Your Travel Specialist: River Cruising On The Danube

By MAUREEN JONES (Star Patcher)

I had the pleasure on joining some travel industry colleagues on a Amawaterways cruise from Vilshofen, 90 miles from Munich, to Passau, Linz, Melk, Krems, Vienna, Bratislava, and ending up in Budapest. For the last few years, river cruising has been the No. 1 hot item for people to buy. Of the three companies that I recently sailed on, i.e. Viking, Uniworld and Amawaterways, I did enjoy this one the most.

Casual, no dressing up, and you are met at the airport, everything organized and you don’t have to make any decisions and can’t get lost.

The cabins are larger, only 110 people versus 199 on Viking, a more leisurely pace with the tours, and there were no extra expenses. Fantastic food, outstanding wine selection, excellent service from the staff, and wonderful tours which has four options for you to choose from. For people who are on canes, slow walkers, elderly, the slow paced one was outstanding, well planned. In many places they had a little train, or a horse drawn carriage to take people around the little towns which put walking at a minimum.

There was a regular walkers group, and active walkers group, and a Late Starters group for those who like to sleep in. For the more active, you had an energetic group and I was surprised at how many people took the bicycle tours. I think they rode along the path by the river faster than we sailed .

Everyone has a headset which makes it easy to hear the professional guide at each stop. You didn’t have to be close to the guide to hear what they were saying, you could wander away and still feel you were getting the history of the place. The groups where small. Only eight in mine. I was wearing my Austrian Tyrolean hat with a big feather. One lady who’s husband has Alzheimers said to him, keep Mo in your sight, look for the hat and you won’t get lost. He did fine and enjoyed himself. Another chap had Parkinson’s and he too was in the gentle tour group. It made me feel good, my hat kept these two chaps on target and left their wives free to wander wherever they wanted to taking their photos.

My husband, Roy, has a marvelous doctor. Roy thinks he is the cat’s meow. Dr. Dominick Curatola. Roy had a problem with fluid build up on our January river cruise to Amsterdam so Dr. C, didn’t want him doing any long distance flying at present so I went alone on this trip. With him in mind, not being a fast walker, I went on all the gentle paced tours, so I could report to him what it was like. He would have been fine on Amawaterways.

This is not a holiday for young children. Teenagers yes, lots of history to keep them interested, but it is mainly for adults. There is no single supplement on many cruises so its an ideal holiday for people on their own.

The river is very different from the itinerary on the Rhine where you can see a castle on a hill top at every bend in the river. The Rhine is also a busier river, with lots of traffic and much faster flowing water. I felt it was a bonus to start the journey in Munich which is a lovely town with several excellent day trip opportunities.

Go in two or three days earlier so you can do some sightseeing, You can do a side trip to Salzburg which is worth seeing, the Mercedes Benz or BMW factory tour, just to mention a few. You can also do a side trip to Prague. There is nothing terribly exciting in Passau, Linz, Krems, and forget Bratislava. The only thing to do was to go on a Communist building tour. If you have ancestors from Slovakia, or one of those Eastern European countries then it might have some appeal for a visitor. Melk has a very interesting monastery to see, with a lot of history. I think the highlight of the cruise has to be Vienna, which is well worth seeing. As for Budapest, one or two days there is enough, and a good way to visit it is on a river cruise.

You didn’t have to go on the tours. You could just go ashore and wander on your own which many people did. Only thing you have to be aware of, is that many little towns don’t allow shops to open on Sundays. It’s a case of window shopping, going to look at the little church. If you don’t want to go ashore, you can sit on your balcony or in a comfortable sofa in the lounge and read. There is coffee, tea and snacks available 24 hours a day.

You can definitely see the difference as you sail thru five countries. Under Communist rule looks the same wherever you are, poorly constructed buildings, bad state of repair, and the people did not look friendly or happy. Little in the way of shopping and the only thing I bought in Hungary was Paprika spice.

Go put an Amawaterways cruise on your budget list. www.amawaterways.com

Maureen Jones

Maureen Jones is president of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main St., Los Altos. Members of her staff are experts in business travel, cruises, and all types of leisure.

Previous columns by Maureen:

• Your Travel Expert On: Salzburg, Austria
• Your Travel Expert On: Munich
• Your Travel Specialist On: London, England
• Your Travel Specialist On: Elite Entree in Spain
• Your Travel Specialist On: Alberta- A Wonderful Province in Canada
• Abu Dhabi- A destination apart
• Mougins, Cote De A’zur, France
• HIGH FIVE: What Tops Your List in South Africa?
• Lima, Peru’s Crossroads of Past and Present
• Why Use A Travel Agent?

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