Only One Time Zone

Sometimes, cruising can be made easier or more difficult when you are sailing across several time zones.  I know the Queen Mary 2 transatlantic was easier sailing from London to NY because we were moving from east to west.  Almost every evening, we got an EXTRA hour of sleep due to the time change.

On the cruise in December, the good news is we should only have to change our watches once after leaving the US when we arrive at the final destination in Nuremberg.  All the cities we will visit on the cruise are in the same time zone.  This also makes it easier once you change your watch -- and hopefully it will assure you don't miss a sailing time because you messed up which time zone you thought it was versus the actual time zone!

Of course, if we fly back home from London, we need to be aware of the changes -- but it will be in our favor (our watches will be set one hour ahead of the actual time in London).  In any case, I do have the buddy passes just in case we miss any flight.

Map of Old Town Nuremberg

I have posted this great map of the Old Town of Nuremberg in the WikiTravel of this list.  But, I wanted to point this out because it is a great map of the Old Town.  Once you click on the link, you can expand the map by clicking once on the map.  http://wikitravel.org/en/File:Nuremberg_Altstadt.png

Airport Locations Relative to Each City

The Airport Nurnberg is located about 12-15 minutes north of the city center.  There are several ways to get into the city, including a 12 minute train ride directly from the airport.  Taxis run about 15 minutes and cost 16 Euros (it doesn't say if that is per cab or if that is per person). 

 

We should be plenty tired at this point, but a 12 minute train ride is far better than some of the trips we had to take to get to our destination.

 

When our cruise is over, we will be leaving from Budapest Airport (Bud for short).  The airport is located to the east of the city.  The taxis and most shuttle services charge by the "zone" where they pick you up for the ride to the airport.  From what I can figure out, we will be in Zone 2 at the Marriott so it should cost 22 Euros to get to the airport.  Again, this appears to be for the "cab" and not per person.  But, we can check with the Marriott to be on the safe side.  They do NOT use Euros in Hungary and I read an article that said to get a cab that uses Credit Cards OR be sure you have close to the exact change.  The reason is they have found some cabbies giving back your change in Romanian currency which is no longer worth anything.  Before you realize it, they are long gone!  We may just want to have the Marriott get us a reliable shuttle. 

 

One note:  the Budapest airport offers free WiFi.

 

 

Budapest Map with Hotel and Port

The Budapest disembarkation could not get much closer to our Marriott Hotel in Budapest -- as you can see from the map below:

 

According to Viking, the Port is between the Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsebet Hid) and the Chain Bridge (Szechenyi lanchid) on the Pest (the Marriott side) of the city.

 

Nuremberg Map with Hotel, City Center, Train Station and Port

Below is the map showing the location of our hotel in Nuremberg.  It is across from the main train station (a mere 12 minute ride from the airport).  The hotel is also located just across from the old town -- which, by the way, is where the Christmas Market is held.

 

The Port where we will get our river cruise ship is about 4 miles south of that location.

 

A more detailed map of the port area is provided.