Cruise Traveller, the Australia-based boutique luxury cruise specialist, is now partnering with Riviera Travel River Cruises, a well-known company that has dominated the British quality travel market for 30 years.
To celebrate the new relationship, Cruise Traveller is offering an 18-night river cruise with Riviera Travel through the heart of Europe aboard a fabulous, brand new, five-star ship – at a fraction of the usual price.
The ship is the MS Thomas Hardy, a state-of-the-art, all-suite craft, Swiss-operated and truly world-class. This superb river-cruise ship carries 44 in-house trained crew serving just 169 guests (some similar-size vessels carry well over 190 passengers) giving a staff-to-passenger ratio concurrent with first class service levels. MS Thomas Hardy is brand new and will be launching for the first time in 2017.
The holiday package, called Heart of Europe, includes international return flights to Europe, three nights in Budapest before the cruise and a night in Cologne after it, staying at four-star hotels in both cities.
The flight to Budapest from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide or Brisbane on 11 October 2017 to join MS Thomas Hardy is covered in the price; so is the flight home from Cologne at the end of the cruise.
Prices begin at A$8575 per person twin share, valid for sale until the end of January 2017 unless sold out or withdrawn. That price is for Emerald, the lower deck. The equivalent price for Diamond Deck (upper deck) is not much more: A$9495 per person twin share.
The cruise itinerary takes you from Budapest to Cologne, through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany.
On arrival in Budapest from Australia, you’ll be transferred by private car to a four-star hotel in the Hungarian capital for three nights, including daily breakfast.
In Hungary, included highlights include a Puszta Tour (day-trip from Budapest), including welcome drink, traditional lunch, services of local guide, guided walk of Kecskemet (a city of vineyards and orchards lying halfway between the Danube and the Tisza Rivers in the heart of the Southern Plain), a performance of horsemen, and a carriage ride through the Puszta. There’s a three-course lunch to the sound of Gypsy music.
Next day is free to explore Budapest at your leisure, then, on the third day, a private car transfers you from your hotel to the port to embark on MS Thomas Hardy for the 14-night ‘Heart of Europe’ river cruise.
Highlights of the cruise include a guided tour of 2000 year-old Koblenz; exploration of Rudesheim (a true Rhineland wine town); a visit to Mainz, once home to Gutenberg, father of modern printing; a visit to Miltenberg, one of Germany’s best preserved medieval towns; a guided tour of baroque Wurzburg; a walking tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bamberg; a tour of Nuremberg, steeped in ancient and modern history, including visit to the site of the infamous Nuremberg Trials and Nazi rally grounds; a stop in Passau at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz; a visit to the great Benedictine Abbey at Melk, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube, and a guided tour of Vienna – city of the Hapsburgs.
The cruise includes full board, from dinner on your day of arrival until breakfast on your final day, plus the services of a cruise director and tour manager. Wi-Fi is complimentary aboard MS Thomas Hardy; so is tea and coffee.
Quality dining is an integral part of your river cruise experience – and Riviera Travel takes this to the highest five-star levels aboard MS Thomas Hardy, with superb cuisine prepared by a dedicated and highly professional brigade of chefs.
On arrival in Cologne, with its great Gothic cathedral, you’ll be met by private car and transferred from Cologne port to a four-star hotel in the city, with time to explore at leisure. Next day, after breakfast, a private car transfer will convey you from the hotel to the airport to fly back home after a fabulous holiday.
For more information, contact:
Cruise Traveller, Boutique Voyage and Cruise Specialists
Freecall 1800 507 777 or (07) 5575 8094.
SOURCE: Cruise Traveller, Boutique Voyage and Cruise Specialists