Danube River Cruise Trip Report - Vilshofen to Budapest, 29 Jul - 4 Aug 2016

Kidoctr

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 29, 2005
I posted these to my blog and finally have a chance to put it here. About our trip on the 4th ABD Danube River Cruise ever.....

Cast: Me (Eve, 46, pediatrician); Seth (DH, 47, family medicine); Lisa (travel buddy, 51, tree nut allergic); Tim (travel buddy, Lisa's hubby, 52, peanut allergic, orthopedic surgeon). We went without kids!

Seth and I have done numerous sea cruises before - this was our first river cruise, 3rd ABD.
Lisa and Tim have never cruised before and this was their 1st ABD.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My trip reports include details of all the things that I want to remember so there are a LOT of spoilers in case you plan to take this trip. You have been warned! :duck: I'm also a big FOODIE - so LOTS of food pictures are included. If you continue reading, you agree to suffer in silence. :flower:

Day 0-1 - OKC to Munich, Germany to Vilshofen, Germany

Unlike other trips, this one started at a more decent hour of 6 am as we picked up Tim and Lisa on the way to the OKC airport headed to Munich on a 9:45 am flight.

For this trip, we were flying Delta from OKC to Atlanta and then Air France from Atlanta to Munich. I had purchased the tickets separately - going economy on the first leg to Atlanta and then business class from Atlanta to Munich. Luckily, Air France is a subsidiary of Delta so I checked us in for both flights on the Delta website and when we arrived at the OKC airport, they were able to check our luggage all the way through to Munich instead of us having to pickup our luggage in Atlanta and re-check in.

What was odd on this day was the way Delta didn't "assign seats" until we were literally at the gate. We checked at the gate and got our seat assignments but Seth and I weren't even sitting together on a full flight. We never even got the opportunity to upgrade to seats with more leg room. Fortunately, this flight was only a couple of hours. Lisa, Tim, and I were in the very back row with seats that didn't recline. I watched "10 Cloverfield Lane" on the way to Atlanta which was a very strange, somewhat boring movie.

When we arrived into Atlanta, we made our way over to the international concourse and checked with the Delta lounge to make sure that our luggage was checked all the way through to Munich. They were. We had a leisurely lunch at TGI Fridays where Seth and I shared a hamburger which was just the right amount of food. We hung out in the Delta lounge watching Dexter epidsodes until just before 5 pm and then headed to our gate for our 5:54 pm flight. We got our seat assignments in business class and it was really nice getting on board a little earlier. We had really nice seats that were able to lay flight and had a nice personal entertainment center with very current shows and movies.

I watched the final 2 episodes of the Downton Abbey final season as we took off and during dinner. The dinner was nice - everyone had the same starters (cream of corn soup, smoked trout, salad. For the entree I chose the crab cakes which were delicious - they were named after the head chef so I figured they were his specialty. Huge chunks of crab with virtually no breading at all and a delicious sauce. I also had the Rioja wine which was quite good and they were very generous - filling my glass several times. I had the cheese course for dessert with a glass of Rosa Regale. I was pretty much done with the last Downton Abbey episode when dinner was done and so went straight to sleep.














We arrived into Munich a little early after breakfast but I don't normally eat right when I wake up so I just had some coffee and fruit while starting "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" which was really funny. I wish I had gotten to watch the whole thing.

Since we were the last 2 rows in business class, we were the first ones off the plane - that never happens. We found our way over to baggage claim after getting through border/passport control pretty easily. The plan was to take an Uber to the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski where we were meeting up with Adventures by Disney Guides but when we walked out of the airport and I looked up Uber, there was no XL or van available for the 4 of us so we just hopped right into the nearest taxi who took us the 30 minutes or so to the hotel. Unfortunately (and surprisingly), the taxi driver didn't take credit cards and the total fare for the taxi was over 70 Euros. I only had about 40 Euros. So we negotiated for a bit and finally we ended up giving him $90 USD for the fare. Lesson learned - always ask first if a taxi will take a credit card.

On our way to the hotel, I took out the Tep unit that I had rented and turned it on. For basically around $100, I rented this unit after reading a few reviews on the best wifi options while we were in Europe. On previous trips, we had just added a passport package to our AT&T plan but it cost us $240 to have unlimited texts and only 800 MB of data. This time, we rented the Tep unit and had unlimited data for which all 4 of us could access. From what I had read, after a certain amount of data, you got throttled but the reviews were favorable in that the speed was still decent so I decided to try it. It seemed to work fine and the battery life was very decent - about 5 hours on a charge. I could easily upload photos to and put comments on Facebook but it was noticeably slower trying to send pictures via text messages to anyone.

We were dropped off in front of the hotel - a very nice 5 star hotel in Munich. The bell boy immediately whisked our luggage away. We had a good couple of hours before we had to be back so we walked for a bit near the hotel and eventually wandered into a cafe called the Vorstadt. This ended up not being a great start to our vacation as the staff at the cafe were gruff, impatient, and just generally didn't give a hoot. We were taken to the small courtyard to eat outside. It took forever to get our drinks and when the waitress came to take our order, we were not quite ready (trying to translate the menu) and she got impatient and told us she would come back to take our order later and walked off. When we finally ordered our entrees, the waitress was clearly annoyed and it seemed to take another long time to get our food. Lisa and Tim's hamburgers were good but my eggplant parmesan was pretty bad - the eggplant hadn't been properly prepped - they were bitter and I couldn't tell that there was any parmesan cheese in it.


Crossing the street in Germany - looking for someplace to eat


The sign says "bicycle parking prohibited"






Eggplant Parmesan - not good at all

We finally had to ask her where we were to pay. She said that if we were using credit cards, we had to go back into the restaurant to pay. So we went back into the restaurant and she split the check for us. The Teskes used a credit card but I had decided that this was going to be a good opportunity for me to unload all my Euro change for this terrible waitress. Our total was 26.70 Euros and as I was counting out 70 cent Euro, the waitress got all impatient again and told me to just make it 26 Euros. I didn't care - we weren't ever going to patronize this cafe again anyways.

We walked back to the hotel and relaxed in the lobby at around 12:30 pm. Our meet time was supposed to be 12:45 pm for a 1 pm departure but even though we saw other ABD adventurers and saw a couple of ABD guides walk back and forth, we really didn't get any instructions until just before 1 pm. We went back outside to get our luggage from the bell desk and added them to the other ABD suitcases. The luggage tags that we got in our ABD packets were not the right ones. We met Daniel from Germany who confirmed our names and made sure that our suitcases were properly tagged with pink tags instead. We made our way onto the pink bus and we left the hotel at around 1:20 pm.



The bus was really nice - the same type of buses that we were on a lot last year for the Oklahoma Ambassadors of Music tour. The trip from Munich to Vilshofen took about 2.5 hours - it was a lot further than I thought it would be. We were offered German snacks and water on the bus and Daniel was very informative and patient with us. We pulled up right in front of the AMA Viola at around 3:45 pm and walked right on to the ship. The first order of business was using the bathroom and then we relaxed for a short while in the lounge where they had some welcome snacks for us including Mickey head shaped sandwiches and cookies.







