December 11 - 12

Travel To Germany / Arrive & Move Into Viking Ve

Today was THE DAY......as we left for our next big adventure, a Christmas Markets Cruise along the Danube River from Germany to Hungary with Viking River Cruises.  Unlike the last THREE international travels we had no airline issues today :)  We got our ride to the airport, arriving about 10 am, checked in and were at the gate about one hour before our boarding for our noon flight to Newark.  That flight was about three hours and then we had a two hour layover.  Grabbed a quick bite to eat and then boarded our international flight for Munich which left at 5:30 pm.

The first interesting story of the trip came with this flight.  The past several international trips we have always upgraded our seats to the "Plus" to get more seat and leg room.  And we would have done this for this trip as well.  But when we looked into booking this trip we were told (and it was advertised online) to have a discounted air fare of only $499 per person.  I actually talked on the phone to a Viking agent and got preliminary bookings.  I then called our travel agent, Nancy Nelson of DreamVacations - THE best travel agent in the world and turned over the booking to her.  When she called back with the finalized prices she remarked, "And of course you know it's FREE airfare."  WHAT?  I even went back and double-checked online, still advertised at $499.  Don't know how she does her magic, but we got the FREE air.  I tell you this because I could not bring myself to pay the additional money for extra room since it would mean the air was no longer free.  I know that may seem silly, but I really wanted it to be FREE!  Well, the flight to Newark we were in standard economy seats and made due.  But when we boarded the international flight I honestly couldn't tell that much difference from our seats than from what we've been paying extra for....and we were in a two-seat row, even more convenient!  The flight was smooth and relatively "short" - after flying to Vietnam two summers ago on a 28-hour adventure, a 7 1/2 hour trip like this is "EASY" :)  We landed in Munich just before sunrise around 7:15 am to low 30's and light snow showers.

Our luggage came right away and once everyone for this first group of arriving guests had arrived and got their luggage we boarded the Viking coach for the nearly two-hour drive to Lindeau, Germany which is just south east of Passau - where the cruise officially starts.

When the bus pulled up along side our ship, the Viking Ve (pronounced VAY) the program director Lee got on board and gave us the great news saying, "Keep your fingers crossed but it looks like the water levels are all good and we'll be able to sail all the way to Budapest!"  This has been an ongoing issued for all European river cruises since last summer when they had a historic drought.  Most passengers have been disappointed with multiple ship changes when parts of the river are to shallow to navigate and/or long bus rides instead of cruising.  But, it seems that this will NOT be the case for us!  We checked in and our room was already available, so went right to Stateroom #214.  Right next door are our good friends from St. Louis, Dennis & Mary Smith.  So Kim decorated our doors and then we explored the ship.

Before dinner we had a wine and cheese sampling and then the happy hour where I continued a long-standing tradition of having a frozen mudslide!  At 7 pm we set sail for Passau as we were sitting down to dinner, and then following dinner we went with our good friends Dennis & Mary on a short walk into town to see the Christmas Market.  Unfortunately it closed at 8 pm but the Christmas lights were on and the tree near the center of the city and St. Stephen's Cathedral (behind the fountain) still were well worth seeing.

Tomorrow we tour Passau in the morning - supposed to be in the mid-to-upper twenties, but sunny!  Back on board by lunch time and then we sail all afternoon up the Danube, heading eastward towards Linz.