It’s Monday morning, as I drove to work for the first time in 10 days, I found myself thinking “I’m so glad I’m going to work, where I know what will happen from one day to the next, instead of fearing what new sorry story our on board Viking Program Director will tell us about the Danube that will put my time-off into yet another ordeal”! And I didn’t get up at 6 am to pack and board a bus!!!
Yep, that’s right, a vacation that wasn’t. A vacation that was worse than go to work!
We did our own diversion before boarding the Viking Legend (Ooops, I mean it’s actually the Prestige) on November 19. So we missed the cue given to the rest of the passenger during the airport transfer “You’re lucky you’ll get to cruise on two ships instead of one”
. But our program director Regina made sure we got that message: she repeated the joke during the welcome session, after the captain informed us the ‘small’ possibility of having to change ships. No mentioning of the lengthy bus ride to get from one ship to the other. Some laughed, believing that’s the worst we need to worry about.
We wished!
What we didn’t know but Viking did, was the water level made it impossible to get into Budapest even the previous 2 weeks. Passengers were bused from the city to the ship, losing precious touring time and seeing only highway markers instead of the advertised river views.
But we were oblivion. The joking tone of the program director was enough to hypnotize the passengers into a state of bliss. Several Viking employees enjoying their complimentary cruise also reassure us “Viking will take care of you”. Well, they’ll come to grieve their faith in their own employers.
Day 1: Nuremberg
The cruise ship dock is actually outside the city, with no easy transport into the city. The cruise line runs a bus into the city every other hour. But we arrive late enough we didn't bother. Besides, we had a full day the next day to see the city anyway. So not a great deal of motivation to run in on day 1.
Tour of the old city and a lot of the history of the Nazi rise and fall. Second world war was a distant past. Our guide reminded us how Hitler managed to lie to the whole nation and brought them to ruin. Lies… mmm…
Next we climbed up to the castle overlooking the city. It was a grey day and started drizzling. Otherwise, I bet the view would be quite nice. We did walk around the expansive ground.
The last stop was the old city center, which is quaint. We could see the building up of the Christmas market. But the market would open till next Saturday. Since we had just come from Prague, Nuremberg was kind of well, meh…
We set sail after lunch. This stretch of the cruise is actually not on the Danube, but on the canal connecting the Mien river with the Danube. We went through several ship locks. For those who never seen a lock, it's a fun experience.
Day 2: Regensburg
This time (and for the only time), we dock right next to the city. So we simply walk off the ship and into the city.
Regensburg isn't very big, but is charming. A stone bridge goes across the river. Since we did our own diversion to Prague, Regensburg didn’t quite compare either. Still, it’s a lovely city. The sausages are famous, for good reason.
In the afternoon, we opted for the "optional" (read: extra cost) tour to the Turns & Taxis Palace. This is a change from all the other great palaces we've seen, because it's still using lived in by the owner Princess Gloria. So unlike most other palaces that, while looking nice, felt "dead". This palace, you can feel it's fresh and alive. Our guide was excellent in pointing out unusual items of interest. It's one of the more enjoyable destination of our cruise. And unfortunately, the last day of peace.
(Later cruises would have it for free as part of the compensation of the disaster we’ve yet to see. But for us, there’s no automatic refund. Still waiting to see if Viking will reimburse us without us having to fight to death for it)
Day 3 was when the first bomb shell dropped.
We were to be bused from Regensburg to Passau, dropped off as human cargo, left for a few hours and picked up to be bused back to the ship in Regensburg. Passau was a beautiful city with spectacular cathedral:
But instead of docking right in front of the city, walking to sights at time of our own choosing, we had to jam all our sight-seeing within the time allotted to us. And for the older passenger, it means no chance to rest up in the room before heading back out to see more of the city.
(In a couple of days, we would found out no ship had sailed from Regensburg to Passau for 2 weeks, and that includes all the Viking ships in those 2 weeks. But Viking decided that's not something they need to share with us passengers!)
Not only were we getting to Passau by bus. But we had to bus back to the ship at the end of the day, only to be bussed yet again the next morning to a spot 20 minutes beyond Passau to get on to another Viking ship, which supposedly will take us to Budapest.
(Except, again for 2 weeks, no Viking ship were able to sail into Budapest, a fact they neglected to mention)
A passenger asked the obvious question "Why are we bussing back from Passau (1 and half hour bus), only to reverse it the next morning. Why not stay in a hotel at Passau?" No. Just no.
Passenger: "Can those who doesn't want so much bussing get a hotel in Passau?"
Viking staff: "It would be at your own expense"
Passenger: "We pay premium to be on a cruise so we don't have to sit on buses for hours. Is there any compensation for this change?" (free drinks, for example, I thought)
Staff: "you'll have to take it up with the head office"
Yeah, right. We were in Germany and WE had to contact head office, individually over satellite phone?
