Marriott Vacation Club owners know how to have a good time! In September, I arranged and hosted 40 Marriott owners, including their friends, on a 2 week European vacation. We visited Prague, spent 7 nights on an AMA Waterways Danube River Cruise and toured Budapest. I saved my clients thousands of dollars by using Marriott Rewards points to fly to/from Europe in Business Class and to stay at centrally located Marriott hotels in both Prague and Budapest.
Nancy and Dick Scherer had this to say:
“We were thrilled with the trip and all of the details you put together to make the trip exciting, enjoyable and personalized for some 40 people. Your ability to organize and book all of the various itineraries for so many people was absolutely AMAZING!! It was as if the group was hand-picked – we enjoyed spending time with everybody.”
Prague has to be one of the most beautiful cities I have visited in Europe. It is clean, vibrant and very well preserved. Since 1992, the entire historic centre has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
We toured in small groups of 10-12 people with our private guide, Jana Pehe. Below is a picture of some of us at the Prague Palace.
From Prague, we took a bus to Nuremberg where we met our ship. We stopped in a pretty spa town called Karlovy Vary on the way to Germany for a short tour and lunch. The waters in Karlovy Vary are known to be healing.
One of our group feeling good after drinking the “water”.
For the next 7 nights, the ship below became our floating hotel. Included was daily tours of our choice, meals, snacks, wine at dinner, and nightly entertainment.
Our group bonded quickly and enjoyed the evening activities and entertainment. I am sure the free-flowing wine did not hurt.
We traveled to lovely German towns: Regensburg, Passau, and Melk
The more adventurous ones even chose to take a bike trip to Walhalla. Yes, I tackled this bike trip. It was fun and not too strenuous.
Some days we had the pleasure of just hanging out on the top of the ship as we sailed down the river, soaking up the beautiful scenery.
We spent a fun day in Vienna. Another beautiful city. We had some time on our own to explore. I found this wonderful outdoor cafe where my husband and I enjoyed delicious apple strudel.
Budapest was the last stop on our journey. Another interesting city with lots of history and beautiful sites. Beware of pickpockets in the crowded tourist areas!
The final evening on the ship included a night cruise on the Danube viewing the beautifully lit buildings in Buda and Pest . Budapest at night is amazing! It was a wonderful finale to the cruise.
We all had a wonderful trip. It was fun to travel with a group that got along so well. If you are a Marriott Vacation Club owner, you should join us on our next cruise to Provence in May 2012!
