We're taking an AMA cruise from Prague to Budapest, similar itinerary to Castles, and visiting Christmas markets as we did a year ago on Paris. We flew Icelandair from Orlando to Reykjavik and stayed overnight. It was overcast & drizzling and daylight, such as it was, lasted from 10:30 till 3:30 so we explored this fascinating city on foot. We went to a noted seafood restaurant for dinner and had an excellent meal. The cod was the best I've ever had and it must have been over 1 pound - too much to eat it all.
This morning we caught the 5:00am Flybus to the airport and took off for Frankfurt at 8:30. About 20 minutes out the captain announced that we lost an engine and we returned to Keflavik Airport where another plane and crew are being set up for an 11:30 departure. Fortunately our flight from Frankfurt to Prague is scheduled for 5:10pm so we'll still have 2 hours before our Prague flight. Jan & Harry Hufford, B&K clients whom many of you know will be with us on the river trip.
Jim

Sounds great, Jim and Pat...enjoy the river cruise.

Dena

Have fun Bittles. Tell Jan and Harry hello for us. You all are really into cold weather. We are off to Disney World with the whole family next week. A pre 70 celebration for Jim. Pam and Jim

Hope everyone has a great time. Say hi to Jan and Harry for us too.

Have a great trip. Hope to cruise with again soon.

Look forward to your reports Jim & Pat.
Have a wonderful time.
Wish we could be with you walking through those
Christmas Markets.

Jim and Pat, have a great time. I will be shivering along with you walking the Christmas Markets. Of course, I am shivering here, too, in the Mid-Atlantic. My pictures of those wonderful market towns from last year's river cruise look magic now from the comfort of my computer! And enjoy the smells of all the wonderful sausages!

Glad you had one good night in Reykjavik, I do love that city from my one visit pre-cruise just a few years ago! Best was renting a car for a full day and actually driving in a foreign country without a care; there's seemingly no one else there when you are on the roads!

The past 2 days in Prague have been wonderful. Great Christmas markets and wonderful Czech food & wine. The architecture is quite interesting with everything from 11th to 21st centuries, often mixed on the same streets. We head off tomorrow for the river boat and the cruise.
Jim

I remember doing Prague at XMAS time...cold but fun. I loved the plastic swimming pools with the XMAS fish in them for purchase. Have a great time. I really miss those XMAS markets.

Sounds wonderful Jim we're envious - have fun!!!

I loved our time in Prague and loved our Christmas market cruise as well. Wish I was with you have a wonderful time.

There is an excellent review of the Prague-Budapest AMA cruise from someone who did it in October on Fodors; see Fodor\'s Review . I think it is a worthwhile read.

I wish that it had appeared before our CASTLE cruise. We went to many of the same places, but there are additional restaurant suggestions and tour information that would have been useful. We, too, stayed at the Le Meridien in Budapest.

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Eugene

Dec 13
We were supposed to board the Amalyra in Nuremburg but the river was too high to sail under a couple of bridges. The boat was docked in Deggendorf, down river from Nuremburg and we took a leisurely and scenic bus ride there, enjoying the 27 degree temperature and snow flurries. There was about 2 feet of snow on the ground and the tall pines in the forests were drooping with their heavy snow blankets. We stopped for lunch in the medieval Czech town Cesky Krumlov, situated on a river in Bohemia. It’s very picturesque and well visited in warmer weather. The castle on the hillside has a frescoed tower and a commanding view of the city and valley. After wandering the narrow winding streets we found a quaint local restaurant for lunch. They were very happy to have visitors since it’s a ghost town this time of year (during the summer it’s the most visited Czech place outside of Prague. Lunch for 2 with a wine & beer came to a whopping $19.00 including tip.
We finally arrived in Deggendorf after dark around 6:00, settled in our room and had a delightful dinner.

