Viking Chateaux, Rivers & Wine

Our itinerary was changed for today - Bordeaux instead of Cadillac - patently because of the tides. Its just a shame that the reason wasn't announced - the change left many wondering "what happened??" What a teachable moment it could have been as to the tides, etc!!!!

So we spent a fabulous day on Bordeaux - talking to other passengers I got the feeling that many appreciated the "low-key" day after so much activity!!! We began with a 9:30 bus trip around the city. Jennifer was a fabulous guide - request her!!! She was born in the US in the New England area, married a Frenchman, now lives with their 3 children outside of Bordeaux - like "comfort food" hearing her talk!!!!! (Seriously, I thought Pauline was fabulous until we had Jennifer - hearing her speak "our" English was SO reassuring!!)

We had a wonderful experience of seeing The Hermione - Lafayette's ship that brought him to the US. The rebuilt version is in Bordeaux for a long weekend and will travel to the USA in April, 2015!! ( NYC, Philly, Baltimore, Greenport)

We decided to stay in town after the walking tour, had lunch, shopped, and ended up at Bar a Vin, part of the Ecole du Vin for some fabulous wine!!!! We even managed the tram going "home" - another European transportation!!!

So today we awoke in Cadillac - in the rain! Ugh!!!! But, thankfully, the drops ended as we arrived at the Chateau fir our walking tour - an interesting look at some French history!! The walking part began about 9:30 (wish Viking could get the Castle/Chateau to open earlier for them!!!) about 11am we returned to the buses to drive to taste Sauternes!! 4 buses + 2 chateauz = smaller groups which was wonderful!

Off we went to Chateau 'Arches – about a 30 minute drive through some beautiful country side. Our guide was Lindsay and very good. She began by saying she wasn’t an historian but was actually filled with info made understandable! SO many Henrys, Louis, etc!!!!

The Chateau experience was also enjoyable, nice since Sauternes are not our favorite wine – too sweet! Our 2 buses were broken into 4 groups for “workshops” about 15 minutes each and we tasted 3 of their wines. An enjoyable time, especially getting into the edge of the vineyard!

Time ran away with itself and we didn’t return to the bus until about 1:30 – time for a late lunch and a quick sail back to Bordeaux going under THE bridge – another interesting experience – do not miss it!!!! (about 5pm on our sailing – time may differ with the tides)

Tomorrow we’re praying for good weather since we’re scheduled to go to Arcachon!

Omigosh, I am enjoying your posts so much. It's just like being there. Keep 'em coming.

Ditto Love the memories Keep the posts coming

Thanks, FotoPeg

Maliboo & ginabab ~ thanks SO, SO much for your responses!!!!

ginabab ~ enjoyed your wine tonight - made put last might extra special - thanks again SO much!!!!!

And now today - Arcachon - nothing I had read prepared me for today - an excursion that rivals Chateau Siaurac!!!! It was a cloudy day, but after a week of rain predicted it was a very welcome change! It was an early excursion - 8:30 on the bus but well, well worth it!!! We had about 30-35 fellow travelers, just enough!! Bus ride was about 1 1/2 hours and had most of us asleep by the end! But we ended with an interesting ride around Arcachon looking at some great houses. Next came a boat ride around the Bay - very, very smooth on a just-large-enough catamaran. How completely interesting! Our guide was Maxine and she was great - English and has lived in the area 27 years and obviously loves the it!!!! Her explanations of the Oyster Farms, Bird Island, etc. was fabulous!!!

Then came the best part - going to a real Oyster Farm and tasting the oysters with white wine and bread & butter - fantastic!!!! The oysters came directly from the holding tank - fresher would be impossible!!! (Oysters are really raised in the local sea and brought to the tank when being worked on or ready for sale.)

From there it was a short ride to the restaurant, lunch (great!!) and return to the bus and drive back to Bordeaux. We arrived about 5pm with a rush to "finish" packing & be dressed for the Captain's dinner - but we did make it!!!

It was a long day but well worth it IF the weather cooperates!! The Bay is a real experience!!!! And the oysters, lots of fun!!!!

Dinner tonight surpassed all expectations - Chef Max is the best!! Will post more on food, wine, etc. In the future! Safest part as I sit here is that its over - have dreaded this for months!!! I told the captain & staff tonight I had one complaint - some looked worried - but my complaint is that it's over!! Too short!!

I will write more about the cruise, excursions, staff, etc when I get home. Will also try updating with photos or at least post link to my photo site!!!

Learned last night that we're leaving just a few hours too early to see all the excitement - the very popular Mayor of Bordeaux, Alain Juppe, and some of his ministers will be here aboard the Forseti for some function! Viking banners are flying outside by the ship! Its been a wonderful cruise - sad at leaving but filled with great memories!

