AMA Amsterdam to Budapest

[KMAN59]

My wife and I have booked an AMA Waterways cruise in June, traveling from Amsterdam to Budapest. We have not found a lot of information on this cruise, and were wondering if there was anyone out there that has been on this cruise that could provide us with details about the cruise, (ship, food, excursions, etc.)

[Chesie]

My wife and I have booked an AMA Waterways cruise in June, traveling from Amsterdam to Budapest. We have not found a lot of information on this cruise, and were wondering if there was anyone out there that has been on this cruise that could provide us with details about the cruise, (ship, food, excursions, etc.)

 

We did this cruise with AMA June 2006 and I have to say, it was the BEST vacation I ever had. We loved the idea of walking off the ship to the small towns and really getting a feel for the country. I was pleasantly surprised how welcoming the countries we touched were.

 

We were on the MS Amadagio. She was new that year and LOVED the french balconies. Staff was very nice, Cruise Director "Lilo" was phenomial. We were in Nurnberg touring and the town ended up having a 10,000 bike rally so we were not able to meet up with our ship at the desired location. Lilo redirected the 3 buses to a beer garden on a beautiful lake. We had free beer on AMA until we got the go ahead to meet up with the ship at a locke. Here we all were waiting for our ship to "rise" up from the locke. Our Captain Victor was shaking his head and smiling at we all hooted and waved to flag him over to the side. Great time.

 

Any specifics, please let me know and I can backtrack my notes. We stayed an extra day in Amsterdam and had a private tour guide for the of us. Walking tour we thoroughly enjoyed. Sorry we didn't stay an extra day in Budapest.

 

Nancy

[Phoenix cruiser]

We received our documents yesterday for our June Blue Danube cruise and land extensions. They are very detailed and we cannot wait. One question, the included tours list "What you will see" and separately "What you will visit." We were wondering whatthe difference is. For example, in Budapest it lists St. Stephen's Cathedral under what you will see. I can hardly believe we will only drive by a cathedral and not go inside. Thanks for your input.

[letsgo39]

Budapest is very easy to get around on your own and anything that is not included in your tour can always be visited on your own. We were in Budapest before our Avalon cruise and The Statue park was included in our local tour but St Stephens was not.We drove by St Stephens on our included city tour. I know some people went back to see it that afternoon and it is not difficult to get to at all.After 7 trips to Europe we are just about cathedraled out. We usually go a few days early to see things that are not included in our tours and to get over jet lag.I had really wanted to go to The Terror Museum but we did not have time even going to Budapset early.I would love to go back to Budapest someday but France is calling next year.

[Phoenix cruiser]

We are in Budapest for 2.5 days before our formal tour starts and I was trying to plan what to do. I did not want to duplicate what we will see on the included tours. That is why I am trying to figure out exactly what we will see with AMA and what we should do ahead of time. For example, we do not go with AMA to the Great Synagogue so we will spend time there.

[Fontana]

.....

 

Any specifics, please let me know and I can backtrack my notes. We stayed an extra day in Amsterdam and had a private tour guide for the of us. Walking tour we thoroughly enjoyed. Sorry we didn't stay an extra day in Budapest.

 

Nancy

 

Hi Chesie, we will be leaving on our cruise (Oceania Regatta on 15th June).

We are seeking recommendations for a Private Tour Guide/Car for our time in Amsterdam.

Are you able to supply the name of the company you used, please?

Cheers.

[WIT]

We received our documents yesterday for our June Blue Danube cruise and land extensions. They are very detailed and we cannot wait. One question, the included tours list "What you will see" and separately "What you will visit." We were wondering whatthe difference is. For example, in Budapest it lists St. Stephen's Cathedral under what you will see. I can hardly believe we will only drive by a cathedral and not go inside. Thanks for your input.

