river cruise

A river cruise any place in Europe that has German music? German music like composed by Germans, sung in German or German Umpa sort of stuff? One day or 30 days? With composers like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Handel being either German or German speaking it shouldn't be too hard to find classical music on a cruise ship. The other stuff............... wellllllllll

Naturally i will send you here first, http://budapestrivercruise.com/opera-cruise-budapest-booking and http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/europe/romantic-danube/2016-budapest-nuremberg/index.html

But I bet that's now what you are looking for......

Hi,

Not quite what you are asking but you could see an operetta in Budapest sung in German, the original language for classic works by E. Kalman, R Stolz or F. Lehar..

Hi,

I have a friend who along with her hubby took a cruise from Passau a few years ago to Budapest. It was specifically a German tour. You might inquire about that, ie, at a travel agency when you are in Germany.

Janet, cruisecritic.com is a good place to ask for information on different types of cruises. It's a forum peopled by cruisers who seem to spend their whole lives on board one vessel or another. Have a look.

Passau to Budapest is probably a good choice.

Even better is Amsterdam to Budapest which I am planning one day.

Budapest, Budapest, Budapest!!! All you guys talk about is Budapest!!! Its irritating!

Oh, wait? Never mind.

Do you mind passengers who mainly speak German? There are a few German river cruise companies. And I'll bet if they have live entertainment it's German. In fairness, river cruises don't specialize in live entertainment the way that 5,000 passenger ocean cruise ships do. I'm talking about a combo in a bar, and then a keyboard and a singer after dinner in the lounge. Is that what you mean?

If you book with a river cruise that markets in English to Americans, you will get mainly English entertainment on the ship, and Amercian, English, Scot, and Canadian passengers. It's up to you.

I'm really glad for the tip to look for a German river cruise. I took my first river cruise a couple of years ago, and did not like it because I spent so much time with other Americans, and my favorite part of the "Rick Steves philosophy" is the interaction with people who live in that country. Thank you to the people who suggested looking for a German tour company. it had not occurred to me

@ Janet and Grace... I would suggest googling Flusskreuzfahrten DERTOUR for the information. It deals with river cruises in Germany and that of other countries (such as taking a river cruise in France on the Rhone or the Loire ) with the German company DERTOUR.

The company operates river cruises on the Donau (Danube) departing from Passau, the Elbe, the Oder, which is the one I am interested in doing. You book with them on-line, you can bet the other passengers will be exclusively German speaking, which is what my friend did (above post). along with any live music entertainment. I saw her pictures from that cruise.

Fred, Europeans are not exclusive any language speaking. That's a trait unique to Americans.

European river cruises are really expensive--generally. I can take a nice ocean cruise for 1/4th the cost of a Viking river cruise. And Tauck river cruises are substantially more expensive than Viking.
And those river cruises sure are slow in the water.

But Ocean cruises haven't docked at Hungarian territory since WWI.

I don't want to make rude generalizations, but I want to warn Grace that European tourists might be different than American river cruise guests. A worker on a Croatian cruise we took told us that he had been taught to "chat up" Americans, and not to speak to Europeans unless spoken to. And I have had experiences with German tourists (not with Germans at home ... ) that would suggest to me that you won't be making many new friends on a German river cruise. If that's not important to you, fine. In fairness, my wife and I found a lot of American foursomes on a recent Wind Surf cruise who weren't interested in talking outside their circle, either.

@ James...The only experience I can share on this cruise option is what my friend (the only person I know who has done a river cruise) related to me and that I should also consider a river cruise as an option. (Yes, but not in the winter). She took a cruise in the winter, enjoyed it, I saw her pictures of fellow passengers bundled up (you know it was cold enough for that). I asked if all the passengers were German (they were) and obviously German was the only language heard, at least among the guests. Definitely, no anglophones were among the passengers, (I specifically asked about that) which stands to reason since this Danube cruise started from Passau. I myself would absolutely consider doing a river cruise like that, even one going from Passau to BP but my main priority is that on the Oder with DERTOUR.

German was the only language heard, at least among the guests

But you know that the overwhelming majority spoke English as well.

3 Languages, Trilingual
2 Languages, Bilingual
1 Language, American

And have you noticed how badly those English people speak American??

...and we return to the educational failings of teaching foreign languages in America. True. I am a strong advocate of teaching a greater variety of foreign languages and starting in earlier grades. Many of us have taken foreign language classes and may be able to get by or better when traveling in related countries, but also want and do travel to other countries. As a side note, of the eight foreign exchange students in our high school, no two from the same country, all speak good to excellent English.

...and we return to the educational failings of teaching foreign languages in America. 

Bruce, not really, more accurately we are down to telling tired old jokes. Besides, as long as the rest of the world is learning American, it s not so necessary to learn their language.

From what I saw of the guests (in my friend's photos), they were elderly Germans, ie, in their 50s and 60s. Her cruise took place in the early 2000s. If these elderly people did NOT attend the Gymnasium in West Germany in 1960s and '70s, I doubt their English level forty to fifty years later would be able to carry on conversation with a native speaker. They would be the first to admit that regarding their "school English." A West German woman told me she went to a Berufschule for her secondary education in the early 1970s saying that she had a few years of English at 14-16 (something like that, I don't exactly recall). Now that she was in early 50s in 2005, she asked me , how much English do you expect me to remember, if I never used it. On the prevalence of English taught, as far as I know, English did not become mandatory in secondary education in West Germany until 1978. Those attending secondary ed in the 1980s,'90s, etc were exposed to mandatory English instruction.

Besides, as long as the rest of the world is learning American, it s
not so necessary to learn their language.

Sarcasm

"Sarcasm" Understood. True,... historically, regarding Hungary's port which ended in WW 1. That was at Pola (using the spelling then).

I recently visited a Hungarian Naval Academy ................................................ in Montenegro.