Amadeus Black Sea - Budapest -> Istanbul

[micked10@earthlink.net]

Thanks WIT for your very detailed and enjoyable trip report. This is a trip that my husband and I are thinking of taking next year and all of your information was so helpful. Thanks for taking the time to post.

micked10

[Carolfay]

Any tips/suggestions about getting from Ferihegy Airport to our hotel downtown (Kempinski)? From what I read, we've got a choice of private minibus, Bus 93 or taxi -- maybe it's just a matter of price. Also, how about the Szechenyi Baths? I'm intrigued but a little intimidated; is it worth it? We have a couple of days in Budapest before we join our Amadeus tour on 12/30.

[WIT]

Any tips/suggestions about getting from Ferihegy Airport to our hotel downtown (Kempinski)? From what I read, we've got a choice of private minibus, Bus 93 or taxi -- maybe it's just a matter of price. Also, how about the Szechenyi Baths? I'm intrigued but a little intimidated; is it worth it? We have a couple of days in Budapest before we join our Amadeus tour on 12/30.

Carolfay - Your hotel concierge can also arrange transfer from the airport to the hotel. We paid 9500HUF ($54US) and that got us a driver in a Mercedes. We made these arrangements by email with the Sofitel in Budapest. We did the Szechenyi Baths (check out my photos & clips) & found them easy to get to, inexpensive, and very enjoyable. You might also consider the State Opera (book in advance as they always sell out). Where are you staying in Budapest?

 

Photos & clips at: http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

WIT

[Carolfay]

Your detailed posts on this forum have been very helpful to me already. Thanks. Husband and I will stay at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus for four nights, beginning 12/26. (We join the Amadeus group on 12/28 and begin cruising 12/30.) Thanks to one of your tips I saw earlier, we have tickets to "Marriage of Figaro" the evening of 12/28. Our ticket voucher indicates the performance begins at 18.00, so that suggests to me that the Metro will still be available to us after the final curtain. I've been perusing my guidebooks, and it looks like the Franz Liszt and Zoltan Kodaly museums are both near the Andrassy ut. This is exciting stuff for music lovers like us! One thing we've been debating is whether to purchase the Budapest Card. I don't know if we'd find it to be worth the price, as it looks like you have to do a heck of a lot of museum admissions and travel on public transport to get your money's worth. Any thoughts on that?

[cmthomas]

Carolfay, we were on the same trip with WIT and did our own air so we had no transfers. We used the Zona cab and were quite pleased with the service. The fare to most of the hotels is 4100HUF ($24USD) and gave the driver 5,000HUF ($29USD) to include a tip and she was most pleased. Now we did not travel in a Mercedes but the VW Passat was brand new and the driver moved rapidly. The charge is for the taxi and not per person. There was no wait at all when we arrived at midday.

 

The first thing we did after leaving Customs was to stop at the ATM and pick up some local currency as USD won't do the job there. Then, as you leave the building you will see a little kiosk on the sidewalk with a dispatcher. If you are paying in cash he will give you a ticket showing your price and you pay the driver upon arrival at your destination. If you wish to charge your fare on a credit card you do it at the kiosk.

 

Sorry that I can't help with your other questions but I am sure that WIT can and will!

 

Clarence:)

[WIT]

Carolfay - The cab Clarence suggests is a good deal. Posts from a few years back refer to problems but new rules have standardized rates. The Kempinski is only a block West of Deak Ter where three Metro lines intersect - great location. Glad you got the Opera tickets - it is a named stop on the Yellow Line (M1) that runs under Andrassy Ut. You just cross the street & you are there. In the evening the Metro's frequency slows to every 10 minutes or so. Our performance ended at about 10PM and we (and many other Opera goers) caught the Metro back. We also used the Metro for the Szecheny Baths. We visited the Liszt Academy returning from the Baths - just got off at Ontonagon where Liszt Ter (square) is around the corner. We had hoped to stumble upon a late morning performance but found a busy school & no concert. The courtyards opening onto Andrassy Ut. (we walked back) were interesting.

 

I also question the value of the Budapest Card - you won't spend that much for tickets and transit.

 

WIT

[Carolfay]

My thanks for the useful advice. These forums have been a source of excellent information so far, regarding both cruise lines and on-shore attractions. Now my biggest concern will be how to pack sensibly and not take too many pairs of shoes! (I suspect the high heels I love would be entirely unsuitable for walking on icy cobblestones.)

