Our flight on WIZZ Airlines was interesting. This Hungarian airline is a low fare option. However, we were unable to check in online or purchase the fee for our carryon bag. This left us in the position to go to the counter in the airport, finding out that the cost for two carryon bags was 74€ each, much more than the cost of the flight itself! Lesson learned. Of course, anyone can become a commercial pilot in two years with WIZZAIR! This says it all.
Once in Budapest, we were picked up at the airport by a driver supplied by Emerald Cruises. The arrivals area had representatives from several other river cruise companies, including AMA Waterways, and Viking. So far, we are impressed with the assistance we received from Emerald. Lots of river boat cruise ships waiting for passengers.
We arrived to the dock to begin our river cruise on the Emerald Star, a beautiful boat docked on the Buda side of the Danube. The boat holds 178 passengers, but had 168 on this cruise. Our stateroom is very nice, despite not being the largest or fanciest one on the boat. There is a lot of storage for our clothing, full-time high-speed internet (yeah), and very friendly staff.
The passengers seemed to all be English-speaking, from the England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, US, Australia, and us (the only people who live in Mexico!). That seemed to be of interest to some of the other passengers. We had a buffet lunch in the lounge, which was excellent, and then had time to get settled in our cabin, and an opportunity to check out the boat’s amenities. There is a small indoor pool, a gym, and facilities for massages. No casino, no children, and no shops – thankfully. We met a lovely couple at the pool from outside of London, Jan and Steve. We became friends quickly.
Around 6:00 PM, the Cruise Director, Captain, and First Officer welcomed us, giving us a preview of what to expect for the next eleven days. An hour later, we had an amazing meal in the dining room. There was a menu with many options to choose from or items to eat from the buffet. We sat with a couple from southern California who have visited Melaque annually for over ten years, but now retreat to Puerto Vallarta during the winter for a few weeks, Laura and Chris. Again, we immediately clicked and enjoyed our dinner together.
After dinner, we were regaled with a traditional Hungarian band and dancers. They were awesome. Much of the music sounded like typical Jewish Klezmer music, which always makes you want to get up and dance. It was the music of my family in Czechoslovakia (but of Hungarian heritage).
They picked Jim and Chris to participate in a typical “hat” dance. They were a hoot! I took a video of it, but was not able to add it to the blog. The boat, then, began to go up the Danube to show us the beautiful lights of the Buda and Pest (pronounced Pesht) sides of the river. The bridges and buildings were lit up, giving us a spectacular view of Budapest at night. We went up to the sun deck, which was a little wet from a light rain earlier in the evening, to take many pictures. We were all mesmerized .
Tomorrow morning, we go on a walking tour of Budapest. There are two tour options in the afternoon, but we decided to just stay on the boat or maybe even take a swim while many on board are away. Instead, I worked on getting the blog caught up and will be adding more pictures.
A nice option with this cruise line (Emerald) is the ability to the regular walking tour at each stop, a hiking tour, or an electric-assisted bicycle tour. Many people chose the active tours, but we wanted to enjoy the slow pace and guided tour information, rather than using all of our energy to climb and pedal!
Tomorrow, we explore Budapest in depth.