doesn't leave until later (9:45 PM?). If you do the city walk in the morning, you'll probably some of the same information you would get on the hike (hike will be more castle focused), and then if you want to hike up to the castle on your own just for the views, there should be plenty of time. There is no fee to get to the 2 highest overlook sites (Green dots), but not the confluence overlook (red dot):

 

The only access to the confluence overlook is via the museum. The areas you can only get to via the museum is the inner/right courtyard and that one overlook area. Everything outside of the poorly drawn red line is free to roam. On our Christmas cruise in December (different operator), my sister's family, my daughter and me did the Passau Castle on our own (was not an offered tour), Museum was closed, but we were able to wander the rest of the grounds. The stairs and paths were covered in ice. It was pretty treacherous at times.

[CastleCritic]

Your take is correct on pretty much everything you said from my 2019 recollections.

 

I didnt find the Passau castle hill that hard I dont remember where we were on the Rhine or moselle that we hiked up to one that was MUCH MUCH worse.

 

Durnstein fortress (I was in a hurry) I messed up my foot for years trying to do that on my own (the organized version was rained out) and ended up turning about halfway because I was afraid of hurting myself further or having a heart attack with no one else around.  (Cruise manager was at the bottom of the hill and I got a pretty disapproving look, we became pretty good friends by the end...but I was limping out of the restaurant every night from that point).

 

Bonus castle points in salzburg you can just beeline for the funicular when the organized tour ends and go up there, its a good one.

Edited July 17, 2023 by CastleCritic

[riverbird]

Both of your replies are amazingly helpful - thank you so much! 

[RobInMN]

58 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

Bonus castle points in salzburg you can just beeline for the funicular when the organized tour ends and go up there, its a good one.

I second that! That's exactly what we did!

[riverbird]

I was just looking at the shore excursion registration as well as the travel booklet that was emailed to me. In the booklet, it says 

 

"After completing your Cruise Check-In, you will be able to register for all shore excursions including Special Interest Tours – alternative immersive experiences in local culture. Availability is limited – register online as soon as possible to guarantee your preferred choices."

 

How much do I actually need to be concerned about registering for things ASAP? It seems like most of the potentially capacity-controlled excursions say "Please contact the Cruise Manager to sign up for this tour" anyways. Which, for tours like that, should I leave them blank or register for one of the other tours for now and try to change it once on board?

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

54 minutes ago, riverbird said:

I was just looking at the shore excursion registration as well as the travel booklet that was emailed to me. In the booklet, it says 

 

"After completing your Cruise Check-In, you will be able to register for all shore excursions including Special Interest Tours – alternative immersive experiences in local culture. Availability is limited – register online as soon as possible to guarantee your preferred choices."

 

How much do I actually need to be concerned about registering for things ASAP? It seems like most of the potentially capacity-controlled excursions say "Please contact the Cruise Manager to sign up for this tour" anyways. Which, for tours like that, should I leave them blank or register for one of the other tours for now and try to change it once on board?

Most tours are open sign-up and you are free to sign up onboard [even after the cruise director's talk the night before that explains them in greater detail].  But Special Interest Tours are capacity-controlled and if website signups hit the limit you won't be able to sign up onboard unless there are cancellations – or the tour may be cancelled if not enough people sign up; either way you are better off signing up for those [you can cancel onboard].

[riverbird]

2 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Most tours are open sign-up and you are free to sign up onboard [even after the cruise director's talk the night before that explains them in greater detail].  But Special Interest Tours are capacity-controlled and if website signups hit the limit you won't be able to sign up onboard unless there are cancellations – or the tour may be cancelled if not enough people sign up; either way you are better off signing up for those [you can cancel onboard].

Got it - thank you. Upon closer inspection, it seems that the only two tours labeled as "Special Interest" are the Tastes of Slovakia and Apricots and Sweets tours.

[Host Jazzbeau]

AMA's Special Interest Tours can be quite interesting.  Some are 'off the beaten track' tours for people who have already visited the area, but some are terrific cultural experiences.  When we took the AMA Rhone cruise, there was an after-dinner experience to walk over to a local boulangerie and 'help' the baker make baguettes.  It was limited by the size of the bakery.  A few volunteers actually got their hands deep in the dough, while the rest of us watched [technically I 'finished' a loaf by making three score marks across the top] – all of us got to take a warm loaf back to the ship [mine did not make it back to the ship - so good!]  I don't know what an experience like that would cost retail, but on AMA it was free.

[CastleCritic]

Pretty sure the only thing I ever had to wait to sign up for was bikes (where you have to sign the waiver) everything else you should be able to do through the web site ahead of time.

 

There WILL be some things they want a good head count on, and the cruise director will make these very clear on the first night briefing on the weeks stuffs...  But even then Ive never seen them actually check you off a list.  So I wouldn't sweat it if they really have things blocked on the online registration and you want to do them, you can mark something else or nothing at all.

[Kristal Blade]

On our AmaStella cruise this April we had to sign up for tours, usually the night before. Our names and room numbers were noted. In the morning we had to report to reception to pick up a colour coded ticket for the tour. Sometimes there were 3 or 4 different colours. Tickets were either handed over as you joined the coach or met your guide. It was well organised and we got onto every excursion we wanted.

[RobInMN]

While they do like you to sign up ahead of time, I am convinced it's just to get some sense of the number of guides they need for each excursion before hand. While I've only been on 3 cruises (sort of 2, as 2 of those were a single B2B on the same ship), the experience that we've had with picking up your colors, is that there is no accounting of who picks up what color. You could change you mind at the last minute, and in my limited experience, I am positive that people have done just that based on the current weather.

Interesting that you turned yours over to the guides. We have never handed our color tickets over to the guides. On all 3 cruises, we were asked to return them to the reception desk when we returned. There's a box with a slot in it for doing so. A couple times, I return my previous tickets when I picked up my new ones. Oops!

Yes, each tour has different colors. If there are multiple groups doing the same tour, they will also have different colors. If there is an "Active" version, that is usually Red, and if there is a "Gentle" option, that is usually Pink. The colors correspond to the Lollipops and coach signs, and which channel your Quietvox device should be set to.

I don't think anyone was prevented from doing an excursion that they wanted to.