Successful trip with Gate 1 / Lueftner Budapest to Prague

[akai]

My wife and I returned last week from our first river cruise -- we loved it and are already looking at doing another next year. We got a last minute deal through Vacations to Go for the Budapest to Prague trip May 16, 2009.

Our travel agent at Vacations to Go did not give us all the info we needed, but by doing some of our own research we found out that the transfers and one of the excursions were not offered (we came in to Budapest 2 days early- and in Vienna on the upstream voyage, less time is spent in port). We were easily able to get refunds on both by working with Gate 1 and our TA. Budapest was fabulous although the weather was a bit hotter than expected for that time of year, it was in the high 80's every day. We had to have our B&B hostess call the ship for the docking location in Budapest, and even then they did not know exactly which dock they would be at ( 3, 4 or 5 ). Not a big deal, as we were staying nearby and took a walk down by the river and spotted Royal Amadeus docked on the Buda side of the river.

 

The ship itself was very nice, 138 passenger size, not the very newest but still in great shape. The crew was from many countries in the area, very friendly and helpful. Gate 1 chartered the boat from Lueftner (Austrian company), but there were also 29 guests from Saga (UK) travel as well.

This caused some confusion as originally, the Saga people were not promised free wine at dinner as we were. In fact a wonderful couple from Wales sat with us at the first dinner, and then were scolded by the Saga guide for breaking ranks! In the end, everyone got free wine at dinner, although they did try to segregate the Saga people by reserving some tables for them exclusively (our friends from Wales continued to dine with us). The food was excellent to very good, buffet breakfast - omelet station, etc. buffet lunch with 3 choices of entree served, and 4-5 course dinners (and lots of wine, sometimes local to the areas we passed through).

 

The cruise itinerary is the same as most others, although the boat docked in Emmersdorf Austria while some dock in Durnstein. We did visit Durnstein by bus after visiting Melk Abbey.

 

Our post cruise stay in Prague was very nice, we were booked into the 5 star Le Palais Hotel in New Town. The location was a bit out of the action, but the rooms were great and the even the mini-bar and internet were included by Gate 1. We had thought about extending our stay at the same hotel, but the best price we could get was about 210 euros a night, so we had booked a cheaper hotel just across the river from Old Town in Malastrana - 100 yards from the Charles Bridge. Some of the Gate 1 and Saga people were booked into another 5 star hotel The Palace near Wenceslaus square - a better location.

 

All in all it was a successful trip, the Lueftner people worked hard to make it a very pleasant experience. Gate 1 also came through, and our rep from Gate 1 who travelled with us was very nice (she lives in Budapest).

 

Happy to answer any questions

[FeeFeeCat]

Hi Akai,

 

My sister and I were on this trip with you last year. We enjoyed it so much that I've booked another river cruise with Gate 1 for this year; my husband and I will be sailing from Amsterdam to Nuremberg at the end of this month.

[akai]

We booked a 10 day land tour in Greece, some days in Athens, then 3 days on Santorini and 3 days on Mykonos. We also going to Rhodes for 3 days on our own as well. We booked with Gate 1 for the hotels and transport -- Athens to Santorini by air, ferry to Mykonos, and ferry back to Athens, then we fly to Rhodes. We leave in about a month, can't wait. We really enjoyed the river cruise last year, and we will do another. Thanks for bringing back the memories.