# European River Cruises suggestions solicited



## flexible (Jun 3, 2012)

We have reservations for a Dover, UK RT cruise 22-30 Aug 2012 with an overnight in Edinburgh to see the http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/ 

We are considering http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/r...danube-amsterdam-budapest-2013/itinerary.aspx Viking River Cruises Amsterdam to Budapest cruise

with some possibly some timeshare weeks before/after and other river cruises. 

We'd appreciate any suggestions regarding European River Cruises.
Thanks


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## Carolinian (Jun 4, 2012)

They are not overnight, but I really enjoyed the Saxony Steamboat cruises from Dresden on the River Elbe.  They have the largest fleet of vintage sidewheeler steamboats in the world and have cruises both up river and down river from Dresden.


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## MaryH (Jun 4, 2012)

I would highly recommend the Edinburg festival and the Military tattoo.  Did it many years ago and very enjoyable.


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## pedro47 (Jun 4, 2012)

Have you checked cruise critics web site?  They have some great information on the Viking River Cruise Line and on this same river boat cruise.


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## spencersmama (Jun 6, 2012)

I have never taken a river cruise, but have been intrigued.  The prices seem so reasonable for what is included.

I am on the viking mailing list and did get an email today about summer cruises.  (Sorry, I deleted it.) They are marked down and include free airfare.  The Amsterdam to Budapest trip was one that had some sale dates available.  I don't remember the details, sorry, but I'm sure the agents on the phone will be able to help.


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## Sandy VDH (Jun 6, 2012)

I booked Kathleen and Sam Armstrong last year on a Viking river cruise.  Kathleen and Sam are long time tuggers. 

They loved the cruise.  Perhaps we can even get Kathleen to add some comment here about her trip.

There are a few choices Viking, Avalon, among others.  PM me if you want more information.


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## LAX Mom (Jun 6, 2012)

My parents did a Viking Cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg and loved it! They had been on many other cruises (Celebrity, Holland America, Princess & Norwegian) and this was their favorite. The shore excursions were great and the food was very good, although not as plentiful as the big ships.


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## ConejoRed (Jun 8, 2012)

We actually have reservations for the reverse itenerary Budapest to Amsterdam on AMAWaterways departing August 15th.  We are really looking forward to just unpacking once and seeing a large part of Europe from Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Holland.  We really like that just about everything is included, including the shore excursions (unlike Ocean cruises). 

Prior to the trip we will be in London for the Olympics (staying with family) and after the River Crusie we are going to spend a few days exploring WWI and WWII sites and then we end the adventure with a week at the Marriott Village Ile de France Timeshare outside Paris.  Only 5 weeks until we leave for London and I can't wait for the adventure to start!


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## flexible (Jun 9, 2012)

giudice said:


> We actually have reservations for the reverse itenerary Budapest to Amsterdam on AMAWaterways departing August 15th.  We are really looking forward to just unpacking once and seeing a large part of Europe from Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Holland.  We really like that just about everything is included, including the shore excursions (unlike Ocean cruises).
> 
> Prior to the trip we will be in London for the Olympics (staying with family) and after the River Crusie we are going to spend a few days exploring WWI and WWII sites and then we end the adventure with a week at the Marriott Village Ile de France Timeshare outside Paris.  Only 5 weeks until we leave for London and I can't wait for the adventure to start!



Hi Giudice, 

Did you compare AMAWaterways, Viking and perhaps other cruise lines offering Budapest to Amsterdam prior to making your reservation. If so, I'd love to know what you thought. We have reservations with Viking for Amsterdam->Budapest->Bucharest because our experience on Viking's China/Tibet was so fantastic. But I have heard that is among their best cruises. Perhaps another cruise line is better for Europe?

If we weren't redeeming ECVC via OVC to pay for our cruises we would consider http://www.bargeladycruises.com/ who was highly recommended by a couple we met at Marriott in Hawaii. I believe Barge Lady specializing in very small river cruises like 3 or 4 couples but it can run $40,000 or more.

Looking forward to hearing about your trip? Will you be posting on an online blog? Or posting photos online? Your trip sounds great with London included.

Thanks
G


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## ConejoRed (Jun 9, 2012)

We looked at them all.  A few things swayed us to AMA. Back when we booked in December they were offering a $2,000 discount per cabin for this one particular trip which allowed us to book a mid ship, A level cabin (one level below their suites) for only a little more that Vikings lowest cabin rate at the time (and that was comparing to Vikings two for one rates).  AMA ships are almost all French balcony's which is what we wanted and that ruled out some of the others like Uniworld.  AMA's French balcony cabins were also bigger than Vikings (170 vs. 135 sq feet) and since we were going to be on the ship for two weeks we thought we would appreciate the extra space. AMA has their own bikes on board and does some guided bike tours between some ports (not sure if viking offers this) which my DH is looking forward to taking. AMA Waterways is located in Southern CA just down the street from our friends who are joining us for the cruise and France actually met with them to go over their program in detail which was nice. 

The last deciding factor was the direction and timing.  The Olympics end on August 12th and this cruise starts on the 15th so we are flying from London to Budapest on the 14th (thus avoiding the rush out of town on the 13th by the athletes). The cruise ends on the 29th in Amsterdam where we then take a quick train to France (would have been much harder and longer from Budapest if we ended there).

Once we had the cruise dates settled, I then put in a request for several resorts (In January of this year) in the Normandie and Paris area of France using a Marriott DSVII 2012 Thanksgiving week with a very narrow checking range (first weekend in September only) and it was matched to the Marriott Village Ile de France in within 3 weeks.

