Back from another AmaWaterways river cruise. Started in Budapest. We flew in a couple days ahead. Paula wanted to repeat a 'romantic' memory from some 25 years ago. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, then as evening fell, we walked across the Chain Bridge to the base of Buda Hill then ride the funicular to Buda Castle. We went to the same restaurant and it wasn't open due to a private gathering. We found a brew pub and called it a night,
Next day we did the HO-HO bus and saw the sights of this beautiful city.
The hotel car took us to our dock probably less than a mile downstream. There were about 5 Viking ships and 3-or 4 other river cruisers tied up. Ama crew members took our bags and schlepped them to the ship. Check-in is a non-event. They took our passports and welcomed us for a nice lunch in the lounge barely steps from the front desk. We met a few couples that would be our ship-mates for the next week. Our bags were already in our cabin by the time of our 'official' boarding time. The cabin was 170 sq ft w/a king bed and tons of storage. We unpacked and moved in. The ship didn't sail away until late evening, so if we had wanted, we could have gone ashore and explored.
Our route took us mostly south-east through Hungary and we soon had Hungary on one side and Croatia on the other. The Danube separates countries all along it's route. This area- in fact the majority of this cruise flows through agricultural land There was a nice stand of deciduous trees along the banks, but farms were right behind them Every day we'd be in a different river port. Our bus w/guide would explain the highlights of the area. We saw mile after mile of corn, sorghum, sunflowers, alfalfa hay in huge round bales. It was likely the second cutting of the season.
Ama generally offers 3 different daily excursions. The general group will head out, perhaps to a castle, or monastery. Then, what they call, 'gentle' walkers will go to a museum or just wander with a guide through the medieval old town. We were issued bluetooth listening devices so we could hear the guide's commentary and didn't need to be right on top of them. There is also a more active group that would launch on the ship's bicycles with their guide and might range some distance. Guests can also go on their own.
We would go next through Serbia, on one side and Croat6ia on the other and on to Bulgaria. Stopping along the way at points of interest. Some days we would be back on the ship for lunch, and sometimes lunch was on our own wherever we were. I should say that on river cruises, meal times are a bit more regimented than on ocean cruises. Breakfast was usually 7:00 to 9:30, Lunch 11:30 to about 2pm. There were always snacks, lemonade or iced tea in the lounge. You can order pub-food, burgers, wraps, fries and such anytime in the lounge. There are machines that make espresso, lattes, and other coffee drinks whenever. We also had a Nespresso machine in our cabin.
Our cruise was also sold by Smithsonian Journey's, and several afternoons they had well qualified lecturers who would speak to the history and cultures of that area. We thought that this added some to the quality of the cruise. We learned about medieval history, the emergence from communism etc. These were optional, but if you wanted to splash in the top (Sun) deck pool or do laps around the jogging track, or just use the included wi-fi it's your vacation.
The next to last day was mostly a cruising day. We negotiated 2 locks around a hydroelectric dam and through the Iron Gate Gorge where the Danube narrows at one point to just over 500 feet wide and 400 feet deep. An interesting part of that day was when Serbia was on one side (in Central European Time) and Bulgaria on the other (in Eastern European time) If you used your device it might automatically switch depending on where it got the best signal. I just locked my phone on CET (ship's time) until the next day when we were fully in Bulgaria. Our T-Mobile account gave us 5-or more Gb of high speed data and free texts, so it wasn't an issue.
We finally docked in Giurgiu, Romania. We had signed up for a post-cruise extension to Brasov, Romania. There were about 30ish of us on the Transylvania extension. Ama also offered an extension to Istanbul. We settled into a nice- though not particularly well located hotel. It was also used by Viking and other travelers. When we went to breakfast- a lavish affair- it was packed and as 8:00am approached they cleared out and we had a better experience. After breakfast we piled in or luxury Sentra bus, plugged into =it's wi-fi and went over the mountains to Bran Castle. Romania has stayed fairly isolated. For instance all the aforementioned Slavic countries use (all or partly) the Cyrillic alphabet. and are still decidedly 'Eastern', while Romania originated with Roman times. Hence their language is an early Romance language. It has changed little in the centuries. We could detect some similarities to Spanish and even English. We found that one could easily get around in Romania using English. Most people spoke virtually un-accented American English (blame movies and TV).
In Romania, the #1 tourist attraction is 'Dracula's Castle. Never mind that it doesn't truly exist- (outside Bram Stoker's mind) And since Brasov and forested vicinity lie between two good sized mountain range. The early Latin word for forest or woods is 'Sylvan' or similar. so the area 'between two woods' became known as 'Trans-Sylvan-ia'. In case you wondered.
We finished up two nights in Bucharest, the nation's capital. We toured around this 'Little Paris of The East'. and had passes to the national, museum, a 12th century orthodox church with original frescos and had a concert by members of their choir. It was beautiful and gave me chills.
Our weather was HOT! HOT! HOT! I saw several days of 36+ on the bus's temp readout (approx 97 Fahrenheit) We found that prices in Romania were more reasonable. dinner for two in the University district was around $20 equivalent and tip requests were 8-12%. The official government prognostication was that they would join the EEU and adopt the Euro in '27. Locals said 'Don't count on it. Maybe by 2030'. It really doesn't matter, I NEVER once saw Romanian money. Just tap the credit card and go,
Flying home was an ordeal, with all daylight, and flight weather delays, we were a solid 26 hours. Even Business Class all the way was a looooong day.