Our staterooms were ready so we went to check-in at the front desk (after stopping to gawk at the 24/7 coffee and espresso machine in the lounge) and were shown to our stateroom, 204, by a staff member. The staff member explained everything to us about our stateroom which had a french balcony, a real balcony, a refrigerator stocked with water, an apply computer screen that acted as our tv, and a generously sized bathroom. We unpacked for a little bit and then at 5:30 pm, we headed back out to the lounge where they were going to do our safety briefing.

We were offered champagne and delicious hors d'oeuvres. It was really nice that the Adventure Guides made it a point to mingle and sit with us. The cruise manager introduced the senior staff on board and then all 8 Adventure Guides introduced themselves: Jennae from the US, Dean from California, Stephanie from Germany, Veronika from the US, Daniel from Germany, Katerina was Germany, Birdi from Germany, and Henriette aka Yeti also from Germany.




The AMA Viola Captain introducing the executive staff


Adventure Guides introducing themselves



After a lot of housekeeping information and safety information from the Captain and the Cruise Manager, we were invited back off the ship to attend an Oktoberfest in a tent on the pier. We were given a tall glass of beer and a large pretzel and we watched as the band played some traditional Bavarian music and also demonstrated some traditional Bavarian dance steps. The dancing was fun to watch - one of the band members dressed in traditional Bavarian leather pants tried to teach some kids to dance by alternating between slapping his thighs and feet with a loud snap.











We left the Oktoberfest just after 7 pm - it was getting quite warm in the tent. We went back to the stateroom so Seth could change from shorts to pants for dinner and then met Lisa and Tim down in the dining room at 7:30 pm. They both spoke with the Maitre d' (Tomi) to discuss their nut allergies and we were pleased to see how seriously they took their allergies. Tomi seated us and personally saw to it that they were taken care of carefully. This was repeated over and over again each day - Tomi was personally making sure that they were able to enjoy their nut free meals. We had a california roll as an amuse bouche. I had the crab cake and risotto both of which were quite good. I enjoyed their free wine during dinner having a Riesling which was generously poured and refilled a couple of times. We thoroughly enjoyed dinner. The cherries jubilee for dessert was great.


amuse bouche


crab cake


risotto





At this point, we pretty much went back to the stateroom and passed out. A great plus about the staterooms - each one is controllable with its own thermostat and we had immediately turned ours down as we prefer a cooler bedroom. Unlike the hotel rooms in Las Vegas which turned the AC off when there was no movement in the room (like when you're sleeping), the AC worked well and kept the room nice and cool. We were told that the only time the AC is turned off is when the door to the balcony was open. The AMA Viola wasn't set to sail until 4 am as we were only going to Passau which wasn't very far. There would be a trip through our first set of locks at 6 am.
 
Day 2 - Vilshofen, Germany to Passau, Germany

It always seems to take a day or 2 or 3 to get used to a new sleeping environment. We had turned the AC up to cool the room to 68 as we like it but the fluffy comforters on the bed were still a little too heavy and I woke up in the middle of the night several times a little too warm under the covers and also as the boat set sail at 4 am. I woke up before 6 am and just couldn't fall back asleep so decided to just get up and check out the boat going through the lock. I took a shower, got dressed and went up to the top deck and we had already pulled into the lock and were just waiting. Finally just before 6:30 am, another boat pulled up right next to us. I had wondered why we were pulled off to the left in the lock. After the other boat got situated, the water started to drain from the lock and in the span of another half hour or so, the ship was brought down a good 30 feet before the lock doors in front of us were opened. It was nice to enjoy a cup of coffee from the 24/7 coffee machine as we watched the lock drain and the doors open. There were also pastries in the lounge for the "early riser breakfast". The weather was overcast and during the draining process there was a period of time that it was actually raining quite heavily but by the time we got off the ship, it had stopped.














We left the lock and I was amazed just how narrowly we were able to pass under the bridge. There were literally inches between the top of the navigation bridge to the bottom of the bridge we passed under. There were a few railings around the pool that were folded down during our pass through the lock as they would have surely hit the bottom of the bridge - it was that close.



Today's Daily Navigator:









We headed to the dining room for breakfast which was buffet style of typical breakfast foods, fruit, and also an omelet/egg station. While we were eating breakfast, Tomi the Maitre 'd gave Lisa and Tim a copy of the menus for the day so that they could make their choices ahead of time to accommodate their tree nut (Lisa) and peanut (Tim) allergies.



I think this was one of the most impressive things we saw while on the boat - the attention they paid to making sure it was safe for them to eat in the dining room. We've traveled a lot with them and have seen all degrees of concern about their nut allergies ranging from uneducated disregard to false platitudes to intense concern. Just like our trip to Disneyworld last year, Disney came through in fabulous pro-consumer style not only making notes in the menu about every conceivable allergen but also taking an extra step to work with people who have allergies. This was the only thing about our trip that I was a little worried about.

After breakfast, we went to pick up our "safety card" that they had told us about at the orientation - this was a card with our stateroom number on it that we would pick up each morning before leaving on an excursion and then return to the front desk when we arrived back just to make sure we weren't missing any passengers. In addition to our safety card, we also got a blue tour card which meant we were in the blue group for our walking tour of Passau this morning. When we got off the ship, we were docked next to another river cruise boat and so we had to go across to the other boat, upstairs to the top deck and then down the other side to the pier. I had wondered how that worked when the boats were parked right next to each other. There was no opportunity for us to enter the ship as we went up and around it instead. Unfortunately, we picked up our tour card after our friends and we were assigned to a different group than they were. We conferred with Daniel and he got us into the yellow tour group with Birdi and Veronika. Take home point: pick up your safety cards and group color assignments at the same time as the rest of your group to make sure you get on the same colored tour.

We each met with our respective groups and tour guides who were dressed in period costumes. A cool piece of technology from the boat is our QuietVox units which were charging in our rooms when we checked in. These cool devices are about the size of a large pen and, depending on the colored tour group you were in, they could be "programmed" to receive narrative from the tour guide on that particular color - you just had to turn your QuietVox on and program it by touching it to a color coded card. You can either use the single earbud that comes with the QuietVox or you can use your own headphones but the guides recommend only putting one ear bud in your ear and leaving the other open. It was very easy to hear our tour guide through the whole tour.

Our tour was led by Baron Philip who was funny and entertaining as he explained some of the history of the region and used the children in our group to demonstrate the funny stories he had about the Prince Archbishop, the Mayor, and the other important historical figures in Passau.






Baron Philip


A Junior Adventurer (JA) with the yellow paddle of power




flood levels


more flood levels




store selling horse meat


store selling horse meat


Prince Archbishop's fort





 
(I had to break up this post - I guess DIS limits posts to only 35 pictures lol)

We next visited St Stephan's Cathedral in Passau which boasted the largest organ in Europe with over 17,000 pipes.





