Up and Down the Danube

VIENNA, Austria â€”  When we decided to cruise the Danube last fall, my husband and I passed up the gala vessels with their mounds of food and nonstop activities and took a chance on an economy--or, as the brochures call it, an “affordableâ€�--river cruise. We were more interested in the itinerary, a leisurely opportunity to see some of the land of Alan’s Austro-Hungarian ancestors, than in being pampered and entertained. We narrowed our choice to a seven-night cruise from Vienna that would cover a stretch of the Danube between Passau, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary. This itinerary promised stops with postcard charm and some others still touched by the gritty social realism of recent communist regimes. The juxtaposition turned out to be a good mix.

(The cruise’s U.S. operator, GlobalQuest, says the itinerary is the same this year despite the hostilities in Yugoslavia, about 175 miles south of Budapest.)

By the time we arrived at the dock in Vienna, I was expecting the voyage on the almost-no-frills ship, the Deltastar, to be just a bit offbeat, something like my student travel days in the ‘60s. But now we were two people accustomed to plenty of amenities in our business and pleasure travel. Clearly, an attitude shift was in order.

As our taxi approached the dock, the driver pointed to the modest-looking Steaua Deltei (Deltastar in Romanian, the nationality of the crew; the ship flies the Austrian flag). Two men in red jumpsuits were painting the bow.

“Look, they’re adding the final touches to your ship,� the driver said. Later we would find out why this was routine, not cosmetic.

We stepped aboard and put on our “affordable travel� attitude. And not a moment too soon. In the rather plain reception area, two robust women wearing housecoats lifted our bags as if they were filled with goose down and carried them downstairs to our cabin.

At first glance, we were disappointed with our duck’s-eye view of the river, but it turned out that watching the scenery from the waterline added to the trip’s quirky appeal. There were pleasant surprises, too, such as our bathroom, which was bright and roomy. On the other hand, space in the cabin was tight, with just enough room to sit, read and sleep.

Our introduction to the peculiarities of river cruising began that first night, when we were awakened by a rasping noise and beams of yellow light piercing our cabin porthole. The Deltastar was entering one of the 10 locks that manage traffic on the Danube, lifting or lowering vessels from the river’s highest water level in the north toward the lowest, at the Black Sea.

We pulled on jeans, sweaters and sneakers and headed for the top deck. It was an eerie but exciting sight: the bright lights and the crew dressed in their red jumpsuits, scurrying around in an air of industrial urgency. The ship had entered a walled enclosure and was tethered to one side. After a heavy water gate closed behind us, the wall appeared to rise as the water level sank, the ship along with it. In about half an hour we had completed our rite of passage and were headed down the Danube.

At sunrise that morning, Alan and I were first to arrive on the second deck, where a pot of coffee awaited early risers. We watched the sun spill over the horizon onto the walls and dome of St. Stephen’s cathedral in the hillside city of Esztergom, and I wondered why everyone wasn’t on deck to experience this dramatically lighted moment. Coincidentally, on the way back upriver, we saw a sunset paint the cathedral’s dome.

After all this early activity, not to mention the jolt of Viennese coffee, I was ready for the breakfast buffet. I filled a big bowl with muesli, scoops of nuts and yogurt, and ladled out a bowl of poached plums on the side.

Meals on the Deltastar were a pleasant surprise, maybe thanks to our lowered expectations. And we appreciated that meals were served in reasonable and not gargantuan portions.

The food was hearty rather than haute cuisine, with multiple courses ranging from soups and seafood cocktails to fish, veal and pork dishes with sauces, to strudels, puddings and pastries. Some dishes were regional, like goulash; others classic, like Beef Wellington. There was ample variety and not a meal we didn’t like.

The Deltastar carried about 200 passengers, half of them on a British seniors tour, the rest mostly German and French. There were only four Americans besides us. It was mainly a middle-aged-couples and single-seniors crowd. This may explain why afternoon tea was a major event, timed for the return of passengers from the day’s excursions. It was served in the picture-window lounge, to the accompaniment of 1960s hits played by the ship’s quartet.

The lounge decor was as dated as the music--when river-cruising affordably, don’t expect Martha Stewart--and the cabins reminded me of college dorms. We were told that some renovations were planned for the 1999 season.

The dining custom on board was to sit with your own nationality. Our American table mates--one couple from Philadelphia, the other from Boston--were interesting and well traveled. At first they grumbled a bit about the overall accommodations, but they quickly adjusted.

The Deltastar’s limitations were compensated for by the efforts of its good-natured crew. The ever-vigilant maitre d’ orchestrated my husband’s shipboard birthday celebration, and the multilingual young cruise director was impressive--charming when relating to the passengers, a firm commander when it came to the crew.

