Danube photos

Mcqueen wrote:Blimey how do you turn that round

Bow thrusters!

This is Cumil, he lives in Bratislava...Mermaid likes him.

Was that taken in Pathead ???

Looks great but don't know if it would be my thing, what was the itinerary like, never really been a city break person, I've been London, Paris & Dublin, oh and Venice for a day, and if you count being stuck in airports while changing flights New York, LA and Miami,,, although I'm quite active when on holiday I don't want to be shepherded around,,, holidays I been on where you can see cruise ships coming in daily and thousands queuing to get on/off the ships and busses to do excursions,,, mmmm, think I'd be killing someone...

My holiday itinerary, get up eleven ish, depending on previous night out either full English with a beer in nearest bar, or wine and a nice picky things to munch on the balcony, then hit the beach, then very nice light lunch, usually seafood with wine, oh that's normally three/fourish in the afternoon, then hit beach again me normally doing a bit snorkiling, day over nice evening meal then live music...

Oh, ocassionly we try to kill each other going on mini subs, parasailing, jet skiing, cycling Tiede etc...

So come on Cam/Trish sell it to me, as said scenery, buildings etc look fantastic but I think I'd need to do it at about 100mph, oh, that said I do study architecture, asked me anything about the Dub, the Claddagh or the Times, not only can I give you location, exterior decor, I can also give seating plan...

Holiday looked great, can't wait to here more about it...

Like the photo of the guy doing a photo

Adam Mint wrote:Looks great but don't know if it would be my thing, what was the itinerary like, never really been a city break person, I've been London, Paris & Dublin, oh and Venice for a day, and if you count being stuck in airports while changing flights New York, LA and Miami,,, although I'm quite active when on holiday I don't want to be shepherded around,,, holidays I been on where you can see cruise ships coming in daily and thousands queuing to get on/off the ships and busses to do excursions,,, mmmm, think I'd be killing someone...

My holiday itinerary, get up eleven ish, depending on previous night out either full English with a beer in nearest bar, or wine and a nice picky things to munch on the balcony, then hit the beach, then very nice light lunch, usually seafood with wine, oh that's normally three/fourish in the afternoon, then hit beach again me normally doing a bit snorkiling, day over nice evening meal then live music...

Oh, ocassionly we try to kill each other going on mini subs, parasailing, jet skiing, cycling Tiede etc...

So come on Cam/Trish sell it to me, as said scenery, buildings etc look fantastic but I think I'd need to do it at about 100mph, oh, that said I do study architecture, asked me anything about the Dub, the Claddagh or the Times, not only can I give you location, exterior decor, I can also give seating plan...

Holiday looked great, can't wait to here more about it...

