Grand Circle Budapest to Black Sea

[nancycoop1]

Hi - is anyone going on the GCT Budapest to the Black Sea trip? We are booked for August 31st. Would love to hear from anyone else planning this trip.

 

Nancy

[steamboats]

Nancy,

 

Check with the River Cruises Board (see Special Interest Cruising) on this website. You might get more answers there.

 

steamboats

[photopro]

Nancy,

 

We've been considering that cruise, no time this year as we're doing a land trip in Asia. Please let us know what you think about the cruise. Enjoy your trip. thanks,

 

Jean

[nancycoop1]

Jean

 

Your trip sounds fascinating. We have considered doing that one too. I will let you know how ours goes and I would enjoy hearing how you liked your trip.

 

Nancy

[Peter Green]

Hi Nancy, We have done two Europe River cruises with Grand Circle in the past 1 1/2 yrs and will be doing the Christmas Markets on the Rhine this Dec. They do a nice job.

 

We were in Budapest in March and loved it. Take time to do one of the hot baths there. ;)

[nancycoop1]

Hi Peter - we did the Christmas Markets on the Danube with GCT last year and loved it. The Rhine sounds wonderful also. Which of the baths would you recommend? We are very much looking forward to exploring Budapest.

 

Nancy

[cindiloowho]

We took this cruise in late Apr/early may, or rather, tried to take it. The river was flooded and we only had two days on the boat, and had a long and tedious bus trip instead. Be advised that you may experience sudden 'deviations' without any warning and should call ahead if worried and insist on specific answers. In our group, there were several infirm and very elderly folks who didn't expect a grueling bus trip (10-12 hours a day) and had a hard time, some got seriously ill. Anyway, we hope to try another river boat cruise sometime, under different circumstances.

[nancycoop1]

Cindi - I am sorry about your problem with the rivers being so high. It must have been very disappointing. What hotel did you stay in in Budapest. I keep getting two different answers from GCT and would like to map it out for excursions etc. Thanks

[cindiloowho]

Nancy: Sorry to say, we were very disapointed with GCT. Having had two other good experiences, we didn't expect the treatment we received;namely we were not advised in any way that NO boats had left the mooring for three or more weeks, and that it was doubltful our scheduled tour (Beginning April 28 ) would probably be a 'deviation'. In fact, we were told, when several of us called separately, that there 'was no problem', and that 'other boats were on the river as we speak'. This was a direct lie, but we proceded to fly to Bucherest, were told upon arrival that it was going to be a bus trip instead, and we might 'hope' to get on the river at a later date. It was a strenous trip, lots of disapointed folks, infirm people who were in no way fit to endure the grueling 10-12 hours on the bus, no suitable toilets (rest stops) and when we did stop, there were 3 busses of us, waiting for one primitave toilet!! There was quite a bit of sickness, and some injuries due to uneven paths, blot clots from too much sitting, and quite a bit of rancor. We feel that they were very 'devious' with all of us, including the tour group just preceding us, who never got a day on the river, and had gruesome tales to tell of their experience. The back woods of Eastern Europe is a place I never wanted to see, and would have cancelled had we been given honest answers. But cancelling was not offered as an option. THus, the port fees, fuel surcharges, etc., that we were dinged were just absorbed by GCT and we were given no credit, nor refunds. We will never travel with the again, and will caution our friends to be sure to know exactly what you are signing up to...get it in writing if you can. If you go to consumeraffairs.com (complaints against GCT) you can read some alarming stuff from other travellers on other occasions.

Sorry, but that is my take.

[nancycoop1]

What a terrible experience!!!!! Maybe you should post this as a separate post also so people could read it that wouldn't necessarily read this particular thread. It would be good to let people know of your treatment on GCT. I would also recommend that you send a letter to GCT and if you don't get any appropriate response, there is a magazine called ITN International Travel News that you can write to and they will write to GCT and try to get it resolved. Their website is:http://www.intltravelnews.com and their email is editor@intltravelnews.com. This cannot possibly be acceptable policy.

[photopro]

Nancy would you contact me directly? If you'd rather not, I understand. You mention ITC and I'd like to chat with you about them but this isn't the board to do so. Thanks.

 

Jean vegaspan@aol.com

[DGF]

Hi - is anyone going on the GCT Budapest to the Black Sea trip? We are booked for August 31st. Would love to hear from anyone else planning this trip.

 

Nancy

 

Nancy

 

We are considering the same cruise for 2007. When you get back, please do a post as we would like to hear about your experiences

[nancycoop1]

Hi - we returned from our September trip to Eastern Europe. It was absolutely fantastic and I do recommend it. Now - the minor downside - our hotel in Budapest was really wonderful, but too far out of town. The scenery along the Danube is not as scenic as the northern Danube, but the places we stopped and what we learned and saw more than made up for it.

 

Our favorite time was the post extension to Transylvania. It really is not to be missed.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them.

 

Nancy