Danube River Cruise Vacation Part 1: Planning and Getting to Munich

Over a year ago we made plans with Wayne’s two sisters and their husbands to go on a Viking River Cruise to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I had been wanting to do this for a long time after seeing the advertisements on PBS, and hearing from other people who had been on a river cruise. This vacation finally happened in June 2024. It was a big trip with too much to write about for one post. In this first post I will write about planning for the trip, and getting to Munich a couple of days before the cruise started.

Once the group decided on a time frame (June), length (a week), and cruise company (Viking) for the trip, there were three options of itineraries. One was a cruise on the Rhine River starting in Amsterdam, and two were similar itineraries on the Danube starting in Germany. We easily picked the Danube itinerary starting in Passau, Germany, and ending in Budapest, Hungary. I have to confess I had never heard of Passau, and I knew hardly anything about most of the other ports. The itinerary included stops along the way at three cities in Austria (Linz, Krems, and Vienna) and in Bratislava, Slovakia. Interestingly, when sharing our plans with friends later, two different people said they had just recently been to Passau on a biking vacation. Following is a map of our itinerary from the Viking web site.

We had heard about the possibility of low water levels on the Danube which can affect the ability of ships to navigate the river. This seemed to be more of an issue later in the summer, so it was a factor in deciding to book for June. What we did not think of was that high water levels also present problems. We started to get worried a few weeks before our departure date after seeing weather reports with tons of rain and flooding in the areas where we were going. Oh no. More on that later.

Another planning decision was whether to purchase airfare from the cruise line or buy that on our own. The fare offered by the cruise line was a good deal, and we would be able to cancel it if we changed our mind up to a certain date. Airfare includes transportation to and from the ship if you are going directly there and home. There is limited ability to make adjustments to whatever itinerary they assign you. We all paid for the cruise line airfare which I am sure was the best deal. Because Wayne and I decided to fly into Munich a few days early, we were not eligible for the free transfer to the ship about two hours away. We were comfortable with getting there on our own. At the end of the cruise, we all took advantage of the cruise line transfers and went directly home from Budapest (at least that was the plan).

After we made these decisions and paid our deposit, there was not any other preparation needed for a long time until the final payment was due. When it finally came time for the vacation, it seemed like it was free since we had paid for it a long time ago. Haha.

I was planning what clothing and other items to bring for months ahead of time, with a list that I added notes to here and there as I thought of things. On the other hand, Wayne suddenly realized he could use a couple of new clothing items about 2 weeks before the cruise. We wanted to travel with one carryon size rollaway bag and backpack each, since we knew we would be dragging them around on our own in Munich and getting to the ship. In the end we changed out one of the carryon bags for a slightly larger rollaway bag that might have been considered a carryon bag years ago. We were able to easily fit everything we wanted to bring in this amount of luggage, including at the last minute deciding to bring hiking shoes and rain gear due to wet conditions in the weather reports.

We have been on several ocean cruises in the past. Ocean cruises have changed over the years, and river cruises are a different thing all together. Luggage for our first ocean cruise over 20 years ago included giant suitcases and clothes for “formal night” (a long gown and appropriate shoes and accessories for me) and “theme night” (Wayne brought cowboy boots)! Since then ocean cruises have become less formal with more options for casual meals and skipping the formal night if you are not into that. More about how river cruises are different in a later post.

I had a pair of denim capris for many years that fit perfectly and that I wore often, but they were stained and the fabric was wearing out. I tried to find a replacement pair for this trip. In the search process I found out that capris were coming back into style. What? I did not know they went out of style. I bought and returned several pairs but none of them matched the fit and comfort of the old pair. I gave up looking and instead took a pair of ankle pant jeans I already owned that fit but never seemed to be the right length, and cut them off into capris. I also added panels to make them flair a bit at the bottom. I bought a new pair of very stretchy denim like pants that would be comfortable for the long plane flight and for sightseeing in cooler weather, and a few other clothing items.