Mmmm...you'd struggle with this I think Minty. This was our day...Rise at 06.45, shower and decide which shorts/top combo to wear before sauntering along to breakfast. (07.30-09.00). Cabin would be cleaned while we were at brekkie. If we were moored up then excursions would start at 0900 and we'd all either troop onto a coach or as happened a few times, a feckin' wally trolley! We were issued with these little voice boxes with an ear piece which we listened to the guide with, but I know where you're coming from, I don't like being shepherded about either. I told the guide we were doing our own thing (photos etc), but would keep within earphone range so we knew when they were getting back on the coach etc. The tour usually took in the main attraction of the town/city we visited plus a wee walk through the older parts of the town. Back on coach and back to boat for lunch, usually about 12.30pm. Welcome back soft drink waiting in reception area when we got on board. (Regarding meals, I couldn't fault them, they were delicious! Mermaid took some photos of the menus which I will put up later).  
Worst excursion I did was the Illuminated Budapest at night. They took us to this wee chapel where we were bribed with a glass of bubbly to go in and listen to a fella on an organ playing 3 Bach pieces followed by the Hungarian National Anthem. Organ player knew what he was about but not my scene I'm afraid. (WTF that had to with "Illuminated Budapest" I don't know!). If we were moored overnight there would be another excursion in the afternoon, only 2 were free, the rest had to be paid for. The only one we skipped was some horse show thingy where you got to ride in a cart afterwards and look at a horse's arse...
Again, some of the guided excursions you could easily have done yourself from the boat as the village/town was only a short walk away but you don't know that beforehand, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Pre-dinner cocktails in the bar at 19:00, dinner was generally at 19:30 with a 5 course menu. Cabin crew would turn down beds for us while we were at dinner with a printed itinerary and map of next day's excursion placed on bed and a small chocolate bar placed on pillow. (Minty, you'd probably have a sticky ear in the morning! ).
There were web-cams showing the rear (wake) of the ship and one along each side which were viewed from the small TVs in each room, also a larger map showing our position on the Danube but it was a bit fuzzy for my old eyes!
As for sun-bathing, the Sundeck had loungers or seats which you could move into a shaded area if it got too hot and the bar-staff would pop up from the bar to see to your needs drink-wise, but you'd be unable to snack except at mealtimes as there was no place on board to buy snacks. No cash changed hands on the boat, each cabin gave their credit card details to reception on arrival and all extras like drinks etc. were signed for then on the last day a printed itemised bill was placed on your bed with the total sum due. There was a drinks package available for the week at €240 for a double cabin or €120 for a single cabin, however these covered only certain "house" drinks like the red and white wine and the local beer (Veltins Lager), if you wanted any brand spirits you'd have to get them charged to your cabin. I was disappointed they didn't have Magners so I had stuck to the lager, usually 2 or 3 and had the non-alcoholic mocktails during the day. Our bill at the end was €220 which covered all the drinks we had plus the WIFI hire for the week, which was sporadic at best, and several wee naff souvenirs from the reception shop. The entertainment was just background music from the resident keyboard/violin player so your live music at night was non-existent really!
A couple of nights we had quizzes where you'd make a team from the guests you got along best with just for a laugh and a grand prize of a tin of mints! (It's just to get punters into the bar and spending money really...). One night a "Gypsy" dance and singing group came on board while we were in Budapest to entertain us, Mermaid went, I fecked off to do some night photography! The drinks package lasted from 10.00am to mid-night each day, you couldn't use it outwith those times. The biggest bugbear for me was the fact that everything revolved around meal times, we seemed to spend the larger part of each day in the restaurant, the tour coaches had to be back at the boat a half hour before next meal etc. That said, the meals were delicious, I even ate some wee baby octopusses!
We would have liked an announcement on the tannoy system about certain castles/abbeys/large houses on the river bank as we were passing but came to the conclusion that it probably was not done because of people having naps in their cabins in the afternoon (most passengers were retired), and it would have disturbed their rest as the the tannoys were in the cabins as well.
All the ship's staff were tremendous from Captain down to cleaners and we were introduced to them all on the last evening in the bar lounge with a glass of bubbly. If you needed anything, tell reception, telephone call made and delivered to your cabin within minutes. Service was fantastic!
Tips/Gratuities etc. A printed letter is also left in your room on the last night with a suggested tipping level of between €7-€10/day which would be split equally between all crew/staff from Captain down to dish-washer. A sealable envelope was left for each cabin to put in whatever they saw fit to give. The Shearing's Cruise Manager is not counted as part of the crew so a tip for her would be separate. We gave €50 to the crew envelope and €40 for Sheena the cruise manager. This lady worked form 0700 until 2200 each day, she was everywhere! We got a big hug from her when we left! I worked out if everyone on board gave similar to me, each crew member would get approx. €90 each. Not too bad.
I've written a wee bit more than I intended but all-in-all I loved it! If I go again on another river cruise, which we will, I'll find out more about the excursions to see if it's do-able by yourself. Also, if the ship is moored overnight you don't have to eat on board and you could go to a restaurant in one of the towns and make your own way back at your convenience...as for marks out of 10, I'm giving it 11!

PS. Additional info: we hired a mini-suite which was bigger than most hotel rooms, the en-suite bathroom facilities had a bath with a shower and also a separate shower cubicle, again bigger than most hotel facilities. Sliding French windows with a seating area in front gave fantastic views from the ship and a nice breeze during the heat of the day. (Which reminds me, all cabins had air-conditioning which was a blessing when the temp. was at 41°C while we were in Budapest.) All rooms had a safe and a nice touch to remind me of home was all the prints on the walls were by Jack Vettriano, a famous painter from Fife! The seating area also contained a desk area with drawers etc. where i could sit with my laptop and work away. There was a telephone system where you could call reception for anything and just by dialling the room number of your fellow passengers you would be put through to their cabin. (That was never going to happen though!)

