“Best ship on the Danube”, introduced a veteran of numerous cruises, each ocean and river, as he sat on the cocktail bar. He was congratulating himself on his astute number of Riverside Mozart from round 200 ships that cruise the Danube.
Acquired from Crystal Cruises after their chapter, Seaside Collection has added a number of additional touches to the double-width, all-suite, butler-service Riverside Mozart.
Riverside’s Treasures of the Danube, both eastbound or westbound, is an epic voyage of castles, cathedrals, capital cities, operas, palaces, waltzes and wines. It tells tales of battles over land, faith and even Sacher torte, the standard Austrian cake.
Recalling too, the characters of Central Europe. Mozart dying mysteriously as he wrote a requiem. Marie Therese referred to as the mother-in-law of Europe, after giving start to 16 kids. Pianist Liszt, as shut because the nineteenth century bought to a rock star, having an open home each Tuesday afternoon. And of trigger Hitler celebrating Germany’s Anschluss with Austria from a Viennese balcony.
The welcome
Accidentally arriving early for our 1pm check-in, our baggage is whisked away and we’re guided to the bow’s Blue Restaurant for lunch. A crisp salad, chunky salmon fillet and impeccable service all bode properly.
After lunch, our not-a-hair-out-of-place gleaming butler guides us to our penthouse suite on Deck 2. Champagne, fruit and petit fours welcome us.
The suite
Riverine blues, browns, greys and greens mirror the soothing riverscape that can slip by over the next eight days and 7 nights.
Our penthouse suite options an enormous double mattress, two seater-sofa and arm chair. Twice a day our cabin attendant refreshes the refrigerated minibar and occasional / tea station.
A small second room has a dressing desk / desk which leads into the lavatory and a perfectly designed walk-in wardrobe with ample hanging house and drawers.
The lavatory
Unusually for a ship’s cabin there may be room within the lavatory for each bathtub and bathe. In the lavatory, push-button lighting with 4 ranges from “brilliant” to “relaxed” adapts to the wants of beauty upkeep by to midnight wanderings.
Amongst friends, the jury is out on the distant management Japanese automated bathroom’s dashboard. “50 years ahead of its time,” says one visitor nervously.
Food and drink
A galley tour reveals how the double width ship makes the 15 sturdy catering crew the envy of the Danube. They bake bread, create ice-cream, make their very own pasta and conjure up contemporary soups.
Offering many tables for 2 and versatile consuming instances, Waterside is the primary restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“Plummy with rich tones of blackberry,” advises Kristun, utilizing his Court of Master Sommeliers qualification, as he pours the inclusive home wines. Later he returns with a dessert wine suggestion. Such respect for wine combines properly with eye-catching meals presentation. Riverside Mozart is nudging culinary requirements ever upwards.
Waterside is one in every of 4 eating places on board. Throughout the day the Bistro gives drinks and snacks, plus a tapas menu on some evenings. Whilst Blue is a scenic cease for lunch.
A pop-up grill, powered by Egg BBQs, operates on the Vista Deck when the climate is okay. Ask your butler to e book a desk because the ship glides by the hills of the Wachau Valley, one of the vital spectacular stretches of the Danube. Or for when the Mozart Riverside is moored in Budapest because the night lights of the town mirror on the Danube’s silky waters.
Facilities
Bean baggage, loungers and deckchairs create an elegant seashore membership aura on the Vista Deck.
The Palm Court lounge, with a pianist enjoying jazz, classical music and requests on the Bösendorfer grand piano, has the quiet class of a cocktail bar from a bygone period.
Again width brings advantages. An indoor pool, by the whirlpool, is half-a-dozen strokes huge and lengthy. Serious swimmers push a button to swim towards the counter-current for a vigorous aqua exercise. Nearby are the spa, hairdresser, sauna and steam room. Below on Deck 1, there’s a well-equipped gymnasium.
Alternatively for a jog or brisk stroll, a promenade encircles Deck 3.
Excursions
Aiming to maintain the group dimension to round 15, we’re guided across the imperial structure of Vienna, as soon as capital of the Austrian-Hungarian that dominated half of Europe.
Briefly heading west, we name in at fairly cobbled Durnstein for wine tasting, rebranding itself as Austria’s apricot capital after a nineteenth century virus attacked the vines. Later within the day, the golden gilded glory of Melk Monastery reveals the Catholic church’s no-expense spared response to austere gray Protestantism.
On longer excursions such because the drive to Salzburg, by the spectacular Austrian Lake District, friends admire the consolation of Riverside’s personal air-conditioned coaches. As they journey, the information reveals that Maria of The Sound of Music fame had not been a nun and that there was outrage when, on the age of 23, she married 47-year-old Captain Von Trapp. Though Salzburg’s actual star is Mozart, so our information takes us to the composer’s birthplace.
Another day, one other nation, one other capital and Riverside Mozart docks in Bratislava for a tour with a information who demonstrated as a part of the Velvet Revolution. Over a spot of late-afternoon beer tasting, she tells us of the Velvet Divorce that dissolved Czechoslovakia.
Esztergom, on a scenic bend of the river, Hungary’s former capital, showcases a basilica that’s Europe’s third largest church. Once border nation within the battle with the Ottoman Empire, among the church’s statues had their heads eliminated by disapproving Ottomans.
Finally, Riverside’s information takes friends on a tour of Hungary’s neo-gothic parliament the place they see the royal crown. In 1945 it was given to American troopers for secure conserving till Jimmy Carter negotiated its return in 1978. Having explored Pest, or “Peshhtt” as locals say, an after lunch tour takes passengers to hilly Buda and its citadel on the north facet of the Danube.
Other good touches
Suites are geared up with binoculars for viewing castles on valley hillsides and fluttering chook life. A friends’ laundry has washing machines, dryers, washing capsules and distilled water for the iron. Included transfers to and from airports or native lodges take the stress out of arriving and departing.
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Bikes and e-bikes can be found for the biking excursions or a jaunt alongside the Danube cycle path. Similarly alpine strolling poles assist out with hikes.
The value
Sailing from Vienna, in September 2023, costs start from €2991 per individual for full board. Premium all-inclusive, additionally overlaying commonplace excursions, begins at €4316 per individual.
The greatest bit
An night personal guided tour of Upper Belvedere’s artwork, after the general public has left the palace, together with Klimt’s “The Kiss”, is a privileged expertise.
Then a small orchestra, plus baritone and soprano, convene in Prince Eugene’s Marble Hall to carry out a live performance of Mozart, Strauss and different Viennese classics completely for Riverside friends. Our information reminds us that this was the place Prince Eugene saved his tame lion.
The live performance triumphantly concludes with the General Radetzky March, who by the way was refused permission to retire on the age of 82.
The closing verdict
Hosting simply 162 passengers, warmly cared for by 91 workers, Riverside Mozart is gaining a status because the cosiest and most elegant of all Danube ships.
Disclosure: Our cruise was sponsored by Riverside Luxury Cruises.