I'm with you on 'tours'. However, two places really require them. Egypt / Nile and Antarctica. We took the Viking Antares (very large cabins and a beautiful ship) for the Nile cruise. Pricey and if you take every excursion, it's exhausting. Definitely bucket list. If you do go, hold out for Antares. And take the sunrise balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings.
Polar Latitudes Seaventure for Antarctica was a great little ship. Lots of scientific lectures and daily opportunities to spend time off ship with the penguins and icebergs. Fewer passengers/ smaller ship = better access to inlets and passages. Again, priceyandbucketlist. Our trip include pre- and post stay at Arakur in Ushuaia. Good hiking !
Being in the travel business for many years, you would most definitely see the differences between river cruise lines. They are more expensive for a reason. However, a good travel agent, such as myself, should be able to help you get a good deal and work within your budget. That’s what we do.
I used Smartours for my Egypt trip. It is a mid-range priced company and I found it perfectly adequate as far as hotels go. I think all trips to Egypt include 3 - 4 days on the Nile and our boat was lovely. I talked with some people at Cairo airport who used Viking and they paid about 30% more than I did, and we saw virtually the same things. (everyone does.) Smartours gave your free time, which I liked.
We took a Viking cruise with 2 other couples from Budapest to Regensberg - essentially your identical itinerary with the extra 2 days to start in Budapest in stead of starting in Vienna. Given it was still during covid, the prices were discounted and there were 80 people on a boat built to hold 170, so the staff to tourist ratio was quite high. I was (maybe) 59 or 60 at the time and have to admit that I felt too young for the cruise, but we were not the oldest people on board. Would I do a river cruise again?? Not that likely, but if some good friends wanted to do it, I could be talked into it. I'd probably prefer an Alaskan, Greek Isle, or Nile cruise. BTW - I have down the Cairo to Aswan cruise but it was many years ago; I took Abercrombie & Kent and it was first class, all the way. I would do that one again with my wife and kids - really amazing stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation...yes A&K always provides a first-class experience. I was concerned our cruise was going to be all old farts. But there were lots of 30 and 40-somethings on board.
Prior to our retirement and move to Portugal we used Gate 1 frequently, they have independent travel options (we have never taken a tour either). You can change airline carriers, dates, times, etc…. their railway bookings were always spot on….You can take advantage of lower hotel prices….we often took advantage of airport pick up…. pick up at airport in Prague via a full size coach bus, we were the ONLY people on it🤣
We found Gate 1 to be a good , reliable company with very knowledgeable guides, among our past trips we went to Machu Pichu, Angor Wat and we also celebrated our 20th with a 2 week cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. We're starting a Thailand tour tomorrow with them, our sixth with this company and BTW, we had a 2 week Egypt tour booked, including 7 day river cruise, however we decided to cancel due to the turmoil in those parts. The one thing we really liked is that on all of these tours we had a good mix of all ages, nationalities and made new friends.
Thanks DG for sharing your experiences. Though Egypt is enticing, I agree with you that now is not the time. I am surprised by your comment on Nationalities. We were the only folks that did not live in N America…the guests were 95% American and 5% Canadian. As the sole guests living in Europe we fielded many, many questions.
Sorry, I should've mentioned that the while the vast majority of the travelers were from US, on our last tour to the Balkans, only 9 out of 36 were born in US. :) On our 2 week river cruise, 50% were from Australia or New Zealand.
learned alot from you and the comments. altho we are not fans of tour groups or cruise ships, the river cruises seem inviting. am hoping to plan a nile adventure. i traveled to antarctica with a small ship and it was an AMAZING experience. also polar latitudes. and the small yachts that tour the dalmation coast are another terrific experience. max 38 people. have a wonderful holiday!
Bob and I feel the same about large cruises and tours. However, wed loved our Viking river cruise down the Rhine. A Globus tour of Italy was so fast passed, with moving daily to the different locations and luggage in the hall by 7:00am. While Globus limits guests to 40, the tour director is amazing, it is not my preferred way to travel. I will do another Viking trip. Food is above average and most tours are included.
We are not generally tour people, although we have taken 2 river cruises. The first (pre-COVID) was on Avalon from Prague to Budapest. Food, wine and staff were excellent. The tours were good, but we bailed on some of them and explored on our own. The room didn't have a separate balcony per se, but the large double sliding doors were floor to ceiling and opened so it was the same without giving up room space. We booked the pre and post extensions thru Globus/Avalon.
