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Hiking Pole/stick River Cruise

Kathih

I do well with my bi-lateral knee replacements, but would like to know if the hike up to the Kuenrigerburg ruins would be better with a hiking stick? Does MS Treasures carry hiking stick/poles? Thank you Kathi H

Comments

Claudia Sails

Never seen them on Tauck's ships. Closest thing they have are umbrellas.

AlanS

Kathih wrote:

I do well with my bi-lateral knee replacements, but would like to know if the hike up to the Kuenrigerburg ruins would be better with a hiking stick? Does MS Treasures carry hiking stick/poles? Thank you Kathi H

It is a pretty steep, reasonably strenuous hike. You will need good shoes to walk on the rocky/sandy/steep stairs with no guard rails. Definitely not for folks with mobility/height issues. The walk is between 20/60 min. depending how fast you walk and how many stops you need to get some breath. The trail is lined with signs that give interesting history about the castle and it's famous prisoner, King Richard the Lionhearted. Note that there are two paths up from the town. The first is a little bit shorter, but much steeper and more uneven. The second is a much easier hike - with a broader, less steep path that is even paved part of the way. It has the signs. To get to the easier path, when coming from the center of town go out through the city gate and then go left. Ignore the first path to the castle which you will pass (unless you want the steeper climb). :

Claudia Sails

Alan, since you've done a Danube cruise, maybe you could answer a question I posed on another thread. We're taking the Budapest to Amsterdam cruise next year and I'm wondering about the locations where the ship docks in relation to the town and/or sights to be seen. Can you walk to them from the ship or do you have to take a bus? In particular the following stops:

Bratislavia
Vienna
Durnstein
Passau
Regensburg
Nurnberg
Bamberg
Wurzburg
Rudesheim
Koln/Cologne

I realize your cruise might not have included all those stops so whatever info you can offer will be appreciated.

ttfn

AlanS

Claudia Sails wrote:

Alan, since you've done a Danube cruise, maybe you could answer a question I posed on another thread. We're taking the Budapest to Amsterdam cruise next year and I'm wondering about the locations where the ship docks in relation to the town and/or sights to be seen. Can you walk to them from the ship or do you have to take a bus? In particular the following stops:

Bratislavia
Vienna
Durnstein
Passau
Regensburg
Nurnberg
Bamberg
Wurzburg
Rudesheim
Koln/Cologne

I realize your cruise might not have included all those stops so whatever info you can offer will be appreciated.

ttfn

Claudia, Sorry, haven't done it. We depart for the 12 April Blue Danube, east bound) this coming Tuesday : ) I just did a little Google research and cut and pasted. Pretty convincing, huh? Photo was taken by a travel agent couple/Tauck travelers on the Blue Danube, westbound and is part of their nice short review. (link) It is a good preview with nice photos for anyone planning or doing the westbound Blue Danube (even helpful for eastbound cruisers). They sailed on the MS Joy, our riverboat, too! I found the info about what to wear in April, when the weather can be really variable, extremely helpful.

I asked a similar question of our Alps TD from a few years ago who I still correspond with when I need "inside info." She has also worked Tauck Blue Danube, XMAS Markets, etc. cruises. The answer is "it depends" on what other boats are scheduled to be in town at the same time, the size of the town, if the port allows rafting (tied up side-by-side), and whether the boat will be docked there for the night. The larger towns and cities will have multiple places to dock- and you can bet all the riverboat companies jockey for the closest spots. She did say one of the longest treks to the town (Old Town- Innerestadt) was in Vienna where shuttle buses are used and run throughout the day. I'll try to remember to take notes and post after we get back. You don't want an annotated Navy chart do you? : ) USNA '71

You can sometimes also use Google Maps, earth (satellite) view, to find where boats are docked. I can tell you that it appears the boat stops right at the town waterfront in Durstein since there are no other docks nearby. The same goes for Rudeshiem (stopped there during a short excursion on the Rein during Romantic Germany last year.) Rudesheim is a tiny little town, you can probably walk EVERY street in town in about 30 minutes!

We board the Ms Joy downstream from (southeast of) Regensburg and Passau in Vilshofen. We have the option of staying a few hours longer in Prague and going directly to Vilshofen or taking a bus excursion to Regensburg then on to Vilshofen.

Claudia Sails

I'll look forward to reading your review.

I know the jockeying the ships do very well. Sometimes you go off to the daily tour with the ship one place and come back and it's completely changed. The doubling up used to not be a big deal (unless your stateroom faced the other ship – arg) but with security changes it’s gotten harden. Some will let you walk through their lobby while others make you climb up to their sun deck and over.

I figured Budapest and Vienna involved buses/shuttles. But many of the others looked small enough and close enough to the river to minimize that. It’s one of the reasons the Rhone has remained our favorite because there was so little bus time.

No the chart isn't necessary. Been since OCS in '82 since I had to read one. Yes, google is often helpful but not always. When I look at the place the ship docks in Amsterdam you see only a couple of ships at a short dock but when we were there the dock was much longer with room for at least 8 river ships. I suspect they change it out depending on the season.

Seems a bit weird to being worrying about a trip in 2019 when we haven't even done our 2018 Ireland land tour.

Best of luck on your cruise. Haze grey and underway.