Dec 14
The bus to Regensburg didn’t leave until 1:00 so we walked into Deggendorf’s town square, mainly for exercise since there wasn’t much to see. After lunch we rode to Regensburg and met our guides for a 1 ½ hour walking tour. We started over the Stone Bridge, built in the early 1200s and went into the old city. Our first diversion was a famous sausage shop on the river by the bridge to try the local 3 small sausages in a roll with sweet mustard. Delicious. The city was beautiful and we enjoyed the tour in spite of the 24 degree & windy day. IT WAS COLD… After the tour we had about 2 hours to explore the Christmas market where we bought some Christmas ornaments, had another sausage and drank gluwein to warm up.
Before dinner the captain announced that the water level was dropping and, at about 3:00am, we would sail to Regensburg so the bus ride to Nuremburg would be short. After dinner the guests decorated the 3 Christmas trees in the lounge.

OH Darn it Jim!!
All I can think of is how wonderful the polish dog was on "PARIS" when we had them at that Christmas market.
Thanks for sharing your trip so far. Look forward to more reports. :D

December 15
The boat did, indeed, set off at 3:00 am and we went through our first lock around 9:00am. At 10:30 they had a Frühschoppen, an additional breakfast consisting of weisswurst, similar to bratwurst, sauerkraut, something translating to Bavarian meatloaf, German sausage and, of course, beer. After lunch we docked in Regensburg and boarded busses for Nuremberg, a 1 hour trip that took closer to 2 hours due to traffic. We opted for a tour of sights related to WWII which included the Zeppelin field where Hitler held mass rallies and the complex which housed the Nuremburg Trials and prisons for the top Nazis. About 95% of the city was destroyed by Allied bombing but the medieval city center was spared. Most of the medieval wall still stands and it is the most complete in Germany. We finished the tour at the massive Christmas market where we had 1 ½ hours to explore the market stalls and enjoy the gluwein and sausages before boarding our busses to return to the boat. We were about 1 hour behind schedule returning and dinner was being served as we arrived. A duo playing guitar and accordion were playing traditional Bavarian songs in the reception area and continued in the restaurant while we ate. For their final piece they played the traditional Christmas song “Feliz Navidad”.

December 16
Due to a delay at one of the locks we didn’t reach our destination Passau. We docked in a small village where busses took some to an optional full day tour to Salzburg but spending 5 or more hours in a bus didn’t appeal to us so we took the 30 minute ride to Passau. There is still a lot of snow on the ground and flurries are falling constantly but, with sunshine, it’s quite pretty in spite of the below freezing temperatures. Passau is an interesting medieval town with narrow winding alleys. Passau is at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers and is close to the borders of Germany, Austria & Czech Republic. A fire in the 1300s wiped out all of the roofs and some top stories of buildings, which were wood, and the city was rebuilt. This situation created a mix of Gothic and Baroque styles combined in the same buildings and churches. The St Joseph’s Cathedral is extremely ornate inside with many frescoes and the world’s largest church organ with over 17,000 pipes. This is a Christmas market oriented cruise so the market is always the last stop of the visit. The boat had reached Passau so we walked to the dock and boarded just before lunch and sailed towards Linz.
We got to Linz in the dark after dinner and walked into the Christmas market. It was bitter cold and snow flurries were falling. It was a small market, more oriented towards food & drink rather than handicrafts and there were a lot of 20 & 30 somethings trolling for dates. We walked back to the boat in time for a performance by La Strada, a classical trio consisting of 2 violins & a guitar. They also played some Gypsy arrangements. We saw them last December on our Paris to Amsterdam river cruise and they were excellent.