Everything just seemed to come together just as we needed it to and the cruise critics reviews of AMA were excellent down to the very ship we are on so we are looking forward to a great trip!!!


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## klpca (Jun 12, 2012)

giudice said:


> We looked at them all.  A few things swayed us to AMA. Back when we booked in December they were offering a $2,000 discount per cabin for this one particular trip which allowed us to book a mid ship, A level cabin (one level below their suites) for only a little more that Vikings lowest cabin rate at the time (and that was comparing to Vikings two for one rates).  AMA ships are almost all French balcony's which is what we wanted and that ruled out some of the others like Uniworld.  AMA's French balcony cabins were also bigger than Vikings (170 vs. 135 sq feet) and since we were going to be on the ship for two weeks we thought we would appreciate the extra space. AMA has their own bikes on board and does some guided bike tours between some ports (not sure if viking offers this) which my DH is looking forward to taking. AMA Waterways is located in Southern CA just down the street from our friends who are joining us for the cruise and France actually met with them to go over their program in detail which was nice.
> 
> The last deciding factor was the direction and timing.  The Olympics end on August 12th and this cruise starts on the 15th so we are flying from London to Budapest on the 14th (thus avoiding the rush out of town on the 13th by the athletes). The cruise ends on the 29th in Amsterdam where we then take a quick train to France (would have been much harder and longer from Budapest if we ended there).
> 
> ...



What a great trip you have planned! I was wondering if you used your whole villa to secure the exchange or if you locked it off first? We also own at DSVII and I wondered the trade value of Thanksgiving week. Thanks.


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## flexible (Jun 12, 2012)

giudice said:


> We looked at them all.  A few things swayed us to AMA. Back when we booked in December they were offering a $2,000 discount per cabin for this one particular trip which allowed us to book a mid ship, A level cabin (one level below their suites) for only a little more that Vikings lowest cabin rate at the time (and that was comparing to Vikings two for one rates).  AMA ships are almost all French balcony's which is what we wanted and that ruled out some of the others like Uniworld.  AMA's French balcony cabins were also bigger than Vikings (170 vs. 135 sq feet) and since we were going to be on the ship for two weeks we thought we would appreciate the extra space. AMA has their own bikes on board and does some guided bike tours between some ports (not sure if viking offers this) which my DH is looking forward to taking. AMA Waterways is located in Southern CA just down the street from our friends who are joining us for the cruise and France actually met with them to go over their program in detail which was nice.
> 
> The last deciding factor was the direction and timing.  The Olympics end on August 12th and this cruise starts on the 15th so we are flying from London to Budapest on the 14th (thus avoiding the rush out of town on the 13th by the athletes). The cruise ends on the 29th in Amsterdam where we then take a quick train to France (would have been much harder and longer from Budapest if we ended there).
> 
> ...



I'll call AMA Waterways today for a brochure and discuss September 2013 options. We will return from Mexico Sep 2012->March or April 2013 before leaving for our 2013-2014 travel season.

1) http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/tickets 2013 tickets do not go on sale until December 2012. We hope to get tickets for 23 Aug 2013 (Ken's birthday) or earlier. 

- We have deposits on http://www.windstarcruises.com/itinerary-4130824-11053.aspx Edinburgh->Dublin 24-31 Aug 2013

if we can ONLY get tickets for Saturday, 25 Aug 2013 we have future cruise credits holding http://www.princess.com/find/search...a=I&noOfPax=2&resType=C&bID=PCDIR&pageOffset=

We have deposits holding Viking River Cruises 22 Sep 2013 Amsterdam->Budapest & 6 Oct 2013 Budapest->Bucharest but we might cruses on the 23 day Amsterdam->Bucharest. 

I can easily find things to do and people to see in Ireland for 31 Aug - 22 Sep 2013. My first website was http://IrishGenealogy.com - but timeshare exchanges in Ireland in August can be difficult to find. We used Marriott points during our 2008 & 2009 trips to Ireland.

Any suggestions after Bucharest? We have future cruise credits on Azamara for 9-25 Nov 2013 Dubai->Singapore. India has been on Ken's bucket list. I read somewhere that the earliest you want to go to India is October and the latest is March.


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## ConejoRed (Jun 12, 2012)

Since I knew that we needed a 2 bedroom unit, I did not want to risk not getting the larger unit so I used the full 2 bedroom DSVII unit for the search.  (we also own another annual White unit at Shadow Ridge and a EOY Platnimum at Shadow Ridge so we have plenty of other units to work with for other tiprs).  We have a Sunday checkin so the week at the Marriott Village Ile de France is technically in their Gold season so we ended up with like for like seasons, but if we had gotten a Saturday checkin it would have been a Platnium season trade so it actually crosses both seasons in reality.  

We found our cruise discount through Vacations to Go's river cruise webiste at www.rivercruise.com.  The website has lots of deals (for instance AMAWaterways is currently offering the $2,000 off per cabin on all of their 2013 Paris and Normanday cruises) We just kept checking the website until we found one that fit our plans. Once we found the itinerary and discount we wanted, we just contacted Vacations to Go and they took care of everything from there.   They were recommended to us by my boss who used them several times to find great deals on cruises.  

Once we return, I will try and circle back to this post and post a trip review.


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## Quiet Pine (Jun 15, 2012)

flexible said:


> Viking River Cruises



I've been on three Viking River Cruises: Kiev to Odessa, Budapest to Passau, Amsterdam to Basel. Unpacking once is terrific, and because often cities are built on rivers, the ship docks in town. We were happy with our cabin, the food, the tours, everything. We did compare AMA with Viking on one cruise, and decided the additional cost was not work it.


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