Evaluation: Riverside Mozart, Treasures of the Danube Eastbound

By Michael Edwards on Jul 10, 2023 in Austria, Cruises & Boat Journey, Japanese Europe, Europe, Featured, Hungary, Leisure Journey, Areas, Speciality Journey, Western Europe

“Finest 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 Assortment has added a couple 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 normal 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 delivery to 16 youngsters. Pianist Liszt, as shut because the nineteenth century received 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

Unintentionally 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 nicely.

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 may 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 toilet and a perfectly designed walk-in wardrobe with ample hanging area and drawers.

The toilet

Unusually for a ship’s cabin there’s room within the lavatory for each bathtub and bathe. Within the lavatory, push-button lighting with 4 ranges from “sensible” to “relaxed” adapts to the wants of beauty upkeep by means of to midnight wanderings.

Amongst friends, the jury is out on the distant management Japanese automated bathroom’s dashboard. “50 years forward of its time,” says one visitor nervously.

Food and drinks

A galley tour reveals how the double width ship makes the 15 sturdy catering group the envy of the Danube. They bake bread, create ice-cream, make their very own pasta and conjure up recent soups.

Providing many tables for 2 and versatile consuming occasions, Waterside is the principle restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“Plummy with wealthy tones of blackberry,” advises Kristun, utilizing his Courtroom of Grasp Sommeliers qualification, as he pours the inclusive home wines. Later he returns with a dessert wine advice. Such respect for wine combines nicely with eye-catching meals presentation. Riverside Mozart is nudging culinary requirements ever upwards.

Waterside is certainly one of 4 eating places on board. All through the day the Bistro gives drinks and snacks, plus a tapas menu on some evenings. While 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 means of the hills of the Wachau Valley, some of the spectacular stretches of the Danube. Or for when the Mozart Riverside is moored in Budapest because the night lights of town replicate on the Danube’s silky waters.

Services

Bean luggage, loungers and deckchairs create a classy seaside membership aura on the Vista Deck.

The Palm Courtroom lounge, with a pianist taking part in jazz, classical music and requests on the Bösendorfer grand piano, has the quiet magnificence of a cocktail bar from a bygone period.

Once more width brings advantages. An indoor pool, by the whirlpool, is half-a-dozen strokes large and lengthy. Critical swimmers push a button to swim in opposition to the counter-current for a vigorous aqua exercise. Close by are the spa, hairdresser, sauna and steam room. Under on Deck 1, there’s a well-equipped fitness center.

Alternatively for a jog or brisk stroll, a promenade encircles Deck 3.

Excursions

Aiming to maintain the group measurement 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 means of the spectacular Austrian Lake District, friends respect 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. Although Salzburg’s actual star is Mozart, so our information takes us to the composer’s birthplace.

One other 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. As soon as border nation within the battle with the Ottoman Empire, a number of the church’s statues had their heads eliminated by disapproving Ottomans.

Lastly, 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 protected protecting 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 fortress on the north aspect of the Danube.

Different good touches

Suites are outfitted with binoculars for viewing castles on valley hillsides and fluttering fowl life. A friends’ laundry has washing machines, dryers, washing capsules and distilled water for the iron. Included transfers to and from airports or native accommodations 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. Equally alpine strolling poles assist out with hikes.

The price

Crusing from Vienna, in September 2023, costs start from €2991 per particular person for full board. Premium all-inclusive, additionally masking commonplace excursions, begins at €4316 per particular person.

The most effective bit

A night non-public guided tour of Higher 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 Corridor to carry out a live performance of Mozart, Strauss and different Viennese classics solely for Riverside friends. Our information reminds us that this was the place Prince Eugene stored his tame lion.

The live performance triumphantly concludes with the Common Radetzky March, who by the way was refused permission to retire on the age of 82.

The ultimate verdict

Internet hosting simply 162 passengers, warmly cared for by 91 workers, Riverside Mozart is gaining a repute because the cosiest and most elegant of all Danube ships.