The boat was supposed to leave the port around 6pm when the last group was back from the Viking organized excursion. We had made it back to the boat early and headed up to the lounge for a drink and to relax. Greg was decked out in basically all Purdue and someone sitting at the bar asked if he was an alum and they struck up a convo. His brother was also a Purdue grad (who’s also on the cruise) and lives in Indiana.

The sun was setting but unfortunately was behind the hills of Buda so we couldn’t see it. Still made for some decent pics.

The boat left port around 6:15 and Greg and I went up to the top deck to take in the views while Linda and Carey stayed in the lounge saving our seats. A toast was planned at 6:30 by the captain to officially kick off our cruise.

It’s somewhat unfortunate timing in my opinion that they did the toast when they did. The sights of Budapest at night are remarkable and standing in front of Parliament as the boat slowly trolled past felt like a once in a lifetime view.

We made our way back down to the lounge for the toast. Carey and Linda had gotten our champagne for us. Service at its best!

Robert is the entertainer on board who plays the piano. Leading up to the toast last night I thought he was somewhat of a poser because he was barely playing and had a synthesizer or something going along with it. But when we walked back up after dinner he was actually playing and singing Billy Joel. I take back my initial judgement.

After the toast and the port talk from Gavin, the activities director, about our next day’s schedule it was time to run down and grab a dinner table. More on that later.