I will post this in several parts. We were gone for a week, but it was a very full week. I write these reports primarily for our reference so they may contain more detail than some would like. After the last post, I will add a link to my photos on Snapfish. Sue

Romantic Danube Cruise
Viking Cruise Lines
on the
Viking Europe
August 29 through September 6, 2009
Some General Information:
River cruises are very different from other types of cruises. The boats have a small passenger capacity. On this trip there were 140 passengers and a crew of about 45.

The cabins are very well laid out with comfortable beds like those on large cruise ships. There is an open night stand with a lamp beside each bed. A desk combination takes most of the wall facing the beds. There is the equivalent of a dresser for each passenger on either side of the desk. There is additional shelving on the desk unit and 6 more shelves in the closet. There is a safe on one of those shelves. The closet was large enough for both of us to hang our clothes, but there were not many hangers at first. Suitcases fit under the beds. We had a problem with the safe. The lack of hangers must have been noticed while that was being taken care of because after dinner there were 10 more hangers on the desk. The bathroom was small but efficient. There was a large medicine chest and shelving under the sink. Bath gel, shampoo, lotion, shower cap, shoe polish clothes and a “vanity kit” with q-tips and cotton pads were furnished. The towels were huge, almost too big.

Paul says it is a trip, not a vacation. We were up and off the boat by at least 9 AM, if not before, almost every day for a tour. Occasionally, there was a tour that started at 10 AM. A bus and walking tour or a walking tour is provided every morning. You are not required to take them and can go on your own if you want to do so. They do ask that you let them know. With a very few exceptions all excursions are included in the price of the cruise. Most afternoons are free for you to explore on your own. On this trip we did spend some afternoons cruising.

Each evening the Viking News was put in your room. On the front was the schedule for the next day. The back showed the weather prediction for the next day and a brief history of the port.

Viking hires their own local tour guides. With one exception, they were outstanding. Three in particular stood out: Wolfgang at the Melk Abbey who had graduated from high school just the year before. We believe that he was a graduate of the abbey school. Stephanie in Regensburg, who is an art historian; and Alex in Nürnburg, who is an historian.

The Viking itinerary and Departure Information booklet states: “Walking tours are often on uneven ground or cobblestones and may include stairs and steep inclines.” We calculated that we walked at least 2 miles every day, most of it on cobblestones. We also climbed many, many steps. At one site we were told in advance that there were 64 steps up. In actuality there was more than that. More details on that one later.

Most passengers are in the over 50 age range, well traveled and curious. The official language for passengers on board is English. Passengers for the most part are from the US, Canada and Great Britain.

The official language for the crew is German. Most of the crew on this cruise was Eastern European. Quite a few of the crew members were from Slovakia, a number were from Hungary, and one from Germany.

All ships have an on-board musician. Otto was wonderful. He could play anything well from classical to country and western. He also could sing.

The food on this cruise was delicious. We all thought it was better than the food we had last year. Portion sizes with a few exceptions were just right. A couple of times the lunch portions from the menu were too large. There was always a choice of soups, and entrees on the menu.

Dinner usually offered a choice of 2 soups 2 appetizers, 2 entrées and 2 desserts. The Welcome Dinner and the Captain’s Dinner did not offer choices. Both were excellent. Steak, chicken and salmon are available if you don’t care for the entrée offered. You can also order a Caesar salad instead of an appetizer. I did order the steak one evening because none of the entrees appealed to me. It was delicious.

Much of this cruise is on the Main-Danube Canal. We went through a total of 24 locks.
Because we started in Budapest our trip was against the current. By starting in Nürnburg you are cruising with the current. The difference allows more time in port when going with the current. However, because Nürnburg is a special place for me, I liked ending the cruise there.

Saturday, August 29:
Getting There:
The six of us traveling together were picked up at our house at 11:30 AM for transport to the Newark Airport. Pick up was on time; however, we ran into a huge traffic jam on the New Jersey Turnpike. The decision was made to leave the turnpike, and we lost a lot of time because of traffic lights and traffic. Even though I had allowed extra time for getting Paul through security (replaced knee), we were all worried that we would not make our 4:30 PM Lufthansa flight. We checked in around 3 and noticed that there was a long line behind us. Security was pretty much hassle free as we have come to know what to expect in extra scrutiny of Paul. The TSA agent was really helpful and nice about making sure to connect Paul with his camera and carry-on while he was being screened.