Jim and Paula
Next day we did the HO-HO bus and saw the sights of this beautiful city.
The hotel car took us to our dock probably less than a mile downstream. There were about 5 Viking ships and 3-or 4 other river cruisers tied up. Ama crew members took our bags and schlepped them to the ship. Check-in is a non-event. They took our passports and welcomed us for a nice lunch in the lounge barely steps from the front desk. We met a few couples that would be our ship-mates for the next week. Our bags were already in our cabin by the time of our 'official' boarding time. The cabin was 170 sq ft w/a king bed and tons of storage. We unpacked and moved in. The ship didn't sail away until late evening, so if we had wanted, we could have gone ashore and explored.
Our route took us mostly south-east through Hungary and we soon had Hungary on one side and Croatia on the other. The Danube separates countries all along it's route. This area- in fact the majority of this cruise flows through agricultural land There was a nice stand of deciduous trees along the banks, but farms were right behind them Every day we'd be in a different river port. Our bus w/guide would explain the highlights of the area. We saw mile after mile of corn, sorghum, sunflowers, alfalfa hay in huge round bales. It was likely the second cutting of the season.
Ama generally offers 3 different daily excursions. The general group will head out, perhaps to a castle, or monastery. Then, what they call, 'gentle' walkers will go to a museum or just wander with a guide through the medieval old town. We were issued bluetooth listening devices so we could hear the guide's commentary and didn't need to be right on top of them. There is also a more active group that would launch on the ship's bicycles with their guide and might range some distance. Guests can also go on their own.
We would go next through Serbia, on one side and Croat6ia on the other and on to Bulgaria. Stopping along the way at points of interest. Some days we would be back on the ship for lunch, and sometimes lunch was on our own wherever we were. I should say that on river cruises, meal times are a bit more regimented than on ocean cruises. Breakfast was usually 7:00 to 9:30, Lunch 11:30 to about 2pm. There were always snacks, lemonade or iced tea in the lounge. You can order pub-food, burgers, wraps, fries and such anytime in the lounge. There are machines that make espresso, lattes, and other coffee drinks whenever. We also had a Nespresso machine in our cabin.
Our cruise was also sold by Smithsonian Journey's, and several afternoons they had well qualified lecturers who would speak to the history and cultures of that area. We thought that this added some to the quality of the cruise. We learned about medieval history, the emergence from communism etc. These were optional, but if you wanted to splash in the top (Sun) deck pool or do laps around the jogging track, or just use the included wi-fi it's your vacation.
The next to last day was mostly a cruising day. We negotiated 2 locks around a hydroelectric dam and through the Iron Gate Gorge where the Danube narrows at one point to just over 500 feet wide and 400 feet deep. An interesting part of that day was when Serbia was on one side (in Central European Time) and Bulgaria on the other (in Eastern European time) If you used your device it might automatically switch depending on where it got the best signal. I just locked my phone on CET (ship's time) until the next day when we were fully in Bulgaria. Our T-Mobile account gave us 5-or more Gb of high speed data and free texts, so it wasn't an issue.
We finally docked in Giurgiu, Romania. We had signed up for a post-cruise extension to Brasov, Romania. There were about 30ish of us on the Transylvania extension. Ama also offered an extension to Istanbul. We settled into a nice- though not particularly well located hotel. It was also used by Viking and other travelers. When we went to breakfast- a lavish affair- it was packed and as 8:00am approached they cleared out and we had a better experience. After breakfast we piled in or luxury Sentra bus, plugged into =it's wi-fi and went over the mountains to Bran Castle. Romania has stayed fairly isolated. For instance all the aforementioned Slavic countries use (all or partly) the Cyrillic alphabet. and are still decidedly 'Eastern', while Romania originated with Roman times. Hence their language is an early Romance language. It has changed little in the centuries. We could detect some similarities to Spanish and even English. We found that one could easily get around in Romania using English. Most people spoke virtually un-accented American English (blame movies and TV).
In Romania, the #1 tourist attraction is 'Dracula's Castle. Never mind that it doesn't truly exist- (outside Bram Stoker's mind) And since Brasov and forested vicinity lie between two good sized mountain range. The early Latin word for forest or woods is 'Sylvan' or similar. so the area 'between two woods' became known as 'Trans-Sylvan-ia'. In case you wondered.
We finished up two nights in Bucharest, the nation's capital. We toured around this 'Little Paris of The East'. and had passes to the national, museum, a 12th century orthodox church with original frescos and had a concert by members of their choir. It was beautiful and gave me chills.
Our weather was HOT! HOT! HOT! I saw several days of 36+ on the bus's temp readout (approx 97 Fahrenheit) We found that prices in Romania were more reasonable. dinner for two in the University district was around $20 equivalent and tip requests were 8-12%. The official government prognostication was that they would join the EEU and adopt the Euro in '27. Locals said 'Don't count on it. Maybe by 2030'. It really doesn't matter, I NEVER once saw Romanian money. Just tap the credit card and go,
Flying home was an ordeal, with all daylight, and flight weather delays, we were a solid 26 hours. Even Business Class all the way was a looooong day.
Jim and Paula
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