[WIT]

My thanks for the useful advice. These forums have been a source of excellent information so far, regarding both cruise lines and on-shore attractions. Now my biggest concern will be how to pack sensibly and not take too many pairs of shoes! (I suspect the high heels I love would be entirely unsuitable for walking on icy cobblestones.)

Carolfay - Cobblestones are easily avoided where you will go on this tour, but you will encounter some flagstone steps going down to the Abbey at Melk. Be prepared for variations of temps. Layers are good.

WIT

[WIT]

For those going to Budapest soon here is the latest e-blurb from Jegymester.hu - the website to order advance online tickets. Budapest's performance culture rivals Vienna's, and if you want to catch a surprisingly inexpensive play, opera, concert, or even a comedy, you need to book a couple months in advance since they routinely sell out.

WIT

 

Visit the Hungarian Opera House, National Theatre or Játékszín comedy

theatre in February. Tickets are available in our webshop .

Tickets for the February performances of Vígszínház and Pesti Színház

drama theatres will go on sale the coming Monday (7th January) at 1 p.m.

New feathers in Jegymester's cap: Danube

Symphony Orchestra , Bárka

theatre and Új

Színház theatre.

Current exhibitions:

 

The Hungarian National Gallery presents the artwork of two great artists,

namely Mihály Zichy and János Vaszary.

Do not miss the Titanic (open up to 5th February).

The Musuem of Fine Arts brings us back to the renaissance to witness

The

Splendour of the Medici (Art and Life in Renaissance Florence)

from 24th January.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

Jegymester Kft.

 

Website of Jegymester online

sale: www.jegymester.hu

Contact detail: info@jegymester.hu

[nyfeds]

Here is the link to their English website

 

http://www.jegymester.hu/index.jsp?lang=ENG

 

WIT, have you purchased tickets through them?

 

Has anyone on this forum done so? How far in advance should tickets be purchased? Do you incur a fee for booking on-line? Are the tickets "will call" at the box office on the date of performance?

 

Thanks!

[WIT]

Here is the link to their English website

 

http://www.jegymester.hu/index.jsp?lang=ENG

 

WIT, have you purchased tickets through them?

 

Has anyone on this forum done so? How far in advance should tickets be purchased? Do you incur a fee for booking on-line? Are the tickets "will call" at the box office on the date of performance?

 

Thanks!

Yes, this is the site we used. We booked our October '07 performance (Madame Butterfly) about 1 1/2 months in advance - would have done it sooner but the website only recently added an English option. Picked the tickets up at their box office before the performance. They also did not display available performances more than about 2 months in advance (hope this has changed). If there was a fee it was extremely reasonable. The Opera is one of the labelled (in English) stops on the subway. Clean and inexpensive. We also did the Szechenyi Thermal baths - great fun and another bargain.

WIT

[nyfeds]

Thank you, WIT! I appreciate you posting this useful site and the additional information!

[SuJaDon]

Hi Wit,

We are doing this cruise in August of this year (ours is leaving from Amsterdam though) and I have found your postings to be so interesting. I have printed them out so I can reread them again.

The email address for the information "on board" on the first page of this thread - is it still OK to request a copy?

Thanks once again

Sue

[cmthomas]

G'day Sue! Yes, indeed, the email address is still valid. I am away from the home computer this weekend but will be back there tomorrow night and can send copies of the Daily Bulletins to you.

 

I would suggest that you send your email address to me at the gmail address rather than replying to this message so that I can "reply" to yours to avoid mistakes. Keep in mind that it will come in two parts due to size.

 

Clarence:)

[Carolfay]

We also can recommend the Jegymester.hu site for tickets. During our visit to Budapest, we attended a wonderful performance of "Marriage of Figaro" on 12/28. We had good seats in the stalls (equivalent to orchestra level) for $97.25 for the two of us. Our tickets were waiting for us at the box office when we arrived. The opera house has exquisitely over-the-top baroque decor, and the acoustics were excellent. I'd recommend a performance to anyone who enjoys opera and/or classical music.

[SuJaDon]

Clarence - I have sent you an email so I am looking forward to hearing back from you with the Daily Bulletins.

Cheers and have a nice day

Sue

[cmthomas]

I know that it is a long way from Australia, however emails generally make the trip in well under two hours so I think that something may be amiss.