Post COVID we took a Viking cruise on the Rhine. The ship's decor, room size, food and staff were fine but didn't measure up to Avalon. That said, it could have been that times were tough post-COVID. On this trip, we booked our post extension ourselves and saved a ton. It cost a little bit to change the included airfare and the only thing that we didn't get was access to a Viking host if we had any issues. Wish we would have thought to do that on our first cruise instead of paying the extra.
Comparing prices without the trip extensions, they were similar. Both were booked with 'free airfare.' I agree with you that river cruising is nice to see a lot of different places without unpacking and to get an overview of places of interest to go back and explore more on our own.
We love the Viking River (small) cruises for the same reasons: there is planned time with knowledgeable resources and sufficient unplanned time to explore on your own. No children and modern ship technology.
Watching a series called Der Pass (Pagans Peak) based on border of Germany and Austria - really good scenery and accents…jealous of your trip and enjoy the rest.
Enjoyed reading this post. As my husband and I are embarking on a Danube River cruise next week. Spending Christmas Eve and day in Budapest. We booked our trip with the gay travel group called, Two Bad Tourist. They reserve space on ships then sell them to, well people like us. The cruise line is Viva. We are bookending our cruise with Prague and Vienna.
This will be our 3rd river cruise and we love them. It was our Viking river cruise up the Douro that lead us to upending our lives and move to Portugal. We also took Vikings river cruise up the Rhine with a group of friends. Loved it! Viking isn’t the cheapest cruise line but attention to details are unmatched.
Speaking of cost our Christmas market cruise is only 1,399. Not to rub salt in your spend thrift sore.😉
Hi Tim n Eddie Thanks for the recommendation. There was a ship docked next to us at one port that was just gorgeous. We looked it up and it was IamOutbound https://iamoutbound.com (another gay cruise line). We will be looking into their river cruise during gay week in Amsterdam.
Thanks for the write up. I’m sure after my wife reads this that it might be in the cards for us next year. She loves Christmas markets. Today we are heading for Lisboa for a couple of nights to see the markets there. Never been yet.
I'm with you on 'tours'. However, two places really require them. Egypt / Nile and Antarctica. We took the Viking Antares (very large cabins and a beautiful ship) for the Nile cruise. Pricey and if you take every excursion, it's exhausting. Definitely bucket list. If you do go, hold out for Antares. And take the sunrise balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings.
Polar Latitudes Seaventure for Antarctica was a great little ship. Lots of scientific lectures and daily opportunities to spend time off ship with the penguins and icebergs. Fewer passengers/ smaller ship = better access to inlets and passages. Again, priceyandbucketlist. Our trip include pre- and post stay at Arakur in Ushuaia. Good hiking !
Now you have got me thinking! Thanks!!!
Hello Nancy & Denise,
A long time ago we did a cruise on the Nile with the Steam Ship Sudan from Luxor to Aswan.
It is an old steam boat, with decoration in Belle Epoque style, and only 20 cabins or so...we loved it.
The afternoon tea on the upper deck was fantastic. We flew to Cairo and took a night train to Luxor.
Erika
Will look it up...thanks!
Being in the travel business for many years, you would most definitely see the differences between river cruise lines. They are more expensive for a reason. However, a good travel agent, such as myself, should be able to help you get a good deal and work within your budget. That’s what we do.
I used Smartours for my Egypt trip. It is a mid-range priced company and I found it perfectly adequate as far as hotels go. I think all trips to Egypt include 3 - 4 days on the Nile and our boat was lovely. I talked with some people at Cairo airport who used Viking and they paid about 30% more than I did, and we saw virtually the same things. (everyone does.) Smartours gave your free time, which I liked.
Thank you !
We took a Viking cruise with 2 other couples from Budapest to Regensberg - essentially your identical itinerary with the extra 2 days to start in Budapest in stead of starting in Vienna. Given it was still during covid, the prices were discounted and there were 80 people on a boat built to hold 170, so the staff to tourist ratio was quite high. I was (maybe) 59 or 60 at the time and have to admit that I felt too young for the cruise, but we were not the oldest people on board. Would I do a river cruise again?? Not that likely, but if some good friends wanted to do it, I could be talked into it. I'd probably prefer an Alaskan, Greek Isle, or Nile cruise. BTW - I have down the Cairo to Aswan cruise but it was many years ago; I took Abercrombie & Kent and it was first class, all the way. I would do that one again with my wife and kids - really amazing stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation...yes A&K always provides a first-class experience. I was concerned our cruise was going to be all old farts. But there were lots of 30 and 40-somethings on board.
Sounds like a great way to spend a week during the xmas season.