Our cruise was called “The Blue Danube,� and on the eastbound leg, Vienna to Budapest, the scenery was eclectic. Some stretches were pastoral; in spots, the banks were lined with tiny fishing cabins, their rowboats beached on sand spits. Closer to Budapest, the river turned hard-working, with barges and high-speed hydrofoil commuter boats, factories and wharves.

One morning Alan beat me to the top deck and reported, “I saw a hawk, a heron, ducks, a T-72 army tank and a fortified bunker.�

The cruise offered a variety of shore excursions. The first day, Sunday, we docked in Budapest before noon. A tour bus whisked us up to the Buda castle hill and a visit to the Matthias Church, with its roof of multicolored tiles typical of the region. Behind the heavy doors, we glimpsed a fairy-tale wedding--lavishly formal to fit the setting. We watched for a while, then took a ramble through a nearby walkway of cloisters and columns overlooking the river.

That night, we went on a dinner excursion--goulash and gypsy music--that was too staged for our taste. But we enjoyed the others, especially the equestrian show at a ranch outside Budapest, the wine cellar below the cathedral in Esztergom, the abbey at Melk and the modern art museum near the dock in Passau.

Probably the prettiest view of the Danube was from the hilltop castle of Visegrad, a few miles outside Budapest, where the switchback river below looked like a silver ribbon. But the most cinematic view, one that told a story, was from the castle of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

The castle began as a fort in the 9th century or earlier to deter conquest. Today’s version is a recent reconstruction, gray and not very impressive. But the view is unforgettable: in the distance, the Danube plain and the juncture of three countries (Slovakia, Hungary and Austria); and below, just across a modern bridge, the residential quarter of Soviet-style concrete apartment blocks.

In one of the countless shops selling Slovakian crystal and folk crafts, I bought a few hand-painted eggs. When the shopkeeper put them into a sturdy egg-crate carton, I decided that the eggs would make good gifts, so I bought a dozen. All survived the trip home.

After leaving Bratislava, we journeyed up the Danube into increasingly beautiful scenery. Austria’s wine region, the Wachau Valley, was still a vivid green when we visited in early September. We sampled the wine at a cellar after a walking tour through the picture-book town of Durnstein.

These shore excursions often began with a walk up a rather steep gangplank to the dock. Many of the older passengers managed with amazing spunk. One day a 70-something member of the British tour group, cane in hand, insisted on heading down a steep castle tunnel to see a historic well. He declined our offer to go along, and as he set out, I saw the explorer’s gleam in his eyes.

One excursion involved many, but manageable, flights of stairs. This was in the Melk Abbey near Durnstein, an astonishing complex of seven courtyards and 500 rooms. Just when you think the great library with its inlaid woodwork is the ultimate, along comes an organ concert in the abbey church, then the Marble Hall with its visual trickery of red and gray painted “marble.�

The Danube takes many guises--glass at sunrise, a pebbly surface in a light breeze, deeply etched when ships pass--and assumes many colors, from gray-green to blue-brown. Only once, when the light was just right, was the river truly blue. In Passau, where two smaller rivers merge with it, it was three colors at once.

From the tip of the park where the three currents can be seen, we walked along the bank and through an ancient gate to explore narrow medieval side streets.

All in all, we were satisfied with our “affordable� cruise. We had a peek at a few of the more luxurious ships at stops where vessels often dock side by side, so that passengers on the outside craft have to walk through the others to go ashore. One luxury boat we saw, the Delphin Queen, had an atrium bar and a movie screening room.

Night life on an economy cruise might be too low-key for some people. On the Deltastar, evening entertainment meant folk music or contests with the crew. There was no TV, not even in the lounge.

Another consideration before booking an economy cruise is your tolerance of smokers. Our European fellow travelers smoked a lot, especially the French contingent.

The health conscious also will want to study the extent of exercise facilities when they’re reviewing river cruise options. We’re avid lap swimmers, but from the brochures it was apparent that none of the Danube ships had more than paddling-around pools, even at much higher prices.

The shore excursions were one reason we didn’t miss our workouts, and they reinforced our choice of an economy cruise.

As we disembarked at Vienna, we saw the two crewmen from eight days earlier wielding paint rollers across the Deltastar’s bow. Now we knew why: to cover the scars accumulated in the river locks. In a few hours, another batch of passengers would arrive for their voyage on the sometimes blue Danube.

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GUIDEBOOK: Doing the Danube

Getting there: Flights from Los Angeles to Vienna involve at least one change of planes, on KLM, Swissair, Lufthansa, British Airways or Air France. Round-trip fare starts at $840.

Cruising: Our cruise was seven nights, starting and ending in Vienna, for $1,090 per person in a mid-range, outside cabin. Optional shore excursions are extra.

The 1998 prices are in effect this year, says the cruise operator, GlobalQuest (formerly Odessamerica), as is the “Blue Danube� itinerary, despite the hostilities downriver in Yugoslavia.

Book through a travel agent or GlobalQuest; telephone (800) 221-3254, Internet https:// www.globalquesttravel.com.