Our next activity was a marzipan making activity. After a group photo in the square, we made our way to the Brauerei Gastatte. We were each given our own lump of marzipan as well as a wooden stick. The candymaker showed us some simple techniques to try and make a face with the marzipan but it was easier said than done. We had fun, though, trying.









We then had a little time to roam around Passau so we did a little shopping, picked up a magnet for our collection, and then made our way back to the AMA Viola.


Physalis - a fruit I'd never seen before



We had lunch on the boat and then met up for the next portion of our tour - to the Tree Path in Kopfing, Austria. It took about an hour to drive out.

















After we took the tree path, there were also other things to do like a giant swing, gift shop, and other play areas. During our orientation, the owner of the facility mentioned an Austrian meat filled dumpling which I really wanted to try. When everyone finished the tree top path, ABD paid for us all to have whatever we wanted at the cafe. It was fun for us to share the "Innvertier" dumplings which were filled with pork and bacon.







They let some adventurers take a bus back to the ship while the rest of us boarded the other 2 buses to go out to the beer brewery - Aldersbach. After a potty stop, we were given a short tour of the brewery, did a little shopping in their store, and then we were taken into a large hall where we were offered large steins of beer, a bunch of different bottled drinks (including Katerina's favorite the "Sports soda" which was a mix of Coke and Orange Fanta) and a large pretzel. Both Tim and Seth thought the beer was good.















We had learned from Daniel at the Oktoberfest that instead of "cheers", the Germans said "prost" and clinked the bottom of their glasses instead of the tops of the glasses.

We returned back to the AMA Viola for dinner at 7:30. I have to say that I have been very impressed with the meals on the boat.


tomato caprese with goat cheese


ice cream with cherries and meringue


Lisa's chocolate cake dessert
After dinner, we returned to our stateroom where I finished up 2 days' worth of blogs and then went to bed. My legs were kinda sore as we had walked over 6 miles today.
 
Day 3 - Passau, Germany to Linz, Austria

Slept a little better overnight but Seth had turned the thermostat way down to under 65 and the blanket I used just wasn't warm enough so I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and then ended up crawling back under the comforter to thaw out a little. 6 am came around fast and I had a hard time getting our of bed this morning.

We got ready and headed out to breakfast which was a repeat of yesterday's breakfast with the same selections. Lisa and Tim got to choose their menu for dinner ahead of time again.

We picked up the safety card and this time got the same green tour card as Lisa and Tim for the Salt Mine Tour. Our Daily Adventurers today:









The bus ride to the salt mines was about 2 hours long but we did stop for a bio break at a rest stop about half way when we reached Mondsee. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Our Guides today on the green bus was Dean and Daniel.


Austrian rest stop


Mondsee (moon lake)
We watched the movie "Up" on the bus on the way to the salt mines but it was hard to hear on the bus. What I was able to watch and hear, the movie was very cute as it was a movie on my to-do list that I just hadn't gotten around to yet. After another hour or so, we reached Hallein where the salt mine was.





After a brief wait, we went downstairs and were given pants and a jacket to wear in the mine.





We were taken outside and then downstairs after the obligatory group shots and it was noticeably cooler the closer we got to the entrance of the salt mines (typically the salt mines were a steady 10 degrees C or about 55 degrees F). We got on the salt mine train that we sat on straddled over the middle which took us into the salt mine at a pretty quick pace.













We walked from area to area over very rough and sometimes slippery footing which included 4 movies about the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg and 2 slides - one was about 25 meters and the other about 50 meters. Seth and I sat straddling the slide with me in front and then leaned back as we slid down the slide into the lower chamber. It was a lot of fun.







We were then taken by boat across the brine chamber which was really hard to get a good picture of because it was so dark.




another slide


the border between Austria and Germany in the salt mine

At the end of the tour, we were given a small shaker with salt and took an escalator back upstairs to take the train back to the main station.








I had 3 layers on under the jacket they gave us (yes, I hate being cold) - a shirt, a sweater, and a jacket which kept me nice and comfortable down in the mine. I had taken another salt mine tour in Salzburg but this salt mine tour was definitely more fun than the last one I remembered. As with most of the tours we had done so far, there is no ADA in Europe - most of what we did would have been very difficult for a person with any motor disabilities to do. They had instructed us to pretty much leave everything on the bus during the salt mine which was a good suggestion - there really wasn't a need for anything except a camera and some money. I did pick up a Salzburg magnet from the gift shop but we were also advised to wait to shop in Salzburg and we got out of the salt mine pretty quick.
 


We drove about 30 minutes to Salzburg where we were meeting up with the Mondsee tour group and the other salt mine tour group for a big lunch at one of the oldest restaurants in Europe. The bus dropped us off and it was a fair walk to the restaurant.




Salzburg fortress







We were taken upstairs and into a large banquet room in the restaurant. It was a fixed meal served family style complete with wine which was quite good. They brought us some salads and then we had potatoes, vegetables, an a huge platter of different meats including chicken schnitzel, roasted pork, and small hamburgers.











The food was quite good. We ate leisurely and were the last ones to leave. Our guides, Daniel and Dean, had given us the option to either go on a short 30 minute guided tour or to go out and explore Salzburg on our own. They recommended that everyone do the latter as we were pressed for time. Apparently, according to the laws in Austria, ABD Guides cannot give a tour of the city without being licensed to do so. It was already well past 2 pm and we were to meet up with the group at 4 pm so we headed out, explored a beautiful cemetery, the Dome in Salzburg, and then made our way to the plaza in front of Mozart's birthplace where we found a table and patronized the local Starbuck's. I did run into a nearby store to buy some Mozart chocolate balls and also picked up a bottle of vodka for Lisa to enjoy at dinner.











We walked as a group to the Mirabell Gardens which was famous for the fountain and the stairs as seen in the Sound of Music.



A handy piece of information is that when we were done looking at the fountain and the stairs, we wandered back and found one of our guides, Dean, who gave us 50 cent Euro each to go and use the bathroom early before the rest of the group got there. It was going to be the last potty stop for the 2 hours drive back to Linz so when the rest of the tour groups got there, the line was quite long. We lounged in the shade and then eventually walked over to where our buses were.

On the ride back to Linz on the bus, we watched "Inside Out" and this time the volume was turned up a bit better so we could hear. As a really nice additional surprise (I mean, how nice was it that ABD even paid for us to use the bathroom??), our Guides had bought us all some sweets in Salzburg to try - the infamous Mozart chocolate balls and a Manner chocolate wafer bar. We ate the chocolate balls but saved the wafer bars to take home and share with the kids - what a great souvenir (we just won't tell them that we didn't buy them!).





When we returned to our stateroom, there was what we think was a cute towel bunny on our bed.



Dinner this evening was a special Chaine des Rotisseurs dinner to showcase the chef's membership in the world's oldest gastronomical society.






foie gras pate


spinach mushroom quiche


rum raisin ice cream
 
We were on your sailing (and in your group it looks like several times), and it is great to relive the trip through your review!
 


