Nov-Dec 2025: Eastern Europe & Christmas Markets

And so it begins — another big adventure.

The plans for this one started last September. My agents and I were at a travel conference, and I challenged them to pick a date and itinerary for a group cruise. They chose November 27–December 2, 2025, with Riviera River Cruises: round-trip Budapest for five nights, visiting Bratislava, Slovakia, and Vienna, Austria. It is designated as a “solo cruise,” which means every cabin is booked (and priced) for one person. For couples, they must book separate cabins, but can sleep wherever they want. The “Swan View” rooms were $2,099 each, and the Main Deck cabins were $2,549 each.

We signed the contract and started promoting, and we had a representative from the cruise line host a Zoom meeting to get everyone excited. When the dust settled, two of our agents and their spouses booked, I booked for myself, my sister Cindy, and my daughter Alyx. I also have a couple of friends who invited their friends, and a couple of solo travelers from here in Colorado. So the total for our group is 15 cabins. The ship has 86 cabins, so we are a good-sized group.

I knew most people wouldn’t want to fly all the way to Europe for just five nights, so I said I was planning to spend three nights in Budapest before the cruise, and then take the train to Prague for three nights before flying home. I shared that plan with the group, and by the time everyone made their choices, most are doing two or three nights before and three nights after in Prague.

And then, as always seems to happen for me, another opportunity came up. I am an ASTA (American Society of Travel Advisors) certified VTA (Verified Travel Advisor). ASTA offered a special FAM (familiarization trip) just for VTAs on AmaWaterways, sailing from Bucharest/Giurgiu, Romania to Budapest. And, as luck would have it, the ship docks in Budapest on November 24, which is exactly when I was planning to arrive for my group trip anyway. After lots of discussion about who might join me, it was my youngest sister Lisa who decided to come along for the first cruise. She hasn’t been to Europe since she spent a summer in France during college, so she is very excited to return.

If the itinerary sounds a little familiar, I did a similar cruise a couple of years ago. In September 2023, my husband and I flew to Romania and sailed on Avalon Waterways to Zagreb, Croatia before doing our Croatian coastline ocean cruise on Azamara. It will be very interesting to compare the two lines, since this is my first time sailing on Ama, although I have stayed on one of their ships during a river cruise expo I attended. I am also looking forward to comparing the excursions at the ports that are the same. This cruise goes all the way to Budapest, so the port schedule is a little different.

So stay tuned, I will be sharing my adventures all along the way.