Budapest to the Black Sea review
We took the Tauck river cruise “Budapest to the Black Sea” in late June and early July of 2024. Here are a few highlights and our thoughts about this tour compiled by myself and life long travel partner and wife SueMS.
I am doing a review of the food and accommodation in separate posts so please take a look at those if interested. Here are some links
Budapest to the Black Sea (the Food)
Budapest to the Black Sea (the Accommodations )
Our river cruise had 81 people so it was a fairly full ship. We had 3 Tauck tour directors and one Tauck cruise director. One of the tour directors was from Romania another from the Czech Republic and the other from Austria. Our Cruise director was from the Netherlands. Our tour guides from Czech Republic and Romania were able to give us much insight on growing up under a communist regime.
The weather on this trip was hot to very hot. In Budapest from the low to mid 90’s and ending in Bucharest in the triple digits. (102 on our last day). The heat made a few things challenging.
Day 0
We arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Budapest in the late afternoon one day prior to the start of the tour. Having a 10 hour time difference and jet lag we did not do anything that day except go to dinner at a Hungarian restaurant which you can read about in my food review.
Day 1
The tour officially started in the evening with a welcome dinner. During the day we were given the option of going to Dohány Street Synagogue. The largest Synagogue in Europe.
Day 2
Today we had a choice of Discovering Pest or doing a cycling excursion in Budapest. We chose the Pest tour. Temperatures today were in the mid 90’s and the cycling excursion didn’t have many takers.
Day 3
Today we had a tour of the Buda sights which included a visit to the Hungarian Parliament building. After touring today, it was off to our ship the MS Treasures. 
Day 4
Today we arrived in Mohacs and traveled to Pécs for a walking tour.
Lunch at Polgar winery.
Day 5
Today the ship sailed the lower Danube into Croatia. We docked in the city of Vukovar. One of the excursions we opted for was a visit to a local family in a nearby village. The groups were broken up into smaller manageable groups. Having some reluctance about going into someone’s private home we were a bit hesitant about this but were pleasantly surprised.
We then went on to Novi Sad, Serbia and then on to Belgrade.
One of the amazing sites around Vukovar are the storks who nest on almost everybodys roof.
Day 6
Today we were in Belgrade and did a city tour. Dinner tonight was at the Royal White Palace of the Serbian Royal Family in Belgrade. (See our food review for more info)
Day 7
Today we were sailing into Romania and through the Kazan Narrows and the Iron Gate of the Danube, a two mile-long series of narrow gorges between the Carpathian and Balkan mountain ranges. We also sailed past the rock sculpture of King Decebalus. This is also referred to as the Mount Rushmore of Romania.
Today was July 4th.
Day 8
Today it was off to Bulgaria. We disembarked after lunch in Ruse and then had a walking tour of Basarabov rock church.
Day 9
Today it was off to Constanta Romania and the Black Sea coast. We did a tour of the Constanta area.
Day 10
Disembark the MS Treasures and off to the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel. A tour of Bucharest including the Old Town was part of today’s activities.
Day 11
Today we had a choice of three tours. We chose Transylvania, Brasov & Bran Castle. This was a significant journey being an early wake up and late return to the hotel (about 7:30 PM). Bran Castle is a very popular attraction in Romania. Tauck as able to get us in right at opening but by the time the castle tour was over it was packed with tourists. Our lunch in Bran was a scatter lunch and every one on the excursion was given 100 lei.
Day 12
The morning we had a tour of the Village museum in Bucharest The afternoon was at our leisure. With temperatures today in the triple digits in Bucharest it was back to the air conditioned hotel for us.
This evening we had our farewill dinner at the Bragadiru Palace. (See our food review for more information)
Day 13
An early flight (6:15 AM) required us to be in the lobby at 3:15 AM. Quite a few others had early wake ups as well.
We were on Lufthansa and could use the business class lounge which is a contracted lounge. I only have one word to describe this lounge. YIKES! Screaming children, few empty seats, hot, humid, loud. I was glad when we got in our Euro Business seat on Lufthansa.
Closing thoughts.
This was our 3rd European river cruise with Tauck. They have all been excellent. This one being no exception. Ship staff and tour directors were all excellent. We did have one local tour guide in Romania who did 2 of the group tours we were on. To put it mildly she was boring. I didn’t realize one could sleep standing up but it almost happened here. Most other local guides were very good.
We would definitely recommend this cruise however if this is a first river cruise in Europe then probably not. You will not see all the quaint villages and castles that are abundant on the Rhine, Mosel or upper Danube. Instead you will see farm land, forests and remnants of the communist rule in this area. For someone who has been to Europe and wants to see more, then this is a definite yes.
Comments
JohnS - Thanks for the review. We're doing this tour next year, starting in Budapest in late May, ending in Bucharest in mid-June.
We're hoping we get at least 10 degrees cooler weather than you experienced.
We have river toured the upper Danube and lower Rhine previously.
On days when there were excursion choices did you have any discussions with other travelers after the fact to see if an alternate excursion might have been a better choice or to confirm that your choice indeed had been the best for you.
Smiling Sam: I'll answer this one for JohnS. There were 3 days where there were excursion choices we had to make before the trip. Two of them were city tours or cycling tours. The last excursion in Bucharest there were 3 to choose from, all being different lengths of time, like JohnS said, we picked Bran castle as we have wanted to see the Transylvania region for some time.
On the last day there was a choice you could make on that day, either the Village Museum or Ceausescu Mansion. We picked the village because we have seen plenty of mansions, castles, etc.
While going thru the locks at the Iron Gate, there was another river boat going up river and I snapped a few pictures of the other ship and thought this one would be fun to share with our ship reflected in the other one.
so glad u all enjoyed. Wife and I have taken 4 RC's and were looking at this one. Thanks again.