We were on your sailing (and in your group it looks like several times), and it is great to relive the trip through your review!

:wave: LuckyBelle! Sorry that I don't remember which Adventurer you were but, wow, it was fun wasn't it??
 
Day 4 - Linz, Austria to Melk and Krems, Austria

This morning I was up before the alarm went off at 7 am. Just as we got ready for breakfast, we passed through another lock. The cruise manager had mentioned yesterday that we would be passing through 4 locks overnight on our way to Melk. Today's Daily Adventurer:









After the usual breakfast, we picked up our safety cards and our red tour cards. We boarded the red bus for the very short ride to the Melk Abbey. Our Guides today were Jennae and Stephanie. Jennae had the mic this morning and gave us a run down of the plan at the Abbey sprinkling in her trademark cow jokes along the way. The first thing I noticed when we pulled into the parking lot.....alas, no, it wasn't the gorgeous abbey - it was the Pipi box. :-D



We walked through the garden and into the first abbey courtyard where we met our tour guide who used the Quiet Vox system today. The Junior Adventurers (JAs) and the Friends of Junior Adventurers (FOJAs) were taken on a separate tour which was brilliant on the part of Disney as it really made it easier for the adults to really enjoy the....well....adult part of the abbey - the museum. We were given our tickets and proceeded into the abbey.


Melk Abbey




JAs and FOJAs being taken on a separate tour






our tour guide

We made our way through one wing of the abbey that used to be the wing where guests would stay but had since been converted into a museum. Each bedroom had a very large and ornate room heating stove. Each former bedroom was converted into a room highlighting each period of the abbey from the pre-baroque period through the later lesser garish years. As we listened to the tour guide, the abbey's very loud bell was ringing for a solid 15 minutes announcing the start of the Sunday mass.







After walking through the one wing of the abbey, we reached a room with a model of the entire abbey and our tour guide pointed out the different wings including where the monks lived and where the school was located (some 900 students went to school at the abbey). We also visited the library which was incredible but no photos were allowed. We descended the stairs from the library right down into the chapel where they were holding mass. The chapel was relatively small but just gorgeous with gold leaf everywhere. Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures during the service.

We headed out of the abbey after visiting the shop that Jennae had mentioned carried a curiously large number of alcoholic products and made our way back to the buses.



At this point, one bus headed back to the ship for the Adventurers to prepare for the 26 mile bike ride from Linz to Krems. The rest of us headed to a hotel where we were scheduled to have a Danube cultural experience.



Our first cultural experience was learning an Austrian folk dance. This was hilarious as everyone really got into it with a lot of laughing, hollering and clapping.


our dance instructors









Our next experience was learning about the fish in the Danube. We got to sample some smoked trout, saw them cooking some carp, and then we were given the opportunity to "catch" a carp (it was in a bucket so it wasn't too hard).








caught a carp

We went into the hotel and were given an apricot marmalade making demonstration where we also got to sample some of the marmalade and then we were each given a jar of marmalade to take home with us.


apricot marmalade demonstration


apricot marmalade recipe


free samples of apricot marmalade

Our last stop on the cultural experience tour was in a dining room where the owner explained to us the 3 types of wines typically produced in the Wachau (pronounced like "vah-kow") Valley. We got to try a glass of each type.






This whole cultural experience was a lot of fun but it was SO hot and we were drenched in sweat when we were done (some more than others). We got back on our buses and were taken the very short distance to the boat. The owner and the boss (dachshund) were waving to us as we left.



When we got back to the AMA Viola, it was nearly lunch time. We had a buffet along with choice of entree from the menu and the standard complimentary wine.



 
After lunch we had some free time before our next excursion at 3:30 pm. The bikers were on their way to Melk and the boat was headed to Melk as well. They were holding an ice cream social up on the sundeck. While Seth took a nap, I went up to the sun deck to take some pictures and blog. I'm so glad they gave us a free afternoon to cruise on the river during the day - it was just beautiful seeing the small towns including the town of Durnstein where we would be hiking up to the castle.










nose sculpture




Durnstein Castle




the Krems cathedral with the Durnstein castle in the bacckground





When we arrived into Krems, we got our safety card and pink group card - our Guides were Katerina and Yeti but they brought onto the bus an Austrian tour guide who would be taking us up to the Durnstein Castle. The drive to Durnstein from Krems was very short. It was still a little hot but just as we had gotten off the Viola, the storm clouds moved in and it started getting cooler. The bus parked in a lot and we walked over to the town and then got on the trail going up to the castle.







We stopped a few times along the way to catch our breaths and take in the scenery. The Wachau valley was beautiful. The whole hike only took about 20 minutes but it was straight up mostly steps - maybe 1.5 miles total in length.








When we reached the castle, we were free to explore around for a little bit. The weather had cooled off significantly and we could hear thunder and see rain/lightening off in the distance. We climbed to the highest point at the castle and almost got blown away - literally.












The hike back down was easier - we took a different route that didn't involve stairs.



On the way down to the town center, our tour guide stopped to show us the police station where you could leave 3 Euros for either a bottle of apricot schnapps or a jar of apricot marmalade so we decided to try the Schnapps. It wasn't my favorite.







We returned to the city center where we had about 45 minutes to wander around. We picked up a couple of magnets and explored a little before it really started raining. Seth found some liquor and we also picked up some chocolate for Rhys. We met with the pink group and walked back to the bus for the short bus trip back to the AMA Viola.

We both showered and cleaned up then headed to dinner at 7:30 pm. The shrimp cocktail was good except for the cilantro on it but the ribeye was more of a prime rib and getting it medium rare was too cooked for me. The dessert (apricot dumpling) was quite good.







We did enjoy speaking with the 2 couples sitting next to us this evening. They were from New York and Philly - both older couples and traveling without kids. During dessert, Jennae came by to explain all of our options for tomorrow in Vienna. We will be going on the 8 am Schonbrunn Palace tour and then returning to the ship for lunch. We decided to skip the Riding School and, instead, take the shutttle to the center of Vienna to just do an afternoon on our own.
 
Day 5 - Melk/Krems, Austria to Vienna, Austria

It was a little tough getting out of bed this morning when the alarm went off. The past few days' early hours were catching up to us. We went to breakfast at around 7 am for an 8 am departure. Breakfast has been pretty close to the same every morning which was just fine.

Today's Daily Adventurer:









We had asked for the blue bus last night after dinner so we picked up both our safety cards as well as our blue group cards this morning. Our guides were Stephanie and Jennae. We also welcomed a local guide onto the bus and she did a really good job pointing out sights as we wound our way through Vienna's city center on the bus. Schonbrunn Palace was only about 8 miles away but we did take some time to pass by and gawk at the gorgeous architecture in Vienna from the opera house to the museum of fine arts to the government buildings.

We got to the Schonbrunn Palace but were running a little late so we "walked with purpose", as Stephanie put it, to get to the marionette show post haste. We were introduced to the marionettes which each have a certain number of strings and wires as well as joints in all the right places. The craft of manipulation (not puppetry) is learned over the course of years - the lady introducing us to the marionettes said it took a year for a manipulator to learn how to just "walk" the marionettes on the ground.

