Eastern European Capitals River Cruise – Viking Kadlin – July 18 – Aug 9

July 17 -18 – Travel Nightmare & Day 1 in Prague, Austria

While not our first river cruise it is our first one on Viking. We added the Prague pre-extension and the Transylvania post extension. Every country except Croatia will be new for us!

Our trip was on Viking Kadlin which is one of their longships. It was built in 2015 and has 95 staterooms for up to 190 passengers served by 50 crew. There are 4 passenger decks, 3 with cabins.

We booked a French Balcony on deck 2, which is essentially a sliding door that is open to the outdoors, but you can’t go out and sit like on a real balcony. (spoiler alert: we got upgraded to a full balcony on deck 3 at check in)

We left home on July 17^th late morning. We figured we could get checked in and have some lunch at the airport. Ha!

Security took almost an hour and a half. Our flight said it was running late so we weren’t concerned. We were entertained by a woman and her daughter when asked how many bags they had mom starts counting and she screams at her daughter “where’s the cat? You forgot the cat, where is it?” Daughter said she left it “right back there”. Mom yells at the daughter to go get it. Cat carrier was not there. Since you can’t leave anything unattended it had already been taken away. Daughter comes back and Mom keeps yelling at the poor kid. Kid tells her they need to talk to both of us. Mom says loudly “I guess we are going to jail I hope we don’t miss our flight.” After they left the line the guy with his family in front of us said “can you believe she yelled at her kid that way. As the adult she should have been the one to be responsible for the cat.”

The running joke for days was “where’s the cat, you forgot the cat?”.

Well, our flight was to be at 3:20p. It kept getting bumped later and we finally boarded the plane around 4:30. We were to take off at 5:00. We were told that due to severe congestion in Newark we can’t take off until 7:00p. So, we all had to take everything and deboard the plane.

We were told we couldn’t leave the gate area as we needed to board as soon as possible if it was announced we were cleared for boarding.

After hours of waiting now it was a combination of congested flights and weather in Newark. Eventually we were told the airport in Newark had closed. Everyone was told they couldn’t reschedule any connections until we get to EWR. We had hope since EWR’s flights out were also backed up and running late. We are now down to 10 minutes to make our connection in Munich to Prague. Such fun!

It’s now 10:30p. We lined up several times only to be told we needed to wait for fresh pilots then a mechanical issue that could be fixed in 15 minutes and then told now the cabin crew had expired. They probably had 15 minutes before they would expire so hence the mechanical that somehow, they knew could be repaired in 15 minutes.

Now, they are saying 12:30a before we can go. So, we will miss our evening walk in Prague. Hopefully that is all we will miss. They have made us stay close to the gate throughout all of this time. We grabbed a cold sandwich at the only close place to the gate.

Finally, we left around 2:30 in the morning and arrived in EWR at 5:00a.  We were told someone would be there to reschedule our missed connections. What we got was one kid holding a cell phone showing the number to call and telling us to “call this number”.

Spent 3 hours on the phone with United, Lufthansa and Viking. All 3 pointing the finger at anyone but themselves. One guy did put a hold on flights, but we couldn’t ticket until the gate opened at 2:30p. Viking insisted we needed to talk to someone at the airport, but we searched desperately for a customer relations desk but were told that United chose to eliminate that since everyone can just call a number to get "help". (much easier to dump your call that way than face you) Our favorite part was when United or Lufthansa said they wouldn’t charge us for the changes made “this time” (for their delayed flights).

Finally, flights were held to get us to Frankfurt and on to Prague, but the plane didn’t leave until 6:00 that night and the ticket desk for Lufthansa didn’t open until 2:30p. So, we got some breakfast, and I slept with my head down on a table for a short while. Killed time until lunch and finally got ticketed and went through security and waited until we could board. We got the last 2 seats on the plane, and they were in the extra leg room row. Both were middle seats, however, the people on either side of us didn’t have to get up when we got up to use the restroom. (that much room – nice!)

They served dinner and then we both got a few hours of sleep. They served breakfast and once off the plane we had an hour to get through passport control and get to the farthest gate. A Viking Rep was there, but we weren't on her list and she wanted us to wait until everyone she was collecting to get off the plane, but with so little time we told her we were going to go on our own. I killed my feet running to get there. We just made it, and one other couple got on after us. They closed the door behind us. Phew!

So, if you are still reading, we were in Orlando airport for 15 hours and in Newark airport for 13 hours. Only in Frankfurt for 1 hour. We will miss at least 2 tours and probably a third, by the time we get picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel. Hopefully we will have bags when we get there.

When we arrived in Prague our luggage of course was not there. It never left Newark. Filled out the lost luggage form and went to meet our Viking Rep. (their app said the luggage arrived in Prague the day before. Quite the miracle since no planes were flying from Orlando to Newark)

July 19 - Jewish Prague & Folkloric Dinner & Show

So, we arrive a day late on the 19^th instead of the 18^th. We waited for one more couple on our flight to share the ride to the Hilton Prague Hotel. Viking had a lot of personnel at the hotel since many different ships were headed in different directions from there. They were quite helpful with recommendations for lunch and dinner. They had already rescheduled our Prague By Night Tour to the 20th, but there was no way to fit in the Panoramic Prague tour. So, we didn’t see the castle or the clock. We got a shower and went to Gate for lunch, and I had the beef quesadilla, and Greg had another traditional dish and then did the 2:30p tour of Jewish Prague.

Gate Restaurant

arrival at the Jewish Quarter - the small district lies within the larger Old Town

our guide at Maisel Synagogue museum, built during the 16th-century Golden Age of the Jewish Ghetto

glimpse of cemetery through a gate - we'll visit it later

Greg's Yameka isn't seen easily in the photo - all men had to wear them

The earliest tombstone dates back to 1439; the last burial took place 348 years later. Although the cemetery was expanded several times over the centuries, it was still not big enough to meet the needs of the Jewish Town. As space was scarce, bodies were buried on top of each other, with graves layered up to 10 deep.

Maisel Synagogue 

Maisel Synagogue 

 

Klaus Synagogue

We were also able to take in the evening Folkloric Dinner & Show. Met some nice people but most were on other boats. The food was family style and very good and the show was very entertaining.

dinner & show

guy trying out the instrument

We managed to get a few hours of sleep. Honestly, since we didn't get to do the tour that included the castle and the clock and more, I would have preferred doing that. This was to be in addition to that. It wasn't offered again for our remaining time in Prague. 

Tomorrow, we have a tour of Terezin, a Jewish Concentration Camp. In 3 days, we have now had about 13 hours of sleep. I honestly took no notes on this entire trip, so not a lot of observations made along the way. But you know me, I'll muster up some "observations" along the way. For all I know I may have labeled some of these photos wrong, but not taking the time to do the research. Also, if I were being honest (and ya'll know that's me) I'm getting tired of doing the blog. I started it when we retired for Dad and Mary mostly (who are gone now). Of course, Scott & Sonya & family & friends who do check it out and those who stumble upon it researching destinations or private guides. I'll still do the photo albums and keep the blog up when I can. We'll see how many more future trips I'll add to the blog

For larger photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8WjKZahJek2kRyhD8