10/4 Passau to Budapest HEART OF THE DANUBE

cruisemapper.com

I am scheduled to travel on the Esprit two sailings after yours, from Bucharest to Budapest. It doesn’t seem that the ship has moved much since it ran aground a couple weeks ago. Haven’t found much info about the implications of it running aground - damage, need for repairs etc. But in any event, nothing much is sailing right now in the Lower Danube anyway, and that’s what I’m tracking. I will be interested to see whether the Esprit will still be part of your cruise experience, or if the cruise would proceed with different ship(s).

The European river cruise ship MS Esprit has run aground on a sandbank in the Danube River near Komárom, Hungary. [1]Key details of the incident include:

• The Situation: The vessel became stuck while navigating a stretch of the Danube.
• Passengers and Crew: Only the crew remains on board, and there are no initial reports of injuries.
• The Resolution Plan: The ship is currently stuck in a "waiting game" for higher water levels. Tugboats or local authorities are monitoring the situation, but a natural rise in the river's water level is required to safely float the vessel off the sandbank. [1]

The grounding occurred shortly after local cruise operators expressed optimism about resuming smooth sailing toward Budapest along this specific section of the Danube

I googled, but with something like this it is likely accurate.

The 9/20 Budapest to Amsterdam thread indicates that guests are being informed that they may be starting their cruise on the Esprit, “river conditions permitting”.

I called Tauck last week and their representative told me they contact people about 10 days before departure about any changes. But all of the comments I see here and on Facebook say 5 days. That’s not a lit of lead time especially if you’re leaving a day or two early.

I am planning the same sailing.

I just checked and the Esprit and the Savor are docked side by side in Vienna.

The Tauck website shows a Budapest to Passau cruise starting September 27th. Perhaps that will be the first trip to go as scheduled in a while. That area has been getting a good bit of rain lately.

The Budapest to Passau 9/27 cruise has a 3 day land component on the Budapest end. We got a notice from Tauck about that two days ago and reluctantly decided to cancel. Just don't think that it would be the experience we signed up for. Tauck was very gracious about that and appreciated the prompt decision.

We just got the email about the last two days turning into a bus trip. Not Tauck's fault, but very disappointing nonetheless. Having spent 33 years as an airline pilot, the only thing I hate more than hotels is the bus ride to them. We are touring Europe the weeks before and after the cruise, so cancellation would be a very difficult option.