Phoenix - Generally 'visiting' has you on a guided walking tour while 'seeing' is done from a bus or while on the cruise boat. St. Matthias near Fishermen's Bastion was closed for reconstruction during our 1st visit to Budapest in 12/06. Budapest is very walkable and has an excellent Metro. On our 10/07 visit we were able to walk from the Chain Bridge near our hotel to Margit Island (large public park), then on to St. Stephen's and down the upscale Andrassy Ut. in one morning. My review of this cruise may provide some suggestions. Here is the link to my review and photos:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/searc...rchid=12325546

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

WIT

[Phoenix cruiser]

Thanks, WIT. It is as I suspected. Fortunately we have time to pick up sights that are "drive bys" on the tours. Hard to believe they wouldn't take time to go inside St. Stephen's, but I guess many people are not Cathedral buffs like we are. Your photos are wonderful, makes me even more anxious to go. We do have tickets already for the opera (Aida) in Budapest. The link to your review did not work for some reason.

[WIT]

Sorry - here is the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=645975&highlight=

 

WIT

[Phoenix cruiser]

WIT, thanks for the link, extremely helpful advice. Glad to see the signs in the Metro are also in English. One nice thing now about ordering opera tickets online is they now provide the capability to print the ticktes immediately, no waiting in a will call line. We are considering booking the Parliament tour in advance through Viator. It is an extra $5-$10 but they pick you up at the hotel and you are guaranteed a tour. Anyone have experience with them?

[Chesie]

Hi Chesie, we will be leaving on our cruise (Oceania Regatta on 15th June).

We are seeking recommendations for a Private Tour Guide/Car for our time in Amsterdam.

Are you able to supply the name of the company you used, please?

Cheers.

 

Gladly! From the cc board we booked ab albert walet (abwalet@yahoo.com) His name was in the Rick Steve's Tour book. We booked a 2 hour "walking" tour of Amsterdam. He met us at our hotel. We stayed at the Banks Mansion. EXCELLENT small hotel, all inclusive and centrally located just around the corner from the flower market. Alittle pricey but we only spend one night. After what we spent on the 2 week cruise, we felt it was worth it.

 

Anyway, through earlier emails, we stated some of the "known" sights we want to see and left it up to him to fill in the blanks. I can't say enough good things about him. There were 6 of us at 10 Euro each for the 2 hour tour, back in 2006. WELL worth it. He left us at Ann Frank's house. He really knows his history.

 

Amsterdam is very walkable, I wouldn't consider a car. Our hotel got us vans (2) for the ride to the ship and they dropped us off right at the dock. Not expensive at all.

 

Bicycles are the main transportation in Amsterdam. Our hotel was over a canal and that evening we just went ot the bridge with a drink and watched the people. LOVED Amsterdam and wished we had another night there.

 

Enjoy your cruise. It was the BEST vacation we ever had!

[KMAN59]

We did this cruise with AMA June 2006 and I have to say, it was the BEST vacation I ever had. We loved the idea of walking off the ship to the small towns and really getting a feel for the country. I was pleasantly surprised how welcoming the countries we touched were.

 

We were on the MS Amadagio. She was new that year and LOVED the french balconies. Staff was very nice, Cruise Director "Lilo" was phenomial. We were in Nurnberg touring and the town ended up having a 10,000 bike rally so we were not able to meet up with our ship at the desired location. Lilo redirected the 3 buses to a beer garden on a beautiful lake. We had free beer on AMA until we got the go ahead to meet up with the ship at a locke. Here we all were waiting for our ship to "rise" up from the locke. Our Captain Victor was shaking his head and smiling at we all hooted and waved to flag him over to the side. Great time.

 

Any specifics, please let me know and I can backtrack my notes. We stayed an extra day in Amsterdam and had a private tour guide for the of us. Walking tour we thoroughly enjoyed. Sorry we didn't stay an extra day in Budapest.

 

Nancy

 

Thanks Nancy,

 

Can you tell me how dressed we have to get for dinner?

 

Do I need to bring a sport jacket?

