The Egil has landed!
- Aug 2, 2018
- 4 min read
What a trip!
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What follows is a day by day journal of the 2018 Viking river boat cruise on the Danube River. We started in Budapest, Hungary, stopped in Austria and Germany, and ended up (off the river) in Prague, Czech Republic, for three nights. Our travel companions, John and Kerry, were with us in 1978 when we discovered Europe together on a bicycle trip down the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. We planned this trip as a 40th anniversary celebration of travel and friendship!
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This is the last entry I will post for this trip, which will include more general observations and reflections. If you, kind reader, are new to this thread, you may want to skip this post. You may want to start at the bottom if you prefer a more orderly reveal in chronological order!
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Above is the only image that I took of our longship on the last day of our abbreviated river cruise. We sailed the Egil, Viking's newest ship to date, which is shown here tucked in next to its sister ship, the Var. Below is an image from the Viking site:
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The top deck has plenty of seating and shade if you want it. The front of the ship has an indoor and outdoor terrace for casual dining or drinks. The lounge is behind the Aquavit Terrace with the floor to ceiling windows, and the dining room is below that. The rooms are small but crisp and clean with good storage.
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My impressions of the ship experience:
- The Egil is a beautiful ship- very clean and comfortable, easy to navigate
- Staff is exceedingly friendly and professional
- Food is spectacular- I especially enjoyed the regional dishes which were offered daily in addition to the other fixed and special meals
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- The ports of call were excellent- Budapest, Vienna, Krems, Passau, Nuremburg, Prague
- Tour guides were good on average- a few were really great
- That said, I learned that I really don't like bus tours
- I also didn't love being herded around on the walking tours
- The tours typically started with a bus departure time of 8:00- a bit early for us since we liked to squeeze in some coffee/ breakfast before
- The average age of the Viking guests seemed to be above 65- mostly retirees
- There were exactly two passengers under 40- two young men traveling with their parents and grandmother
- Prague Hilton is huge and caters to tour groups- all tourists, nothing cultural happening here
- I wish we had more time in Budapest- maybe another three day extension
- The extra day in Nuremburg was fantastic- I gained much more appreciation for this beautiful city when we were on our own
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY- Fisherman's Bastion:
VIENNA, AUSTRIA- Mozart statue:
KREMS, AUSTRIA- Gottwieg Abbey:
PASSAU, GERMANY- city square:
NURENBERG, GERMANY- Chain Bridge:
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC- Charles Bridge:
PRAGUE- Prague Castle:
Other random reflections:
- Kerry and John are perfect traveling companions- we had so much fun, so many laughs (one record breaker!), as well as many serious discussions. We make decisions easily and happily together. All four of us mix and match with ease- talking, reminiscing, laughing, and just generally immersing ourselves with each other and our surroundings. We are so compatible, and so very fortunate to still be traveling together 40 years later enjoying each other's company with new adventures!
- Being in crowded tourist cities can be a bit overwhelming- we mostly found ourselves surrounded by Americans, or Asians, or other Europeans on holiday. LOT of selfie sticks, lot of posing going on. A bit much really (says the girl who never left the ship without her camera). I know, I know. But still.
- The Prague extension allowed us to plan our time in a more custom manner- I definitely preferred operating on our own schedule.
- Uber worked well in Prague. A godsend to explore far flung areas.
- The trip included a great deal of walking. Perhaps some passengers stayed on the ship when in port, but since we had so little time in each city, we really had to get out there and explore on foot. When other people took the bus back after a tour, we stayed on to guide ourselves which I preferred.
- The ship attire is more casual than I anticipated, based on the brochures. I took more dresses and dress clothes than I needed. Steve brought a sports coat, but never wore it on the ship. Not a tie in sight. Some people did dress a little more formally at dinner. One guy wore a cowboy hat for the entire trip.
- Very friendly passengers. The dining room is designed for mingling. No tables for two or four. People were mixing it up and super friendly. We met two couples from Massachusetts. Many southerners- Texas, Florida, Kansas, Tennessee. Also, California. All Americans as far as I could tell.
That's it for now, but I will keep this post open for other observations as they come to me.
My images are posted on my Flickr site:
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