December 17
We arrived in the Austrian town of Melk just after breakfast. There is nothing to experience in Melk except for their extraordinary monastery. The place is extremely ornate with a mix of Baroque & Rococo styling. There are extensive libraries housing several thousands of books, some from the 8th Century. The frescoed ceilings are bright & clear since the monks, over the centuries, were forbidden to have candles or other smoke devices in those rooms. There is extensive gilt work and the complex is gorgeous. We were taken by bus to the entrance since it was quite a way uphill but we opted for the ½ hour walk through town back to the ship. We had a 6 hour cruise through interesting countryside to Vienna where we docked at 6:15. Dinner featured wiener schnitzel and was served early so the optional tour to a concert could leave at 7:30. It was one of those commercial tourist concerts with the lesser orchestra in a large hall so we opted out. We could have taken the shuttle bus to the Christmas market (which we’ll see tomorrow) but also skipped that because the thought of spending 2 or more hours outdoors in windy zero degree weather wasn’t that appealing.

Really enjoying your updated reports Jim.
Please keep them coming. :app:

Love you reports Jim, keep enjoying.

Brings back memories of our trip last yr - but Jim's temps seeem colder? We really enjoyed that trip and would go back to Paris in heartbeat -

Enjoying your reports. We are doing Prague to Budapest in May, a much warmer time of year, but I am happy to hear your images.

December 18 – Vienna, Austria
We had spent the night docked in Vienna and awoke to a cold & windy day with snow flurries. The Danube doesn’t go through Vienna, just around it and a canal diverts to the city, so we were docked beyond walking distance to city center. We boarded tour busses at 8:30am for a city tour. The ship provides audio devices so we could listen to the guide even if a block or two away. However, our guide was clueless, didn’t use the headset mic and was so inconsistent in where she held her device that her voice was either breaking up or inaudible, so it wasn’t the pleasant informative tour that it should have been. It was bitterly cold but we did see some beautiful sites, but the overcast sky, fog and snow made for poor photo taking. As usual, the tour finished at the Christmas market which was not as good as in previous stops. Unfortunately the weather made the prospect of staying in the city for lunch & trying to find something to do for 4 hours before the next shuttle bus to the ship less than appealing so we went back to the ship for lunch and stayed for the afternoon. If the weather had been decent it would have been a pleasure to explore this exciting city. Since we both had been here in the past we weren’t too upset about it.
Before dinner we sailed towards Budapest and joined the Captain’s farewell cocktail party in the lounge, where we each had a glass of complimentary champagne. The 6 of us were sitting in a corner of the lounge and the bar waiter who takes care of us at dinner kept our glasses filled. His name is un pronounceable for us so we called him by his initials, JB. The wines served at the dinners were always local, in other words, Rieslings and other sweet wines so JB always had a good chardonnay and merlot or cabernet for the table. What a guy!! The Captain’s dinner featured, naturally, wienerschnitzel and it was tasty. After dinner the crew sang Christmas carols in the lounge – we passed and went to our rooms.

December 19 – Budapest
We awoke while still cruising the Danube and heard crunching sounds on the hull. Ice was forming on the river in large sheets. We docked after breakfast and had a city tour by bus from 9:30. It was so cold that they skipped the walking parts of the tour and kept us on busses except for a couple of photo ops. We had a wonderful guide who gave us such historical tidbits as: Hungary was liberated from the Germans after WWII and provided the freedom to be subjugated by the Communists “for our own security.” Soviet constructed buildings were termed “Soviet Baroque.” He had a great sense of humor and it was obvious that the Hungarians detested the Russian occupation. Budapest is a combination of two cities, Buda, the hilly side of the Danube and where the Hapsburg castles are, and Pest, pronounced “Pesht” (Pest is a bug…), which is flat and the more commercial side. It was a perfect tour in that it showed us where things were and what would be interesting to see since we were staying for the following 3 days. We did make a final stop at the Christmas market which was the best one so far, with more original handicrafts and variety of food and items to purchase. Again, we stayed on the ship because of the frigid temperature. Following dinner there was a performance of Gypsy singers, dancers and musicians in the lounge. At 9:00pm the Captain took the ship on a one hour mini cruise of the Danube to enjoy the views at night. Fortunately it was a clear night and the views were spectacular. JB was passing out shot glasses of Palinka, the Hungarian schnapps which is made from plums & other fruit and was quite good.