Great review, and an 11/10 score,,, but I'm still looking at Tenerife flight prices...

My itinerary:-

Well done Cam Carol is a great one for cruises and rates them highly,
me i hate having to do anything i havn't thought up, yes i know why not try it, nah, I dont like hotels either
But never say never, or in my case it wont happen anytime soon I'm strange end of 

Nowt wrong with that Minty!

That said one of the lads from the pool league bunch of mates I have is allways organising outings, I've mentioned the ale trail train trip and dogs nights we do but he's also organised trips abroad, Brussels and Budapest are two I recall, also an odd one to some medieval town in the middle off nowhere in Spain, seemingly flights and accommodation were peanuts,,, it's not just lads, there are some girls in our bunch and some of the lads take along gtrlfriends etc, trips have been between 4 to 7 days, I've never done any of the abroad ones as the city break thing don't appeal to me, bit of an expensive pub crawl by the sound of it, also I recall being told one of the lads (Andy) got so pissed on the first night of one of the breaks he never saw the rest of it...

This was our last excursion, Melk Abbey, this photo ia an official one which I bought as this was obviously taken from a drone or a helicopter and the feckers wouldn't let us take any pictures inside because they want to make lots of money selling their own...feckers! The inside of that church with the cupola is absolutely stunning. (Minty, it's in the Baroque style with gold leaf everywhere!) I bought a wee book which I will see if I can scan some of the pics from because it really is worth seeing. Mermaid got all emotional when we walked in, I asked her if she wanted me to buy her a rosary! This place is still a working Benedictine monastery but I think they were all at the bingo because we never saw any monks...

I am sorry Cam but that sounds like a holiday from hell to me. We went on a couple several years ago and was bored silly with all the small talk around how many cruises some guests had been on and had you been on this one ect, what countries they had tick off which really meant a couple or so hours ashore and never going further than a few miles off the ship. All the dressing up for dinner and then having instructions on when we could eat, the constant selling of trips and the lack of opportunities to do our thing. I vowed then after the last one never again and you have just proved in our case that was the correct decision it could just be a generation gap thing but I am pleased you enjoyed you holiday.

These are just scans so aren't the best but you get the idea...click on the enlarge button for full effect.

innit wrote:I am sorry Cam but that sounds like a holiday from hell to me. We went on a couple several years ago and was bored silly with all the small talk around how many cruises some guests had been on and had you been on this one ect, what countries they had tick off which really meant a couple or so hours ashore and never going further than a few miles off the ship. All the dressing up for dinner and then having instructions on when we could eat, the constant selling of trips and the lack of opportunities to do our thing. I vowed then after the last one never again and you have just proved in our case that was the correct decision it could just be a generation gap thing but I am pleased you enjoyed you holiday.

Whatever floats your boat Innit, horses for courses and all that, there were parts I could have gone without but overall I really enjoyed it, but as I say, I would have preferred longer on my own to explore etc.

innit wrote:I am sorry Cam but that sounds like a holiday from hell to me. We went on a couple several years ago and was bored silly with all the small talk around how many cruises some guests had been on and had you been on this one ect, what countries they had tick off which really meant a couple or so hours ashore and never going further than a few miles off the ship. All the dressing up for dinner and then having instructions on when we could eat, the constant selling of trips and the lack of opportunities to do our thing. I vowed then after the last one never again and you have just proved in our case that was the correct decision it could just be a generation gap thing but I am pleased you enjoyed you holiday.

It was a lovely 1st cruise.It was very relaxed and you did what you wanted. Cam had booked trips which he wanted to do.Lunch and dinner were at set times but breakfast was flexible. Cam just wanted to go first thing,probably because I had been up since 6am as I could not sleep. I loved being up about to see the early morning sunrises.

Holiday looked fantastic Trish, maybay not everyone's choice , but looked fantasti, enjoy... x

Adam Mint wrote:Holiday looked fantastic Trish, maybay not everyone's choice , but looked fantasti, enjoy... x

we all want different things on our holidays and sometimes we have to compromise.

Better than Scotland,,,, but not Tenerife...