None of us had had lunch so went looking for food. There was a Wolfgang Puck Express stand at our gate. We didn’t see any other place. The going price for a sandwich was $9.00 and the drinks were both huge and very expensive. Each couple bought one sandwich and one drink and shared it with their spouse.

The flight over on an Airbus A340-300 was dreadful. Not because of the service, which was wonderful, but because of the lack of space. We have never been on a plane with the seats so close together with the seats upright. Electronic boxes for the seatback monitors took up half the leg room of one seat. Paul’s monitor worked off and on. Mine did not work at all.

Day 1 Arrival in Budapest
Sunday, August 30 Sunny 28C/78F Chance of Rain 20%
We needed to change planes in Dusseldorf for our connecting flight to Budapest. We thought we would go directly to our connecting gate. Wrong!

We were in a huge area with security check points, with wall to wall people, and no directions at all except for one woman who pointed for us to go straight ahead. However, that was blocked by a rope so we couldn’t go anywhere.

We followed some people ahead of us. They ducked under the rope. The next person just took it down, and we all walked to security screeners at the end of the area.

On to next mess in Dusseldorf: We all asked if we needed to remove liquids from our carry-on bags or take off our shoes. The answer to both questions was “no”. After the carry-on bags were scanned, they pulled people aside one by one and removed the small bag containing 3 ounce liquid containers and rescanned it. The other thing that they did that I really didn’t like was put your passport and airline boarding pass in the bin that goes through the scanner.

After they scanned my bag holding 3 ounce liquids, they asked if I had coins in my carry-on. The answer was a very puzzled look from me and the answer of “no.” I still don’t know what the heck they were seeing.

Paul got upset with me because I didn’t have his carry-on. I was unable to grab it as usual because I had been pulled aside, and we were not sure where it was. They gave him a bit of hassle when we found it, and he tried to pick it up. Then they took some things out of his bag to scan again.

From there we were bused to our connecting flight to Budapest which we just barely made as we had been scheduled for a 50 minute layover by Lufthansa. All this took place at 6:05 AM (Midnight at home). Some other people we spoke with at the Newark Airport had an even closer connection.

We arrived at the Budapest airport at 8:40 AM, picked up our bags and looked for immigration and customs. We went toward the exit sign thinking we would find them upstairs. Nope.

Our Meet and Greet host, Michael, a program a manger from Viking Cruise Lines, was there waiting for us. When we asked him about immigration and customs, he told us we’d been through both. We wondered if it would have been different if it had not been a Sunday.

We walked through the Viking Spirit (our ship from last year) to get to the Viking Europe. People boarding the Viking Neptune had to walk through the Spirit, the Europe and then finally onto their boat.

Our dockage was between the Chain Bridge and the Elizabeth Bridge. We guessed that the beautiful bridge closest to us was the Chain Bridge. Turns out we guessed correctly.

We arrived at the Viking Europe by 9:30 AM and were able to check-in as soon as we arrived. That was much improved over our trip last year when no one could check in until 3:00. We still could not get into the cabins until 3.

We walked around the boat, helped ourselves to the coffee, iced tea, hot tea and ice water that they always have available.

After a light buffet luncheon in the lounge, all of us took a walk across the Chain Bridge and back again enjoying the view in both directions. When we got back we went up to the sundeck until we could get into our cabins at 3:00 o’clock. We ran into the Program Director on our way to our cabins. When she found out we had sailed with Viking before she laughed and told us we could just go to our cabins. First timers are escorted to the cabin and shown the various amenities.

We unpacked; took much needed showers; figured out how we wanted to set the Celsius thermometer; and took a 1 1/2 hour nap. We have found that this really helps overcome jet lag, but you must make yourself roll out of bed after 1 1/2 hours.

At 5:30 we headed back to lounge for before dinner drinks and the embarkation and safety briefing by our Hotel Manager, Zsolt Forrai and our Program Director, Marcela Virasztoova (both from Slovakia).

We also had a briefing for the next day. There were a lot of jet lagged groans when we found out our excursion for Budapest started at 8AM the next morning.

A delicious Hungarian-Slovakian dinner was served. After dinner there was group of excellent Hungarian musicians with a couple folk dancing. There were probably only about 12 – 15 people attending. That was a shame.

One of our companions got tapped for the audience participation. When that seemed to be the rest of the program we headed for bed.

Back in the cabin I noticed that Paul was hunting all over for something. He said he couldn’t find his pajamas, and he was absolutely sure he packed them because they were crossed off his list. He went to bed without finding them.
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