The show was Mozart's Magic Flute and was quite good. It was an abbreviated show hitting most of the highlights from the opera including the overture, the Queen of the Night's arias, and the duet between Papageno and Papagena all squashed into about 30 minutes. I really enjoyed this production - the pre-recorded music and singers were excellent and the marionettes were really cool.





We had the opportunity to peek backstage after the show and take some pictures. The marionettes are all handmade and painted with their costumes made by hand as well. There were 4 manipulators and it was amazing that none of the marionettes got their strings or wires crossed.






We met up with our tour guide again and she led us through the Schonbrunn Palace on a very detailed tour. How anyone can keep track of all the Austrian monarchs and their relatives is really beyond me. It reminds me of trying to remember the monarchs in England.





We looked through the gift shop but it was pretty crowded and after a bathroom stop downstairs, we met up again with the blue group to walk over to the gardens. The "backyard" of the palace was just beautiful - looking at it from the palace side almost seemed like it was a painted backdrop - it was so perfect. We walked across the entire courtyard to the fountain.











We walked back towards the palace to make our 11:30 am meeting time for the Strudel making demonstration. We were taken to a restaurant and downstairs to a demonstration kitchen where strudel and coffee was already laid out for us. It smelled great.

















We started drinking coffee and working on eating our strudel when a young man came out to demonstrate how to make a strudel. The ingredients weren't terribly tough - they even had pre-made filling available in their store available in a can. At first I thought this might be something to try making at home until the demonstration got started.





As we were shown how to "stretch" the dough and as we watched how he made a ball of dough into a huge thin sheet of dough, I changed my mind about trying to make this at home.


Showing the ingredients to make strudel


Rolling the dough on the special cloth


Stretching the dough


Still stretching the dough


The dough is about the size of a pizza


The dough is bigger around than a pizza


The dough is so thin you can read through it


Applying the filling


Wrapping the strudel
 
After the strudel show, we headed back to our bus for the short ride back to the Viola. We stopped by the Schwedenplatz to drop off some Adventurers - this would be where the shuttle would go every half hour to and from the Viola. We had decided to go back to the Viola for lunch and then head out again in the afternoon to explore Vienna. We had originally signed up for the Spanish Riding School tour but decided that we wanted to spend the time exploring Vienna city center instead.

Lunch was a buffet along with an entree selection - today, I tried the fish filet which was pretty good.



The first shuttle out in the afternoon was at 2 pm but we hung out just a bit after lunch and decided to take the 2:30 shuttle to the city center. We accidentally got on the wrong bus - getting on the one for the Spanish riding school excursion but, as it turned out, it was actually closer to where we wanted to go anyways so we played tag along. After getting off the bus, we walked by the Mozart monument and stopped for a photo.




We made a left after passing the Vienna Opera House which was closed for the months of July and August onto a street that would take us back to our meeting place at Schwedenplatz. We did a little shopping along the way - magnets and t-shirts. We stopped in at the Hard Rock Cafe as well and then made our way back to Schwedenplatz where we eventually found the 4:30 pm shuttle to the Viola.

Dinner was early this evening at 5:30 instead of 7:30 since we had more excursions after dinner. We had a delicious beef cappaccio, creamy pumpkin soup, traditional pork schnitzel, and apple strudel for dessert.







We (Seth, Tim, and I - Lisa decided to stay back on the Viola for this one) got on the red bus for the Viennese Wine House excursion and for just a bit we thought we might be going on a private tour but then a few more people joined us - I think there were about 18 people on this excursion out of the 50 that originally signed up. They had told us beforehand that the Mozart/Strauss concert would be in a greenhouse back at the Schonbrunn Palace which can get heated up during the day and quite warm at night but it had been cool all day so it wasn't likely to be as warm. Maybe that's why so many people didn't show up for the wine house excursion - maybe they decided to do the concert instead. Even though the Guides assured everyone to dress comfortably, I still saw an awful lot of people getting pretty dressed up for the concert.

Our Guides were Stephanie and Veronika. The bus ride was about 30 minutes long and it was fun to hear Stephanie and Veronika take turns telling us stories about themselves and their experiences with ABD. We pulled up to our destination and walked down the street to the wine house. At first, they took us to an outdoor patio covered by grape vines but just after we sat down, we were taken to a different outdoor patio up the stairs. The restaurant was really big.







When we got to where we were supposed to be, the wine, glasses, bread, and spreads were already laid out on the tables. We were offered a white and a red wine and we had joked along the way that 18 people had to consume enough wine and food for 50 people tonight. We took up the challenge willingly. :-)

There was a cream cheese spread, a paprika cream cheese spread, and a last spread that the Guides had described as "lard". All 3 or them were really yummy with the lard spread having a smoky flavor and bits of meat in it. We drank, ate, and got to know our fellow ABDers while a violinist and accordion player serenaded us.







After a few announcements from the owner of the restaurant and a gal who read us a description of the restaurant/winery in broken English - Stephanie could tell that we were losing interest in the narrative and very politely and deftly, got us off the hook from having to listen to the it. Bless her heart for trying, though, but it looked like this poor gal had another 5 or so pages to go.



We then took a little tour of the grounds to see a few turtles, the buffet downstairs, and then the impressive vineyard (given that we were still in the city limits of Vienna!).













Our ABD Guides Stephanie and Veronika

We returned back to our patio and enjoyed wine, good conversation, and a serenade by the violinist. We got to hear not only Strauss waltzes and Mozart but also the Chicken Dance. We simply had a ball. Too soon, it was time to return to the Viola. We got our briefing for Bratislava in the morning and after dropping our safety cards for the 4th time wondering why the little wooden safety card box didn't show up until tonight, we returned to our stateroom for a good night's sleep after a really fun-filled night.

 
Day 6 - Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia

Well, it was a rough night. Not because the river was rough but we had been a little "overserved" at the Viennese wine house the night before. Suffice it to say, Seth took a sea day this morning. I was up before 7 am to take a shower and get ready for the day. I joined Lisa and Tim at breakfast at around 7:30 while Seth was diligently sawing logs. Breakfast was the same as previous mornings.

Today's Daily Adventurer:









During breakfast, Lisa shared a picture with me of the bridge that was right off to the left side of the Viola - I had to look it up but it was called the UFO restaurant. UFO as in unidentified flying object, not a Slovakian word. LOL.



We got our safety cards and were assigned to the yellow group (although the card really looks orange). Today, we had to climb over an Emerald ship which was particularly circuitous. So far every time that we've had to climb over/though another ship - it's been just one ship although at times we saw 3 ships docked together.

Our guides today were Birde and Veronika. We also met our local guide, Eva, who handed out Walking Monument quiz books and pens to everyone. The idea was that during the walking tour of Bratislava we would solve a puzzle using letters, pictures, and monuments that we encountered. The letters in the correct order spelled out the old name of Bratislava right after World War 1.

