River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

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Gill W
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River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

#1

Post by Gill W »

Day 2 - 3

Each evening, just before dinner the Programme Director does a briefing to out
line the next days activities. This takes place in the main lounge. On our
second night it was also the captain's welcome aboard party and the other senior
staff were introduced. There were free drinks and canapés too. The captain
comes from Bulgaria, in fact the majority of the crew are from Eastern Europe.

After this came dinner. This time we found ourselves on a table with four
Americans and two Canadians. The thing with the North Americans, they tend to
speak loud, which meant I could hear them. I particularly enjoyed the company
of the Canadian couple, and we had a good chat. I'm still not overly keen on
large table dining, but the right company helps a lot. I'm writing this on the
afternoon of day 3 - we might try a table for 6 this evening.

We briefly saw the missing suitcase couple this morning. The case still hasn't
turned up. It's mainly the husband's clothes and he's going shopping today.

We are in Regensberg today, after sailing along the Main-Danube Canal yesterday
afternoon and overnight. We passed through a number of locks, rising
over a 100 feet at a time, and after about 5 upward locks, we started to pass
through downward locks, which will continue all the way to Budapest.

Our included excursion was a walking tour of the old town. We came back to the
ship for lunch. This afternoon there was an optional excursion which visits
Weltenberg Abbey and cruises the Danube Narrows. We opted not to do this, so
walked back into town for another, longer walk. We found our way over to the
opposite bank of the river to take some photos of the ship.

Each evening there is some limited entertainment in the lounge. Last night the
resident pianist played Tom Jones, which we didn't see. This evening there's a
local band coming on board, which we may look at, if we can get a seat.

We are due to sail for Passau at 10pm this evening. The portion of the Danube
between Regensberg and Passau, had the worst of the issues regarding the low
water. We've had some rain over the last couple of days, and nothing has been
said about NOT sailing. So maybe it's going to be ok? Hope so.
Gill

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OCEANIAFAN
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Re: River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

#2

Post by OCEANIAFAN »

Gill,
What a pity you did not do the excursion to Weltenberg Abbey. we have just done this cruise and found this excursion to be very good. Included in this was a taste of the Monks Beer which again was very good.

The cruise on the Danube narrows was also very spectacular.

Love reading your Blog will continue.

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Gill W
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Re: River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

#3

Post by Gill W »

In retrospect, I wish I'd done the Weltenberg Abbey trip, instead of the Horse Show that we did on the last afternoon.

If you get a chance, I'd be interested to read your thoughts about river cruising :)
Gill

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OCEANIAFAN
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Re: River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

#4

Post by OCEANIAFAN »

Gill,
If you read my Blog I have put a review on, we sailed with Emerald Waterways not Viking, this was a new ship, this being it's third cruise since new.

We loved it and will certainly go again, we like you were, and I stress were, fans of P&O but no longer. We now prefer to sail with other lines.

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Gill W
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Joined: January 2013
Location: Kent

Re: River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

#5

Post by Gill W »

I've just had a chance to look at your blog. Your itinerary was almost exactly the same as ours, except we had an extra day in Nuremberg, and missed Bratislava.

I noticed Emerald has even more included excursions than Viking. With Viking, there was one included excursion per day. Most days there was an optional additional excursion, but this had to be paid for.

It was certainly a different experience, and one that I'm intending to repeat, maybe in a couple of years time. I would certainly consider Emerald.
Gill

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Manoverboard
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Re: River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 2

#6

Post by Manoverboard »

I requested a brochure from Emerald at their launch but didn't book because there was nothing of particular interest at that time, big mistake as they have sent me a constant stream of junk mail every since, both e-mail and by post.

' Requests ' to stop have thus far been ignored and we now feel it to be intrusive.

Good product but read about them online and get the brochure from a TA is my advice.

Would add that this has not been the case with Viking or Uniworld.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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