Thanks everyone for all your help, advice, comments are we prepared. More when we get home about food, excursions, ship, etc.

Peg it sounds like your 22 month wait after book in this new itinerary "blind" was well worth it! I have never tried Viking but with your review and the others on this thread, this itinerary seems like something I would like to experience. Too bad you can't be hired as a Viking "secret cruiser" because all of your remarks were fair and helpful

Got2Cruise ~ thanks again for your vote of confidence!! Got home easily last night - "biggest" problem was, after landing, in JFK we had to sit on the tarmac about 20 minutes since the plane in our gate hadn't left because of maintenance issues!!! I'll take that kind of "problem" anytime!!!

I try and look at the cruise objectively - like I wasn't happy with the first wine-tasting excursion - and hope that Viking can eventually change things that their passengers aren't happy with! I just call it like it is! When asking us to fill out the evaluation form, the CD had us all laughing about the pillows! He said the earlier passengers complained they were to hard so they were replaced and now everyone is saying too soft!! He said they do keep trying!

But especially this cruise I'd recommend Viking to anyone and, if you contact me, I'll be more tan happy to give you my reference number for the $100pp discount!! (my name - FotoPeg at aol dot com)

And now on to photos - I took over 1300 on the cruise plus another 1000 in Paris all on 35mm camera and about 400 on my iPhone - easier to post on Instagram and sometimes it was just easier to carry like Moulin Rouge or dinner on the cruise. So now I have to edit for a slide show (Trip Wow) and digital photo book- but I really enjoy that - a way to keep reliving our adventure!!

More later!

Foto-Peg, I feel your pain. Between France, Portugal, & Spain we had a combined total of over 3,000. I finally got it culled down to a mere 600 for digital slide shows but saved the rest on a spare hard drive. I have decided that large capacity SD cards are not my friend as I have no will power when it comes to snapping photos.

kbella ~ know exactly what you mean!!!! But better to have snapped away then missed something!!!!

Did you finish the digital slide shows?? If so could you post them?? Would love to see them - especially France!! But Portugal & Spain as well!!

I have been reading the threads and would like some feedback on the optional tours. the Cruise critic had some negative ones on the "water level" stuff but the tour info was positive however a little expensive.

For those of you have gone, what is your feedback.

Thanks

Sam

We just got home from this cruise last Saturday (the 11th) and I'd pack to go back today it was SO fabulous!!! Yes, there were minor things I didn't care for but overall it was just fab!!!

You mention the "water 'level" - we were lucky that it wasn't an issue but seeing the difference between low and high tide - WOW! And that "bridge" that was such a problem in the early cruises (getting the required documentation) well seeing it anyone can understand how difficult it is to navigate! We passed under it on the way to Cadillac about 5am but returning it was in the afternoon so the top deck was crowded as well as the lounge - and everyone applauded the captain as we passed under it!!!

But you asked about optional tours so here goes:

There were 4 Optional Tours and I took 2 of them but will add comments from those who took the other 2.

Cognac - I didn't go on this tour but DH & our friends did and thought it fantastic! It was a long bus ride ride to and from but they had fun making their own blend of cognac at Camus that they brough home - and a generous size bottle. They also received a lovely small bottle of cognac. Everyone said they tasted, tasted, tasted as much cognac as they wanted. The bus was scheduled to return at 7pm - theyw ere a little late but dinner had been postponed to 7:15 - but it was a rush!! And note: small bottles were sold for 6 euro and they've made great gifts!

Truffle Hunting - our friends went on this tour and really enjoyed it! The group had fun finding 3 truffles and at lunch in the farmers house enjoying a meal with truffles in everything! It was also a long bus ride, leaving at 8am and returning after a quick visit to St. Emilion about 5:30pm.

Chateau Siaurac - I took this excursion and I'm SO glad I did - I think it was the best I've ever experienced anywhere and - don't tell Viking - but I would have paied twice the price!! We began with an hour walking tour of the market in Libourne - wonderful! - and then a short bus ride to the Chateau. We were fortunate that our cruise was at harvest time! Paul Goldsmith, the Vineyard owner, stopped the 2 buses on the road inside his property and invited all of us into the fields to watch the harvesting and also encouraged to taste the grapes pointing out which was wich - merlot, malbec, etc. He was wonderful and a gracious host! He led us through the processing plant, had us taste freshly crushed grapes, invited us into his home to see his collection of plates, hats, books, etc, and then to lunch - a magical day!!! After the Chateau we drove to St Emilion for about a 2 hour stay. We returned back to the bus about 5:30pm.

