Q – We have been intrigued by the information on RBR about Crystal and their philosophy of adding more time on the rivers for daylight cruising. Is this marketing hype or something we can count on in our future planning? Our agent is really pushing this cruise but we would want your sign-off.
A – Let’s look at the itinerary which begins on Day 1 in Vienna and do some quick analysis:
Day 2 – Three hours of cruising from Durnstein to Melk
Day 3 – Linz
Day 4 – Passau (overnight)
Day 5 – Cruising after departing Passau at 2:00 pm.
Day 6 – Morning cruising arriving Bratislava 1:00 pm.
Day 7 – Budapest (overnight)
Day 8 – Departing Budapest at 2:00 pm. Afternoon cruising
Day 9 – Morning Cruising arriving Vienna at 2:00pm. (overnight)
Day 10 – Overnight Vienna
Day 11 – Disembark Vienna
So, in ten days, you will be cruising in daylight hours for at least 16 hours in daylight and for several hours beyond that in the early evening. Let’s call it twenty hours of pure cruising on the river. That is, by all measures, significantly more cruise time than is offered by any of Crystal’s major competitors on the Danube and these same percentages will hold on other Crystal itineraries in Europe. Crystal is not exaggerating the claim that it offers more time doing daylight cruising and more overnights in major cities.