 

KD

[chachabell]

Gladly! From the cc board we booked ab albert walet (abwalet@yahoo.com) His name was in the Rick Steve's Tour book. We booked a 2 hour "walking" tour of Amsterdam. He met us at our hotel. We stayed at the Banks Mansion. EXCELLENT small hotel, all inclusive and centrally located just around the corner from the flower market. Alittle pricey but we only spend one night. After what we spent on the 2 week cruise, we felt it was worth it.

 

Anyway, through earlier emails, we stated some of the "known" sights we want to see and left it up to him to fill in the blanks. I can't say enough good things about him. There were 6 of us at 10 Euro each for the 2 hour tour, back in 2006. WELL worth it. He left us at Ann Frank's house. He really knows his history.

 

Amsterdam is very walkable, I wouldn't consider a car. Our hotel got us vans (2) for the ride to the ship and they dropped us off right at the dock. Not expensive at all.

 

Bicycles are the main transportation in Amsterdam. Our hotel was over a canal and that evening we just went ot the bridge with a drink and watched the people. LOVED Amsterdam and wished we had another night there.

 

Enjoy your cruise. It was the BEST vacation we ever had!

 

We have been to Amsterdam several times. On our visit last year we wanted to see Delft and The Hague. We used Rose-Marie Cannemeijer as a private guide. She was wonderful and took us on some of the back roads along the dikes and canals. We highly recommend her. She also does tours of Amsterdam and elsewhere. Check out her website at www dot hollandguides dot com

 

Diane

[Chesie]

Thanks Nancy,

 

Can you tell me how dressed we have to get for dinner?

 

Do I need to bring a sport jacket?

 

KD

 

Not really. There is really no "formal nights" like the ocean cruiselines. That is what was so appealing to DH. He work a collared shirt and dockers. I had either a skirt, pants or dress capris with a nice top. While shorts/jeans were the dress for the day touring, neither of those were seen at night in the dining room. The only thing we did not llike for dinner was the "queue" up. Because it was open seating everyone seemed to line up 15-20 minutes early before the doors opened. Many were in groups of 6-12 traveling together and dinner was their catch up for the day so they, including our group of 6, wanted to sit together. I think that is the only bad thing I have to say about AMA.

 

I see you are from CT. Where abouts? We are in Brookfield.

[Phoenix cruiser]

So if we wait until 10 m inutes after the doors open we won't have to wait, assuming we are happy wherever we sit (we are a couple traveling alone)?

[KMAN59]

Not really. There is really no "formal nights" like the ocean cruiselines. That is what was so appealing to DH. He work a collared shirt and dockers. I had either a skirt, pants or dress capris with a nice top. While shorts/jeans were the dress for the day touring, neither of those were seen at night in the dining room. The only thing we did not llike for dinner was the "queue" up. Because it was open seating everyone seemed to line up 15-20 minutes early before the doors opened. Many were in groups of 6-12 traveling together and dinner was their catch up for the day so they, including our group of 6, wanted to sit together. I think that is the only bad thing I have to say about AMA.

 

I see you are from CT. Where abouts? We are in Brookfield.

 

We live in Bristol.

 

We are leaving on June 26th, was the weather over there comparable to our weather? I've read some reviews that said it got cold at night.

[Chesie]

So if we wait until 10 m inutes after the doors open we won't have to wait, assuming we are happy wherever we sit (we are a couple traveling alone)?

 

That was our experience.

[Chesie]

We live in Bristol.

 

We are leaving on June 26th, was the weather over there comparable to our weather? I've read some reviews that said it got cold at night.

 

We traveled the beginning to middle of June. We had a couple days of rain out of the 2 weeks. River levels were good. No busing involved. I would say some evening were cool not cold. I always bring a sweater and that seemed to be enough. With the weather patterns lately I'm not sure what it will be like. I think the time your going should be a bit warmer than when we traveled.

 

Have a safe and terrific time. Hopefully, someday we can return to the area.