December 20 – Budapest
This was “get off the ship” day and a lot of guests had altered or inconclusive travel plans due to the massive winter snow storm which crippled most of Europe. Those poor folks scheduled through Heathrow wore in a world of hurt and we don’t know how they ended up. Jan & Harry and us took a taxi to the Palazzo Zichy Hotel, a wonderful place away from the tourist area but close to public transportation. After checking in the 4 of us headed out to the nearest Metro station to buy 3 day passes for public transportation. The system here is wonderful, well defined on the city maps and there is only 2 to 4 minutes wait between trolleys or Metro trains. The architecture is quite interesting with quite a mixture of styles, a lot of ornate building and too many still needing refacing due to neglect during the proletariat occupation. We went back to the Christmas market for some mulled wine, found an excellent restaurant called Cyrano’s for lunch and walked to the Parliament to check out the tour opportunities. It was closed and we returned to the hotel to rest up. The hotel recommended a bistro about a block away and we had a delicious Hungarian dinner there. We’ve found some delightful Hungarian chardonnays and cabernets to keep us hydrated and happy. We were layered (clothing wise) and didn’t get too cold but we were glad to be able to have dinner close by.

December 21 – Budapest
Today wasn’t quite as cold, although we still needed earmuffs and scarves, and we started the day by visiting the zoo. That’s an interesting venue with separate buildings for each species, decorated according to the part of the world the animals come from. Due to the cold, most Animals were inside but it was a most interesting morning. Close by was the fine arts museum where we had lunch in the café before exploring it. It’s a well designed building and the collections are excellent, many originally owned by the Hapsburgs (from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.) We took the Metro & trams back to the hotel area, explored a bit before it got dark around 3:30pm and went to the hotel to relax and read the current International Herald Tribune in the lounge. The hotel recommended another restaurant about 10 walking minutes away and we had an excellent meal there.

December 22 – Budapest
Jan & Harry left for the airport before breakfast and we had most of the day to explore. The hotel gave us a late checkout so, after breakfast, we took trolleys & Metro to the Parliament for a 10:00am tour. The building is over 100 years old, the 3rd largest in the world, has over 700 rooms and is completely made of Hungarian materials (except for 8 Norwegian granite columns) and was designed by Hungarians. It’s an exquisite building and a real pleasure to tour. The crown of St. Stephens (the founding King of Hungary) is on display and is reportedly the oldest crown in Europe. The crown represents Hungary, not the king wearing it, and it was used for all coronations throughout the centuries. St. Stephens’ great accomplishment was to realize that, in order to avoid takeover by other European kingdoms, it was necessary to unite all the tribes and convert to Christianity. It worked. There is a lot of gilt work and stained glass throughout this spectacular building. It hosted innovative concepts when originally built, including forced air heating and cooling into the legislative chambers. The cooling used air flow over ice and was quite efficient.
After the tour we walked for about 30 minutes through commercial & financial streets and ended up at the Christmas market where we bought a few items we had seen on previous visits. We returned to the hotel to dump our stuff and went to the bistro we visited 2 nights before for a late tapas lunch. Packing is simple for us because we’ve figured out how to survive easily with a 25” wheeled duffel and small carry on each. Our cab met us at the hotel at 3:00 for the 30 minute ride to the airport where our Malev Hungarian flight to Frankfurt was on time. Fortunately, our itinerary avoids all the trouble spots shutting down much of Europe (Heathrow still isn’t back to full operation since the big snowstorm 5 days ago.) We stayed at a small hotel near the airport for the night.

Safe trip home - great about your luggage - less means less work!!

Thank you for checking in while you were gone, Jim! I enjoyed all your posts.

Yes. Thank you for checking in.
I was starting to wonder where you were
and what was going on.

Christmas cruises are the best! I am going on one this year with P&O to Bruges.
I am very very jealous of you though! Yours sounds amazing!

Hope you have a great Christmas on a cruise this year, KatieW.

Thanks :)