The walking tour was very nice and Eva was very knowledgeable. Bratislava would not have been a city even on our radar of places to visit but it's an absolute jewel with wonderful old streets with a ton of outdoor cafes and beautiful old buildings. It was very accessible from the ship.



















For figuring out the walking tour puzzle (spoiler alert......the answer is Wilson City), we were rewarded with a ginger bread cookie.





The transition was perfect as we smoothly arrived at our bus location with the bus waiting to take us to the Devin Castle. The ride to the castle was about 20 minutes long. This time, the castle wasn't nearly as high up as the Durnstein Castle was. We walked right through the ticket line and made our way up a fairly steep hill. As we walked up to the castle, we saw a donkey, some sheep, and goats. Unfortunately, the top of the castle was closed for renovations so we wouldn't have the opportunity to climb to the very top.

We used the restrooms up at the halfway point in the castle. I had to chuckle at the name of the toilet paper in the bathroom. Europeans just seem to have more of a sense of humor when it comes to biological processes.













After out potty stop, we took in the views and heard about the history of the castle. Eva did a well "experiment" with us by taking a bucket of water and using a cup to pour the water into the well and had us count how many seconds it took to splash at the bottom - it took at least 6 if not 7 seconds for the water to reach it.

Eva then took us down the hill to the medieval activities that had been specifically scheduled for Adventures by Disney. The first station we went to was the candle making, coin making, and calligraphy activities.
















It seems like we took an awful long time at this activity and it was getting just a little warm standing in the sun. We finally moved onto the next activity which was the archery station. We relaxed in the shade while the kids and some adult Adventurers tried their hand at shooting arrows at a target. None of us were really interested in archery - I'm sure it's a lot harder than it looks trying to hit that target.

 
We then went up the hill to an armory demonstration. It was just a little corny but the kids really seemed to enjoy it. They did a fighting demonstration with spears, swords, and short blades, shot a cannon, smashed a few innocent plastic bottles of water, and then gave a group lesson on how to handle a weapon followed by a photo op with the swords. It's not often that you'll hear a Disney Adventure Guide say: "Guys, be really careful with the weapons please!".















When we completed all of our medieval activities, we walked back down the hill where we could order soft drinks and ice cream. Disney is always so so great about covering little incidentals like this....buying snacks for us, paying for the toilets, etc.



I picked up a Bratislava magnet at the little souvenir stand and then we loaded up onto the bus off to our next adventure which was about a 45 minute bus ride away crossing the border again into Austria. We had been advised to bring our passports along today just in case.

Schloss Hof was built by a French prince in the Baroque style but it wasn't nearly as grand or beautiful as Schonbrunn Palace. We met up with our local tour guide in period costume who was giving this tour for the first time and it was a bit obvious that he wasn't normally a tour guide - his broken English was a little tough to listen to. The tour of the house was ok - we were shown a series of rooms and given some history and then did a quick Baroque dance lesson. We stopped to admire the garden which was very pretty and then headed down to the cellar which was much cooler then went back upstairs to do a schnapps tasting. Schnapps just won't be one of those drinks that I would ever appreciate.

















From here we had a little free time so we headed for the cafe and enjoyed some Melange (Wiener Melange or "Viennese Blend" of coffee kind of like a cappuccino) outside on the patio. We were joined by a few other Adventurers and our Guides, Birde and Veronika. We were on the patio overlooking the goats with that...well, goat odor....but I still really enjoyed the relaxation and good coffee.





We returned to the Viola after our visit and cleaned up a bit before the Captain's Farewell cocktail reception. I have some closing thoughts about the ship, about this ABD adventure, and other things in general that I'll put down in a final post. Dinner this evening was at The Chef's Table - the AMA Viola specialty restaurant. The view was great because we were in the back of the ship and it was leaving Bratislava headed to Budapest so we got to see some of the scenery before it got dark. The menu was fixed - several courses with no options.

The food and the service in their specialty restaurant was quite good. There was an "open kitchen" where you could see the chef working. Their rhythm was a little thrown off because 2 of the tables had to get up and leave for a short while because their kids were putting on a marionette show in the lounge. This was no biggie - we still really enjoyed our dinner. Because the menu was set, we were served very timely and finished our evening without much waiting. Maybe the only thing that would have really added to the menu was a true wine pairing. We were given the same choice as every dinner - a red and a white wine.



















After dinner, we headed up to the sun deck where everyone was gathering to watch our last trip through a lock - it was the biggest lock to date that we would be passing through and it was the fastest - taking only 20 minutes to drop the boat down about 60 feet. It was actually a little chilly on the deck but Viola staff had blankets ready for us.





 
Day 7 - Bratislava, Slovakia to Budapest, Hungary

We were recommended last night to watch as the Viola pulled into Budapest this morning and that suggestion was a good one – the architecture in Budapest along the river is just beautiful. Pictures from our state room balcony:





Today's Daily Adventurer:










We headed down to breakfast at around 8 and then headed off the boat for our walking tour of the central market. Our green team guides today were Dean and Daniel who introduced us to our local tour guide, Christina. We didn't walk far to get from the dock to the market.







The market was really neat. We had been to markets like this in Portugal and Spain but this one was particularly nice – wider, cleaner, and with 3 levels: seafood on the lower floor, food items on the main floor, and then souvenirs on the upper floor. Once we crossed through the market, stopping just to get a quick lesson on paprika – the pepper vs powder vs dried paprika, we continued to the opposite end of the market where we were told to meet in about 25 minutes.



The local currency is the Hungarian Forint (HUF) which was about 279 HUF per 1 USD or 311 HUF per 1 Euro. Most of the stalls on the main floor took credit cards except American Express. Most of the stalls upstairs took Euros so we never exchanged for any HUF at the ATM.

We headed upstairs to find ourselves a magnet, country sticker, and t-shirt for Seth. We found a magnet and sticker but then ran out of time and had to meet up with the group downstairs. We decided that we would have to come back to the market later and added a few items to our shopping list: Tokaji, t-shirt, paprika, and salami. Rhys wanted some local ham but I tried some of their hungarian salami which was one of the things they were known for but I was underwhelmed – the salami from 2 different stalls tasted bland to me. One other thing I noticed in a lot of the stalls were these cans of goose liver but I thought they were a bit expensive – about $16 per tin of goose liver with truffle.







We met up and walked to our bus for the drive to Lazar Equestrian Park which took about 45 minutes. The weather was nice today – high 70's – a bit warm in the sun but nice in the shade. On the way, I read up how to buy Tokaji and found out that Hungary is also well known for their goose liver. I was surprised to read that much of the goose liver in France is imported from Hungary. I decided that I was going to need to try it.

When we arrived at the Equestrian Park, we were given some schnapps and bread to try. Neither were my favorite. We were given instructions to explore the park as we wanted and to meet up at the horse show arena at noon.







We headed over for the cart ride first – we just happened to also have Christina, our tour guide, on this ride and she told us some “gossip” about one of the local heroines – Sisi.