I needed a knitting project to bring on the Viking River Cruise trip. A friend suggested that this trip could be a time to disconnect and take a break from my normal life, including knitting. Maybe. Sometimes if I am knitting I am so focused on the project that I am oblivious to what is going on around me. On this trip I did not want to miss any scenery or anything else going on. However there was also a very long plane ride, and probably down times when I wouldn’t miss anything if I was knitting.

I decided on a cowl / bandana pattern that could be knit up with one skein of yarn from my stash. The free pattern is Bandana Cowl from Purl Soho. I found some yarn I bought while on a friend’s trip to the Traverse City area of Michigan in the summer of 2022. I wrote about that trip here. The yarn is Araucania, hand dyed in Chile. It is 30% alpaca / 45% merino wool / 15% silk / 10% donegal. I have not heard of donegal, but determined it is merino tweed from Ireland. This yarn is super soft, which is good for a cowl that will be up against the face. The green color does not go with my jacket, so it will be a gift for someone TBD. Or maybe it is time for me to buy a new jacket!

The time for the trip finally arrived after a long period of anticipation and planning. Since we live in West Central Minnesota, we had to drive to the Twin Cities to catch our flight. Most of the flights to Europe are red-eye flights that leave later in the day and fly overnight. Our flight did not leave until 7:50pm, so we could have driven the three hours down to the Cities that morning. However we wanted to see our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, so we drove down the day before.

Once we were finally at the airport it was real! We checked the larger bag and carried on the smaller bag, with clothing for each of us in the one carry on in case the checked bag got delayed. While waiting at the gate for boarding, I cast on the cowl knitting project.

The long flight to Paris on Air France was uneventful. I knitted some and read a book on my kindle, and tried to sleep. We were served several meals, including the cucumber and cream cheese sandwich in the next photo. A packet of celery salt came with the tomato juice I ordered. I guess you were supposed to put it in the tomato juice, but it was good sprinkled on the sandwich.

At the airport in Paris it was the next morning. We had to walk a long way to another terminal, get our checked bag, go through customs, and go through security again before finding our gate for the second leg of the journey from Paris to Munich. I can understand why my mom said she was done with air travel by her late seventies.

At the gate for our flight to Munich we thought it was unusual to see a guy in a kilt. Soon we saw another guy in a kilt. Then a bunch more. Wayne started googling and determined there was a big soccer tournament in Munich over the weekend, including a game with Scotland vs Munich. As the flight took off, the pilot welcomed all the soccer fans, which resulted in loud cheering, chanting and signing of team songs.

Wayne has never been to Paris, so we had considered spending a few days in Paris before the cruise, but ended up deciding that was too much for this trip. As we took off from Paris, Wayne could see the Eiffel Towel from the airplane window. We joked that now we do not need to come back to Paris. Haha. The flight from Paris to Munich was relatively short and before long we already landing.

I do not know any German. Wayne had taken German in high school but that was pretty useless. Virtually everyone we interacted with on this entire trip spoke English. Wayne had selected a hotel in the city that was accessible from the airport by train, and about a 15 minute walk to the Munich old town area. It was not too hard to follow the signage in the airport to get our one checked bag, get from there to the airport train stop, buy a train ticket from a machine, and find the right train to the city center. By the time we checked in to our hotel, it was mid to late afternoon local time on our second day of travel, but our body clocks were at close to midnight. We were ready for a nap.

The hotel looked like it had been recently remodeled. The bedding was typical for Europe with individual duvets, no top sheets.

Wayne enjoyed a coffee on the small balcony that overlooked a courtyard.

After napping, we walked to Paulaner Brauhaus, a popular local brewhouse, for a German dinner.

We both had very German meals. If you are trying for a lighter Mediterranean diet, this is not the place.

We saw posters for the soccer tournament all over. Many folks out and about were clearly in town the event.

By the time we were done with dinner, it was late evening local time and seven hours later our time. After getting a decent nights sleep at the hotel, we were ready to tackle old town Munich, already day three of the trip. Sightseeing in Munich, a bus tour to Harburg Castle and the medieval town of Rothenburg, and getting to the ship in Passau will be featured in the next post.