The Monarch Queen

Unfortunately, on the first day of the cruise (6/8), I got a cold. We (Ken, Cathy, Gail and I) were scheduled to leave the Airbnb by 11:00 and check into the ship at 14:00 (2 PM). Our Airbnb host arranged for us to leave our luggage at reception in his building. But I didn’t want to arrive at the ship too late and be caught in a line. So we deposited our luggage downstairs while we went out for coffee (for everyone else, tea for me) and croissants.

We were back at reception to reclaim our luggage ar noon. I called a Bolt taxi (there may be taxi taxis in Búdapest, but I only saw Bolt taxis and Uber taxis) to take us to the ship, not exactly knowing where the ship was. I knew the ship was south of the Margaret Bridge on the Buda side. So I had our driver drive us there. After a nail biting ride through the city, our driver drove us across the Margaret Bridge. When he turned south, following the river, we saw the Gate 1 ship. We narrowly averted a fender bender, but a couple of Gate 1 crew members grabbed our luggage and our trials were over. We walked down the gangplank and quickly checked in.

We had to wait for our rooms for a short while, but pretty soon I was able to rest in our own stateroom. View of the whole ship:

When we got on board, 2 familiar sights greeted us, the Parliament Building …

And Margaret Bridge

There was a musical theme to the ship

Not feeling well, I skipped the opening session. Some time while I was sleeping, our friends Scott and Lynn showed up. They had just arrived from the US, and were tired. We all had dinner together. An unusual boat rolled past.

Before we went to sleep, we saw the scenes from earlier, now in a golden glow.

During the night, the ship moved to the Pest side of the river, repositioning itself for the next day, our last one in Búdapest.