Danube cruise with Uniworld
My wife, JoAnn, and I have taken many cruises but never one on any of Europe’s rivers, so when we saw that Uniworld (Los Angeles, CA; 800/733-7820) had introduced the 160-passenger River Beatrice in March ’09, with 7-night cruises along the Danube, we decided to go.
Our primary reason was it was a new ship which called at three favorite cities we hadn’t seen in years: Budapest, Vienna and Salzburg. In addition, the River Beatrice visited Bratislava in Slovakia; Melk, Dürnstein and Linz in Austria, and Passau, Germany. The cruise portion cost $4,498 for the two of us plus tips. International airfare from Miami was about $1,600.
Another motivation — the price included shore excursions in each port. There were a few optional tours (helicopter rides, a bicycle tour of the Wachau Valley and a visit to Schönbrunn summer palace in Vienna), but we preferred to stick with the basic tours.
Though Uniworld can handle air transportation and transfers, we decided to make our own arrangements. To avoid any possibility of missing the sailing, we flew to Budapest a day early on Swiss International. We like to fly Swiss because of the excellent cabin service and the good food.
Our Miami-Zürich-Budapest flight was on time, and we took the shuttle ($36 for two) to the Best Western Hungaria (800/780-7234). The room cost $99 a night, booked online. The room was nothing spectacular, but it was clean and comfortable. The hotel restaurant proved to be a real find, with an excellent dinner for two with Hungarian wine for about $80.
The next morning we took a cab to the River Beatrice, left our luggage there and took another cab to the Holocaust Museum. The museum (free to those over 70 and about $8 to those under) tells the story very effectively, with the sound of jackboots on cobblestone streets accentuating the effect. Particularly poignant were the stories of individuals who died in the death camps. Plan on about two hours.
Our cabin on the River Beatrice was beautifully decorated and had a marble bathroom and shower, a TV and a queen-size bed, with evening turndown service.
The food was excellent, with unlimited red and white wine for dinner. We also liked the open-seating policy, which enabled us to choose our table partners.
The free onboard entertainment was very good.
Uniworld’s tour of Buda and Pest included visits to the Old City, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The next stop was Bratislava, where highlights included the Russian War Memorial, dedicated to the many soldiers who died there fighting the Germans during World War II. It’s a hard hike to the site, so I left JoAnn behind and did it myself. It was well worth the up-close experience.
Bratislava’s castle, quite impressive from the outside, was undergoing a major renovation and was closed.
In Dürnstein, we opted not to climb to the remains of the medieval castle on the mountain and instead poked around in the shops for about an hour.
We visited Melk, known for its monastery founded in 1089. Melk, with a beautiful view from its mountain perch, has about 100,000 manuscripts in its library and an impressive museum.
If you enjoy Mozart’s music, you’ll get your fill in Vienna and Salzburg, where it seems everything from chocolates to streets are named after the famous composer.
Don’t miss the Imperial Palace in Vienna, which took 650 years to complete. Today the Spanish Riding School in the palace complex is home to the famous Lipizzaner stallions, which train and perform there. We missed the tour of the Lipizzaner facilities.
The palace opens onto a huge walking street, the Graben, with scores of shops and restaurants. We stopped at a small shop for a chocolate fix — a Sachertorte and hot chocolate — which cost about $24 for the two of us. Delicious!
Also in the area is famous St. Stephen’s Cathedral and, nearby, Mozart’s apartment, which was part of the ship’s tour. We couldn’t get too excited about the apartment because it was small and very crowded.
Salzburg’s walking streets are more intimate than Vienna’s. After the hour-long walking tour, JoAnn and I window-shopped for about two hours, stopping for another torte and hot chocolate before rejoining the bus.
The cruise ended in Passau and we took a train to Munich ($95 each, one way). Unless you have bought your train ticket ahead of time in the US (which we didn’t), it is very hard to figure out how to work the ticket machine. We were helped by a kindly German lady who spoke English.
In Munich we spent two nights at Hotel Amba (Arnulfstrasse 20, 80335 München; phone ++49 89/54514-0), across from the main train station. With two beds, sitting area and large bathroom, it was plain but comfortable and a good value at about $322.
The best way to see the city is on the Hop-on/Hop-off bus, operated by Gray Line, which cost €13 per person per day or €18 for two days. One day really isn’t enough time to see Munich, but the bus tour does cover the highlights very effectively.
We stopped at the Hofbrauhaus (Platzl 9, 80331 Munich, Germany; phone 089 2901360), which had surprisingly good Bavarian food and, of course, an oompah band. Including two glasses of wine and a huge pitcher of beer, the cost was about $65 for two.
Lufthansa operates a bus from the Munich train station to all terminals of the airport for about $34 for two. Considering the airport is almost an hour from downtown, this was a surprisingly good price. The hotel clerk said it would be at least $100 by cab.
BILL KOFOED
Ft. Pierce, FL