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Questions on The Blue Danube Cruise
Is it better to go from East to West or just the opposite? I have had differences of opinions on this....The ships, Savor and Joy...is one better than the other? Which medium priced rooms are the best....any other hints would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Personally (that is what you'll get from everyone) I think eastbound is better. I didn't notice it but some say since eastbound is downstream the engine doesn't need to work as hard so is quieter- I'm skeptical. We wanted to do both Salzburg AND Cesky Krumlov and wanted to go early rather than stay later, so we hired driver and guide and went there first from Prague and went to Salzburg with Tauck. Sister ships, no difference. Cat 3 loft cabin is the best bang for the buck w/novel layout- at 225 sq ft as big as Cat 5 & 6 cabins but less expensive and lots of room and storage. Great tour!
I agree with Alan, the Cat 3 loft is what we had. Those cabins tend to sell out quickly. We got ours by accident as we were on the standby list, and there was a cancellation.
In Cabin 3 you have to go up to another level to see the view, correct? Im thinking you cant be in bed and see the outside, is that right? Appreciate your help....
You can see outside from the bed in the “Cat 3”, but you would be looking up. The window treatments and the windows which open can be controlled from bedside or the loft which is I think four steps up. It also provided a place to get out of the way when my wife was dressing and such.
Please note- the ship travels from town to town mainly late at night. On the very few occasions when you travel during the day you are dining or up on deck watching. When you are in bed you are mainly sleeping. Also note as illustrated in one of my photos, you may be facing the seawall or the side of another ship moored along side, or the sides of a lock. In port the ship always moors with the bow pointing upstream, so what you see in port will depend on which side of the boat your stateroom is on and which side of the river the town is on. During a normal mooring with bow of the ship facing up-stream- in Budapest, Pest is on the left and Buda is on the right, Bratislava is on the right, Vienna is on the left (but it doesn't matter because you are some distance from the Innere Stadt), Durnstein is on the right, and Linz is on the left.
There are 5 easy steps up to the loft which might be a deterrent to someone with mobility issues (of course that applies to the tour in general). You do have a good view from the cabin and the bed, but frankly will not be spending much time in your room anyway! A picture is worth a 1000 words?
Nice view of the seawall or side of a lock?
The credenza that holds the TV and runs along the back of the elevated section at the foot of the bed was great for temporarily and quickly dropping stuff like info packets, wallet and change, purse, camera bag, etc.etc. The large, deep drawers provided really good extra storage (not available in other cabins??)
Oh boy, these rooms look smaller than the smallest Small ship Cruises rooms! I can’t recall what room we have booked on our River Cruise but it is not a loft, nor is it one of the bigger room choices.
Do you have any pics of the bathrooms?
The Cat 3 loft cabin is 225 sq. ft.- the same size as or larger than all but the Cat 7 cabins. Yup. I wasn't using an ultra-wide angle lens like professionals use for brochure photos
Thanks for the photo Alan. That bathroom does indeed look bigger than on the new Small Cruise ship bathrooms. In those, if you were trying to get out of the shower and anyone else was at the sink, you could not get out. Being able to post pictures more easily could be very useful
Yes. The bathroom is quite a good size. Our friends were traveling in the Cat 7 room, which is roomy, but I really liked the Cat 3.
Thanks Sealord. I guess if you were in the same size room as us on Le Champlain you remember the small bathroom
On Le Champlain I think the bathroom was small because the WC was in a room of its own. We found that arrangement to be rather convenient, but the bath was definitely a one person operation. You probably enjoyed the feature that allowed you to open the ‘wall’ of the shower to the ‘outdoors’. (;-)
As noted in another post, we just finished the Budapest to Amsterdam cruise and had to switch ships midway due to a lock closure. We started on the Treasures and ended on the Espirit. In theory identical ships, but actually there were a few very very minor differences in part due to choices the crews make - on the Treasure the daily menus were on the reception desk and on the Espirit they set up a nice display on a table in the lower stair lobby, the Espirit crew was heavy into towel animals which were a riot to find when we came back from daily excursions, the Treasures makes donuts for morning breakfast, etc. Structurally the only difference I saw was the Compass Dining room was arranged differently - there were 4 tables of 6 that had partial banquette seating and the wet bar section was in the center vs the back corner of the room. Both ships and their crews were great.
what type of plugs are on the savor? does it have usb or which european plug? any us style? what about wifi? trying to figure out if i send chargers with my kids what kind of plug and if they can text me or do i get them an international plan?
Answered in a different thread.