CroisiEurope

River Cruises

Vienna

Europe - All

Europe - River Cruise

Europe River

Austria

Slovakia

Danube River

Very Good

Average

Excellent

Beethoven

Vivaldi

Symphonie

I have been wanting to cruise the Danube and Rhine rivers so when this reasonably priced 9 day CroisiEurope cruise came up I booked it for me and my husband. This cruise line is not one of the more popular ones so I did not know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised to find a spacious and very clean cabin on the main deck. The window was so wide offering panoramic views of the passing river banks and villages. There was plenty of storage so you can stow your luggage under the bed. Breakfast was buffet and it was pretty much the same thing everyday but substantial enough. Lunch and dinner were sit down meals. On the first day we were asked to choose if we wanted to sit in 4 seater, 6 seater or 8 seater tables for all the lunches and dinners. We sat with 2 other couples who thankfully spoke English. The menu was published a day before. I would rate the meals an 8 out of a perfect 10 although lunches and dinners took quite a while since there were not that many wait staff. 

The professional tour guides who were hired to conduct the shore excursions were excellent! They provided a lot of interesting facts and anecdotes. However, the cruise hosts who conducted the town tours were not as accommodating to the non French speaking groups, preferring to speak in French only. 

There were 150 passengers (mostly seniors), 75 % were French speaking from France and Canada, 15% were from Spain and 10% were from the UK, Australia and America. There were some games at the parlor but nothing else much to do. 

I want to give a shout out to the dining room staff (Flora, Akos, Gabor and their manager) who went out of their way to get me the sweet wine that they normally do not have on their wine list. Another pleasant surprise! 

Would I go again? Without a doubt - yes!

Pleasantly surprised

The moment we arrived on board till the time we left we were looked after like royalty, nothing was too much trouble for Sonia (Hotel Manager) and her staff. The whole ship was immaculate, the food and presentation was magnificent. The cabin (246 on the middle deck) was so clean, with a full picture window, not that we spent much time there. At each served meal, the staff correctly served the ladies firstly every time. The main places we visited were fabulous, Vienna, Bratislava and of course Budapest. Walking through these lovely places in gorgeous weather, although tiring in 32 degrees was a wonderful experience, even smaller places like Melk, Kalocsa and Esztergom were interesting. We also enjoyed the cruising aspect of the trip, just looking at what goes on on the bank and listening and watching bird life.What a fabulous trip, we cannot recommend this ship and company highly enough, we will without a shadow of doubt be travelling with Croisi Europe via Mercury again. Thank you Sonia and team for making this trip such an unforgettable experience.

7 fantastic days aboard Beethoven

I had a really great 7 night trip on the CroisiEurope Beethoven on July 14, and my non-cruising husband enjoyed it too!!  We left from and returned to Vienna on the Danube River.

We were 2 of 5 Americans on the boat with the rest being British, French and Danish. Language was not a problem and EVERYONE was terrifically nice and friendly.  We enjoyed muddling along in English/French with the French passengers, and everyone else spoke English. There were English speaking guides and announcements.  No hint of anything other than happiness to have the USA represented. 

As compared to Viking, the Beethoven is more homey and less elegant, without the richness of the surroundings and luxury appointments, but comfortable.  Small staterooms. Minimal bathroom but functional. No verandas. French balconies with big, wide opening windows.  The lounge was decorated with blown glass lamps, flowered curtains, anchor pattern turquoise rug and big sofas. Everything very clean. By the way, most alcoholic drinks and sodas were available without charge throughout the day, not just at meals. Beer and drinks seemed somewhat mild.  Wine, bottled mineral water also.  It was a nice touch!  

When I booked I unwittingly ordered the "full package" which included all excursions.  I did not know there was another option and I am glad we did what we did. However other passengers, including two of the Americans, had purchased the boat trip only and there was a price list for excursions.   Many of the Europeans purchased few or no exclusions and either stayed on the boat or just got off and walked around. For many, it seemed like the boat ride, good food, and activities were all they needed to be "on holiday". The excursions were good and guides varied in quality.  Less structured than Viking, no fancy busses, etc. but more to the taste of my no frills husband.   He and I had a wonderful time walking up to the ruined castle in Durnstein.  Don't miss it if you like a bit of exercise!

Food was a biggie with this group!!  Your were seated with people who spoke the same language, and our table mates were from the U.K. and kept us laughing!!  Breakfast was a buffet. Much less lavish and more European than Viking, with a boil your own egg station, etc.  Great croissants and yogurt. The menu for lunch and dinner were posted and much discussed each day. The food was generally excellent (the duck was the best I've ever had!!) but no choices were offered at lunch and dinner.  If you did not want venison steak or hake filets, too bad.  I had arranged in advance with Michael Costa, the Croisi American rep to have a diabetic and pork free menu for My husband and they rose to the occasion like champs!!  His plate was always lovely and they made him a different fruit plate for every meal. Some people at our table also chose to ask for a cheese plate instead of "puddings" for desert and that seemed ok. In general, no plate on the whole ship was returned to the kitchen any way except EMPTY!

The "Entertainer" (cruise director?) was a young man who did everything from call bingo to teach napkin folding to open the gift shop (a big deal) to ride with the bus to the concert excursion. He was charming and a great favorite!!  There were some games we did not participate in which gave points used later in an auction for prizes.  We did not do this.  We did attend the crew show that consisted of dancing to recorded music.  It was well received as all passengers knew the crew, which was small.  The room cleaners became the wait staff, so rooms had to be cleaned during buffet breakfast, etc.  The real heart and soul of the ship was a lovely Portuguese woman named Sonia. She ran the whole show, doing every duty and running every aspect of the whole ship, except perhaps steering it down the river. On Viking she would have been at least 4 people. She set the friendly efficient tone of the whole trip. Incidentally she stays with the Beethoven, so anyone wishing to try Croisi will not go wrong with her!!

