A First Look at Our Upcoming Danube River Voyage – November 1

Vienna, The “City of Waltzes” offers a treasure trove of gems and your city tour showcases them, including the majestic Opera House and the former Imperial Palace.

Matt Wolfe, has three degrees. Graduate of St. Pete Junior College, A.A. Mass Communications, B.F.A. University of S. Florida, Art & Photography, Therapist A.S., Walter’s State.
Carol Birkner, holds a B.S. East TN State, as an educator, IT technology specialist.
We are members of Coastline Travel Group, Virtuoso Consortia, CLIA cruise membership. World Travelers with many countries left to explore with you our clients and future guests.

We are Certified Travel Specialist with AMAWaterways, Viking River Cruises & Seabourn Ocean

We are here to answer all your cruise questions!

Here’s an overview of our upcoming cruise with AMAWaterways on their Romantic Danube itinerary November 1. 

Carol and I will fly from Charlotte nonstop on Lufthansa to Munich, Thursday and arrive on Friday morning to spend Halloween in Munich. 

Accompanying us on this trip will be Carol’s parents and her aunt/uncle. Both are in their early 80’s, fairly good health but will require a bit of extra time for walking activities. As I have spent years working in therapy so I have plenty of experience with seniors who have mobility and endurance limitations. One of them will need a rollator with a seat during the tours. AMA allows them on tours but not to be used on the boat. Most river cruise lines offer tours of various activity levels with their basic tours being slower city walking tours.

This 158-passenger vessel boasts spacious staterooms with our exclusive twin balconies, a choice of dining venues, a heated pool with swim-up bar, complimentary Wi-Fi on board and more.

We will be staying in the Platzl Hotel in the Old Town, just 5 minutes from most of the major sightseeing attractions. I considered booking the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski luxury hotel brand, however, they had an event taking place and the prices were a bit higher than we were comfortable with for a one night stay. 

Platzl Hotel is centrally located to most of the must see sights in Old Town.

We will have 24 hours in Munich to see some of the sights like the Glockenspiel tower clock in Marienplatz. The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), Hofbräuhaus: one of the world's most famous beer halls, which has been operating since 1607. Carol’s family generally avoids alcohol but they have live music which we all will enjoy along with some large pretzels. We may also see the Viktualienmarkt where you can shop fruits, meat, fish, bread, spices and a lot of specialties not to be found elsewhere

On Saturday the first we will take a train from Munich to Vilshofen around noon and arrive about 330pm. Boarding for the cruise begins around 3pm and our first night on the AMALEA is in port in Vilshofen. We have all day and evening to make the cruise should an issue arise. 

Our Itinerary for the Romantic Danube.

Our trip as mentioned departs from Vilshofen then progresses to Passau, Linz (the option to tour Salzburg), Wachau Valley wine region, Vienna, Bratislava, and finishes in Budapest.

Our CA cabin floor plan has the sliding doors that open 11 feet wide and floor to ceiling.

We have a CA cabin booked which features a French Balcony-essentially sliding doors opening from floor to ceiling to allow you to sit and watch the romantic scenes along the Danube pass by peacefully. Carol’s mom and dad have the same cabin and her aunt/uncle have the next category up BA, a combo of exterior balcony and french balcony. With the weather being very chilly most likely we wont have the sliders open very often.

We have booked an extra night in Budapest after we disembark from the boat. Our night is at the Kempinski property called Hotel Corvinus Budapest, a 5 star property. We may try for dinner at the hotel at Nobu, asian cuisine and sushi. Carol loves sushi but I doubt her family members will want to have dinner there so plans may change. 

Budapest will conclude our trip at Hotel Corvinus Budapest.

Unfortunately, we have an early morning flight and we will miss the amazing breakfast included in our reservation. Our flight connects through Munich and then back to Charlotte. 

Our next update will be from Munich, then periodically throughout the trip. Follow us for updates on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/highparktravel/ and www.instagram.com/highparktravel/