At the end of that stressful day, we needed to pack for an early departure on bus, to the Legend which was docked just shy of Passau. Why we couldn’t board it the previous night, without having to waste time bussing back to the Prestige at Regensburg was entirely beyond me.
Worse, some of us also found out the Legend passengers had to be bused out of Budapest to the ship. So we knew what fate was waiting for us. The rest of the passengers were still faithful to “Viking will take care of us”. Well, a bus trip is Viking’s way of “taking care of” their customers!!! If I want a bus trip, I could have done that for less than half of what I handed over to Viking!
But I didn’t want a bus trip, period!
Whatever the price, I didn’t sign up for a 5 day bus trip!
Day 4 was when it all went to hell.
The day after Passau was supposed to be sailing half day in the most beautiful stretch of the Danube Valley, follow by a visit to a spectacular Abby. Instead:
The afternoon of day 4 consist of a 3 hr bus ride to Melk, an hour spend touring the Abbey at Melk, followed by an hr on the bus to Linz. By then it’s totally dark. The ship up anchor immediately and in darkness, we sailed through the most spectacular part of the Danube without having a glimpse of its beautiful sight, we arrived at Vienna late at night.:mad:
So all of day 4 consist of 6 hrs of bus ride and a one hour tour of the Abbey at Melk!
After our 2 hr morning bus ride to the Legend, we were told we would be bused into Budapest. Though this didn’t surprise some of us, others were totally taken aback. They believed what they were initially told, that the change from Prestige to Legend would be the only change to the program, not turning the rest of the cruise into a bus trip!!! Some harsh words were exchanged. The meeting broke up in anger! Many of us were angry Viking purposely misled us!
The internet on the Legend never worked. Conveniently stopped people from complaining on the internet or warn customer on next week’s tour.
Day 5, Vienna
Vienna is a beautiful city. I know because I've been there before. I just never had enough of it! So coming back to visit, I had in mind to walk around its Christmas market this time of year.
Before we learned of the diversion, we signed up for TWO optional tours. (now I see why they didn't tell us about the diversion, many of us would NOT have signed up for those extra tours given the lack of free time)
There's an optional concert in the evening we signed up (and paid extra for) was only ok, way over-priced. But we signed up and wasn’t told we could cancel till late. I would have preferred to use the time to walk around the Christmas market instead. For the most part, Vienna felt like a forced march: eat, board tour bus, eat, board bus again, eat, board bus… No time to relax or reflect.
(My appology: I haven't gone through all the photos yet. The rest will come in a day or so. )
Yep, that’s right, a vacation that wasn’t. A vacation that was worse than go to work!
We did our own diversion before boarding the Viking Legend (Ooops, I mean it’s actually the Prestige) on November 19. So we missed the cue given to the rest of the passenger during the airport transfer “You’re lucky you’ll get to cruise on two ships instead of one”
. But our program director Regina made sure we got that message: she repeated the joke during the welcome session, after the captain informed us the ‘small’ possibility of having to change ships. No mentioning of the lengthy bus ride to get from one ship to the other. Some laughed, believing that’s the worst we need to worry about.We wished!
What we didn’t know but Viking did, was the water level made it impossible to get into Budapest even the previous 2 weeks. Passengers were bused from the city to the ship, losing precious touring time and seeing only highway markers instead of the advertised river views.
But we were oblivion. The joking tone of the program director was enough to hypnotize the passengers into a state of bliss. Several Viking employees enjoying their complimentary cruise also reassure us “Viking will take care of you”. Well, they’ll come to grieve their faith in their own employers.
Day 1: Nuremberg
The cruise ship dock is actually outside the city, with no easy transport into the city. The cruise line runs a bus into the city every other hour. But we arrive late enough we didn't bother. Besides, we had a full day the next day to see the city anyway. So not a great deal of motivation to run in on day 1.
Tour of the old city and a lot of the history of the Nazi rise and fall. Second world war was a distant past. Our guide reminded us how Hitler managed to lie to the whole nation and brought them to ruin. Lies… mmm…
Next we climbed up to the castle overlooking the city. It was a grey day and started drizzling. Otherwise, I bet the view would be quite nice. We did walk around the expansive ground.
The last stop was the old city center, which is quaint. We could see the building up of the Christmas market. But the market would open till next Saturday. Since we had just come from Prague, Nuremberg was kind of well, meh…
We set sail after lunch. This stretch of the cruise is actually not on the Danube, but on the canal connecting the Mien river with the Danube. We went through several ship locks. For those who never seen a lock, it's a fun experience.
Day 2: Regensburg
This time (and for the only time), we dock right next to the city. So we simply walk off the ship and into the city.