In short, although my travel agent warned us that this company caters to local European customers and not the luxury- seeking American market, this trip was perfect for us.  It was my husband's first river cruise and on Croisi I was not tempted to be a Viking know-it-all!  It was different but equally enjoyable!  The Danube is so beautiful and we had perfect, sunny, if somewhat hot, weather every day!  The itinerary was arranged so that we sailed through gorgeous scenery and into beautiful lit-up Budapest at night twice!!  We made many friends among our shipmates of all nationalities!

By the way, we stayed 2 days post cruise which was just excellent. I found the hotel on trip advisor, the Beethoven Wein Hotel!  Newly renovated historic building in perfect location, 3 blocks from the Opera and right next to the Nachmarkt, where we ate both nights. I booked us two concerts on line and between them, sightseeing, and the summer performance at the Spanish Riding School, we had a full schedule!

Lovely lovely trip!

This is the second time we've sailed with CroisiEurope as a result of booking the holiday from Archers/Cosmos and for the price it's very good, ok the cabins are small ish (but how much time do you spend in them). The food was very enjoyable, although it was a fixed menu, but it made us try dished we wouldn't normally try which is all part of the holiday experience. A reasonable quality wine (free of charge) was available at both lunch and dinner plus all standard drinks on board were free.

Overall the trip up and down the Danube was wonderful, visiting so many iconic cities and towns however we thought the organised trips very expensive so did our own thing as nearly all of the places visited are within easy access from the place where the boat docked. We especially liked Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna and stayed over for an extra 3 nights in Vienna as there is so much to see and the boat trips seemed quite hurried to get in as much as possible in a day and a half.

Danube Cruise from Vienna

This was my second River cruise. The first was with Avalon. They are like night and day.

The ship is older and very outdated... from the furniture, to the light fixtures. As another reviewer posted, the shower was smaller than I have ever seen. It's awful!! the cabins are small, as to be expected, but the beds are not comfortable. We had to ask for extra pillows as there was only one little pillow on each bed.

From the time we walked on board the hotel manager was nasty. She is French, and immediately made everyone feel like we were interrupting her day. If you asked her anything, or told her there as an issue with anything, she argued with you and got angry. She should not be in the hospitality industry. She made the trip kind of stressful. The staff was also not very helpful or forthcoming with information as far as when you got off the boat. IT seemed to be more of an inconvenience if you asked them anything outside of what you were told during the daily announcements. Thankfully the dining room staff staff made up for it.

The internet I worse than archaic. The router they are using is worse than mot people have in their homes. It is meant for  5 connections, so it is excruciatingly slow and drops the connections every 30 minutes. That is if you sure lucky to even get a connection. The router constantly had to be rebooted. This caused problems for people who relied on having internet service for work or staying in touch with family members at home.

There were not many English speaking people on the cruise, but the ones we met were wonderful. We made several great friends from Ireland, Australia, and Malta. The excursions were good as well.

The food was a fixed menu everyday. If you let them know about any dietary requirement, they were  very accommodating. However, if you are a picky eater, you don't have a choice on this boat. Otherwise we had no complaints about the food. Other company's give you a menu to choose from each night, which is MUCH better.

Drinks are included, but limited. They couldn't make a cosmo or even a dirty martini. They said they had no cranberry or olives. We mostly stuck with wine and beer, which was good for house wine. And the Lounge entertainment was a joke!

Compared to Avalon, this company is steerage. I recommend paying the extra money and going with a better cruise company... even if the drinks are not included all ay. You can bring anything you want on board, and wine/beer is cheap in Europe.

Very Disappointed!!!

Having read the one and only review of Beethoven  before we went on our cruise I felt I must sing some of the praises for this holiday instead of the negatives on the other review.

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise.

The food was excellent ,although there was no choice, every meal was well prepared and superbly presented.

 Our cabin was small but very comfortable and perfectly adequate.

We asked for extra pillows and this was promptly arranged.

We did not do any of the excursions since they were expensive and we easily made our own arrangements.  Most ports were within easy walking distance of the towns.

The staff were all very pleasant and helpful.

We felt that the journey from Bratislava to Kalosca  was unnecessarily  long and would have prefered an extra day in Budapest.

We would be more than happy to sail with Croisieurope  again.

Danube Cruise

While the price was excellent, we were truly disappointed with our 8 day Blue Danube cruise with CroisiEurope. The entire program was mainly directed towards older, middle class French citizens, who seemed to thrive on meals which lacked fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. We had two fresh salads during the entire trip. While there was some variety with the breakfast buffet, all lunches and dinners were fixed with no alternatives. Lunch was an hour and half each time, with dinner even longer. On a positive side, all drinks were free. When we asked for an American martini, it was sort like a deer in the headlights. Much to the staff’s credit, they found several martini glasses, we conducted a quick course for Martini 101.
The tours and itinerary were excellent. Since there were only a handful of English speaking guests, we had our own bus with great tour guides.
The internet service was archaic and only functioned in the dining room. While cabins were good size and we enjoyed picture window, the shower was the smallest we have ever experienced. The beds were substandard and when pushed together there was a ravine which we stuffed with bedding.
The entertainment was an electric organ player who looked and acted like Mr. Bean. He was the type of musician who played for himself and seemed to be indifferent to the guests.
Unless there were substantial changes, we would not use CroisiEurope again and would not recommend the company to any of our friends.
 

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