We then walked over to the horse stables and saw the different horse breeds – there were many besides the famous Lipizzaners. Some of them had quite a few awards.






 
We headed back to the horse show arena for the noon show. Besides our 3 buses, there were probably at least 2 or 3 other buses at the park as well. The horse show was pretty cool – an equestrian archer, performing horses, a demonstration on the use of whips with audience participation, a demonstration where they rode horses around the track without spilling any of their drinks, and a Chico (Hungarian cowboy) who controlled 5 horses while standing on 2 of them.



















After the show, we headed inside for lunch. The room we were in was gorgeous with beautiful woodwork. We had white and red wine, water, spritzer, and apricot juice. There was a salad, cheese, sausage, and butter on the table. It was at this point that I realized there was a difference between salami and sausage – the sausage seems more spicy and what I expect a salami to taste like. Before long, they brought out a HUGE platter of food – pickled red cabbage, pickled slaw, pickled peppers, pickled cucumbers, and 6 types of meat: duck, sausage (like a hot dog), pork, fish, schnitzel, and chicken. It was a massive amount of food and was really good.










After lunch we had a little while longer to explore the park – we headed out to the zoo where they had goats, rabbits, puli dogs, sheep, and hairy pigs. On the way over, Christina our local tour guide caught up with us to talk to us about buying Tokaji as I had asked her earlier if she had any recommendations. She recommended only buying Tokaji earlier than 2011 as anything later than that was probably fake.

After checking out the small zoo, we walked back to the goulash making demonstration. They had already made the goulash in large pots hanging over a wood fire. The goulash was delicious – very simple – meat, potato, carrot, garlic, onion, paprika.








We got back on the bus and headed to the Viola after seeing a few more beautiful sights along the way. We headed straight back to the Central Market taking a couple of pictures along the way.






We had a few things on our list to buy after doing some reading on the bus: Tokaji (one of our favorite dessert wines), sausage (not salami), paprika, t-shirt, and goose liver. We just wandered around without much of a plan - going up to the top floor to find Seth a t-shirt and then back to the main floor to find some sausage. We tried some spicy sausage at a stall and really liked it - they were also selling the black/gold goose liver tins so we got one of those as well - the total was 5840 HUF or about $20. We also noticed that they were selling caviar. We ended up with a 56 g jar of "gold collection" osetra caviar for 6000 HUF and also a 100 g Imperial collection osetra caviar for 44,000 HUF for a total of about $180. We have no idea how authentic this caviar is but we thought we might as well give them a try - doing a "head to head" comparison of the 2 types. We went downstairs to the first floor to see the "fish" section which was not as impressive as the main and upper floors. We wandered into the Aldi's but were unimpressed. We went back upstairs to the main floor and bought a bottle of 2002 Tokaji (6 puttonyos - 4690 HUF or about $16) also picked up some paprika - both the hot and sweet varieties (7 Euros). We also found one last bottle of Tokaji on our way out the door - a 1995 Tokaji (5 puttonyos - 7500 HUF or about $26).







We headed back to the Viola, rested a bit and started some packing, Dean had mentioned on the bus that we would be getting departure information which we did on a final Daily Adventurer. I went upstairs to Dragan's desk to pick up our tags and find out our departure time.







We then headed to dinner.




Grilled Eggplant


Traditional "Somlauer Nocker"

After dinner, we headed up to the lounge to watch the Rubik's Cube Magic show. This was about the only show we went to see the whole week and mostly went because our son was so interested in Rubik's Cubes and had a nice collection at home. The show was interesting although I'm not sure which part was the "magic" part. After the show, everyone received their own Rubik's Cube and instructions on how to "solve" the cube.










"All solved"....well, not quite. :-)

After the show, we went up to the sun deck to watch the "Illuminations" cruise. The buildings lit up along the Danube were spectacular. It seems like every Disney trip that we've ever taken, there are those moments that bring tears to my eyes. Usually it's a moment involving the kids - watching their pure joy and enjoying their enjoyment. It was this part of the trip that unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes - enjoying the beautiful lights with Seth at the end of a most amazing trip.









 
Day 8 - Budapest, Hungary to Oklahoma City, OK and final thoughts

Our trip was coming to an end. Our bags were packed and we had to say goodbye to our floating home for the past, amazing week. We were scheduled for a 7:10 am departure for a 10:10 am flight so we had to have our luggage outside of our door with red tags on by 6:30 am. We got our bags out by about 6:20 and headed to the dining room for our last breakfast.

We boarded a bus and were taken to the airport which took about 30 minutes so we actually arrived at the airport before the Air France desk was even open. Apparently they only opened 2 hours before the flight and our 10 am flight was the first flight out. It was silly waiting at the check-in area with nowhere to go - it created a lot of confusion for the passengers on the other airlines who were also trying to check-in. When the AF desk finally opened - there was a mass rush to wait to even get into the check-in line. We had to go around to get in another line for "sky priority" as we were flying business class which was only marginally faster than the general line.

Fortunately, we were able to get our luggage checked all the way through to OKC and we were soon on our way home.

A few parting thoughts about this trip.

Traveling - Flying business class is the only way to go. Not only did we get preferential airline check-in, no baggage fees, and use of their lounge, but we also got preferential lines at the border patrol in Paris on the way home. The seats were so comfortable on Air France and the food was quite good with generous amounts of wine. In addition, Seth and I have Trusted Traveler status ($100 for 5 years) which means that it took us literally a few minutes to pass through the U.S. border patrol in Atlanta. Our traveling companions didn't have TT status and their wait to cross the border was nearly an hour.

The AMA Viola - Much smaller than any boat that we've ever sailed on for any extended period of time. It didn't take long for us to figure out the layout of the ship. From when we boarded the boat on the main deck, the reception desk and lounge were the only things on this level. We were on deck 2 which was a short flight of stairs down. Our stateroom, 204, was the 2nd stateroom on the right (left side of ship). If you continued down the stairs towards the front of the ship, it was the main dining room. At first I was a little concerned that our stateroom was so close to the dining room (kitchen noise) but, as it turns out, the dining room wasn't even on the same level. If you continued down the stairs towards the back of the ship, there was a gym. the spa (massages, hair cuts, etc) and other staterooms. Going up the stairs from the main deck were the desks for the cruise manager and hotel manager along with staterooms in the 300s. At the very back end of the boat on this level was The Chef's Table restaurant. There was an elevator between the dining room up to the 3rd level (one level up from the main level). When you exited the ship on either side of the main deck, there were stairs leading up to the sun deck.