Regensburg isn't very big, but is charming. A stone bridge goes across the river. Since we did our own diversion to Prague, Regensburg didn’t quite compare either. Still, it’s a lovely city. The sausages are famous, for good reason.
In the afternoon, we opted for the "optional" (read: extra cost) tour to the Turns & Taxis Palace. This is a change from all the other great palaces we've seen, because it's still using lived in by the owner Princess Gloria. So unlike most other palaces that, while looking nice, felt "dead". This palace, you can feel it's fresh and alive. Our guide was excellent in pointing out unusual items of interest. It's one of the more enjoyable destination of our cruise. And unfortunately, the last day of peace.
(Later cruises would have it for free as part of the compensation of the disaster we’ve yet to see. But for us, there’s no automatic refund. Still waiting to see if Viking will reimburse us without us having to fight to death for it)
Day 3 was when the first bomb shell dropped.
We were to be bused from Regensburg to Passau, dropped off as human cargo, left for a few hours and picked up to be bused back to the ship in Regensburg. Passau was a beautiful city with spectacular cathedral:
But instead of docking right in front of the city, walking to sights at time of our own choosing, we had to jam all our sight-seeing within the time allotted to us. And for the older passenger, it means no chance to rest up in the room before heading back out to see more of the city.
(In a couple of days, we would found out no ship had sailed from Regensburg to Passau for 2 weeks, and that includes all the Viking ships in those 2 weeks. But Viking decided that's not something they need to share with us passengers!)
Not only were we getting to Passau by bus. But we had to bus back to the ship at the end of the day, only to be bussed yet again the next morning to a spot 20 minutes beyond Passau to get on to another Viking ship, which supposedly will take us to Budapest.
(Except, again for 2 weeks, no Viking ship were able to sail into Budapest, a fact they neglected to mention)
A passenger asked the obvious question "Why are we bussing back from Passau (1 and half hour bus), only to reverse it the next morning. Why not stay in a hotel at Passau?" No. Just no.
Passenger: "Can those who doesn't want so much bussing get a hotel in Passau?"
Viking staff: "It would be at your own expense"
Passenger: "We pay premium to be on a cruise so we don't have to sit on buses for hours. Is there any compensation for this change?" (free drinks, for example, I thought)
Staff: "you'll have to take it up with the head office"
Yeah, right. We were in Germany and WE had to contact head office, individually over satellite phone?
At the end of that stressful day, we needed to pack for an early departure on bus, to the Legend which was docked just shy of Passau. Why we couldn’t board it the previous night, without having to waste time bussing back to the Prestige at Regensburg was entirely beyond me.
Worse, some of us also found out the Legend passengers had to be bused out of Budapest to the ship. So we knew what fate was waiting for us. The rest of the passengers were still faithful to “Viking will take care of us”. Well, a bus trip is Viking’s way of “taking care of” their customers!!! If I want a bus trip, I could have done that for less than half of what I handed over to Viking!
But I didn’t want a bus trip, period!
Whatever the price, I didn’t sign up for a 5 day bus trip!
Day 4 was when it all went to hell.
The day after Passau was supposed to be sailing half day in the most beautiful stretch of the Danube Valley, follow by a visit to a spectacular Abby. Instead:
The afternoon of day 4 consist of a 3 hr bus ride to Melk, an hour spend touring the Abbey at Melk, followed by an hr on the bus to Linz. By then it’s totally dark. The ship up anchor immediately and in darkness, we sailed through the most spectacular part of the Danube without having a glimpse of its beautiful sight, we arrived at Vienna late at night.:mad:
So all of day 4 consist of 6 hrs of bus ride and a one hour tour of the Abbey at Melk!
After our 2 hr morning bus ride to the Legend, we were told we would be bused into Budapest. Though this didn’t surprise some of us, others were totally taken aback. They believed what they were initially told, that the change from Prestige to Legend would be the only change to the program, not turning the rest of the cruise into a bus trip!!! Some harsh words were exchanged. The meeting broke up in anger! Many of us were angry Viking purposely misled us!
The internet on the Legend never worked. Conveniently stopped people from complaining on the internet or warn customer on next week’s tour.
Day 5, Vienna
Vienna is a beautiful city. I know because I've been there before. I just never had enough of it! So coming back to visit, I had in mind to walk around its Christmas market this time of year.
Before we learned of the diversion, we signed up for TWO optional tours. (now I see why they didn't tell us about the diversion, many of us would NOT have signed up for those extra tours given the lack of free time)
There's an optional concert in the evening we signed up (and paid extra for) was only ok, way over-priced. But we signed up and wasn’t told we could cancel till late. I would have preferred to use the time to walk around the Christmas market instead. For the most part, Vienna felt like a forced march: eat, board tour bus, eat, board bus again, eat, board bus… No time to relax or reflect.
(My appology: I haven't gone through all the photos yet. The rest will come in a day or so. )
).
