annie4

My husband and I will be taking a river cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg in three weeks. Has anyone witnessed any difficulty in the river cruises being able to navigate the Danube which is at the lowest level in in many years?

Fletcher921

I wish I had a recommendation for you. I am taking that same cruise next June with a friend (while our husbands stay home). We are looking for recommendations for hotels too! Let me know how the cruise went please!! Thank you, Babs

Rudy

Annie4, I can't answer your question about the river conditions now, but we did take a Danube cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg in late May of this year. It was wonderful in every respect. The food was delicious, the scenery breathtaking, and the tours offered were great. There was adequate free time in each port for shopping, meandering the streets, etc. We added on three extra days in Budapest at the start of the trip. Many people that we met on the cruise were sorry that they hadn't done so, because they boarded the boat straight from the airport, and only had that afternoon to sightsee on their own, and this after a long, overnight flight from the U.S. The first morning, a short bus tour was included, though not adequate enough to fully enjoy such a wonderful city.

Fletcher921, the hotel we stayed at in Budapest was the Taverna, on Vaci Utca, a pedestrian only street filled with shops and restaurants, and right in the heart of the tourist district in Pest. The room was fairly basic, but immaculate. We spent very little time in the room except to sleep. Breakfast was included in the rate, and the booking was provided by the cruise company.

evmi

We are expecting to do a river cruise with Grand Circle travel from Budapest to Bucharest starting on Sept 28 2003. We have neighbors who were on a Viking cruise and stayed in hotels instead of cruising. They returned Aug. 27. I called Grand Circle and they said there were some cancelled trips but would let us know. I suggest you contact your tour operator. I would appreciate it if you could give me an update
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Thank you
Everett

narob

We are booked on a Viking River cruise for Budapest to Nuremburg on Nov. 2nd. We are leaving a few days earlier to enjoy Budapest the weekend before the cruise and we used priceline to get the Budapest Marriot for about 65 Euros. The cruise was discounted about $2000/cabin---cheaper than staying home!!!! We have friends that just returned and no problem with water levels.

narob

We have found out the last two days on our cruise possibly might find us stuck in Passau. The cruises going right now will have to take a coach two hours each way to see Nuremburg, but if this happens, the cruiseline said they would give us a 25% discount on a future European cruise (not China). We still plan to go, because we have non refundable air tickets.

annie4

We just returned from the Budapest to Neemberg cruise and we ended up missing the last two days of cruising due to low water. We were bussed to the remaining ports of call which caused us to miss much of the beautiful scenery along the last stretch of the cruise.
Long days on a bus were not what I had expected. There were also many passengers on board who were on our cruise because when they got to Budapest they found out the Budapest to the Black Sea cruise had been canceled due to low water. You will have a wonderful time on board the ship but be prepared for the bus rides.