We just did this trip in September 2015 and it was wonderful..although Danube was very low Tauck managed it beautifully!! I would suggest a side trip to the Hague and Delft if time permits while in Amsterdam.
Also flew to Prague(trains stopped because of refugees) and its a city not to miss!!! Two wonderful places to eat are The Blue Duckling and The Kampa Park Restaurant.(need reservations ahead of time for the latter) Again, if time permits a day trip to Cesky' Krumlov is great!
Glenn - I'm pleased that you are considering the train option. On which departure date from Amsterdam are you booked? We are on 17 September. If you are interested in food, we've found a very interesting foodie tour in Prague - the "Prague Food & Culture Tour". http://www.tasteofprague.com/prague-food-culture-tour/ We plan to take that tour and perhaps the same company's "Prague Foodie Tour", if it is not duplicative of the other one. Cheers, Fred
Freddie: We are booked on the 9/24/16 departure from AMS. Looks like you are a week ahead of us. Thanks for the foodie tour info for Prague! That is something we are very interested in. (We did three weeks on our own in Italy last year, and it was very much a food & wine-oriented trip.) We like the small-group type tours if we are going to be in a location that we've never been to. I think its a great way to maximize our time. If you have any other recommendations (including hotel) , please send them my way
We just did this trip in September 2015 and it was wonderful..although Danube was very low Tauck managed it beautifully!! I would suggest a side trip to the Hague and Delft if time permits while in Amsterdam.
Also flew to Prague(trains stopped because of refugees) and its a city not to miss!!! Two wonderful places to eat are The Blue Duckling and The Kampa Park Restaurant.(need reservations ahead of time for the latter) Again, if time permits a day trip to Cesky' Krumlov is great!
Tireddoc: Thanks for the feedback on the trip you took last year. I know it's a ways off for us, but we're excited about it. Thanks as well for the dining recommendations in Prague. Always nice to get this kind of info from someone who has firsthand experience. Where di you stay in Prague, and would you recommend it?
Nice to see this forum active again. We are also on the 9/17/15 trip from Amsterdam, with Freddie. Since we've been to Amsterdam several times, we're just going to fly in two days in advance of the cruise (no, we didn't get the gift of time.) We like smaller hotels usually, and want to spend time at the Van Gogh Museum, so we are staying down in the Museumplein area, which we like, and will take it easy while we un-jetlag. There is a bus from Schiphol that goes to many of the hotels in this area, btw. On cruise day, we can either take a cab or the tram, if we're travelling light enough, lol.
Staying 3 nights post-cruise in Budapest then flying home. Haven't booked a hotel yet, but I'm leaning towards Palazzo Zicky. We got a direct flight, Premium Economy seats, back to Toronto, which is a bonus for us. We also got Business reward tickets coming over, again direct to AMS on Air Canada. So no Prague for us this time, there's always next time.
Avoid Air France at all costs, they are frequently on strike!
BTW, we flew Air France last month, Toronto-Paris-Cairo and return. No problems, good service, mainly good planes, quite pleased. CDG was a breeze, totally unexpected.
Hey WWanderer (and others)... If you are monitoring this thread thought I'd let you know that our TA (thru AAA) secured the "gift of time" for us in Amsterdam, even tho we are also first-time travelers with Tauck.
I'm still debating what to do after Budapest. We will probably stay at least an extra day, but we're also considering a side-trip to Prague for a few days. I spoke with Tauck and was told a Prague side-trip cannot be arranged through them, so if we did this it would be on our own. No big deal; but sometimes easier if we can just do everything through the vendor.
If anyone has thoughts on doing Prague for a few days following Budapest, please let me know. Thanks!
Hey WWanderer (and others)... If you are monitoring this thread thought I'd let you know that our TA (thru AAA) secured the "gift of time" for us in Amsterdam, even tho we are also first-time travelers with Tauck.
I'm still debating what to do after Budapest. We will probably stay at least an extra day, but we're also considering a side-trip to Prague for a few days. I spoke with Tauck and was told a Prague side-trip cannot be arranged through them, so if we did this it would be on our own. No big deal; but sometimes easier if we can just do everything through the vendor.
If anyone has thoughts on doing Prague for a few days following Budapest, please let me know. Thanks!
GlennAlcira from Stbarthfan,
Not sure how to post a reply to this message of yours regarding: Tauck can't do your side trip to Prague...explanation being I suspect because Prague is not a part of the itinerary you are doing. IF Prague was part of your journey then Tauck could arrange. I hope that is what they told you in explanation for the unable/can't. A policy of Tauck's. Just thought others might want to know that Tauck can do many things for their clients & clients travel consultants if it follows policy, not a flat out can't do it, but the reason why the "can't" important to know.
Stbarthfan: I'm aware that Tauck can't help with the side trip to Prague when the cruise ends in Budapest. No big deal, we'll just figure this out on our own -- probably with some great help from fellow posters in this chat room. I do think they are missing out on a business opportunity by not doing do.
WWanderer: We have flown Air France before, and had no issues. They do tend to go on strike, which concerns me, but not to the point I would avoid them altogether. Still thinking about whether I want to do air thru Tauck or on my own. And, thanks for the hotel suggestion in Budapest. Will definitely check that out.
