Monarch Duchess Review

Total Surprise on How Great This Was!

Review for Europe River Cruise on Monarch Duchess
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dalgirl
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Aug 2018

When I booked this cruise I was very hesitant, I had never heard of the company, had never been on a river cruise (though I had always wanted to) and was not sure about the price. But I have been on over 20 ocean cruises so I knew it would not be completely different, and it turned out to be just different enough to be highly entertaining. I found this cruise as part of an alert from one of the general travel sites – they find the deals and pass the info along to you. The Gate 1 cruise was at least half of what Viking and the others were charging, the itinerary fit my needs, and after checking out cruise critic I decided to take a chance. A few reviews on cruise critic had given Gate 1 the thumbs up, so I booked for myself and my Mom – it was an early birthday gift for her. Since DH was not traveling with us we signed up for almost everything including airport transfers, additional excursions and two extra days in Budapest post cruise. Everything went like clockwork.

We were notified in advance that there was a chance that water levels would not allow us to make the whole trip on the ship. It was August and not a shock to us – we are very easy going on natural mishaps and they do not affect our trip. So we were not surprised that we were unable to travel by ship during the last leg from Slovakia to Budapest. The captain did an excellent job getting us down river as far as he did. As informed the night before (we had daily meetings before dinner with the cruise director on what to expect each day), we were put on comfortable buses, given money for lunch, taken to a place for eating and shopping including handcrafts, and enjoyed the sites. We were then checked into the Doubletree in Budapest (our luggage went ahead of us and our room was assigned and ready when we arrived) and provided a lovely dinner buffet and local entertainment) They could not have been more accommodating, organized and just genuinely nice about the whole thing. A true class act.

Our rooms on the ship were adequate, with a decent size bathroom, shower, and comfortable beds. It was kept clean and all requests were quickly responded to. Dinner was a set time at night, but you could sit where you pleased, and for most nights we ate with the same people as we enjoyed their company. As these are small ships, you get to know the other passengers fairly well, at least to smile and nod. Dinner was delicious – and we were given 3 choices every night for appetizers, soup, main course, and dessert. Beer, wine and soft drinks were included with dinner, but not lunch. This was not a problem for us.

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