Prior to our retirement and move to Portugal we used Gate 1 frequently, they have independent travel options (we have never taken a tour either). You can change airline carriers, dates, times, etc…. their railway bookings were always spot on….You can take advantage of lower hotel prices….we often took advantage of airport pick up…. pick up at airport in Prague via a full size coach bus, we were the ONLY people on it🤣
We found Gate 1 to be a good , reliable company with very knowledgeable guides, among our past trips we went to Machu Pichu, Angor Wat and we also celebrated our 20th with a 2 week cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. We're starting a Thailand tour tomorrow with them, our sixth with this company and BTW, we had a 2 week Egypt tour booked, including 7 day river cruise, however we decided to cancel due to the turmoil in those parts. The one thing we really liked is that on all of these tours we had a good mix of all ages, nationalities and made new friends.
Thanks DG for sharing your experiences. Though Egypt is enticing, I agree with you that now is not the time. I am surprised by your comment on Nationalities. We were the only folks that did not live in N America…the guests were 95% American and 5% Canadian. As the sole guests living in Europe we fielded many, many questions.
Sorry, I should've mentioned that the while the vast majority of the travelers were from US, on our last tour to the Balkans, only 9 out of 36 were born in US. :) On our 2 week river cruise, 50% were from Australia or New Zealand.
learned alot from you and the comments. altho we are not fans of tour groups or cruise ships, the river cruises seem inviting. am hoping to plan a nile adventure. i traveled to antarctica with a small ship and it was an AMAZING experience. also polar latitudes. and the small yachts that tour the dalmation coast are another terrific experience. max 38 people. have a wonderful holiday!
Bob and I feel the same about large cruises and tours. However, wed loved our Viking river cruise down the Rhine. A Globus tour of Italy was so fast passed, with moving daily to the different locations and luggage in the hall by 7:00am. While Globus limits guests to 40, the tour director is amazing, it is not my preferred way to travel. I will do another Viking trip. Food is above average and most tours are included.
We are not generally tour people, although we have taken 2 river cruises. The first (pre-COVID) was on Avalon from Prague to Budapest. Food, wine and staff were excellent. The tours were good, but we bailed on some of them and explored on our own. The room didn't have a separate balcony per se, but the large double sliding doors were floor to ceiling and opened so it was the same without giving up room space. We booked the pre and post extensions thru Globus/Avalon.
Post COVID we took a Viking cruise on the Rhine. The ship's decor, room size, food and staff were fine but didn't measure up to Avalon. That said, it could have been that times were tough post-COVID. On this trip, we booked our post extension ourselves and saved a ton. It cost a little bit to change the included airfare and the only thing that we didn't get was access to a Viking host if we had any issues. Wish we would have thought to do that on our first cruise instead of paying the extra.
Comparing prices without the trip extensions, they were similar. Both were booked with 'free airfare.' I agree with you that river cruising is nice to see a lot of different places without unpacking and to get an overview of places of interest to go back and explore more on our own.
We love the Viking River (small) cruises for the same reasons: there is planned time with knowledgeable resources and sufficient unplanned time to explore on your own. No children and modern ship technology.
Feliz Natal Stephanie
Watching a series called Der Pass (Pagans Peak) based on border of Germany and Austria - really good scenery and accents…jealous of your trip and enjoy the rest.
Enjoyed reading this post. As my husband and I are embarking on a Danube River cruise next week. Spending Christmas Eve and day in Budapest. We booked our trip with the gay travel group called, Two Bad Tourist. They reserve space on ships then sell them to, well people like us. The cruise line is Viva. We are bookending our cruise with Prague and Vienna.
This will be our 3rd river cruise and we love them. It was our Viking river cruise up the Douro that lead us to upending our lives and move to Portugal. We also took Vikings river cruise up the Rhine with a group of friends. Loved it! Viking isn’t the cheapest cruise line but attention to details are unmatched.
Speaking of cost our Christmas market cruise is only 1,399. Not to rub salt in your spend thrift sore.😉
Wish you girls a happy Holiday!
Tim n Eddie
Hi Tim n Eddie Thanks for the recommendation. There was a ship docked next to us at one port that was just gorgeous. We looked it up and it was IamOutbound https://iamoutbound.com (another gay cruise line). We will be looking into their river cruise during gay week in Amsterdam.
Yes we are on their waitlist for their Mekong River cruise in 2025.
Love Amsterdam!
Thanks for the write up. I’m sure after my wife reads this that it might be in the cards for us next year. She loves Christmas markets. Today we are heading for Lisboa for a couple of nights to see the markets there. Never been yet.
Greg youwill love Lisbon at Christmas! The lights and markets are fantastic. Make sure you head to Rossio Square!
You will no doubt be interested in the article in today's Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/travel/europe-christmas-markets.html