I have to say I really enjoyed this river cruise.
JohnS - We're about to make our excursion choices for our tour in May/June and was wondering:
On Day 11 you selected the excursion with the longest amount of coach time. Per our literature it says it could be up to 8 hours of coach time. I know you said it was a very long day (early wake up and return to the hotel at 7:30 PM). Of that long day was 8 hours of it truly spent on the coach to/from? Did you make your selection based on the Bran Stoker/Dracula connection or did you have other reasons for making this selection. In hindsight do you feel your selection was worth the additional coach time?
I know these may be hard to answer.
Per the provided documentation
The Sinaia & Peles Castle excursion choice could have up to 6 hours of coach time.
The Targoviste, Vlad Tepes & Ceausescu excursion choice could have 1.5 - 2 hours of coach time.
Did you talk with travelers that took the other excursions and do you have a feel if they enjoyed their selection.
I'd appreciate any insights you might be able to provide.
Thanks in advance.
JohnS - Here is some additional information that I put together.
Again any further insights you might have would be appreciated.
Sam:
As John mentioned in the review of day 11 above, it was a long coach ride but was quite scenic, so I found it wasn’t boring. Also, on the way out to Bran Castle, in the morning some folks snoozed a bit along with the tour guide speaking off and on explaining the history of Bran Castle and Vlad the Impaler. We arrived there about 11:30 AM and the castle opened at 12:00 PM. We headed back to the hotel at 3:00 PM. So that gave us plenty of time to see the castle, have lunch, shop and explore.
Leaving the hotel early did get us there right at opening so was not nearly as crowded as it was later in the day.
The 100 lei the tour director gave each of us allowed us to pick where we wanted lunch. We opted for a little restaurant that had traditional type food with outdoor seating, we even had a bit of cash left to buy a small souvenir.
I don’t think we even considered the other excursions being that we have wanted to go to the Transylvania region of Romania for some time. Also, John has some ancestral connections from the part of Romania that was once Austria Hungry and we figured that excursion would give us a better look at Romania. From my perspective, I was very glad I was able to see Bran Castle and the long coach ride there and back wasn’t too bad.
When we returned that day, I don’t recall talking specifically with fellow travelers about the other excursions, but I think everyone did enjoy what they chose.
View from the coach.
View from top of Bran Castle.
Sue - Thanks for the great input. We’re leaning to making the same choice, but it’s not a done deal yet. 😁
On the other hand, my family and I really enjoyed Pele castle. It was incredibly beautiful with a family actually still living in residence. I felt I wanted to see something beautiful (and it was) instead of hearing about tall tales of Dracula. That is just me. All four of us really enjoyed this castle. I suppose you can google the two to compare.
OurTravels - Thanks for your input. We are still considering the Pele castle option. We have only ruled out the third option. I have Googled them all. It may get down to the difference in the coach rides.
Do you recall when you departed from and returned to the hotel for the Pele castle option?
How was lunch handled in the Pele castle option?
Thanks.
Sam, when I took this river cruise we disembarked in Constanta and drove 3 hours to Bucharest did some sightseeing in Bucharest that day and stayed in the Marriott Hotel, the next day we went to Targoviste and visited the Royal Court of Vlad Tepes from there we went to the military barracks where the Ceausescu's stayed until they were killed, and had lunch at the Belvedere restaurant (that was one of Tauck's choices for that day)
The next day I booked a tour with Viator and went to Peles Castle and Bran Castle, we also went to Brasov a cute town where we had lunch we left at 7:30 AM and returned to hotel at 7:15 PM, went home the next day. I guess that the visit to Peles and Bran Castles must have been on an extra day that I stayed.
Smiling Sam: I’m just getting back to you. Gosh, that was a few years ago. I honestly can’t remember how lunch was handled but I’m sure it was. I didn’t think the difference in the length of bus rides was that significant, but Pele castle was definitely beautiful.
Smiling Sam: I took this tour last year. We ate lunch as a group at a restaurant in Sinaia on the grounds of the summer residence of the royal family, before touring Peles Castle.
Smiling Sam…. Ditto MCD. We really enjoyed Peles and remarked how much it reminded us of Neuschwanstein, but actually on a grander scale and with a less dark interior. The bus ride was not too early - maybe 8. Restroom break was at a Romanian shopping mall ! That was pretty funny. The grocery store was one of the largest grocery stores I had ever been in. It made Costco look small. The bius ride was very interesting and absolutely not what I expected. Also - the Casa Caeucescu is a highlight. Do not miss it . We did the northbound cruise and Tauck did not take us there. We went on our own . It is fascinating to see how he and his family were living considering how he forced the people of his country to live. If you have an opportunity, ask the cruise director if they can do Lipinski Vir as a lagniappe. We went on the northbound cruise and really enjoyed it. One more thing - do NOT miss the Budapest opera house. If the opera is in season , the concierge at the Ritz can get discount tickets. It is absolutely beautiful.
Smiling Sam, I second what Mother of Poodles said about the Budapest Opera House. It is spectacular, Have a glass of champagne on the rooftop bar for me at intermission. We saw a performance of Spartacus that was wonderful even if we didn’t know a word of Hungarian.
Sandy, MotherOfPoodles - Thanks for the tips. I’m sure we will see the Budapest Opera House, but not via a performance.
During Blue Danube the tour visited the Budapest Opera House. We did not see a full performance however we were treated to a mini performance of Don Giovani performed by two company performers on a landing of the grand staircase .
Same for me except during the Danube river cruise, in my case it was The Phantom of the Opera.
This trip is on our bucket list!!!!
Cathyandsteve:
Just for fun, I ticked of one of my silly bucket list items and dipped my toes in the Black Sea.