Bay of Arcachon - I also took this excursion and it was a close second to the Chateau!! It was also a long day 8:30am to about 5:30pm, we arrived back about an hour earlier than scheduled - but I think we were all thankful with the Captain's Dinner plus packing ahead of us! It took about 45 minutes to drive to Arcachon and the drive around the town was lovely! We then boarded a ship for a cruise in the bay which was fabulous. I knew nothing about Oyster farming, I wasn't even thrilled about eating oysters - I had in the past but not happy about it! I thought we'd be but cement vats wehere the oysters were raised - but no, they're farmed in the bay! Our guide, Maxine, was SO interesting and easy to understand! So we went to an Oyster Farm, had oysters & cold white wine (great!!), went on to a restaurant by the water (only complaint the long tables were too close together!) and then the boat made a quick, direct return to town and the bus location and we drove back to the ship. One note - someone earlier had commented on this tour and suggested that it was a good one for IF the weather was good - I completely agree!! Our day was cloudy but not chilly. All week the weather forecast had called for rain but we were very fortunate!!

Sorry for the length but hope it helps! Any other questions just ask away!!!!

The information is great! You went on the two tours I was thinking about!

Special thanks for the note on the weather.

We are very excited to make this trip.

Sam

Dbakers, Grizzlymj, Alltravels ~ don't know if you'll read this, but have a fabulous cruise!! Hope the weather is good and the tides flow in you favor!!!

If he hasn't left for vacation yet, say hello to the Hotel Director, Michael Stamm and tell him FotoPeg is still singing his praises!!

I know its difficult to write while you're on board, but I'm sure we'd all love to hear about your trip when you get home - so please fill us in with your experiences, thoughts, comments!!

I'm SO jealous!!!! I'd do this cruise again in a heartbeat!!!

Have a wonderful cruise!!!!

Have a Cruise Slide Show finished - its actually part II of our vacation - working on Part I (Paris) now.

Hope the link works!! Enjoy!

Chateaux, Rivers, And Wine Slideshow | TripAdvisor™

Peg....Just had the opportunity to re-live our Chateaux River cruise. Thank-you! What a fantastic job you did. DH and I throughly enjoyed it

Rose

Rose ~ once again Thank You for your compliment!!! I find it great fun re-living our trip through my photos!!! Now to make a digital scrapbook!!!

Have you posted your photos anywhere???

Peg, I posted my great appreciation for the slideshow yesterday but I don't know where it went. I loved the show. It was such a pleasure to revisit a wonderful trip. thank you for thinking of us.

MalibooNew York ~ glad you enjoyed the photos! Indeed it was a wonderful trip - just over too quickly! Now working on the Paris part of our trip!

Well at least our pictures made it from the camera to the computer but I can imagine that I won't get to scrapbooking, posting, or doing anything creatively constructive with them till I retire or at least until our busy schedules slow down. Heck I still have a plethora of photos sitting in drawers patiently waiting to be organized and creatively displayed.

One of these days.....

In the meantime we are planing and organizing for the 4 cruise vacations we will be taking in the next year. And just think of all those photos we will add. LOL

Rose

Ohhh Rose ~ what cruises??? 4 of them - hurray for you guys - sounds just wonderful!!!!

Save the photos for retirement! Or start decorating with them!!! We re-did our bedroom just before we left for the our trip - crazy I know! Now I have a space between our 2 windows so I just ordered a long, thin (12"x36") canvas print of the Eiffel Tower - can't wait to get it and see how it looks!!!

Fill us all in on your future cruises!!!

If anyone's interested, here's my slide show of Paris - be warned! it's about 16 minutes in length!!

Paris ~ 2014 Slideshow | TripAdvisor™

Peg...Just a quick reply on upcoming cruises:

January 23rd....RCL..Quantum of the Seas ocean cruise to the Caribbean...10 days...Just me and DH

May 21st....RCL..Liberty of the Seas...Caribbean (again)...with family

September 2nd...Viking River Cruise (Lif)...23day from Amsterdam to Bucharest

January, 2016...RCL 14 day cruise from Sydney to New Zealand..(New Zealand intensive)

Rose

We leave on Halloween to take the Chateau and Wine Country river cruise and your slide show has really increased our anticipation of a great time. Your pictures are great and we really appreciate your sharing. Thanks, Fran and Charlie:)

Laffey724 ~ I am SO jealous!!!! This is one cruise I'd do again in a heartbeat!!!! Just rest up now - you won't want to miss anything on board!!!

Any questions just ask away - I don't tire talking about our adventures!!!

Hope you're weather is good!!! And have a GREAT cruise!!!