 

I am not trying to be cute with the way that I posted my email address. There are those who by robot collect email addresses that appear online and sell them to spammers. That is what I am trying to avoid.

 

Please check to be sure that you placed the numeral 3 after my name as that is usually where mistakes are made. Also, it may just be languishing in the South Pacific so I will give it until the morning to see if it magically appears

allowing me to promptly respond. But for now, g'nite!

 

Clarence:)

[SuJaDon]

My mistake Clarence I forgot the 3. Have sent off another email to you.

Sue

[nyfeds]

We also can recommend the Jegymester.hu site for tickets. During our visit to Budapest, we attended a wonderful performance of "Marriage of Figaro" on 12/28. We had good seats in the stalls (equivalent to orchestra level) for $97.25 for the two of us. Our tickets were waiting for us at the box office when we arrived. The opera house has exquisitely over-the-top baroque decor, and the acoustics were excellent. I'd recommend a performance to anyone who enjoys opera and/or classical music.

 

 

Thanks, Carolfay, for sharing your positive experience. In past travels, we have contacted the Concierge at the hotels we stay in and ask them to get us museum, theater, concert, etc. tickets. We will certainly look into this as our trip draws closer as another option.

[WIT]

We also can recommend the Jegymester.hu site for tickets. During our visit to Budapest, we attended a wonderful performance of "Marriage of Figaro" on 12/28. We had good seats in the stalls (equivalent to orchestra level) for $97.25 for the two of us. Our tickets were waiting for us at the box office when we arrived. The opera house has exquisitely over-the-top baroque decor, and the acoustics were excellent. I'd recommend a performance to anyone who enjoys opera and/or classical music.

Carolfay - Glad you had a good experience at the Opera. Did you take the subway? What else did you enjoy in Budapest?

 

I just finished reading your cruise/tour report. Great job. It brought back memories and has us thinking about another river cruise.

WIT

[WIT]

When do you book the extra tours? How was the food? Bikes? Hot tub? Boarding and disembarking? What time did they want you off? What did drinks cost at the bar? Can we take on our own liquor? Can we get ice in our cabins or glasses? Is there a frig? How was tipping handled? How were their tours that were included? I will have to get to the ship and off on my own. Any advice? I have two nights booked at the Budapest Hilton. Any suggestions for seeing Budapest?

 

Judy - Check out this thread for Budapest suggestions. You book the extras during the first few days of the cruise. I would compare the food with that of a good restaurant here in the States, with an occasionally excellent item. Breakfast and lunch are buffet plus (you can order eggs your way at breakfast and lunch has 2-3 entrees besides the buffet). The buffet will feature dishes of the current region. Soups on board are memorable. The boat has about 20 bikes which you can use to explore when you are docked. In Belgrade they organized a group ride of an island park in the Danube, but lots of folks did their own thing with the bikes, too.

 

The hot tub should be nice for cool June evenings. You'll find it behind the Captain's Bridge on the sundeck.

 

Wine & beer are free and plentiful at dinner. Drinks elsewhere are put on your tab and that is settled at the end of the cruise - our tab was a few hundred and we usually had drinks in the lounge with friends each evening.

 

While there is no in-room fridge the staff will bring (or drinks) to your room. No problem with consuming your own liquor in your room.

 

You tip for the crew and Tour Director at the end per the guidelines in the cruise brochure. We usually use the leftover currency from non EU coutries plus Euro or dollars. Daily guides for their routinely excellent excursions usually get $2 per person. Look forward to any questions you have.

WIT

[Oregonskier]

I just read your answers to my questions. I understand about keeping all info on the boards to share with others.

Budapest write up was great.

I am wondering about the new ship the Amadente that I am scheduled to sail on.

Thanks, Judy

[WIT]

Gillian2 - The advantage of Budapest->Nuremberg is you can spend extra days in Budapest or Germany. Romanians speak a variant of the Latin base (like Italian or Spanish but with different emphasis on syllables). Bucharest bills itself as the Paris of Eastern Europe and Istanbul is fascinating.

WIT

[WIT]

The Eastern transit is a worthwhile trip, but not all the cities are right on the river.

WIT

[WIT]

Mike and Carol - River cruise dress is informal - collared shirts & slacks for the guys and casual dress for ladies. You will see T-shirts as well as tuxedoes occasionally, but nobody makes a fuss

WIT