Our Stateroom (204) - the bed was comfortable. The temp in our room was controllable with the thermostat by the door. We prefer a cool room to sleep in so we had our temp set at 64 the whole time and it stayed there which was great. The Apple computer that doubled as the TV worked pretty well although the screen was kind of small. There was a 110V outlet right behind the TV monitor which we plugged one of our power strips into. There were actually a good number of hangers. We had a safe in the room but never really used it. There was a refrigerator where complimentary bottles of water were kept cold. I can't say that it was worthwhile to have the balcony except for picture taking here and there. We didn't sit out on the balcony and there's no room service so we didn't ever use it to have breakfast either. If you keep the sliding door open, the AC automatically turns off. The bathroom was small - certainly not big enough for both of us to be in there at once. The shower was great with a large "rain" type of shower head but only enough room to turn around making it challenging to shave my legs. There was plenty of storage. It was a little tricky to get our suitcases under the bed as the only way to do so was to push them under the bed from the sliding door side but there was a large wooden box on wheels under the bed that I had to move to the other side so I could get our suitcases under the bed. The hair dryer was great - not like the ones on sea cruise ships that are attached to the wall and/or required a finger pushing a button to make it run. The only irritation was the small trashcan in the bathroom which required you to step on it in order to open it.

Wifi - quite good on the Viola. We had no trouble connecting to it and there were very few instances where it didn't seem to work or was slow. I had also rented a portable Wifi unit called Tep which was about $100 for the duration of our trip. The unit worked really well in the larger cities but for some of our excursions, the venues were in "the country" and the signal was noticeably slower. The unlimited data was great and the battery life was pretty darned good. It came with a battery back up but I couldn't ever get it to work. It accommodates up to 5 users so all 4 of us were logged on to it when we were off the ship and out/about. Uploading pictures to Facebook was consistently good but texting a picture to someone took a lot longer and oftentimes we got a "fail" message with pictures being hit and miss whether it was really sent. It seemed to send better when only one picture was texted at a time.

The food - as I'd mentioned in a few of my posts, the food was really outstanding. Just about everything we ate was really good and the choices on the menu each day for lunch/dinner were great. We also really appreciated the inclusion of soft drinks and wine during lunch and dinner. The wine pours were very generous and we were offered refills often. One other reason that we booked this particular ABD was the fact that our friends both had severe allergies - one to tree nuts and the other to peanuts. They both commented on how the service accommodated their allergies beyond what they expected. This doesn't mean that there weren't a couple of times that there were potential issues (both times recognized and corrected without incident) but the Maitre 'D (Tomislav) really went out of his way to make sure things were as safe as possible for them coming by to check on us every day and during the meal multiple times. Since they bake all of their bread right on the ship, our friends were able to enjoy the bread service every day as well. Each day's ritual was to eat breakfast while our friends were given that day's lunch/dinner menu(s) to mark their selections so they could be prepared ahead of time to accommodate their allergies. That kind of service and attention to detail is not common.

The service - Overall, excellent. From our room steward who did a phenomenal job keeping our stateroom clean to the Maitre 'D in the dining room who went above and beyond. Some of the only negative feedback that I gave to Disney was related to the few waiters in the dining room that we really didn't care for. They weren't very patient and seemed a bit cold or indifferent.

The Adventure Guides - Jennae was the head Guide and we had started following her Facebook page a couple of months ago. She was a really great Guide and her extensive experience with Disney and ABD was apparent. She had her trademark cow jokes that she told on every excursion that we were on with her which were just a couple. I'm really not sure how the Guides were assigned to their different colored "teams" - there was one guide that we never saw (Katerina). We picked up our colored team cards each day along with our safety cards and learned on the first day that we needed to make sure that we had the same colored cards as Lisa and Tim. Lisa usually picked up their colored cards first and had them set aside the same color along with our safety cards. I especially appreciated Dean from California - also another Guide with extensive Disney history. Dean was not only super friendly but he gave us a ton of information and was very honest with his suggestions including, at times, suggestions not to take certain ABD options. It was very obvious how passionate all of the Guides were and they were all extremely patient.

The excursions/tours - for the most part they were great. This is definitely an active vacation and we averaged about 5 miles a day of walking (according to my Garmin Vivofit). We made it to almost all of the tours we signed up for. They had given us a final version of the available tours and had us circle the ones we wanted to attend and hand it in on the bus ride from Munich to Vilshofen. I think the only tour we ended up skipping was the Spanish Riding School because we really wanted to explore Vienna more on our own. They emphasized every day that all of the tours/excursions are totally optional. I've always been of the frame of mind that we need to squeeze in as much as possible in the time allotted but not everyone likes to vacation that way. What I think the Guides and Disney did very well was compensating or anticipating human nature on all the tours - always having information about bathrooms, scheduling times that had a little cushion for the stragglers, all the while still being a bit flexible. I really liked all of the ports we went to - I don't think Slovakia would have even remotely been considered as a vacation destination but now that we've been to Bratislava, it would be one that we wouldn't hesitate to visit again if the opportunity came up.

Currency - the exchange for Euros was pretty low during our trip - about $1.10 to 1 Euro (last year it was at around $1.15 per 1 Euro). We had some Euros left over from a previous trip - about 40 Euros. Unfortunately, we weren't careful checking to make sure that the taxi from the Munich airport to the meet up hotel would take credit cards and we didn't have enough Euros to cover the trip so we ended up using USD. We used an ATM twice during our trip - once to get 100 Euros for souvenirs and then again for 300 Euros just to buy some at the current rate and use in the future. We will definitely be returning to Europe again in the future.

Weather - we really lucked out with the weather. The warmest day of the week was in Austria - Melk/Linz/Krems/Durnstein with the temp hitting the mid 80's. Otherwise the rest of the time we were in the 70's. We got rained on once in Durnstein and that was it.

River Cruise vs "Traditional" ABD - this is the question that Disney asked us too. Having done 2 "traditional" Adventures, the river cruise Adventure is definitely different. As most people who have done the river cruise seem to agree, we miss the more intimate interaction with the Guides and fellow Adventurers but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We got to meet a lot more Guides at the same time - they were all so fun to interact with. The way that the tours were staggered for the different colored teams, we never felt overwhelmed or "lost in the crowd". The Guides really did make it a point to come by and visit with us during the welcome onboard activity and during meal times too. We did get to meet some fellow Adventurers but in all honesty, I think everyone who has ever done a group trip before (Disney or not) knows that there are those on the tour that we would rather not interact with. We don't particularly like loud people or the ones who act entitled or are oblivious to common courtesies. There were a few of these on this trip and there were times that we breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't in the same colored team with us that particular day. It was a real trip when we found out that fellow Adventurers Richard and Sharon had been on the very same ABD trip with us way back in 2008 - the Spirit of America tour. When we were comparing notes on previous ABD trips, they described the infamous fire alarm incident at the Great Wolf Lodge during that first ABD that we had ever done. We wouldn't hesitate to consider the Rhine river cruise in the future with ABD. For now, though, we have already booked the Ecuador and Galapagos "traditional" ABD in 2017 - a graduation/birthday trip for our son, Rhys.
 
Really enjoyed the report and all the great pics! Thanks so much for posting! Sounds like a lot if fun. Do you think your kids would have enjoyed? Any idea what the breakdown was on your cruise?
 
Thanks for a great report. I appreciated your thoughts on the different excursions and your summary. Hope you'll do something similar for your Galapagos trip next year :)
 

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