The experience with the Viking cruise line is nothing short of excellent. And the river cruise experience was such a contrast to the previous ocean cruise we took in 2004. First of all, the ship is smaller (only 144 rooms) and intended as a floating hotel, not an all-inclusive playground in itself. No casino, theater, multiple restaurants, climbing walls, pools, etc., etc. The intent is to transport you comfortably to places along the river where you can explore off the boat. Not many "optional" excursions, although there were some. The tour includes visits to the surrounds at each port of call accompanied by a local expert guide with time on your own as well. The towns along the river are simply lovely with rich history and cultures. The boat itself is a comfortable place to enjoy meals and conversation. Unlike the ocean cruise where we saw very few people (despite there being about 1500 on board), we had the opportunity to meet and get to know some interesting people who we hope we will encounter again. Funny how some pairings work and others just don't. There were other interesting people on the boat that, having met, you know you won't be spending more time with. But we will hope to see new friends Rudy and Dee, Bill and Judy, and Derek and Pat over time. Great folks.
The boat is comfortable. Our room included such niceties as heated floors in the bathroom, a great shower - and twice the size of the one on the previous ship, daily service and nightly turn down by our housekeeper Gabriela, and king size bed. We opted to have a balcony, but probably wouldn't have missed it during these colder months as we spent very little time on it. But the scenery was nice. The boat moved primarily during the night and there was never any movement detected. We even got to see some transfer through the locks along the river. Upon mooring, while the river sped by at quite a current, the boat was so securely tied that it was motionless. We did travel our final leg into Budapest during the afternoon, arriving in the city at 10pm. What a spectacular sight that was! Along the river, on both sides, the city and it's beautiful large buildings were lit up like a fairytale land. We stood on the deck and listened to the program director (Vlad) tell us the history of the city and the landmarks as we took some night time photos. I don't know how one would see this sight if not on the river that travels between the two sides of Buda and Pest.
We stayed on for two extra nights at Le Meridien hotel in the city. We opted for a tour into the countryside to visit the small village of St. Andrew (I can't recall the Hungarian translation for this) before checking into the hotel. We ate dinner with our friends at a 100-year old restaurant where we enjoyed authentic Hungarian food and tolerated some very loud Hungarian folk music. We had enjoyed a regional Hungarian fest on the boat one evening, complete with folk music and dancing. John was even pegged by one of the dancers to get up and dance - and he did! I should also mention that he was not shy about dancing in the evenings when we would go up to the lounge after dinner. And one evening he even initiated getting up to do the waltz during a music trivia contest. A dark horse to be sure.
The mostly eastern European staff gathered and sang Christmas carols for us on Christmas eve. They were truly something special. Each one was warm and attentive. We went on a market outing with the Chef and enjoyed some specially selected mulled wine and sausages. And we enjoyed the food prepared on the boat. Most days it was all three meals provided onboard. Always an interesting and varied menu for selection. I could go on, but we will always remember this trip. And yes, there were penguins on this trip :-)