Nice to see this forum active again. We are also on the 9/17/15 trip from Amsterdam, with Freddie. Since we've been to Amsterdam several times, we're just going to fly in two days in advance of the cruise (no, we didn't get the gift of time.) We like smaller hotels usually, and want to spend time at the Van Gogh Museum, so we are staying down in the Museumplein area, which we like, and will take it easy while we un-jetlag. There is a bus from Schiphol that goes to many of the hotels in this area, btw. On cruise day, we can either take a cab or the tram, if we're travelling light enough, lol.
Staying 3 nights post-cruise in Budapest then flying home. Haven't booked a hotel yet, but I'm leaning towards Palazzo Zicky. We got a direct flight, Premium Economy seats, back to Toronto, which is a bonus for us. We also got Business reward tickets coming over, again direct to AMS on Air Canada. So no Prague for us this time, there's always next time.
Whoops, that should be 9/17/16 !!! Sorry for the mistake. We have now booked Palazzo Zicky, btw.
FYI to all monitoring this thread -- We're on the AMS-BUD cruise starting 9/24/16. We will also do 2 pre-cruise days in AMS and a post-cruise trip to Prague. We just booked our flights thru Tauck, and got a pretty good deal, IMO. We're on Delta, Seattle to Amsterdam non-stop (Dprt 6:09 PM (9/21), Arrv 1:00 PM (9/22). We return to SEA from Prague on 10/12 (Delta --PRG-AMS; AMS-SEA). Truck booked us regular economy seats but we wanted Premium Economy. I upgraded our seats on the Delta website, thinking they would cost about $500 total. Much to my surprise, there was no cost for the upgrade! Our TA believes that's because of the fare class Tauck used for the reservation. Total cost for the flights = $1,248/ticket.
We're now thinking about whether to do an extra day in BUD when the cruise ends on 10/8, or just go straight to Prague. Also (after reading pros and cons from others in this thread) trying to decide between train vs plane from BUD to PRG, and what to do and see for three full days in Prague. We're doing a Caribbean cruise on RSSC in February, so will nail this down after we return.
Quick update on our travel plans: We have decided to not spend additional time in Budapest. On the final day of the cruise, we'll take advantage of Tauck's transportation to the train station and do a first class trip to Prague that departs around noon. We are staying in Prague 4 nights at the Arcadia Residence. This small B&B type hotel comes highly recommended on TripAdvisor and on Rick Steves website. We'll probably do several small-group tours in Prague as well as explore on our own. Someone mentioned a food tour, and that's high on our list. Other suggestions welcome
Comments
Also flew to Prague(trains stopped because of refugees) and its a city not to miss!!! Two wonderful places to eat are The Blue Duckling and The Kampa Park Restaurant.(need reservations ahead of time for the latter) Again, if time permits a day trip to Cesky' Krumlov is great!
Freddie: We are booked on the 9/24/16 departure from AMS. Looks like you are a week ahead of us. Thanks for the foodie tour info for Prague! That is something we are very interested in. (We did three weeks on our own in Italy last year, and it was very much a food & wine-oriented trip.) We like the small-group type tours if we are going to be in a location that we've never been to. I think its a great way to maximize our time. If you have any other recommendations (including hotel) , please send them my way
Tireddoc: Thanks for the feedback on the trip you took last year. I know it's a ways off for us, but we're excited about it. Thanks as well for the dining recommendations in Prague. Always nice to get this kind of info from someone who has firsthand experience. Where di you stay in Prague, and would you recommend it?
Staying 3 nights post-cruise in Budapest then flying home. Haven't booked a hotel yet, but I'm leaning towards Palazzo Zicky. We got a direct flight, Premium Economy seats, back to Toronto, which is a bonus for us. We also got Business reward tickets coming over, again direct to AMS on Air Canada. So no Prague for us this time, there's always next time.
BTW, we flew Air France last month, Toronto-Paris-Cairo and return. No problems, good service, mainly good planes, quite pleased. CDG was a breeze, totally unexpected.
GlennAlcira from Stbarthfan,
Not sure how to post a reply to this message of yours regarding: Tauck can't do your side trip to Prague...explanation being I suspect because Prague is not a part of the itinerary you are doing. IF Prague was part of your journey then Tauck could arrange. I hope that is what they told you in explanation for the unable/can't. A policy of Tauck's. Just thought others might want to know that Tauck can do many things for their clients & clients travel consultants if it follows policy, not a flat out can't do it, but the reason why the "can't" important to know.
WWanderer: We have flown Air France before, and had no issues. They do tend to go on strike, which concerns me, but not to the point I would avoid them altogether. Still thinking about whether I want to do air thru Tauck or on my own. And, thanks for the hotel suggestion in Budapest. Will definitely check that out.
Whoops, that should be 9/17/16 !!! Sorry for the mistake. We have now booked Palazzo Zicky, btw.
We're now thinking about whether to do an extra day in BUD when the cruise ends on 10/8, or just go straight to Prague. Also (after reading pros and cons from others in this thread) trying to decide between train vs plane from BUD to PRG, and what to do and see for three full days in Prague. We're doing a Caribbean cruise on RSSC in February, so will nail this down after we return.